Katrin pulled the plastic wrap away from the first sandwich and took a large bite.
She hummed her approval. It might just have been the best sandwich she’d ever had in her life. With each bite, she looked out past the lake toward Prince George as her eyes swelled with tears. The wonderful smell of the meat between the bread was tarnished from the thick smell of her sadness.
Katrin wasn’t sure what a broken heart smelled like but she was pretty sure it was what she breathed in now.
“He’s not coming,” she told herself. At the same time she contradicted her thought. “So how long should I wait for you, Jarvis?”
More tears fell and at the same time her eyes burned as she stared in the direction of Prince George. Finishing the sandwich, she crumpled the plastic and threw it in the saddlebag. Her legs were stiff and hurt when she straightened them inside the sleeping bag. But she had to move. At the least, she had to relieve herself.
After walking out from the trees behind her small den, although she wasn’t sure why she sought privacy when she was so completely alone, Katrin began stripping out of her layers of clothing. The clouds were gone and the afternoon sun was warm. She shoved her coat and Jarvis’ sweater into the saddlebag.
Then walking down to test the water, she decided the only way to bathe was in her fur. The water was too damn cold to stick any part of her in it without freezing her ass off.
“It will be cold tonight, too, once the sun goes down. A fire would be smart.” It hurt thinking she needed to decide how long she’d stay here. Soon, twenty-four hours would have passed. “Ample time for him to have dealt with whatever the assholes in that pack would have dished out,” she insisted. “And it didn’t take more than a couple hours to run here.”
Her heart couldn’t hurt any more than it already did. So pointing out to herself this time that he wasn’t coming didn’t cause any more pain. She was already maxed out in that department.
Katrin gathered firewood, searching for dry branches then tossing them toward her makeshift den. Where the night before her work in designing and building the den had been meticulous, now her heart wasn’t in the job.
Why did it matter if she had heat from a fire or not? She would be miserable sleeping in that sleeping bag again, and a fire wouldn’t make the ground more comfortable. Although the nicest bed there was wouldn’t make it any easier to sleep. Her heart was so swollen. It was impossible not to think of Jarvis no matter what she did or how she tried to convert her thoughts. Her chest seemed to have constricted around her heart, making the pain even more acute.
Katrin walked up to the pile of firewood she’d gathered and threw the branch in her hand down. “You stink so badly of self-pity that any werewolf who did run this way would veer hard to avoid you. Stupid bitch, what are you doing?”
She stared at the den she’d made, then at the firewood on the ground.
“No!” she yelled. Then again, louder. “No!”
Katrin arched her back, let her tangled hair fall behind her shoulders and screamed at the sky. “No!”
Oddly enough it helped, at least a bit. There were choices. She wasn’t tethered to this den or this lake. Her littermates had run south to America. There was a sanctuary run by owls. Katrin wasn’t sure of its exact location, or even how far of a run it would be—days probably. But Katrin could sniff them out. Leisa and Magda wouldn’t turn her out if she ran to them.
“Or,” she said, leaving the pile of wood and turning in the direction of Prince George. “Maybe I should sniff you out. I know it’s dangerous. But you’re worth it. I’m not running anywhere without you, Jarvis Alger.” Suddenly her heart felt a lot lighter.
Chapter Eleven
“I’m sick of waiting,” Jarvis snarled, glaring at his littermate.
Jaeger hurled the end of the log he’d lifted, sending it rolling toward the work truck. “Then fucking leave,” he yelled. “You stink of outrage and I’m sick of your bitching. Go find your God damn female.”
Jarvis lunged, hitting his littermate square in the jaw. “I’ll show you some fucking outrage,” he yelled. “She’s been waiting for me for over a day now and I’m not leaving her out in the middle of nowhere any longer.”
Jaeger stumbled backward, lost his footing and went down on one knee. He glared at Jarvis, his eyes silver with anger as he slowly stood.
“I said go,” he seethed, his teeth clenched. He rubbed his jaw. “I’m sick of being around your smelly tail anyway.”
Jarvis watched his littermate rub his jaw and knew Jaeger wanted to take a swing. “We can wait for you at that lake,” he offered, some of his anger receding.
It had been the hardest thing he’d ever done, telling Katrin to run without him. After she’d left, her scent still drifted through the rooms in McAllister’s den, especially upstairs when he’d made sure everything that belonged to him or Katrin was cleared out of their place. He never wanted to step foot in that den again.
“Do whatever the fuck you want,” Jaeger growled, his scent spicy with anger. He walked over to the log he’d been dragging to the work truck when Jarvis first found him and picked one end of it up. He roared loudly when he hurled the end of it toward the back of the truck.
“Why isn’t someone working with you?” Jarvis asked, glancing around before hurrying to help his littermate lift the heavy log into the back of the truck. It was half full. “You’d have this truck full if another male was out here.”
“Punishment, I guess,” he grunted and walked away from Jarvis.
Jarvis kept up with Jaeger easily when his littermate walked into the trees, where a previous crew had left the rest of the logs for Jaeger’s crew to pick up. Except apparently Jaeger was a crew of one.
“I’m not leaving without you,” Jarvis said, lifting one end of a log as his littermate lifted the other end. “You are all the litter I have.”
Jaeger grunted but said nothing as they hurled the log into the truck and headed into the woods for the next one.
“But I can’t leave Katrin sitting at the lake with no protection.”
“From the howling I hear, she can protect herself,” Jaeger grunted.
“That does it,” Jarvis roared and threw down his end of the log. “Not you too!”
“Did she really throw you and McAllister away from each other without touching either of you?”
Jarvis stared at his littermate, then finally sighed. “Yes,” he grunted.
Jaeger lowered his end of the log. “Damn, Cariboo,” he muttered.
“She was protecting me.”
Jaeger smiled slowly. “That smells so sweet. You have a female who will protect you from all the dangerous predators out there,” he cooed.
“Shut the fuck up,” Jarvis snarled, and reached down to pick up his end of the log. “Look around you. Katrin needs a hell of a lot of protection, especially now.”
“Think about it, Jarvis. If you mate with her, you’ll be running for the rest of your life.”
“No. We won’t. If we have to return to the mountains, we will.” Jarvis thought about his words as he howled them. And he realized he meant what he said. He didn’t want to lose Katrin, no matter what. “Life was pretty damn good running in the mountains. Katrin’s litter ran in the mountains too. We could make a good life there.”
“Might be true,” Jaeger grumbled and lifted his end of the log. He started forward as Jarvis walked backward. “Only problem is you had her run away from the mountains, not toward them.”
Jarvis ignored Jaeger. Life with Katrin in the mountains would work. No one would bother them. Katrin wouldn’t have to worry if her tainted blood came forward every now and then.
“Drop the log,” Jaeger ordered, his tone suddenly harsh.
“Why? What?” Jarvis had a good grip on the log and his footing was stable. “I can help you get this loaded in no time.”
Jaeger gestured with a nod. “Toubec,” he explained.
Jarvis growled and dropped the log. He’d though
t if he helped his littermate finish his day out in good time, he might be able to convince Jaeger to go to Toubec and get the pay due him. Then they would run together, get Katrin, and seek out a life where all of them could run free without inhibitions. The humans might try hunting them in the mountains, but possibly they could live with that. And if not, maybe they would build a den in the mountains south of them in the United States. There were endless possibilities they could sniff out.
“He been coming out this way since I left his ranch?”
“Nope.” Jaeger strolled past Jarvis to the clearing. He stood with his back to Jarvis as Toubec’s nice new truck bounded up the hill.
If Jarvis turned now and ran into the woods, chances were Toubec wouldn’t pick up on his scent once he got out of his truck. It had been brought up during the brief time he had lived here as to how Toubec would personally chase a werewolf off his land if they didn’t live and work on his ranch. Jarvis wasn’t too concerned about Jaeger’s job security.
They had fought over how living on this ranch, working for another Cariboo, and having the comfort of running free without worrying about predators would tame a werewolf. Jaeger had howled the loudest about not liking it here. It had been Jarvis who had growled about how the two of them should be grateful to have it so good on the ranch.
Jarvis jumped over the log the two of them had dropped and followed his littermate into the clearing. No, he wouldn’t run and hide. But if one more werewolf smelled righteous around him or gave him a judgmental growl over his decision to run with Katrin, he’d kick their fucking tail so hard they wouldn’t be able to wag it for a month. Even if he was on their land.
Katrin had lived on the Toubec ranch, in Toubec’s den. She had driven their trucks, run errands for them. They wouldn’t let her run without an escort, kept her under lock and key to protect her from rogue single males. They’d honored her as a single female under their protection, in spite of Katrin not liking it.
Those pompous lunewulf in Prince George hadn’t smelled anything wrong with her. But the second someone howled Malta werewolf, suddenly the pack turned against her. Their pack leader pulling into McAllister’s den just in time to witness McAllister and him being thrown backward from each other by some “invisibleforce” hadn’t helped matters.
Jarvis was shaken by that incident. Damn, it was the most bizarre thing he’d ever experienced. He’d had no control. There hadn’t been time to react. And under different circumstances he would have bared his teeth and roared in fury over Katrin doing something like that to him. Katrin’s expression, her smell of fear and panic, were burned into his memory, as was the humiliation of landing on his ass. She hadn’t had time to explain but it was clear by her scent that she had reacted impulsively. They would definitely be better off living in isolation if Katrin didn’t have control over the Malta blood coursing her veins.
Toubec parked behind the work truck Jaeger had been loading. Jarvis shook off his sullen mood and put his emotions in check. The large Cariboo got out of his truck and sniffed the air, picking up on each male’s scent and determining his current mood. Jarvis wasn’t surprised. He’d bet his right nut the male came out here to see if Jarvis was with Jaeger, and what they might be plotting.
“You working for me again, Jarvis?” Toubec asked with a sneer on his face.
The large male stopped when he was just a few feet away from both of them. He rested a boot on a large rock, leaning his weight and squinting as he looked around at the sprawling meadow and dense trees behind them.
“Heard some howling that you might be out here,” he grunted, still focusing on their surroundings.
“I’ve only been out here a few minutes, Toubec. Sounds like you should worry about the Cariboo out here not working and instead howling worse than a bunch of old bitches.”
Toubec’s sneer looked as if it turned into a smile. “Maybe I should.”
He took his time once again searching their surroundings, sniffing the air. Jarvis did the same. The rain the night before had brought down the temperatures. Jarvis had pictured Katrin curled up somewhere, staying dry during the night’s storm. He’d ached to run after her, but had been torn over leaving without his littermate.
Were they in the mountains, a day like today would be prime for hunting. With cool temperatures and everything fresh, sniffing out prey would be easy and fun. They weren’t in the mountains, though. Nothing about today would be easy or fun.
The second Toubec turned his focus on Jarvis, he snapped to attention, once again reigning in his emotions.
“Why are you here?” Toubec asked.
“I’m here so my littermate can run with me.” Jarvis didn’t see any reason to lie to the older male.
“We have a policy that was set up years back to keep werewolves from drifting in and out. All employees are only paid at the end of the week.” Toubec rubbed his scar-puckered hand over his head. “My mate can get quite a temper when payroll annoys her. Simone made an exception for you because she worried about your female. I’ll see what I can do about Jaeger.”
“And is she still worried about her?” Jarvis demanded. He was pretty sure the entire pack would have heard the howlings about his mate sending two grown males flying without touching them.
Toubec rested his hand on his head. “Say what you mean, werewolf.”
Jarvis never had a problem howling what he meant. He ignored the side-glance Jaeger gave him and how his littermate suddenly smelled a bit apprehensive. If Toubec noticed, he ignored Jaeger too. His attention was riveted on Jarvis.
“Katrin never harmed you, or your den, but you’re both damn glad you don’t have a Malta werewolf on your property anymore.”
“That female killed one of the males working my ranch, a male who’d been here over a year,” Toubec growled. The larger Cariboo squared off and faced Jarvis and Jaeger. “After helping with the death ceremony, my mate confronted Katrin about killing the male,” Toubec seethed. His eyes were silver when he lowered his hand and fisted both at his sides. “Your mate, and I use that term lightly since I heard she howled it unceremoniously outside a motel to protect your hide, got so mad she crushed a coffee cup. She then dishonored the dead by accusing him of rape. Yet the day she returned after killing him she didn’t smell of rape. There are plenty of witnesses so think carefully before you start howling accusations.”
“She was being chased by four males,” Jaeger roared, jumping in front of Jarvis and moving fast until he was face-to-face with Toubec. Jaeger pointed at the old work truck that he’d been loading. “We sat in that truck and watched the whole fucking thing. They chased her into the meadow. We thought for sure we were about ready to witness a gang-rape.”
Toubec stepped around Jaeger and snarled at Jarvis. “So after witnessing proof she was a Malta werewolf, instead of howling this truth to me, you instead start fucking her?”
Jarvis might have leaped. He was too wound up, too ready to release his outrage on this pack for how they’d banished Katrin. And although he hated to admit it, he was mad at himself for letting her leave—and for not immediately running with her. Now he needed to defend her honor and wait for his littermate, so among the three of them they would have money to relocate.
Instead of pouncing on Toubec, who let out a roar in anticipation, all three of them spun around at the sound of someone in the trees behind them. Jarvis picked up on the foul odor of a werewolf who desperately needed to bathe. He then spotted the Cariboo. He appeared from behind several trees, and was a lot closer than Jarvis first realized.
“I saw that little bitch attack,” the scruffy-looking Cariboo grunted. He was puckered with scars on nearly every part of his exposed body. The flannel shirt and old jeans he wore looked as if they had molded and become part of the male’s body quite some time ago. “She sent the males flying. Heard she did it again in front of the lunewulf pack leader.” The male sneered, showing off a mouth full of dark holes where teeth used to be. “Ran the bitch out of the territo
ry.”
Jarvis stalked over to the old male and grabbed the worn-out collar on his shirt. Without so much as a growl, he dragged the Cariboo away from the trees and almost threw him at Toubec.
“Say that again, you fucking waste of Cariboo flesh,” Jarvis roared. “Let everyone smell your God damn lies!”
“I’m telling the truth,” the old Cariboo wailed. “She attacked and killed that male.”
The battle-worn male had some fight left in him. Jarvis’ adrenaline soared though. He grabbed the male and began shaking him like a rag doll. The Cariboo stunk but Jarvis was determined to make his lies smell more.
“Let go of him,” Toubec demanded.
Jarvis ignored him. “Did she send any of those males flying?”
“Were the males chasing her across the meadow?” Jaeger demanded. His anger was as spicy-smelling as Jarvis’.
“She wasn’t running that fast. She wanted it. Only reason a female runs alone,” the old Cariboo insisted.
“She thought she was safe running on the ranch,” Jarvis howled. “Answer the question, old male,” he seethed. “Did she send any male flying through the air?”
“That little female turned and attacked.”
“She attacked because she was trying to save her hide,” Jarvis hissed, and picked the male up by the back of his shirt.
“That little bitch spun around and raced into us. None of us had time to react. We were on to her scent but it changed as quickly as she attacked,” the male yelled. “We weren’t doing anything wrong!”
When the old Cariboo tried swinging, Jarvis tossed him at Toubec. “Katrin reacted the same way any female with sense and the ability to defend herself would have. She fought back, doing what she had to do to prevent all of you from raping her.”
The old male’s scars on his face turned into uneven craters when he leapt away from Toubec and brushed leaves and twigs off his arms and chest. “We weren’t going to do anything to her. She just happened to be where we were running.” For the first time, his lie was easy to smell. He shot furtive looks at all of them, standing slightly hunched over and looking ready to run.
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