Emma's dad parked the car at a small, worn, trailhead in the state park that only the most hardcore local hikers even knew about, dragging Emma's thoughts back to the present.
"We walk from here."
The girls didn't speak, they just climbed out of the car, donned their large backpacks, and headed down the trail behind Henry.
The girls tried to get information out of Henry, but he wasn't very forthcoming.
"Why have I never met them before now?"
"Well, it's complicated. Your mother walked away from them long ago, when she got pregnant with you. She wanted to raise you more hu- ahem, more normal, than if we had stayed with the pack. And then she died shortly after your birth, and I wanted to honor her wishes. It's a long story, Emma."
"If we had stayed? The pack? Dad, is this some kind of cult? Are they going to brainwash us into giving them all of our money, and into staying out here, worshiping the leader and cranking out cult-owned babies for the cause?"
Her dad laughed at her question, saying "No, of course not, but, well they are kind of different."
"Different how?" Kate asked.
"More rustic. Traditional. There is a hierarchy, of sorts. They shun most advances in technology, choosing to concentrate on family, and the old ways. They aren't big on electricity, preferring wood burning stoves and kerosene lights. There is running water, but it is piped in, from the nearby stream. No cars, they grow a lot of their own food, although they do have some family members that come and go, living in town but coming back with supplies they can't produce. Like milk, eggs, and such. They can't raise chickens or cows, well because, umm..."
"My mom's people are Amish?" Emma asked, shocked.
"No, definitely not Amish." Henry laughed.
"Sounds Amish. Do they travel by horse?"
"No. No livestock. No horses, or like I was saying, cows or chickens, because well, the animals wouldn't last very long. A month, at most..." He said, cryptically.
"How do they travel if not by car, or even horse? Even the Amish can travel by horse, and raise livestock."
"By foot."
"By foot? Only? They walk everywhere? No wonder they don't get out much. We've been walking for hours already, and aren't even there yet."
"They walk, yes. And run. They run a lot."
Kate spoke up, her breathing ragged from the long hike, "I don't run."
Emma laughed at her friend. It was true, Kate kept in shape with yoga, weights, and dancing, she was not a runner. Emma was, though. She loved running, or the idea of it, anyway. The practicality of it though, being so tall, and well...curvy.
Emma started to say something but was stopped by a flash of motion off in the distance. Something big, and oddly quiet, blurred by up ahead.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" Her dad asked.
"There's something out here. Something big, and wild."
Kate quipped. "We're in the woods, dumb ass. There are lots of things out here with us. Snakes. Bears. Big cats. Little crawly things. Huge spiders. Things that want to kill us. Is it too late to go to Africa with my parents?"
"Like Africa doesn't have things that want to kill you? Like lions? And elephants?"
"Elephants don't want to kill people."
"No Kate, it's not too late. You can leave with me, Africa is still possible." Henry spoke up.
"You'd leave me here? All alone?" Emma asked them both.
"You won't be alone." Her dad said, "You will be with family."
"Weird, cult, Amish family that mom already walked away from, you mean?"
"Well..."
Kate said, "I'm staying, Emma. Zebras scare me."
"What? Of everything you could be afraid of, here and in Africa, it's zebras that are the deciding factor?"
Kate just shrugged her shoulders. "Them, and monkeys. I hate monkeys."
Emma couldn't argue with that logic, so she didn't.
She saw the large shape again.
"Whatever that is out there, it's really big. And hairy. And it seems to be watching us."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised, we are getting close to their den."
The girls came to a complete stop, forcing Henry to stop as well. "Their den?"
Kate added, "That cop, before. Didn't he say something about sasquatches? You aren't taking us to...I mean, there's no such thing as..."
"Sasquatches? Yes. They do exist. But no, I'm not taking you to them."
"I'm sorry, what?" Emma asked. "Spill it dad. What the hell is going on? I'm not going any farther until you do."
"I can't. Really, you just have to see to believe. But give me ten more feet. See right there, where the path crests and falls off? Walk with me just to there, then you can see for yourselves."
The girls eyed each other wearily, and nodded.
They took a few more steps and the land fell away. They found themselves looking over a huge, open valley.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. In the middle of the forest floor was a complex of wood cabins. Some cabins were larger than others, with wrap around porches, rocking chairs, and grills.
It looked like a campground, or a resort. Emma could hear rushing water somewhere just out of sight. That must be the river, where the water was piped in from. They could see a few people milling around down there, and a few dogs, but they didn't seem to have noticed the three hikers standing up here on the rise.
A rustle in the nearby trees drew their attention, and Emma heard Kate's panicked squeal as the huge, hairy beast that had been watching and accompanying them stepped into view.
It looked to be a large, black dog. No, it was way too big to be a dog. As it padded closer Emma said, "That's a wolf! That's the biggest damn wolf I've ever seen. Get back Kate, Dad!"
Emma stepped forward, squaring her body to face the slowly approaching wolf. She drew herself up to her full, considerable height, and stared the wolf down.
"Don't turn your back on it." She said the words over her shoulder, warning the others. "Back up slowly, do not run! If you run, it will chase. It's instinct."
She felt her dad's hand settle into the small of her back. "Emma, it's Ok. I know that wolf, it's..."
A deep voice rang out nearby, making the on-edge girls jump.
"She is protective by nature, that one."
Emma's voice shook as she turned to address the man who had just stepped into view.
"I see that. Why do you keep a wolf here? Is that legal? You said she, is she tame?"
He laughed at her in answer. She didn't know why he was laughing at her, but she knew she didn't appreciate it. She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him.
She couldn't help but notice how tall he was. He was taller than her! By several inches! She looked him up and down, and felt something in her respond. Anger? Embarrassment? A little bit of lust?
He was very handsome. Powerful was the word that came to mind. Rugged, with dark blonde hair and deep, laughing brown eyes.
He spoke again, "I was talking to your dad, about you."
Her dad laughed a quiet laugh as well, and said, "Yes, she is a protective one."
The newcomer turned to look at Emma again, still talking to her father, "Just like her mother. It's in her blood, isn't it?"
"Excuse me?" Emma was confused, as well as angry. Who did this guy think he was?
The blonde turned, and addressed the wolf by name. "Galen. Stop scaring our guests and come introduce yourself."
Emma and Kate stared in shocked silence as the wolf sat back on its haunches, and with a deep, popping sound and fluid, liquid movements, started to flow, stretching but shrinking, into something else.
Before their eyes, the wolf became a man. A very tanned, golden, naked man. He was also very handsome, tall and rugged, only this one had hair as black as night, and deep, brooding eyes. He looked like he'd enjoyed his little performance of shifting in front of the shocked and disbelieving girls very much.
Emma heard Kate exclaim, "Holy f
uck!" behind her. Then she heard, quieter, "Damn, that was kind of hot!"
The wolf/man obviously heard her, a small smirk twisted his mouth as he focused all of his brooding stare on Kate.
The blonde shook his head, and turned back to the group. "Ladies, that's Galen. Galen, the redhead is..."
Galen cut him off, "I know who she is. Emma, it's an honor. You look just like your mother."
Galen shook Emma's hand, still as naked as the day he was born, and then turned to face Kate, shaking hers as well.
"You must be Kate. It is definitely a pleasure to meet you. I didn't expect you to be so...Hmm, interesting."
Galen finally pulled his hand from Kate's and waved at Henry, saying, "Henry, it feels like just yesterday I saw you."
"It was yesterday, Galen."
"Right." Galen turned and started walking away, his bare ass drawing the girl's stares as his gluteal muscles bunched and released as he walked. "I'll go tell dad you guys have finally arrived."
Chapter 4
"Holy shit, Emma. It's like we walked in on one of those old shows your dad watches. The Twilight Zone or some shit."
Kate whispered the words into Emma's ear as they all sat around a large table to eat. There really was no need to whisper, no one would have heard her if she'd shouted it.
The large picnic table was full of people, a celebratory dinner was being held in honor of their arrival.
After their initial greeting Elam, the very tall, blonde man who had first welcomed them on the rise just outside of the small village, had led them down the hill and into this large clearing. A few huge, obviously handmade, wooden picnic tables stood in the clearing, surrounding a bon fire.
Emma knew they were handmade, because she'd never seen store-bought picnic tables this large before. They were built to hold tall, muscular people, and lots of them.
People packed most of the tables, and a few large wolves were also in attendance, walking around, mingling with everyone like this was an everyday occurrence.
Looking around, Emma guessed that for them at least, it was.
Even her dad seemed comfortable here, laughing and talking with people, like a wolf hadn't turned into a man right in front of them, just a few minutes ago.
"We've been waiting for you. Father probably won't be joining us. He's not doing well." Elam spoke that part to Henry as they all settled into a place around the table, and then turned to the girls to explain.
"Thomas, our Alpha and my father, is old. He ordered a welcome celebration for your arrival, but I'd be surprised if he put in an appearance. My brother, Galen, went to let him know you've arrived."
"Your brother?" Kate asked him. "Does that mean you can do what he did? Change into a wolf?"
Elam answered her question, but his eyes were locked on Emma instead.
"Yes, I am a wolf as well. Most of us are." He looked Emma over as he answered Kate, his eyes taking in everything about her.
"Is he seeing anyone?"
At that question, Elam's eyes did swing to Kate.
"Galen? Is he...? Oh, I understand. Yes, he is seeing a few of the females, but he is not mated yet. So if you meant is he still available, yes he is."
"He's never...mated...before? Is that what you call it out here? He's a little old to be a virgin, isn't he? And a little too hot, as well."
Elam laughed out loud at Kate's comment, throwing his head back with confident, genuine amusement.
"Well, you would certainly give him a run for his money. Galen is no virgin, trust me. He is next in line to be Alpha, though. And, with Thomas's health, that might happen sooner than later. No, he has lain with females before. He just hasn't, how do you humans say...committed. No one carries his mark. He needs to choose relatively soon, though. Thomas isn't long for this world, and we prefer our Alpha's mated. We need cubs to continue the line. I'm sure he will choose soon."
Kate seemed like she was about to ask what the position of mate consisted of, but Henry jumped in first.
"It has been decided, then? There will be no challenge?"
Elam answered, "I hope not. I'm not really interested in a challenge. But, no it has not been decided, just...assumed."
Elam then turned his attention toward Emma.
"Has your father told you much about us?"
"No. Nothing really. He has never been willing to talk about my mother. I've asked, but... And he has certainly never mentioned this place before."
Elam raised an eyebrow at Henry, a million questions burned in his eyes.
"Reine wished it this way." Henry said, speaking of Emma's mother.
Elam just nodded, slow and thoughtful.
"Reine. That is a name not often mentioned around here, until lately. Lately, it has been spoken often, as the cub is approaching her second decade. Has she...?"
"No." Her father answered, his voice firm.
Something in his tone made Emma look hard at him. What had that meant? The cub, approaching...?
"Wait, you mean me? I'm the cub? Does that mean that mom was a wolf as well?"
"Oh, she was not just a wolf. Oh no, she was the wolf. Really, Henry? She knows nothing of her heritage?"
Someone brought over a fresh hunk of meat from the spit revolving over the fire, plopping it onto the large serving plate in the middle of their small group and continuing on.
"So, you cook your meat?" Emma asked, changing the subject, not quite sure she was ready to hear what the wolf meant, in relation to either her mother, or herself.
Elam smiled at her, sending flashes of heat running through her body at the direct eye contact. She tried to shake it off as nerves, since nothing about roasted meat should have made him look at her with quite the intensity he had in his eyes as he answered her.
"Yes, we cook our meat. At least, we do when we are feasting in human form. My wolf form though, does appreciate a fresh, raw kill. We also grow vegetables, and we bring in other things, milk and sugar and such. It's not all dead deer, all the time."
He seemed like he was about to say something else, but was interrupted when a low, feminine voice spoke.
"This is Reine's cub? I knew she had a female, but no one said she was so..." She said it dismissively, with a quick, fluttery wave of her hand.
If Emma had had hackles, they would have risen at the tone in the woman's voice.
Before Emma could respond, the woman turned on Henry.
"You didn't sire any others, you and Reine? Ah, I guess it is just as well then, that she left. I mean, could you imagine? This pup as..?"
"Why do you speak to my father this way?" Emma stood as she spoke, unfolding herself from the table and facing the woman.
The woman came to Emma's chest, a small slip of a thing. Emma expected her to shrink under her gaze, as most women did once she pulled herself up to her full height.
But she didn't shrink. In fact, she did the opposite. The tiny, rude little woman faced Emma with righteous indignation, but continued to speak to Henry as she stared Emma down.
"I see you didn't teach the whelp any manners, Henry. Why am I not surprised?"
With a disgusted sigh, the woman gave Emma the once over, which would have been comical to watch from afar, the petite fury bowed up to someone twice her size, and then with a dismissive shake of her head, the woman walked away.
Emma watched her wind her way through the crowd, around tables, through men and beasts twice her size. As she disappeared into the crowd Emma noticed that everyone, the entire crowd, was watching her, not the woman who had insulted not only her, but her father and mother as well, all in one very quick confrontation.
She met all of their eyes, in turn, wondering why she was the one being looked at like she had done something wrong.
Slowly, everyone turned back to their meals and their conversations, and Emma sat back down, confused and angry.
"Who in the hell does she think she is, talking to us like that?" She addressed the table as a whole, and her small group, specifically.
>
"That would be Ziva. Thomas, the Alpha's, mate." Henry answered, quietly.
Elam added, looking at Emma with a wry smile and another heated gaze, "And my mother."
Chapter 5
"Of course that was the queen, because pissing off the queen on my first day would be how my life works." Emma vented to Kate hours later, around the campfire. "That's the equivalent, right? An Alpha's wife, out here in werewolf world, that's like queen of the jungle, right?"
"I wonder when Galen will come back out here?" Kate mumbled, oblivious to Emma's rantings.
"How was I to know she was the queen? Isn't their Alpha dying from old age? Figures his wife would be some forty-year-old trophy wolf or something. Wait, do werewolves take trophy mates? Well, obviously they do. Or wolves don't age, maybe. Because she did not look old."
"She is human, you know."
"What?"
"The queen. I mean Ziva, the Alpha's mate. She's human. I heard it mentioned somewhere, after your little confrontation. I didn't know wolves did that, take humans as mates, I mean."
Emma shot Kate a look.
"What?"
"My own parents? One wolf, one human?"
"Oh right. But that is different. Can a human carry a wolf's baby? Or what did they call it? A pup? A cub? How does that even work?"
"My wolf mother carried a human's baby."
"Shit. Right. I just can't wrap my head around this stuff."
"I know. I feel like when we wake up tomorrow, this whole thing will have been a dream, and we'll be about to go shopping on my birthday, which will not be the next county over, I can tell you that much, for sure."
"That means that I really could become Galen's mate. What do you think sex with a werewolf is like?"
Emma looked at Kate. 'Are you kidding me?' was written all over her face.
"I bet it is fantastic." Kate said it dreamily, her mind obviously far away, and in a gutter.
"We are only supposed to be here for a year, remember? You can't just become mated, whatever that even means, get knocked up with his pup, and then leave."
"Why not, your mom did. What do you think Elam meant, anyway? When he said your mom was the wolf?"
That made Emma think.
"I don't know. Why do you think she left? Dad seems comfortable here, I doubt he made her chose his ways over theirs."
Howl & Growl: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 48
