by Cara Adams
But first, the Nevada wolves had to show them how to create an income stream out here in the desert.
* * * *
Summer had never been to a wolf pack gathering before. The Nevada Desert pack was spread out over hundreds of miles of desert, and getting together took time and effort. Since the invention of the Internet, cell phones, and Skype, the pack tended to communicate electronically. But this year they’d planned a gathering, and Summer, along with all the other werewolves in the small desert town of Wetherby, had attended it.
It’d been an amazing time. She’d met people she’d never even known of before, and several women found their mates. None of the men had appealed to Summer in that way, but she’d loved meeting with other werewolf women and hanging out together talking, laughing, and sharing their lives. She felt she’d made a lot of new friends, and it’d been a wonderful experience. She knew she’d be back in two years’ time for the next gathering.
Meanwhile she needed to find a new job to add to her part-time work as a web designer. She loved working with cars, trucks, and machinery, but she wasn’t going back to drive the school bus next school year, no matter what anyone said. Maybe she should consider getting a license to work with small engine mechanics or something like that. Or maybe she could become a forklift driver.
On Sunday, the last day of the get-together, the Alpha spoke to the pack about his plans for the next few years. At the end of his talk he mentioned some wolves who’d appeared in their desert and briefly kidnapped Jasmine some months ago. Then he told everyone he was sending Indigo, Stone, and Reuben to work with them for two months to help them find a new way to earn a living.
“These young men are not bad. They just need some direction. They have a strong work ethic and an impressive amount of resourcefulness. What they don’t have is detailed knowledge of the desert and our way of life. We all know that life here can be harsh, but that wolves have adapted well to this environment. Over the next two months, Reuben, Stone, and Indigo will live with them and educate them in a range of possible ways they can make a living here. They will, of course, be constantly reporting back to me during this time,” said the Alpha.
Wolves settling in their desert? Kevin had disappeared right around when they’d arrived.
“I’m coming with you.” Summer had jumped to her feet and spoken out loud before she realized it.
People tried to dissuade her, but why couldn’t she go? Indigo was going, and if it was safe enough for her to make the journey, it was safe enough for Summer to go, too. She knew Kevin was still alive. She’d have felt the loss of him if he wasn’t still walking in this world.
Alpha Wolfric spoke firmly to her. “Summer, you may go with Indigo, Stone, and Reuben, but you will accept their advice in all things.”
Gratefully Summer bowed her head and answered him. “Yes, sir.”
She was going to find these new wolves. But more importantly, she’d find her brother, Kevin. She knew it.
* * * *
Summer was glad she’d chosen to drive herself in her own truck across the desert to the pack gathering. Otherwise, if she’d traveled with her parents, she’d have had to go all the way home to get her truck before making the trip to Roxburgh.
Many of the families had car-pooled. Gas wasn’t cheap, and most people had come a long way on rough tracks. Or no track at all. Desert dwellers often ignored the few tracks and followed a compass bearing to get to the nearest road. A GPS was useless out here where there were very few man-made roads.
Summer’s mother was a human and her father a wolf. Likely that’s why they’d had a son and a daughter instead of two boys since wolves birthed twice as many boys as girls. Summer knew her mom was a little ambivalent about the idea of a gathering of wolves, so she’d decided it was much better to let them travel alone so her dad could ease her mom’s fears. Besides, Summer liked driving. Just not driving a school bus anymore.
She’d sat down with Indigo, Reuben, and Stone, and they’d plotted the journey to Roxburgh. None of them knew the desert around there, but all were desert born and bred so would be prepared for any eventuality. Summer was confident she could dig her truck out of any sand-filled pothole she inadvertently landed in, but she was also more than happy to travel in tandem with the others. Two men pushing her truck while she steered was better than having to do it all herself.
Also, apparently these wolves were living at the old Roxburgh settlement, not the more recent one, which was just a dot on a map and uninhabited. That meant contacting the wolves when they arrived at Roxburgh and getting directions for the final step of the journey. So it was better they were together then, as well.
Summer packed her truck, as much as she could Sunday night, and then woke early Monday morning to dismantle her tent and put the last of her gear in the back of the truck. Already the tantalizing scent of roasting meat and onions filled the air. A group of men had barbecued the last of the meat to send everyone off with a hearty breakfast. Summer bit into a perfectly cooked hot dog, covered with ketchup, onions, and mustard, and wrapped in a sourdough bun.
She’d already refilled her giant water container, and now she filled her two insulated mugs with black coffee for the road trip. An older woman handed her a paper sack with more food in it, and when Indigo waved at her, she swallowed the last mouthful of the hot dog and waved back, hurrying to her truck.
The trip was an interesting one. They only followed the highway for half an hour then cut across the desert. Stone was driving the other truck, and he left the highway almost exactly where she would have, which pleased her. Summer liked to think she wasn’t going to want to fight with these people about the correct route to take.
Despite following them, she watched the desert carefully for signs of unexpected rocks or sandy patches. Just because she was carrying desert mats and a shovel didn’t mean she wanted to have to use them to dig her truck out of a sand hole. She had to drop farther back behind them now to avoid the cloud of dust their tires kicked up. Sometimes she also drove slightly to one side of their track as well, especially where the soil was more gravelly and she was certain it was safe.
After a couple of hours Stone stopped, and they all got out to stretch and drink some water. Summer opened the paper sack she’d been given and pulled out half a dozen cookies, so they all had one.
“I’ll lead for the next few hours, and you can eat my dust,” she teased them. She wondered if Reuben and Stone would agree. Wolves tended to be dominating and bossy, but it was a reasonable request. They could travel with their windows tightly closed to avoid the dust for the next little while, instead of her having to do that.
“Stop when you get to the Wetherby track, and we’ll change over again there,” said Reuben.
She nodded. That was fair.
She replaced her two empty coffee mugs with a bottle full of water, grabbed the last cookie, and settled into her seat for the next section of the drive. Summer loved the desert. Some people thought it was boring, but she found it endlessly fascinating with tiny flowers hidden in the crevices of rocks and grasses and bushes growing in hollows where water was close to the surface. Towering rock outcrops displayed a montage of a dozen different shades of orange, ochre, yellow, tan, brown, gray, and beige.
But best of all was the freedom and fresh air. No people as far as the eye could see, just a wonderful vista of sandy soil, the occasional shrub or bush, rocks, and freedom, covered in hot, dry, pure, clean air. Now that she was in front, she turned the air-conditioning off and opened her windows wide, letting the breeze from her driving lift her black hair off her sweaty neck and blow it into tangles.
From time to time she checked her compass, but she didn’t really need to. The sun’s steady progression across the sky was enough of a guide. Exactly when she’d expected to, she saw the twin tire ruts of the Wetherby-Roxburgh track, so she stopped just short of it and got out of the car again to stretch. As the others pulled up, she refilled her water container, took a long
drink, and then refilled it again.
After a brief break, Indigo climbed into the truck with her. “Because this community is all males, I expect they’ll want to talk to Reuben and Stone, not to us. But that’s okay. It’ll give us time to explore the area and get a feel for its potential,” said Indigo.
Summer waited to let the other truck get well ahead of her and then closed all the windows and flipped the air-conditioning back on. It was close to noon, and the temperature was over one hundred already. Heat didn’t bother Summer. She was a child of the desert. But if she couldn’t have the windows open, air-conditioning was needed.
“It’ll be nice to go for a walk after the long drive. But I want to ask about Kevin as soon as it’s polite to do so,” she said.
“When did he go missing? How did it happen?”
“He said he was going to visit some friends. He didn’t say where, and I didn’t ask. He’s thirty-two, two years older than me. It’s not like he needed to ask anyone’s permission. He did ask me to drive the school bus while he was away, but he said it’d only be for a few weeks. It’s been six months now, but I’m sure he’s all right. We’ve always been very close, and I still have a good feeling about him. He’s happy and safe wherever he is. I just wish I could talk to him and ask when he’ll be back. Or maybe if he’s coming back. It’s quite possible he’s settled somewhere else already. Maybe he’s found a mate. But if he has, why hasn’t he contacted us?”
Indigo patted her shoulder. “Even if he’s not with these people, maybe they met up with him as they moved around. The Alpha said they’d come from Idaho, so likely they’ve talked to a whole passel of packs and family groups.”
Summer wasn’t sure about that, but she was positive Kevin was alive. “I’ve even wondered if he went to Reno or Las Vegas, but he wouldn’t stay there this long. He doesn’t really like crowds.”
They talked about the pack gathering a little, and Summer enjoyed having a female friend to talk to. That was one of the hassles of the wolf propensity to breed more males than females. Women got used to having to hide their wolf side if they wanted female friends because they had to mix with humans. Whereas there were always plenty of other male wolves, so the boys could just be themselves a lot more easily.
Roxburgh was nothing. Summer stopped in amazement when the track widened to two lanes and two other tracks crossed it in almost a letter X. Anywhere else there would be traffic lights, or a traffic island and a whole bunch of stores with a gas station, but there was just a single sign saying, Roxburgh.
Indigo giggled. “I think this is downtown Roxburgh at rush hour.”
“Well, the tracks are all definitely in use. I can by the wheel ruts. But maybe only by the people we’ve come to visit with.”
Reuben was driving the other truck, and he stuck his arm out the window and pointed at one of the roads then turned onto it.
“It looks like your mates are in contact with our hosts,” she said.
“Mmm. I wonder how much passing traffic there is. I mean, it’s obviously no Junctionville, but perhaps there’d be enough traffic to make a gas station viable,” said Indigo.
“If they were a business, they’d likely be able to get gas and groceries at a discounted rate as well. It might not be much, but it would all be a help to them,” added Summer.
They drove for another half-hour until they rounded a large outcrop of rock and found the settlement. The buildings were very old indeed, but some of them had been tidied up and renovated, and from the number of bushes and scrubby trees around, it was obvious the settlement had a year-round water supply.
“I wonder why it was abandoned,” she said.
“I’ve heard Stone say a lot of the people in these small communities decided desert life was just too hard. It’s easier to earn a living in a town, and air-conditioning, Internet, and other modern conveniences are a big draw as well.”
“But we have all those things out here now,” argued Summer.
“Yes, but they didn’t then. Small communities didn’t even have telephones for years after towns had them, much less Wi-Fi.”
“Okay. I understand. I wonder if these wolves have Internet.” Summer hadn’t thought of that before. Oh well, she expected she could live without it for a few weeks. And they must have had cell phone coverage to contact Stone or Reuben. Actually, they did have Internet because they’d been in touch with the Alpha. That made her feel better.
The track they’d been following ended at the tiny settlement. Summer squinted her eyes, but there were no wheel ruts or tracks heading out in any direction from the community except the way they’d come. If she’d been one of these people, she’d have been exploring in all directions to learn all about her neighborhood. Maybe they’d done that but not left from one particular spot so it hadn’t made any marks on the soil yet.
Reuben and Stone climbed out of their truck as several men came across the desert toward them. Each man was wearing a wide-brimmed hat, which shaded his face. Summer wondered if that was a disguise or just that they weren’t yet used to the heat here.
Another man approached from behind one of the buildings. Summer took one look at him and jumped out of her truck, running across to him. “Kevin!”
Chapter Two
Roland Ellis stared at the woman who’d jumped out of the dusty old white truck, sprinted across the road, and flung herself into Kevin’s arms. Fortunately Kevin seemed happy enough to hug her, but Roland really, really, really hoped their Kevin hadn’t forgotten to tell them he was trying to escape from his wife.
He couldn’t see much of the black-haired chick apart from a rather nice ass, but he was pleased she was happy to see Kevin and incredibly relieved that Kevin seemed happy enough to see her. The only problem was, would she be willing to stay here, the sole woman in the settlement, with her husband? Or maybe the other woman just getting out of the truck would stay as well after the two months the Alpha had given them was up. Actually he’d been told the second woman’s name. Inez? Imogen? India? No, Indigo, that was it. The men, of course, were Reuben and Stone. He and Chris had just been talking to them, and Indigo was their mate. No one had mentioned Kevin’s wife though. Maybe she’d wanted her arrival to be a surprise. If that was her aim, color him surprised.
He hurried across to the lead truck and shook hands with Reuben, who had long blond hair, and Stone, whose hair was short and black. Chris was already welcoming them, so Roland beckoned the rest of their group over to meet everyone as well.
He couldn’t help flicking another glance at the black-haired woman. She was still with Kevin but standing on the ground now talking to him a mile a minute. Yeah, well, it might be best to let them sort out whatever they had going on there. He’d just keep ignoring them for a while.
They all went into the main house. It had once been a store so had a single large room, which they’d turned into their communal living room. They’d set up a couple of long tables with benches and chairs as their meals area down one end. The other end boasted comfortable chairs, shelves filled with old books they’d found in one of the houses, games and puzzles they’d found in another house, and their own answer to the problem of TV, a wall painted white and a laptop and projector set up so they could stream movies and shows they wanted to watch. It wasn’t ideal, but it was good enough for now. By the time the nine of them agreed on what to watch, there was usually only time to see one show each night anyway.
Bryan had been busy cooking for the past couple of hours, and one of the other men helped him carry in two huge pots, one filled with a thick soup and the other with rice. The guests were shown to the table to sit down while the rest of them brought in plates, cutlery, coffee and mugs, and then they all helped themselves to lunch.
Roland thought Bryan’s cooking was damn good, but his meals weren’t anything traditional. It was whatever they caught or grew or foraged, plus what they bought. Every few months they took the minivan and went to a different town, stocking up on necessities, but
not buying too much from any one store. It was the best they could do to be inconspicuous. Fortunately, Wetherby had a sort of warehouse food store, where a lot of people bought huge bags of potatoes, onions, rice, and flour. Roland had already decided to go there again, but not sending the same two men who went last time, different ones just in case they were recognized.
Hopefully these were the sorts of things Stone and Reuben could advise them about. Although maybe not right now. Not until after they’d eaten anyway.
“Hey, everyone, I want you to meet my sister, Summer,” said Kevin.
“Sister?”
“Yes, of course. I don’t go around hugging women I don’t know.”
Roland felt a burden fall from his shoulders that he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying. He didn’t like the thought that Kevin had left his mate alone for six months, and now, knowing he hadn’t, his original thoughts about the mechanic were restored.
Roland looked at the woman sitting beside Kevin. She was very attractive. She appeared to be strong and wiry, a bit like Kevin now that he had his head on straight and looked at her properly. Although her hair was darker, genuinely black, whereas Kevin’s was dark brown, and her eyes were blue and Kevin’s were more hazel. It didn’t matter. The woman was here now, and soon they’d get to know her.
They all ate hungrily, having been working hard. That was why they had a hot meal in the middle of the day. Coming from Idaho, they’d found the weather hotter than they’d expected, although fortunately they’d arrived in winter and had time to adjust to the increased temperatures. However, he wasn’t looking forward to August. July was plenty hot enough.
They tended to get up early and work hard in the mornings then have a good meal and do easier, less demanding work in the afternoons. That was something else he might ask his guests about. If there were special ways they adapted their lifestyle to the heat.