Running in a Pack

by A M Burns

  Instead of standing where he was, Finn walked over to Ivan. “You holding up okay?”

  Wrapping his arms around Finn, Ivan shook his head. “Not really. I keep hoping that he’s going to answer one of us—it’s gotten to the point of I’ll be happy if it’s any of us. I’m pretty sure Singer’s still on his trail. She’s hard to understand, but I’ve never seen her so intent on anything before. I didn’t figure he’d go so far.”

  “I know. I had hoped that he was just out here sitting under a tree sketching something.” Finn tried to shake the feeling something had happened to Adrian, but he couldn’t. The farther they went in the forest, the surer he was there was a problem.

  Singer howled again.

  “Shit!” Ivan’s dad’s deep voice rang out. “Singer, get back here!”

  “What’s going on?” Finn’s father’s voice came out of the deepening twilight gloom.

  “Singer jerked her leash out of my hand.” Mr. Dubovasky’s voice was growing faint and labored.

  “Come on.” Ivan jerked out of Finn’s embrace and pulled on a headlamp while handing one to Finn. “We need to catch up. I don’t want to lose Singer and Adrian.” He clicked on his light and seconds later took off running. The light bobbed to Ivan’s footsteps. Finn struggled to keep up.

  The next howl was much farther away.

  Finn stumbled over something. He staggered a few steps, then regained his footing. Ivan was several paces ahead of him. He didn’t call out but tried to run faster to catch up.

  Ivan jumped over a downed tree. Finn followed suit, easily clearing the tree. He was impressed at how his lungs were keeping him going, remembering his first hiking trip with Ivan and Adrian and how quickly he’d gotten tired. That had been just over a month earlier, but he’d made an effort to improve and now knew he had.

  Singer’s howl changed tones. It sounded closer than it had a few minutes before.

  Ahead of Finn, Ivan stopped, his light going still for a moment before he panned about, obviously looking around. “That way!” His voice was rough, like he was trying to keep his inner wolf under control. He pointed to the south, toward the peak that had turned a deep purple in the last vestiges of sunset. He took off running again before Finn caught up to him.

  Finn followed Ivan, his heart pounding. An eerie scream cut the twilight, sending shivers down Finn’s back. He’d never heard anything like it.

  “Crap!” Ivan shouted.

  “Everyone be careful!” Mrs. Dubovasky shouted over the walkie-talkie. “That sounded like a mountain lion.”

  “A what?” Finn gasped.

  Ivan stopped and looked back at Finn. “Mountain lion. I think Singer spotted its scent.”

  A horrible thought shot through Finn. “Do you think it might’ve hurt Adrian?” He couldn’t bring himself to think of anything more than hurt. He was breathing too hard and was too excited to hope for a vision, but desperately wished he’d have one that would give them a clue, or a glimmer of hope.

  “Doubtful.” Ivan started walking carefully, scanning the ground ahead of them with slow, even turns of his head. “Unless Adrian was hurt and the mountain lion thought he was easy prey. For the most part pumas try and avoid people.”

  “But this makes me more worried about Adrian. I didn’t even stop to think if the local wildlife might have hurt him.”

  Singer’s next howl turned to a deep, dangerous growl.

  Finn heard a high snarl—definitely not Singer—a short distance ahead of them.

  “Singer! Look out!” Adrian’s voice came from somewhere close by.

  “Adrian!” Finn shouted. Adrian was alive. Everything was going to be fine.

  “Finn! Be careful. There’s a cougar over here. How did Singer get here?”

  Ivan turned in the direction of Adrian’s voice. There was a tall cliff rising up in front of them. “We came looking for you!” He tilted his head back and let out a powerful howl.

  “Ivan, you brought Singer!”

  The cougar snarled again. Singer barked a low, powerful bark.

  “Go on cat, get out of here!”

  Rocks tumbled down the cliff.

  Singer’s white form stood out in the shadows at the base of the cliff.

  “Where’s the cat?” Ivan shouted.

  Finn frantically scanned the cliff for any signs of life and wished they’d reached the spot half an hour earlier when the lighting would’ve been better. Even with the headlamps, their view was just over twelve feet. Adrian and the big cat could be anywhere outside that range.

  “Just below me!” Adrian replied as another rock tumbled down. “I don’t want it to hurt Singer.”

  Ivan reached Singer. The pale wolf quivered as he got hold of her leash. Together, the two howled again.

  The glow of the cat’s eyes was right above them as Finn reached Ivan. A chill went through him. It would be so easy for the mountain lion to jump from its perch and get him, Ivan, or Singer.

  The cougar screamed and jerked away just as another rock tumbled down toward them.

  “I got it again!” Adrian crowed.

  “You’ve been throwing rocks at it?” Finn shouted up. “Why didn’t you just run away?”

  “That’s how I ended up here,” Adrian replied.

  Singer darted ahead, obviously trying to find a way up the cliff. Finn didn’t know if she was trying to get at the mountain lion or reach Adrian.

  “Here, let me in there.” Frank, the police officer, reached them before any of the other adults. “Ivan, hold the wolf back.”

  “What are you going to do?” Ivan asked as he pulled against the leash to try and get Singer away from the bottom of the cliff. With a soft growl, Ivan convinced Singer to back off slightly. She still strained the leash, but the super dangerous energies that had been rolling off her moments earlier were gone.

  “Try and shoot the cat.” Frank pulled his revolver from its holster.

  Finn grabbed at his arm. “You can’t do that! You might hit Adrian.”

  “And I don’t want you to kill the cat because of me,” Adrian protested.

  “Then we’re going to have to make a lot of noise and try to drive it away,” Ivan’s dad said, appearing out of the twilight. “Everyone, over here!” He took Singer’s leash from Ivan. “Adrian, give the cat plenty of space. It should be getting extremely nervous about now and ready to run off. Everyone make lots of noise.”

  “Come on folks!” Ivan’s mom shouted. “Let’s scare the cat off so we can get Adrian down.” She set up a series of shouts and howls to drive the cat off. Everyone else joined in as they arrived at the base of the cliff.

  The cat’s glowing eyes disappeared from Finn’s beam of light. Seconds later, rocks rained down the cliff face. Singer whined and tugged on the leash, trying to pursue the fleeing cat.

  “Adrian, are you okay?” Finn asked at the same time Adrian’s mother did.

  “I cut my leg yesterday,” Adrian replied. “I think that’s why the mountain lion came after me. It was following me this morning so I climbed up here.” His voice was slowly getting weaker. “The rocks kept it at bay for a while.” Finn wondered if the adrenaline of the mountain lion being after him was wearing off. “I’m tired, thirsty, and hungry.”

  “Can you make it down from there or do we need to send someone up after you?” Frank asked as he holstered his pistol.

  “I can try and slide down on my butt. I’m not sure I can stand on my leg right now.” Seconds later another shower of small rocks came down at them.

  Finn and the others backed up. His heart leapt as Adrian came down the cliff and into the glow of their headlamps.

  “Oh, Adrian!” Mrs. Smith cried.

  Finn wanted to be over there with her as Adrian slid down, but Ivan’s hand on his arm held him in place. They had each other. They would need to let Adrian’s mother claim him first.

  Ivan put his arms around Finn, and together they watched as Mr. and Mrs. Smith hugged Adrian. Mr. Smith stepped away fr
om Adrian first. He walked over to Frank, the officer who had coordinated the search. “I don’t think he can walk back to the house. Any chance of you calling in a helicopter?”

  “It might be too late for a helicopter, and this doesn’t really qualify as a reason to call one in, but I can get some four-wheelers out here.” He turned and walked a short distance away before he got on his radio.

  “Mom, can you let Ivan and Finn in?” Adrian asked as he pushed a water bottle away. He looked at Finn, making Finn’s pulse race. “I—”

  “It’s okay, dear.” She smiled at him and gestured for Finn and Ivan to come closer. “I understand. You need your friends.”

  “Right,” Adrian muttered.

  Finn fought back the tears that threatened as he dropped to his knees and knelt where Adrian lay on the rough ground. There were too many people around—he didn’t want to cry. “I’m glad we found you.”

  “We’re glad we found you.” Ivan’s hand on Finn’s shoulder helped to bolster him. “Especially since you had a lion trying to eat you.”

  “Yeah, there was that little problem.” A weak grin spread across Adrian’s dirty face. “I guess I was a bit of a drama queen with all this.”

  “Maybe a little.” Finn shrugged. “But it doesn’t matter. You’re safe now. That’s all that matters.”

  With an eager yip as Ivan’s dad shouted at her, Singer jumped into the middle of them, licking Adrian, then Ivan, and finally Finn. A warm happiness spread over Finn at the wolf’s attention. Adrian laughed as she turned her focus back on him. Finn knew that everything was going to be fine even before Frank came over and announced that the four-wheelers would be there in about an hour. Finn couldn’t wait to get home, although he suspected it might be a couple of hours or more before he and Ivan would be able to hold Adrian like they wanted to. He knew it would all be over when they were alone and in each other’s arms.

  17

  It was nearly four hours later when everyone left them by themselves long enough for the three of them to sneak down to Adrian’s room to be alone together. He’d been checked out by the Woodland Park emergency room and now had a neat row of stitches in his leg. He was also grounded with no determined date yet of when he would be able to be out of his parents’ sight again, except for school. At least they were given the next day off to recover.

  Without saying a word, the three of them climbed onto the bed together, and Ivan and Finn formed a wall on either side of Adrian. “I’m not going away again,” Adrian said, trying to reassure them. “You can relax now. I just needed a little bit of time to myself while I was hurt. I didn’t mean to be out that long.”

  They’d heard that before when Adrian had given his statement to the police officers. But that didn’t do anything to make Finn any less worried about him. “Never turn your phone off again. We’ve got to be able to reach you.”

  Ivan nodded against Adrian’s shoulder. “You’ve probably got a hundred missed texts and calls from us.”

  Adrian gave them both a watery smile. “You guys were that worried about me?”

  “Of course. You’re our best friend,” Finn said as he rolled his eyes. He tightened his arms around Adrian, and Ivan moved in closer as well.

  “And we love you,” Ivan whispered.

  Finn had never told anyone but his family that he loved them, but he didn’t deny Ivan’s words either. He’d felt the panic of Adrian being gone as a hard, sharp stake in his chest, and he also knew the comfort of relief he was experiencing right then. So maybe that was love.

  Adrian stilled his hand that had been touching Finn’s hair. “I love you too, Ivan. You’re my best friend. So are you, Finn. But you guys should be careful saying stuff like that. People will get the wrong idea about us. Plus, maybe the only person you should be saying ‘I love you’ to is your boyfriend. You know, each other.”

  Finn got up on his elbows so that he could look down at Adrian. “I think you need to catch up on some stuff you missed while you were out playing in the woods for the past two days.” When Adrian made a face, Finn smiled at him. “Yes, Ivan and I are together, but we also both like you. We know you’re ace, and we’re okay with that. When we want to do sex stuff, we’ll do it together. But we want you with us, too, in this relationship. All three of us. Ivan asked me yesterday what I wanted after college, and I couldn’t think of a single thing except for being with the two of you. That’s all that’s important to me right now. I was so scared when you were gone, and if we hadn’t found you….” His voice broke when the tears he’d been holding back suddenly began to leak out, so he squeezed his eyes closed. He was grateful when Ivan reached over and rubbed his shoulder, comforting him and also encouraging him to keep going. “It hurt so much to think about things like that. All the what-ifs felt like they were killing me. Even after I had a vision of us in the future, I wasn’t totally sure it would come true. I never want to be that scared again.”

  When Adrian hugged him, Finn wrapped himself around Adrian’s smaller frame. He brushed his lips gently against Adrian’s, testing him, then when Adrian didn’t pull away, Finn kissed him harder. He figured it was Adrian’s first kiss, so Finn tried to hold back and be gentle, like he should, but every ounce of fear and worry he’d felt for Adrian for the past two days poured out of him and into that connection between them. Even though there was a slight tickle from Adrian’s beard, it sent tingles of excitement through Finn.

  Eventually he had to come up for air, which was when Ivan started kissing Adrian too. They were so wrapped up in each other, they missed everything around them until someone close by cleared their throat. Finn groaned and rolled off. Ivan didn’t look all that happy either. Adrian looked like he’d rather be hiding under the bed than face the six parents who stared at them. And, to make things even worse, Shelby and Channing followed in his parents’ wake.

  Finn sat up and leaned forward over his knees. He was exhausted and had no intention of leaving Adrian’s side that night if he could help it.

  “Hi,” he managed.

  His parents were the first to come forward. “It’s time that we talk about this,” his dad said, gesturing to the three of them. Ivan was still lying there next to Adrian, but he’d propped himself up on some pillows. Adrian was burying his face against Ivan’s side, probably trying to hide from them all, even though he had nothing to be embarrassed about.

  Finn definitely wasn’t up for this discussion right then but, as everyone found a place to sit around Adrian’s room, most of them settling on the floor, he knew he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. “Okay,” he relented with a sigh. “What do you want to know?”

  His mother chose to speak next. “Are you using protection?”

  Shelby groaned from beside Channing, and Finn smiled at his sister before his attention shifted back to his mom. It probably wouldn’t be long before Shelby was asked that question. As soon as he realized that, he wanted to go puke at the thought of Channing having sex with his little sister, but he held that in. “Mom, we’re not there yet. But when Ivan and I get there, we’ll be safe.”

  They’d tell Adrian what they’d done on Sunday another time, because they wouldn’t have any secrets from him, but it wasn’t going to be when everyone was around them.

  “Are you three sure about this? I mean, you can be best friends without being… together,” his mom continued.

  Finn reached over and touched Adrian’s uninjured leg. Yes, he was sure. He felt right being with the both of them—like he fully belonged there, with Ivan leading them and both of them protecting Adrian. He found Ivan looking back at him, so he nodded to him before turning back to his mom. “I’m sure. They’re mine and I’m theirs. I know it’s not the usual kind of relationship, and I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense right now, but I think you’ll get it here soon when we’re not out rescuing each other. They’re my best friends, but they’re also my boyfriends.”

  Ivan sat up and kissed Finn on his shoulder. He covered Finn’s h
and over Adrian’s leg as Adrian sat up as well. The physical show of unity bolstered Finn in ways that he would never be able to express.

  Finn’s dad shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “You seem happy, and that’s all that has ever mattered to us. I’m fine with this.”

  Finn smiled at his parents when his mom nodded as well. “Thanks. I love you both.”

  His mom came up and kissed his forehead. She then hugged Ivan and Adrian, whispering to him, “I’m so glad that you’re safe,” before the two of them went upstairs. Shelby and Channing stayed but, as far as a late-night interrogation went, this wasn’t as bad as Finn had imagined it might be when people found out the three of them were together.

  Ivan’s parents didn’t have any questions for them. Instead there were more hugs, a bit of crying over Adrian, and then they went upstairs too with talk of making tea for everyone.

  “Are you happy?” Adrian’s mom asked him.

  Finn and Ivan turned to look at him, and Finn hoped that he was. They hadn’t actually asked his opinion of whether or not he wanted to be with them, and once Finn realized that, his stomach sank. But Adrian just nodded and gave his parents a soft smile that showed just how exhausted he was. Finn was surprised he was even managing to keep his eyes open. “I am,” he said as he leaned against Ivan’s shoulder. Finn didn’t feel left out, though, not when Adrian took his hand. As Finn closed his eyes, Ivan moved his arm so that it was around Adrian’s side, which gave Finn room to lie down between them and rest his head on Ivan’s thigh.

  “I’m also really tired.”

  Adrian’s dad chuckled. “Okay, we’ll let you go to sleep. But remember, you’re grounded. No more running away when you’re upset. That’s not how we taught you to deal with problems. We face them and confront them.”

  Adrian mumbled something incoherent, and his parents left as well. With only Channing and Shelby there, Finn knew it was a lot easier to talk about confronting problems than it was to actually do so. Especially when the biggest problem in his life happened to be the brother of the guy dating his sister. Shelby bounded over to them and perched herself up on the edge of Adrian’s bed. Finn didn’t like her in their private space, but she didn’t stay there long before she moved over to sit at the chair in front of Adrian’s desk.