by KH LeMoyne
Even deep in his wolf’s mind, he realized he was headed back toward Lena. A desperate urge to protect her against the enemies on his turf superseded his hunt for Shanae. Or maybe they were one and the same.
Either way, his wolf sniffed deep and then howled long and full, his presence echoing as a warning. Charging forward, he elongated his stride and wove dangerously close to steep drops, desperate to close the many miles he’d put between himself and Lena.
9
“Just a bit more.” Lena grappled with the rock ledge.
With fingers finally gripping the sweet spot, she launched her body up and over the edge. She could have used an easier method for access, but something urged her to cut corners and hurry. Using her momentum, she rolled onto her back and glanced at the dark cave entrance, the slight rock protruding from overhead, and the boulder wedged near the opening. Confident the cave seemed small enough not to harbor large predators, she peered over the ledge and down at Matthew on the clearing floor below. “I’ll throw down my line for you. There’s a place I can wedge myself and pull you up. Even if there’s nothing here, we should have a good vantage point to run some more tests.”
“No offense, Lena. I’m not sure my ego can take you pulling me up. Just give me the line. I can scale this pretty easily.”
She nodded, secured the line around the boulder, and scrambled forward into the cave to give him room. Ignoring Matthew’s grunts as he climbed, she turned her flashlight into the cave. It went farther than she’d expected, elbowing beyond the reach of her light.
Minutes later, Matthew’s head appeared over edge, and he snapped a foot to the ledge and levered himself up. “At least getting down will be easier.”
Lena nodded as she coiled the line at her feet and checked the forest again.
“You’ve been checking over your shoulder for the last several hours. Do you think someone else is out here? Or is it Black’s team?” Matthew asked, squatting beside her.
“Just a feeling I’m getting. I don’t really think Deacon and his people are our problem.” Her problem, maybe. Just thinking about the warmth of his breath on her neck caused a spike in her pulse. “I think they’re as invested in finding Shanae as we are. Doesn’t mean they won’t get in our way.”
Rope secured and flashlight in hand, she knelt facing the cave’s interior. Matthew palmed his knife. Normally she might consider defense a practical option, but this confined space didn’t allow for tussling in the dark.
“How about you put the blade away? You’re more likely to get me than anything else.” She heard him exhale as she moved forward. Crawling for a few minutes brought her to the turn. She lifted her hand for Matthew to halt. A scuffling sound echoed from ahead. “Hello. Shanae? Trevor?”
Rocks fell ahead, louder this time, followed by a soft mewl.
A cornered animal? Lena shook her head and angled her flashlight around the corner, reconsidering moving forward. Matthew edged beside her, his head at her shoulder as her light ran a full circuit around the small cave. White and black fabric pieces littered the cave floor and to the side—a small red sneaker.
“That’s Trevor’s sneaker.” Matthew’s voice hitched. “Some fucking thing got my son!”
“Calm down.” At another noise, Lena swung the light in the opposite direction. Two small shining eyes and a gleaming row of tiny, sharp white teeth reflected back.
Distracted processing the scene, Lena almost missed Matthew’s movement at her back. The brush of her gun leaving the back of her waistband jerked her into action. Pivoting, she knocked the gun in Matthew’s hand upward. The shot splintered rock above them. The sound ricocheted against her eardrums, and she fell on her ass and swallowed hard.
A crisp cry rang out—human not animal—followed by a baleful sob. Not certain if the sob came from Matthew behind her or the creature, she refocused her light and cursed.
Arms clasped around his legs, a young boy with dark curly hair huddled against the wall.
“Oh my God,” came from behind her.
Lena pushed Matthew’s wrist down and squeezed so he released the gun. After his fingers unclenched, she set the flashlight on the ground so the boy could see them as well.
“Trevor? My name is Lena. Your dad is here too. Can I come closer?”
The naked child turned away toward the wall, not responding.
Lena gestured for Matthew to stay where he was. “Trevor, I’m going to move slowly, but I need to make sure you’re all right.”
“Mom said stay,” the child muttered.
“Is your mom here?”
“She’s coming back.” He glared with a combination of ferocity and panic, reflecting as much confusion as they felt.
“Good. That’s good. We’ll all wait for her—together. Everything is going to be fine.”
He scratched at his arm. “She said not to talk to anyone.”
“I bet that doesn’t include your dad. Right?”
He hesitated, and Lena felt Matthew tense behind her. She reached back, hoping he’d keep quiet. “They might find my dad and hurt him.”
“Who?”
When he didn’t answer, she pulled her canteen from her hip, unscrewed the top, and placed it in front of the boy. She’d finally made it to his side but held back on touching him until he moved first. “When was the last time you ate, honey?”
After a swipe at his eye, he stared at the bottle. “Mom left me stuff, but…”
His stomach growled, and he took the canteen, spilling more water than he drank. Lena held on to the bottom, steadying it and inching closer. Finally aware how near she was, he stopped drinking and stared. One quick jerk of his body ended in shivers.
She sat back, slowly wrestling her jacket free. Then she held it out to him, and he tugged it from her. “Your dad won’t let anything happen to you, and neither will I. We’ve come a long way to make sure you’re safe.”
His sniffle as he crept forward broke her heart. Leaving a child here alone, in the dark, crossed the line on inhumane. At least that was her first reaction. A normal reaction.
But the small animal she’d witnessed earlier and the young boy now in his place wasn’t her imagination, and it wasn’t normal.
Lena wished she knew Shanae’s circumstances and could predict her actions with any accuracy. For now, she’d give Shanae the benefit of the doubt, because a second, more terrifying conclusion sent a shiver almost as violent as Trevor’s down Lena’s spine.
Based on her experience with humans with special animal powers, animal instincts controlled logic. Sometimes that was a plus. She had a suspicion where Shanae had gone. Any animal’s first instinct was to protect her young, even at the expense of her own life. Not that she could prove why Shanae wasn’t here. With visceral instinct, she felt the clock ticking faster for Shanae’s safety.
Without an immediate solution, she settled for comforting the child bundled in her jacket and passing him over to his father. “I’m scooting back toward the front of the cave. Will you come with us, Trevor?”
The boy tensed but didn’t move away.
A slow awkward shuffle brought all three of them back to the cave entrance. Lena glanced back. Matthew remained oddly quiet, no doubt stunned by what he’d witnessed. Confusion compounded by the realization that his wife had left their child alone in these conditions. He merely stared at Trevor. Then he gently cupped the boy’s head.
The soft touch sparked a response. Trevor arched his neck and cried, his face contorting as his nose elongated and fur covered his body. Mouth open in a whimper turned to a whine, the boy turned wolf pup struggled as his father wrestled with him. Small paws flailed for freedom.
“Trevor, stop.”
“No.” Matthew stumbled backward, mouth agape and eyes wide in disbelief as he tried to regain control.
Lena didn’t have time to be stunned. Their charge was putting up a fierce battle for freedom. One he finally won as he slipped from his father’s grasp and jumped over the ledge.
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br /> “Trevor. Wait.”
Rolling, Lena grabbed for him and missed. She swung herself over the edge and dropped the remaining feet into a crouch. Thank goodness getting down was faster than the climb. She lunged after the pup now scampering away as fast as his spindly legs could carry him.
Fortunately for her, he didn’t seem terribly coordinated.
He’d bought himself several yards of lead time in taking her by surprise, but he fumbled over his feet and struggled over fallen limbs instead of going around them. Lunging and just missing him, she glanced up from her hands and knees. Sunlight shone through the branches, leaving more rays than shadows. Too late, she realized the open space wasn’t a good thing as a rush of cool breeze blew across her cheeks.
“Trevor!” Her scream disappeared in the clearing as she rushed for him. A yard away, Trevor skidded and spun back toward her, frantic. His claws dug as the soil beneath him gave way, and he toppled out of view.
Lena sprinted to where he’d disappeared and jumped into the stream below as she gauged the swift current. The water was only up to her knees, but the stream widened ahead into a fair-sized river.
Trevor, suddenly a naked boy again, slapped at the water, terrified. At least he’d survived the fall. Now she needed to grab him before he disappeared around the next rock.
She high-stepped into the water after him. The cold sucked her breath away. Calculating the distance, she launched herself at the boy. Her fingers clamped around his wrist and held tight.
Wild eyes met hers. He kicked his feet and bobbed, water washing over his head. He panicked, struggling against her.
Lena tugged him closer and dug her boots into the slick river bottom, the sand shifting beneath her. Then Trevor latched on to her neck, a roughly forty-pound anchor that threatened to dislodge them both from her unsteady position and send them farther downstream.
With one arm wrapped around Trevor, she wrenched her other arm backward, desperately seeking for any hold. But tall rocks now lined the water’s edge with no place to grab. Suddenly, hands gripped her wrist and tugged. With a rush of water, she and Trevor became airborne and landed ungracefully beside Matthew on a flat rock.
Matthew crouched beside them in silence.
From his forced patience, he seemed to have gotten over the fact he’d almost shot his son. She wasn’t sure how he felt about his son’s wolf tendencies. Though she couldn’t blame him for his original assumption that the creature had killed—well, eaten Trevor. Hell, even given her past with humans who shifted, Trevor’s condition seemed surreal.
On the other hand, Trevor wouldn’t understand why his father had shot at him. Or sworn at him.
Hardly knowing how to encourage the bond between father and son, Lena rubbed one palm against her forehead, wishing the strangeness she’d witnessed in the last half hour would somehow dissipate in the sunlight like a dream.
She glanced at the boy. No such luck. He lay curled on his side, tucked against her and facing his father but not looking at him.
As if sensing a widening gap of trust, Matthew lay on his back and folded his arms over his chest. “I was surprised, Trevor. But you’re my son and I love you.” He faced Trevor, his complexion ashen despite the calm in his voice. “I will always be here for you—forever.”
A slight hesitation underlay Matthew’s words. Not surprising, since exhaustion and fear had eaten their way through him for days now. Lena wasn’t certain how he held up. Finally within inches of success in finding his family, he seemed terrified his son would reject him.
Lena wished she were anywhere else. However, leaving would only distract Matthew’s attempt at reconciliation and she desperately needed father and son to bond. If Trevor kept running, they’d eventually fail to keep him safe. Worse, she suspected without Trevor’s presence, they’d never save Shanae.
The child shifted away from her and muttered something unintelligible.
“Do you remember when we used to go to the lake together?” Matthew continued. “You’d lie on my stomach and fall asleep.”
“I was a baby.”
“You were much younger. And still my son. Nothing in this world will change that. Or how proud I am of you.”
Trevor shivered. In soaking-wet clothes, Lena felt the growing chill in the air, more uncomfortable by the minute, and forced herself to consider their next move. With her adult training, she’d developed a small immunity to harsh conditions. Trevor’s change from wolf pup and back into boy left a wet and naked four-year-old in dropping temperatures.
Fortunately, Matthew’s shirt and jacket remained dry despite his pants and boots being soaked from chasing them along the stream’s edge. Seeming to follow her train of thought, he unzipped his jacket. She held her breath as he moved cautiously, then pulled his son close. “No matter what. Got that?”
Trevor sniffled, and the tight coil inside Lena’s gut eased a bit. Just as carefully as Matthew had engaged his son, Lena rolled into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around her legs. Silence might help heal the bond between father and son, but silence wasn’t going to solve the problems she’d begun compiling in her head. Despite Trevor’s soft crying, she forced herself through her list.
First, Shanae had a valid reason for fleeing with her son. A boy who couldn’t control turning from human to wolf and back would have caused a lot of unpleasant attention, despite Trevor’s cute sand-colored fur and his long hind legs that vied for length with his tail.
Second, it was safe to assume that Trevor’s condition was hereditary. A good explanation for the choice of cave and ledge height. As a wolf, Shanae could jump and maneuver over rocky terrain where a human woman with a young boy wouldn’t. Evidently with her pup as well.
Third, and more important, if others knew about Trevor and were threatening him, then he was still in danger. Shanae as well, because Lena’s suspicions about where the boy’s mother had gone and why were solidifying in her mind. However alone, Shanae could keep ahead of trouble for only so long.
Last, Trevor’s comment about danger to his father implied a vicious, tightly constructed threat. One that had immediately isolated Shanae, with nowhere to turn. How Deacon Black and his team, his family, fit into this mess made her head ache, though she believed they intended to rescue Shanae.
With all those unresolved issues, Lena still had a job to do. A much harder job than she could have anticipated. She really should have asked for more money, she thought. Though no amount of money would make her walk away at this point. “The cave offers us the best vantage point for watching for whoever is after your family.”
Matthew sent her a weary glance but nodded.
“We should get back quickly and prep a fire for Trevor.” Not to mention that she and Matthew had left their packs there before climbing to the cave.
A howl drifted on the breeze. Out of pitch and garbled, it held none of the beauty and allure of last night’s solitary wolf. The previous night’s soothing howls from a wolf pack, had comforted her.
This new sound promised violence and ripped through the water’s white noise, silencing even the bird chatter.
Trevor’s whimper only confirmed her instinct. The boy couldn’t control the wolf, and the wolf recognized a threat.
Matthew’s arms tightened around his son as his mouth drew into a thin line. She infused more enthusiasm into her voice as the boy burrowed against his father. “Since Shanae’s coming back to the cave, it’s a good place to camp.”
Two howls pierced the air, and she launched to her feet. Easing a hand under Matthew’s elbow as he stood with Trevor, she tugged them toward the forest. “Move fast.”
He nodded.
She grabbed her gun lying a few feet from Matthew. He’d evidently toted it on their run and dropped it when he plucked them from the water. Disengaging the safety, she jogged in front of him.
At another howl, closer than the others, she glanced left and right and lengthened her stride. Too bad she hadn’t taken Deacon seriously o
n his offer of a flare gun. But it wasn’t like she could count on him to arrive and ward off whatever was narrowing in on them.
She entered the clearing beneath the cave as a volley of howls echoed from the woods around them. Gesturing to Matthew, she indicated the rope line he’d knocked down when he’d followed her. “Get him up and stay with him.”
Matthew transferred his son onto his back. “Then I’ll pull you up.”
A closer snarl broke behind her.
“Go.” Lena tucked the gun in the back of Matthew’s pants and pushed him toward the line.
He paused. “You should keep the gun.”
“There’s more than one creature. You’ll have a better line of sight than I will. Besides, I have other options. Quickly.”
With the next howls, she eyed the backpacks tucked beneath the bushes at the opposite edge of the clearing. She’d find a defensible position. Depending on the size of the creatures, she’d be better off in close contact with her knives. They might have speed, but she had flexibility and training on her side.
With a second to commit, she stepped backward against the rock face and pulled the knife from her thigh sleeve. Searching through the flickering branches, she waited for movement, anticipating their angle of attack. Wild packs traveled and trained together as killers. Given the odd howls and caterwauling, she didn’t think their pursuers followed typical animal behavior.
The cliff guarded her back, and she played a potential chess match of attack scenarios in her head, flitting through ones where she could handle two or perhaps three animals.
If she was lucky. Very lucky.
Her position also afforded a first line of defense and a brief cover for Matthew if she failed. Her heart pounded in her ears so loudly, she could no longer hear anything.
Keep Trevor safe. That was her mission. Not that she needed incentive to survive.
The rustle in the woods and the red glint of eyes staring at her shot adrenaline through her system and turned her stomach to water.
