“We shouldn’t have come to The Woodlands first,” I muttered, frustrated.
“Why?” Arron asked.
I explained to the Hawk what had just occurred to me.
“Oh,” he said. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that… It will take time to search out a wolf in the first place. It’s already late afternoon. By the time we find a beast, the sun may have well set.”
Still, I felt unsure as to whether Arron’s suggestion to come here first had been wise. Julie also looked as doubtful as ever, while Aisha’s eyes were narrowed in concentration as they darted around the area in search of a wolf.
* * *
As it turned out, Arron was right. I was both surprised and dismayed by how long it took us to track down a target. Aisha had suggested that we go straight to the mountains where the wolves’ dens were, but I remained insistent on getting a wolf on his own. Approaching the dens, which would be closed off and filled with packs of dangerous wolves, was simply not a good idea. More injuries than necessary would be incurred, and if they launched a full-on attack, I was sure that at least one life would be lost.
It wasn’t until the sun had set that I spotted a lone wolf through the trees, bent over and drinking from a stream. He was already in his wolf form, so we wouldn’t even have to wait. I froze, holding up a hand and urging the others to stop. I was on the verge of turning to Aisha and nodding for her to stun the wolf when a twig snapped to my left. I spun around to see an apologetic Julie.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a whisper.
It was too late. The werewolf’s head shot up from the stream and, noticing us, he turned and raced away. I bolted after him. Although I was sure that I ran at least as fast as a werewolf, he’d had a good head start and now, as I looked around the dark tree trunks, I couldn’t see him anywhere. For all I knew, he could’ve scampered down a secret hole somewhere. As the others appeared by my side, not even Aisha could locate the wolf.
I turned on Julie, unable to hide my irritation. “We can’t afford more snapping twigs.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said in a hushed tone.
“Okay,” I said, breathing out. “Just be careful next time.”
* * *
We spent what felt like the next half hour continuing through the woods without coming across another wolf. I was beginning to feel desperate. I even pondered Arron’s suggestion to go directly to their dens. But I didn’t consider it for long.
As we entered a particularly dense area of woodland, I heard pounding in the distance. The thundering of heavy paws. I froze, raising my hands for the others to do the same. They halted and looked at me.
“Do you hear that?”
From the alarmed look on Julie’s face, she too had heard it.
The noise became louder as the footsteps drew closer and closer. Soon I could make out harsh, heavy panting.
I looked up toward the treetops. “Let’s climb,” I whispered. I grabbed hold of the nearest branch to me and swung myself up into a tree. Julie followed closely behind me and planted herself on a nearby branch. I’d forgotten about Arron only having one arm, but Aisha helped him into a tree several feet away.
My mind worked furiously. I had to think of a plan. The lone wolf whom we’d spotted earlier—or rather who had spotted us—had likely traveled back to his pack, and now a group of them had come to investigate. And from what I could hear, it was a very large group.
This was just what I’d wanted to avoid.
The first of the pack whipped through the trees beneath us. A giant black wolf with dark green eyes ran at the forefront. They halted, apparently having picked up on our scent.
Dozens of gleaming eyes shot up toward us at once. There was no hiding from them, but at least being higher up gave us an advantage. Or at least I’d thought that it would. The black wolf—the largest and most ferocious-looking, who appeared to be the leader of the pack—launched himself at my and Julie’s tree. Digging his claws into the bark, the tree trembling, he began to climb toward us.
Julie clasped my hand and tugged on it. Her hazel eyes bulging, she urged me higher up into the tree.
I extended my claws, even as I hoped that I wouldn’t have to resort to violence.
The wolf was slower in climbing the tree and we gained height much faster.
“We are not here to cause trouble,” I called down. “Nor are we enemies.”
Arriving on one of the thick lower branches, the wolf balanced himself and paused, looking up at us.
“Then why have you come?” he growled. “Vampires aren’t welcome here.”
I glanced toward Aisha through the trees. She was eyeing me intently. I knew that if she suspected I was in the slightest bit of danger, she would blast the wolf out of the tree. Which was the last thing that I wanted. It would only rile them up and make our task much harder to complete.
“I simply require the tooth of a werewolf,” I said. “Grant me this and we will leave in an instant.”
My words only seemed to aggravate the wolf.
“What makes you think you can just arrive in our land and make demands?” he snarled. “Who do you think you are?”
A very desperate man.
“Maybe you could try telling them the truth,” Arron called from a nearby tree, as he and Aisha retreated from two werewolves climbing up toward them.
The black wolf was already continuing his ascent toward us. It wouldn’t be long now before he reached the top.