Of course, Carson chose to prove me wrong and spent the twenty-five-minute drive between Ashland and Jacksonville screaming, even though I sat right next to him and tried to provide comfort. He was bright red and sweaty when we arrived in Jacksonville, while I was a nervous wreck of anxiety and frustration. I hated when he threw a fit in the car and I could do nothing to help him. As soon as I whisked him out of his car seat, he stopped crying and began to hiccup. Five seconds after I put him in the baby sling, he was asleep against my chest.
“Well, at least he’s sleeping now,” said Eliza, looking at him dubiously, as if wondering how such a sweet baby could make such a godawful noise.
We parked alongside the road out of town, close to where the Applegate River ran. The three of us picked our way through the woods and down the riverbank.
“This area is full of his scent,” said Tim. “Some old, some new.”
“How old?” I asked.
“Weeks.”
“He’s been lurking around my house for weeks?”
Tim shrugged. “Guess so.”
“Um. How new? The newest scent.”
“New. He’s been all over this area within the last day, which bodes well for him finding you.”
“Great. I think.”
Eliza called for us to join her over near a thick growth of manzanita trees. She gestured down river.
“How about Tim and I wait here? If I call a bit of darkness, this should be a good place to hide. And,” she tapped her wrist, “the don’t-notice-me should help.”
I turned in a circle, surveying the area. “Where should I go?”
“Somewhere out in the open, so we’ll see right away if anything approaches,” said Tim, studying our surroundings. “How about over there?”
He pointed to where the woods were clearer, tall pine trees and less underbrush, up on a hill about half a football field from the river.
“Okay. And I just sit and…wait.” I tried not to sound dubious. This was my plan, after all.
Eliza frowned. “He’ll think it’s a trap. Now that we’re actually here and looking at the area, why would Julie and Carson just sit around on a hillside? It’ll be completely obvious they’re trying to lure him out.”
“Shit.” Eliza was right and I had a stupid plan. This would never… “Wait a minute. So we make it obvious. Even more obvious, I mean. How about I go over there and start yelling? Demand he come out and face me? He might think I’m crazy—crazy-angry—but maybe he’ll be curious enough to actually come close?”
Eliza rubbed her forehead. “Tim?”
Tim nodded decisively. “It’s the best plan we have, so let’s give it a try. If this doesn’t work, Eliza and I will come back later this afternoon and hunt him down. Without you and Carson, Julie.”
“Okay. Agreed. It’s worth a shot. Off I go, then.” I walked a few steps before turning back. “Will you wait in wolf or human form?”
“Wolf,” they answered in unison.
With Carson snoozing in the sling, I walked over to the slight ridge we chose. I circled the area, winding through pine trees, blackberry bushes, and the occasional deciduous tree, until I found a spot where I could see in all directions and nothing could sneak up too close. Hopefully. The woods were silent. This early in autumn, most of the grasses and weeds were brittle yellow, bleached by the sun and lack of rainfall. The trees stood tall and dark green, littering the ground with old pine needles and cones. My steps crackled, but I reminded myself noise was okay. This was not subterfuge, after all, but rather the opposite. From my spot on the ridge, I had a clear view around me: woods, small clearings, riverbank slanting down to water. Brewer’s blackbirds, sparrows, and the occasional scrub jay flickered in the trees, the only movements I detected.
I cleared my throat and chased away self-consciousness. Facing the river, I called out, “Yoo-hoo! Hey, Werewolf!” The sound quickly swallowed by the woods, I forced myself to continue. “Get your ass out here, Were. I’m waiting for you. Hey, wolf!”
My anger started to rise with my voice. “Werewolf, get the hell out here and show yourself. What’s the matter, not brave enough to face me in daylight? You want to skulk around at nighttime and threaten me? Threaten me and my baby? Well, grow some balls, Were and meet me face to face. What’s the matter, are you afraid?”
I continued in this vein for quite some time, then had to stop and use my inhalers, trying to hold tight to my chutzpah while doing so. My throat hurt and I wondered if the Were was even close enough to hear me. I fought not to look toward Tim and Eliza’s hiding spot. Instead, I did the baby two-step and circled my staked-out territory, patting Carson on the back while he slept in ignorance, and shouted for the Were. Exasperated and out of taunts, I started to sing “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf” over and over, when, without a sound to announce him, the Were appeared. A large black wolf, his shoulder as high as my waist, eyes deep and unreadable, standing next to a Douglas fir about fifty feet from me.
Inadvertently, I stepped back, then lifted my chin and stood my ground. He remained motionless. And huge. Even bigger than I remembered.
“What’s the matter, Were,” I snapped, as much from fear as anger. “Scared of a human? Don’t have the guts to come closer and finish what you started? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
He paced slowly toward me, one foot then another. His gaze fixed on me, and as he passed through a patch of sun, I saw his eyes were dark amber lightened to honey by the rays. Honey. Strangely inappropriate thought.
Chills ran up my spine and I tried to say something else, to taunt him further—why, because I was an idiot—but couldn’t make the words form. My tongue stuck in my suddenly-dry mouth. I managed to loosen one of the arms clutching Carson and dug into my pocket frantically, grabbing for the bracelets, mine and Carson’s, as if I could somehow tie them on in the few moments while he came nearer and nearer. His ears stood alert, head slightly lowered, body taut.
I backed into a tree and stopped short with the bark pressing into me. The Were paced about twenty feet from me and I found myself wondering how much time I’d have, after he sprang. One heartbeat? Two? Enough time to duck behind the tree? I tried to keep my focus on the wolf, even as I used my peripheral vision to look for a stick, a big stick. I could hit him with a stick. Why didn’t I have a gun? With silver bullets? Or any bullets? How was I so unprepared?
Where were Tim and Eliza? Why were they waiting?
As I articulated the thought, what looked like a wind-tossed pattern of shadows sprang into the space between me and the black Were. Suddenly, I saw Tim: a gray wolf, nearly as big as the black, in true fighting stance with his head down, teeth barred, hackles high. He growled at the black wolf, a low fierce noise I felt in my chest, and he rushed to close the distance. For a moment, the black Were seemed caught between flight and fury. He made an aborted leap to the side, then crouched and lunged to meet Tim’s attack. They crashed together, snarling, and I jumped, feeling the tree bark catch in my shirt.
With the Were’s attention focused elsewhere, I tied Carson’s bracelet, then mine with shaking fingers, wishing I’d had the presence of mind earlier to fix some sort of slip knot. That done, I grabbed a stout branch I spotted earlier and brandished it. As if a branch would help. Carson stirred restlessly and I bounced up and down, hoping he wouldn’t wake up, hoping he wouldn’t change form and join this fight. No. Not this time. I held the baby sling against me with my left arm as firmly as possible, while I clutched the stick in my right.
Tim and the other wolf separated again and circled each other slowly on stiff legs. Low rumbles filled the air and then, in the blink of an eye, one of them leapt and they wrestled, a knot of fur and fury, tearing at each other with teeth and hind legs. I took half a step forward to help then stopped. Someone yipped in pain and someone barked in response. The sound shuddered through me, the snarls like aftershocks. I couldn’t tell what happened: they were a fused mass of gray and black fur in violent motion.
> When they next broke apart, Tim favored his front left leg, shifting his weight slightly in a way I thought might be a feint. The black wolf crouched low to the ground in anger, teeth barred and sharply white in the speckled sunlight. He charged Tim with a powerful thrust of his hindquarters, knocked the gray wolf off his feet and the two of them renewed their struggle.
“Come on, Tim, come on,” I said under my breath. “Come on.”
And suddenly, the two wolves were still. Tim lay frozen on his back. The black wolf had his teeth around Tim’s throat and a low growl reverberated through the silence. Tim didn’t move, very carefully didn’t move except for the rise of his furred chest as he drew in gulps of air.
Shit!
Pine needles cushioned my steps. One, two, three.
The wolves’ attention remained fixed on each other.
I raised my hand, held my breath, and threw the branch as hard as I could.
The stick hit the black wolf in the back, just as I hoped. He jumped and released his hold on Tim’s throat, then swung toward me. This close—only ten feet or so—he looked even larger, like a nightmarish hellhound, amber eyes startling in their intensity over his sharp teeth.
Tim twisted and found his feet, his fur rising in anger. Every hair on my own body stood on end in response to the Were energy spilling from the two wolves.
Carson’s eyes popped open wide. He strained to turn toward the other Weres.
“No!” I yelled. “No!”
A bark rang out. A sharp, commanding bark out of nowhere. No, from Eliza who appeared out of the midst of don’t-notice-me or called darkness, I didn’t know which. She stood three big steps to my right, with her ears and eyes pointed at the black wolf, stretched to her full height like a casting in bronze. Her tail hung behind her.
Both of the other Weres stopped in their tracks. Tim tilted his head and cocked one ear, but kept his focus carefully on his opponent. The black wolf froze, jolted out of the fight. He stepped forward, not in the direction of Tim, who he almost seemed to forget, but toward Eliza. Then he took two steps backward. His fur twitched, almost as if reacting to a fly. He lifted a foot then put it back down.
In that moment, Tim jumped, using the full force of his body weight to crash into the black wolf and bear him to the ground. Carson shrieked—a sound more eager than afraid—and struggled against me.
“No!” I grabbed him. “Dammit, Carson! Do not change!” I held his head with both of my hands, locked his gaze to mine, and hoped he understood me.
Eliza barked again and grabbed my attention. Again, she sounded, nearly a howl, and the Weres paused in their fight. This time, she took advantage of the moment and raced into the fray.
She crashed into the two other Weres, then came up crouched over Tim.
Over Tim.
Eliza barred her teeth inches from Tim’s face. One of her feet pressed on his neck. Tim looked as shocked as a wolf could look. As shocked as I felt.
After a moment, Eliza backed off and Tim rolled over, but stayed close to the ground. The black wolf stood scant feet away from the two of them. Eliza swung her head in his direction, then made a whuffing noise. The black Were stepped backward, letting out a half-whine I couldn’t interpret. Eliza approached him, nose first, but the other Were backed away from her, then turned tail and raced away down the slope. He slalomed around trees, crashed across the wide, slow river, and emerged on the opposite bank. The black wolf stood there and looked at us for a minute, then ran.
“What the hell?”
I looked at the two wolves, who just as intently studied each other.
“What the hell?” I strode over to the two of them. “Change back right now and tell me what the hell happened!”
Carson batted at my face. I didn’t know if he was playing or annoyed at my yelling, but at least he didn’t turn into a wolf. I jiggled him and stared at my two friends.
A shimmer of darkness licked the area, faded, and left Tim kneeling on the ground with his hands on his legs. He stared at Eliza. After clearing his throat, he spoke in a voice that sent chills up my spine because of—not despite—its mildness.
“Eliza. Explain.”
The buff wolf stood there a moment longer, then resolved through shadow into Eliza. She straightened her shoulders and pushed her ponytail behind her, where it hung as precise as usual. She looked at Tim first, then me.
When she spoke, she addressed her fellow Were first. “Sorry about that, Tim.”
Tim’s eyebrows rose.
She continued. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
“No, you weren’t.” Funny, how the words of agreement instead sounded like a threat.
“Eliza?” Desperation tinged my voice and I winced.
Eliza closed her eyes for a moment, then sank cross-legged to the ground. After a shared glance, Tim and I followed suit. I let Carson out of the sling and sat him on a mat of pine needles, where he proceeded to bounce up excitedly for a moment, before slowly folding into a taco. I propped him up against my leg.
“That’s Tony.”
“The Were?” Tim asked.
“Who’s Tony?” I said, at the same time.
“Tony Blythe. Dave’s older brother.”
“Dave Blythe? You mean, that Dave?” None of it made sense to me. The pack council had put Dave to death after we discovered his involvement with the mafia and the murder of Werewolves.
“Yes, that Dave.”
“And that was Tony? His brother? The one who went wolf? Five years ago, after their parents died?” I asked.
“Yes.” Eliza looked at me intently. “I thought it was. When I first scented him, I thought it was him—but it had been so long—no one even knew if he was still alive—and…”
“So he’s pack. That Were was part of your pack,” Tim said. His voice warmed slightly.
“Yes.”
I nodded, putting it all together. “Conflict of loyalty. Pack versus friends.”
“Yes. No. You have my loyalty, Julie. You and Carson. And you are my pack. And,” she gestured widely, “I’m part of this team, all of us together. But…I just had to be sure.” Her voice dropped so the last sentence was barely audible. To my human ears, anyway.
“Tony must know his younger brother was executed by the council. And he wants revenge. Because we’re the ones who caught Dave and turned him over. Because it was my fault,” I said, slowly.
“But you weren’t at fault,” said Eliza. “Or, at least, not any more than me or Tim or Sheila or…the council, really. They decided to put him to death.”
“Yeah, but Tony’s not going after the council, is he?” I said. I rubbed my face, weary beyond belief. “It was my fault.” I raised a hand to stop Eliza from interrupting. “Okay, our fault. We should have seen it coming. We should have been able to stop Dave—to make him understand…”
“Dave made his choices and no one else can take responsibility for them,” said Tim.
“But he was a pup. Just a pup! Only seventeen. Blame our pack, if anyone. We failed him.” Eliza’s voice shook with raw anguish and she blinked, hard. I reached over to grab her hand.
“Yes, he was a pup, but his actions caused the deaths of two Weres, the suffering of more, and the perverted deaths of many humans.” Tim counted off the crimes on his fingers.
“Um, Julie.” Eliza nodded at Carson.
“Oh, shit,” I said, and scooped pine needles out of my baby’s mouth. “Here,” I said, popping in his pacifier instead, so he could continue to play with the needles without choking to death.
“Anyway,” Eliza shook her head, “I guess it doesn’t matter now. Tony’s decided to take revenge on Julie—or perhaps all of us.”
“I don’t…I still don’t understand, though. If he’s been prowling around here for weeks, he had plenty of opportunities,” I made a wide gesture with my hands, “to kill me. Plus, just now, he ran away.”
“Outnumbered,” said Tim.
“I don’t understand it either, Ju
lie,” admitted Eliza. “That’s why I hoped I was wrong. Hoped for another explanation.”
“I know. I understand,” I said and hoped she sensed my full apology for all her recent behavior.
She smiled in return—a real smile—and I knew she felt forgiven.
Chapter Eleven
Minds whirling, we headed back to the car. I sank into my thoughts while Tim called the pack council, and Eliza called Lily Rose, pack Full. Tim finished first and started driving.
“Lily was not happy,” Eliza said, after ending the call.
“Sounds like an understatement from the part of the conversation I heard,” I said.
“First Dave, now Tony—she thinks we’re airing pack dirty laundry to the whole council. Proving we can’t police our own at the same time.”
“Is she…going to get in trouble?”
“Trouble from the council? No. But it’s possible some young hotshot Were might think she’s weak and try to move into Greybull, take over the pack.”
“Does that happen often?”
“Not too often. Unless a pack gets a reputation for weakness.”
I turned that over in my mind for a minute. “How strong is Lily, anyway? Stronger than you, I guess, or else you’d be Full?”
“If I wanted to try for it,” Eliza said and flashed a grin. “Frankly, I’m not sure if she’s stronger or not. We’ve never dueled—not for real, anyway. I’m not interested in being Full right now, though. Maybe later.”
I wondered what she thought about in the space before she continued.
“Anyway, Lily’s quite strong. Most full moon Weres would have a hard time taking her.”
“Julie?” Tim broke into our conversation. “Could you call Sheila and update her?”
“Oh, sure.” I punched speed dial.
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