by K. N. Banet
“I wonder how they used the natural geography when it came to marking their territories…”
“What was that?” John stepped closer, but I shook my head.
“Personal curiosity,” I explained. I knew some werecats used cliffs, ravines, and bodies of water to help mark their territory. Hasan’s island territory came to mind. He ‘owned’ it, beach to beach, on all sides, even though it definitely wasn’t a circle.
“Okay.” The human shrugged and backed away again. “Well, we can get moving when you want.”
I nodded to Heath, who just jerked his head. I followed him back to the car, and we loaded up. Once Haley’s truck started moving, we followed behind.
“They wanted to have nothing to do with this,” I announced blandly. “They’ll help us as much as they can, but they don’t trust us.”
“No, they don’t. I think they want answers as well. Not a bad thing since it puts us on the same side.”
The same side. I thought about it. Everyone seemed to be hoping they stayed on the same side now—the wolves, the werecats, and the humans. If any of this turned out that someone was at fault, the lines would start being drawn, and it was possible a war could break out. Sobering to think about, which was why I tried my damnedest not to think about it.
We followed behind the rangers for a long time until they stopped at a closed road. John jumped out, opened it up, and began to wave us through. We followed Haley, stopping for the man to jump back in the truck behind us with Gina after he closed the road again.
It was a gravel, potholed mess that ran switchbacks up the side of a mountain. I wasn’t sure how high we were going, but I popped my ears once, at least.
The road seemed to never end, but Haley stopped at a clear opening, and we pulled up next to her, rolling my window down as she did.
“We have a small service building up here. There’s no electricity, but we keep the four wheelers there, along with spare gas. I just wanted to check in on you.”
“We’re fine,” I called back. Haley nodded and continued the drive.
It was another thirty minutes of potholes and tight turns before we reached the secretive little service building. Three ATVs were parked there, and one dirt bike that made me excited. I jumped out before Heath had the chance to turn off the car and walked quickly toward it. It was an older model, but the same brand as mine. I would be able to drive it.
“So, we can haul you—”
“I’ll take this,” I told Haley, pointing at the bike. “I own one of my own.”
“You have no protective gear,” she pointed out. “Just ride with one of us like the werewolf has to.”
“I know how to use an ATV,” he said lightly, walking over. “Why don’t a couple of you get together, that way if we need to stay out longer, you aren’t stuck with us.”
Haley narrowed her eyes on him, then me. “When we come back, you are too. You aren’t taking our gear out there completely unaccounted for. You could get us fired.”
“Then we’ll check it out today and come back if we have to on foot,” I said, looking at Heath. “Let’s not lose their jobs for them.”
He shrugged. “I still want to drive my own. I don’t ride bitch. Haven’t in decades.”
“But you did have a pack member act as your driver,” I reminded him.
“I needed to concentrate on something else at the time.” He looked me over. “Like the werecat who had come to my city.”
I nearly blushed from the way his eyes trailed over me, looking away, hoping he wouldn’t notice. Once again, visions of a half-naked Heath danced in front of my mind’s eye. I shook my head jerkily, trying to dispel the thoughts.
“Fine, you two can do whatever you want.” Haley stomped into the building and brought out keys. She tossed me one and Heath another. I swung a leg over the bike and turned it on, giving it a minute. It was an old thing, but it would work. Heath revved the ATV he had jumped on. Haley grabbed another with John helping Gina onto the back of his.
“You’ll notice there’s no cellphone service out here, so be careful,” Gina called out from the back.
“We’ll be fine unless we go over a cliff,” Heath called back. Haley went first, and I took off to follow her. Heath, followed by John and Gina, was behind me. When we hit a bump, I lifted off my seat to better handle the landing, laughing when Heath cursed behind me at the same bump. Haley was right. It wasn’t an easy ride and, while I wouldn’t tell her, it was harder than I was used to.
No one else noticed it but Heath and me. I slammed on my brake about ten minutes into the winding ride and narrowed my eyes at an invisible line.
“What?” Haley demanded from in front of us.
“This is a territory boundary,” I said softly. I had expected to find it much earlier, like when we were bringing up the cars.
“And?” Heath pulled along beside me. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Its placement doesn’t make much sense to me.”
“They roamed all of these mountains. There’s no way this is the line,” Haley snapped. “What are you talking about?”
“This is where their territories technically stop,” I snapped back. “You’re human, so you don’t feel it the way I do.”
“How big would you guess by the map?”
“Smaller than mine?” I sighed. “Where are we right now, technically?”
“North Cascades National Park,” Gina answered as she and John stopped behind us.
“There’s a chance they made multiple territories,” I commented, still thinking about it. “Or smaller territories that didn’t require much maintenance and commonly roamed outside of it. Jabari would have noticed this too. It’s not common, but in an area like this, it makes sense. They wouldn’t be too worried about another werecat coming for them. While werecats are reclusive, not many of us are this reclusive. We like to live on the border of human society, not completely removed from it. I’ll have to explore more to figure it out, but by your description, their territories, especially Titan’s, should have been passed into much further south. We should have noticed on that road. The 20.” I tapped my foot. “Did Titan spend most of his time down South?”
“Yeah, but he came up here often to visit Gaia.”
“Then we’re visiting her territory and definitely not still in his own.” I looked at Heath. “It’s going to be a long day.”
He leaned closer. “Are you avoiding crossing into the territory?”
“A little,” I admitted. “I’ve only ever been in one werecat’s territory, and that was Hasan’s. There are…things I have to pay attention to.”
“Is there a chance their territories have gotten smaller since they died?” He ignored the humans waiting impatiently around us. Haley perked up at the question. Part of me wondered if she didn’t like not knowing everything about the werecats who had lived here. Now, she was getting the education of her life.
“No. The magic doesn’t work like that. It fades with time, either because we’re dead or not in it, refreshing our connection to the land, but it takes a lot of time or another werecat claiming it for the magic to truly disappear. And it’s not a shrinking. It just fades and fades until it’s all…free.” I shrugged. “At least, that’s how I was taught.”
“I would trust your education on the matter more than anyone else’s,” he said with a small smile. “What are you looking out for? All I can tell is that werecat land is right in front of me. I know when I’m in your territory or when I’m about to enter it but that’s it.”
“The feel of the land,” I whispered. “Let’s get to it.”
I slid off the bike and let Heath go ahead of me, pushing it along until I crossed the invisible border.
16
Chapter Sixteen
I gasped as I stepped inside the boundary. My chest felt like it was hit by the emotional currents of the area. An immediate hostility made me want to back out. This wasn’t a werecat I wanted to challenge. This wasn’t land
I wanted. It wasn’t mine. It belonged to someone else, and I had to leave. The feminine rage that filled my senses terrified me. I wasn’t an old enough werecat to handle this fight.
She’s dead. Gaia is dead, Jacky. This land is free. All I’m feeling is the residual rage she felt. This was her last moment. She was enraged at an intruder. It’s not me. She’s not coming right now to battle me out of the territory.
I took several deep breaths as my logical brain fought against my primal instincts. I had never felt this sort of anger in Hasan’s territory when I had lived with him. His territory had been welcoming. His emotions toward me changed the way the land felt.
This was the kind of signal I would send to a rogue who walked into my territory. Normally, it wasn’t instantaneous. It took a moment for any werecat to feel something come into its territory and the mind to process the information. Then it took time for the werecat to send its message, warning off potential threats. By Heath’s reaction, I learned something very important. Emotional currents were something wolves couldn’t feel. This was werecat to werecat communication. This was our way of telling another werecat whether they were welcome or not.
“Is she okay? Her eyes went really big, and she looks like she’s staring off into space.” Haley sounded annoyed.
“Jacky?” Heath asked softly. “What are you feeling?”
“Gaia was pissed,” I said as loud as I could. My instincts screamed for me to remain quiet, maybe she wouldn’t find me. I had to get over it, but I was young, and a young werecat picking a fight was a dead werecat.
There’s no fight, Jacky. She’s not here. I’m safe. She’s not coming to kill me right now for intruding.
Even if she was, this was not the same level of reaction a werecat would give to a rogue intruder. This was primal rage. This was more than facing a challenger. Unless she was unstable in some way, something no one had given me any reason to think. I got angry with rogues, but not like this. Never like this.
“How do you know?” Gina was behind me still. “What would she be angry with?”
“I don’t know what, but I know because it’s something werecats can feel. Territory magic is an intimate connection to the land. Everywhere that belongs to her will feel of her, however she’s feeling. If she’s angry, the entire territory gives off an angry message to intruding werecats. Heath, you don’t feel it at all, do you?”
“Nope. I just know I’m in werecat territory. Not a place a wolf generally wants to be.”
“You’re in them more than most,” I said with a weak attempt at a lopsided smile. “My brain is trying to convince my body Gaia isn’t coming here to throw me out right now. Her rage is so…powerful. Something pissed her off before she died. Pissed her off big time.”
“Good to know.” Heath extended a hand. “Come on. Take a step.”
I grabbed it and kept the little dirt bike up and rolling with my other hand. I was able to take a few steps and brave the anger. I couldn’t imagine how Jabari must have felt if he walked into this. Was Titan’s territory the same way?
“I’ll be fine. Thanks for the support.” I released his hand once I was beside him and his ATV again. “I’ve never locked up like that before, but then, I don’t often wander into territories of other werecats.” Shaking my head, I swung my leg over the dirt bike again. “Let’s keep moving.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” my wolf asked before moving as Haley started to leave us.
“I’m fine.” I kicked off and left him. The dirt bike made travel easier, and I knew I wasn’t headed into the center of her territory. It was a sixth sense. I would know how to find her den, her home. Some things meant the same thing to all werecats. The closest to the center of a territory was the safest spot and gave the werecat range of movement if any of the borders were trespassed. It was also our refuge. I never let anyone go to mine. Gaia hadn’t let her mate go to hers if she had a second house for meet ups. Titan even had to leave his territory to visit her.
We were at the house soon enough, and I guessed right. It was on the border of her territory. If Titan wanted to see her, he probably had to come here and wait, feeling her reaction to his presence, which would tell him if she wanted to see him or not. It was genius, a nice trick to dealing with and loving another werecat.
When we parked, none of the humans left their rides while Heath and I jumped off without a second thought.
“No one goes in there,” Haley told us as we walked by. “Hey!”
“We’re going in. We can’t upset the dead more than they already are,” I said with a small snap. Haley’s attitude was grating on my nerves more than I needed. She needed to remember who actually knew what was going on and what it all meant, not whatever she had guessed over the years. Gaia and Titan had obviously not told the rangers much and let the humans draw their own conclusions with the scraps of real information they did have.
I went in first, sniffing the air, with Heath following so close behind me I could hear him breathe. I caught whatever scents I could. Jabari had visited this place, and the other two werecats, definitely a male and female, had to be Gaia and Titan. There was no scent of wolves anywhere.
“Do you smell anything?”
“Two male werecats,” he answered.
“One is Jabari. I would know his scent anywhere. It’s like Hasan’s.” I walked past the living room into the very old-school kitchen. “They were living here two centuries ago,” I commented, pointing at the oven.
“Out here, I bet there was no chance of them getting modern appliances, electricity, or gas. I bet there’s a well dug somewhere nearby or a mountain stream where they got their water.”
“Yeah…” I continued to look around. Only one bedroom, smelling of them both. Jabari hadn’t gone in it. As it was, I just stood at the doorway, not wanting to disturb the private place where two ancient lovers once met together. It made my heart ache that there would no longer be clandestine rendezvous here. “I wonder how long they were together.”
“Hm?” Heath walked up behind me, sniffing the space over my shoulder. “Hm…I have no idea. Sad to see it end like this, dead in their own homes.”
“I wonder if there was a falling out…” I leaned on the door frame. “There's no smell of wolves here.”
“I noticed.” His voice went gruff and thick. “We’ll figure this out.”
I only nodded as we backed away from the private bedroom and left the house. There was nothing to find.
“How did the bodies look when you found them?” I asked the moment I was in the fresh air.
“Broken necks,” John answered. I must have looked surprised because John’s face went a bit pink. “Honestly. I think Gaia’s back was broken too…It had the look of it.”
“You’ve seen that before?” Heath was more focused than me now. I was still trying to comprehend seeing a werecat with a broken neck and back. In human form, it was possible but still difficult.
“Fallen climbers and hikers. You know.”
“Sure.” Heath nodded, his grey-blue eyes darker than I had ever seen them. “No blood or anything?”
“No…” Gina whimpered, then sobbed. “It was so awful.”
I sighed, turning away to let the humans console each other. I felt bad for not helping, but I was spooked.
“I want to see Gaia’s house. Where she was found.” I pointed out. “It’s that way.”
“Um…yeah, we use a trail for hiking over there…” Haley pulled away from John and Gina to come close to us. “You might be able to get an ATV on it, but it won’t be easy.”
“A dirt bike?” I asked.
“It can make it, but you both won’t fit, and I’m not sure anyone should be walking around these woods alone right now.”
I looked up and checked the daylight. It had to be close to noon, but the afternoon heat wasn’t close to settling in. “Heath, you up for a hike?”
“We can make it there and back, I bet. How long do you think it’ll take to walk out th
ere?”
“It takes us about three hours?” Haley shrugged. “Might be less for you.”
“It will be. Let’s go. You all can wait here or head back and meet us at the service shack but leave us an ATV to take back. I want to check out her home alone.”
“Wait…how do you know where it is?” Haley was frowning again. “And be careful where you step. We cremated her there.”
“I’m a werecat. I know.” I smiled tightly at her. “I’ll be respectful of the land.”
Walking away, I let Heath follow behind me as I set the pace. I took the trail only for convenience. It was worn down just enough to be walkable without major tripping, but the humans had been right. An ATV would be hard to take because it was very narrow. Heath and I couldn’t walk side by side.
“Can you really find the center of her territory just by feeling?” he asked about twenty minutes into the walk.
“Yup. It’s like…a beacon. It’s the center. If a werecat didn’t meet me for a challenge, it’s where I would go to make them pay attention to me, to make them see me and respond. We don’t fight over pitiful lines. We fight over it all. It’s useless to take a piece of land from a werecat who can just reclaim it the next night or full moon or whatever. You have to force them completely out.”
“So, you gamble it all. Is it ever fatal?”
“No, not very often. It can be if the challenger wants it to be or if the defender refuses to concede, but most werecats will back off from a lost fight, and dying over territory is frowned on. Killing for it is normally investigated. We don’t have the numbers, and there’s a lot of space in the world. There’s no reason to kill or die for something unless it’s that important.”
“Is there anything that important?”
