by Lou Grimes
“You’re going to slip the phone into my backpack when I set it down for lunch,” Louvette explained.
“Okay,” Emily answered.
“Be sure you don’t put it in the wrong one,” Louvette warned.
Louvette pulled herself out of Emily’s mind. She had no idea what she was going to do if someone responded to her text.
The Emily situation had happened in seconds because she was still walking to the lunchroom. A much greener Emily was still following her.
When she got to their normal table, she threw her book bag down, earning a sideways peek from Cara.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be sorry to me. That girl has skill. All she’d need is five minutes alone with the Dalai Lama and he’d be looking for a new profession real quick,” Cara told her.
“Definitely has a talent for chaos,” Louvette added. The two of them walked to the lunch line. Louvette was happy to catch Emily slipping the phone into her bag like a reverse burglar.
After that hiccup, the rest of her day had passed before she knew it since she was trapped in a daze. With her face twisted into a scowl, Cara had quit talking to her, sensing she was in a mood from Emily. Her book bag felt heavier than before, as if a twenty-pound stone had been added to it, and not just some miniature phone.
“What’s got you in a rotten mood?” Matt asked her as she was walking down the hall in between classes.
“Your sister,” she leveled with Matt.
“She has that effect on everyone. She didn’t used to be this atrocious,” Matt said.
“What turned her into a human viper?” she asked.
“I think my mother passing away,” Matt confided.
“I’m sorry,” she responded guiltily. Louvette wouldn’t have crudely asked if she had known.
“It’s life,” Matt said.
“How did it happen?” she asked, her curiosity making her ignore any sense of tact at broaching this subject.
“She was killed by a Fae,” Matt said. “Are you coming to the gym again?” he asked, switching the topic. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and Louvette couldn’t blame him. The subject of her grandfather’s death was just as sore for Louvette and she had never even met him.
“Yes,” she said, half in thought. Her statement was more toward this weekend than the training.
“I hoped you wouldn’t,” Matt replied with a set face.
“Sorry to disappoint,” she muttered, walking away from him. She didn’t crave any more venom dripping into her ear today.
She speed walked to the Lupine gym after school was over.
It wasn’t dread that stopped her when she reached the gym. It was a more collective reflection than that. Collective in the sense that she was fortifying her entire being.
A part of her didn’t feel like walking through those doors again, but she had to do it. Doing so would prove she was strong enough. Not doing so would prove she wasn’t. If she had to get her butt kicked every day for the rest of the year, she would.
Louvette went inside for the second time. All the guys were running laps today. The instructor leaned on the rails, watching them.
“Are you back for more?” Warren called from the side. Louvette sent him a dirty look. To think he shared the same last name as Ian was a bit upsetting; she hoped he was a distant cousin twenty times removed.
“Shut up, Valleys. Go change and warm up, Blackwood,” the man said.
“I will if you tell me what your name is,” Louvette shot back.
“You haven’t earned the right to use my name,” the instructor replied. Louvette rolled her eyes and went to change as instructed. The true motive behind her change was to escape his overbearing testosterone.
“We are just sparring today since Arsen got you a get out of jail card,” the man pointed out when she returned. “Matt!” The nameless jack head shouted in the same way as a donkey braying at the world would.
Louvette caught sight of Matt breaking away from the pack, still running. He slowed when she neared them.
“Ready for a second round of Accelerator?” Matt asked, goading. Louvette was not. She would never be ready for another round of Accelerator.
“Are you?” Louvette taunted him back. She had pondered much on what had gone wrong before. Her wolf had made her sloppy, not unlike the rogue she had dispatched herself. That wouldn’t happen this time around as she attempted to lock up her wolf mentally.
An intense anger flooded the primal part of her mind. A feeling that could only be experienced from a free animal being trapped, but her more civilized mind wrestled it away, taking control.
She got into her defensive position.
“No, in your wolf forms this time. You need to be good in both,” he said.
Louvette cursed under her breath as Matt smirked. Whatever plans she had went out the window as swiftly as they had come in.
Matt slid into a wolf in a matter of seconds. Where a red-haired guy had stood before, a small grey and red wolf was now in his place. The wolf chuffed at her and it was not hard to discern that Matt was mocking her.
Louvette attempted to call her own wolf back, but nothing happened. She was not shocked in the least.
“Any day now, Blackwood,” the instructor called.
Closing her eyes, she focused like Arsen had taught her on getting her wolf back. As she was starting to think she had reverted back to Lupine kindergarten level, she found her wolf. The wolf was hiding from her in a corner of her mind. Her wolf wanted to make a fool of her.
She silently begged it for help. Finally, her wolf relented. The bones in her body began to pop as her muscles stretched to accommodate her wolf form. The change itself was much harder and more painful than normal.
Everything was enhanced, from sight to smell. She folded over, looking at her hands that were now fuzzy huge white paws with aggressive claws sprouting out of them that dug into the very dirt in the pit. The fur follicles in her paws swayed about noticeably from the open-air flow.
The grey red wolf snarled, reminding her of his presence. They both got ready simultaneously.
Matt lost patience first because something was different than last time. Louvette was too much in control, so her calmness had angered his wolf. The second her sparring partner attacked, though, she wasn’t as quick to escape his blows.
Before it had been kind of second nature to her, but she was understanding that fighting was second nature to her wolf, not human Louvette. Louvette had cut off the part of her she needed. That part was the wolf.
Their bodies clashed together. Matt was biting her at twice the speed she was him. His attacks were vicious.
He tried to force her to the ground by grabbing a hold of her neck. She fought him as hard as she could and was almost knocked out a couple of times. As far as she was concerned, getting knocked out was better than submitting.
She kept any wolf whines from escaping.
“That’s enough, Bonesteel. Arsen needs her conscious,” the general said after one particular slam to the ground that left her world a bit dizzy.
The grey red wolf pulled away from her. Louvette’s own white wolf backed off too, wanting to lick its bruised body. If there had been a point system, Matt would have won without a doubt.
Matt changed back before Louvette could even think about it, but he was breathing heavily and had an unreadable facial expression on.
“You’re excused, Blackwood,” the man said. Louvette simply nodded, and then left before changing her clothes. The longer she stuck around, the more chance of showing the damage he had done to her.
She left out the doors at a sort of a run that turned into a limp once she heard the double doors close. Making every muscle sore in her body didn’t seem ideal when chasing after evil guys, but each lesson would be beneficial later on down the road when she needed to fight someone.
The drive was surprisingly quiet and peaceful as she drove to Arsen’s house. She had the music set to a gentle h
um to lower the amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins.
When she arrived, both Arsen and Ian were waiting for her.
“Hey, Firefly,” she said, stepping toward him to hug him. She breathed in his unique scent. She needed a hug, but couldn’t tell him why.
“I missed you too, Winter. Go take a shower while I grab your bags,” he told her after their hug was over.
“I’ll be quick, then.” She grabbed her gym bag. She walked through the house quietly, avoiding detection from his mother.
She showered as fast as one could. Remembering Emily’s burner phone, she checked it. Thankfully there were still no messages. She hoped everyone who had received a text would ignore it, but she doubted that would happen.
At that instant, she decided to leave the phone in her book bag in case something went wrong. She didn’t feel like sneaking it into the airport without Arsen seeing. The risk was too much.
She stowed her book bag under Arsen’s bed for extra protection against trespassers of property. Arsen’s mother was the first potential trespasser that came to mind. She could easily see her digging through Louvette’s belongings to find a way to get rid of her.
After coming down the stairs and returning to where the guys were, they began to make their way to the airport in Arsen’s truck.
“Which airport are we using?” Louvette asked.
“Glacier Park International Airport,” Arsen replied, giving her hand a squeeze. Once he named the airport, Louvette was shocked they didn’t have a private jet for Northline Pack matters.
“I don’t have a passport. I actually thought y’all had y’all’s own plane,” she remarked confused.
“You don’t need a passport to travel in the U.S. All you need is your ID, but we won’t be using our real ones,” Ian clarified.
“Ian made us all fake IDs and passports. That way no one can track us if things go south. We do have a jet, but flying it would be too noticeable,” Arsen explained.
“How very illegal of you, Ian,” she called to him in the back seat. He glanced up from the phone he had been typing away on. He clicked it off and smirked.
“I know, isn’t it great?” he asked as they arrived at the airport.
***
One uneventful plane ride later, they were riding in a cab to their hotel. Had Ian not come with them, Louvette would have had the perfect opportunity to tell Arsen about her Gift.
Not that she didn’t trust Ian, but she needed time to process her Gift.
Their hotel was on the edge of town closest to the area Wilder’s body was found in. A shiver went down her back. She would soon be near where he was brutally shot.
As they drove through town, she was an everyday tourist to a passerby, craning her neck around to check everything out. This was the first time she had been to California, so she was drinking in the scenery as if she was on vacation. This was all for the sake of blending, she thought mockingly.
She had snagged a Eureka pamphlet at the airport. The guide mentioned some of the things a person could do in Eureka, other than attempting to find a lost phone in a national forest. It seemed a daunting feat in itself.
After reading the visitors’ pamphlet about Eureka, she realized how much history was here. Eureka was a magnificent city that had tons of gorgeous Victorian style homes, tourists, and locals. The most striking thing about Eureka was that it was situated between the Pacific coast, Redwood National Park, and Trinity National Forest.
As her eyes landed on the words Pacific coast, a question stirred in her for a few seconds before she broke the silence.
“Will the Pacific Coast Pack be mad if we are here?” Louvette asked. Arsen gave her hand a comforting squeeze, understanding where her mind was going.
“They might if they knew we were here,” Arsen said chargingly. Louvette started to speak about what Emily had done, but stopped herself. She didn’t need to add more fuel to this forest fire. Thanks to what Emily had done and the recent actions of the Northline Pack, the Pacific Coast Pack might not take kindly to unannounced trespassing.
“What are we going to do if we run into them?” she questioned.
“Tell the truth and hope that they are an innocent or ignorant pack at the party,” Arsen replied. She could tell running into each other was the last thing that he would like. They could go home empty handed having no answers and not bump into the Pacific Coast Pack and he would still be happy.
“How does Thomas Hollows go back and forth without them caring?” Louvette wondered, understanding that he had been so many times.
“He’s pretty much got diplomatic immunity because lawyers, the investigators, and other people in those types of professions need to be able to go where they have to for the families’ sakes. If one of theirs had died in Whitefish, they would like the same courtesy,” Arsen explained.
Taking a deep breath, she saw they had arrived at the Clarion Hotel they were staying at. Once they got everything ready, they would have to drive to Trinity National Forest.
A tall thin woman with a tight bun stood at the front desk, checking people in. Her uniform was only just as tight as it needed to be, so it was unlikely to fall off of her. A sight much different from her other co-workers whose outfits were tight.
She tilted her head toward them as if she was a queen, granting them passage through her kingdom. Louvette frowned at the odd head tilt. As soon as it was their turn, they checked in and then headed up to their double queen room.
Arsen threw his bag onto the same bed as Ian. When he went to go change, Louvette grabbed his bag and threw it onto the bed she was sleeping in. She sought to rile him up, which was becoming one of her favorite pastimes.
Ian grinned at her. She winked back.
He popped open his paper-thin laptop he had brought. The next generation of the laptop would be holographic if they tried to make it any thinner.
The door opened to the bathroom as he returned wearing clothes that stood out the least. His color scheme was usually darker anyways, but he had on a dark grey long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and black hiking boots. There was a fine line between being blacked out like a thief or army recon, and he had avoided the line somehow.
Louvette walked past him, attempting to conceal her smile. The desire to see his expression from his bag being switched to her bed was almost overwhelming. She resisted the urge to turn around.
She changed into a navy long sleeve shirt as well, dark blue jeans, and a pair of clunky hiking boots, too.
Once she finished, she went back out to find his bag back on the other bed again. Arsen cocked an eyebrow at her. She shook her head at his games.
“I’m going to win. You might as well save face now,” Louvette teased.
“No, you aren’t,” he said confidently.
“You are going to win this one, Arsen,” Ian said, snickering.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ian. Go change so we can go while no one is here,” Arsen said. Ian got his bag and retreated to the restroom.
“How are we going to find the phone in the dark even if the coordinates show up?” Louvette asked.
“We are going to use our wolf eyes. This will be good practice,” Arsen pointed out.
“This should be fun,” Louvette said, not having any idea how long she’d be able to hold her wolf eyes. They seemed to only want to come out when she was in danger or if she exerted tons of focus. She was a tad bit concerned that focusing on holding would distract her from the actual finding.
The door opened and Ian came out in the same style of clothing. The style was dark, comfortable, and hiking-appropriate.
They had mutually decided on their story beforehand. If anyone ran into them other than Thomas, they had gotten lost hiking. No plan was in place for if a member of the Pacific Coast Pack ran into them. Pretty much, they were winging it.
“If you guys are done playing around, I’m not going to get any more ready than I already am,” Ian announced, grabbing his black hiking backpack.<
br />
“Yeah, we should go now,” Arsen said, agreeing.
Ian’s backpack’s contents were different from their own. His pack had the tech he needed to track the phone. Theirs contained essentials.
Louvette slid hers on, as did Arsen. They had prepared to camp if needed, so they each had their own bed rolls, snacks, and water.
“Let’s go hunt up some answers, Winter,” Arsen said.
Louvette and Ian glanced at each other to see if they had both caught Arsen’s pun.
“Did he just pun?” Ian asked, incredulously.
“I think he did,” Louvette said like she wished he hadn’t.
“That’s your boyfriend,” Ian pointed out.
“Yeah, it is,” Louvette teased.
“I regret the day I introduced you two,” Arsen said, sighing before leaving. They trailed behind him, continuing to tease him as they did.
Chapter 9
Thick trees towered in the sky, making a beautiful silhouette. An owl hidden somewhere in the night let out a hoot. Louvette could imagine the feathers on its wings fluttering through the night as it darted through the forest. Mice fled, hiding from the fierce hunter of the night.
When they arrived at the first destination, both Louvette and Arsen started to get out.
“We have to have four satellites dropped, so you two lovebirds have to part for a time,” Ian explained after stopping them from leaving.
“I’ll do this one since I’m on the outside seat,” Arsen said.
“Take these,” Ian said, handing them their devices.
“What exactly are these?” Louvette asked when a compass and a clunky black phone were placed in Arsen’s hands along with a vintage kid’s radio that looked like it had been through a few Lupine wars.
“Basically, a mini GPS system instead of using the satellites floating around the Earth. The area they cover is too immense. Instead, I have made this system to find things in a more micro area. This way is quicker and more efficient if you have a general idea of where your item is located,” Ian said.
“Is mine going to be a Hello Kitty one?” Louvette couldn’t stop herself from teasing Ian. He deserved it and more.
