by Ellie Pond
The mat shocked them apart. He stood, and every muscle screamed at him. He couldn’t open his right eye; blood oozed out of the gash on his brow.
Oliver Sutton stood between them. He glanced back and forth. In a hushed tone, he spoke to the two wolves. “I don’t expect either of you to give up. But you might want to think about how long it’s going to take to heal. This is supposed to be a vacation.”
Kyle turned his back to Sutton. Duncan glanced down and up, a sign that he heard but would continue.
“Okay then.” He picked up his microphone. “Round four.” He jogged to the edge of the cage. The metal door slammed behind him.
The urge to lick the wound on his paw tugged at him. He resisted. The bell rang, and Kyle attacked, his muzzle on Duncan’s neck. Duncan hammered his front paws on Kyle’s ribs. Kyle flew through the air and landed on the ground next to him. Duncan sunk his canines into Kyle, who used Duncan’s move. Duncan landed next to Kyle and raced to the top of the platform. Kyle followed on his tail; he had Duncan’s back into the corner of fake rocks, his teeth bared as he guarded the path down. Duncan exploded onto Kyle as his front paws skittered at the edge of the platform. He sank his teeth into Kyle’s neck, and Kyle caught hold of Duncan’s front paw. In the next moment, they tumbled fifteen feet down to the ground with a thud.
Duncan’s wolf lifted his head enough to see that Kyle lay in the same position as he did. He could stand—would stand—and he would be the winner. He forced himself up, watching Kyle out of his right eye. Kyle was doing the same. He pushed his back paws up so that his tail end stood in the air. The crowd screamed. With the last bit of energy, he growled and stood up. Swiveling his head, he saw that Kyle stood now, too. His wolf pushed forward, limping; the pain rising up his back legs throbbed to his ears. In that moment, Kyle threw himself forward towards Duncan but he didn’t connect. Instead, a gleaming black puma divided them both. The cat hissed at Kyle and turned its massive jaw to Duncan and did the same. Sutton. Sutton had shifted and stopped their battle. Duncan’s tail sank between his legs. Matches didn’t end in ties. That wasn’t the shifter way, but a large paw swatted at his skull as he tried to round the cat. He collapsed onto the cage mat. He felt disconnected. With a roll, his back landed flat on the mat, his legs prone. They lifted him onto a stretcher. A gust of cold air hit him from a vent as they carried him through the central doorway.
* * *
Duncan opened his eyes. He didn’t remember shifting back, but, looking down at his body, he saw skin and not fur.
“Welcome back, dipshit.” Gunnar. Definitely Gunnar, although Duncan’s neck refused to move to see the middle brother.
Duncan grunted.
“So, that reminded me of the time you thought you’d take on Tad and Spencer together.”
“I …” Nope, no talking yet. His vocal cords weren’t ready.
Gunnar stood up and leaned over the bed. “Can’t talk? Man, it’s my lucky day. I realize I call you dipshit all the time, but you really are. And so is that Kyle Marsh too. Guess how many brothers that scrappy pile of shit has? Right, don’t talk yet. Four. Sound familiar? Bet you didn’t do any research on him before you took him on? Nope. Because you’re a little sack of shit who deserves to be beaten to the brink, just like you were. I am so fucking glad you didn’t die, because Auntie would have brought you back from the dead again just so she could kill you. You piece of shit.”
“You do care,” Duncan croaked out.
“You have any idea what I am missing? Right now? I could be getting laid. But no. I am going to sit here with you, dumbass. And yes, I love you, you dumb shit. Thanks for not dying. That would have ruined the whole vacation.” The chair creaked as he sat back down.
Duncan fell asleep.
* * *
“You piece of shit.” Spencer ripped open the curtain from around Duncan’s infirmary bed. The metal curtain rings vibrated.
Duncan turned his head towards the door but didn’t open his eyes. Everything hurt, but a little less than the last time he woke up.
“You’re late. I already told him what a piece of shit he is,” Gunnar stated.
“Well, I am going to tell him again. Dying in a fight for your family is one thing. A girl? Hell yes. The country? I would be proud. But almost killing yourself because you’re too fucking proud to stop? That shit is stupid. What were you thinking?”
That I needed to be numb. He turned his neck a little so Spencer came into view. “I wasn’t.” His voice wasn’t his own yet.
“I, uh … okay, I wasn’t expecting you to say that.” Spencer sank into the chair and raked his fingers through his hair, and Gunnar moved to the other side of the bed.
“You look like shit,” Spencer whispered.
“Thanks?”
“Yeah, well, Auntie called the ship. I had to go to the front desk for a call. Said she felt something. I know she says she’s human, but those feelings of hers … Oh, and I lied to her for you.”
Gunnar coughed and took Duncan’s hand. Gunnar wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t spill his aunt’s secret. But if she kept having ‘feelings’ that were extraordinary, there would be no stopping Spencer from drawing conclusions.
Duncan moved his arm away from Gunnar and pushed up a little. “How’s the other wolf, Kyle?” His voice sounded a bit better.
“About the same. Met his brother in the hallway.”
“Is Canada off-limits now?” Spencer leaned forward, but most of his attention was on the hallway door.
“They’re as mad at him as Dunc.”
Duncan sat up more.
“Just lay there for a while. Dr. Cottage says that you can’t go anywhere until she clears you. And did I mention you look like shit?” Gunnar folded his hands on his lap and closed his eyes. A light snore came from his chest as a growl.
14
The Game is On
Aurora didn’t hear the door close behind her as she entered the Panther Hall, and, for the first time this week, her mind was clear. No thoughts of the Larsen boys, airplanes, or the invoices that Lara said she would finish for her—only the game. The contestants were on the opposite side of the room. They huddled around little standing tables, a few with drinks in hand, staring at the cloths covering the boards at the larger round tables near them. She jumped. Crap, she shouldn’t be on this side of the room. With quick steps, she swam through the large tables. She kept her eyes off the tables as she darted to the far wall.
“Hey, what are you doing over there?” a voice boomed.
“Sorry, I came in the wrong door.” As fast as she could, she darted under the ribbon barrier that separated the cocktail reception from the game play side.
“She saw the boards,” someone said.
“As much as you can from here. I watched her come in. She didn’t take any pictures. Relax.”
Aurora recognized the voice that defended her.
“Really, it was just the wrong door.” Aurora approached the grouchy man who had complained. He held a large plate of hors d’oeuvres in his hand. He scowled at her. “If you win against me, I’m launching a complaint. I bet they will have tapes.” He pointed a pudgy finger at her.
“Fair enough.” Aurora looked past him to find the familiar voice, but she didn’t have to look far. Lauren rounded the large crowd gathered near the main table of food. Her tight lime green dress with giant pockets flared around her.
“It is you! Coming in the back way. How did you do that? I am so excited to see you. When Michele told me you were here, I couldn’t believe it. I wish I had come to dinner now. I would have gotten to see you faster, but I was exhausted. I worked a morning shift yesterday, and I had to have a nap or I wouldn’t be able to stand. You know me, sleep before anything. Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe you are here. And with Spencer and his brothers. I am going to finally get to meet them! They are real.” Lauren pulled Aurora into a tight hug. Typical Lauren—so many words.
“They say the same thing about you!” Aurora laughed. S
pencer didn’t believe she had a roommate. And since it was an all-girls dorm and she was a rule follower, they always picked her up in the lobby.
“Huh, Michele says they're superhot, especially Gunnar. She’s a little fan girl of shifters. That’s how I got her to come on the cruise with me. Board games aren’t her thing, but men—mostly boys—are her thing. She was only in the room for a second before she ran back out to hang with Gunnar at some match.”
Lauren pulled Aurora in for another hug. Aurora smelled her hair. Lauren was the best-smelling person on the planet. Almost. And it wasn’t her perfume, shampoo, or lotion—maybe it was the way she combined them—it was just her. If kindness was a scent, it would be Lauren. Her hair was almost the same color as Lauren’s, but Lauren’s was silkier and shimmered different colors in the sunlight. If it had been anyone but her, she would be jealous.
“I know this will sound crazy, but I miss you.” Crazy when they hadn’t seen each other in forever. Lauren didn’t do social media. So only a few texts every year and Christmas cards kept them in mild contact. Aurora had begged her to get ShifterChat. But Lauren was too cautious for any of the platforms, unlike Aurora, who put everything on her social network feed. Her breakfast, her runs, her … well, her everything. She thought of it as her diary. Lauren had been on ShifterChat their freshman year, but when her father died, she said it didn’t feel right to have trivial things out in the world.
“Right, I feel the same way. My life has been a bit like a runaway train, keeping the restaurant afloat. I don’t seem to do anything but that, and haven’t for a long time. I moved in with Michele, though. She got a job in Cleveland, so we live in Ohio. It’s a cute little place near the lake. But I’m always in my car now. I am so glad you’re here.”
“I am so glad you’re here, too. How did you get here?”
Lauren took Aurora’s hand and squeezed it. “I flew. Oh, that’s not what you mean. I got an invitation in the mail. And a sponsorship by my local game store. I won the Ohio championship. It felt a little weird. Like I was the imported ringer. But the application said I had to apply in the state I lived in.”
Aurora nodded, thankful for Lauren’s move to Ohio. She wouldn’t have won Western PA if Lauren had been in her round.
“Have you met anyone else yet? Let me introduce you to the group over here. Wait, have you checked in?” Lauren motioned to the table by the front door.
“No.” Aurora searched the sea of people.
“The table is over there.” Lauren walked with her.
With her name tag and schedule in hand, Aurora met at least twenty people in ten minutes. Her face hurt from smiling, and her insides bubbled with excitement.
A bell rang, and they took their seats at their tables. Lauren wasn’t at Aurora’s table but the one behind her. They sat down back to back so they could keep talking. But soon the game took hold and Aurora focused on the gameplay.
Catan was one of Aurora’s favorite games. Any game where you had to pay attention during everyone’s turns made a game better in her eyes. While she wasn’t winning, she did have the longest road card, and if she could get three more wheat cards, she had a chance of coming out on top, or at least second. Aurora glanced over her shoulder at Lauren’s game. Lauren was winning by four points. Aurora calculated that only the tall blond across from Lauren had a prayer of catching her.
Lauren had taught Aurora so many games the two years they roomed together. After Lauren’s father died, Lauren spent most of her weekends back in Erie, helping her mother keep their diner afloat. So much so that Lauren didn’t come back to school sophomore year. Lauren’s father had been sick since Lauren was born. Her mother’s brother stepped in to help raise them and take care of the restaurant. Her father and uncle both died within a year, and the family circled together to help her mom.
It was the first time that Aurora felt snapped out of her bubble of naïveté. The guilt of making someone else’s loss about her squeezed her. But that was human nature. We all take the world in for ourselves. And seeing Lauren lose both of her father figures affected Aurora. It made her hug her parents a little more.
The second time it happened, it hit harder. Spencer’s parents were family to Aurora. She spent more time in high school at their home than her own. Even when Spencer had a girlfriend, she was there. Some of them were jealous. Others not so much, once they realized that they were only friends. The ones that tried to get rid of Aurora didn’t last long. None of them lasted over a month anyway. When the Larsens decided that they needed to leave and help Mrs. Larsen’s parents in Arizona, they left the pack to Spencer. In rapid succession came Spencer’s manhood ceremony, him becoming alpha, and his parents moving.
Tad’s father, the last alpha, had died more than twenty years prior, but his mother promised to help. She guided Spencer through so many things. And when the call came that his parents had died in a car accident, Lara Larsen held them together. She kept the pack from splintering apart, and from having an alpha challenge on Spencer while he was grieving.
Lauren touched Aurora’s arm. “Aurora, there’s an intense shifter with shaggy hair by the door staring at you.”
“What?” Over her shoulder, she saw Tad stood in the doorway, watching her intently. She waved to him. “It’s Spencer’s cousin, Tad.”
Tad weaved through the crowd to her.
“Hey.” He nodded to Aurora and Lauren.
“Tad, this is Lauren, she’ll be at our table. Well, not my gaming table. Our dinner table.”
“Nice to meet you. Aurora, it’s no big thing, but I just thought you should know in case you hear it somewhere else.”
“Hear what, Tad? What’s no big deal? Usually, when people say it’s no big deal, it’s a big deal. Like a huge deal.” Her voice went squeaky, and she held her arms out to emphasize ‘huge’.
Lauren put her hand on Aurora’s shoulder. “Aurora, breathe, let …” She motioned to Tad, questioning his name.
“Tad,” Tad said.
“Let Tad tell you the rest.”
Both of the women pivoted to Tad. Lauren held Aurora’s hand.
“So, he’s fine, or he will be fine, like I was saying. But the match.”
“Duncan. What happened? For a high school English teacher, you would think he would get the story out faster.”
“Aurora, take a breath. You’re going to hyperventilate.” Lauren rubbed Aurora’s arm.
“The other wolf tore him up. Like I said, he will be fine.” Tad’s face didn’t give her any other clues.
“Where is he?” Her stomach tensed, and she felt like her chest would explode. She took off out the front entry. And as she crossed into the lobby, she realized she didn’t know which way to go, only that she needed to get to Duncan now. She turned to see if Tad was following her without slowing down.
She ran into a seven-foot-tall cutout castle display placed at the side of the top of the steps. The display tipped over with Aurora on top of it, and in the next moment, she was sledding down the stairs on top of the cardboard turret. She squealed at the top of her lungs as the cardboard picked up speed. Feet first, she collected more speed and then she and the cardboard caught air and her body went vertical. The cardboard turned, and she turned with it, holding onto the side. As the castle hit the second landing, Aurora bounced off of it and smashed into the wall on the far side, firmly implanting her right foot and knee into the wall. The castle continued down the stairs as people jumped out of its way.
She tried to pop right up from the step. In her right hand, she held a buttress of the castle. She hoped that the calamity didn’t look as horrific as it felt, but when she put pressure on her right leg, pain coursed up it.
Tad thundered down the stairs after her. He was at her side before she could try to stand again. “Shit, Aurora, I hope you are okay.” He paused. “Because I so want to laugh.”
Lauren was down the stairs a moment later. “Are you okay?”
A group of others that she had somehow av
oided hitting gathered around. Aurora’s body shook. People gathered in the Panther Hall lobby and leaned over the railing to peer at her. Concerned voices hollered down to her.
Aurora looked at Lauren and then Tad, and she couldn’t control herself—she laughed. Tears ran down her checks until she snorted.
“I missed that sound.” Lauren was on her knees next to her, looking at Aurora’s leg.
“I’m good.” Aurora put her leg down and tried not to wince with the pain. She glanced up at Tad, who was half holding her as she leaned on him.
“You aren’t going to like this, Princess.”
“Like what?”
Tad picked her up off of her feet and held her to his chest. She tugged on her shirt to keep it from riding up in the back.
“I just happen to know the way to the infirmary. No complaining. This will be faster, and you won’t injure yourself more.” Tad took the stairs swiftly but carefully. Her cheeks reddened; she wasn’t going to complain. Normally, she hated when any of the guys picked her up.
Lauren followed.
“Wait, Tad, stop.” He stopped, but only when she pinched the flesh of his scruffy cheek. “Lauren, I am sure I am fine. I’ll see you later. Go back and play. Hopefully, I will be back in time for the last round. If not, maybe someone can finish for me?”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, now go.”
“Okay.” But Lauren didn’t look confident in her decision as Tad strode away with Aurora.
Aurora waved over Tad’s shoulder. Her leg throbbed. But Tad’s words about Duncan rolled around in her head. Tore him up.
“Tad?” Aurora patted him on his shoulder “Tad? Is he really going to be okay?”
“His body will heal.”
His body, she thought.
15
Aurora
