Calan had made his final trip to the orchard for the day and was doing a sweep of the tree line that bordered the fields when Becca stepped into his path. He stopped and looked at her, really not wanting to deal with her.
“Hey, Calan,” she said. “So you lost your patrolling partner, huh?”
He continued to stare at Becca. He was in wolf form and had no intention of shifting so he could respond. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let on that he could communicate telepathically if he chose to.
That didn’t seem to deter her in any way. “Well, don’t let it bother you. Jerrica isn’t someone you want to get too friendly with, anyway. She’d just bring you down.” Becca looked to where Jerrica and Austin worked. “You have me to thank, by the way.”
Calan nailed Becca with a hard stare as she turned back toward him. He didn’t think he liked where this one-sided conversation was going.
Becca smiled. “Yesterday I told Jerrica that you and I were seeing each other at your cabin. I even said how you thought her showing you how to use a bow that night you went to hers was stupid, and how you thought of her more as one of the boys—and always would. The idiot had no idea one of her neighbor boys had been close to her property and saw you two. It looks as if it backfired for me. Now Austin is paying more attention to her than I like. I’ll have to work on getting him away from her.”
Calan growled low in his throat. He snarled his upper lip as he took a step closer. She jumped back but didn’t run as he wanted her to.
“Calan, what’s your problem? As I said, I thought I was doing you a favor. After all, you said you didn’t want a girlfriend. I even told Jerrica that, so the dummy wouldn’t get her hopes up. I was being nice.”
He growled again and snapped his teeth a few inches away from Becca’s face. This time she let out a shriek and ran from him, which was good. He was only holding onto his temper by a thread. Now he knew the reason Jerrica all of a sudden didn’t want anything to do with him. Becca had filled her mind with lies. The thought of biting Becca in the ass seemed better and better.
Instead of doing that, Calan looked in Jerrica’s direction. He had to fix the damage Becca had caused. There was no way he was going to leave things between them how they now stood. Even if she didn’t want to hear what he had to say, he’d make her listen. First, he had to get her away from Austin.
Calan headed to the part of the fields where Jerrica worked. It was getting late enough that the workers would soon be calling it quits until the next morning. Now was the perfect time to get her all to himself before she returned home.
He came to a stop behind her and nudged her with his head in the center of her back. Jerrica turned around and scowled. Austin straightened from his work and came to stand at her side. Calan ignored the boy.
Calan looked at Jerrica. “We have to talk. Now. Becca told me what she said to you. Get on my back.” He lowered to the ground and waited for her to climb on.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Get on or I’ll take hold of the back of your shirt with my teeth and flip you onto my back. It’ll make a scene, but right now I couldn’t care less. Austin will more than likely try to come between us, and I’ll have to force him away. It won’t be pretty. It’s your choice.”
Jerrica stared at him as she appeared to consider everything he’d said. With a short nod, she said, “Fine. I’ll go with you, but not for very long.”
She went to climb onto Calan’s back, but Austin stopped her. “Jerrica, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. Calan will have to understand.”
“I’m okay with this, Austin. We’ll have a talk, then he’ll leave me alone.”
“I’ll come by and see you after dinner again.”
“Sure,” Jerrica said with a smile.
A surge of jealousy shot through Calan. He no longer could deny he had feelings for Jerrica. Seeing her with another boy and her making plans to see him had Calan wanting to yell that she was his. Instead, he nudged her leg to hurry her up.
She pushed his head away then stepped to his side before she climbed onto his back. Once Jerrica was settled, Calan rose to his paws, turned, then took off at a run.
* * * *
Jerrica held tightly on to the fur around Calan’s neck as he ran faster than he’d run before with her on his back. He reached the edge of the fields and instead of heading toward the gates, he went in the opposite direction.
“Where are you going?” she shouted, as he hit the tree line and ran through it.
“Some place where we can talk with no interruptions.”
“I never agreed to this.”
Calan didn’t respond to her as he put on another burst of speed, taking Jerrica the farthest she’d ever been away from the settlement’s walls. This was zombie territory. There could be any number of them lumbering around these woods. If any of the undead caught her scent, they’d go on the attack.
“The farther away from the settlement you take me, the more risk you put me in.”
“You’re perfectly safe with me. And I’m pretty sure with you on my back, my scent will mask yours. I don’t set the zombies off. I’m basically invisible to them.”
“You don’t know for sure they can’t see me.”
“Let me put it to you this way. I’ve never tested it.”
The dark rain clouds that had been gathering all day finally opened. The trees were thick enough that they provided some cover from the storm, but if they stayed out in it for long, they’d get wet. Jerrica jumped at a loud clap of thunder.
“We have to go back. We can’t stay out in this storm.”
“I know a place where we can get out of the rain. It’s closer than the settlement.”
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the spot Calan had mentioned. It was a cave. The entrance was only wide enough for them to pass through, and Jerrica had to duck her head or risk hitting it on the stone ceiling. Inside it opened on to a much larger space.
She slid off Calan’s back once he’d come to a stop. Jerrica wrapped her arms around her middle to try to keep herself warm. The inside of the cave was damp and cool. It had a musty smell as well. There was nothing inviting about it.
“Stay here,” Calan said. “I’ll get some wood so we can have a fire.”
Jerrica rubbed her arms and nodded. Calan ran back out into the rain. She looked around again to see if there was anything she could use to sit on. There were only rocks and more rocks. She chose one that was big enough for her and sat.
Calan returned a short time later with his mouth full of thin branches. He went out again and came back with a short log. With a bright flash of light, he shifted to his human form, then set about arranging the branches in a pile to make a fire.
“I don’t know how you’re going to light it.”
He rose onto his knees and fished something out of his pants front pocket. Calan held it out for Jerrica to see. It was a piece of flint. “I always have this with me. Can I borrow one of your arrows? I should be able to get a spark using the tip with the flint.”
Jerrica reached over her shoulder and took an arrow out of her quiver before she passed it to Calan. He accepted it then searched around the cave, finding dried leaves. He returned to the branches and shoved the tinder under them. With the edge of the arrowhead, he scraped some of the flint into it before striking them together to create a spark. It only took a couple of tries. Then he blew on it to bring the fire to life.
She stayed where she was and watched Calan as he kept the flames going. Once it flamed brightly, he added the small log. Jerrica held her hands out to it, the heat quickly began sinking into her and chasing away the chill. He took a seat on the rocky ground close to her. They both stared at the fire.
Jerrica gave him a minute then said, “You wanted to talk, so talk. I have to get home soon.”
Calan turned his head and looked at her. “You wouldn’t want to be late for your date w
ith Austin.”
“There’s no such thing as dates anymore. You’re showing your age.”
“Fine. You don’t want to be late for when he shows up at your cabin.” Calan turned completely toward her. “You should have told me what Becca said to you.”
“Why? So you could turn around and tell me it was all true?”
“No, so I could say she lied. The only time Becca has been at my cabin was the first day I arrived, and she cleaned it for me. That’s when I learned how self-centered she is. I told her I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend when she came on too strong. She’s not the type of girl I like.”
“All right. If that’s true, then how did she know about me teaching you how to shoot a bow? I never said anything to anyone. My parents would know, but I doubt they’d have gone around telling everyone.”
“It was one of your neighbor boys. Apparently he was out there watching us. He told Becca. She used that information to get to you.”
Jerrica met Calan’s gaze and saw the truth in his eyes. Becca had lied to her, at least about that part. “I believe you. What about the rest? Do you think of me as one of the boys?”
Calan went up onto his knees so he was level with Jerrica. “If I really thought that way, would I do this?”
He cupped her face and brought his lips down to hers. Unlike when Austin had kissed her, her heart beat faster, and she found it hard to take a deep breath. A part of her came alive.
Calan angled her head exactly where he wanted it and kissed her deeper. Jerrica put her hands on his waist and returned it. This was what she’d wanted from her first kiss. And this was how she’d wanted to feel about the boy who gave it to her. Austin’s kiss didn’t compare.
He pulled away then rested his forehead against hers. “You make me feel things I haven’t for a hundred years.”
Jerrica leaned back and looked Calan in the eyes. “So, what happens from here? You told Becca you weren’t looking for a girlfriend.”
Calan released her face, sat, then pulled her down onto his lap. Jerrica looked at him once more. “That was the truth. Since I became the Werewolf Defender, I haven’t had a girlfriend. I move around too much. Then there’s the whole immortal thing.”
“In other words, there’s no point in us going beyond this.”
“That was before I met you. As I said before, you make me feel—and wish—for things I haven’t experienced in a very long time. I want you to be more than only a friend. And I don’t like you being alone with Austin.”
“He asked me to think about being his girlfriend.”
Calan met her gaze. “The way you said it, you make it sound like a very big deal, as if you’d have to marry him or something.”
“Because it is. If I agree, and we stay together for a year, that’s exactly what will happen. I’ll become his wife.”
“Then you’ll say no.”
“It’s not that easy. Girls my age are expected to be seriously looking for the boy they want to settle down and start a family with. Will you be able to offer me that? Because if you can’t, I’m still going to consider Austin’s offer.”
Calan let out an animalistic growl from deep inside his throat. “Do you have feelings for him? I know you do for me, or you wouldn’t have kissed me as you did.”
“I thought I had. I had a crush on him for almost a year. He’s the only boy my age in the settlement I could even think about marrying.”
“Has he kissed you?”
Jerrica nodded. “Yes. Last night, when he came to spend some time with me at my family’s cabin.”
Calan growled again. “Did he make you feel like this?” He captured her lips again with his and kissed her deeply. He pulled away. “I can hear how fast your heart is beating. Did he do that to you?”
“No. Only you.”
“Then you can’t be his girlfriend.”
“Say I turn him down and we become a couple for however long you decide to stay. Then once you leave me behind, I either have to make the decision to not marry, with the hopes that one day you’ll return, or I take a husband I’ll be able to at least have a good life with.”
“You could always leave with me.”
“I’d be leaving my family behind. And the risk of me getting bitten by a zombie will be too great. I’m not like you. They can smell me. I’d always be at risk.”
Calan cupped her face. “I can protect you. I’d take care of you.”
“You’re immortal, Calan. I’m not. What are you going to do when I’m old and gray while you still look like you’re eighteen? People would think I’m your grandmother. And say we do end up staying together and get married. What about having kids? It would happen. We wouldn’t be able to keep traveling from settlement to settlement with them.”
“You’re too damn young to be thinking like this. Before I was turned, teenagers weren’t expected to marry. We were considered not mature enough.”
“We’re not in that time anymore. The world you knew then no longer exists. Life is harder.”
“I don’t know what answer to give you. I can’t change what I am. I didn’t choose to become the Werewolf Defender. It was chosen for me.”
“How did it happen?” Jerrica asked, jumping at the chance of changing the subject. Plus, she really was interested in hearing Calan’s story.
“It happened just as the first zombies surfaced. I was eighteen. My family and I were camping for the week in the Black Hills in South Dakota. Where we camped, they had a lot of hiking trails and even some areas for the experienced hikers where you could forage through the woods yourself.
“I’d hiked every day since we’d arrived. My parents trusted me not to get lost. My brother, who was a couple years younger, was more interested in fishing. On one hike off the trail, I spotted a cave entrance, which I thought was strange since I’d been by the exact place three times before and swore it hadn’t been there earlier. That didn’t stop me from going to check it out.”
“Was it a very big one?”
Calan looked around. “It was close to this size, maybe a little bigger. Inside, right in the middle of it, there was a slab of rock that looked like a raised altar. I couldn’t resist seeing if it was man-made or formed by nature. If it hadn’t been man-made, I was sure it had to be really old.
“As I ran my hands over the top of it to see if I could figure it out, it gave me a jolt—like when you touch something and you shock yourself from the static. That’s when I heard disembodied chanting in a language I didn’t understand. It seemed to come from all around me, and it sounded native. The voices grew louder, and with them, a bright light surrounded me.”
“Is that when you took on your wolf form for the first time?”
“Not right then. The chanting continued and the light sank into my skin as if it absorbed it. It shot through my entire body, leaving what felt like a trail of fire in its wake. I screamed, but it didn’t stop. I thought for sure I was going to die. That’s when I shifted for the first time, and the voices spoke to me in English. They told me I’d be the protector for humankind, able to vanquish the nonliving who walked the earth, and that I would live forever. They also said the time hadn’t come for me to act, that the battle was just beginning and that I would sleep until I was needed.”
Jerrica could only imagine what Calan must have felt. She would have been scared out of her wits. “And did you sleep?”
Calan nodded. “Yes. The chanting started again, and I grew so tired I curled up on the altar, still in my wolf form.”
“For how long?”
“Twenty years. Of course it wasn’t a natural sleep. Not once during those years did I wake up. I tried, though. I slept, but somehow I was able to know what was happening in the world outside the cave. I saw the rise of the zombies, how they spread like wildfire through the living, turning them into the same kind of creature with a single bite. I saw how the world’s governments tried to wipe them out with their bombs and guns and how it didn’t really hold back the tide. It o
nly hurt the people who were barely surviving. When it looked as if there was no hope, that’s when I awoke.”
“Did you see what happened to your family?”
“Yes. When I didn’t return to our campsite, they called the park rangers, who gathered a search party. They never did find the cave entrance, which the spirits hid from the world to protect me, once I’d gone to sleep. My parents refused to leave me behind. I got to watch as my mom, dad and brother were attacked by zombies. They all turned into the undead.”
“And you’ve been alone ever since?”
“Basically.”
“Have you ever heard the chanting again?”
“No. I guess the spirits—or whatever they were—did what they wanted to accomplish and that was it. They didn’t even say why they chose me for this. I guess I’ll never find out.”
Jerrica put her arms around Calan and held him close. It had to have been scary for him to be taken away from his family and forever changed. The responsibility he’d been given was a lot to put on a teenager’s shoulders. That he’d come out of his twenty-year sleep with his sanity intact said a lot about his character. Maybe that was why he’d been picked to be the Werewolf Defender. Maybe the spirits had known he was exactly what the world needed.
Chapter Seven
Calan put his arms around Jerrica’s waist as she held him. Now that he’d laid everything out in the open and had admitted to her—and himself—how he felt about her, he didn’t want to let her go. Since the spirits had turned him, she was the first person he wished he could have a future with, but he didn’t know how he could make it work. And he didn’t like the idea of her even considering becoming Austin’s girlfriend, especially now that he knew where that relationship could end. She was his.
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