by Kimber White
Teague grabbed me by the shoulder and flipped me to my back. I held my hands in front of my face, shielding it. I let out an animal whimper and refused to make eye contact with him.
“Oh, shit,” Teague said. “It’s just Rowan.”
“Rowan?” the new kid asked. “What the hell’s wrong with her? She’s...she seems...what the fuck is she?”
Teague clucked his tongue. “Don’t get near her, Dugger. She’s a freak, is what she is.” Teague wiped his hand on his jeans as if touching me would expose him to the kind of freak he thought I was. Rage boiled through me, but I kept my breathing even.
“Get up, Rowan,” Teague said. “I heard the old lady calling for you. Better get on home before you get into trouble.”
I snarled at him and flipped over, squatting in front of them. I knew they saw what they wanted to. Wild girl. Not right in the head. I fed the illusion by letting a thin line of drool slide from my mouth.
“Jesus,” Dugger said. “But what is she?”
His eyes darted over me, trying to sort out what his instincts told him. Not quite human. Not quite shifter. I was other and therefore a threat. His bigotry showed in his narrowing eyes and the curl of his lips. I snapped my jaw at him, not able to help myself.
I underestimated Dugger’s bigotry. He lashed out, backhanding me across the cheek. The blow stunned me. I pitched sideways and bit the inside of my mouth. Blood mixed with saliva and ran in a stream from my lip to the ground.
I closed my eyes. Let out a breath. One heartbeat. Two. I let the wild thing out just a little more. I felt a little heat behind my eyes and knew as I turned, Dugger and Teague saw them flash silver. With each slow breath, my true nature spooled out of me. It wrapped around their senses in snaking tendrils. They knew it, and yet they’d never seen it. They were weak at their core. I was strong.
Dugger couldn’t handle it. Just like Geordie, his knees buckled and he took a staggering step forward. Teague was a little bit stronger. Still, he swayed sideways, caught in mid-shift as his wolf struggled to get out.
They were mine. I owned them. The chaos swirling inside them made them vulnerable.
Teague completed his shift. His black wolf was alarmingly thin. I could see every rib through his fur. But, his yellow eyes were sharp. He bared his fangs and lunged at me. I deflected him easily, pushing him back with my forearm.
Dugger recovered enough to come at me. I would have thrown him off too, but never got the chance.
Two more shifters burst through the trees. Clayton and Pollick. Clayton surveyed the scene in an instant. He shifted in mid-stride, his gray wolf larger than the others. When he got near me, his instincts short-circuited just like Teague’s and Dugger’s had. It would have bought me plenty of time. I could have pushed them all back.
But, as I lay on the ground, my arm still protecting my face, a silver avalanche descended, knocking Clayton back. He looked just like I imagined. Twice as big as any of the Alpha’s patrols. That meant something, I just didn’t know what. His sleek body arched through the air, tail high. His massive paws landed with a sickening thud against Clayton’s back. Cracking bones echoed off the trees.
Pollick and Dugger’s wolves reacted in unison. They lunged at the silver wolf. Pollick, the stronger of the two, tore into the silver wolf’s back, leaving a gaping wound. But, the silver wolf didn’t even flinch. He turned on Pollick and lunged at him. Dugger, Teague and now Clayton rebounded. They sank their claws into the silver wolf’s neck. Blood poured out of the wound.
He might have taken them anyway. He was so much bigger. So much stronger. But, I knew time was not on his side. At any moment, Clayton would have the presence of mind to call out to the Alpha and the rest of the Pack. Why he hadn’t already I couldn’t fathom. But, he didn’t. And that gave me the advantage I needed.
I let out an ear-splitting howl. Dugger, Clayton, Teague and Pollick whined, side-stepped and dropped low to the ground. I vaulted to my feet and put my hand on the silver wolf’s shoulder.
“Run!” I screamed. His wide, silver eyes took me in. His wounds weren’t fatal, but he’d lost a lot of blood. He took one faltering step and I knew I’d have to take matters into my own hands. So, I did it literally.
Though I didn’t seem to have the same power over him as the shifter patrol, the silver wolf shifted. He rose on two legs. In human form, his wounds looked even more grave. His ear hung loose and rivers of blood poured down his chest. I got my arms around his waist and pulled him deeper into the woods.
The patrol was stunned, but they wouldn’t be for long. There was only one place to go and it might not be safe.
“Shit,” I said under my breath. My new companion staggered but stayed on his feet. I draped his arm over my shoulder and ran for all I was worth.
Five
Jagger
Blood leached out of me and so did the pain. These weren’t mortal wounds. But, they were deep. My stomach turned and I stumbled as we leaped over a small ravine.
Rowan was fast and strong. I could move under my own power, but not at top speed. Rowan held me up. Her frame was solid as I leaned against her. A girl that size should have buckled under the weight of me. She didn’t. Why?
“Here,” she said, gasping. She pushed past another dense row of pine trees. A wall of rock loomed before me. “Can you stand?”
I coughed up blood as I gave her a nod. Rowan looked exasperated. She furrowed her brow and shook her head as she pushed me against the rock. She pulled back a clump of vines to reveal a small cave entrance. It seemed no matter where I went, I always ended up underground.
“Come on!” she commanded. “Those boys aren’t going to stay back for long.”
She disappeared into the cave entrance. Heaving myself off the rock, I followed her into the darkness. With each step, I felt the pull of the Pack recede. It had been faint to begin with. It shouldn’t be. Here in the heart of Able Valent’s land, the air should have been thick with it.
Rowan produced a small flashlight from one of the pockets of her skirt and set it on a rocky ledge. She came to me, looping her arm around my waist again, she led me to a corner of the cave. I sunk gratefully to the ground. I just needed a minute to catch my breath.
“You’re stupid, you know that?” she said. She tore a patch from her skirt and pressed it to the deepest of the wounds on my chest. Thick rivers of blood ran down it. Shifter wounds always bled like that.
“Do you know what those boys were planning to do to you?” I asked, closing my fingers around her wrist. Rowan sat back, eyes gleaming. They were so wolf-like with silver edges when her emotions ran high. They did now. A tiny pulse beat a furious pace near her throat. Her skin was flushed. And she was strong. No human woman should have been able to outrun those patrols, much less bear even the partial weight of an injured Alpha wolf.
She sat back on her heels. “You’re kidding, right? I told you to stay hidden. Do you mean to tell me you jumped into that fray for me?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out. Why had I jumped into the fray? When I closed my eyes, I could see the lustful glint in each of those shifters’ eyes. Rowan had triggered something in them. Whatever it was, neither had been able to control their wolves. I felt their need for her and their fear. Given a chance they would have cast off the latter and quenched the former.
“I can take care of myself,” she said, undaunted. She jerked her wrist out of my grasp and pressed the patch of skirt against my wound again.
“Rowan,” I said. “You want to tell me who and what you are?”
Her eyes flicked to mine. She drew her brows together forming a deep crease in her forehead. “Why don’t you already know? And why don’t you tell me what this means?”
With her free hand, she traced the lines of the tattoo I bore on my chest. It was a wolf’s head with unfurled wings behind it. At the base, were two crossed swords. Liam, Mac, Gunnar, Payne and I all had them. We weren’t a pack, but we were brothers in arms just the s
ame. This ink represented our commitment to each other and to the cause of freedom from Able Valent’s Pack. How could she not know what it meant already? It had never been my intention, but the Mammoth Forest wolves had taken on a mythic status for those in the resistance.
“You don’t get out much, do you?” I asked, leaning back. I crossed my arms behind my head and really looked at her. She was young, but not as young as she looked from a distance. When I first saw her picking berries by the stream, I’d thought she was no more than fifteen or sixteen. I was wrong. Rowan was a grown woman, maybe twenty or so. Her eyes held an even older wisdom and a flicker of pain she quickly tried to hide. Oh, yes, this woman had even more secrets than I did. I’d meant the comment as almost a joke, but Rowan flinched. I instantly regretted saying it like that.
“I get out plenty. And for your information, I know how to handle myself with a bunch of low-level shifter guards. All you did was risk exposure. I’m not even sure why I helped you. Momentary stupidity, that’s what. Here, hold this to that wound until the bleeding stops. I’m going to have to go out there and make some kind of poultice. I don’t have bandages here and it isn’t safe to head back home yet.”
“Rowan, it’s not safe for you to leave this cave. Those wolves can track you.”
Her eyes flashed with fury. They were pure wolf. How in the hell was that possible? “It’s you they can track. You bled all the way here. I need to go out there and cover it before they get the command to follow you. They won’t be able to sense you underground like this.”
She really had no idea who I was. The resistance fighters had been using the natural cave systems of Kentucky to avoid tracking by the Pack for years.
“Stay put,” she said, pointing a finger at me. “You’ll live, but you’re not going to be up to full strength for at least a day. You kicked up a hornet’s nest out there…”
She searched for her next word. My name. I hadn’t given it to her yet. She hadn’t asked. The tattoo already marked me as a traitor to the Pack. My name would seal it if she had any intention of handing me over to them. I suppose if she’d wanted to, she could have done it already.
“Jagger,” I said, swallowing hard. “Jagger Wilkes.”
She considered it, her eyes darting over me. Then, she gave me a quick nod and gathered her skirts as she stood. “I’ll be back, Jagger Wilkes. You could use some fresh water and probably something to eat. Don’t fall asleep if you can avoid it. They knocked you on the head pretty good.”
She turned on her heel and dashed out of the cave before I could even answer or thank her.
Eyes wide, I shook my head then settled against the cave wall. Maybe if she hadn’t said not to, I wouldn’t have noticed how drowsy I was. I tried to play it off, but I’d lost a hell of a lot of blood. Those shifters were aiming for the kill. How in the everloving hell had Rowan handled them the way she did?
My heartbeat stilled as the dark silence settled over me. Rowan had taken her flashlight with her. I liked it here. I’d always liked the darkness better. Ever since…
Squeezing my eyes shut, I braced myself for the pain. With the next thump of my heart, I felt it. Keara. Grief’s grip sucked the air out of my lungs. The skirmish with the Pack patrol had eased things, just for a moment. It should have come back the instant the battle ended. The adrenaline of the aftermath must have pushed it aside. Now, the pain was back, wrapping itself around my soul.
Six
Jagger
“Hey!”
Sound stabbed through the darkness. Pain and light came with it. A hard grip on my shoulder shook me awake.
Rowan’s eyes glinted as she stared into my face. Her brow was furrowed again. Two thick, dark lines with barely an arch. Her skin was smooth and white, flawless. She held her downturned mouth, lips parted, murmuring something I couldn’t make out.
“Jagger Wilkes!” she shouted. I became fully awake.
“Huh? What?”
Her face softened with relief as she sat back on her heels. She didn’t say any more. Instead, she became methodical, dipping a fresh cloth into a pail of water, she cleaned my chest wound and slathered on a thick poultice made out of what looked like dirt and leaves.
“The bleeding’s mostly stopped,” she said, almost to herself. “It’ll scar, but by the looks of you, that’s nothing new. Tangling with Pack members, is that kind of a hobby of yours or something?”
Finally, her eyes flicked to mine. Hers held the hint of a smile. Or, maybe it was relief. I flat out couldn’t read this woman, but she seemed relieved I wasn’t dead.
“More of a pastime,” I said, leaning back against the wall. Rowan picked up another basket. It was covered with a checkered cloth. When she peeled that back the aroma of fresh-baked bread hit my nose and nearly pulled the wolf straight out of me. I was starving.
She pushed the basket toward me. I pulled out a huge, fluffy biscuit and tore into it. At the bottom of the basket, she brought a few thick strips of jerky. I scarfed those down while Rowan dusted off her hands and found a rock to sit on across from me.
“Where are you from, Jagger Wilkes? And how are you not part of the Pack?”
She rested her chin in her palm. Rowan’s eyes twinkled with curiosity. I had the keen sense she’d never met any shifter who wasn’t Pack before. And yet, she knew enough to understand how dangerous they were.
“Are we sharing stories now?” I asked. “Because I’d really like to hear some of yours too.”
She sucked in a breath of air, but her posture didn’t alter. “You first. Then...we’ll see.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t. But, if I wanted to turn you over to the Pack, I would have done it by now. I still could.”
I pushed off the wall and leaned toward her, letting my wolf eyes flash. “You think you could move fast enough?”
I expected her to flinch. She didn’t. Instead, Rowan rose in a fluid, steady movement. She stood over me, her own eyes flashing.
“I think I can handle a shifter or two just fine.”
I got up. I wasn’t at full strength yet, but that didn’t matter. A fundamental truth about Rowan slammed into my brain. She knew plenty about Pack shifters. But, she’d never been around a true Alpha before. She might not even know there was a difference.
Color came into Rowan’s cheeks as she felt the power emanating from me. She wasn’t a wolf. Still, there was something about her nature that understood mine. She took an involuntary step back.
“And I’m thinking,” I said, taking a step toward her. “You’ve never met a shifter like me before.”
Her breath hitched, but she stood her ground. She slowly raised her hand, palm out. Her fingers trembled as they hovered over the marking on my chest. Her scent filled me again. Not fear. Wonder. Maybe an undercurrent of excitement.
As she lifted her hand higher, I saw the deep scratches on the heel. The bleeding had stopped, but the wounds were ugly and jagged. If Molly were here, she would have made her sit for stitches.
Without thinking, I grabbed Rowan’s wrist again. “You’re hurt.”
Gasping, she tried to pull her hand away. I wouldn’t let her. Instead, I led her back to the rock and made her sit. I took the cloth and dipped it into her pail. Rowan hissed with pain, but she stayed still while I cleaned her wound and wrapped it with the fresh cloth.
“They could have done much worse,” I said. “You should be more careful. Those wolves...that Pack...they aren’t...good.”
“I know what they are,” she whispered. “I’ve known it all my life. Probably a hell of lot better than you do.”
“You’ve never left Kentucky, have you?” I asked. Slowly, Rowan pulled her hand out of mine. She tucked it against her body.
I sighed. “You’ve never left Heartland, have you?”
The stillness in her face gave me my answer. My God. What was she to Able Valent? And how in the hell had she controlled those betas?
I took a seat beside her
on the rock, pressing my back against the wall. Our shoulders were no more than an inch from each other.
“How old are you, Rowan?”
She didn’t turn to face me when she answered. She just stared straight ahead. “I don’t know.”
It wasn’t the answer I expected. Then again, nothing about her had been what I expected. She had a sadness to her that tore at me.
“How old do I look?” She finally looked at me. From anyone else, that question would have seemed like a self-effacing joke. But Rowan was earnestly asking.
“I wasn’t sure, at first,” I said. “Now, I’d guess maybe twenty?”
She bit her lip and nodded. “Twenty. I could be. It’s a good a guess as any.”
“Don’t you have people? A family? Someone who knows these things?”
“I have my aunt,” she said.
“The old lady and the addled kid,” I said, repeating what I’d heard the shifters say. “Except, there’s nothing addled about you, is there? That’s just what you let them think.”
Rowan’s eyes held the truth. Another of her secrets peeled away. “That’s a lot of questions, Jagger Wilkes. Now how about a few for you? How did you manage to get free of the Pack? Are there others like you?”
“That’s a long story,” I said. “And parts of it I’m not willing to share. But yes, there are others like me. And they are the reason I’m not willing to share. Not everyone believes Able Valent is a good guy.”
“Does anyone believe he’s a good guy? I mean...anyone who isn’t forced to do what he says?”
“For someone who’s never left Heartland, you’ve picked up a few things,” I joked.
“Not bad for an addled kid,” she said, her tone thick with irony.
