Wolf's Promise

by Elyce de Reefe

  Wolf’s Promise

  Book 1 - The Rabbit River Saga

  By Elyce de Reefe

  Copyright © 2018 by Elyce de Reefe

  First electronic publication: December 2018

  Elyce de Reefe

  www.elycedereefe.com

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Dedication

  To my wonderful muse. Thank you for entrusting me with these beautiful stories, bringing the characters o clearly to life form me, and always helping me to bring out the true essence of whatever tale you give me. You are the best! This book is for you.

  And to my fabulous critique partner, Anastasia, without whom I would be lost. This is the first project we worked on together, and she played an essential role in helping me bring the story out to the story. Like what that famous sculptor said—who was it Michelangelo?—when asked how he created such beautiful masterpieces. “I just chip away everything that doesn’t belong and pretty soon the true sculpture emerges from the stone.”

  Okay, so I’m paraphrasing wildly here, and the quote was actually in Italian to boot, but that was the gist of it. The editing process is a bit like that, you have down what happens in the story, sort of bare bones, but then you have to make sure you capture the meaning of the events. Anastasia was an enthusiastic, dedicated and positive creative force in the process, so this book is for you to. Love you girl!

  Chapter 1

  Aaron plugged the new algorithm into the security software and sat back to view the results. This shouldn’t be that complicated. Alert on wolves. Alert on People. He’d take anything close to that. Dogs, coyotes, anything bipedal... But the system was less than useless if it triggered every time anything on four legs crossed their perimeter. In the last two days, it had sent so many pictures of white-tailed deer to his phone that he was almost out of memory. At least it wasn’t alerting on rabbits anymore. He rubbed his jaw, feeling a reluctant smile creep across his face. When you lived in a place called Rabbit River—that just didn’t work.

  He tapped a finger against his cheek, deep in thought. The system was a hodgepodge of motion detector cameras, perimeter surveillance and rewritten facial recognition software. What he really needed was body recognition software. The problem was he wanted two very distinct body types recognized. Maybe he was looking at this wrong. Maybe rather than rewriting all the - if and only if – clauses, he just needed to add an - and - clause after each one…

  Four hours later, Aaron ran the images through the system again. He pushed up from the machine and attempted to pace around the room, but it was too small for that. He had a feeling the space was originally intended as more of a storage room than a command center. He pushed through the door and skirted around the pool table taking pride of place in the main part of the basement. He checked the time as he jogged up the stairs. It would be a while before the results of his modifications came in and he could make further adjustments.

  He needed this system solid. Trouble was coming—he could feel it. And after convincing his best friend to form this new pack, there was no way Aaron would let him down. Lucas had enough to worry about; a reliable perimeter alarm shouldn’t be one of them.

  ***

  Lucas sat at his desk, staring out his bedroom window. The valley spread out before him, new spring grass vivid against small islands of melting snow. The Rabbit River glinted blue as it snaked through its center. Evergreens surrounded the narrow valley, isolating it from the outside world.

  Where are you, Aster? What game are you playing? Four different trips in search of his wayward sister, and still there was no sign of her. He rubbed the back of his neck. No, that wasn’t right. Each trip revealed plenty of information on where she’d been. Just nothing on where she was now. He tried to push the worry out of his mind. Aster was smart and careful. It was doubtful that Marten or any of his cronies would catch up to her. But everyone made mistakes.

  “Lucas?”

  He turned to see Mari standing in his doorway, the pile of clothing he’d ordered for her thrust in his direction.

  “Do you know how these clothes ended up on my bed?” Clearly she had her suspicions, and she didn’t seem particularly happy about it. He rose and moved slowly toward the center of the room.

  “I thought you could use a few things after your apartment—” was destroyed. No. Don’t say that, you imbecile. No need to remind her of the vile creature her husband had been. “After what happened to your apartment.”

  Her eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened. She smelled annoyed, but at least she didn’t seem frightened by the unnecessary reminder. That was progress.

  “And what about all the fancy soaps that keep showing up in my room?”

  “I thought you might enjoy them.” He tried to sound casual, but he wasn’t sure he pulled it off. She smelled suspicious. In truth, he’d been trying different types of rose-scented soap, hoping to hit on the one he’d detected on her skin that first night. He exhaled sharply as the memory of that night—the image of her battered figure lying half-buried in snow—popped into his head. He had to work to get it back out again.

  “Lucas, you can’t keep giving me gifts. I agreed to be your housekeeper, not—” She blew out a breath. “Not anything else.” Now she smelled anxious. That was not acceptable.

  “Humans do not give gifts to their housekeepers?” He kept his voice light.

  “No.”

  The one word was emphatic. Lucas just managed to keep the grimace from his face. He shrugged one shoulder.

  “It is different among my People. You are in my world now, Mari.”

  Not that he had any idea if the People gave gifts to their housekeepers. He’d never actually heard of anyone having a housekeeper. But he liked giving her things. He had no intention of stopping. “Excuse me, Mari. I need to speak to Aaron about something.”

  He stepped forward, into her space, and as he’d known she would, Mari stepped back. He slipped past her and headed down the hallway to the great room, hoping his escape wasn’t too obvious. There was an estate sale he wanted to check out. Perhaps Aaron would come with him. If he gave Mari some space now, maybe she would relax about the clothes. And the soap.

  Mari stared after Lucas’s retreating back and shook her head. She wasn’t afraid of Lucas. But he did make her nervous. Sometimes. Other times…

  She still couldn’t believe he’d talked her into staying after everything that happened. But Lucas—in spite of his soft French accent and his mild way of speaking—could be very persuasive. Persistent. And weird as it was to admit, she felt safe here. Mostly. More than she had in a long time.

  And then there was Elizabeth. She’d hate to lose that budding friendship. It had been ages since Mari had someone to talk to. Not since before her marriage. Jerry hadn’t wanted her to spend any time with her girlfriends. Or her sister. First he isolated her, and then he—

  Mari gritted her teeth. I am not thinking about that asshole. It’s a beautiful day, and I’m going to make the most of it.

  She turned and went into her room, directly opposite Lucas’s. She pursed her lips. The upstairs rooms were larger. Maybe she should have picked one of them. She deposited the clothes on the dresser. No. Be honest, Mari. Even now, she wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping upstairs, surrounded by all that testosterone. That… intensity. Cray and Elizabeth had moved into their own little cottage now, but Jesse, Aaron, and Gage still had bedrooms upstairs. She stared at the stack of clothes for a moment, not really seeing them. She’d been here for over two months, and she was mostly used to all of them, but it still felt more private down here.
More secure. With Lucas right across the hall…

  She blinked and glanced around the room. Decorated in cream and sage, it had a peaceful quality. The painted furniture had charming floral touches. French country, Lucas called it. She sighed. There really wasn’t any harm in keeping the clothes. Lord knew she could use them. And unlike Jerry, Lucas had gotten her things she’d actually feel comfortable in. Long-sleeved thermals and jeans. Yoga pants and tees. Not a short skirt in the bunch. No underwear of any kind. Nothing that could be construed as… inappropriate.

  Still, she couldn’t deny his interest. At least, she thought he was interested. Sometimes. But maybe that was just Lucas being Lucas. He seemed to feel responsible for everyone. He’d always acted like he was responsible for her. Her safety, anyway. Although she was safe now, so…

  She sank down on the bed. Mari Jo Johnson, what are you doing here? But she knew. She was here because she couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. If she was honest, she didn’t want to go anywhere else. And she had the wedding to consider. Elizabeth’s wedding was only a few weeks away. Mari could never desert her friend at a time like this.

  At least she could be sure—reasonably sure—that Elizabeth would have a better time with marriage than Mari had. She grimaced, trying to banish the memories. She did her best not to think about Jerry. At all. Most of the time, she succeeded. Usually she could even ignore the confusing mix of feelings she had about Cray. Still, the image of Elizabeth’s fiancé as a big black wolf flashed into her mind more often than she liked. The vision of him smashing through that window like a wolf-shaped, heat-seeking-missile—

  She cut off that line of thought. She still had nightmares about it. All that blood. But the truth was, Cray had gotten there just in time. And hadn’t hesitated for a second. She couldn’t help but be grateful, even if it was a little… uncomfortable… to be around him now. She shuddered. Jerry would never hurt her again.

  Aaron tried to look absorbed in the baseball game as Lucas entered the great room. Even with the TV on, Aaron couldn’t help overhearing his conversation with Mari. He wasn’t surprised to see his Alpha rubbing the back of his neck and looking distracted.

  “Aaron, there’s an estate sale down by Saranac that I want to check out. Care to tag along?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Aaron rose and clicked off the TV. He followed Lucas into the mudroom, trying not to think about his Alpha’s doomed attraction to the little human. There was no point in worrying about something he couldn’t change. But it was hard to see his closest friend so troubled and not be able to do anything about it. Except do his damnedest to see that Mari felt comfortable around the pack. And make utterly certain she was safe.

  “I’ll text Cray, let him know we’re going,” Aaron said as they strode across the backyard to the garage. The house was set well back from the road, with what Aaron thought of as a backwards design. The driveway meandered up through the trees for quite a ways, with the garage and woodshed coming into view first, and then the back of the house. The front of the house faced the river valley, with its wide front porch commanding an expansive view. There was a circular driveway around the front of the house, but nobody used it.

  “Good. I let Gage know he’s in charge.”

  Aaron nodded, relaxing a little. He slid into the passenger seat as Lucas went around to the driver’s side. Although nothing had happened yet, their small pack had to be on alert. With only the five of them, that wasn’t always so easy. Well, plus Elizabeth, she was Pack now, and maybe he’d have to include Mari… He resisted shaking his head.

  If Gage was home, Cray and Elizabeth wouldn’t have to leave their snug little house. It was funny, actually, the relationship Gage had developed with Mari. He was the only one she didn’t seem afraid of. Although maybe that wasn’t so funny. Gage was taller than all of them, except maybe Cray, and every bit as large, but he had a sort of lanky, unfinished quality to him. Somehow he managed to seem innocuous. Almost goofy. And he treated Mari pretty much the same way he treated his sister. Well, the way he would treat Aster, if she didn’t run rings around his tail every time he tried.

  Aaron hid a smile. It couldn’t be easy for Gage, with Aster and Lucas as his older siblings. But Gage carried it off, as if it didn’t bother him a bit. Aaron had his doubts. Being the oldest carried a wealth of responsibilities. Aaron knew that firsthand. But being the youngest—especially of those two—yeah, that couldn’t be easy.

  Lucas glanced at him briefly from the driver’s seat. “You received the new components for the security system?”

  “Yup. Installed them yesterday. Fixed that gap in coverage up by the ridge. Got some nice shots of the deer, but no wolves. No People. I’m still modifying the software so I don’t get woken by an alert every time a bear crosses our perimeter, but it should be fully operational by the end of the week.”

  Lucas nodded. Aaron knew the security of the compound weighed on him. Much as they hated to do it, they had installed strategic fencing to control possible avenues of attack. It was the only option with so much territory to protect, but it rankled having to mar the natural beauty of the landscape. They’d used natural materials, blended into the surrounding scenery, but with Marten’s pack dead set on capturing Aster, and Lucas—as well as Aster—dead set against it, hostilities seemed likely. If not inevitable. And with such a small pack, they needed every advantage they could manage.

  Aaron watched the wooded landscape flash by outside his window. The land was starting to come alive again after the cold stillness of winter. Bright new green sprang up in the underbrush of the young Adirondack forest, and the small creatures went about their busy lives, already immersed in the cycle that would eventually prepare them for another long winter.

  It was good here, this territory Lucas had claimed for their new pack. Peaceful and wild, with few roads and towns chopping up the land. Not as remote as the wilds north of Montreal where their old pack was situated. That was Marten’s pack now. He glanced over at Lucas, feeling the familiar ache for his friend. To lose your parents like that—

  Aaron squinted at the trees sliding past his window and tried to push the painful memories away. Maybe if they had been there—if he and Lucas and Gage hadn’t been off on a three-day run when it happened... He’d never quite forgiven himself for that, and he suspected Lucas felt even worse. Not that it would have mattered. You couldn’t stop a challenge.

  Aaron silently released his breath, along with his regrets. He glanced back out at the forest sliding by. White pine. Red spruce. Yellow birch and sugar maple. Almost all of it was second growth forest. This whole area had been decimated by logging by the eighteen hundreds. Humans were terrible shepherds of the land.

  Wolf-killers. The wolves had been gone from this area for centuries. But the forest had managed to reclaim this small piece of the world. Now it was protected. The humans were trying. Some of them.

  The Adirondacks were isolated enough that you didn’t feel you were rubbing up against humanity every time you turned around. That was one thing Aaron couldn’t stand. He’d had enough of that at college. Four years cheek-to-jowl with the stink of it had been as much as he could stand. All those chemicals.

  Still, he’d learned a lot in that period. Mechanical engineering and computer science fascinated him. He loved the beauty of a well-integrated system, all the components working together seamlessly to form a cohesive whole. Like the web of life. It had been worth it for that alone.

  One thing you had to give the humans, they were always expanding on their knowledge. Tinkering away with things that already worked, just to see if they could make them work better. Most of them had been just what you’d expect, but a few had surprised him. Their devotion to family. Their understanding of loyalty. Qualities he’d never associated with humans. Well, they weren’t all the same. Take Elizabeth, for example. Or Mari.

  The drive back from the estate sale was just as silent as the drive down. The quiet companionship was soothing. He
could tell Lucas was pleased with the pieces he’d purchased. There was a ridiculously heavy armoire and an old roll top desk loaded in the back of the truck. Lucas was always checking the estate sales, looking for things he might want for his antiques business. But after all these years, he knew better than to try talk furniture with Aaron. The difference between Hepplewhite and Queen Anne? Yeah, not interested. Lucas and Elizabeth could go on for hours, though. For some reason, she never wanted to come on these expeditions. Not that it mattered. Lucas had been texting her pictures the whole time.

  Aaron tapped a finger silently against his jeans clad leg. Elizabeth almost never left the property. Aaron had his own ideas why that might be. They did find her hiking through the frozen woods in the middle of the night— pulling a sled of supplies. A person didn’t do that for no reason. But why, or from what Elizabeth might be hiding, he had no idea. He’d asked Cray about it once, but Cray just shook his head. It wasn’t really an issue, as long as she never left the territory without protection. Which also wasn’t an issue, since she and Cray were practically attached at the hip.

  They reached the turnoff for the house, but Lucas continued on. Aaron glanced at him in question.

  “Elizabeth wants us to pick up a few things before we head back.”

  Aaron nodded. Elizabeth ruled the kitchen of the main house— even after she and Cray had moved. She was the pack’s dominant female. Never mind that she was human. He refrained from shaking his head. What was it with his new pack and these human females? Oh, they smelled fine. Much better than most, even before they became Pack. Unbidden, a hot flash of Elizabeth’s scent just after returning from her Moonrise Ceremony popped into his head—

  O-kay. He shifted uncomfortably, a flush creeping up his neck. Not thinking about that. He glanced at Lucas out of the corner of his eye.

  He could understand Cray. That had been necessity. But this fascination Lucas had with Mari, that troubled him. It was clear he had no intention of giving her up. But Aaron didn’t see good things coming of this. Yeah, he could see tiny, careful Mari accepting Lucas about the same time the squirrels of the world rose up and started attacking badgers in their dens. Aaron held in a grimace. Nothing he could do but be there to pick up the pieces when it all went to hell.