She seriously freaked me out.
“How are you doing?” the voice in my head asked. I tried to find traces of the Talley I knew in that voice, but there was none. This voice was deep and rich for a woman, very femme fatale. Talley’s normal voice had more of a Hannah Montana flavor.
I didn’t pass out.
“That’s an improvement.”
If you say so. Are the boys ready?
“Jase is finishing up. It will take Charlie a few more minutes.”
Something tickled in the back of my brain and I had to really concentrate to process it. I thought you said Jase’s Change was fast.
“It is. You completed yours in less than fifteen minutes.” It felt more like fifteen years. “You’re a natural.”
You do realize that irony is difficult for me to fully appreciate in this form, right?
A sultry laugh echoed in my head. “I didn’t even catch that. Your reasoning is amazing.”
So, what should I do while I wait? Work a crossword puzzle?
“What do you feel like doing?”
I thought about it. My muscles were twitching, but not in a we’ve-got-to-rearrange-and-make-you-into-a-monster kind of way. It was more like a need for action.
I want to run.
“That’s what I thought. See if you can figure out west on your own and go. You will have to pass through town or cross the Interstate to go over the border, so you should be okay.”
Needing no more encouragement, I was gone. I’ve never been a runner by nature. My general philosophy was, why run if you’re not being chased? Wolf Scout felt differently.
As I ran, I let her take over. She loved the way the tall grass tickled her underbelly. She chased squirrels and groundhogs. She splashed in a creek, enjoying the taste of the cool water. She followed one trail and then another until finally…
Wolf. Him. Mine.
I was off, careful not to lose the scent.
“Scout, the others are ready. I’m going to need to you head north.”
North was the wrong direction. I chased my prey south.
“Scout, do you hear me.”
Hear you? Yes. Listening to you? Not so much.
“The Pack is converging at the old Spicer Mill.”
The Pack could kiss my furry white tail. I closed my mind off from well-meaning interlopers and chased after the gray wolf. It wasn’t long before I caught up with him. I was close enough to hear him as he padded nearly silently around a pond just over the hill. I howled out a greeting and waited expectantly for his reply. It never came. Instead, I heard him move away.
Crap. Where was he going?
I pursued him in a way my human form would have never dared. It took Alex months to convince me we should be together, and that was with him being fairly up-front about his feelings. If he had even considered playing hard to get we would have never happened. But my wolf didn’t have the same insecurities as a teenage girl. She knew what she wanted, and she was determined to get it.
He was fast, but so was I. I caught flashes of fur through the bushes and glances of a tail or hind leg on occasion. Those moments just made me run harder.
I paid no attention to my surroundings or the direction we were heading. It wasn’t until I picked up the scent of another Shifter I even considered it might be a valid concern. I skidded to a stop and looked around, heart pounding. Had I crossed the boundary? Was the Hagan Pack waiting for me? I was very close to panicking when a howl cut through the air.
Jase!
Suddenly it all came crashing in on me. I had just completely abandoned my Pack to follow a ghost through the woods.
I trotted off towards the direction Jase’s howl came from, sending up a reply of my own.
Reluctantly, I opened myself back up to my Seer. I made it.
“What the Hades were you doing? You shut me out!”
Sorry.
“Sorry? I thought you were Changing back or dead or God only knows what!”
Sorry.
I was really glad I couldn’t see her face at the moment, because I was certain it was saying volumes in the silence.
I crested the hill and spotted Jase. Over the past month things had gotten better between us. There was still some tension, a change in the relationship that couldn’t be undone, but he was my brother. I knew he hadn’t hurt me intentionally. I would never forget what happened, but we were working on being okay again.
Wolf Scout hadn’t been a part of that process.
I crouched down, protecting my soft underbelly. A growl reverberated in my throat. I wanted the coyote to go away, somewhere where he could never hurt me again. Coyote Jase proved to be remarkably similar to Human Jase by not doing what I wanted. Instead, he walked up to where he was in striking distance and rolled onto the ground, exposing his underside to me. Both parts of my brain recognized the act as one of submission.
Slowly I got up and went over to him. He watched warily, unsure of what I would do. I might have been a little unsure myself, but when I pressed my nose against his throat and breathed him in there was no fear or malice in my mind, only the comfort of family.
Tell Jase he looks mildly ridiculous with a spot of mustard on his nose.
Talley must have relayed the message, because Jase flipped over and and began pawing at his nose. I laughed, or as close as I could get to laughing in my current condition.
“Jase says you sound like you’re trying to hack up a hairball. Also, he is very adamant about the fact that you’re not half as funny as you think you are.”
You really should see it, Tal. He’s got a yellow stain on the fur of his snout. It’s kinda cute.
“I’m sure it’s adorable.”
We horsed around for a while, Talley eventually refusing to pass along any messages. We were rolling along the ground when he first noticed the scars which covered much more of my wolf form than my human one. He licked the spot on my right side where they ended, a whine in his throat. It was the first time he saw the damage since the night of the accident.
“What is going on? Jase is really upset.”
We’re fine. We’re going to be fine.
And I knew we were. It was the other coyote I could hear approaching that I was concerned about.
Murderer.
The human, rationale part of me was quickly drowned out by the emotions seeing him dredged up.
“Scout, stop! It’s Charlie! It’s just Charlie!”
I don’t know where Jase went. At that moment the world was narrowed down to me and the coyote who killed Alex.