by Amira Rain
I knew that the Graywolves were probably violent and dangerous, just based on the fact that those of them who had headed south, into the United States, had apparently been hurting people. At the same time, though, I didn’t know this for sure; it was just what Mary had told me.
For all I knew, maybe the Graywolves were a peaceful, oppressed group, and maybe those of them who fled the area had done so to save their lives, terrified of violent, former-MMA fighter, now-bear shifter Chief Alexander. Maybe he and his men had been attacking their peaceful little group totally unprovoked or something.
I had no way of knowing, and being that Mary was clearly loyal to Chief Alexander, I didn’t trust that anything she told me was one hundred percent the truth. I figured it wouldn’t be the first time a citizen had glossed over the actions of their leader, making their leader seem like a good person in the moral right about a particular situation. Maybe she’d even lied about the fact that the Graywolves were hurting people in the US and that the government had begged for Chief Alexander’s help.
At any rate, being that they could truly be dangerous, I had no intention of ever actually meeting the Graywolves, especially not with Sam. All I wanted to do was check out the level of thaw in the woods, because I was sure it would be similar to the level of thaw on the roads south, which wound through forestland just as dense as that behind the house.
If the level of thaw was to the point that I thought that the roads were finally clear of the several feet of snow that had covered them, I was going to possibly explore my options as to getting an escape car in the very near future. Although truthfully, I knew I probably had just one option, which was somehow stealing Mary’s car at some point.
I could have just gauged the thaw level by talking a walk into town, and then a little walk down the main road heading out of town, but I knew that would surely cause suspicion about what I was doing, because I’d surely be seen. Same with the hiking trails that branched off from the center of town. Besides, despite the fact that Mary had told me never to hike on the western trail by the house, I just didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t. I had no intention of going past the large rocks that signaled the end of the area where regular guard patrols came through; and in fact, I didn’t think I’d need to even go anywhere near them. They were supposedly a few miles down the trail, and I’d only need to hike a few hundred feet into the forest to really gauge the thaw.
However, once I had hiked a few hundred feet down the narrow dirt trail, with birds chirping, the sun shining, and Sam cooing in her carrier, looking all around her, I found that I just didn’t want to turn around yet, despite the fact that I’d seen all I needed to in order to be fairly certain that the roads heading south were indeed already clear.
I was just kind of getting high on spring, and fresh, earth-scented air, and I wanted Sam to continue to enjoy it, too. We could have continued to enjoy it in the yard, or on the cabin’s wraparound porch, but walking just seemed better. To have my boots thumping into the slightly springy, muddy earth was just feeling too good.
Being that I’d never do anything to put Sam in any possible danger, though, I still wasn’t going to get anywhere near the large rock pile, let alone venture past it. I’d just go maybe a single mile, maybe a mile-and-a-half down the trail, I figured, then head back, hopefully before the chief’s guard patrol came through and saw us.
I knew that the patrol bears basically did a circle around the entire town numerous times a day, although I had no idea exactly how many times, or how much time passed between each of their crossings over this particular trail. However, considering that an entire circuit of the town was maybe fifteen or twenty miles or something, I figured they probably couldn’t cross the trail more than every couple of hours, if they were speeding; so I felt fairly confident that I wouldn’t get busted during a hike of twenty or thirty minutes.
And if I did, I wouldn’t deny that Mary had told me not to hike on the western trail; but I’d just claim to not know west from east, insisting that I had no idea I was heading west. I normally didn’t like lying at all, but I didn’t think I’d feel any moral pang whatsoever about telling a fib to Chief Alexander’s men.
I continued on with Sam, and our walk couldn’t possibly have been more perfect. After a while, Sam’s soft cooing actually turned into outright giggles of joy, making my heart sing while she happily kicked her little heels into my stomach. Numerous times, smiling, I lowered my face to plant kisses on the top of her sweet head, which was now covered with short, silky-soft dark brown hair, instead of the barely-there dark peach fuzz she’d been born with.
However, I’d always had a pretty good intuition for distance, and once we’d walked maybe a mile-and-a-half, I told Sam that it was time for us to turn around and go back home. “I bet we’ll see lots more birdies on the way back, though.”
Giggling, she’d lifted her hands at a few we’d just seen, actually appearing to be waving to them.
I’d just started to turn to head back up the trail when something caught my attention. Or, specifically, someone.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Startling me, out of the corner of my eye, I was pretty sure I’d seen a woman dart behind a thick sycamore just a little way up the trail. She’d just been a flash of blue jeans, dark jacket, and long, bright red ponytail, but I was pretty sure my eyes hadn’t deceived me.
Thinking that she must be a fellow “western trail trespasser,” I took a few steps forward, able to see just a sliver of her bright red hair that wasn’t blocked by the tree trunk. “Hello up there, behind the tree! Don’t worry… I won’t tell about your trespassing if you won’t tell about mine.”
To make an agreement about this was pretty much the only reason I’d called out to her. That, and the fact that I didn’t want the awkwardness of being followed back up the trail by someone who’d possibly seen me see her but who I hadn’t even spoken to.
Slowly, the woman stepped out from behind the tree and started walking toward Sam and me, and I saw she was a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties like I was.
When she was maybe twenty feet away, she smiled, long ponytail gently swinging. “Hi! Sorry about my little duck-and-cover back there. I just… well, I just didn’t know if you’d be upset, because I’m not supposed to be here. I wasn’t as stealthy as I hoped, though, was I?”
She smiled again, and I smiled in return, wondering why she thought I’d be upset, since I was a trespasser as well. Although once she reached Sam and me, I suddenly got it. Right at the base of her throat, a coal-gray tattoo covered several square inches, and it was a tattoo of what appeared to be a wolf paw. If I was a trespasser, this young woman was really a trespasser.
Possibly seeing my gaze go to her tattoo, she smiled for the third time. “Yeah… I know what you’re probably wondering, and I’m guilty as charged. I’m from Graywolf Village. I absolutely mean no harm, though. I just went out for a hike, and somehow got way, way off-track. I guess probably a few miles off-track, because I just have a feeling that I somehow made my way all the way into bear territory. I’m kind of clueless with direction sometimes. You won’t tell anyone, will you? Like your chief? I don’t want him to be angry that I very accidentally trespassed.”
Liking this friendly, chatty young woman already for some reason, I smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell Chief Alexander anything. For one thing, he’s not even back from the US yet, and for another thing, I don’t plan on doing much speaking to him once he is back.”
The red-haired young woman frowned, knitting her gingery brows. “Oh? Why’s that?”
Glancing down at Sam, I sighed. “It’s a long story, but this is our daughter… Chief Alexander’s and mine. I’ve never even met him, though; I was artificially inseminated at a clinic. Like I said, it’s just a really long story. But the main point of it is that I was just supposed to be a surrogate, but the chief actually had me kidnapped after I gave birth.
And since then, I’ve been a prisoner in Green
wood. A prisoner able to go outside, and to the grocery store and all that, but a prisoner anyway. So, needless to say, Chief Alexander isn’t exactly my favorite person. So, no, I definitely won’t tell him you trespassed.”
The red-haired young woman continued frowning, studying my face. “Well… thank you so much, but… are you okay? I mean, I’ve heard some terrible things about Chief Alexander, but kidnapping you and holding you against your will? That’s just so awful.”
I nodded, enjoying the validation, and beginning to feel really chatty myself. “I know. Everyone keeps telling me that he’s such a good man, but how was I ever supposed to buy that after what he did? And now, hearing you say that you’ve heard terrible things about him, everything I’ve been thinking has been confirmed.”
The red-haired young woman nodded, expression sympathetic. “Well, I’m sorry I can’t tell you otherwise, but it’s true. Chief Alexander is definitely not a good man. I don’t know what you’ve heard around town, probably not the truth I’m guessing, but he and his men have been savagely attacking my people ever since we got here, about two years ago. See, we come from Wisconsin, but we were driven out by the US military; then we were persecuted by the Canadians, just because our men are so different from human men.
They’re not only shifter wolves, but some of them have magical powers, like being able to blow attackers away with just a single breath. Others of them can shoot beams of light from their eyes, like lasers. It all probably sounds scary, but they’d never try to hurt anyone with these powers, especially not unprovoked. But I guess it all scared the Canadians, so that’s why we came here.
My husband Desmond, who’s the leader of our group, told Chief Alexander that we just wanted a tiny bit of land for our own, to live peacefully, but Chief Alexander wasn’t having it. Said he and his men would murder us all, women and children included if we didn’t leave, but we had nowhere else to go. So, ever since then, we’ve just been fighting off attacks from his men the best we can, even though it’s kind of a hellish way to live.
Some our fighters even fled to the US a few months ago, just about having nervous breakdowns from all the fighting. As you probably know, though, the chief went to hunt them down and kill them. I think it was a ‘no one gets out of my territory alive’ kind of thing. It’s really sad. He’s such a brutal leader, but that really doesn’t surprise me given his past. Have you heard he used to be a military man, and then one of those brutally violent MMA fighters? See, some men just have something like an addiction to violence. It’s like a sickness.”
The red-haired young woman finally paused for breath, and I jumped in after a long sigh.
“I’m feeling a little sick right now. I don’t ever want my daughter near a monster like the chief.”
As if hearing herself mentioned activated her Magical powers, Sam giggled, and immediately, bright white sparks began floating around her tiny little fingers.
The red-haired woman gasped. “Oh my God… she’s a Magical?”
I nodded and said yes.
“Wow. That’s amazing. They say they’ll all grow to be powerful sorceresses someday. We don’t even have a single one in Graywolf Village.” Wide-eyed, the red-haired woman looked at Sam in wonder for a few moments before lifting her gaze to my face. “She’s absolutely adorable, by the way. Beautiful. And she really looks a lot like you, especially her little chin and cute little nose.”
Incredibly pleased, because even I hadn’t noticed any similarities in Sam’s and my chins and noses, I smiled. “Thank you.”
“You’re so welcome. What’s her name?”
“Samantha, but I call her Sam.”
“Pretty name. I’m Brooke, by the way.”
“I’m Tara.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Tara. Not to be weird, but I almost think it was destiny that we met today. I want to help you and Sam. I want to help you get free from Greenwood and Chief Alexander. Have you ever thought about trying to escape?”
For some reason, I felt like I could confide in Brooke, and I nodded. “That’s actually why I came down this trail today. I wanted to get an idea how much the woodland had thawed, to get an idea if the roads south might be clear. I’ve been thinking about stealing a car and making a break for it to the FDS, then begging Commander Iverson to let me cross the bridge back into Michigan, where my family lives.”
Brooke snorted, shaking her head. “Nope. It’ll never work. The chief and Commander Iverson are thick as thieves. Let me and my husband help you. Come back to the village with me right now, and we’ll ferry you up to Canada first thing in the morning. They’ll take you in. Then you can probably just take an American plane back down to Michigan.”
Heartbeat accelerating a bit, I looked around. Only a sliver of late-afternoon sun was left, and a little darkness had crept into the spaces between the trees.
“Thank you so much for your offer, Brooke, and I really, really appreciate it, but how far away is Graywolf Village from here on foot? I’m just not sure if today—”
“Oh, it’s not that far at all. On foot, it’s maybe like… well, just an hour or so. Maybe just a little more.”
“Well… it’ll be dark soon, and it’s already getting kind of cold.”
As if she were catching a cold, Sam suddenly sneezed, a precious little sound, and her sparkly fingers dimmed simultaneously.
“I just don’t think an hour or two through the woods in the cold and dark would be good for her right now.”
“Oh, come on, Tara. Would you rather her catch a cold, or would you rather the chief beat the both of you to death?”
In addition to her words being horrifying and startling, she’d spoken them in a sharp sort of way that made me reflexively take a little step back from her.
“Of course I don’t want that. But Chief Alexander isn’t even home right now, and besides, do you really think he’d—”
“Oh my God, no… just, no. I mean, probably not. He probably wouldn’t beat the two of you to death. It’s just that when I make a friend, which I already consider you to be, I just get so protective. It’s just my way. I just want to help you and Sam, but I shouldn’t have said that worst-case scenario out loud. I’m so sorry if I upset you. Of course it wouldn’t be smart to walk back to the village with Sam when it’s dark and cold. We’ll just do it a different day. How about tomorrow?”
“Well, the weather forecast says it’s supposed to drop back down to the thirties for the next six days. So—”
“We’ll meet back here in a week. Same time as today. Deal? And if for some reason you can’t make it, if you get caught by the guard patrol or something, because I know they roll through here sometimes well, then we’ll try again the following week, okay? And so on, until we’re able to meet up again. Then I’ll take you and Sam right to the village, and right on to Canada. But do try your absolute hardest to be here next week. Who knows when the chief might get home, and I don’t think you and Sam will be safe then.
I’d give you my phone number so we can stay in touch, but we have Canadian phones and numbers in the village, and I’m afraid of what the chief might do to you if he were to see a Graywolf Village number in your phone when he gets back.
You know what I mean? Who knows with him? And obviously, I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but tell no one from Greenwood that we met, and about our plan. Okay? No one. The chief has turned everyone in Greenwood against us Graywolf people, I’m sure.”
“Okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Good. Now, you should probably get back before the guard patrol rolls through here. Some days they’re faster than others. I’ll see you in exactly one week. And until then just know that someone cares about you and Sam, Tara.” Brooke reached out one slender hand and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Really. I’ve now made it my personal mission to get you and Sam to safety.”
Completely touched, I gave her a little smile with a lump in my throat. “Thank you.”
“Of course. So long for now,
but I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay.”
After giving Sam and me a smile, she began walking away, back up the trail, and I realized something.
“Hey, wait, Brooke. How are you going to get back to your village in the dark? Didn’t you say you got a little lost earlier and that’s how you wound up here? And that was in full daylight. How are you going to find your way now?”
With her expression unreadable in the dim light, she didn’t answer right away. “Well, it’s really hard to explain, but when I get lost, I get really lost, but then when I get back on track and regain my sense of direction, I really get it back, and I’m completely fine. You know what I mean?”
I kind of didn’t, but I said sure.
“Besides, once I get nearer to the village, my husband will be around, so I’ll be fine. Better run now, though, before the bear patrol comes through. See you next week!”
With a smile and a wave over her shoulder, she was off jogging down the darkening trail. Wanting to avoid the bear patrol myself, I immediately turned and began half-walking, half-jogging, not wanting to wake Sam, who’d fallen asleep, head lolling to one side of her canvas carrier.
Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any of the bear patrolmen on the way back to the house. Once we reached the backyard and began cutting across it, heading toward the front, where I’d left the door unlocked, I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
My relief was short-lived, however. When I rounded the side of the house, there was a shiny black pickup truck in the driveway, making me stop dead in my tracks when it came into view.
Just having a feeling who the truck belonged to, I wrapped my arms around Sam a little tighter and spoke in a whisper that held the hint of a tremor. “I think your father is home.”
