Shifted Scars: A Wolves of Forest Grove Novel

by Lawson, Elena

  “No. I’ll come. Just let me leave a note for her.”

  I nodded. “Hurry.”

  Viv ran off just as Jared reappeared, jogging over with concern in the line of his brows. “What is it?”

  “Sal’s,” I told him, bracing for the same suspicion Viv had. “It’s burning.”

  His nose wrinkled, perhaps able to smell it just as I could. His amber eyes slid to the cabin where Clay was inside with his sister and grandmother. The fleck of jade green in his left eye catching the light.

  He didn’t say it, but through the mate bond I could feel his dread.

  “Is Sal—”

  “He’s fine. But we’re going to see if there’s anything we can do to help.”

  Sal had taken care of us for years. If not for him, we’d have had to travel all the way to Portland for our meat every week. I supposed now that was exactly what we’d have to do. Fuck.

  We could lend him some lumber and equipment though. We could spare a few bodies to help him rebuild. It was the least we could do after the countless rush orders of entire sides of beef.

  “Wait, you’re leaving?” Jared demanded, his eyes narrowing to slits. He jabbed two fingers at our cabin. “With her here?”

  “You should stay, keep an eye on things for me.” I gave him the option, knowing before the words even left my lips that he would refuse. “But if you’d rather come, then I think Clay has it handled, don’t you?”

  His lips pressed into a hard line. “I’m with you.”

  Thought so.

  I thumbed a quick text to Clay before discarding my phone on a vacant wooden stool.

  Allie: Something came up. Back in a few hours. I’m with Jared. Don’t worry.

  I knew he would worry, but chances were he wouldn’t even read the text for a while. He was clearly distracted enough to not sense my distress when Jacob told me about Sal’s. He would be distracted enough not to notice anything was amiss until I got back.

  Or at least I hoped so. He had enough to worry about.

  “We’ll pick up Viv on the way out,” I said, shucking off my clothes and letting my soul awaken to my wolf. “Let’s move.”

  6

  There was nothing to save by the time we got there. We’d been quick, passing through the first two rings within ten minutes. Sal’s sat just between the second and third rings, on the outskirts of the next town.

  Firefighters still worked to smother what remained of the embers with their hoses, but it was too late. I’d hoped...hell, I don’t know what I’d hoped. That we could save some of it for him, maybe.

  We weren’t fireproof, but we healed quickly and could take a lot more than mortal fire rescue in terms of handling the heat.

  The structure that was once a squat log house with a bright red roof was now a mess of ash and half burnt wood. Bits of the red roof could be mistaken for more embers where they hid among the black soot choking the earth.

  I coughed, inhaling a little too much smoke and batted some rogue ash away before it could get in my eyes.

  “It’s gone,” Jared breathed, staring agape at the wreckage. He was the one who usually picked up the orders from Sal, using his silver Jeep to haul the meats as close to camp as he could before the pack would help unload, taking everything the rest of the way in coolers since no roads led inside the heart of our territory.

  We could see Sal standing with two officers across the road. It was odd to see him in something other than a bloodstained apron. His burly frame strained at the plaid button-up he wore as he paced back and forth, pinching the bridge of his nose before running a thick hand down the beard on his chin.

  “We’ll help him rebuild,” I promised. “We can afford it, and I’m assuming his insurance will cover most of the cost of the repairs, anyway. We’ll have it back up in no time.”

  Jared nodded solemnly.

  “Come on, we should go talk to him. See what happened.”

  “We’ll go see if there’s anything we can do,” Viv offered, dragging Layla with her as they went to inspect the damage a little closer.

  With a single look, we communicated what else she should be looking for before she rushed away. Any evidence that this may not have been an accident.

  Coincidences happened, but having Sam show up and then this happen an hour later seemed...odd.

  Paranoid didn’t even begin to cover what I was when it came to the safety of my pack. I didn’t like loose variables. Already I could feel the beginning of my anxiety flaring up. I’d tampered it over the years and hadn’t had an attack in ages, but now it tended to manifest itself in other ways.

  Fists squeezed so tight that I bruised them without knowing. Insomnia. Knees bouncing beneath tables.

  It was better, but not gone. I didn’t think it ever would be.

  “Sal,” Jared called, and the big guy spun, his unfocused eyes catching sight of us. I was sure we looked strange in our hastily thrown on clothes. Jared bare-chested and both of us barefoot, but shoes just weren’t practical for shifters.

  “Jared. Allie. What are you doing here?”

  “We heard,” I said with an apology in my voice. “I’m so sorry, Sal.”

  “What happened?” Jared pried, stepping past the curious police officers chatting to themselves while they jotted something down in their notepads.

  Like most mortals did, they stepped casually away as we approached Sal, their senses telling them they had been demoted on the predator scale.

  Sal dropped his head, throwing a hand up in frustration at the carcass of his baby. “Fucking gas leak,” he growled. “Of all the bullshit luck.”

  “Will insurance cover the damages?”

  “They damn well better. Just had an inspection not two months ago and everything got the green light.”

  He groaned, lifting his head to stare up at the sky. Poor guy.

  “Your order was inside. I’m sorry, but—”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Jared interrupted. “We can get what we need elsewhere for now. We came to help.”

  Sal glanced up, looking between us, a bit confused.

  I jabbed a thumb back in the direction we came from. “We have some handy friends and some equipment from the quarry that we can spare. You just tell us what you need. We’ll make sure you get it.”

  His eyes went glassy, and it took him a full fifteen seconds to get control of his emotions, clearing his throat twice before he spoke again. “Right. I’d, uh… I’d appreciate that, but I don’t expect any handouts. I’ll pay for the labor. Most of what I got is your money anyhow.”

  I chuckled a bit at that. We were definitely his best customers.

  “We take care of our own,” I told him with a wink, trying to bring a smile to his grim features. “The sooner you’re back up and running the sooner we’re back to eating the best steaks in the west.”

  It seemed it really was an accident after all. Even though Layla and Viv had already scoped out the smoldering wreckage of Sal’s shop, Jared and I did a sweep as well before we left. There was nothing to indicate foul play. Nothing to indicate it could have been a witch or a shifter.

  Of course, there was a good chance that whatever evidence might have been there burned away. And if it were somehow Sam’s doing—for whatever mad reason—that her scent would be erased by the thick black smoke clogging the air.

  She hadn’t come from this direction though, and if Sal and the officers were right about the timing of when the fire started, then Sam was already at pack camp with us. She couldn’t have had anything to do with it.

  And if that witch fucker knew what was good for him, he was already long gone.

  Guilt ate at me all the way back to camp. For immediately thinking the worst of Sam, and for being so paranoid that I failed to see what was right in front of me. Sam was a lone wolf. A lone malnourished wolf in need of help who lost her mate. Who made a mistake four years ago that maybe I didn’t need to make her pay for now.

  When we arrived back at camp, Sam w
as seated on the front steps of the cabin with Clay. He lurched to his feet as we neared, and I knew before he even opened his mouth what his decision was.

  I could feel it. His resignation. His nervous energy. His desire to protect his blood even after what she did. He wouldn’t forgive her so easily. And it would take a long time for him to trust her, but I could see it in his eyes; he was willing to try.

  “I just heard about Sal’s,” he said. “What happened?”

  “Gas leak,” Jared explained, his jaw twitching as his amber gaze slid to Sam. Clearly, some of us didn’t feel as guilty as others for thinking she was to blame.

  Clay scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Shit. How bad?”

  “Bad. It’s pretty much gone. I offered to lend a hand to help rebuild if Sal wants it. Maybe you could get a crew together this weekend. There has to be at least four or five bodies we can spare.”

  His lips tightened, but he nodded.

  I gestured to Sam still sitting mutely on the stairs behind him. “I take it she’s staying?”

  I hadn’t meant for it to come out the way it did, like an accusation, making Clay’s expression sour.

  “Clay, I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s fine, Allie,” he said in a low rumble. “I don’t like it either.”

  Sam’s shoulders slumped as she looked up at her brother like he was breaking her heart. It kind of hurt to see.

  “But she has nowhere else to go. She’s been through some shit, and she’s sworn to me that she doesn’t hold Ryland against you anymore.”

  At that, Sam tensed, and I wondered if just the sound of his name triggered her still. She tucked her bony fingers under her thighs, sitting on them as though she didn’t trust what they might do.

  There I went again, being all fucking paranoid. It didn’t help that Jared’s distrust was rolling off of him in waves from right next to me.

  I sighed.

  “Then we’ll do it tonight. With the shit going on with Sal and the welcoming ceremony for Archer and Callum just last night—”

  “I don’t want a ceremony,” Sam finally piped up. “I just want a shower and a bed.”

  “We can do that. You can use our shower now if you want. We’ll see where there’s a free bunk to put you. We’re a little tight for space, so unmated pairs share cabins.”

  She stiffened at the reminder, and feeling momentarily empathetic, I added a hasty apology. “Sorry.”

  I turned to Clay. “That work?”

  He grunted his assent, and it was settled. Samantha Armstrong was back for good. I hoped he made the right choice.

  7

  It took a week to secure a new supplier for our meat. We had some frozen in the deep freeze in the main cabin, thankfully, but even that had dwindled to almost nothing the past six days. Seth was on his way to Portland to pick up our order from a butcher there and soon we’d have more meat than we knew what to do with.

  Aside from some grouchy shifters forced to eat smaller portions though, things had been almost—dare I say it—back to normal. Camp had returned to the quiet bustle of tasks to complete and day to day life.

  There had been no more visits from the mysterious Gregory. Nothing else burned to the ground. And Sam kept mostly to herself, preferring to stay in her shared cabin most of the day, only leaving for runs or to visit Clay at Grove’s End some afternoons.

  She’d asked him to give her a task or some sort of assignment like the others, but as much as I tried, I still didn’t trust her enough for that. Much like we decided it wasn’t safe to trust her with the secrets of our pack just yet either. No one really spoke to her, so I doubted she’d find out unless we told her directly.

  And she definitely wasn’t going to be on any of the patrols, but maybe there was something I could have her do around camp to keep her busy.

  I’d even managed to finally finish the books I bought last week. They came in handy since my anxiety kept me from sleeping most nights since the visit from the witch and Sam’s arrival.

  Having things back to some semblance of normalcy was great and all, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling eating at me that something was wrong. No matter how hard I tried.

  “Allie Grace,” Grams said, lifting her gaze from the warm dirt at her knees. “Come to help?”

  I smirked to myself but tied my hair in a loose bun and crouched down, gaze sweeping over the garden.

  Hazel had started it when she joined the pack after I took over as alpha. A vegetable garden that she coaxed to life each spring and fed our ranks well into fall. It’d come in handy over the last week, and she was already replanting new seeds to make up for what was prematurely taken.

  “Actually, I came to ask if you could use another hand to help in the garden. Sam’s been asking about having a job. Guess she’s tired of sitting around already.”

  I took the trowel Hazel offered and copied her movements, digging up shallow trenches for her to drop two seeds in each before gently recovering them. Peas, I thought. This early in the season there were only so many things that would grow and ripen quickly. Most of the vegetables had barely just begun sprouting. We had a store of potatoes and onions from last season in the cellar beneath the Moon Room though. Between that, the early greens, and a couple trips to the supermarket, we’ve made due.

  “Hmph,” Grams snorted, packing some dirt over a hole. “You could ask her, I suppose, but I doubt she’ll want to be spending her time with me.”

  If she said something rude to Grams…

  My wolf growled within.

  “Why? What do you mean?”

  Grams sighed, dragging her long silvery hair away from her face with muddy fingers. “She’s been through something, that’s for sure. I think she’s afraid I’ll see the awful truth of whatever it is if she gets too close to me.”

  “She’s afraid you’ll read her, you mean?”

  Grams nodded. “That girl and I have never seen eye to eye really. I was here while she was away up north with her mother most of her life. We aren’t close like I am with Clay. Maybe it’s that she’s embarrassed about it, or maybe it’s that she thinks it’s none of my business. I sensed a bit of both from her that first day.”

  Well that was settled then. If Sam wanted a job, then she would be working with Grams in the garden. Grams clearly wanted to be closer with her granddaughter, and maybe sharing some of her pain would help Sam break out of the shell she’d been living in since she got here.

  The pack was already whispering about her, but her shutting herself off to everyone wasn’t helping them find anything even remotely close to trust toward her. Especially not now that they all knew she once tried to off me.

  “She probably just needs more time.”

  “Time, I’ve got now, thanks to you.” Grams patted my hand in the dirt with a crooked grin, warming me.

  Living without a pack for so long had aged her. She’d been at peace with her choice to live out the rest of her days as a lone wolf until the years caught up with her and death finally found her. But when I took over the Forest Grove pack, she’d asked to join.

  “Speaking of time. About how long until you’ll give me grandbabies? This pack hasn’t seen young wolves in far too long, and I’m not getting any younger.”

  A furious flush crawled up into my cheeks. She never missed an opportunity to remind me that she fully expected about a thousand grandkids, and I’d better get cooking them.

  “Well, you’ve stopped aging now, so I suppose you can wait as long as it takes.”

  So long as she remained in the pack, the natural pack magic would keep her at the ripe old age of...however old she was. I knew it was much older than she looked. In truth, she wasn’t Clay’s grandmother, but his great great grandmother. Pack magic had seen her through at least a century by now.

  She grumbled something unintelligible to herself, and I leaned back on my elbow for a moment, basking in the warmth of the sun as it found its highest peak in the sky. I closed my eyes, inhaling the
scents of the forest and damp earth soaking into the ass of my shorts.

  My phone pinged in my pocket, ruining the peace of the moment. Should’ve left the damned thing inside.

  A text from Seth flared to the screen, and I cut myself on the busted glass while opening it to read what it said. I really needed to get Charity to fix it for me, but as she was heading up the crew helping Sal clear out the wreckage of his shop, it’d have to wait.

  “That my grandson? Tell him to bring me a bottle of that whiskey I like, would you?”

  “No, it’s…”

  I trailed off, reading the text and groaning.

  Seth: The order’s not ready. Going to be another week. Their supplier had some kind of hold up. What should I do?

  “Fuck.”

  “Language.”

  “Sorry, Grams. Looks like we’re going to need to raid your garden some more. The order’s been held up.”

  Allie: Take whatever they have available in the storefront for now. I’ll head into town and raid the grocery again. That should be good for another week.

  Seth: Yeah. Until the townies go hungry because all their meat’s been stolen by wolves.

  I snorted.

  Allie: Just hurry back.

  Seth: Will do.

  “How long?” Hazel demanded. “I haven’t got much that’s ready. Some more lettuce and radishes. Potatoes from the cellar.”

  “Then we’ll have salad and stew for dinner. Seth’s grabbing whatever the butcher has on hand, and I’ll go into town to pick up some things.”

  “Send a hunting party out,” Grams all but ordered. “Hungry wolves are dangerous wolves.”

  I knew she was right, but I’d hoped not to resort to that. The wildlife in our territory was already sparse, driven away from the scent of predators in their midst. I’d have to send them further afield to be able to find any game large enough to do more than feed a single shifter.

  “I will.”

  I rose, dusting off my hands on my jeans.

  “Don’t forget my whiskey,” she reminded me just as I sensed Clay returning to camp from an early morning check on Grove’s End.