“What the...she is only a child!”
India gasped and gripped his arm as they came a little closer.
“Worse than that, Garrett, she is still human!”
CHAPTER NINE
India
Garrett shook his head for the others to keep their thought to themselves as they ushered them into the cabin and in front of the fire. They would ask questions later, especially why they had a human girl with them who on closer inspection looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old.
India could sense Garrett’s anger, but she pulled him aside and urged him with a look to keep his annoyance under wraps for now. He gave a curt nod and she breathed a sigh of relief for their stay of execution.
Bree had given each of them a blanket to wrap around them and went to find them some clean clothes as India helped Kandis make some breakfast.
The girls were easily kitted out with warm leggings and t-shirts and being much taller, Kandis had some shorts and a t-shirt that would fit the boy at a squeeze. Both Liam and Garrett’s clothes were much too large to be of any use to them. Beggars can’t be choosers, India thought, at least the clothes were clean and dry.
“Come get this while it’s hot,” she smiled at the dirty trio, but they needed no urging and tucked into the stack of pancakes, bacon and sausages without being told twice. She poured them orange juice and only the older girl accepted some coffee from her.
“I’m India and this is Garrett, Liam, Kandis and Bree,” she indicated the others as she sat down beside them at the table and popped a piece of crispy bacon into her mouth. They hesitated, looking at each other and she pretended not to notice as they continued to eat. Finally, the boy pushed his plate away and spoke up.
“I’m Zac, this is my girlfriend Bethany and her sister Sophia.”
When he clammed up again India put a hand on his arm and smiled.
“We have plenty of time to chat, Zac, how would you like to get cleaned up and put on some dry clothes.”
He nodded and she pointed out the bathroom as Bree handed him his clothes. He looked back at the girls still eating before he closed the door and she heard the shower spring to life. Garrett put their shoes in front of the fire to dry out too, but they were a little worse for wear. Zac’s boots were held together by the laces and Bethany’s running shoes weren’t much better, but Sophia’s were unsalvageable, and Bree went into her bag and brought out a pair of running shoes that would be slightly big for her but were almost new.
“We can get you better kitted out when we get back to the…. back home,” she corrected herself, unsure as to just how much she should tell them. Garrett took his cellphone and went outside; she knew he would be calling Seann to bring him up to date on their latest news. How would he react to the girl still being human? She would hazard a guess that he would be pissed.
Under pack law in days gone by, a human who knew of their existence would have been sentenced to death. Keeping their existence secret was paramount but she also knew Seann would never kill someone who had done nothing to deserve it, especially a child. She was curious to know who they were and where they had been, but she was patient, she could wait until they were ready to talk.
Zac came back out of the bathroom and despite the ill-fitting clothes he looked a hundred times better. He was adorably cute with floppy blonde hair and blue eyes and a row of perfect white teeth when he smiled. Bethany went into the bathroom next and he sat back down at the table and poured himself another glass of juice. He still looked a little wary, but India could sense that he was no longer afraid.
“You look much better.” She smiled, and he actually smiled back.
“I smell better too, I don’t remember the last time any of us were able to have a bath or shower, maybe three months ago or so. We stayed together in my student dorm for a while but when I stopped paying tuition and rent, we had to get out.”
He clammed up again and India pulled her chair alongside his.
“It’s okay, Zac, you are among friends. I was only changed a few months ago and I’m still getting used to it. The others were all born this way so they don’t know what it feels like, but they are good people; great people, actually, and they are now my family.”
“What happened to your real family?” he asked.
“My mother died in a car crash, my father is also a wolf who we thought was also dead too, but he is alive and well and living with another pack. My sister was bitten a day after I was and we all live in a wonderful community where we can just be ourselves, no more need to hide.”
They cleared up the breakfast things and India left a plate of pastries and a fresh pot of coffee on the table. Wolves were constantly hungry and she guessed a teenage wolf, who hadn’t eaten properly in a long time would be especially so.
Bethany came back into the kitchen and sent Sophia to clean up.
“I ran the bathtub for you, Sophia, it will help with the aches and pains.” she said to her sister as Bree poured her another coffee. Like Zac, she looked so much better and her light brown hair hung damp down her back, but she smelled of oranges and lime and Bree’s clothes were a decent fit on her. She waited until Sophia closed the door behind her and nodded at Zac to continue.
“She will soak in there for a while, I get the feeling there are some things she would be better off not hearing.” she said wisely.
Zac looked down at the table for a while and then deciding he could trust them he began to tell his story. Garrett and the others sat down and listened, knowing not to interrupt him.
“My parents live in Africa; they went about a year ago with their church mission. I’m an only child and I was happy to stay in the college dorm so that they could rent out their house and get an income from it while they were away. Anyway, Bethany and I had been dating for a few months and we took Sophia out for a birthday dinner and to the movie theater. The movie ended and we were one of the last to leave the theater and were so busy chatting about the movie that we didn’t see the wolf at the back of my truck, between me and the driver’s door.”
He looked up at Bethany who nodded her encouragement.
“I told Sophia and Bethany to get in the truck and lock the doors and I was going to try and frighten it away by having them blast the horn but before I could do a thing it pounced on me and bit my arm. It was excruciating but the wolf ran away and I managed to get into the truck and Bethany slid over and drove us to her Grandma’s house and hid me in the attic. I don’t remember much after that until I woke up a few days later and felt another presence inside me. The first time I turned into the beast I thought I was going to die; the pain was so awful but each time it got easier and easier and a month after I was bitten, I was able to begin controlling my changes. I always thought werewolves were a complete myth, but I guess the jokes on me, huh!”
“We are actually wolf shifters, not werewolves.” Liam added and India threw him a look that quieted him.
“My Grandma had custody of me and my sister since we lost our parents but then she passed away a few weeks after Zac was turned and I worked two jobs, but I still couldn’t make ends meet. The landlord gave us notice and we moved into Zac’s apartment on campus. Three of us in a tiny dorm room isn’t ideal but we had no choice at the time until we ran out of money and Zac was no longer able to pay his college tuition or rent and we had to leave. We took my Grandpa's old tent and pitched it in the woods and were okay for a while, we ate whatever we could forage from people’s gardens and we even stole a few chickens, but we were together and we were doing okay.”
“Couldn’t you have asked for help from the authorities?” India said gently and Zac picked up the story again.
“I'm only eighteen, Bethany is seventeen, there is no way they would have let us keep Sophia. They would have shipped her off to some foster family before we could blink and she would have been lost in the system. This was the only way until she reached her eighteenth birthday and then we could have come out in the open.”
&n
bsp; “How old is she?” Bree asked.
“She’s fifteen, she will be sixteen in a couple of months and already knows she wants to be a wolf. She has known about us for a while and knows not to say anything.” Bethany answered; her brow creased with worry lines.
“When were you turned?” India asked.
“Three months ago, two days before my seventeenth birthday. It was barely daybreak and Zac went into town to find us some food as our supplies were running low. Sophia was still fast asleep in the tent, so I went down to the river to fetch some clean water and I met a man who said he was camped on the other side of the bank. He was a little creepy and wanted me to sit with him, said he was fishing and he did have equipment set up, but he also had a gun. It was a rifle and he cocked it and pointed it at me, and I thought he was joking. He was being a complete dickhead, but I just thought it was a sick joke. I turned and picked up my bucket to walk away, wondering where to go because I didn’t want him to follow me back to the tent where my sister was sleeping. He yelled at me to stop, called me disgusting names but I kept walking and he started swearing and shot me, right in the back.”
India was speechless and she could tell by the faces of the others that they were too.
Zac picked up where Bethany left off.
“I smelled the blood and shifted to reach her sooner and I jumped on the shooter and bit his arm to make him drop his rifle. He ran away yelling and screaming, holding onto his arm and I changed back and carried Bethany to our camp. I managed to remove the bullet, but she had lost a lot of blood. She was dying and I guess I just somehow knew that I could save her if I bit her too. She was unconscious for two days and I found a safe, dry spot for her and Sophia to shelter while I packed up and moved us about twenty miles further north. He came back with reinforcements and got so close to our camp that we had to move again and then finally we ended way up here. He has been looking for me ever since. I don’t think he knows about Sophia and probably thinks Bethany is dead. But we are nowhere near town this time, we had to leave our tent the last time he got close because we had no time to pack up and I don’t remember when we last ate. We try and keep what little we have for Sophia. I just don’t know where else to go from here.”
“You will stay with us,” India said, and Garrett wondered what Seann would have to say about it all. Sophia was human, and Seann would never allow her into the compound. He would blow a gasket; India would need Imogen’s help navigating this one.
“He won’t find you this time, Zac, we will get you back to our people before they come looking for you again.” Kandis said in a newfound show of compassion.
“Thank you, but it’s too late, they already found us,” Bethany said sadly, “The men that came up here yesterday, one of them was the man that shot me!”
CHAPTER TEN
Garrett
“There is no point yelling at me, Seann,” he held the phone away from his ear. Garrett had raised his voice as well. Seann was annoyed at India for offering them a place to stay but he had her back, even when it meant going up against his alpha. “What did you want her to do, leave them here to be slaughtered.”
“Of course not. Start at the beginning, leave out none of the details,” he ordered,
Garrett took a deep calming breath and repeated everything almost word for word that Zac and Bethany had told them. When he had finished, he waited for Seann to speak,
“Fuck!”
“Exactly.”
“How old is the kid.”
“Fifteen, almost sixteen but small for her age.”
“She comes here, she stays here, she won’t be able to leave, at least not until she changes, if she doesn’t, she will be here for life, make sure she understands that.”
“I will.”
He hung up and went back inside to talk to Sophia.
She was sitting close to her sister so he knew whatever he said to her would have to be said to all of them. She was a smaller version of Bethany, cute and pretty now that the grime was washed away, and she was also sporting some of Bree’s castoffs. He poured a cup of coffee and downed it before turning back to their guests.
“I spoke to Seann; he is our pack alpha and his word is law. The offer is non-negotiable, it must be that way to protect all of us, this is what must happen. Bethany, Zac, you can join the pack and live with us in the compound, consider it your home from now on. We will find you jobs, give you a cabin to live in, you need never go hungry again.”
“What about my sister, I won’t go without her, I can’t.” Bethany said, fear creeping into her voice.
“Sophia, you may come too, but Seann is making a lot of allowances for you, humans are never allowed onto pack lands, especially the compound which is our inner sanctum. The downside is that you can never leave, at least until you are old enough to become a wolf, like your sister, if that was your plan.”
“Yes, it is,” she said quietly. “I agree to the conditions, but you must know I would never reveal anything to anyone, my sister and Zac are shifters, why would I put them in danger.”
“We know that otherwise you would never have been allowed to set foot in our home. Our teenagers usually shift anywhere between sixteen and eighteen years old for the first time but as a bitten wolf we will wait until you are eighteen. Bethany, you are unusual to have transitioned smoothly so young.”
“It was fairly easy, if excruciatingly painful.” she smiled, happy that her sister was going to be with them. She felt sure that this new family would keep them safe from the horrors living among them. People went about their everyday lives not knowing family members were sickos, it was frightening.
“Okay, Bree you can drive these three back to the compound with India and Liam and Kandis will wait with me to try and send the hunters off on a different path.”
He didn’t add that he was considering a different fate for them after hearing Bethany’s story, he would snap the hunter’s neck without a backward glance for the callous way he treated the young girl. Bethany would need to hide in the car until they were sure they wouldn’t be followed as the hunter had gotten a clear look at her, maybe it would be safer to have them all sit on the floor until Bree got them onto the highway.
“I’m staying here,” India insisted, “If they come back they will wonder where I have gone, they saw me standing in the doorway, Kandis is not going to pass for me.”
“She’s right,” Kandis said, “She needs to be here until you leave too, I can stay inside as backup if needed and let Liam go with the others back to the compound.”
Garrett couldn’t refuse her anything and what they said was true, but he would have been a lot happier with her safely back home.
“Okay, Liam, take them back to the compound. Kandis can bunk down here. I have a feeling they may be back tomorrow and I want all of you long gone by then. Pack some food for the journey, I need to go out and make sure we aren’t being watched. India, come with me, you could smell them easily before, let’s see if you can pick up anything out of the ordinary.”
India threw her arms around him quickly and then pulled on her coat before going out onto the porch. He couldn’t suppress a smile at her enthusiasm.
They sat on the rockers for a while and she inhaled deeply but there was nothing in the air but the scent of last night’s dinner.
“The hunter told me that he saw wolves, as in plural but that doesn’t fit with what Zac said and he has no reason to lie to us,” Garrett said,
“Yeah, I picked up on that too. Maybe wanting to make out he is a big tough guy that faced down several wolves at the same time.” she offered,
“Bingo! Big tough guy that shot an unarmed girl in the back. He most likely won’t be leaving here alive, India.” he warned her, but she just shrugged.
“If he did that to Bethany he doesn’t deserve to live, he left her for dead, Garrett.”
He stood up and looked toward the trees where the kids had been hiding.
“We need to make sure there are no paw p
rints in the snow. I don’t think they are smart enough to track them otherwise.”
They jumped down off the porch and walked hand in hand to where the trees were thickest and Garrett looked around satisfied that they wouldn’t be detected. The trees were too thick to allow any snow to fall on the forest floor. They wandered a little deeper, but India could only detect a faint smell of them, the wind had dispersed most of it.
“There are a few human footprints leading to the cabin where there is no tree coverage, we need to cover them just in case they get curious about our visitors,” he said.
They walked back slowly, India swishing a small tree branch behind her until the tracks were unrecognizable. She stamped her feet to remove the snow and sat on the rocker while Garrett warned the kids to stay out of sight and away from the windows as soon as they knew the hunters were approaching.
She sniffed the air and turned to him,
“There's a vehicle a couple of miles back, heading this way.
Garrett told Liam to keep everyone hidden and closed the outside door as they waited patiently for the truck to come around the bend at the bottom of the lane.
“This creeps me out a little, knowing what one of these guys is really like,” she shivered.
“Like most bullies, he is a coward, hence the lies about how many wolves he saw.”
The truck stopped and the three men got out and walked up the hill toward them. They were dressed in warm clothing and the younger one had a woolen hat pulled down over his ears. India sensed Garret’s anger, but his face was a mask of calm as he whispered under his breath,
“Showtime!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
India
The older man approached first, and he tipped his imaginary hat and acknowledged India sitting on the rocker.
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