“I didn’t see any wolves when I tried to scry the area,” I said. “Though I got a sense they’d been here. That could just be the family from Coniston visiting. Or they could be hiding, warded. I don’t know. We’ll sniff around, come back and get some rest, go to Coniston in the morning.”
“Unless we do pick up trails,” Andrew said.
“If you get trails, same as last night finding the Traeths. We want to know where they’re going, where we can find them, then back off. The last thing we want is a sudden encounter out here in the dark. We just need to find them. Okay?”
“Jay and I stay with you tonight,” Kage said, shirt in his hands.
“What?”
“You bunked with them last night—” Jerking his head.
“Hold up, mate,” Andrew snapped. “Already changed back and forth this evening. I’m not doing it again to curl up on a cold caravan floor.”
“Then stay in skin and curl up,” Kage said.
“You’ll already be in fur. Why would you change back just for the bed and the rest of us have to put on fur—?”
“Change now and you won’t have to bother—”
“That’s enough.” I rubbed my forehead. “We don’t need to figure this out right now. Let’s do what we’re up here for and find some wolves. One thing at a time.” I started off, flashlight in hand, Zar and Jed at my sides.
The others scrambled to grab lights or jackets and follow. Or change and follow as the case may be.
Turned out, keeping close together was a lost cause. After being cooped up for the trip all day, Kage, Jason, and Jed tore ahead and around us, checking the trails and leaping the odd beck or dry stone wall in the dark. All three did stay close as far as checking in, but it was a far more relaxed nighttime stroll up here on the hiking paths and sheep pastures than it had been last night finding our way to the driveway of the Traeth Pack.
I remained uneasy, that sense of oppression still leaning in like a gradually shutting door. Yet even I was able to take a deep breath up here in the cool, damp night air as the wolves dashed around after scents, Kage and Jason played, chasing each other, and the rest of us did remain close, a few flashlights in hand, keeping an eye out in all directions.
At first, Zar walked beside me. Once we left the dark road to follow a footpath across a field and up a long slope toward the distant passes and ancient Roman road, I hesitated and encouraged him to go on. I was having such trouble seeing the path and sticking to a safe walkway, even with a flashlight, I was slowing us down.
Zar went ahead so I could follow, his own vision sharp, while Isaac walked with me and Andrew trailed.
Jason zoomed past, Kage pounding after. Jason swerved, Kage darted in and tripped him, and both sprawled out of sight in the pitted, irregular sheep field. There was a scuffle, then Kage flashed by, crossing my path and the light’s beam, Jason right on his heels. They vanished into the darkness, speeding off to our left.
Also at my left, Isaac was tense. I reached for his arm, having to keep my gaze to the rough trail. I slid my left hand down to his right, squeezing.
“It’s okay,” I murmured. “They need the exercise. They’ll still do their jobs.”
He said nothing but returned the pressure and continued holding my hand as we walked.
Jed loped past, up into the hills, along a rocky ridge, down a slope, doubling back, air and ground scenting, high and low.
We crossed a beck, wound our way down to another road, crossed a stone bridge, and paused while all three in fur crisscrossed the roads, lanes, and paths heading in all directions. The bridge did interest them, but not tremendously.
Zar translated. “Old track.”
I’d already suspected as much. A hint of wolves through here, old and faint, nothing they could follow to a front door.
Were we simply not close enough to their regular running places yet, or had they left the area like the Greys and gone into hiding?
A beam of light flashed over the beck. Jason pounced at it, slamming his forepaws into icy water, biting into the spray, then bounding away up the bank. Kage ran after him. They jumped a dry stone wall, kicking off the top, and tore through the next field.
Jed trotted across the bridge and up the road to the right. He paused to sniff along a stand of heather, then went on up the center of the road. We followed until he also jumped the dry stone wall and vanished.
Zar scouted for us. There was no stile, but Jed was continuing up the slope anyway. We followed on the road until a gate—that was indicated to us by the lithe, inky black form of Jason slipping through it. It seemed he’d popped like a phantom right from the stones until we spotted the wood rails of it. His eyes glowed green and vivid as tiny headlights in the flashlight’s beam.
Kage jumped the gate—just because he could—and, either deliberately or because he thought Jason would have moved on and not been standing there, landed right on top of him. This sparked a fight and me running forward.
“Shhh—hey, hush—”
Sure enough, though it was only thirty seconds of noise, a dog was barking from one of the valley farms by the time they fell silent. All the wolves oriented, watching the valley as the steady, sharp sound of an alert bark reached us. A second dog joined in.
Jason lay on his back, yet clasped Kage’s whole muzzle in his jaws, literally holding his nose this time. The eloquence of the position was not lost on me. Fur bristling, they both also rolled their eyes and pricked their ears to the valley behind us.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed.
Jason wagged his tail across the damp earth.
Kage rolled his eyes up to me, pulling his face free from Jason, and tried to lick my cheek. I was already stepping back.
They returned through the gate, where Jed was waiting, and Isaac opened it for the rest of us. Andrew kept a watch behind to see if any lights were coming on at the farm. Gate shut, we all hurried up a now nonexistent trail.
Chapter 5
The air felt damp and country rather than “wild” if that makes sense. Smells of grass and mud and sheep. The ground was slick with recent rain, all of which, the air, the stone walls, the lanes, the thought of rain, brought Peter back.
That sense of unease, even a lurking doom still hung about me. Yet it was no more or less strong than it had been in the past twenty-four hours. It had not totally let up since I’d picked up the voicemails from Melanie at Kage and Jason’s place two nights ago. I suspected it would not let up again. Not until we found these murderers.
With Kage and Jason settled and ambling companionably around the sheep field, hunting scents, we climbed uphill—steadily and briskly. I was gasping by the time we reached a peak that must have a stunning view of the Duddon Valley in daylight.
The moon was hidden by clouds, yet visible, richly yellow while it made the long strips of cloud glow like a lampshade. A damp breeze rippled through the bracken up here. It would have made me shiver, but, sweating from the climb, I was grateful for it, turning my face into the wind, unzipping my jacket. The smell of sheep droppings was strangely welcome. I was glad we were in the country now—not in the wilderness. Even hearing the distant bleating of sheep in the night was a comfort.
Sheep, some of the flightiest domestic animals ever, would not be standing about chewing their cud if a murderous wolf pack made a habit of pillaging through these parts. True, we were a wolf pack, but we were downwind of them and even Kage had the sense to go out of his way to avoid getting close. Just another quiet September night on the fells.
Zar trailed Jed. “Just an old scent? Is it worth following?”
While Andrew watched the moon behind the clouds and Isaac took my hand again. I leaned into him. Aside from the flight back to London, it seemed I’d hardly seen him in several days. Was this my life now? Balancing these relationships? Did being close with one always mean another pushed to the sidelines?
I couldn’t bear the idea of someone always verge in this pack. Was it t
he best one could do in this sort of relationship?
I took in a lungful of the cool breeze, let it out, and turned my face into his chest to inhale him instead.
What would be best would be all polyamorous relationships being bisexual: everyone always had someone, group activities optional and fluctuating. No one ever neglected. Or, in our case, it might make a handy fix to have multiple Cassias.
On the other hand … I suspected I wouldn’t be able to get along with myself. Then we’d have a whole new set of problems. I was too self-righteous, for one thing. And far too judgmental. I didn’t care for either trait in other people. Besides, I’d been such an emotional basket case lately I’d probably drive me nuts. I also admired people who were fearless in the face of spiders; plus possessed outstanding decision-making skills—rather than dithering or paralyzed by fear of making the wrong choice.
No … there were things I liked, even admired, about Cassia, but it seemed unlikely we’d get along all that well.
Isaac smelled reassuringly familiar, even with my feeble nose having to be right on him. How would it be to know who someone was by a whiff of their hand on a doorknob from a day before? They could even tell someone’s mood or affect by scent. It made me proud of them, so blessed to be a part of this family, yet wistful, again, that I could never know the four-footed side of it all myself.
Zar was arguing with Jed about where we were going. Kage and Jason also seemed interested in this old trail now. Maybe not so old?
I thought I heard the faintest whisper from Andrew in Lucannis. A prayer to Moon, perhaps. Or maybe he was having a word with Sarah. I used to do that constantly after my mom, then Nana, died. I still do now and then—have a quick word, tell them about something that happened, ask for help.
Isaac kissed my hair, waiting with me while Zar sorted out our next move with the furred ones. Zar seemed to be considering changing to join them so he would know what they’d found.
I let the flashlight dangle from the wrist strap and twisted both my hands into Isaac’s, facing him, silent. If they had something we should go on. If they didn’t, we should go back. Still breathless from the climb, now taking many soul-deep breaths with love to cling to, I didn’t care how long it took Zar to make a decision for us.
The wind picked up. Everyone fell silent, either listening or sticking their noses into the breeze. I couldn’t see with my face against Isaac’s chest.
“Feel like you’re dreaming?” he whispered to me.
I snorted, turned my face sideways, and grinned in the dark, eyes still shut on his shirt. He hadn’t even bothered with a jacket. Just as Andrew seemed able to take any heat, Isaac never seemed troubled by the cold.
“I wish I were dreaming with you,” I whispered back.
That smile, almost laughing, made me feel so much better, lighter, pulling away some of the black tendrils dragging me down from the night before last, it seemed I could float away and search the fells myself like a bird. But I wouldn’t have anyway. I’d rather be with them.
“Hum,” I added just as softly. “Hum for me and I’ll see if I can spot any wolves out here in a scry.”
Isaac hummed, filling my ear against his chest with a rich, delightful sound.
Still the wind whipped around us. The wolves were scenting, scrying with their noses. “Reading the night” Isaac had said. I imagined words twisting from the wind like calligraphy while I embraced the wind spirit and called on her magic for my scry.
Isaac hummed one of their ballads while I looked around with my eyes closed. I saw us on the fell, four upright, three in fur, the black fell peaks and the golden clouds. I looked for a strange wolf and saw only those dark fells rolling away from us in three directions.
The wolves in fur were whining. They couldn’t hear that humming, maybe even the wind, and not ache to sing. Zar hushed them.
There was something … pressing. Something that wouldn’t give when I looked. Yet I didn’t know what I was looking for to get any more specific than that. A magical pushback that made me want to stop.
I shut my third eye. The vision clamp? I’d protected myself. Yet … something still trying to stop me.
“We should go back.” I sighed.
Isaac fell silent, pressing both my hands in his while I leaned into him.
The others could be growing irritated by this sight. I stepped back, going to just one hand on his. The chill wind flashed across my face and I felt my pockets for a ponytail tie as my hair went with it.
“I don’t see any wolves out here. If they’re not picking anything up, we’d better go back. We still have Coniston to try tomorrow.”
Jed stepped forward, a dark bulk in the night even in the flashlight’s glow, and said, “Wrrooo,” in a demanding tone.
“Yes?” I asked. “If you think this could lead somewhere, we’ll go on a little longer, but I’m not convinced. And don’t forget to stay together.”
We continued. The wind remained persistent, lulling in the valleys, eager and chilly on the high ground.
Again, I asked Isaac about the Mountain Pack being out here, but he knew nothing of any Mountain family living in the Duddon Valley, only suspected it was highly likely they visited since it was such an isolated place where a wolf could run and avoid sheep on the high fells.
We roamed and climbed, eventually finding ourselves out on a paved, lined road. Hardknott Pass? I had no idea. I still felt uneasy, but couldn’t have it both ways. Finding killers meant facing danger. Anyway, there didn’t seem to be danger out here unless a half-wild ram charged us, or someone twisted an ankle in the dark and exceedingly rough ground.
If they’d been following any fresh scents they would have been agitated. I was sure the same would be true if they picked up the swampy, dead odor that it seemed casters had used to mask the trails of the shifters they were working alongside to commit these murders.
We walked up the road—a welcome relief from endless rocky or rutted ground. The wind had died, or only sunk into a lull. The moon was blotted out by such a thick layer of cloud now the light area of the sky was nearly indiscernible.
I grew more and more uncomfortable with the way Kage and Jason, now Jed as well, were not staying close.
“They snuck up on Peter,” I reminded them. “Yes, it was pouring rain and they had four pairs of boots crunching gravel, but still…”
We climbed again up a grassy and rocky slope to another ridge.
“I’ll change and stay with you, Cass.” Zar was clearly more eager about this than changing to track.
Isaac had remained close and Zar, in a domino effect, kept his distance and was terse with his brother about this whole wild goose chase. Not that Jed cared.
Once more on high, exposed ground, the wind burst into a rush and spray like a mighty river, gusting in our faces, making me pull my hood up and hold on with one hand. We walked along a sheep path against the hill face, seeming to be traveling a circular staircase, single file, earth and rock wall on our left, rolling drop-off on our right. Surely good fun with four feet.
We picked our way to a place where the trail opened to a rocky area of bracken, our elevation now beyond the dry stone walls. Here, we finally decided Andrew would change and tackle the trails for a while. Kage and Jason would stay with us. They were once more underfoot anyway, still playing and having a jolly time on the crags and narrow trails, pursuing scents on the powerful wind and occasionally alerting to sheep.
Muttering, fed up with the whole venture, and complaining about the chill wind, Andrew started to strip off while Zar was shining his light everywhere, looking for Jed. Isaac pulled our only rucksack off to join Andrew. We had water, an extra coat and light with us, plus enough space for his clothes and shoes.
“Moon, Sun, and stars,” Andrew gasped as he tugged his shirt off over his head, met with a particularly vicious blast of wind.
Something rammed me in the thigh. I stumbled—no laughing matter up here—and spun the light to find the black for
m of Jason with a long stick in his mouth. So long he’d just whacked me with it trying to bring it over. He also looked down, retreating, trying to see the stick. He’d clearly lost track of the size of it—the dog with a stick in its mouth trying to trot through a doorway—and he twisted his head sideways to offer me an end.
Kage bounded up after him, growling. I’m not sure why, though the stick already appeared mauled. Could be Jason had stolen it from him. Where did they even get one? There were no trees up here. There had been near the road.
“What are you doing?” Zar called into the wind. “You’re supposed to stay close!” He must have caught Jed’s reflecting eyes in the flashlight’s beam.
I reached instinctively to take the stick, then mentally kicked myself. “This is not a fetch kind of outing…” I started apologetically.
Off to my left, Andrew kept swearing as he removed shoes and socks. Isaac impassively put his things away in the bag.
I couldn’t take the stick anyway. Kage was right there in his face, snarling, ears pushed forward, tail almost curving over his back. I was startled on several levels, sure I’d missed something.
Jason dropped it at our feet and cringed. He licked Kage’s cheek and slunk away.
I stared after him, reaching again to clutch my hood in place. Kage watched him go with his head up, wind buffeting his magnificent coat. He had a self-satisfied air as he looked up at me. I could have sworn he looked smug.
“For real?” I asked, raising my voice in the wind. “You did not just tell him off for messing around out here?”
Kage still appeared haughty. Yes, I was sure of it: Bad wolf, as if we’re up here to play games. Knock it off.
“You’ve got some nerve.” I blew out a breath and we both turned our faces into the wind.
The flashlight beam seemed snatched away in this vast darkness, rolling into an abyss of black. It was creepy, yet, again, so was just about everything now.
Kage looked up at me.
“What? Thought I’d give you points for restoring order? You guys stay with us and we’ll let Andrew track for a while. If we don’t turn up anything worth all of this in another half hour, though, we’re starting back. For us with two feet this is a precarious hike.”
Moonlight Whispers: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 8) Page 3
