The Golden Claw

by K A Faul

  Linh pursed her lips and shook her head. “Let’s be real, Mina.”

  “Be real? I’m always real, but most people call it being a bitch.”

  “You’re not into anyone around you because of your fetish.”

  Mina’s face heated. “I don’t have any fetish.”

  “Bullshit. I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t have a faerie fetish.”

  Mina groaned and fell back onto the couch. “I regret ever telling you about it. It’s not a fetish. I’ve just had a few dreams about faeries.”

  “A few? You’ve been having these dreams for years. And it’s not like you’ve ever met one.”

  “Maybe I’ll meet one when I’m in Esper,” Mina muttered.

  “I bet you’d like that,” Linh said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

  “Quiet, you. I don’t have any sort of faerie fetish, and having dreams isn’t the same thing as having sexy dreams. None of the dreams I’ve had are remotely sexy. It’s just like there’s a guy there, and I feel like I should be talking with him.” She threw up a hand. “It’s obviously just a trick my mind is playing.”

  “A trick of your mind?”

  “Yeah, I’m a damn werewolf. So things like shape-changing animals aren’t exotic enough.”

  “What does being exotic have to do with it?”

  Mina waved her hand. “It’s what the faeries represent. You’ve told me yourself you’ve had more than a few white guys come on to you because they wanted to date an Asian chick.”

  Linh frowned. “Oh, I see what you mean… I think.”

  “The point is, being a shifter isn’t enough, so I’ve latched onto faeries because they are exotic and different, even by the standard of supernaturals. They aren’t just bloodsucking humans or humans with special powers or whatever.” Mina sat up again and nodded to herself, satisfied. “I have to admit I’m a bit freaked about having to go through Esper, more than I’m letting my dad or Thomas know.”

  “Because of the faeries?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I just keep having this weird feeling. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m a hick who grew up in a hick town. I’ve barely left Golden Oaks. I’ve never even been to Seattle or Portland. So I guess I’m just a bit worried about being out of my element.”

  Linh shrugged. “I’ve not been as far as a lot of Messengers, let alone Far Callers who go to Esper, but I’ve been all over the Pacific Northwest. People are people. And people, supernatural or otherwise, in Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver aren’t that different from people in Golden Oaks.” She furrowed her brow. “Well, people here seem to like country music more than people in Seattle, but you know what I mean.”

  Mina let out a long sigh. “This must sound all pathetic, and after I gave all those big speeches to Thomas and my dad.”

  “Hey, if you can’t whine to your best friend, who can you whine to?”

  “Maybe it’s more about today’s exercise.”

  “What about it? The hunting thing?”

  “I’m just freaked out about having to kill something in wolf form. I’ve never killed anything before. Well, bugs, but nothing big.”

  Linh furrowed her brow. “I thought you had.”

  “Nah, I just kind of like to make people think I have so they won’t bother me about it.”

  “Yeah, you wolves are big on that sort of thing, but in a way, it’s a little more honest.” Linh leaned back, hummed for a moment, then started singing.

  It took Mina a few seconds to recognize the lyrics to “Circle of Life” from The Lion King. She picked up the throw pillow Linh had launched at her earlier and sent it sailing at her friend.

  Linh frowned. “What?”

  “You’re pitchy. You need some Auto-Tune.”

  They both burst out laughing.

  “Maybe I’ll eat some rats in raven form tomorrow,” Linh said. “You know, for solidarity?”

  “Really?”

  “No. Of course not.” Linh laughed.

  Mina snickered. “Sometimes you’re such a bitch.”

  Chapter 5

  A pinecone crunched underneath Mina’s boot as she stepped into the forest. The comforting weight of the preservation amulet hidden under her shirt pressed against her chest.

  A bird tweeted above on a nearby branch. She looked up to stare at it for a second. Curious. That was what the bird was, or at least, what she thought it was. The bird flapped away, its curiosity sated.

  Mina shook her head, wondering why she thought she could tell what was going on in a bird’s head. Walking through the forest must have been messing with her, or maybe it was her concerns over Sean.

  Another five minutes brought her to a clearing. Thomas and Garett waited there. The beta wore a mask of impatience. Garett, in contrast, was looking off in the distance and picking his nose.

  Classy as always, Garett.

  Thomas looked her way but apparently wasn’t suspicious enough to ask why she was wearing a jacket when it was so much warmer than the day before. Or maybe he didn’t want to deal with a smart-ass response.

  Mina was disappointed. She’d gone through the trouble of preparing four different sassy answers. Nothing like delivering a few snark bombs and distracting someone at the same time.

  She glanced over at Garett. The man glared back at her, now more concerned with her presence. Yeah, it was going to be such a fun afternoon.

  Thomas might have been uptight, but at least he wasn’t a straight-up asshole like Garett. Some wolves tried too hard to live up to stereotypes.

  Mina half-expected that if Garett could have his way, he’d be running around in a leather jacket selling meth while robbing bars with some painfully on-the-nose MC name like “Sons of the Wolf.”

  Her gaze dipped down. Of course, she was in a leather jacket. She snickered.

  “What’s so funny?” Garett asked.

  “Anything. Everything. Anyway, good afternoon, gentlemen.” Mina grinned. “I’m glad you can join me today for this glorious afternoon of munching on only the freshest venison in southwest Washington.”

  Thomas sighed and shook his head. It wasn’t like he could complain about her feigning excitement for the afternoon’s task.

  “Easy enough exercise today,” he said. “We hunt down a deer as a pack in wolf form.” He pointed at Mina. “And, yes, you must make the kill and eat your fill in wolf form. If you don’t, it’ll be a failed exercise, and I’ll make you repeat it every day until you do.”

  “No problems here.” Mina shrugged. “Easiest thing in the world. Well, it’d be easier to roll up to the Gold Burger drive-thru window, but this is the next easiest thing. Well, maybe twentieth next easiest thing.”

  Garett snorted. “Keep talking. We shouldn’t even have had to do this. You should have already made a kill by now. Pathetic, and you call yourself a wolf.”

  “Mostly, I call myself Mina, but maybe I just prefer beef, asshole. It’s not like we’re going to go to some farmer’s place to rip out Old Bessie’s throat.”

  “You love talking, don’t you, Mina? Think you’re so damn smart.”

  “I know it’s hard for you to concentrate on putting more than a few words together instead of grunts, Garett, and so you’re jealous. But, yes, I do love talking.”

  Garett sneered. “You’re so damn soft. And it’s gonna be obvious on your Rite.”

  “Oh, I’m soft now? Because, what? I’m a woman? Is that your problem? Or you think my dad didn’t kick my ass enough?”

  Thomas pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mina, Garett, we don’t have time for this.”

  “Yeah, we don’t,” Garett said. A vicious grin appeared on his face. “And, no, I don’t give a crap about you having tits or being a spoiled little princess. I’m just saying, you got one brother who was such a pussy, he disappeared after his Rite, and another who is a Never. Hard not to grow up soft with those kinds of examples. You’re pretty much destined for failure. Maybe it’d be better if you were a Nev
er just like your pathetic brother.”

  “Garett, don’t,” Thomas said, his voice full of not-so-veiled warning.

  Mina’s heart kicked up, and she curled her hands into fists. She glared daggers at Garett, trying to figure out how she could take him out without Thomas getting involved. Maybe he would let him go at his packmate and chock it up to a combat exercise. There was nothing that was going to stop her from kicking Garett’s ass.

  A loud gunshot rang out, the bullet slamming into the ground right next to Garett.

  Okay, so there was one thing.

  The sound knocked Mina’s rage right out of her. Instinct blasted through her instead. She dropped into a crouch and rushed for the cover of a tree trunk. Garett and Thomas did the same.

  Her head jerked back and forth as she tried to pick out the shooter. She wondered if she could shift without taking fire. Maybe they’d only run into some idiots who mistook them for deer.

  “Sorry!” a familiar voice yelled out from high up in a nearby tree.

  Mina took a deep breath and looked up. Linh perched, in human form, atop the branches of a tall pine. A pistol hung loosely in her hand, and a dark grin decorated her face.

  “I was just cleaning my Glock,” Linh said. “Guess I wasn’t practicing good firearm safety. I’m sure Darius would be annoyed. Again, sorry.” She lifted her hands in a placating gesture.

  It took Mina’s brain a few seconds to realize that Linh had purposefully shot at a werewolf for talking shit about her family. Even if the raven missed on purpose, that was a big deal, and her mentor Darius would have a few choice loud words on the subject. Even Mina wouldn’t try a stunt like that, even if it wouldn’t have resulted in permanent injury.

  Mina tilted her head. Then again, a little bullet or two wouldn’t be that bad. It would probably hurt less than shifting. A werewolf would heal from a normal bullet quickly enough.

  “What the hell?” Garett yelled. “You crazy raven bitch! What do you think you were doing, shooting at me?”

  Linh dropped from the branch, her form contorting into a huge raven. She grabbed the gun with her talons and fluttered down to the ground before becoming a young woman again. An armed young woman.

  “I thought I explained that, Garett,” Linh said, nodding toward the gun with a bright smile on her face. “I was cleaning my gun. Didn’t check the chamber and all that. Blah, blah. Negligent discharge. Again, super sorry about that.”

  “You were cleaning your gun in a tree? And you just happened to shoot right at me? You expect me to believe that?”

  “I didn’t even hit you, you big baby. I don’t really care if you believe it. I guess you’re lucky I wasn’t cleaning my rifle. You should see it, big, nice sniper rifle. I think you could pick off a guy through a wall with that thing.”

  Garett let out a low growl. “Why do you even need a sniper rifle to deliver messages, raven?”

  Linh slipped her Glock back into a shoulder holster. “It’s a very dangerous world out there, wolf. Besides, what are you even whining about? It’s not like I carry any gold-plated bullets. It’d be pretty darn hard for me to kill you with a shot from a teeny little gun like my pistol.” She laughed. “It’d be pretty pathetic if a wolf died from getting shot once with a Glock.”

  Mina was tall and broad for a woman, an artifact of her werewolf heritage, and Garett was large even for a werewolf, having a good head on her. When he stepped forward, he towered over the tiny Linh.

  “I’m going to pound that smug look off your face, you raven bitch,” Garett growled.

  Mina sprinted toward them, shoving her way between Linh and Garett. “You lay one hand on her, and I’ll tear you apart, asshole.”

  Garett sneered. “I’d love to see you try, princess. I’m going to teach you to keep your mouth shut.”

  Mina took several deep breaths, her gaze flicking to weak points: knee, throat, groin. He wouldn’t be able to shift quickly enough to gain an advantage. If she could get him down, she could choke or knock him out. She doubted Garett had his beta Thomas’s speed.

  Wonder if he thinks he should be Sheriff Storm’s beta instead of Thomas. Probably. Thank Rogan their alpha values brains more than brawn.

  “Everyone, shut up,” Thomas bellowed, his voice echoing through the forest.

  All three of the other shifters snapped their attention to Thomas.

  “Nguyen,” Thomas said. “Get the hell out of here. Your friend has a training exercise. Mina, keep your mouth shut for five seconds, and Garett, don’t say anything else. You’re here to help train a wolf for her Rite of Passage, not offer your damned opinions on anything.”

  Garett’s eyes narrowed. “You gonna let that raven bitch get away with shooting me?”

  “I do want to point out that I didn’t shoot him,” Linh offered. “I shot at him. Accidently.” She shrugged as Thomas glared at her again.

  The beta squared his shoulders and stepped up to Garett.

  Mina amused herself with the thought that maybe Thomas would fight Garett. She doubted two packmates would go at it in front of her, let alone Linh, but a girl could dream.

  “I think that she didn’t hit you,” Thomas said, “and we don’t need pack trouble with Darius or the Pacific Wing. So you can control your anger for now.”

  “So we’re acting like chickenshits because of some birds now?” Garett snorted. “This is Golden Claw territory, not Pacific Wing territory.”

  Thomas ignored him for the moment, focusing on Linh. “I’ll make sure Garett and I forget about you shooting at him,” he said, his voice full of barely controlled anger. “But don’t let it happen again. I don’t care how justified you think you are. Next time I won’t be so understanding. Am I clear, Nguyen?”

  “Crystal,” Linh said. She gave him a mock salute and trudged off. She offered Mina a wave. “Good luck on killing Bambi’s mom.”

  Mina groaned. “You had to use that example?”

  No one spoke for a good minute. Instead, only a few nearby birds pushed away the silence.

  “This isn’t over, Mina,” Garett said. “You can’t always hide behind—”

  Thomas grabbed his shirt. “Will you shut up already?”

  Garett brushed the other man’s hand off. “What’s crawled up your ass?”

  “I ask myself that a lot,” Mina muttered. “Everyday.”

  Thomas shook his head. “Okay, fine, Garett. Go march to the king and tell him what you just told Mina about her brother. Or go tell our alpha. Let’s see how they like it. I’m sure that will end well for you.”

  Garett grunted.

  “Your job is to help me train the king’s daughter,” Thomas said. “It’s a freaking honor, even if she’s a pain in the ass.”

  Mina managed to not laugh aloud.

  Garett’s face twitched.

  “If you can’t handle it,” Thomas said, “go to the alpha and tell him. Tell him you couldn’t handle training because Mina and Nguyen keep saying things that make you lose control.” He leaned toward the other wolf. “Wolves need control. That’s what I’m trying to teach her, but you’re not helping.”

  Mina crossed her arms. It was taking all her self-control not to add a few choice amusing observations on the situation, but she understood that Linh had crossed a dangerous line. Though Mina had planned to cross that line herself, so she had trouble getting that worked up about it.

  “I’m not apologizing,” Garett mumbled. “To either of them.”

  “I don’t want you to,” Thomas said. “I just want you to shut the hell up unless it involves us killing a deer.”

  “Fine by me,” Mina added.

  “You need to keep your mouth under control, too.”

  “I didn’t insult his family.”

  They locked gazes.

  “I wasn’t asking,” Thomas hissed. “I was telling.”

  Mina sighed and shrugged.

  Thomas kicked a nearby tree trunk. “If you two can control yourself for five seconds, then we’ll
do the damn exercise. Keep in mind, Garett, if she fails, it’s our shame as well, and we can both go to the alpha and explain why we’re such screw-ups.”

  “Whatever,” Garett mumbled.

  “Now both of you shift already. We have a deer to hunt.”

  Thomas took a deep breath and then dropped to his knees and arms, his skin already stretching and his limbs bending in a shift.

  Garett locked eyes with Mina, and she winked at him.

  “Don’t worry, Garett. I’m about to go through a half minute of pain. Just imagine you’re delivering it.”

  The sick smile that spread over his face made Mina’s stomach tighten.

  Once he began his shift, Mina followed. She wondered if they even noticed she didn’t take off her clothes.

  Chapter 6

  The three wolves padded through the forest, trying to catch the scent of a deer. Smaller animals, like rabbits, wouldn’t be enough for the group.

  A strong pine scent filled Mina’s nostrils. Quick movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she snapped her head toward the source, some lizard scurrying up a tree. The faint calls of birds reached her ears. She could make out the faintest shadow of a chipmunk far ahead and the hiss of a snake.

  On two legs, the forest often looked or sounded empty. On four, even the smallest animal or movement demanded her attention. Long-buried instinct boiled up to the surface.

  The forest was never empty. The trees held more life than any normal human could ever appreciate, a delicate dance of plants and animals, predator and prey.

  Mina growl snorted. If she hadn’t been in wolf form, she might have broken into “Circle of Life” like Linh had. She’d tried a lot of different times to sing in wolf form, and there was nothing sadder to hear than the pained howling of a werewolf trying to carry a tune without a decent human voice box.

  Maybe if she had a group willing to experiment, they could accomplish something. She filed that idea away for the future.