Glyph

by Max Ellendale

“Shawnee?” Mal said quietly, lifting his hand to place it on my shoulder.

  “I’m fine.” I moved quickly away from him toward the cabin.

  He followed behind me while Caden grabbed a bunch of bags from the bed of the truck and toted them inside. I went in after him. The cabin was pretty big and bright, crafted completely out of indigenous logs stained in a soft pine color. There were big windows to allow plenty of natural lighting, and the kitchen was the first part of the cabin, split in two by the front door. On the right there was a refrigerator, sink, and several appliances placed on the wooden countertop with cupboards above. To the left sat a dining table with six chairs stained to match the rest of the cabin. All of the appliances and furniture looked new. The kitchen was open and just beyond the table was the living area. There was a stone fireplace and hearth to the left, a sofa, loveseat, and armchair surrounding a coffee table, and a thick burgundy shag carpet placed in front of the fire. Mal went immediately to the fireplace and began lighting a fire. Caden came into the room and placed my flat panel television on top of the mantel.

  “What do you think? Do you want it here or in your room?” he asked. I could sense the excitement emanating from the guys, and Xany was buzzing around the place opening every cabinet and door she could find.

  “Um…yeah, leave it there.” I chewed my lip.

  Caden smiled and started hooking the TV up to the power supply and satellite dish. When he was finished, he shot me a grin before disappearing outside to bring in more stuff. Mal followed him this time, and the two men continued unloading the truck. Xany suddenly appeared in front of me and grabbed my hand.

  “C’mon! This place is awesome! Check out the rooms.” She dragged me out of the living room and into a hallway that had five doors, four of which led to individual bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms had simple double beds, a chest of drawers, and a writing table. Each room had its own closet.

  “These must be ours. The other rooms have stuff in them.” Xany bounced around happily. “And check out the bathroom, it’s huge!”

  I didn’t get a chance to process what I saw before Xany dragged me into the bathroom, which was the fifth door at the end of the hall. The bathroom had a stand-up shower and a claw-foot bathtub, new fixtures along with the usual other bathroom stuff. Everything in the cabin looked new, but the bathroom looked the newest.

  “Caden and Mal built all of this stuff. It was just a four-walled cabin without any appliances, power, or bathroom. There’s an old outhouse in the backyard.” She turned the faucet on and off.

  “They built all of this in about a week? How?” I glanced around the room. It was pretty amazing after all.

  “Hank owns a contracting builder-uppering-thing company and half of his workers are werewolves. It takes them like a minute to dig a hole and make plumbing and stuff.”

  I was impressed. “It’s a nice cabin…”

  “Of course. What did you expect?” Xany bounced over to me again. “Want to see the door to nowhere? Mal told me about it.”

  “What?” I blinked out of my daze.

  “C’mon.” She waved for me to follow her, bringing me back out to the living room. A few feet from the hearth, just before the hallway, was a door on the east-facing wall. She opened it, and I gasped when I saw that the door had a few planks of wood that dropped off into nothing with plastic sheets hanging to block the door from the cold. She moved the sheets aside, and we were looking out into woods. The ground below looked freshly leveled.

  “This is probably for an addition.”

  “Uh-huh, but I kind of like having a door to nowhere.” Xany grinned. We went back into the kitchen where Mal and Caden had brought in every item from the truck.

  “Wow, you guys should start a moving company.” Xany giggled and began moving some of the stuff toward the bedrooms. “Nee? Do you want the first room or the second?”

  “It doesn’t matter, Xany, really.” I wrapped my arms around myself. I was beginning to seriously question my decision to move out here. Everything was nice, but it was seemed like I was ridiculously exposed and almost vulnerable. I didn’t know these people, these wolves, and the reality was starting to set in. The weight of my phone in my pocket reminded me to call Vanessa. I wanted her to get here fast so that I could stop feeling so…so… I had no idea what I felt. I wanted at least one familiar face around.

  “Okay then, you take the first.” She looked pretty perky and dragged a box into the second room on the right.

  I went over and wheeled my trunk into the other room. Mal followed me with the duffel bag and set it down on the floor. “Thanks,” I murmured, and he left the room with a chuckle. I sat down on the bed. The mattress was firm and new. Both my bed and Xany’s had fresh white linens and a pillow. I tossed my pillow on top of the one there and laid back on the bed, pulling the blanket up over me. There was a window by the head of the bed, and I could see the crescent moon peeking out from above the trees. I smirked at the silvery light filling the room and took my phone out of my pocket.

  “Hello?” Vanessa sounded groggy.

  “I’m sorry I woke you. We just got here,” I whispered.

  “Mmm, Shawnee, hi. That wasn’t too long. What’s it like there?”

  I could hear her shifting around in bed. The clock on my phone said it was nearly midnight. “It’s…” I paused to think about it. “Not bad. The cabin is like all new and stuff.”

  “Describe it to me.” She grew quiet.

  I spent the next ten minutes or so telling Vanessa about every single detail of the drive here, the cabin, and my room. I felt myself growing tired and relaxed hearing her soft purring over the phone. By the time I finished describing every inch of the place, I had fallen asleep with the phone on my shoulder. That night, I had a dream that Vanessa’s mouth traveled to Utah to snicker in my ear.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I left Vanessa asleep in my bed and ventured out for my first trip to the new bathroom in the middle of the night. To my surprise, Xany, Caden, and Mal were gathered by the hearth where they had a fire crackling. I tucked myself close to the wall in the hallway by the bathroom door. I didn’t want them to see me, but I couldn’t help my curiosity over what they were saying about me behind my back. And about Vanessa.

  “She’s sleeping already.” Xany giggled.

  “That’s not a bad thing, Xee,” Mal said.

  “He’s right. It’s going to be an adjustment for her.” Caden unpacked a few more random items from boxes, placing them around the room. “This cabin has no decorations. Xany, that’s your new job, to decorate.”

  “Gimme money then.” She grinned at Caden and held out her hand. He chuckled and slapped his bank card into it. Mal shook his head.

  “Bad move, bro. But back to Shawnee, I don’t think it’s going to be as big of an adjustment for her as we think.” I was surprised to hear Mal’s assertion. What did he know about my adjustment?

  “What do you mean?” Xany asked, slipping Caden’s bank card into her back pocket and settling down on the sofa. I saw the clock on the cable box, which read 1:20 a.m.

  “Shawnee grew up on a reservation in a pack. Caden was right when he said she knows more than she lets on. I imagine living in the city was more taxing,” Mal presumed. How could he know that? Did I have it tattooed on my forehead or something?

  “She does know a lot. I wonder how this will play out. Xee, we should go food shopping in the morning too. Want to split the work? You hit the frilly, girly decoration shop, and I’ll get the food. Mal can hang back here with Shawnee and finish digging out the fire pit and unpacking some of the other stuff,” Caden said.

  “How do you know she knows a lot?” Xany asked, then added, “It’s a deal.”

  “You can tell by how she reacts to us. She reads our body language and gestures before we even speak or move near her. That takes practice and a lot of exposure,” Mal said. Damn. And here I thought I was good at hiding.

  “He’s right about that. On the day we
met, she knew exactly what I was as soon as she entered the room. I bet she even knew I was a dominant.” Caden crunched on a few cheese puffs. I did know that. He reeked of wolf. Not in a bad way, though. Was I really that obvious to these people? I wonder if they would have found me out without Xany having seen my glyph.

  “How can she know that? I didn’t even know that,” Xany whined. “I grew up with a pack too.”

  “Yeah, but ours was small, and we didn’t live on a reservation. We went to public schools and lived in a residential neighborhood. Reservation packs are closed off, and everyone grows up together. There aren’t many reservation packs left these days, maybe three or four.” Mal chowed down on a cold cheeseburger. I watched Mal while he spoke. I can’t help but wonder how he knew all of this. Clearly he wasn’t from a reservation pack, why did he know this about me? I pulled my sweater tighter around myself. I didn’t like being exposed, and I surely didn’t like people knowing more than they should about me.

  “Reservation packs? Is that like something different than a regular reservation or a pack?” Xany looked between the men.

  “Very different,” Caden said, then allowed Mal to continue telling the story.

  “Packs are packs. Members can live separately all over the same town without having much contact unless needed. Reservations are as they’ve always been. Small communities managed by a specific tribe or few mixed tribes. Shawnee is part Cherokee like you said so I imagine her reservation was predominantly Cherokee with some others. There is a large reservation in Wyoming that is recognized but that one belongs to Shoshone, I think, or something like that but that’s not the one she’s from.” Mal downed another burger.

  He was right. My reservation pack was mainly Cherokee and a splattering of other tribes mixed in. My mother was pure-blooded Cherokee, which was rare, to say the least. My father was mixed. I don’t really care to think about what mix. Maybe it messed with his head, like interbreeding dogs too closely. Maybe that’s why he was such a terrible, deranged person.

  “How can you know this stuff? She hardly speaks.” Xany frowned. I imagined that she was annoyed because the wolves had more information than she did.

  “We have other senses, Xee,” Caden said.

  “You still didn’t answer my question!” She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

  “You interrupted. Such a brat.” Mal let out a low growl at Xany who merely turned her nose up at him. When he growled, a shiver ran up my spine. I gripped my sweater tighter. It was easy to forget that a man as gentle and sound as Mal had a voracious beast living just below the surface.

  “Reservation packs,” he continued, “are not only small tribal communities but small tribal werewolf communities dominated and controlled by the Chief Alpha. They’re strict and secluded. The children are born, raised, and educated there. Most of them function pretty well as an independent unit, and the Changers and Breeders live happy existences, protecting their people and Gaia.” Mal smirked. I scoffed. Not all Breeders lived happy existences. I was proof. His smirk told me that he knew the same.

  “Most?” Xany frowned.

  “Some, well, aren’t as good. But that’s with anything. It depends on the leaders and how much influence the Tainted Ones have on them and such.” I could tell Mal was clearly minimizing the situation. My original pack family was more than touched by the Tainted Ones; they wove their way inside us. Inside our elders. Destroyed us from the inside out.

  “You think Shawnee had a not-so-good one?” Xany asked, continuing to frown.

  Mal lifted a brow at her. “What do you think?”

  I clutched my chest, begging the panic to stay at bay so I could continue to listen in on their conversation. I wanted to know what they assumed about me, how they would treat me. I wanted to believe Xany that Mal and Caden were good, not domineering but respectful, protective wolves that followed Gaia’s calling. I really wanted to believe that.

  “So in a way, yes, this will be an adjustment for her. But at the same time she’ll be at home. That’s the assumption. I mean…she changed her mind pretty quickly. Something must have provoked it—” Caden started.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. Sometimes I forget how intuitive werewolves can be. Something definitely provoked it, but I could never tell them. I couldn’t tell Vanessa either. I’d endanger all their lives. Maybe I already had.

  Mal interrupted, “I smell cat.” He leaned up with his nostrils flared. I looked over my shoulder and realized I left the bedroom door open. Of course they could scent her anyway, but I just made it easier.

  “It’s the redhead. A bending redheaded weretiger.” Caden chuckled. “She’s not a threat, bro.” I wondered if Caden was even sure of that comment himself. Vanessa was a pretty big threat once you got to know her.

  Mal grumbled. “Cats are trouble.”

  “Did you really think that that cat would let her out of her sight for long?” Xany giggled.

  “No,” Caden said. “Just leave her be. We need to alert Hank first thing in the morning and bring something with Vanessa’s scent over to them or we could have mayhem.”

  “No kidding.” Mal sighed. “Though I bet that cat could take out half his pack.”

  I’m starting to believe Mal has the best instincts of everyone.

  “She is a tough one.” Caden began cleaning up the junk food mess.

  And maybe Caden too.

  “Again! Leaving me out of things. How can you tell?” Xany huffed and puffed. Sometimes I wanted to just throw something at Xany. She reminded me of dopey cheerleaders from high school.

  Caden chuckled, but Mal answered. “She’s cocky and confident. How many weretigers have you known to sit calmly purring with her head in the lap of a Breeder while surrounded by two dominant wolves?” I smiled hearing this; my cheeks grew warm because Vanessa was my werecat.

  “None, of course. So that means she’s strong?” Xany queried.

  “It means she can take care of herself,” Caden said. “And mind you she just popped into known pack territory without a thought. That says something.” I looked back to the room door. Part of me wondered if Mal sensed that I was awake and listening to the conversation.

  “Note to self, don’t piss off the fire-crotch cat.” Xany pretended to make a checklist on her hand.

  Caden chuckled. “Or insult the cat.”

  “Who me?” Xany smiled.

  As I disappeared into the bedroom, I could see Mal’s glowing eyes looking in my direction down the hall.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was the rising sun that woke me the next morning. The warmth of its rays plunging in through my window when the sun broke through from behind the thick trees caused me to stir and squint at the brightness. I kicked off my blankets and knelt on the bed to look out the window. The view was something unexpected. My window overlooked an area of forest that was broken by the shore of a lake. When I saw the snow-capped mountains cascading in the distance several miles beyond the lake, my stomach leaped in delight. The lake itself was probably a quarter of a mile away from the cabin, and it seemed as though the trees stepped aside to create a pathway from my window.

  I unpacked some of my clothes and chose an outfit and towel to take to the bathroom with me. The cabin was dimly lit and quiet at this time of morning. I heard someone in the kitchen before I disappeared into the bathroom. It was nice to shower with the new fixtures. Everything was clean and untainted, so much so that I didn’t have the urge to over scrub my hands and body. I must have taken a long shower though, because when I entered the kitchen, Caden and Mal were talking about food and Xany was impatiently waiting to get into the bathroom.

  “About time, Nee! I was going to bust down the door!” She giggled and disappeared.

  I smirked at her, then went over to join the guys.

  “Morning, Shawnee,” Caden said though his eyes were on Mal who was cutting up some very fresh meat into cubes.

  “Hey there.” Mal grinned. I watched him for a m
oment before moving closer to see what he was up to. There was a metallic odor coming from the meat. As I stood beside him, the heat of his body radiated as if I were next to an open flame. Despite the warmth, it gave me goose bumps, and I had to take a step back.

  “Hunting?” I asked, staring at the meat.

  “Hope you like elk,” he said. “Caden hasn’t gone shopping yet.” He paused, watching me as I looked down at the meat. He spoke like he knew what I was thinking. “The hides are out back drying along with useable bones, the blood and organs returned to Gaia under the vultures nest in the forest,” he finished, looking over his shoulder at me with a raised brow. I gave him an approving nod, appreciative of his proper care for the animal.

  “I like elk.”

  He smiled, and I watched him continue to prepare the meat.

  Caden chuckled at us. “He’s got his wits about him, Nee, don’t worry.”

  “One of us has to,” Mal shot back.

  After a short while, Xany emerged from the bathroom with her wet hair pulled back into a tight braid. Mal had just tossed some of the meat into a skillet when she looked over his shoulder.

  “What’s that?” Her nose scrunched up.

  “Elk.”

  “Did you hunt it?” She gulped.

  “Yup.” Mal tossed a raw chunk into his mouth.

  “Gross! I am not eating that!” she shouted, huffing and puffing. “Caden, let’s go shopping now.”

  The guys laughed at her, and I gave Mal a sharp elbow in the side before taking a few dishes down from the cupboard, trying very hard not to join the guys in their laughter.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to eat first?” Caden asked Xany, standing up because he already knew her answer.

  “Hell no. I have no idea where that boy got his crazy ideas about hunting and cooking. Mom and Dad used the cold meat section at the grocery store just like every other normal person in the world!” Xany stomped toward the door. Caden couldn’t help but laugh at Xany’s exaggeration and nodded to us before ducking out the door with her.