by Moira Byrne
When I turned to look at him, he shooed me away and said, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."
Aly appeared next to me and gave a soft chirp. She agreed with him.
I turned my attention back to the trail. It was so clear. A feeling of unease went through me. Were we walking into a trap? Or did they not think they could be tracked? Had they not realized how good a wolf's sense of smell was?
That had to be it. I was able to find the trail, but Aly couldn't. In case I was wrong and it was a trap, I decided to move a bit more cautiously. It turned out to be the right decision when I saw a clearing ahead.
Aly slid in front of me, forcing me to stop. I met her gaze and she tilted her head for me to follow her. I flicked my ear in agreement. She moved forward and stalked through the trees. I followed her example.
I couldn't help but admire how fluidly she moved. Cats just didn't seem to have the same joints as canines. I didn't like that she was in front, but she knew this area and seemed to have a destination in mind, so she had to take point.
Aly paused as the wind shifted. She lifted her nose and I did the same. The sharp scent of something earthen and old hit my nose. Ogre. Charlie must have been near. It was only as an afterthought that I realized how strong the scent was and I froze. A moment later, the bushes right in front of Aly shook as something large loomed. How did I miss that? How did he even catch up to us?
Aly didn't seem the least bit surprised. I realized she must have known he was there. I needed to learn more about ogres. How did he go from snapping every branch there was to sneaking up on me?
The creature that leaned down in front of Aly had only a vague resemblance to the orange-haired man. The face reminded me of him somewhat. The eyes that met mine sparkled with that same strange excitement. His jaw, however, jutted forward and boar-like tusks thrust out over his upper lip.
I'd known ogres were large, but I didn't really understand just how large. Charlie was huge. Not only was he at least nine feet tall but he was broad. I couldn't reconcile how he had even fit into Aly's house or his truck. Even turning sideways he couldn't fit through a doorway. I really needed to learn more about ogres.
His skin blended in with the early afternoon shadows, unlike Charlie's white Irish-looking skin tone. He had on some sort of loincloth, but nothing else. Where did he get that? And what did he do with his clothes?
His muscles rippled as he moved. His physique easily rivaled a bodybuilder's. Aly barely glanced at him, yet I felt jealousy stir within me again. How many times had she seen him in this form?
I was still chasing those thoughts when Charlie casually reached down and snapped up a large fallen branch that would take two men to lift. I knew this was why most people avoided ogres.
Charlie leaned even closer and I saw the wild smile on his brutish face. He whispered in a guttural voice, "They're in the middle of the field. They didn't see me. I hid and waited for you. I figured you'd want to be here before the fun starts."
Was I the only one who was taking this seriously?
As if to answer my unvoiced question, Charlie let out a whoop and bound into the field, waving his branch like it was nothing more than a stick. Aly immediately ran after him and I leapt through the trees to follow. Charlie's giant legs propelled him forward. Aly and I scrambled to keep up. My heart started to race, my body tense as it prepared for the battle ahead.
Charlie came to a sliding stop in the middle of the field, taking up huge clumps of earth, and let out a furious roar. I had never, in my entire life, heard a sound so frightening. The four cats in front of him must not have, either, because they froze. Charlie swung his branch down, and the cats suddenly came back to life.
The one he was aiming for dodged to the side. Charlie's size made him cumbersome and easy for the cats to dodge. The branch hit the ground with a thud that made the ground tremble beneath my paws. One hit from him would be lethal. Another cougar leapt at him, but he batted it away with his empty hand.
I had no more time to reflect as Aly jumped into the fray and landed on one of the other cougars. I couldn't let her fight alone. Using the same tactic as before, I charged the last cougar. The cat scrambled back, but I kept advancing.
In an unexpected move, the cat turned and dashed away. I chased him for a few paces, then slowed down and stopped. In a marathon I knew I'd win, but there was no way I could catch a cougar in a sprint. The cat continued through the field and disappeared in the trees on the other side, still running for all it was worth.
I was about to turn back to the fight when a toxic scent caught my attention. I had never smelled anything so vile in my entire life. Everything about it warned me away, and my wolf wanted to run far away from the horrid scent.
I knew that meant I had to figure out what it was. Nothing in nature smelled that appalling. The sound of the fight behind me continued, but I knew I had to take a few seconds to try to find the odor. I cast about. I knew I had found it when a retch tore from my throat. What the hell was that?
It was an unassuming wet spot on the ground. I could clearly smell blood, although I didn't know who it belonged to. It wasn't the blood that was making me retch but some other scent. Something that smelled wrong. I gagged and turned away. I would seek it out later and figure out what it was. The alarm it sent through me was enough to ensure that I wouldn't forget.
I started running back and watched Charlie as I got closer. He was still swinging his club around and I realized he wasn't really aiming for targets. It seemed like his intent was simply to keep the two cats he was fighting on the move.
I wished we'd had a strategy session before this fight. It would have made things much easier. Wolves were used to fighting in groups.
I saw a cougar sneaking around Charlie's backside just as Aly pinned one to the ground. Another was in front of Charlie, keeping him distracted. I flattened my ears to my head and let out a couple barks of alarm as I charged forward.
Charlie didn't recognize my warning and he looked at me questioningly. The cat in front of him glanced over at me. Aly didn't even look, focused on her opponent. As I watched, the cougar behind Charlie lowered itself, preparing to leap.
There was no way I could stop it.
I still sped up. I might not be his biggest fan but I didn't want him to seriously get hurt.
I felt like time moved in slow-motion as the cougar in front of Charlie turned back to him, then darted forward, drawing the ogre's attention. The one behind him leapt through the air, targeting Charlie's unprotected back as he swung his branch.
A streak of silver suddenly shot through the air and collided with the cougar behind Charlie, knocking it to the side with a series of vicious barks. As they separated, I recognized the wolf—my cousin Eric was here. That meant his twin, David, wasn't far behind.
Charlie turned around, suddenly realizing the danger behind him, and the cougar in front of him went to attack. But I was finally there. I leapt forward and nipped it in the tail.
The cougar spun around and I charged forward, forcing it to back up. It swiped out at me. I closed my eyes tight, wincing as I felt the claws graze my newly healed skin. Air rushed past me. I heard a loud thunk as Charlie's branch smashed down right beside me.
I leapt back with a yelp and glared at the ogre. He shot me a cheeky grin, then swung the branch like a golf club, knocking the cougar away. The wind shifted and new scents caught my attention.
"We got ourselves some company," Charlie said in his strangely deep voice.
Two more cougars ran in from the edge of the field. I heard a yelp and looked over at my cousin. I couldn't tell what had happened, but he'd separated from his opponent and they were facing off.
A shadow appeared behind Eric's foe and I saw David stalking the cougar. I should have known. Playing wounded was one of their favorite tactics. While the cat was focused on the 'injured' Eric, David would attack from behind. I knew they had it under control.
I looked over at Aly, and she still had her opponen
t pinned, but it looked like a stalemate. She couldn't let go, but he couldn't hurt her.
The two cougars from the far side of the field had almost reached us.
In the distance, I heard a low, challenging roar. I snapped my head toward it in time to see a huge bear rambling into the field. He was picking up speed barreling straight toward the newcomers.
Charlie took that moment to add his challenging call to the bear's. I looked back at the cat Charlie had knocked to the side just in time to see it turn and race off to join the ones coming in the field. But they had stopped, as if they decided they didn't want to fight a bear and an ogre. I didn't blame them.
One right after the other, they turned tail and ran off. A flash of gold raced by me—the one who had fought my cousins was running away, too.
The only one left was the one fighting Aly. I turned my attention to her fight. Her ears were back. She suddenly let go and jumped away from the cougar she'd had pinned. The other cat laid on the ground, motionless.
For a moment, I thought he was dead. Shifter justice. Then I saw his chest rise and fall. She must have suffocated him until he passed out.
I looked back and saw the last of the cougars disappear into the forest as the bear was slowing down near the middle of the field. Aly was right, Fayoak did have its own defenses. And they were formidable.
But would they be enough when all of her old pack came to fight?
11
Alysse
I wearily met Ben's silver eyes and jerked my head toward the way we had come. I was tired and hurting but we had won. In all the ways that counted, at least. They retreated and we were still standing.
I looked down at my opponent. He was still unconscious on the ground. He was lucky that I didn't kill him and that I wasn't looking to take prisoners either. I knew who they were and what they wanted. Hopefully he would rethink his choices when he woke up in the middle of the field, beaten to hell and back by me.
It was time for us to go. The cats would need some time to recover. To say they had a few wounds to lick would be an understatement. Once more, Charlie opened his jutting jaw and let out a guttural roar in the direction the enemy had fled. The reverberating sound shook me to my core.
This guy. His large muscles bunched and he took a step forward like he was about to take off at a thunderous run. I darted over to him and smacked his big leg with my paw. He looked down at me in confusion and my cat snickered. He looked like such a big lug.
I made the same motion with my head as I did to Ben, letting him know it was time to go. Ben and the two mysterious wolves—whose scent told me they were related to Ben—were diligently awaiting us at the edge of the forest.
Charlie's shoulders slumped and he frowned around his tusks. "I was just gettin' started," he whined. It sounded so odd coming from a voice so deep and gravely.
I jerked my head again and growled.
"No need to get all nasty. I'm goin'!"
I glanced back at the bear who'd charged into the middle of the field, but he'd already turned around and was heading in our direction. I was glad he had some sense.
Although I'd never seen Sam in his bear from, I knew from his scent who he was. I wondered why he was the one Sophie sent, instead of Jack or someone else from the pack. I'd find out soon enough, I supposed.
The ground trembled as Charlie sullenly stomped toward the forest line. I turned to follow and huffed in laughter as I padded along behind him. The wolves, all three of them, waited just inside the trees.
The moment we met up with them, the two I didn't know immediately started to sniff me openly. Wolves. I bared my fangs and pressed my ears flat to my head. A low growl rumbled out of Ben at the same time. They wisely slid away from me.
They exchanged a look with each other, then Ben. A moment later the two strange wolves disappeared into the trees as they ran in the direction of the Greenhavens' house. How did they know which way to go? Who were they? Why were they here?
A feeling of unease ran through me. I trusted Ben, but wolves were pack animals. Were they going to try to railroad me into going back to Ben's pack?
Ben and Charlie were obviously waiting for me, so I started to run after the two wolves. Ben followed, keeping pace. Charlie lumbered along behind us, his feet thudding against the earth, his big steps the only thing stopping him from falling behind.
We moved silently through the forest. I only knew where Ben was because he ran beside me. Charlie, however, sounded like an elephant behind us. Branches snapped and broke, both under his feet and when his body ran into them. Those poor trees. I knew he was doing it on purpose. He said it made him feel powerful.
It didn't take us long to reach the Greenhavens' home back at the orchard. Ben and I made our way to the back door and our pile of neatly folded clothes. I shifted to my human form. Ben did the same. As I reached down to grab my clothes, I noticed another pile of clothes neatly folded near ours. Those must be Sam's.
Sophie must have told Sam to come here and he followed our scent to the field. My big ol' question was how other two wolves knew to come to Petunia's orchard to find us? Better yet, who were they?
"Y'know, that's a whole lot more butt than I wanted to see," Charlie said before bursting into booming laughter.
I laughed along with him as Ben and I dressed. Sometimes I forgot how weird it was to just randomly be naked around people. It was natural for us shifters, so natural that even the snarky ones like me didn't question it.
I glanced around. The other two wolves were nowhere to be found. I briefly wondered where they had disappeared to. I hadn't thought they were that far ahead of us, but I caught their scent and could tell they'd been here shortly before us. I was about to ask Ben about them when I realized that Charlie was still in his ogre form, looking down at his makeshift loincloth.
Why hadn't he done his weird ogre magic to hide himself? There was nobody else around but this orchard was a busy one. He was running a huge risk right now.
"Uhh, Charlie, you should really try to look less, you know . . ."
He inched toward me. His large, clawed feet cleared large swaths of dirt as he dragged them. Finally, he whispered, "I can't."
"Why? Is your magic that hard to use or something?"
He shook his head.
"Then what's the deal?" I asked, confused.
He hunched his hulking form down and whispered, this time even more quietly, "I don't have any clothes."
I arched a brow. "Where'd you leave them?"
"Heck if I know. I dropped 'em somewhere in the forest."
"Rookie mistake."
"Rude," he muttered in his unusually deep voice.
It was only then that I realized Ben had moved off to the side and he was deep in a quiet conversation with two men. I didn't even have to get their scent to know they were his relatives. The wolves. They've reappeared, I see. Interesting. I made my way over with an arched brow and folded arms.
"What do we have here?" I asked.
One of the new wolves gave me an easy smile, the other simply stared at me. Not a single muscle in his expression twitched for better or worse. Weird. Ben, on the other hand, looked like he was in a mighty bad mood.
"These are my cousins. David," he pointed to the smiling one, then the other, "and Eric."
"Ah, do they know . . .?"
"About you being his baby mama?" David offered.
"Yeah," I replied slowly, "that."
"Pretty crazy how that all worked out."
I furrowed my brow as Ben looked off to the side.
"Yes. Crazy," I said. "It's all just so . . . whacky. Ben, what's wrong?"
His jaw clenched and unclenched. His hands too.
"Ben?"
"David, Eric, Charlie . . . could you give us a moment?"
David sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth. Eric grabbed him by the arm and started to walk away.
In a quiet, even voice, he said, "We'll catch you later."
Ben was still just
staring at me. I gave him a questioning look. But the moment was interrupted as Sam lumbered up in his big bear form, having lagged behind us. He had a pile of clothes in his mouth and he looked less than pleased about it.
"Hey, those are mine," Charlie called out with a booming chuckle. "Hope you didn't slobber on 'em too much."
As if in response, the door to the Greenhavens' home suddenly opened and Petunia looked around coldly.
"Bears and ogres. This will not do. Kindly fix yourselves," she ordered before she went back inside. I smiled faintly at the lack of hellos or small talk. I appreciated her honesty.
Charlie scooped up Sam's clothes. The two of them shuffled off into the trees. I knew we'd have to be quiet or they'd pick up everything we said. At least they were giving us the illusion of privacy.
"What's going on with you, Ben? Did you get hurt or something?"
Ben shook his head and let out a small huff of air, like he couldn't believe I didn't already understand. Charlie came up beside us then. He was back in his human form. That didn't take him long.
"Everything good here?" He pointedly looked at Ben, then back at me.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Thanks for all the help today."
"Anytime, anytime."
With one last wary look at Ben's tense expression he walked around to the front of the house.
"Well," I began, "we're alone now. What's the deal?"
"The deal, Aly?"
"Yeah."
Ben gritted his teeth. "This place is the deal."
I took a step back, slowly shaking my head from side to side in disbelief. We're back to this again, are we?
"Don't pull away from me again, Aly. We're talking about this."
"Would you stop telling me what to do?"
"Maybe if you would actually listen to me."
I scoffed. "Maybe I would listen to you if you didn't spend all your time telling me what I should be doing."
