He was going to see her again. This time without his wolf as a buffer so he could properly apologize.
CHAPTER 11
THIS SUMMER HAD BEEN hot and dry. Gwen was regularly on the lookout for potential fire hazard areas because of it. Her mind was on her work. This was important stuff—but she was also thinking about Nick. He came to visit her last night. She probably shouldn’t have been so happy about it with the way he was so obviously trying to push her away before, but logic didn’t have a place when Nick was involved. She could tell herself all she wanted that she shouldn’t feel anything for the wolfman, but her heart won the argument every time. She wanted to be close to him. That feeling didn’t weaken even when she hadn’t seen him all week. He was a pain in the ass so far, though. Next time she saw him, she hoped he’d talk to her. Really talk to her.
She smiled to herself. At least he was charming as a wolf. Last night hanging out with him was like having a pet dog who thought the world of her—which was kind of weird. Wouldn’t the wolf side of him be more feral than the man? Hell, she didn’t know. But she wanted to know. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to be a part of his world. It called to her. It was like those dreams she had of being a wolf herself were coming true in a sense, except she was still a painfully strange human. Human or not, she figured she must have had some kind of pull on Nick like he had on her. It was the only explanation she could come up with for him visiting her yesterday. Because it was a visit. He wasn’t asking any favors or telling her to get rid of their Lunas Sigil thing. He wanted to see her.
As much as she enjoyed his stay as a wolf, she wanted to see him again as a man. She wanted to be able to have a conversation with him next time. He could tell her more about himself, help her get to know him better. Gwen looked down at the pearly mark of the moon on her hand. She couldn’t look at the mark without thinking of Nick—not that she needed any help with that.
She had it bad. She hardly knew Nick but she wanted to—needed to—like her life would never be complete until she did. How she could possibly feel she might have found a kindred spirit in him, she couldn’t explain. If he talked to her, explained why he told her to leave and then came back to see her, maybe she could.
Bending down to touch some brittle brush and drying grass, Gwen made a note to check on this area of the forest regularly. Right now it wasn’t too bad, but if the plants became too dry or started dying, she’d need to clear the area to prevent a possible forest fire. It would have been nice if it rained, but with how hot it had been, that was unlikely. She hadn’t heard about rain in any weather forecast.
As she stood, she caught sight of some shadowy figures in the trees. Her hand automatically went to her pistol. She was being cautiously optimistic about those poachers she ran out not coming back, but she was ready to act if they did. It took her a couple seconds to realize the figures in the trees couldn’t be the poachers because they weren’t human. She moved her hand away from her pistol and squinted to better make out their silhouettes. They were wolves. They had to be.
“Hello?” Gwen ventured to say. Maybe these wolves were from Moonwatch.
As if to answer her question, the wolves came closer. They were a good size, big and strong, but based on Nick’s build, Gwen deduced these two had to be female.
She waved awkwardly. She was going to feel extremely stupid if it turned out she was wrong. Nick was larger than an average wolf and so were these two, though not drastically like Nick, so she hoped that meant she was right.
“You two from Moonwatch?” she asked. Then she realized maybe she shouldn’t have asked. She knew their secret, but if Nick kept quiet about it, then most of the wolves there didn’t know she knew. She tried to ignore the tightness in her spine and legs. It was too late to take back what she said now.
She felt a small trickle of relief as the two wolves seemed to nod at her and walked closer, allowing Gwen to see them in their entirety. One cocked her head and watched Gwen with inquisitive amber eyes that reminded her of Willow. The wolf’s coat reminded her of Willow’s hair too. Gwen had never seen or called a wolf blond before, but this one couldn’t be described any other way. Her coat was technically a light blue-gray, but it had a subtle gold tint that made it seem blond. The other wolf was much older. Her coat was a dark brown, streaked with gray and white, much like Julie’s hair.
“Willow and Julie?” Gwen asked, feeling relieved. The two of them already knew about Gwen and even seemed to like her okay.
The wolf that reminded Gwen of Willow barked and wagged her tail. It was definitely them, and it seemed Willow was pleased Gwen recognized them like this.
Gwen grinned. “Nice to see you both again.”
She was about to add that she needed to get back to work when her radio interrupted, “Gwen, we have a problem. You there?”
Grabbing her radio, Gwen replied, “Here, dispatch.”
“A kid’s been missing for a few hours now. He was on the east trail with his parents and then disappeared. He probably started making his own trail in the trees. His name is Tommy. He’s three years old. African-American. Hair in cornrows. Last seen wearing a bright yellow shirt.”
“Got it. I’ll start looking for him immediately. Over.”
Gwen caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Willow in all her human glory—and completely naked. She was quite beautiful with flawless fair skin and curves Gwen would never have.
“I’ll tell Nick what happened,” Willow said quickly. “We’ll help you look.”
“Thank you,” Gwen said with a nod.
Willow shifted back into a wolf and took off in the direction of Moonwatch while Julie started sniffing the air. Gwen wished she had something of the kid’s she could give Julie to place his scent, but she couldn’t do anything about that. She hoped they would find little Tommy okay. He had already been on his own longer than Gwen felt comfortable with. There were plenty of ways he could get hurt or killed. She couldn’t think about that. She was going to find him before anything bad happened. She swore it.
“There are other packs out there. We aren’t doing enough to save the Wolf. We’ve hardly even reached outside of our usual pack connections, which are basically nothing to begin with. Your father exhausted our options when it comes to all the packs we know of, but there are more out there. We just have to find them,” Chris explained as he and Nick sat in the Alpha Den’s sitting room.
When his Beta came over this morning to talk, Nick hadn’t expected it would be about this shit again. He hadn’t explicitly told his Beta that he wouldn’t look for other packs to find a mate for him or his sister, the only two wolves in Blue Pack who were young, potentially fertile, and had never had any offspring, but that had been his intention. He saw no purpose in doing what his Beta was suggesting because there was no guarantee it would fix anything, and there was no way he would ever force his sister to mate with a wolf she didn’t love.
“I know it’s unconventional,” Chris continued, “but you could bypass having a single mate and instead take any females that have nev—”
Nick growled. “No.”
“But if it will save us, shouldn’t you consider it?”
“Enough! You know I would do anything to save the Wolf. I’d do anything for this pack. But that isn’t the way to do it. I’d be as fucking dishonorable as Ivan was. We’ve been looking for someone to blame for what’s been happening to us. We’ve blamed humans and lone wolves, but has anyone stopped to think that maybe the Moon is taking back the gift it gave us? Maybe this has nothing to do with humans and lone wolves at all. Maybe no matter what we do it won’t be enough. Maybe we should accept the Wolf is disappearing, stop whining over it, and live the lives we want to live. In a pack, as lone wolves, with humans, what does any of it matter? I’m not going to mate with a bunch of females from other packs and hope one of them gives me a pup. That decision is my right as Alpha.”
He said it. Nick had never admitted any of this out lo
ud before. Disappointment to his pack or not, he was their Alpha, and this was the conclusion he had come to. And it was all because of Gwen. He thought about her the entire time he spoke.
Nick explained, “Our Pack Bonds aren’t very strong anymore. Julie says there was a time Pack Bonds were so powerful things like betrayal were basically unheard of. I’m not sure how many Blue Wolves will agree with my decision, but as long as I’m your Alpha, this is what we’re doing. If we all end up lone wolves someday, you’ll be completely free to make your own decisions.”
If any in Blue Pack really wanted to go against him, they’d be able to. The only real thing that kept him Alpha of this pack was his power and ability to best anyone who would oppose him one-on-one. But he wasn’t invincible either, and if his entire pack were to turn on him, to hate him, he wouldn’t win. He had never heard of anything like that happening before, but he also knew his packmates didn’t have the same respect for him that they had for his father.
Chris started exuding hostility, and Nick’s hackles rose in response. “Do you have a problem with that?” Nick demanded, ready to put his Beta in his place if he needed to.
Usually, a look would be enough to put one of his wolves in their place, but Chris wasn’t making eye contact. He was staring at Nick’s left hand, the hand with the Lunas Sigil. The hand he forgot to cover back up after his frantic shower last night. Shit.
The front door slammed open, halting Nick and Chris’s conversation. Willow zipped inside, stopping in front of them as she panted. She was naked and must have shifted just a few seconds ago.
“There’s a three-year-old boy lost in Blue Forest. His name is Tommy and he’s been missing for a few hours. We need to help find him,” she said as she tried to steady her breathing. “Gwen needs us.”
She didn’t need to say that last part. Nick would have assumed Gwen was already on the job. That was the kind of person she was. He knew that from experience.
“We don’t have time for some human child. It’s none of our concern, and we shouldn’t get involved,” Chris said vehemently. “And who is Gwen?”
“Shut up, Chris,” Nick warned. “Say another word and I’ll throw you out of here by my teeth.” His eyes shown a bright gold, silencing his unusually rebellious Beta. He would have to worry about Chris’s behavior later.
Nick shed his clothes and shifted in hardly any time at all. Then he was out the door with his sister, leaving his Beta behind in the Alpha Den. He had never had any problems with Chris before, and he didn’t feel particularly threatened or anything. However, it wasn’t a good sign that when he made a decision his Beta didn’t like he reacted like this. It was an indication of a bigger underlying problem. Perhaps Blue Pack wouldn’t be his much longer. If he told Blue Pack what he told Chris and they reacted the way he did, that would be the end of it. Nick would become a lone wolf. Surprisingly, he was okay with that thought. He’d be free to pursue Gwen.
Right now he had a little boy he needed to find and keep safe. The forest could be dangerous, but he was confident they would be able to find him before anything bad happened. He might have considered ordering a pack wide search, but if Chris’s reluctance was any indication of how the rest of the pack would have acted, doing it wouldn’t have been helpful. It would have been a hindrance.
He’d make due with three wolves, Gwen, and her fellow rangers. They’d find the boy safe and sound. Hopefully, Gwen’s opinion of him would go up some after that. Maybe it would fix some of the damage he had caused. Then he would apologize.
CHAPTER 12
GWEN CALLED TOMMY’S NAME, again and again, hoping the little boy would answer her. There was no telling if he was anywhere near her. No one knew what direction he took off in, but all she could do was hope she or someone else would find him soon. She had already been searching for an hour, but her radio had stayed silent and the wolves hadn’t come to find her. It set her on edge.
“Tommy!” she shouted again.
No one answered. She stopped walking for a moment to grab a water bottle from her backpack. It was a scorching hot day, the hottest of the summer as far as she could tell. She was sweating profusely. Even the greens and blue-greens of the forest seemed to have sweated out their colors, leaving them a pale wash of the rich hues they once were. Today Tommy’s biggest danger would be dehydration. She brought plenty of water to remedy that—if she could find him.
After hydrating herself, she wiped away the sweat from her brow before it could fall into her eyes. She started navigating deeper into the blue spruces. She looked around for any tracks she could find, but so far all she had seen were animal tracks. With how dry the weather was, it wasn’t that easy to track anything. Tommy probably hadn’t left any signs she’d be able to detect. She was about to shout the little boy’s name again when she heard a soft whining sound carried on the wind. She stopped moving and listened carefully, hoping to catch the sound again. It was soft, but she was certain it was the sound of someone crying.
“Tommy!” she shouted.
The crying got a little louder. She started moving again, using the cries to guide her. She was relieved when an African-American boy in a bright yellow shirt came into view. He was sitting at the base of one of the blue spruces, curled up in a ball and looking miserable. His lips were chapped and those tears didn’t look like they wanted to fall despite how miserable the poor boy looked.
Gwen wasted no time walking over to him with a water bottle.
“Hi, buddy,” she said. “Your name Tommy?”
“Yeah,” he replied in a crackly voice.
Gwen sat down beside him and handed him the water bottle with the cap off. “Drink this and I’ll get you back to your mom and dad real soon, okay?”
The boy grabbed the water greedily and drank fast, though a lot of it ended up dribbling out of his mouth. Most of it seemed to get down him, which was all Gwen could ask for. Despite the sweltering heat, the little guy leaned against Gwen. She gave him a one-armed hug in return.
“You’ve been brave,” she remarked.
Her comment seemed to stop his sniffling some.
Gwen grabbed her radio to update everyone else on the situation. The crack of a branch breaking was the only warning she had before her radio was knocked out of her hand. Hard and rough fingers were on her neck. Tommy screamed in the same instant. A man grabbed him, covering his mouth.
Adrenaline pulsed through Gwen’s body and she managed to elbow the man behind her in the gut. He let her go, but she was reacting too slowly from the oxygen deprivation to stop him from stealing her gun and radio. This was bad. She recognized these raggedy men. If she hadn’t, the way they both favored obvious injuries, injuries she had given them, would have reminded her of who they were. The poachers came back after all.
“Hurry up already,” the man holding Tommy said. He was holding the boy tight with one arm while favoring the other.
“What’d you do with our damn wolf? People would have paid good money for him,” the one behind Gwen said.
“Go to Hell!” Gwen shouted as she jumped off the ground and kicked the man holding Tommy in the balls.
“Jesus Christ!” the guy shouted as he dropped the boy.
He crumpled on the ground and started mumbling incoherent words while Gwen gathered Tommy in her arms and ran. She would have made a grab for her gun, but the other poacher had it under his fucking foot. The asshole was somewhere between laughing and trying to act concerned for his partner in crime as Gwen ran with Tommy, but the distraction was short lived. The next thing Gwen knew, the guy was shooting at her. Apparently, the bastards had no qualms about killing an innocent child. He was using a handgun instead of a rifle, and Gwen noted his aim was off because he was using one hand to shoot.
Gwen ran through the thickest areas of trees and brush she could find, hoping to get lost in the foliage while avoiding incoming bullets. She kept Tommy pressed against her. If someone was going to get shot, she was making sure that someone would be her in
stead of him. She almost got them out of the poacher’s sight when she heard a bullet whiz through the air and a burning sensation exploded in the back of her right leg. Her leg started buckling underneath her when she heard a crack. She didn’t have time to fully process what had happened before she was sent sprawling onto the ground. She kept Tommy safe in her arms, protecting him before herself.
They tumbled through the dry brush. Gwen’s vision was still spinning when they stopped. She bit back a scream of pain and inspected Tommy instead. He was stunned, but he looked okay. He clung to her, the only person that could protect him. She tried to stand back up, but her leg gave out on her again, sending them back down into dry foliage, discarded leaves, and pine needles. Gwen’s breaths came in labored. Her eyes were moist in response to the nearly unbearable pain in her leg. But she couldn’t stop fighting now.
She looked all around, trying to locate the poacher who was just on her tail. Based on what she saw, she and Tommy tumbled out of the guy’s view. She pulled Tommy closer to her, gently placing a hand over his mouth to urge him to be quiet as she scooted her back against a tree. She quieted her own breathing through sheer willpower and waited.
Like she expected, she heard the unmistakable crunch of the poacher’s hiking boots as he came toward them. He was taking his damn sweet time about it, probably enjoying hunting the two of them like the many animals he had killed. Gwen hoped he hadn’t seen exactly where she and Tommy had stopped rolling. It might be her last chance to gain the advantage.
“Where’d you go, little rats?” the man muttered. “This is becoming way more trouble than it’s worth.”
He was getting closer. Gwen was going to trip him and scramble for his gun. That was her plan. Then Tommy cried. Loudly. Gwen shushed him, but she knew it was too late. Hovering behind them was the poacher.
Her Brave Wolf (Marked By The Moon Book 1) Page 11
