Ashes To Ashes (Wolf Guard Book 2)

by Roxanne Lee

  I continued my sprint almost casually, it served to make a mockery of the wolves behind me all by itself. No one likes to be the loser to someone who's not even full wolf - it's caused me no end of battles from over eager females trying to prove their animal's worth. Ty and I were not pack, learning early the price of weakness, and so we’d nurtured the beast’s wrath, worked on that survival instinct until it thrived in glorious vitality. I could crush every wolf in that pack with only determination and the will to do so. I find as my failures mount, I am more determined with each awakening dawn.

  I felt the connection to my brother light up, one we forced as infants before our animals even broke the surface. It's faint and it's weak because of our lack of blood relation and missing full sized pack to strengthen the link, but it's there. Through it I feel his amusement at my slow pace and the faint sense of safety he sends as clearly as possible. He'd arrived as predicted at the hill and now I needed to lose my trackers. The snarling wolves behind me claw deep into the ice packed soil as their feet pound harder to catch me. I dropped back for one moment, teasing them further, before I made a break for the boundary line. I got to it an even mile before them and ducked through the trees before pouncing over the border and back again, stretching my legs to their fullest and unleashing my true speed. I kept behind the tree line, hiding between barren bushes and leafless shrubs - the only time I was rather pleased about my short stature. It wasn’t the greatest plan I'd ever had but I hoped they'd assume they'd chased me straight over that line. I'd stay to see whether they decided a search was necessary but there was no way to hide my scent without Ty to block it.

  I ran a loping circle back towards the point we’d separated. The hill was in the opposite direction and I'd have to get back to the start before following the path that he took. I reached the tree that he'd hidden behind quickly enough and had time to rub my heated body against it, covering his from being detectable to any searching wolves. I tilted my head in the direction of the wind, listening for thuds hitting the hard soil. When nothing close by hit my ears I started my run again, slow and quiet over the twigs that littered the floor. Every so often I stopped to listen, checking my surroundings for wolves lurking in the shadows of old oak trees. I doubted they'd managed to follow but I'd continue to be careful - there’s a lot to be said for the over cautious.

  I made decent time and saw him peeking out of the tiny cave at the base of the hill. A curved and hollowed space that was just large enough for two people to comfortably lay down in and long enough to be several feet away from the entrance. Covered in foliage come summer, the entrance was more visible now in its stripped bare state, but still shrouded enough by branches for a passing glance. It was a decent enough hiding spot, with Ty's ability we didn't really need to be worried - pack wolves relied too heavily on just their sense of smell.

  "Have fun?"

  His question wasn't really needed as he could probably tell from the smile on my face. "I did," I grinned back at him.

  "Made some food on the old camp heater we left, grab some quickly before we take a look."

  I nodded at him and squeezed past to see what he'd made, only to be disappointed. Mini sausages and beans. I sighed at him as he looked at me innocently - he was just one giant kid. I took the pan anyway and grabbed one of the spoons, there was a small stream nearby that we'd use to wash, it was damn cold in winter but better than nothing and comfort was something easily forgotten in time.

  Ty grinned at me as I ate, I had no doubt he was waiting for me to admit that it wasn't half bad - he'd be waiting a long ass time for that. I ignored him while he passed me a bottle of water and I dropped the empty pan for the bottle.

  "I had a quick look while you were playing with those wolves, they still haven't noticed the break in the outside wall and we can get to the same position as usual."

  I smiled, happy with their ineptness. We'd been here before, several times actually. Usually because the Alpha had refused us help yet again and we’d needed answers we were adamant he had. We were here not too long ago, five years or so that had gone so quickly it seemed only months. Sneaking and crawling our way through the mud to get to the pack house, to that window for his office that looked out on the woods to the rear of the building. We'd asked for help but he'd refused as usual, another body had been added to the pile and this one had been on so called pack land - land that he should have been interested in.

  Stella had been an utter bitch, without remorse and without any morals. One more issue with that certain empath and I'd have killed the woman myself, but as it turned out, I hadn't needed to. Still, the wounds on her body had looked awfully familiar, so close to claw marks I'd seen way too often before. In light of the Alpha's indifference we'd hid out in this cave for weeks, each day staking out the window to his office, hiding in the mud from the forest. We'd caught the moment that warrior had entered. Tall and built in a mountain's image, gruff and weather beaten from several centuries seasons. A wolf older than I'd seen for a long time, one more dangerous than I'd seen since childhood. A rough and slightly demented wolf, red hair and light brogue that spoke of Highland origins.

  That wolf had been a burning memory for a while now, one I couldn't shake, one I knew had answers for me. It was also one that the Alpha had quite obviously feared and as much as I believe in my own ability, it was one I knew I'd need help to get near.

  Chapter 4

  "C'mere, who are yer?"

  Shit.

  I grabbed Ty's arm and we both stilled at the gruff voice that had broken our silent creeping. We'd moved swiftly and noiselessly through the break in the wall, avoiding brittle sticks and rustling leaves with a patience learned from years of sneaking, an art-form of avoiding detection. It seems we'd been so utterly focused on moving forward that somehow, we'd missed the wolf creeping up behind us and now, my heart thrummed in a panicked rhythm that matched the small beads of sweat that beat a fast pace along the skin at my neck. I shut my eyes to calm the furious pounding, stupidity burning brightly behind the lids. Perhaps we’d become lax in our execution, there was no way they’d smelt us - Ty was an expert at blocking that scent. We had however been walking against the wind and I took the full hit for not ensuring our back was covered properly.

  The night was dark and clouded, the moon's pearlescent shade peeking out from huge billows of white and grey. It was barely eight o'clock and yet it had already been dark for nearly three hours. We'd sat for a while in that cave, watching the sun pass overhead and sink into the darkening distance like a burning stone in oily waters. It was cold in the shadows we walked through, a stinging cold that at once chilled yet heated the blood to rush to the surface. We still felt those icy prickles with our burning temperatures, they just took a lot longer to freeze the core of us.

  A low growl proceeded a louder shout. "'Ere, are yer feckin' deaf? Who are yer?"

  Ty let out a snort and a cough, a poor attempt at keeping his laugh in - he just about gave me palpitations with his lack of self preservation. I slapped a hand across his mouth and turned towards the voice that had an unmistakable Irish accent.

  He was without doubt a wolf. Tall and well built with a broadness across his shoulders that advertised the strength his arms would hold. His light, burnished brown hair and emerald eyes were a combination not seen often and that sparkling gaze was full of mischievous query. His rough face was half covered in a matching, copper glinted, brown beard that was shorn an inch from his skin and small creases at his eyes showed a wolf that had reached full maturity before finding his immortality.

  I winced a little as Ty grabbed my arm and tugged me behind him. He let out a threatening growl as his buried animal rushed to the surface, a tensing of muscles that rippled and surged, fine hairs that appeared in waves across his hands. I touched my palm to his back and whispered low words for him to calm. Soothing the beast that demanded in angry, rumbling tones.

  The man in front of us faced Ty, a tiny twitch of amusement to his lips but a so
lid stance remained as if constantly ready to shift. We'd ended up in some weird stand off and I could only attempt to change the inevitable messy outcome by calming both males. My own wolf was relatively quiet, she'd taken a look and made a huffing sound as she turned her back on the scene before her. She'd certainly enjoy getting her claws out and showing these men how to act properly but she had no time for posturing.

  I pointed to both of us,"I'm Sash, this is Ty." I rushed out the remainder - I was surprised enough that he hadn't already tried to take a bite out of one of us. "We're not here to hurt anyone, we just need some help."

  The wolf turned bright, green eyes on me and I shifted uncomfortably beneath them. He had a decent amount of power emanating from him, it pulsed like vibrations in the air and pulled and pushed at me as if he couldn't quite decide whether or not to show it off. And those eyes, well, they were just plain creepy when he focused so intently.

  He flicked that gaze to Ty and a tiny smile curved up one half of his mouth. "Dat's a purty name, lad."

  Ty roared, an affronted sound that I knew full well was his way of pushing the man's wolf to respond. He got nothing in return but another tiny smile and I marveled at the stranger's control of the animal within.

  "Yer want tae growl at me again? Let wolfie out tae play, see what yer made of."

  "More than you, Irish." Ty's face had turned brittle and hard, shadows darkening his cheekbones as the animal shifted and clawed inside. I pulled at his arm and turned him around to face me. He was nowhere near calm enough to be cautious with this wolf. Something stirred inside him, something substantial and tenacious that hid behind paper thin walls, cracking under the pressure of challenge.

  I held his stare for several minutes, urging him silently to leash that beast. He took great pulls of air and I patted his arm gently as his eyes turned from vibrant to human. He had great control normally - something about this man was seriously setting him off. I turned my eyes back to the pack wolf and nodded to him, both to continue and as a warning to not needle my brother again. I'd take a few hits and forgive but he was perilously close to forcing an instinct I couldn’t contain.

  "Name’s Conall." His gaze swept over Ty and I again before settling once more on me. "If I tought yer were here tae hurt folks, your head wouldn't still be attached." His rather manic grin made a queasy feeling start in my stomach. "So, what are wolves dat aren't pack wolves, doin' on pack land?"

  His question seeded that uncomfortable burn until I remained frozen in position, wary of each and every small movement. Options started to fly around my brain, preferably ones that didn't involve killing him out right - I'd rather not leave bodies scattered behind me like a trail of poor choices. Too much death had sunk in already. Bloody hand prints and faceless ghosts, the scenes that sink into your mind and refuse expulsion like progressive rust on worn metal. That was very much me right now - worn and run down and tired of blood. Even the beast within, a normally vicious animal, was almost lackluster when hunting. "We need to speak to the new Alpha."

  His smile was nothing but sly as it grew beneath the short but thick beard hiding his jaw. "Yer look awful sneaky wit' your creepin' around. Perhaps next time, yer could use the front door?"

  I sighed again. I pretty much had nothing to say that would make this look any better so either I took his head or I went with some truth. The more I felt his wavering, pulsing power, the more I thought taking this strange wolf's head wouldn't turn out to be all that easy. "The last Alpha wasn't particularly accommodating."

  He snorted inelegantly, "Dat piss poor wolf was no Alpha."

  I grinned at him, the evening was starting to improve. "We thought we'd take a look at the new guy before wasting our time, see if he turns out the same way.

  Conall chuckled broadly,"Oh, wouldn't worry 'bout dat, tink a couple of misfits be quite happy wit' the new one. You're a bit early though, won't be here fer a few days yet."

  I groaned, I'd have to stay in that tiny cave with only Ty to annoy the crap out of me. Michael and Sarah’s house was like the worst kind of crime scene and I refused to spend a night staring at the ceiling with images of the people they’d been staring back at me. Our funds were rather low considering our general vagrant status and the job we’d left to come back to this town. I looked at Ty and shrugged, there was nothing for it but to leave and try and find somewhere dry for the night. Conall might not be chasing us out of the territory but I doubt he'd allow us to knowingly stay hidden on this land.

  "Yer can stay in the pack house, if yer want."

  I turned startled eyes to his - that was an offer I thought I'd never hear from any wolf's lips. "I don't think the pack would like that."

  Conall grinned and his eyes became more warm than unsettling."Tink the pack doan't have much choice now do they? Unless of course, they want tae disagree wit' me."

  He unleashed some of that control that wavered around him. The resulting ebb of power very nearly forced my head to bow and I caught that awful movement just in time. I screwed my eyes up at him, he was a lot more than he flaunted. I could understand the need to hide, I'd lived a life of camouflage, wrapping misted fog around the empath and pushing the animal to the forefront. Draping my own ebbing wave with illusions of weakness, a clouded shroud of muted silk to hide the shining gold within. The wolves here though, were already well aware of what I was and not a single one was happy about it. We lived on the outside barely taking a peek through the iron bars every now and then, the very bottom of this rusted ladder. If only they knew what they so easily cast aside.

  Conall was new though, we'd grown up in this town and I don’t remember this green eyed wolf, perhaps he didn't know yet. "It would cause problems, they know we're different."

  He raised a thick eyebrow, "What? 'Cos you're a feeder? They can't handle dat they need tae feckin' grow a pair." The emerald green lightened for a moment, sparkling and heavy with mirth; the man remembering something funny he wasn't planning on sharing.

  I had a moment of speechless staring, a little bit of awe taking over brain. I'd heard the stories of the Emerald Isle, more magic in that land than all the continents put together. Perhaps it's not the first time he's met someone like me, in fact I'm sure there's probably a lot worse in existence over there. "So the Alpha, he'll be okay with it?"

  Conall roared with laughter, a booming sound that seemed to echo all the way to that hill and back. His eyes flashed brightly and he shook his head at me. "Feck no! But it'll be highly amusin' fer me."

  Chapter 5

  Blood red rivers ran freely across the trail. A clear pathway he’d left in his wake. I ran that red path just as quickly, with just as much nonchalance, as he did. I would not be distracted by the dead he’d thrown at my oncoming steps - he should know I was the wrong wolf for that kind of play.

  Had he always been the enemy?

  Always been this betrayer?

  How long had he lived this lie? Fooling so many of us, fooling me. The man I called brother.

  I imagine it was supposed to hurt more than it did. Perhaps sink into my soul and leave a heavy, aching lump to swallow around. Instead I felt rather empty, a little bit hollow in the space that he used to fill - that space originally made for a family I didn’t remember. It seemed odd that the man that smiled so much, as if everything amused him, could be hiding such villainy. Hiding behind that wide smile he threw at everyone around him. I’ll not trust such a consistently happy persona again.

  I chased him further through the blooming trees. Ancient oaks and wild flowers only just beginning their cycle for the changing season.Wolf caught sight of his prey every so often, little flickers of red hair clashing with the budding green around him. Large shoulders at nearly seven foot in height swerving unnaturally fluidly around the staggered trunks. He was rather good at this game - he played at being the rabbit while Wolf hunted him down.

  He’d distracted my original plans of meeting the pack first. Run across my path in wolf form until I’d dismissed the belong
ings I’d been carrying and fell head first into instinct. I probably should have stilled for a moment, taken more time to think about his motives. But Wolf had decided we were chasing, and that was the end of the discussion. I allowed him more control than usual, simply because the animal felt more betrayed than I did. I felt rage for his actions, anger the moment I saw Sam’s body lifeless on his bedroom floor. Seething hate for the man who had taken my demons and given them Arya to destroy. Those feelings were momentary though, a whistle on the wind compared to this emptiness I now felt. It was as if he’d been ripped from my memories as quickly as he took a life, forgotten as friend and replaced by a driving urge to slay, to put him down like any other dog that had bitten it’s master. Maybe this was my malfunction - some misfire in the brain that caused such lack of conscience, or perhaps it was just the semblance of trust he’d inspired - not quite enough to truly fool the animal that made up half of my soul.

  Duncan moved faster ahead of me, his feet a blur between the smaller, younger saplings. I followed his burst of speed with one of my own, Wolf hungry with the idea of the final catch, a little ferocious in his growl of excitement. We were nearing the town, the forest slowly melting away to grass and tiny shrubs, the moon more clearly shown as her face beat down to highlight the traitor. How she moves to ensure his capture, how she lights the darkness to show me the way.