by J. L. Wilder
“You can’t be saying you think they came to the same area by pure coincidence,” Xavier said.
“Maybe not coincidence,” Louis said.
“Then what?”
“Maybe something led them here,” Louis said. “Maybe something led us here too. Some instinct.”
“But what could that have been?” Xavier asked. “What could possibly be around here that would have lured in a group of feral bears, and you and I at the same time?”
Chapter Six
ZOE
They had ridden up to the campsite in a rented bus, but now the bus was just dropping them off and heading back to town.
Zoe sort of wished it could have stayed. Even though she understood that it was only theirs for the few hours it had taken to drive north, the idea of having no quick way of getting back to school was a little stressful. What if someone was injured and needed to be taken to a hospital?
Professor Browning has a phone, she reminded herself. He can always call for help if anything happens. The students themselves had been strictly forbidden from bringing phones on the trip. In fact, they weren’t allowed to have anything that tied them too tightly to their human sides—which meant that Zoe had been forced to leave her makeup back at school.
“Still sweating your mascara?” Daphne asked, getting in line behind Zoe to collect a tent pack from the pile at the back of the bus.
Her friend’s tone was sympathetic, but Zoe still felt annoyed. “It’s not just mascara,” she said. “It’s my concealer that’s the big problem. Look at my eyes, for God’s sake.”
Daphne did. “They look a little different, I guess. It’s not a bad thing.”
“They have huge shadows under them!”
“I don’t know,” Daphne said. “I think you look better like this.”
Zoe sighed and turned away. She appreciated that Daphne was trying to be kind to her, but it was clear that her friend was also pushing an agenda. Nobody could actually think that Zoe looked better with all her flaws on display like this. Daphne was just trying to make the point that makeup was superfluous.
Zoe reached the front of the line and picked up one of the backpacks from the pile. She slung it over her shoulder and walked over to the group of girls who had already collected their bags. A moment later, Daphne joined her.
“It’s nice that we each get our own tent,” Daphne said. “I was prepared to have to share. I mean, I was assuming that you would have been my tent-mate.”
“I would have been,” Zoe assured her.
“Unless they assigned us to someone else,” Daphne said. “You know, split us up deliberately.”
“Can’t see why they would do that,” Zoe said.
“Well, part of this trip is about taking us out of our comfort zones,” Daphne said. “And part of being an omega is learning how to get along with different personalities. Maybe they would have wanted to take the opportunity to test us by throwing us together with new people.” She shrugged. “At any rate, I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that!”
Not at night, anyway, Zoe thought. But she wondered if Daphne might be right. Maybe she wouldn’t be permitted to see much of her friend on this trip. Maybe she would be expected to mingle with new people and get to know them.
The idea was a little intimidating. Though she liked her classmates and had never had any conflict with any of them, she sometimes found it difficult to relate to the things they prioritized. She got along well with everybody, but Daphne was the only person at Omega University she had ever really been close with.
She was pulled from her thoughts by a loud whistle. Professor Browning held up a hand. “Everyone got their packs?” he asked. “Right, then—follow me!”
He turned and led them into the woods. As she followed, Zoe looked over her shoulder to see the bus pulling out onto the road and driving away.
This was it, then. They were on their own.
The hike into the woods took about an hour. Zoe wasn’t sure how far they had come, but it couldn’t have been more than a few miles—they weren’t moving very fast. They reached a clearing, an empty field among the trees. Professor Browning whistled again, and they stopped, some of the girls dropping their packs, exhausted from even that moderate amount of exercise.
Zoe was glad to be a distance runner. She hadn’t even broken a sweat. She could imagine how embarrassing it must be to be one of the girls lying on the ground trying to recover from the exertion of a short hike.
“Spread out,” Professor Browning said. “Stay at least twenty yards away from the tree line—the alphas will be patrolling that space when they arrive.”
“When are they arriving?” someone asked.
“Their bus is on the way,” Professor Browning said. “They should be here within the hour.”
“What if the feral alphas attack us before they get here?” one girl quavered.
“They won’t attack a big group like this in broad daylight,” Professor Browning said. “And we’ll stay close to camp until they arrive. Nothing to worry about. Now, choose a campsite and set up your tents, please. When you’ve finished, you can come and join me here in the center of the clearing, where I’ll be working on a fire pit for us, or you can help a friend with her tent.”
Zoe turned to Daphne. “Want to be neighbors?”
“Definitely.” Daphne took a few steps back and dropped her pack. “How about right here?”
Zoe nodded. She knelt down, unzipped her pack, and pulled out the tent supplies within.
Putting the tent together turned out to be very easy. It was a basic pop up construction, and the hardest part was threading the poles through the canvas—they kept getting stuck on the seams. When that was done, Zoe carefully staked the tent down and helped Daphne finish her own tent. Then the two girls went to the fire pit to see what they could do to help.
“We need wood, primarily,” said Professor Browning, who was currently engaged in digging a large hole. “Scout the perimeter of the clearing and bring back whatever you can find—the drier, the better. And stay where I can see you, please. I don’t want to lose track of anyone before the alphas arrive.”
Daphne and Zoe teamed up and went around the clearing collecting sticks and a few larger logs, but there wasn’t much to be had. “This has been picked over by people camping here in the past,” Zoe said as they hauled bundles back to the fireside. “We’re going to have to actually go into the woods if we want to get anything significant.”
“Perfect timing,” Daphne said, pointing.
A stream of guys had just come jogging through the woods and into the clearing. They moved in a formation that was fluid, almost military, as if it was something they had practiced over and over.
Maybe they do, Zoe thought. Maybe they drill this kind of thing at Shifter U.
If they did, though, it seemed strange. Learning to work together with other alphas wasn’t something alphas usually did. Who was in charge of this group? Shouldn’t there have been some kind of battle for dominance?
Her question was answered almost immediately. One of the alphas stepped forward. “Good afternoon, Professor Browning,” he said. “I’m Pete, the senior alpha of the group.”
“I guess he speaks for the rest of them, then,” Zoe murmured to Daphne.
“Logan doesn’t look thrilled about that,” Daphne pointed out.
Logan was standing at the end of the line, scuffing his feet in the dirt and looking mildly put out. “He probably wishes he could be in charge,” Zoe observed. “I guess they all do. This kind of thing isn’t natural for them.”
“Thank you for coming, Pete,” Professor Browning said. “And thank you to all the alphas.”
“We’re going to establish a perimeter around camp using a third of our force,” Pete said. “Another third of us will be sent to rest. The remaining third—the second shift—is yours to use as you wish. The forces will rotate every eight hours.”
“That sounds just fine,” Professor Browning
said. “I was hoping to organize some of the girls to go on a gathering expedition before supper. Perhaps your second shift could serve as guards.”
Pete nodded. “Everyone to your positions,” he said to the alphas. “Second shift, take your directions from Professor Browning, please.”
Several of the alphas broke off from the rest and came to stand beside Professor Browning. Zoe didn’t know any of them.
“Why don’t we have a group of eight girls,” Professor Browning suggested. He called several names, including Zoe’s.
Zoe frowned. Daphne hadn’t been called. She didn’t really want to split up with her friend. Still, this was a chance to get away from camp and do something interesting. The next chance that came along might be given to someone else. She went over to the alphas and stood beside them, as did several other omegas.
Professor Browning handed them a laminated piece of card stock with several drawings of herbs on it. “Here are the edible herbs that grow in this area,” he said. “Memorize what they look like. We have meat for our first night’s supper—we won’t start hunting until tomorrow—but it will be made much more enjoyable if we have some of these herbs to flavor it with. And there will be a special surprise for whoever brings back the most.”
Zoe felt her competitive nature flare. She didn’t know what that prize might be, but it didn’t matter—she wanted it.
“Stay with the alphas,” Professor Browning warned. “Don’t go off on your own. And when the sun starts to go down, you should all come back, because we’ll want to start cooking then.”
“Yes, sir,” one of the alphas said.
“Let the girls take the lead,” Professor Browning said. “This is their opportunity to learn. Your job is just to make sure they aren’t attacked.”
Several alphas nodded.
There was an awkward moment in which no one seemed to want to move first. It was Zoe who finally turned and started jogging toward the woods, going over the images of the plants again and again in her mind. She was determined to bring back more than anybody else and start this trip off by impressing Professor Browning.
And while she was at it, she thought, she could impress the alphas.
This trip wasn’t an occasion for socializing. But if one of them happened to notice her while they were out here in the wild, if he followed up on that noticing when they got back to school by asking her to be his mate—well, that couldn’t be helped, could it?
She would do her best, and she would show everyone how capable she was.
Out in the woods, she used all her senses. She cast about for the herbs she was looking for, following her nose, since she knew that edible herbs often had a very powerful smell. In no time, it seemed, she had an armload of pungent plants, which she had pulled up by the roots. If they didn’t use everything she had found for tonight’s supper, they could put it back in the ground within the borders of the camp and keep it alive until they were ready for it. Maybe she would get extra points for ingenuity.
Then a sharp, piercing scream interrupted her thoughts.
Zoe turned and saw something so surprising, so terrifying, that she dropped all the plants she had collected.
The nearest omega was only about five yards away from her, and she had been knocked to the ground by a massive bear. The animal stood over her, its teeth bared, and Zoe felt sure she was about to be killed.
A wolf broke through the trees. One of the alphas. He collided with the bear, knocking it off the omega, and she scrambled to her feet and turned, running back in the direction they had come. Back toward camp. She was panicked, Zoe could see. She hoped the girl would make it back in one piece.
Then another shadow came bursting through the trees—a second bear, even bigger than the first. And right on its heels, a third.
And they came barreling straight for Zoe.
She had no choice. She broke into a run.
She didn’t have time to think about which way she was going. She didn’t have time to worry about the fact that camp was behind her, and that with every step, she was taking herself farther away from safety. She could hear the pounding of the bears’ paws behind her, pursuing her, and she knew that these must be the feral alphas they had been warned about. The dreaded attack had come. If these bears caught her—
Well, who knew what they would do? She was sure it wouldn’t be anything good.
There was only one way to ensure her escape. There was only one way she could hope to outrun them.
As a wolf.
She hated to shift without preparation. It would mean sacrificing her clothes, and that would mean that when she eventually shifted back to her true form, she would be naked. But better to be naked than dead.
The panic she was feeling helped. It was primal. It brought her closer to the animal within herself. A moment later, she was running twice as fast, her powerful back legs propelling her forward, her front paws seizing the ground and pulling her over it.
But she was still going in the wrong direction. Were any of the alphas from Shifter University anywhere near her? She had no idea. All she knew was that they were her only real hope of surviving this. They would be able to pick off the two bears that were chasing her. Zoe wouldn’t be able to outrun them. Not forever.
She didn’t even know where she was going.
The chase seemed to go on forever. In races at school, Zoe was always mindful of the need to pace herself so that she would have the energy to make it to the finish line. But she didn’t know where the finish line was in this chase. She had no idea how long this might go on, how long she might need to continue eluding these bears. And she couldn’t afford to slow down. She knew that if she did, they would catch her.
Then a sharp burst of pain flashed across her back.
It was blinding. It was worse than anything she had ever felt in her life, and she didn’t know what to make of it. She was disoriented for several moments. Her nose filled with the smell of earth, and she realized that she had stopped running.
She was lying on the ground.
There was a whimpering sound in the air, and she suspected that it was coming from her.
They clawed me, she thought dizzily, and on the heels of that, they’ve got me. This is it.
Pain flared through her body, and Zoe closed her eyes and steeled herself against whatever was to come.
Chapter Seven
XAVIER
He could hear them. They couldn’t be more than a quarter mile away. And they were attacking something. Hunting, no doubt. Getting their dinner.
Thank God he hadn’t had to waste any time convincing Louis of the right strategy here. His friend was at his side, running toward the sounds of the fight. The feral bears would have to be taken out. They were far too close to Xavier’s cave to be allowed to live. If they discovered that Xavier and Louis were living here, there would either have to be an all-out battle between the bears and the wolves, or else the wolves would have to move on. Again.
The bears weren’t even troubling to be quiet, and Xavier felt sure their conclusion had been right—they didn’t realize the wolves were here. If they had, they wouldn’t have been so obvious about their activities.
He and Louis found them easily and stopped behind a pair of trees, sizing up the situation. They were dealing with two bears. Whatever their prey was, they had brought it down, and they were standing over it.
At least this was a fair fight. Two on two—that was doable. But it wasn’t going to be easy, and for a moment, Xavier considered that maybe they should just leave. Maybe it wasn’t worth the risk, after all.
Then the two bears shifted, and they were looking at two human men.
It was all the invitation Xavier needed.
He lunged forward, out of the woods, and sank his claws into one of the men’s back, taking him down. He could have killed him quickly, a bite to the back of the neck, but he didn’t like to kill with his teeth. There was something about that that was a little too personal.
&nbs
p; So he rolled the man over, placed a paw over his windpipe, and pressed down.
The man struggled, trying to fight him off, but he was no match for Xavier’s size and weight. If he could have shifted, he might have succeeded in freeing himself, but his consciousness was already starting to fade.
Xavier glanced to his left and was pleased to see that Louis was dealing with the second man in a similar fashion. There would be no attack from that quarter.
Beneath him, the struggles ceased. Xavier kept his paw on his adversary’s throat for a few minutes longer, making sure. The worst thing he could do, he knew, was to let up too soon.
Finally, he stepped back and lowered his head to the man’s face.
He wasn’t breathing.
Xavier shifted back to his human form and picked up the man’s wrist. There was no pulse. “He’s dead,” he called to Louis.
Louis was just finishing up his own work. “This one too,” he said. “We need to do something about the bodies, though, or the other bears will find them.”
Xavier nodded. He resumed his animal form and began to dig, and after a few minutes, Louis was digging alongside him.
It took over an hour to create a pit deep enough to bury both bodies. Xavier and Louis shoved them in, returning to their human forms to do so. Then, because he was still concerned about the smell attracting the bears and revealing what had happened, Louis went to gather some plants to throw into the grave on top of the corpses. Wildflowers wouldn’t cover the scent forever, but they might do for long enough to allow the bodies to begin to decompose.
While his friend worked, Xavier turned his attention to the prey the two bears had been about to devour, thinking that perhaps he and Louis could bring whatever it was back and have it for their own supper.
He froze.
It was a wolf.
He had expected to see a felled deer or something. Not this.
