Running Free (Northern Shifters)

by Jorrie Spencer

  Dana might be gone, but Storm wasn’t.

  Once the pup was put to bed—Storm had wanted Sally involved with this—then she, Zach and Rory sat in the living room with drinks and got down to brass tacks.

  Zach asked, “What’s going on with Dana?”

  Rory opened a hand with his one-shouldered shrug. “It sounds like this wolf wants to take up where Stewart left off. At first Dana was on board, but then he scared her.”

  “How did he scare her?” asked Sally.

  “Roughed her up some,” Rory said flatly. “I guess Stewart didn’t do that. To her. Maybe Stewart only got violent with other wolves.”

  “She didn’t look beat up,” Zach observed.

  “Arms and ribs were bruised. She was happy to show me.”

  “Christ.”

  Sally felt a little ill. She’d been targeted, but while being a female wolf made her a target, it also gave her some tools for escape. “What’s his name?” she asked Rory.

  “John Doe,” Rory drawled. “I believe Dana doesn’t know his name, for what it’s worth.”

  “You know for sure he was there?” What if Dana was somehow making a gambit to gain attention from wolves?

  Rory nodded. “I found some tracks before the snowfall Tuesday. Dana thinks he’ll be back for the full moon, so I encouraged her to go visit a distant cousin for the rest of the month. Once I told her Hambly was dead, she agreed to the change in location.”

  “How’d she take the news of Hambly’s death?” Sally asked.

  “She was matter of fact. Maybe a bit relieved, now that Wolf Town is present.” Rory turned to Zach. “I’m going to call in reinforcements for the full-moon week, so you’ll have more wolves in your territory.”

  Zach accepted this. He’d known it was coming.

  Sally thought of Mala then, and how she’d found Stewart in her dreams, found Storm. As far as she knew, the dreams had been quiet. “Wolf Town has had no indication there’s this other violent wolf around?”

  “No indication of wolf-on-wolf violence.” Rory understood she was referring to the resident dream wraith, but he didn’t go further, perhaps assuming she hadn’t yet shared Mala’s ability with Zach.

  Rory was correct. This weekend Sally would have to tell Zach all about Mala, and how Wolf Town had first contacted her. It wasn’t that she’d been keeping Mala a secret. In truth, she barely thought about the woman and her dreams. Still, explaining how Wolf Town had a dream wraith wasn’t going to be the easiest of conversations. She’d have never believed it if she hadn’t experienced it herself firsthand.

  Sally liked lying in the circle of his arms. Once the tension was leached out of Zach by lovemaking, he was all warmth and affection in a way that undid her. It was almost as if he did the seduction backwards. Not that his heated glances and tense, aroused body didn’t turn her on, they really did.

  Or she wouldn’t be here, in his bed.

  “You don’t drop off to sleep,” she murmured.

  His arms tightened around her, and he kissed her temple. “You’re here.”

  “I’m not going anywhere tonight. At least I hope not.”

  He didn’t answer right away, as if searching for the correct response. “I want you here. With me.”

  She snuggled into him. Wolves were supposed to be, if not the best lovers, the most affectionate. She decided her kind were overrating themselves, or underrating others.

  “I want to tell you something.” When the line of his body tightened, she stroked a palm down his side. “Nothing terrible. Not even something about me. Well, not exactly.”

  “Okay.”

  He didn’t always want information, she’d come to realize. Feared it would be something bad he had to face. He’d faced a lot these past weeks, with her waltzing into his life, Wolf Town trailing behind her. As well, she figured his amnesia made him feel less prepared than he might have been otherwise. Information came at him from unexpected directions, like an ambush.

  “It’s about Mala, Angus’s girlfriend.”

  “I said hello to her briefly, we were introduced.” He paused. “I didn’t think she was a shifter.”

  “She isn’t. She has a connection to us, one we don’t entirely understand.”

  He propped himself up on one elbow to look down at her, tucked hair behind her ear. “Connection?”

  “She’s how we found you and Storm.”

  He cocked his head, frowning.

  “She is how we were tracking Stewart Hambly.”

  “Explain.”

  The muzzy post-sex warmth was gone. She’d pushed it away with this topic. However, she had to give him this information, and for whatever reason, bed was the easiest place for her to talk. “She’s a dream wraith. That won’t mean anything to you. It didn’t to me when I first heard the term. She falls asleep and through her dreams she, or her spirit, can enter the real world.”

  His expression was dubious, and she had to laugh. “I know, it sounds outlandish.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Is this a joke I don’t get?”

  “No. For whatever reason terrified wolves call to her, and she can help them. I should know.” Here she looked away at the headboard then back at him. “She came to me when I was terrified.”

  He was working hard to understand, Sally could see. “Did Mala make it worse or better?”

  “Both. She confused me, made me think I was losing my mind. I remember her presence, and it creeped me out when I was already in bad shape. It was a voice inside me, a presence.” Sally shivered and Zach stroked her back, hand sliding up and down her spine.

  “Other wolves react differently?” He was trying to ask the right questions, but his tone indicated he didn’t get it. That was okay. It might take a while to sink in. Yes, they shifted shape, which made some people incredulous, but dreams and wraiths were on an entirely different level.

  “The thing is, Zach, she saved my life when I couldn’t save myself. Though her, Angus and Wolf Town found me and brought me to safety.”

  A brief shake of his head. “How?”

  “She figured out where I was, I mean the general area, and they tracked me down.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “It’s how we found you. Mala came out of one of her dreams with Storm’s name and that of his teacher, Mrs. Gupta. She saw you kill the wolf, saw your back hoof snap out and slam into Hambly’s head.”

  Zach’s eyes widened. They’d never discussed how he had delivered the death blow. He certainly wouldn’t have discussed it with anyone else. Though, yes, Rory must have observed it as a cause of death.

  “Mala was very relieved for Storm’s sake that you dispatched that wolf.”

  Zach pulled in a deep breath.

  “Are you smelling the truth?” she asked wryly.

  “Smelling you. You are truth.”

  “You say the most romantic things.”

  He rested his hand at the small of her back. She arched up against him.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” she told him, though she hadn’t meant to say it. Yes, she’d moved on from trying to stay away from him and given in to this affair wholeheartedly, but she still needed to watch her declarations—despite her wolf thinking otherwise.

  He nuzzled her neck, sending a pleasurable shiver through her. “This talk of Mala isn’t a distancing technique?”

  “Distancing technique?” she repeated. “Good Lord, where are you getting your psych talk from?”

  He paused, a slight smirk where she didn’t think she’d seen him smirk before. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Rory?” she asked, and couldn’t tell if she thought this hilarious or appalling. “I can’t believe you two have been talking about me.”

  He placed a hand on her hip and gently pushed her on to her back, then loomed over her. “We only talked about you in a general way. We talked about wolves.”

  “Leaving aside what talking about me in a general way even means, since when do wolves use distancing techni
ques? Besides me, I mean.”

  He kissed her lightly. “They don’t, but Rory thought you might be an exception because you’re female and you’ve been on your own quite a lot. He knows something about it because of his boyfriend?”

  She framed Zach’s face in both her hands. “Rory’s boyfriend was skittish.”

  Zach’s mouth quirked. “Sounds like a horse.”

  “You’re not skittish with me,” she told him. She would not name the dreaded Dana.

  “That’s because…” He faltered then, and she wanted to encourage him to say more, but perhaps enough had been shared tonight. She pulled him down for a long, languid kiss, and when he raised his head, his eyes were dark, half-lidded, intense. “That’s because I’m in love with you.”

  She stared back at him. It was the first time either of them had said those words. Even if a wolf would have read them in her earlier declaration that she wanted to be mated with him. Well, maybe Zach did too, because he didn’t wait for her to reciprocate, to give the words back to him, he simply kissed her again and entered her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  During that first night under the moon, Zach found it hard to fear much of anything. There were, after all, five wolves, apart from Sally, going on a run with Storm and himself. After a rather severe bout of shyness, where Storm kept winding himself around the legs of Zach and the wolves dropped back to give the pup room, Storm had moved on to embracing his herd, which he insisted on calling them the next day.

  They’d been introduced in person, though they were staying at Sally’s. There was an Iain, a Mic, a Cameron and an Aubrey. One of them, Zach wasn’t clear who, was a teacher, and he suspected a stealth move to get him and Storm used to the idea of teachers and school in Wolf Town.

  The third night, Storm, now comfortable with his new friends, was in seventh heaven. The only problem Zach foresaw at this point was how these men could come down to Storm’s suburb for one week out of every month. They surely had their own lives to live.

  They must have thought something the same, as the fourth night they spread out farther afield, trying to locate a scent or track down a rogue wolf in the area, and ran late into the night.

  For the first time since he’d taken on Storm, Zach came to see these runs as something a shifter might enjoy instead of an instinct forced upon them by the moon. He’d understood Sally and others didn’t find the runs onerous. He’d thought it was because they knew of nothing else. They’d been born with the urge to run under the moon’s full light.

  Yet there was a kind of joy among the wolves as they headed out each evening.

  The fifth night, however, when everyone was beginning to tire, got to Zach. It would be Storm’s last night, since the one advantage of being a pup was getting so worn out, you weren’t called by the moon for the last one or two nights.

  Despite Zach’s unease, nothing happened. But when they debriefed the next morning—and the wolves were always very polite and forthcoming with him—they informed him they’d scented a wolf when they’d pushed out far enough. The scent was days-old but present.

  Then Iain paused, and Zach understood he had more to say, something worse.

  “We also scented a horse,” he said bluntly.

  “A horse shifter?” Zach demanded, voice gone loud as the wolves looked at him, and Sally came to his side and wrapped an arm around him. Thank God Storm was dead to the world, exhausted by his week, or he’d have been upset by Zach basically yelling. The idea of a horse shifter—his brother—somehow being here didn’t make sense to him. It wasn’t the right timing for it. He didn’t want to bring his brother into danger.

  “We don’t know.” Iain was their spokesperson. He wasn’t in charge, Sally had explained to Zach, as if this was an important point among the wolves, but he was a good communicator when he chose to be. “We’re not used to distinguishing between horse and horse shifter scents, to be honest. It’s subtle when you’re out of practice, the scent is dispersed, and Angus isn’t here.”

  At Zach’s blank face, Iain added, “Angus has the best nose of any wolf I’ve ever met.”

  Zach set that aside. “Was the horse scent also days-old?”

  “No. Fresher tracks.”

  Sally turned on Rory. “Did Trey talk to Zach’s brother?”

  Rory just shrugged.

  “He had no right!” Anger pulsed out from her.

  At that, Rory opened a hand. “I’ll talk to Dad, find out what’s going on.”

  From the phone conversation, it became clear Angus had no explanation. He in turn couldn’t get through to Trey. It didn’t matter, Zach decided. A horse was here, and the likelihood of a wild horse or a lost horse was remote. The upshot was Zach packed Storm off to his grandparents as soon as he woke up. With their security and one of the wolves—Cameron, he thought—stationed there for extra measure, Storm would be safe.

  And with Storm safe, Zach could run long and hard. His brother wasn’t coming to him, so he had to go to his brother and warn him off.

  Once Storm was safely settled with Connie, Sally had to stop Zach from running out the door on his own.

  “It’s not safe,” she insisted.

  He scoffed at the idea wolves could endanger him.

  “I’m coming with you.”

  He gave a sharp shake of his head. “It’s not safe for you.”

  She felt her mouth drop open. “Come again, Mister-wolves-can’t-get-me. I’ll be with you.”

  He just looked at her, as if torn. She suspected he’d intended to take off on his own, yet wasn’t able to tell her he’d leave her behind. Fine. She’d let him say it, and if he couldn’t, she’d stay with him. He was half-wild tonight, after hearing about his brother, and she didn’t want him on his own. Her wolf didn’t want him on his own.

  A clearing of a throat preceded Rory’s entrance into the living room. He gave one of his casual shrugs. “You both know noise travels when shifters are about.” He turned to Zach. “We’ll all go out together, then break up in twos and threes. Regroup.”

  Zach eyed him, and Sally wondered if he was going to balk.

  “We usually work as a pack.” Rory kept his tone bland, non-confrontational. “Besides, someone needs to show you where we found the horse tracks.”

  With that, Zach was on board. “You’ll take me to where you scented the horse?”

  Rory nodded.

  “And you’ll take care of Sally.”

  She spun on him. “You are pissing me off, Zach.”

  “It’s safer for everyone if I’m alone.”

  “What?” she snapped. “Why? Why would you say something like that?”

  His eyes were burning now. “It’s something I know in my gut.”

  “That’s meaningless. You know it.”

  “My memories are meaningless, not my instinct.”

  How was she to argue? She wanted to give him a slap upside the head. Goddamn Trey. She couldn’t imagine how he thought it was a good idea to tell Zach’s brother about him. Zach wasn’t ready for this reunion.

  They managed to keep Zach in for another hour, mostly by convincing him to eat more for what could be a very long night. The way he ate sometimes, so dutifully, so lacking in enthusiasm—it wasn’t quite right. She had the feeling it was how he’d gotten through a lot of his life, putting one leg in front of each other, just making himself do what he had to do to survive.

  Before Storm, she reminded herself. And maybe, before her.

  They all lacked the energy they’d started with five nights ago. Except Zach who could barely contain his need to move. He scared her this way. Not that he would hurt her, never that. But he might somehow damage himself.

  She was relieved by the time they were all shifted and on the move, hoping some of the crazy energy would dissipate.

  Zach managed to be patient at first, but it became apparent that if he’d wanted to outpace the wolves, he could. She’d known, of course she had, but until tonight he hadn’t shown any interest in
being anywhere but with her and Storm.

  Two hours later—it was far out and they’d moved at a brisk pace—they reached the place where Rory had found evidence of a horse in the area. It hadn’t snowed since the previous night, and Zach bent down to breathe in the scent from the tracks.

  His reaction was obvious. His sides blew in and out, and he stood motionless for the longest time, the tremor through his body a vibration as he took in the evidence of his twin’s existence. He lifted his head and made a noise, an incredibly loud call. More than the whinnies she was used to, it was like a demand, a loud bugle-like sound. Zach’s ears were pointed forward, his tail held high. He was hailing his brother.

  Silence was his answer. He turned and stared at Sally for an intense moment. His way of saying goodbye.

  And then he ran.

  She looked to Rory who simply stared after Zach, and if Rory had been in human form, he might have shrugged. There wasn’t much they could do to stop Zach, not with that speed. Rory flicked a look of sympathy towards her.

  She felt deflated, and if she was honest with herself, a little abandoned. She hated feeling abandoned, especially by males. Echoes of her father even if it didn’t necessarily make sense. Zach wanted to find his brother, and he trusted Rory to take care of her.

  On top of feeling hurt by his leave-taking, she had to work at not letting images of a horse being brought down by a pack of wolves invade her brain. She found it impossible to do anything but follow Zach. Rory didn’t protest her decision, simply trailed after her. There wasn’t a lot of purpose now. She could follow but not catch Zach. Rory, she knew, kept alert to the presence of other wolves. His nose wasn’t at Angus’s level, but he had the best sense of smell of the lot of them here. However, they weren’t in the area where they’d noticed wolf tracks last night.