by Rose, Aubrey
Then the scent of wolves in her nose, the cold forest floor under her feet. Icy, even. The cold air bit her nose. Wolves tumbled across her vision, young pups. She ran and jumped and was there, among them, a wolf herself, tumbling and playing and—
Julia opened her eyes, gasping for air.
"Yes," the child said. "You can shift. You always could."
"I can't," Julia said, breathing air that was not the same as the air she'd known as a wolf. The scents! "I can't."
"Then you haven't wanted it badly enough," the werewitch said.
"That's not ... that's not true ... " Julia said. A sob escaped her chest.
The child leaned forward and kissed Julia on the forehead. Julia looked up at her, and she smiled beatifically.
"There is food by the streams," the child said, motioning. Julia turned her head and saw a piece of slate with something on it that was steaming hot. "Eat what you can. Drink. There is a den nearby where they have taken your friend."
"My friend?"
"The other girl of your pack. Mara, I think they called her as they went past?"
"What about my grandmother?" Julia asked. "What about Dee?"
The child shook her head.
"There was only one."
"Only one," Julia repeated. The words rang hollowly through her body. But maybe they'd just taken her to another place. Maybe they'd split up—
"Where is the den?" Julia asked.
The child lifted her hand to point toward the trees. The firs seemed to draw back their branches, and Julia could see across the valley to where a thin curl of smoke lifted from a place between the boulders. It was not too far away—an hour's walk, perhaps. Julia had already come so far, but now she felt hopeless. Perhaps it would be better to go home first, and ask Damien what to do. Yes, and then the pack would come, and help find Dee, and help free Mara. What could Julia do, all by herself? And Dee—oh, Dee!
"How do I—" Julia meant to ask for the way home, but when she turned back the werewitch was gone, disappeared into thin air. Only a thin mist hung in the air where she had gone, and that too soon evaporated into the wind.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Damien
"Jordan, you'll take the others tomorrow morning," Damien said. "All of them."
"Dee? I don't know if she'll be able to keep up."
"It's her granddaughter. She'll be able to keep up. She's agile enough to dodge the fight, if it comes to that."
"Are we tracking Mara or Julia?" Jordan asked.
Damien knew what his friend was asking.
"Track Julia as far as you can," he said. "Dee said she lost the trail, though." The prospect of finding Julia if Dee couldn't ... well, it looked grim.
"And if the tracks split?" Jordan asked.
"Send Katherine and Kyle to track Mara as far as they can. If they find her and there are too many to fight against, they can double back and rejoin the group."
"What if the shifters are purebred?" Jordan sounded worried. Neither Kyle or Katherine would be able to sense the presence of purebred shifters in human form.
"Dee said they weren't."
"But there could be others."
"That's a chance we'll have to take." Damien could see no other way around it.
"I'll start packing," Jordan said. "We have eight hours or so before we can leave. I'll tell the others to try and get as much rest as possible."
"First, though, you have to splint my leg."
"You don't mean—"
"If I start now, I may be able to reach Trax's territory at the same time as you."
"Your leg has barely healed, Damien."
"That's why I need a head start."
"You'll be limping all the way there. You'd be useless in a fight. Damien, I understand that you're worried. But this ... "
"She's my mate, Jordan. You'd do the same for me."
Jordan was silent for a moment.
"Alright," he said finally. "Be careful. Don't go too far into the territory without us."
"Are you kidding?" Damien said, a false note of joviality in his voice. "I plan to rescue both of them before you guys even arrive."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Julia
She would find Mara soon. In her heart, she knew what she had to do. The witch had shown her the path, and all she had to do was follow it.
The sky darkened to a deep gray. There was no more sky above Julia's head and as she moved step by step through the forest, the rain started. She was cold but the chill did not reach her core. Or perhaps she was too numb to know her own sensations. The rain misted through the pine needles, and the water that clung to the firs gathered weight and fell in fat drops down, down to the already damp forest floor.
Julia lifted her head and let the water wash over her. She took off her jacket. The fabric had soaked through, and the weight of it was unbearably heavy. She walked forward as if her feet were guided by some unknown force, a current that flowed directly to the den where Mara was being kept. It wasn't long before she'd reached the den where Mara was being held. As she drew closer, she could see Mara just outside the entrance of the den. Her arms were tied above her head with chains that were staked to the side of the boulders. There was an iron collar around her neck. Her head hung forward. Julia did not know if she were alive or dead. The rain dripped down and Julia moved forward.
There were two wolves in wait outside of the den. One with a black coat, one gray. That meant two more of them inside, perhaps more. The fire near the den had been extinguished by the rain, and only a thin line of smoke rose from the ashes.
They'd smelled her from far away, and now as she slipped down the path of pine needles, they stood and watched her. Their eyes did not look surprised, nor afraid. They seemed curious that Julia would come back at all, that she'd found her way to the den.
Julia walked toward them, her hand resting casually on the sheath that housed the wolfbone blade. Her fingers sought out the handle, closing around it as she approached.
One of the wolves strode forward and growled. The bass rumble of its voice made Julia's fingers tighten around the handle of the knife. Would it leap?
No. The shifter transformed instead, right in front of her, his bones sliding gravelly under the skin, the fur disappearing as though the rain were washing it off. He stood twenty feet from Julia, shoulders square, naked and strong, every muscle slick with rain. Strands of long hair fell over his eyes, and drops of water splashed from them onto the wet ground.
"I knew there was a human in the area," he said. "I smelled you last night."
"Where is Dee?" Julia expected her voice to come out trembling, but instead she spoke loudly, confidently. There was something else driving her.
The other wolf came forward and stood just next to the shifter who had already transformed. The wolf's jaws hung open, its teeth showing. His fur bristled, sending waterdrops flying.
"Are they your friends?" The shifter cocked his head. "You should not have come looking for them."
"They are my friends," Julia said. "I had to."
"What a waste," the shifter said, and his voice was a growl that sent shivers across Julia's nerves.
"A waste?" Julia thought of Dee. Had she already been killed? Had Mara? No. Mara's chest rose and fell shallowly, although she did not pick up her head to look at Julia. Perhaps she had been drugged.
"A waste of human flesh. We already ate today, but now we'll have to kill you. He wanted to find you and kill you yesterday," he said, nodding down to the wolf beside him. "I convinced him it wasn't worth our time. And now, look. A waste." A thunderclap overhead punctuated the word, and the rain fell harder.
"Why?" Julia's mouth was dry. "Just let them go, and we'll leave in peace."
A flash of lightning illuminated the shifter's smile as it disappeared from his face. The air was growing even darker, the clouds above their heads black and full with rain.
"Peace? Your friend is a traitor."
"Mara?" Julia saw less and
less as the darkness grew close around them. It worried her.
"She betrayed Trax. She betrayed the pack. She will suffer for it. Leave in peace? She will never be allowed to leave again. And you ... "
He took a step forward and Julia's fingers tightened on the blade handle. It was wet—everything was wet—and she wondered if she would be able to hold onto the knife.
"I will fight for her," Julia said.
"Then you will die all the more quickly, girl," the shifter said. He shifted back to wolf form. In the rain, he seemed to be melting. His body twisted down into a wolf's form, his arms growing claws before falling forward. The other wolf barked, and he barked as well, the sound ringing off of the rocks and echoing through the trunks of the trees around them, distorted by the falling rain. Lightning flashed and the thunderclap overhead boomed almost instantly, resonating through Julia's body.
Two more wolves emerged from the den, called by the barking. Their eyes flamed with hungry anticipation. Julia shifted back as they edged outward, moving around Julia in a loose semicircle. Julia's eyes still met the first shifter's, even as she focused part of her attention on the other wolves now surrounding her. They snarled and snapped their jaws, trying to frighten her. It did not work. Julia had already accepted death, and now she was going to save Mara, no matter what. She would not give up. She had a pack, and she would protect them.
"I am a woman, not a girl," Julia said. Something inside of her curled up in anger, giving her voice an alien power. "And I will not die quickly."
The wolves crouched together in instinctive synchrony, their hind legs tensing to leap. Time seemed to slow as the first wolf moved, its claws reaching out toward Julia as it jumped high in the air. The other wolves leapt a split second later.
Julia pulled the wolfbone blade out of its sheath and fell, rolling toward the first wolf. The cold, the rain, all of it seemed to disappear. Julia felt a hard beating in her ears. The lightning flashed just as she rolled underneath the wolf. She brought the knife up without knowing what she was striking at. The blade sunk into the wolf's belly as it fell down upon her, and she felt the jolt of the impact through her arm. The rip of the blade through flesh was drowned out by the howl of anguish from the wolf on top of her, and the other wolves started back at the curdling noise. He twisted, his jaws snapping, and Julia blocked his motions with her free arm as the knife twisted deeper. She knew now where she had struck, and she wrenched the blade upward with a thrust that she knew would strike his heart.
She did not know what instinctual urge moved her to action, but as the wolf's limp body fell atop her, the smell of blood in her nose made her body quick with adrenaline. She pushed aside the heavy weight as though it was nothing, her arm withdrawing the blade from the dark fur. She pushed herself up, her body crouched and ready, the blade held upright in front of her face. She could fight. She must fight. The other wolves sensed her confidence and whined, circling around her in ever-tightening circles. Thunder sounded overhead.
The next wolf to leap at her was smaller, and she ducked aside, his claws only barely scraping her arm. Without pause, she turned back to the third wolf and caught him as he jumped at her, her arm hooking around his neck. They rolled, the wolf trying to get her off of his back, but she clung fast, stabbing at the side of the wolf's neck with the blade. The smell of the wolf, the smell of the fight, all of this invaded her senses as they rolled across the forest floor in flashes of lightning. The wolf twisted and almost threw her, but she dug her fingers into the scruff and held on. Finally, there! The blade cut deep, slicing through the wolf's throat.
"Ahh!" Julia fell backwards, the blood from the wolf spurting over her in a hot gush. Blood covered the entire front of her body as she scrambled back. Something inside of her had been hurt, something injured—she felt the pain striking through her body from within. It was a fast beating that thudded in her ears. Was it the rain?
"AHH!" she screamed. There was a pounding through her body, a pain that twisted every part of her. She swung the blade in front of her, trying to keep the wolves back, but something else was keeping them away. They snarled and whined as though not sure whether to attack. If she died now, it would all be for nothing. She would never see Damien again—
Damien. His presence came to her then, all around her, as though he was there with her, holding her up. Energy flooded her body, and the strange beating in her ears grew louder, but the pain was gone. In its place was pure fury.
Julia threw herself forward and struck with the blade as one of the remaining wolves reared back. Her arm sliced the air, and the blade sliced through the wolf's chest, catching at the leg. He collapsed with a low, mortal whine. The other wolf jumped at her and snapped, and her blade fell to the ground as he hit her body and sent her tumbling to the ground. He had not caught her, but now as he faced her, she knew she was defenseless.
He prepared to leap, crouching deep.
Julia screamed as the pounding came through her body, not in pain, no, this was a feeling that was too intense. This was an icy burn that left her numb, a feeling that shot through her body and made her feel inhumanly strong and weak at the same time.
Damien, Damien.
Julia, I am coming.
Her nerves burned at every end and she lifted her arms in the air, her world spinning around her. Lightning lit the world and left it in darkness, and she saw in the after flash the wolf in front of her, his eyes darting from side to side, his leap forgotten. Then she screamed again as she saw her hands curl, claws growing through her skin. Her skin. In the lightning she saw it turn red, fiery red, and she thought she was burning up until she realized that it was fur, red fur pushing its way through every pore in her body. The world's sounds grew louder and she heard thunderclaps roll through her mind from across the valley, each one distinct and louder than the other.
Her world grew dark; her other senses blinded her. She heard the sound of an owl screeching before it swept down to the forest floor, and she heard the squeal of the mouse as talons punctured its body. She smelled the wolf, and blood, and she smelled her pack, and Damien, and Dee—oh, was she dying? Would she meet Dee on the other side of this darkness?
Her scream turned into a howl; her body twisted and fell forward, and she caught herself upright. The pounding coming from inside of her still beat in her ears, but when she opened her mouth, she snarled.
She was a wolf.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Damien
Damien scented her from far away; he wished that he could move faster. The day was breaking—he could feel the mottled sunlight on his coat—and there was no sign of Jordan or the pack yet. He could not read Julia's emotions from this far away, and he ached to sense whether or not she was safe. The rain dampened the scent.
In wolf form, he moved quickly, but not as quickly as he would like. One leg splinted back, he ran with a terrible limp, but he pushed himself to go faster and faster. The wet ground below him flew past, and now that he had scented Julia, he could run without pause to check the trail. He yipped to sense the clear path, and never stumbled, not even when he ran across branches on the ground. As though by magic, the woods seemed to open up in front of him without effort. The rain grew heavier, and the sunlight faded, but still he ran on.
Julia's scent had grown fainter and fainter as he moved into Trax's territory, but now it seemed as though there was a straight path between him and Julia, and he ran without thought of what he would do when he arrived. It would take him twenty minutes to reach her, maybe less. His legs were aching but he did not care. Julia was there. Julia!
He crested the hill and there was her scent, stronger than ever. Rain pelted his coat, but now he moved faster, faster.
He could sense her emotions all at once; they struck him as they never had before, in full force. He stopped in his tracks, his mind reeling. Flashes of light raced across his blank vision and he saw—saw!—a knife moving, a wolf's jaws snapping toward him. He reared back on his haunches to ward off th
e attack, fear rushing through his body.
The vision faded. It hadn't been real, it hadn't. His heart beat fast. It was Julia, he was sure of it.
"Julia," he whispered, "I'm coming."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Julia
Julia raised her snout and sniffed, the world spinning around her with all of her new senses. The wolf in front of her whimpered, backing up toward the treeline. Before she could do anything, it leapt back into the pines and sprinted away, its coat a gray blur amidst the tree trunks. There were no other wolves from that pack here. But her pack—yes, her pack—they were here. They were all near. She lifted her head and howled, the sound rising up and echoing across the valley.
Jordan emerged from the wood a moment later, then the rest of the pack. And Dee. Dee! Julia yipped with happiness to see her grandmother.
The pack scattered. Jordan ran over to Mara, shifting to be able to unchain her. The rest of the wolves came to Julia, their eyes wide. Kyle looked off to where the other pack's wolf had gone, making sure there was no other danger.
Dee nuzzled Julia's neck with her snout, and a peaceful feeling swept through Julia's body. The pack was there. Everything was alright. Mara, too, Mara would be fine. She was strong, and she was safe, and—oh! A rush of happiness swept through the air like music, and she did not know whether it was scent or sound or something else, but it was wonderful all the same.
Julia's heart was still racing, and the pounding in her ears, and all of the world's scents whirling through her still.
But Damien ... Damien ...
Julia. I am here.
She sensed him and turned, and the rest of the pack sat and watched as she leapt across the clearing in joy, yipping like a pup. And the connection between them—
