“I volunteered.”
When she offered nothing further, he said, “Is that all there was to it?”
“No. My Uncle Windwalker vouched for me. I hunted with him a few times before we came here. He told Grey that I have a suitable temperament for exploring.”
Ken was embarrassed when he heard his own choice of word thrown back at him. It had been hastily said without conviction. Now it was coming back to haunt him, as careless words often do.
“I see. And what were ye hopin’ to get from the experience?”
“Truthfully?” she asked.
“Aye.”
“Away from you, Cinaed.”
He couldn’t have been more surprised. “I do no’ understand ye. We rarely saw one another before this venture.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I meant to say away from thoughts of you.”
He was secretly pleased at the revelation that she thought about him enough to want to escape her own mind.
“Everyone calls me Ken.”
“Everyone does not. I don’t.”
“Why no’?”
“My uncle told me your name means born of fire. That’s beautiful. Poetic. Why would you run from a name like that?”
Ken looked puzzled. “I would no’ say I’m runnin’ from it. ‘Tis no’ unusual for people to shorten names. Likewise Starfire is beautiful. Poetic. If I called you Star, ‘twould no’ be because I do no’ think it so. ‘Twould be a show of affection.”
“Brack calls you Ken. You think he’s being affectionate?”
Ken laughed at her wit. “Ye have me there.”
“Before I go to sleep, I just want to know one thing, since you seem talkative all of a sudden.”
“What is it?”
“Why do you dislike me so much?”
Ken scowled. “What makes you think I dislike ye?”
Star barked out a laugh. “Well, for one thing, you tried to reject me coming along as a team member. Called me unsuitable. Remember?”
Ken hated that she’d gotten the impression he didn’t like her. His actions were motivated by the opposite emotion. He liked her too much. Far too much.
“’Twas no’ because I do no’ like ye.”
“Oh? Well. For the past six months you’ve been doing a good job of conveying that idea.”
“Well. That’s no’ it.”
Star stood abruptly, said, “Whatever,” shifted into wolf form and padded over to the face of the rock wall where she curled into herself near Brack.
Ken built up the fire before doing the same.
Just before midnight Loper nudged him awake with his nose. Ken stood and stretched his back legs out straight behind him then, in turn, tried to nudge Brack awake. When Brack refused to get up for a turn at watch, Ken chomped down on the hindquarter nearest him. Brack let out a yeowl and shot straight up. He turned on Cinaed with a growl, but Ken quickly stopped the show of defiance with hair bristling, fangs bared, and eyes blazing. Brack immediately quieted and ducked his head.
Redruff, who was rebuilding the fire in human form, laughed. “Won’t do you any good to challenge that one, Brack. He’s an alpha in disguise.”
Star had opened one eye a slit to see what was going on. She stood up, turned in a circle, then lay down on her other side with a deep sigh and went back to sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
The next morning they woke to several inches of new snow and more coming down faster than before. There was no need to put out the fire. The snow had been falling fast enough to douse both flame and coals.
It was Ken’s turn to get everyone into their rigs and go packless. He looked at Loper. “You know the way home?” Loper trotted a few yards back the way they’d come then stopped and waited. Ken nodded. “Sharp eyes.”
Loper woofed quietly to indicate acknowledgement.
Just an hour into the return trek they came to the place where the mountain plateaued. They passed through a stand of trees just before the next rock incline. Their passage had been uneventful on the way and they had no reason to think the return would be different.
Suddenly Ken stopped and thrust his nose in the air. Perhaps it was a faint scent on the wind. Perhaps it was intuition or instinct. Either way, he didn’t have time to act on his internal warning.
The wolves had alarmed a female grizzly who had recently emerged from hibernation with two cubs sprouting baby hair and new teeth. She was nearly eight feet tall, seven hundred pounds, grumpy about the long slumber with no snacks and waking to find she’d given birth to two cubs. On top of that she was infuriated that interlopers had breached her forest and posed a possible threat to her babies.
When they realized there was a mad mama grizzly charging their way, it was too late for a successful retreat or they would have simply turned and run. She chased them onto a wide snowy ledge with a rock wall on one side and a sheer drop off on the other.
Ken ran in front of the others snarling and snapping teeth, trying to draw her attention his way. He darted in close then tried to scramble away before her powerful paws could reach him. Likewise, the other four began biting at her hind legs and haunches when they saw an opening.
At first she whirled in confusion blindly swiping at the wolves, but as her anger grew, so did her focus. Ken knew the moment the bear decided she was going to ignore whatever the others did until she’d rid herself of his menace.
Star had been repeatedly pulling at a tear she’d made in the bear’s hamstring by ducking in and out. She ran around behind the bear to inflict further damage, but the bear swiped Starfire off the side of the cliff when she drew her great paw back, without even meaning to. She fell twenty feet before hitting an outcropping and tried to scramble for purchase, but the new snow gave way and she fell another twenty feet before she began to roll down a rocky incline without enough snow to cushion the beating. By the time she crashed into a pine tree, she was glad for unconsciousness.
Hearing Starfire’s shriek and seeing her knocked off the outcropping distracted Ken or the bear would not have been able to land such a powerful blow. The bear’s mighty swipe picked him up and threw him into the rock wall of the cliff face behind them. Ken slid down the wall and landed in the snow unconscious.
Suddenly everything, even the irate bear, quieted at the sound of the mountain lion’s scream. She stopped, looked away, raised her muzzle, sniffed the air and then loped off toward the forest. Having heard the cat, the cubs were standing on their hind legs and braying for her. They followed her deeper into the forest when she loped away favoring the side that Starfire hadn’t injured.
With the battle over and snow falling faster every minute, the world turned eerily quiet. All sound was absorbed by a blanket of white except for the wind that was beginning to gust and was already blowing snow into drifts.
Redruff shifted to better take a look at Ken, first feeling for a heartbeat. “He’s alive,” she said. Pulling back his eyelids, she added, “I’m no healer, but he might have a concussion.” She gingerly felt his legs and ribs. “I can’t tell for sure if anything’s broken without being able to ask him.” The only blood showing was from claw marks on his shoulder, but they weren’t deep. The bear must have caught him mostly with the pads of her paw.
Loper was at the edge of the cliff looking over. He shifted and said, “I can’t see Star. It’s a long way down there. It could take us most of a day to find a way.”
Brack whined.
“Ruff, stay with Ken. Brack, you and I are going after Star.”
Brack shifted. “Going after Star? Are you crazy? This is a fucking blizzard coming. If the bear doesn’t get us, the snow will. If the snow doesn’t get us, the lion will.”
Loper stared at Brack. “Star went down fighting for the pack. You want to just leave her out there? She could be alive.”
“She may be alive, but we’re definitely alive.” He looked down at Ken and said, “So’s he. We can save ourselves and him. Maybe. Or we can all die trying to find a femal
e who’s probably lost already.”
As much as Loper hated to admit it, Brack made sense. Seeing Loper’s hesitation, he pressed his case forward. “We need to make a stretcher for Ken and hightail it home.”
Loper turned to Redruff. “You agree?”
“I don’t want to agree, but I don’t really see the choice. If we make a stretcher, like Brack said, and carry Ken, four of us may survive. If we go after Star, between the snow, the bear, the lion, and the fact that there are just three of us… Well, it’d be suicide.”
Loper’s shoulders sagged. He didn’t like the logical conclusion and liked his choices even less. He wished Ken wasn’t the one who was unconscious, so that he’d be taking responsibility for the decision.
“Let’s find two limbs to make a stretcher and do it fast. We need to get out of here before it gets worse. We’re going to have to do this by travois and take turns pulling it in wolf form. We don’t have shoes and our feet will get frostbit if we don’t shift. I’ll take the first turn.”
They found the limbs they needed, made a stretcher from clothes in the packs, and tied the travois to Loper’s pack. Brack and Redruff picked Ken up and laid him across the stretched clothing. Luckily it held his weight.
The pull was a struggle, but with a series of whines and a bark Loper was able to move forward slowly.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Starfire’s vision was a little blurry and matched the woozy feeling she had when she woke. She was on a bed of sorts, more like a feather mattress on the floor, but she was covered with soft blankets and furs. She was in a medium sized room with rock walls and a curved rock ceiling, turned on her side facing a fireplace that appeared to be carved out of rock. The light from the fire danced with shadows on the walls and ceilings and formed patterns that looked like something out of a dream.
She was trying to make sense of her surroundings when she remembered what had happened. The bear had knocked her off the cliff. For a minute she’d thought she was going to be able to scrabble her way to purchase on the first ledge she hit, but the snow was too slippery and she fell. She remembered some of the beating she took rolling down the side of the mountain. As she tried to stretch her body she found that everything hurt.
Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention. A man walked toward her with an uncommon grace. He wore a loose twill shirt, doeskin pants, and was barefoot. Because the light in the room was behind him she couldn’t see his face. He appeared to be in his thirties, early thirties maybe, with tawny-colored hair cut to just below his ears.
“Who are you?” she said. “Where am I?”
“Ah, sweet wolf. You wake,” he said in a timbre that suggested seduction. “I’m Brandish. And I’m very glad to have you as my guest.”
“Your guest?” Star said as she learned that trying to sit up made her head hurt even worse than the rest of her.
Brandish pushed her shoulders gently urging her to lie back down. “Be still. You’ve been injured. You’re safe here, but not entirely well.”
The cadence and octave of his speech was pacifying.
“I fell.”
“Yes.”
“You found me and brought me here.”
“Yes.”
“I have to go. My companions will be looking for me.”
“They won’t be looking for you for a while. The snowfall is too heavy and covering your scent.”
“Oh. Who are you?”
He chuckled softly. “You asked already.”
“I know your name. Brandish. I mean to ask if you live by yourself or with a group of, um, humans?”
“Humans? No. I live alone.”
He laughed soft and low and as he did he turned his face toward the fire so that she could see him clearly. She barely suppressed a gasp seeing his features for the first time. He was, perhaps, the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. Strong features. Perfect skin. Full lips. And yellow-green eyes that glittered, reflecting both the firelight and a light from within.
She took in a breath a little too quickly and he caught the reaction.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“You’re not human.”
“Neither are you, sweet wolf.”
“Stop calling me that. It makes me nervous.”
“Why?”
“For one thing because you don’t know whether I’m sweet or not.”
He smiled. “Are you hungry?”
She thought about it for a second. “Maybe. Depends on what you’re offering.”
“I have meat. Cooked meat.”
“What kind?”
“Deer.”
“Okay.” She looked around. “Are we in a cave?”
“It’s my home. Call it what you want.”
The floor was covered with a large woven rug, colorful with an intricate pattern.
“This is a nice rug. Where did you get it?”
“The market.”
“The market?”
“You repeat what I say a lot.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about your name. Does it mean something?”
He smiled. “You can call me Brand.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“My mother said I move my tail aggressively.”
He put some meat in a skillet and set it on the fire. It immediately filled the space with a heavenly aroma that made her stomach growl.
“Well. There’s a clue. So you’re a shifter with a tail.”
“Yes.”
“But not a wolf. Obviously.”
“Obviously.”
“So where’s the market?”
“The villages on the other side of the mountains.”
“Human villages?”
“Mostly. There are shifters, too.”
“How many? What kind? What sort of animal are you?”
He pulled off his shirt, let his pants drop to the ground, and in a flurry of magic Brand’s striking human countenance melted into an even more beautiful panther with huge paws, a sleek tawny coat that was darker on the ridge of his back, and tufts in his ears that looked more like a wildcat than a puma.
The transformation scared Starfire so badly that she flew into a tizzy of fury and confusion and shifted involuntarily, standing on top of the mattress on all fours, every hair on her body spiked making her look bigger than usual. She snarled and lunged forward, but the cat simply watched unfazed, swishing his tail back and forth.
He blinked slowly, looking sleepy, then blurred into the shape of a man and stood tall.
“Settle, little one,” he said. “I won’t harm you.”
Starfire continued to growl and backed up until her rear end was against the wall.
“I saved you and your friends from the bear. She would have killed you all, you know.”
Brandish turned as if he wasn’t concerned about his back, pulled his clothes back on and turned the meat in the skillet. As he squatted by the fire he looked over his shoulder and said, “The meat is almost ready, but I’m only going to share if you shift and stop behaving as if you’re afraid of me.”
The smell of the sizzling meat was a powerful motivator. She shifted and, with a tremor in her voice, said, “I can’t help behaving like I’m afraid of you. I am afraid of you.”
“Why?”
“One of your kind killed my parents.”
“One of my kind? Or a natural creature?”
She looked puzzled. “I don’t know.”
“What were you doing here in the mountains? You and your friends?”
“Exploring.”
“Why?”
“Because something like you might be our neighbor and that would be a good thing for us to know.” Brand brought her meat on a wooden plate and she took it. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Finally Brand said, “You know it’s out of character for a big cat to attack other predators.” Starfire stopped eating
and stared at Brand. “I’m sorry about your parents, but chances are the cat that attacked them was hoping for death.”
“Why would you say that?”
Brand shrugged. “It’s an innate defect. They’re compelled to seek solitude, but being alone eventually drives them mad.”
“You’re saying you think the cat was hoping my parents, two wolves, would kill him? Put him out of his misery?”
Brand made a face before saying, “They aren’t self-aware to the degree you’re describing. That would involve a tree of logic that’s beyond their intellectual ability. Though there’s a good possibility that result might be the same, acting from impulse.”
She took a few bites of meat. “Are you like that? You want to be alone, but can’t stand it?”
He laughed softly. “Something like that.” He gave her a look full of heat. “I like having you here. I hope you’ll learn to like being here. I want you to stay.”
She’d been the object of desire by enough males to know that look. The cat didn’t want to kill her. He wanted to keep her. Her heartbeat sped up with that realization and all she could think was, “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
They had reached the summit of the second range when Ken woke. His first thought was to wonder why he was being dragged on a travois. His second thought, when he tried to move and wheezed from the pain, was the memory that the damnable bear had flicked him into a rock wall like he was nothing more than a leaf. His third thought was that they’d been caught in a blizzard, because his fur was covered in snow.
His head hurt like it was being squeezed in a vice. When he moved again, he realized that one or more of his ribs was probably broken. The thought of shifting was a dread that made him shudder, knowing how much pain was coming, but it had to be done so that he could ask questions and also identify exactly how much damage had been done to his body.
He was hissing as he took human form and panting from the pain.
Fire Wolf: CINAED (New Scotia Pack Book 3) Page 6
