Mating Games

by Nikki Jefford

  Chase sniffed and shook his head. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

  He was one to talk. And did Chase really think she’d roll over while someone targeted her and her family?

  “I’m heading off to patrol. See you at supper,” Chase said gruffly. He rushed off before Jordan could answer.

  Good. She had nothing more to say to him. He was the one being a jerk.

  Jordan looked around the glade, turning from side to side. Where had Emmy gone? She rushed past the cauldron like a speeding comet streaking across the glade. Her sister was no longer there. She must have just missed her.

  Devan entered the clearing then, his hair recently shaven from his head, but not from his chin. He stopped, stretched, and yawned before walking up to Jordan and jerking his chin up. “I will be patrolling with you today and tonight.”

  “Great,” Jordan muttered.

  “Are you ready?” Devan asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  They walked several feet apart across the glade. At the trail entrance, Devan hurried forward to take the lead. Jordan glared at his back. They walked wordlessly to the knoll.

  Jordan’s heart sank lower and lower. It felt as though it were sliding down her leg, seeping into the earth below her feet as she stomped over it with every step. Raider hadn’t even been gone an hour, and she already missed him—as a patrol partner, her mind reasoned.

  As more, her heart chanted.

  At the knoll, Devan turned away while Jordan undressed. At least he wasn’t the kind of mated shifter who stood around ogling another female while his mate was back at the den with their pups. Not all males were like her father.

  But that was about all Jordan could say in Devan’s favor. As soon as they had both shifted, he started toward the prairie to make the rounds rather than at the forest, which is where Jordan began the morning patrol. When she didn’t follow, Devan growled. Ignoring him, Jordan continued down the wooded path. Devan raced past her, once more taking lead. Jordan snarled but stayed back, way back, forcing Devan to stop and wait for her to catch up all morning. She sniffed languidly at every fallen leaf, blade of grass, and tree root along the path, unable to resist a clear show of independence. Devan wasn’t her alpha, nor was he part of regular patrols. He should be taking her lead, not the other way around, and there was no way in the clear blue sky she was going to willfully allow him to lead her around.

  They made it through the day without drawing blood. When dinner came around, Devan had snapped, “I’m eating my meal in the den. Wait in the glade until I get back.”

  “After I finish eating, I’ll be back at the knoll. You can meet me there,” Jordan had returned.

  They’d parted ways with a snarl.

  Evening turned out to be less cantankerous—sleep had its advantages, but still, Jordan was relieved when Devan stormed off to the den the next morning to trade places with Peter.

  The fair-haired shifter strolled into the glade as she placed her dirty bowl on top of a stack that looked close to toppling from inside a basket.

  Peter looked around, smiling when he saw Jordan. So far so good, and she expected patrol to be a heck of a lot more harmonious. Peter supported his mate’s role on council, which showed he wasn’t afraid of a female in a position of leadership. As he neared, Jordan was surprised to see Elsie walking beside him, her long white dress whispering at her ankles.

  “Good morning,” Peter said cheerfully.

  “Morning,” Jordan answered.

  “Elsie wanted to see what a day of patrol was like.” Peter smiled down at Elsie before returning his attention to Jordan. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  Jordan fingered the strap of her tank top. “Me? Of course not. But what about Tabor?”

  “He’s escorting me back to the den after dinner to spend the night with Heidi and the kids,” Elsie said. “Baby steps.” She grinned mischievously.

  Peter chuckled and gave Elsie a light pat on the back. “Your brother’s protective.”

  “He’s the best.” Elsie beamed.

  Peter rubbed his hands together. “Ready to begin? Jordan can show you what patrol is all about.”

  Elsie turned her head to Jordan, eyes alight and as eager as any young shifter on their very first day of patrol.

  “First, we go to our designated patrol area,” Jordan said, leading the way.

  Peter held back, allowing the two females to walk side by side.

  “Raider and I were assigned to the grassy knoll,” Jordan continued. She’d slowed her steps, but noticing that Elsie moved with quick ease, she picked up the pace. “Nothing too exciting happens if we’re lucky, but mad wolves and, more recently, vulhena have snuck into the hollow. Patrol is the first line of defense. We don’t want our enemies getting to the glade and, more importantly, the den.”

  Elsie nodded, lips now forming a frown. “What do vulhena smell like? What kind of sounds do they make? How do they attack?”

  Jordan did a double take, once more slowing her steps. “You’ve never seen one?”

  “Only drawings.” Elsie sighed as though thoroughly disappointed.

  The wizards ought to count themselves extremely lucky the vulhena had chosen not to descend on Balmar Heights. Or maybe it was the vulhena who were lucky for never trying. If Tabor could knock out sixty on his own, what could an entire coven of wizards do? A shiver of excitement buzzed through Jordan. Perhaps Elsie could talk to her father about putting an end to the vulhena once and for all.

  “They make horrible screeching sounds when they attack,” Jordan said, “and they stink like rotten fish.”

  Elsie wrinkled her nose. “What’s the best way to kill them?”

  Jordan smiled. She liked Tabor’s sister. The girl might be petite, but she asked the right questions. “Rip out their throats,” Jordan answered. She glanced sideways at Elsie and was happy to see the girl mulling it over thoughtfully with no trace of disgust. “Have you ever killed anything?”

  “As a witch, no,” Elsie answered, “but I have as a wolf.”

  Jordan waited, but Elsie didn’t elaborate. At least she wasn’t an amateur pup.

  “It’s in our nature,” Jordan offered simply. Switching back to an instructional voice, she said, “The way elders prepare young wolves for patrol is by first having them shadow adult patrol partners—much like you’re doing today. The first thing I’ll do is show you the perimeter of our territory.”

  Peter cleared his throat from behind.

  “But before that, we’ll all need to undress and shift,” Jordan said.

  Elsie grinned. “Naturally.”

  Tabor’s half sister continued to surprise Jordan. She expected Elsie to be shy about undressing, but the girl didn’t hesitate to pull off her dress. Jordan and Peter quickly turned to give her privacy. Jordan found it curious how deep a shifter’s instincts could run even after being raised indoors among wizards. She did, however, have undergarments to remove beneath her dress. Shifters didn’t bother with underwear, which only slowed them down dressing and undressing.

  After they’d all shucked their clothes and shifted into fur, Jordan took the lead, with Elsie trotting behind and Peter keeping a lookout from the rear. Like Elsie’s human form, her wolf was small, with fierce blue eyes and brown fur. They made a slow circle of the border followed by a thorough inspection that involved a lot of off-trail running. Elsie showed no signs of tiring.

  As the midday sun rose, Jordan remembered that Zackary and Jack would be arriving soon. She zipped through the trees, leading Elsie and Peter back to the knoll where they’d discarded their clothes. Elsie took her lead from Jordan, shifting into human form. Peter did the same, turning his back to Jordan and Elsie.

  “What now?” Elsie asked.

  Jordan scooped the delicate white dress and undergarments o
ff the ground and handed them to her.

  “Now you get dressed.”

  “But it’s only midday.”

  “Jack and Zackary will be arriving soon to keep watch while I go for a rinse at Skyler Falls. I’ll run over in wolf form, shift and bathe, then return. You can come if you want.” Jordan would prefer a refreshing soak in solitude, but she didn’t like the idea of leaving Tabor’s sister behind with Zackary. At least Peter and Jack would be there if she did stay.

  “I bathed last night,” Elsie said. “I can help guard the knoll while you’re gone.” She bent to set her dress down.

  “Er,” Peter said. “Unless you’re shifting back into a wolf, you should put your things on.” He grabbed his own jeans as though to demonstrate.

  Elsie tossed her dress down to step into her undergarments. Her underwear was white like her dress and trimmed in lace around the waist. Her light-pink bra was made entirely of lace. For a moment, Jordan stared. She’d never seen such things on another shifter before. After securing the bra behind her back, Elsie lowered her chin and looked down at herself then lifted her head and met Jordan’s eyes.

  “I shouldn’t wear these in the hollow,” she stated. As Elsie’s hands reached back, a howl arose signaling Jack and Zackary’s approach.

  “No!” Jordan stretched an arm out and took a step toward Elsie. “Keep them on. The males will be here in a moment.” She wished Elsie would hurry up and put her dress on over the flimsy undergarments. Jordan stepped in front of Elsie while she bent for her dress.

  Jack and Zackary padded in and looked from Peter to Jordan. Their fur receded, turning into tanned skin and wiry arm and chest hair. Usually they didn’t bother shifting, but they’d taken their cue from the present company and stood up slowly—entirely nude. As they did, Elsie stepped out from behind Jordan, smoothing her dress down her slender legs. Zackary froze—eyes bugging out. In the next instant, his hands dropped like stones in a pond as he quickly covered himself with both palms and went red from his thick neck to his cheeks.

  Elsie giggled sweetly, which turned the pink in Zackary’s cheeks a deep crimson.

  “Hey, Elsie,” Jack said, lifting his hand in a wave. “How’s the first day of patrol going?”

  “Really well.” Elsie smiled at Jack.

  “Good. Are you going to Skyler Falls with Jordan?”

  “I’m waiting here with you guys.”

  “Fine by me,” Jack said, striding over to Peter and out of Elsie’s direct line of view.

  Zackary clutched his nether regions and turned sideways right before jerking back as though realizing he’d merely succeeded in showing Elsie a side profile of his ass. Jordan glared at him. The mongrel was wise to be nervous. Tabor had a treasure trove of powers to use on Zackary if he so much as looked at Elsie cross-eyed.

  “How is your patrol going today, Zackary?” Elsie smiled brightly.

  Zackary’s mouth hung open as though he was in shock at being addressed by name. Jordan squinted at Elsie, finding it curious, herself.

  “You haven’t had to kill anything?” Elsie coaxed.

  After swallowing, he answered in a low rasp, “No. The area is safe.”

  “That’s fortunate.”

  Jordan folded her arms, deciding whether she should skip the swim at Skyler Falls even though she’d been looking forward to it all morning. Peter, damn him, had walked with Jack to the base of the knoll, where they stood gabbing. Jordan huffed. Den males were the worst—shameless gossips, the whole lot of them.

  She was just about to send the guys back to their territory when Zackary backed away with a hasty, “Uh, I’ll just, uh, be in the prairie making sure—” His final words, if there were any, were shushed by the tall grass as he dove into the dense field.

  “So shy,” Elsie mused. “Is that typical unmated behavior among shifters?”

  Jordan put her hands on her hips, ignoring the question to issue a warning. “You should stay away from him.”

  “It appears he’s the one who wishes to stay away from me.” Elsie frowned into the grass.

  “You do know what Zackary did to your brother, don’t you?”

  There’s no way Elsie hadn’t heard. If not from Sasha or Tabor, someone from the den must have spoken about it. The treachery was too extreme and too recent, and news got around the hollow faster than flies on a carcass.

  Elsie straightened her back. “Yes, I know what he and Garrick did, and I also know that Zackary went straight to Sasha and led her to Tabor.”

  Stubborn girl—like Tabor’s mate, but Sasha wasn’t as quick to forgive. She’d wanted Garrick banished on the spot. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” Jordan conceded.

  Elsie’s warm smile returned. “Everything is a matter of perspective.”

  No kidding. Jordan’s outlook tended to run to the dark side. She watched the tall grass to make sure Zackary wasn’t lurking within the dry blades, but there was no sign of him. Jordan got onto the ground to shift.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “No hurry.” Elsie rubbed her thumb against her palm, staring down as she did.

  Jordan did hurry. She practically flew through the forest, fast as the waters plummeting over the rocky shelf into the pool below at Skyler Falls. She walked on four legs to the water’s edge, shifting as soon as her paws got wet. With her long legs, she pushed away from shore and dog-paddled into the deep center, treading water while taking in the still trees surrounding her.

  Two days ago Jordan would have relished the solitude. Today it felt all wrong. The rush of the falls seemed to whisper at her, “Hurry. Hurry. Go. Go.”

  She dunked her head under quickly, blinking water out of her eyes. The greenery around her remained the same—with not so much as a rustle in the leaves. It unnerved her.

  Jordan never would have believed she could ever feel lonely in a hollow full of shifters, but she felt it now—a deep ache inside her chest burrowing like a mole straight through her heart.

  She dunked her head a few more times before deciding she might as well get back to patrol. After shifting, she lapped water from the pond’s surface. Hydrated and refreshed, she trotted back to the knoll. Peter and Jack were still deep in conversation. They sat halfway up the knoll, legs spread in front of them and gesturing with their hands as they spoke. Jordan sniffed the air and craned her head in search of Elsie, locating her near the prairie, seated on the ground beside Zackary, who wore Peter’s shirt and sat cross-legged, arms carefully folded to cover his man parts. They were both smiling. The hair rose on Jordan’s back and her lips lifted, exposing her fangs as she snarled.

  Zackary’s head snapped up as Jordan charged at him. He scrambled onto his knees and got in front of Elsie as though she were Jordan’s target. Hardly.

  Elsie jumped to her feet, appearing over Zackary’s head. “Jordan, stop!”

  Her sharp tone made Jordan halt in her tracks where she continued to growl at Zackary.

  “What’s going on?” Peter shouted. He and Jack came running from the knoll. By the time Jordan completed her shift they’d reached her side.

  Pointing a shaky finger at Zackary, Jordan snarled. “How could you leave Elsie alone with him?”

  Peter’s eyebrows drew together. “They were hardly alone. Jack and I could see them from the knoll the entire time.”

  “We were only talking,” Elsie said.

  Jack pulled on his fingers while Peter twisted his lips to one side.

  “Now that Jordan’s returned, we’ll be on our way.” Jack glanced at Zackary as the shifter pulled the shirt off and tossed it to Peter, who caught it one-handed.

  “Thanks for the loan,” Zackary said.

  “Um, yeah.” From the tone of Peter’s voice, Jordan was willing to bet he hadn’t offered his shirt in the first place.

  As quickly as he tossed it, Zackary
rushed into the prairie, sending tall stalks of grass rustling in his wake. Elsie didn’t watch him go. Instead, she leveled a displeased frown from beneath slanted eyebrows at Jordan.

  “See you all later,” Jack said, making haste to follow Zackary into the cover of the prairie.

  With a sigh, Jordan turned to Elsie. “I know you’re eager to make friends with the entire pack, but Zackary’s on probation for a good reason. He can’t be trusted.”

  “I’m not naïve, but I also know that most beings respond better to kindness than punishment.”

  “That’s an extremely rosy way of looking at things.”

  Elsie lifted her chin. “I like pink.”

  Jordan sniffed with amusement then shook her head. “Are you this defiant at Balmar Heights, or are you testing your boundaries in Wolf Hollow?”

  “I’m part wolf. What do you think?” A grin spread over Elsie’s lips.

  Jordan mirrored the girl’s smile. She could just imagine Elsie keeping the wizards at Balmar Heights on their toes. When it came to wolves, size didn’t matter. Their animal side was strong, spirited, curious, and sometimes nosy.

  “Fair enough.” Jordan’s shoulders relaxed. “You’re fearless, I get it, but consider finding another shifter to make friends with, for Tabor’s sake. Zackary treated him terribly.”

  “Jordan’s right,” Peter said. “What Garrick and Zackary did to Tabor was unforgiveable. The pack wanted to banish them, and in the end, it was your brother who showed mercy. After everything Zackary put him through, it would pain him to see the two of you together.”

  With a deep frown, Elsie nodded. “I understand.”

  Peter sighed. “I know Heidi and I don’t make for the most exciting company.”

  “I love your company,” Elsie gushed. Her arms spread, and she opened the palms of her hands. “And I appreciate how patient you’ve both been answering my countless questions.”

  Peter stroked his chin. “Still, you should spend more time with the other single shifters. I’ll have a word with Tabor.”