“Ashton, do you want to go with Great Aunt Jodie?” Lauren picked up Aston from where he was running around her legs.
The cub yipped and ran after his great aunt.
The little ones gone, the group gathered around Spencer. “We honor our traditions and our elders,” Spencer called out to the masses. He placed one hand on his uncle and the other on his aunt, the parents of Beck. She was the youngest sister of Flint’s dad.
They shed their clothes and shifted. His aunt’s wolf’s fur was black like Flint’s, his uncle’s a tawny color. They trotted down the path and then took off at an impressive speed.
Clothing peeled off, bones popped, and howls filled the snowy sky. Flint ran alongside Duncan, their strides matching each other. He stuck with Duncan while keeping a peripheral watch on Reagan.
Eloise and Vivianne headed toward the back of the pack. Vivianne had given birth not long ago, but she’d never liked running anyway. Eloise, newly pregnant, would be taking it easy, no doubt. Flint expected Eloise to be watching out for any small action Ross did wrong. His older sister was a hawk for any danger to the baby of the family. She’d rip the soft belly out from underneath the slimy East Coast fur ball.
Why would he ever come back here? It made no sense. He and Reagan had dated in college, and when she’d told him she didn’t want anything more to do with him, he couldn’t understand why. It didn’t occur to him that his cheating might have had a thing or two to do with it.
The pack ran through the center of the land, following the river. The teenagers showing off raced ahead of the elders. Flint shook his dark snout, laughing, and inclined his head to Duncan for him to see their youngest cousin making a play at a group of four young females.
Duncan chuffed out a laugh.
A few minutes into the run, the pack had thinned to a long stream of age and ability. Flint let Duncan run ahead while he throttled his speed to keep Reagan in his sights. He stayed close enough to keep her safe and far enough to give her space. It was the only thing preventing his wolf from taking off across town and up the bridge to a little witch’s house.
The mud beneath his paws had firmed with the cold weather. They’d left the fields and lake behind, circling the back of the lake until the trail zigzagged through the woods. Not everyone stayed on the trail. Reagan was one of those who liked free running through the woods. Keeping her in his sights was becoming increasingly difficult as they entered a section with more underbrush. Her brown fur matched the tree trunks. He trailed behind her, catching and losing her scent. He was going to box her ears when he reminded her she was the one who’d wanted him to come to the trail run for protection.
They entered the boulder field, a section of woods with large craggy rocks and little dens. Flint had spent more than one night curled up against a female in the little half caves. He pulled to the side, hoping Reagan would too. But when he exited the boulder field, her scent wasn’t one of the ones he picked up on.
Flint let out a little howl. The yipping he got back from Reagan had his hackles up.
She was in danger. He called to her again, and she yelled out.
In a flash, he pinpointed her location behind one of the largest boulders. Ross’s white wolf had her backed against the shale cliff. He wasn’t touching her, but he wasn’t letting her move, either. His muzzle moved closer and closer. Like he intended to give her a mating bite.
Flint growled through his teeth. Ross tossed his head with a growl rumbling from his throat.
The scent of fear rolled off of Reagan. Flint lined himself up with his sister and hip-checked her out of the way to run. He howled again. And soon Duncan, Spencer, and Beckham were there. Vivianne and Eloise had caught up, and Reagan ran to them. Eloise bared her teeth and slowly moved toward Ross.
It took Spencer commanding her to take Eloise away before she stopped challenging the male twice the size of her fawn-colored wolf.
Reagan ran away. The three males of Flint’s family surrounded Ross. They were in their rights to take him down. End him. But doing so would start a war. A war that would come one day anyway. A war that had been on the horizon for a long time. But one no one wanted.
Spencer moved toward the outsider. And for a minute, Flint didn’t think the stupid male would submit, but with some hesitation, he did. Spencer raised his snout to one of the older enforcers in the pack, and they pushed him back the way they’d come, four more following along behind as they did. Reagan and his sisters were well away, and with that, the tension in Flint’s wolf snapped. There was nothing holding him here on the pack run now.
Flint bolted off the trail for the bridge across the river.
15
“Emma,” Mia whispered. “Emma.”
The vision slammed shut before she remembered who or what was going on. She’d spent so much of her life shutting the visions down. Now that she wanted them, they were really hard to place and focus on. She let her eyes open slowly.
Mia put her hand on Emma’s shoulder. “Emma, there’s something outside.”
“Right.” Emma let out a breath, not quite awake. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Should I turn on your porch lights? That might scare whatever it is, but is that a bad thing? Or maybe a good thing.”
Emma opened her eyes wider. Mia’s bright, sparkly pajamas were blinding. Emma hadn’t had much to drink, but then again, she hadn’t eaten much yesterday either. She needed all of her power for work, but she needed to think for work too. She cast a rehydration spell on herself to get rid of her tiny hangover and give her enough strength to at least look at Mia.
“Turn the lights on.” Emma rolled over.
Mia didn’t leave the room.
“Turn the light on, Mia. I’m sure you’ll scare whatever it is away.”
Mia didn’t budge.
Emma lifted the covers, and Mia crawled in with her ice-cold feet.
It was nice to have someone next to her, even if Mia’s feet were colder than the arctic tundra outside. She missed Sean, which was a horrible thing to say because, thinking back on their relationship, she didn’t even like him. No, she missed having someone. And that was worse. That wasn’t who she wanted to be. Daphne had come down hard on her the last time she’d said that to her. Things had been strained between them for a while, and then one day Daphne invited her for lunch and things had been good ever since.
Mia was asleep almost instantly, but Emma was awake, a good three hours before she needed to get up. Scrolling ShifterChat didn’t make her any more tired. Twenty minutes later, she heard a repetitive thud. It stopped for a while and then started back up.
She tossed the covers off, put on her slippers, and grabbed her robe. The thumping continued. She stumbled through the living room without turning on any lights. In the kitchen, she squeezed herself into the corner next to the slider to see the patio wall without opening the door. The sunrise wasn’t far off, but the moon had set. The little light came from the reflected snow. Under her kitchen windows was dark fur peppered with a coat of white snow. She glared at the beast.
A lot of unknowns crossed her mind. She lived in a town full of wolf shifters. The fleabag on her patio was more than likely Rocky, but the question that tumbled through her mind was who was Rocky? Flint or one of the other firefighters? And even if it was, that didn’t mean anything. But unlike yesterday, she needed all her power for work today. If the wolf chose violence today, she would drain all her power and it would take longer to get something that Carter’s analysts could use. Plus, today she had Mia sleeping upstairs. While the snow had stopped, she didn’t want to sit out on the patio in the cold.
She put the baseball bat she kept as a doorstop back into the slider. It was early, but she wasn’t going to get any more sleep, and she could be early for once. She showered and reached for a dress. She’d never worn a dress to work before. Plus, there was snow out there.
She glanced out the bathroom window, and if she stood on her tiptoes, she could see the wolf’s tail. Moving as silently around the room as possible, she put the dress back and grabbed her normal leggings and sweater. If he didn’t want her as she was, she wasn’t going to play that game anymore. Sean had wanted something she wasn’t, and breaking the promise of expecting no more than who she was from herself wasn’t going to happen. Flint hadn’t wanted her when she was being herself, so too bad for him. His loss. A light layer of make-up and she was done.
She opened the fridge and out the kitchen window saw snow flying from the wolf as he shook his head. His nose pressed against her slider. She put the eggs on the counter and went over and stood at the door, hands on hips, staring at the wolf.
