“Whisper? Are we cool?”
She let out another long sigh and looked up at him. She knew she should just leave things at that, but she couldn’t help herself. She had to ask him the question burning in her mind. “Just tell me one thing. Were you late to our meeting today because of Violet?”
He let out a long groan, and Whisper felt her heart sinking. She could already tell by his reaction that the answer was yes.
“Yes. But it’s not what you think.”
“What is it, then?”
“She showed up at my house just as I was leaving, sobbing and saying she didn’t see how she was supposed to carry on after losing both her parents and me.”
“She…lost you? Did she ever, um, have you?”
Axel snorted. “No. That’s the thing. Maybe I was an idiot and accidentally led her on when she spent the whole night at my house talking to me. But never once did I tell her there was anything between us. Never once did I touch her in a romantic way. I’ve told her from the beginning that this is strictly friendship. But she’s convinced somehow that we were dating and I’m now breaking up with her. It took me almost an hour to get her to calm down enough that I could leave her and get to this meeting without her following me. And trust me, no one wanted her anywhere near this poison-making meeting. She’s convinced that the resistance is a bad idea, and I wouldn’t have put it past her to try to sabotage our poison making efforts.”
“Wow. Really? That’s kind of crazy. Why would anyone try to sabotage the resistance?”
Axel shrugged. “She’s afraid that we’re only going to make the Gilt Hollow soldiers angrier. I guess I can see where her fear is coming from, but I don’t care how angry the soldiers get. I’m going to fight them down until Bear Hollow is free or I’m dead. I think you and I are on the same page about that.”
“Yeah, definitely.” Whisper shifted awkwardly from one foot to another. She was starting to calm down a bit now, and she felt foolish for the way she had cried and been upset about Violet. She looked back up at him and forced a bright smile on her face. “We’re definitely on the same page. So maybe we can both just forget about this whole Violet situation and concentrate on finishing our fairytassel sage mission?”
Axel nodded slowly. “I think that’s a good idea. So, are we cool?”
Whisper smiled, a bit more genuinely this time. “Yes. We’re cool.”
Axel smiled too then. “Good. And I really am sorry about being late. No matter what the reason, I know it inconvenienced both you and Oskar.”
“It’s okay. I know now you didn’t mean to.”
Axel shrugged. “Still. I’m sure it was annoying. But anyway, now that we’re good, will you come have a beer with your brother and me?”
Whisper was tempted, but she truly was tired. Besides, she didn’t feel like facing her brother with puffy red eyes from crying. Oskar would want an explanation. So she just shook her head. “If you don’t mind, I might go take a nap before work tonight. And no offense, but you look like maybe you should do the same.”
Axel laughed. “Fair enough. But I will have a quick beer with Oskar. He deserves a cold one after putting up with both of us today.”
Whisper nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you later tonight then.” She was already feeling better. She had acted like a crazy, jealous fool, but he’d been patient with her. That was a good sign. She needed to relax. They had been friends for so long, and this rough spot wasn’t going to change that.
“Come here, you,” Axel said, and pulled her into a big bear hug. He mussed up her hair, just like he used to when they were younger. Whisper used to hate it when he did that, because she would spend so much time trying to make her hair look good and then he would mess it all up in a few seconds. But today she didn’t care. She already looked like a tired mess anyway, but even if she hadn’t, she was just glad that everything between Axel and her was on good terms.
She closed her eyes for a moment, relishing how good his strong arms felt around her, and breathing in his woodsy scent. She disagreed with him about now not being a good time to start a relationship. She thought that now, more than ever, they could use love in their lives. But she wasn’t going to push things. After this mission was over, maybe she’d try to explore her new, deeper feelings a bit more. But right now, she needed to concentrate on getting the fairytassel sage poison over to Gilt Hollow and doing her part for the resistance. She had to remind herself that there would be plenty of time after the mission was over to talk to Axel.
As he finally broke off their hug, she gave him a brave smile. “I’ll see you later then.”
“Yup,” He mussed her hair once more. “Now go get some rest. I need you to be awake for bartending later.”
And then, to her utmost surprise and delight, he leaned forward and planted a kiss on the top her head. He meant it only as a friendly gesture, she was sure. But she still couldn’t help but feel a thrill at the fact that he had kissed her. She managed to maintain her composure, smiling demurely at him before turning to go. And that’s when she saw Violet.
“Uh-oh. We’re not alone, Axel.”
Violet was storming toward them, her face an angry, deep purple. Axel sighed, and gave Whisper a little push on the small of her back.
“Go ahead and go home. I’ll deal with her. But you probably don’t want to be around to witness this. It’s not going to be pretty.”
Whisper didn’t need to be told twice. She had no interest in seeing or talking to Violet right now, and she trusted Axel. He wouldn’t lie to her, and if he’d told her that he had no interest in Violet she believed him. So she broke into a run, getting as far away from Violet as she could as fast as she could. The last thing she wanted right now was to get tangled up in a cat fight.
As she ran, she heard Violet’s shrill voice, yelling at Axel and demanding that he tell her what he’d been up to, and why he’d been hugging and kissing Whisper. Whisper rolled her eyes, running even faster. That girl was impossible, but perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing. Whisper had no doubts now that Axel wasn’t interested in Violet. Axel would never be into someone so clingy and demanding.
Which meant he was still wide open and available, if only he could see what was right in front of him.
Whisper let out a long sigh. She was going to have to make sure that he saw. She had to get past all her timid mental hang ups and show him that the two of them could be pretty great together. And she had to hope that he would be willing to give the girl who’d always been like a little sister to him the chance to be so much more.
Chapter Eight
Axel double checked the supplies in his backpack, making sure that the vials of fairytassel sage poison were safely packed. He had already checked a half-dozen times, and he knew that one more check wasn’t going to make much of a difference. But his nerves were more on edge now than they’d ever been, and checking his bag for the zillionth time somehow made him feel better.
He was standing near the tunnel entrance with Whisper, who seemed about a thousand times calmer than he felt. The fact that she was acting so calm only irritated him, which set his nerves more on edge. He felt as though he should be stepping up to lead and take charge on this mission, but right now she was acting like more of a leader than him.
Get it together, Ax, he chided himself.
But he hadn’t had it together for several days now. He’d been in a weird mood ever since Violet had confronted him outside of Bear Hollow Brews, accusing him of dating Whisper in secret. Axel had exploded in anger, telling Violet off for the last time. At least, he hoped it was the last time. Violet had been annoyingly persistent in her quest to date him, but even she seemed to have backed off after he’d lost his temper. He’d told her once again that he didn’t want to date her, and then he’d told her that she wasn’t welcome around the bar until she stopped her ridiculous game of trying to trick him into spending hours and hours with her every night. He was sorry for the loss of her parents. Truly, he was. But he didn’t
like the way she was using their deaths as a tool to manipulate him.
Violet seemed to have gotten the message. She hadn’t been around the bar since then, and Axel almost felt bad. He had never forbidden a shifter from coming to the bar before, but he felt that his hand had been forced. He’d had to take drastic action, and it seemed it had worked. Violet had given up, and was leaving him alone.
So why did Axel still feel so unsettled?
He had a feeling that his uneasy feelings had a lot to do with Whisper. His best friend’s little sister had slowly become so much more to him. He had meant it when he said she was even closer of a friend to him than Oskar now. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a rush of desire when he’d hugged her and kissed her head outside the bar before Violet stormed over. But what was he supposed to do with his newfound feelings for Whisper? If he told her how much he wanted her, and she didn’t want him back, things would get so awkward. And he couldn’t allow awkwardness now. They needed to be on top of their game to finish this fairytassel sage mission and stop the Gilt Hollow soldiers.
“Got everything?” Whisper asked, breaking into his thoughts. She was watching him check his bag with an expression somewhere between amused and annoyed. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he zipped his bag shut and stood up.
“It’s all in there. It’s important to be sure, though.”
“Mmmhmm.” She didn’t have to say more than that. They both knew he was a ball of nerves right now. But she didn’t know that it was because of her, and not the mission.
“Come on. Let’s get this show on the road.” Axel stood tall and took charge. He would lead this thing. He would show Whisper how comfortable he was being on the front lines of the resistance. And maybe, just maybe, he’d manage to impress her a little bit.
Whisper followed him without another word as he began pushing away the brush that hid the tunnel’s entrance from view. Axel felt a rush of excitement fill him as he caught a first glimpse of the door handle for the tunnel’s entrance. He’d heard so much about this tunnel, and he had been eager to see it for himself. The tunnel had been built over the course of years by the shifters who lived in Gilt Hollow and worked for the Gilt Hollow resistance. It hadn’t been easy, and many had said it could never be done. The tunnel had to cross deep in the earth, underneath the Golden Claw River. The naysayers had underestimated the superhuman strength and determination of shifters, because a little less than a year ago, the tunnel had been completed. Over the last winter, the tunnel had been used to secretly bring emergency food supplies to the Bear Hollow shifters. Now, it would be used to bring fairytassel sage poison to the shifters living in Gilt Hollow.
After looking around one more time to make sure no one had followed them, Axel turned the handle and opened the door to the tunnel. He motioned Whisper inside, then checked one more time to make sure no one was around before closing the door behind him. Once again, he was being overly cautious. But the last thing he wanted was for some Gilt Hollow soldier to see him and follow him into the tunnel. If that happened, Axel would be forced to fight and kill the soldier right here in the middle of this tiny space.
And it was a tiny space. There wasn’t enough room for two people to walk side by side, at least not comfortably. The narrow walls seemed to close in on Axel, and he took a few deep breaths to remind himself that the tunnel was safe. The shifters from Gilt Hollow had made dozens of trips back and forth through here and had lived to tell about it. They also had a few experts on their side who had checked the tunnel and determined it was strong and stable. Still, walking in an underground space this small, knowing that a river raged above you, wasn’t exactly Axel’s idea of fun.
Whisper must have been nervous, too, because she slowed her pace and felt along the walls as though checking for weak spots. Not that it would have mattered much if they found one. Within a minute or two, they were deep enough in the tunnel that escape would have been impossible. They had no choice but to trudge on and hope that everything worked out.
But to Axel’s surprise, the trip across the tunnel went much faster than expected. Before he knew it, they had reached the door on the other side that led into the Gilt Hollow forest.
“You ready?” he asked Whisper. She nodded at him, her face looking strange in the long shadows cast by his headlamp.
“Okay, then let’s do this. Remember the plan. Exit the tunnel and get away from the entrance as quickly as possible. There should be a path within a few yards of the tunnel. We follow that path to the east, staying within the trees lining the path so that no patrolling soldiers see us. Otto or another of the Gilt Hollow shifters will be watching for us, and will reveal themselves when we get close to them. Until then, we keep walking.”
Whisper nodded, a nervous expression still plastered across her face. “And if a soldier does see us, we run like hell.”
“Yup. We have to avoid being caught at all costs. Even if it means we have to ditch the fairytassel sage poison. We can always make more poison, but if the soldiers catch us over here, they’ll kill us.”
Axel tried to sound calmer than he felt. He’d been in dangerous situations before, but this time was different. This time it wasn’t just his life he was worried about, it was Whisper’s life too. If the soldiers caught them, she would be killed. And he couldn’t bear the thought of that. He would protect her at all costs, even if it meant using himself as a distraction to draw the soldiers away from her. He would happily sacrifice himself a hundred times over for her sake, and he hoped that if they came across soldiers an attempt at distraction would work. More than that, he hoped he wouldn’t have to find out.
The penalty for Bear Hollow citizens coming to Gilt Hollow without authorization had always been death, and the Gilt Hollow soldiers had proven time after time that they weren’t afraid to enforce that penalty. Axel would rather not give them another chance to prove it tonight.
“Ready?” he asked, his hand already on the handle for the tunnel door that would lead them out into Gilt Hollow.
“Ready,” Whisper confirmed.
Axel turned the door handle and pushed. A rush of cool night air hit him, and he instantly felt awake. He hadn’t realized how stuffy the air in the tunnel had been until the fresh air hit him, and he gulped in several lungfulls of it. Beside him, he could hear Whisper doing the same thing. Even as he was breathing in deeply, he was covering the outside of the tunnel door. He had turned his headlamp off, as had Whisper, and as soon as the door was hidden by brush again, they would sneak away from here. The less time spent by the door the better. He didn’t want to lead any soldiers to this spot.
Thankfully, the forest seemed quiet. When he was satisfied that the tunnel entrance was sufficiently hidden, he motioned to Whisper and they walked away from the tunnel. They quickly found the path that Otto had mentioned to them. After crossing the path so that they were on the opposite side from the river, which gave them more room to run if someone from Gilt Hollow saw them, they started walking east. They stayed just off the path and in the trees, and Axel let Whisper go ahead of him so that he could keep an eye on her. If they were attacked from the rear, he wanted to be the one who had to fend off the attack. He always acted protective of his friends, but tonight his protective instincts toward Whisper seemed to be in overdrive mode.
He had a bad feeling that they would run across unexpected trouble tonight. He didn’t know where that feeling was coming from, as he had never been the superstitious type. But he couldn’t shake it, and he kept a sharp eye out for any sign of soldiers.
The two of them had been walking about fifteen minutes when he heard a soft whistle in the woods ahead, and a smile broke across his face.
“That’ll be them,” he whispered before answering back in a soft whistle of his own, to acknowledge that he had heard the whistle. A few moments later, a dark figure emerged from the forest to his right.
“It’s me, Otto,” the figure said, before pulling back the black ski mask he’d been wearing.
“Damn, is it good to see your face.”
Otto pulled Axel into a big hug, slapping him on the back a few times for emphasis. He gave Whisper a gentler but still robust hug, and then motioned behind him. “Come on. Leo is here, too, and he has food for you guys, if you’re hungry.”
Axel grinned and nodded. He was hungry, because he’d been far too nervous to eat any dinner tonight. The only thing he’d put in his stomach was a pint of beer before he closed the bar early so that he and Whisper could complete this mission. But even if he hadn’t been hungry, he wouldn’t have turned down a chance to eat food from Gilt Hollow. The shifters here had access to rich, expensive food that everyone in Bear Hollow could only dream of. Over the winter, Axel had enjoyed indulging in the delicacies that the shifters from Gilt Hollow had brought across the tunnel. But once the weather had warmed and the threat of starvation had been over, the shifters had decided that sneaking back and forth across the tunnel every week was too dangerous. Axel understood, of course. But damn it if he hadn’t missed indulging in tender steaks, expensive cheeses, and sweet cakes.
He was going to indulge tonight. He glanced at Whisper and saw that she looked just as excited as he felt. She met his eyes and grinned, then licked her lips for emphasis. Axel chuckled. His apprehension from earlier disappeared as he followed Otto deeper into the forest. He’d been so worked up about everything that could go wrong, but at this point it seemed like they were going to get away with this. Otto had told him that the Gilt Hollow soldiers patrolled the main paths frequently, but rarely strayed into the woods. That would have required too much effort on the soldiers’ part, and luckily for the shifters, the soldiers tended to be lazy.
When Axel saw the spread of food that Otto and Leo had brought along for them, he definitely forgot all of his worries about the soldiers. Otto had provided steak, just as Axel had hoped. There was also bread, cheese, backed potatoes, wine and a giant cake.
The Warrior and the Snow Leopard (The Shifter Games Book 4) Page 7