Wolf's Echo (My Winter Wolf, #2)

by Arizona Tape

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened to me.”

  “It’s always the same with you,” she snapped accusingly. The hurt resounded in her voice, pain carving harsh lines in the words she uttered. “I don’t know why I keep trying.” She stormed out of the cave, the ivy rustling a goodbye as she left me behind.

  “Wait!” I ran after the woman, hoping to catch her before she disappeared. Why was Ashleigh so mad? What did we do that she was so mad I couldn’t remember it? And why didn’t she give me a chance to explain?

  This wasn’t the patient and soft-mannered Ashleigh I knew, but what had I done to chase her away into the wall of trees. Wait. Trees? Were we back in the forest again? Had I come here? Out of my own will?

  I chased the figure in the white dress, stumbling over my own feet, my knees hit the damp ground. Pain shot through my leg, but I ignored it. I briefly registered I was just cladded in some rags, but I ignored the state of my clothes. I dug my fingers into the ground, the dark soil staining my white skin. With gritted teeth, I clawed myself out up from the forest floor, out of the pools of mud. I wasn’t going to let her go, not without an explanation.

  My mate grew smaller and smaller with every moment, as if she wasn’t affected by the darkness, by the wind tugging on my arms, the leaves whispering barely legible words in my ear, the forest’s false promises.

  Determined not to let the Aladwin forest get to me, I pressed my palms to my ears. The silence was only short-lived and the brief respite didn’t make any difference to my elevated heartbeat. A sudden cramp shot through my head, the pain thundering between my ears. Like a hammer to the skull, threatening to smash me to pieces, the agony rampaged through my head. What was happening to me?

  “Ashleigh?” I screamed into the forest, searching for the raven-haired woman. A storm was brewing in my veins, a panic racing through my senses. Where was she? “Hello?”

  The wind answered my plea with a gust of leaves dancing around my cold legs. The trees groaned, the thick roof of branches swallowing any rays of faint sunlight trying to reach the cold ground. Unease settled over me and crept under my skin. I didn’t like being in the forest by myself, not anymore. Where was my mate? “Ash?”

  A cold chill ran over my spine, the sensation of a thousands eyes prickling into my back. Was I not alone? Was someone watching me, trailing my every move, waiting for me to let my guard down. “Ashleigh!” I called out, the panic in my voice betraying just how spooked I was.

  Had the Aladwin forest always been this scary and intimidating, this dark and alive? And why was I only noticing it now?

  A branch cracked and from the corners of my eyes, I caught a flash of white dress. “Ash?”

  With ragged breath, I approached the figure hiding in the shadows of the forest, my heartbeat thundering in my throat with the anticipation and fear of what I’d find.

  “Boo!”

  Shock shot through me, lighting up every sensor, every age-old reflex I had. Fists at the ready, cold sweat pouring down my back, I tensed, prepared for a fight with whatever scared me.

  “Relax, it’s just me!” Chesca sang, tickling my side with a long leaf.

  “Fuck, you scared me.” A breath of relief filled my chest, the pounding of my heart ebbing from my ears. Even if it wasn’t Ashleigh, I was happy to see a familiar face and not another Coyote hunter. Darren was convinced we shook them off our trail, but I wasn’t so sure. Misery had a way of finding me and it didn’t seem like it was over. Not yet.

  “Where’s your little friend?” The puma smiled.

  “I... I told her to go ahead,” I lied, not entirely sure why I wasn’t telling her the truth. Maybe I didn’t fully trust her yet or maybe it was the devious glint in her eyes, the glimmer she tried to keep hidden.

  “Why are you lying to me, Akira?” Chesca gave me her most innocent face but it didn’t shake the underlying threat in her voice.

  “I’m not lying.”

  “You didn’t tell Ashleigh to go ahead. She left, didn’t she?”

  I glanced around, hoping to catch a glimmer of my mate, but it seemed like I was really on my own with Chesca. Maybe lying wasn’t the best thing to do after all. “Yes, she left. And I don’t know why.”

  “Tell me? Maybe I can help.” The young woman found herself a mossy patch on a fallen tree. She ignored the maggots and rotten bark, not blinking an eye as she patted the seat next to her. “Sit.”

  Remembering what happened to me the last time I was alone with the Puma, I wasn’t too keen on sitting down with her, but maybe it was best not to anger her. I’d seen what happened when she got mad and I didn’t want to bring that on myself. Not in the middle of nowhere with none of my other friends to protect me.

  “Tell me everything.” Chesca brushed some of my hair past my ear and I tried not to shiver from her touch. It felt wrong for her to do something so intimate, but I couldn’t exactly protest.

  “I’m not too sure... I remember looking at Aspen and hiding behind Ashleigh, then it all goes blank. I woke up in this random cave, barely wearing anything, with her curled against me. She said something about a Lily, but I don’t know who that is. I really don’t.” I wanted to be telling Ashleigh this, to convince her I really had no idea what was going on.

  “I believe you,” Chesca smiled.

  “She didn’t, I tried to explain, I really did, but next thing I know, she’s storming off. I followed her out here, but the forest is so thick.. So thick... I lost track of her and now here I am.”

  “I see,” she noted, amusement twinkling in her eyes. “Poor you. Poor little Akira.”

  “Err... What?”

  She ignored my question and brushed her fingers across my cheek. “I think I know what happened.”

  “How could you, you weren’t here?”

  “I know a lot more than you think.”

  Somehow, that sounded more like a threat than a reassurance. Maybe she was really trying to comfort me and my mistrust would really ruin that effort. I pushed the tainted thoughts to the back of my mind, focusing on the fact that I wasn’t alone in the forest. Even Chesca was better than being on my own. At least, I hoped so.

  “Do you know the way back?” I asked, hoping she didn’t catch how strained my voice was.

  “Back? We have so much more to discuss.”

  “Do we?” I shuffled back and forth, the moss wet under me. I really wished I had something to dress myself with apart from the rags clinging to me.

  “Of course, we do, silly!”

  “Right...” I fingered the hole in my torn dress, rubbing circles on the fabric to soothe my wandering mind. I really wanted the panic to settle so I could think clearly again. To figure out how I could get out of the forest and away from the devilish Puma. Despite what she said, I didn’t trust her and with every passing moment, I felt more and more uneased. I wanted to find Ashleigh and make sure she was okay, to explain that I didn’t meant to make her mad. That I... That I cared for her.

  “I know who Lily is.”

  “What?” I paused to stare at the young woman next to me. Was she lying? How could she possibly know? “How?”

  “Do you remember your great-grandparents?”

  “No, they died before I was born. But what do they have to do with me? They were before my time. And yours too.”

  Chesca chuckled mysteriously. “I’m older than I look.”

  “Right...” Not in the mood to argue with insanity, I ignored her last comment. “I don’t see why it matters though?”

  “Your great-grandmother’s name was Lily.”

  Her words triggered a memory of my grandfather talking about his mother and it put a face to the name. I frowned. “Huh. You’re right, she was. But how do you know that?”

  “I knew her when she was around your age.”

  I laughed. “Impossible.”

  “I’ve lived for a long time.” A sly smile danced around her lips. “Lily was my friend and she was a beautiful, charcoal wolf, just a s
hade lighter than Ashleigh.”

  “Okay... Say, if I believe you, what does that have to do with me?”

  “Think about it, Akira. Maybe you can’t remember what happened during your shift because they’re not your memories to keep.”

  Chapter 8. Rage

  “AKIRA!” ASPEN’S VOICE echoed through the forest and he leapt through a bush of thorns. “Get away from her!”

  “Aspen?” What was he doing here?

  Without wasting a moment, the man jumped between me and the Puma, his broad shoulders flexing protectively. “Get behind me.”

  Just his presence made the forest a lot less scary even if he wasn’t the twin I was looking for. Despite his shouting, his eyes seemed a little brighter than before. I pulled his arm down, not wanting to set off another fight. “We were just talking, it’s all okay.”

  “Are you sure?” he growled, his hard muscles tensed under his skin.

  I curled my fingers deeper into his shoulder and nodded. “Yes, we’re good.”

  It took him a couple more seconds before he budged, but he wasn’t any less wound up. “Okay then... But I’m keeping an eye on you, Chesca.”

  “Akira!” Another figure appeared from the treeline and the woman I’d been looking for fell through the nettles. “There you are!”

  Relieved to see her, I stumbled away from my two previous companions, gladly removing myself from their staring contest. The mud thudded under my bare feet as I ran towards Ashleigh, her embrace warm and safe.

  “I was so scared,” she whispered, her arms so tight it felt like she never wanted to let go.

  “Scared? Why?”

  “Of you being alone with Chesca. I rushed back as soon as I realised.”

  I studied the expression on her face, the worry swimming in her clouded blue eyes. She looked genuinely distressed, but that really was on her. She left me in the middle of the forest. I wurmed out of her embrace, ignoring how much I really wanted to be held by her.

  “You’re the one that left me here. I was lucky Chesca showed up.” I hadn’t meant to sound so accusational, but the words fell from my lips before I could stop them.

  “I’m sorry, I was just upset...”

  “Yes, I figured. I was really scared.” I stepped away from her warmth, new emotions washing over me. Now that I no longer needed to be afraid, my other feelings made themselves known. Annoyance. Confusion. Worry. Betrayal. If it hadn’t been for Chesca, who knew what would have happened. Where I’d ended up, who I’d run into. A stray Coyote, looking for a quick flash of revenge. A mercenary from the North, looking for a young woman to warm his bed. I could’ve ended up kidnapped, strangled, or dead. All because she ran away.

  An anger I didn’t realise I held, welled up in my stomach, the ashes of a deep seated rage smouldering deep inside of me. Fists balled, muscles tensed, a fire wreaking havoc through my veins.

  “Akira, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry isn’t good enough,” I growled, my words coated with a bitterness that wasn’t just mine. There was an annoyance, an irritation to my voice that I couldn’t explain. I didn’t want to be angry at Ashleigh, I didn’t mean to slap her with guilt, but the frustration rampaging through my chest said otherwise.

  “Akira, settle down.” Aspen reached out to me, trying to calm me down but I wouldn’t have any of that.

  “Don’t you dare,” I snapped, a strange power filling my body. An unnatural force trembled through my arms, through every cell of my being, every fibre of my existence. With every passing second, the ball of fire burning in my stomach grew bigger, hotter, stronger. It boiled and coiled around my inside, taking me and all my other senses prisoner to the sensation.

  “What’s happening?” Chesca asked, her voice barely audible even if she was standing right in front of me.

  “I-I don’t know,” Aspen replied, his words just a murmur.

  “Is she okay?” I read Ashleigh’s words from her lips, any sounds overtaken by the vibrations shaking through my head. Voices I didn’t know, didn’t understand whispered things to me. Wishes they never got to see granted, desires that fueled their lives, hopes they carried to their grave.

  The wind grasped my hair, the breeze cold against my skin. The multitude of voices grew louder, their whispers more insistent than before. The innocence fell from their desires, the hunger and greed no longer concealed by promises and requests. The cries thundered through my head, their darkness uncurling with every curse, every spat of hatred, every wish of doom.

  “Akira? Akira?” I recognised my name falling from Ashleigh’s lips, her face contorted in concern and worry. The sentiment should’ve filled me with warmth, with hope and joy, but the dark voices poisoned her words.

  I brought up my balled fists, my hands shaking uncontrollably. In horror, I watched my own hands reach out to the beautiful woman in front of me, my fingers unfurling into stretched out palms. Befuddled, my mate stumbled backwards as I shoved her away, my body moving on its own accord. The voices egged on the flecks of resentment I carried within me, like wind to an ember. The flames of hatred licked the walls of my guarded heart, the darkness spreading through me like wildfire.

  A bone-chilling howl boomed through me and I stared at my spirit animal, at the panic displayed on her snout and in her deep eyes. The spooked wolf glared back at me, her expression unlike any I’d seen on her. A single tear rolled into the snow-white fur, a silver flicker of disappointment. The voices silenced, a single moment of respite in the oasis of tainted wishes. My wolf stared at me, my own green eyes reflected back at me through the mirror of the lake. An unfamiliar sensation washed over me and the animal blinked. The voices crashed back over me, their selfish and desperate desires filling my head and heart.

  I reached out to my wolf, to my protector, my guardian. She’d been with me for as long as I’d lived, helped me through every obstacle, every experience with pain and loneliness. I needed her now, to save me from the foreign voices, from the unexplainable darkness raging through my chest. From the twisted thoughts I was having towards the people I cared about.

  A low growl emanated from my wolf, her eyes flashing open as I stared into my soul. The emerald green eyes I knew so well were gone. Instead, I found myself faced with an unexpected blackness, dark and twisted like the night, a wild and traitorous sea. Black eyes instead of green. Eyes like Aspen’s.

  Chapter 9. Beautiful

  “Akira?”

  “Is she still breathing?”

  “What can we do?”

  “Check her pulse again.”

  “Do we need help?”

  “Who would help us?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Stop it.”

  “I’m just trying to help.”

  “Be quiet.”

  “You be quiet.”

  “Akira?”

  “Hang on.”

  “What?”

  “Wait.”

  “She’s waking up.”

  “Akira?”

  “Can you hear me?”

  “Akira?”

  “Give her some space.”

  “Let me see.”

  “Akira.”

  The tangled voices and sentences uncurled from the unintelligible mumble they were. Painstakingly slow, the world came back to me. Sound by sound, smell by smell. The dance of colours brought shapes and curves to my vision and drew images I recognised. People I knew.

  “A-Ashleigh?” I groaned, my tongue shrieking dry. A soft pulsating hammered through my skull, but it wasn’t as bad as the pounding from before. Warm hands caressed my arms, the gentle touch a soothing contrast to the harsh pain.

  “I’m here, it’s okay. I’m here.”

  “What happened?” I shook the last of the dizziness away and the world returned to my eyes. A golden field, the faintest rays of sun, and seven faces I recognised. When did Danny and her men get here?

  I smacked my chapped lips. “Water?”

  “Here, give the poor girl a drink.” Da
nny pushed Darren towards the heap of backpacks, concern drawn on her face. The clear sound of water teased my senses and I wetted my lips. Greedily, I accepted the cup and gulped the water down. As the liquid lavished my tongue, I realised just how much I was craving a drink. The cold water snaked little rivers down my chin and the drops pearled on my collarbone.

  “More?” I held out the wooden mug, needily. Darren refilled my cup and even quicker than before, I lessened the insatiable thirst until my stomach strained with the volume of water.

  “Better?” Ashleigh asked. The fabric of her sleeve was nice against my wetted skin and I leant into her touch.

  “I think so?” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to recall what happened. Memories of anger and flashes of rage bubbled up to the front of my mind, thoughts which scared me just as much as before. Afraid, I shoved them back to my subconscious, terrified of what they’d do to me. What they’d try to make me do.

  My gaze travelled from Ashleigh to Aspen and another memory bubbled to the surface. My wolf.

  Frantically, I called upon my spirit animal, my heart pounding in my skull. I was afraid of what I’d seen, of what I would find in her eyes. The white beast ran right up to the invisible walls of her cage, her breath ragged in her throat. I willed her eyes to open and braced myself for what I’d find.

  Green. Endless, emerald green. I studied the animal’s eyes, searching for that same darkness that I found earlier, the possession I recognised from Aspen.

  “Akira? You okay?”

  Despite nothing being out of the ordinary, I didn’t trust it was all okay. I knew what I saw and I didn’t want to be captive to it. Not after I knew what it had done to Aspen. What it was still doing to him.

  “I feel a bit... sick,” I admitted, the world spinning as I pushed myself up from the dry field. Ashleigh caught me before the swaying got too much and I leant against her frame for support.

  “I’m sorry about earlier, I never should’ve left you alone,” she whispered, the regret heavy in her voice.