6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

I recognized several of the howls echoing through the mountains. Benjamin, Dr. Bennett, and much to my surprise, Mitchell, were among them. I hadn’t expected any of my brothers to respond to Lucas’ call. It was nice to know I had one ally in the Redford household.

Dr. Bennett found us not far from the sticker bushes. The doctor was the first wolf to shift whenever a distress call went out. He needed someone to secure his supplies. He wore a harness with two small saddlebags which contained a medical field kit and a pair of shorts or sweats to slip on before assisting an injured wolf—in this case, the injured wolf was me.

He ordered me to shift to allow my body’s natural healing process to begin. He would treat whatever was left. The arrow missed my lung and bones. It left a clean entrance and exit wound through soft tissue. The silver did more damage than the arrow itself and prevented the wound from closing completely when I shifted. Dr. Bennett flushed and dressed the wound. He instructed me to stop by his office for IV fluids to flush out the trace amounts of silver left in my body.

“Doctor’s orders.” He turned his attention to the sounds of the forest and the pack still on the hunt for our rogue. After a series of howls, he shifted, pausing long enough for me to strap his harness back on before tearing off through the woods.

“Someone else is hurt.” I pressed my fingers against the bandage, sucking air between my teeth when the burning sensation flared up. “Damn that stings.”

Lucas sat on his hind legs; his head tilted to one side as he watched me. Even as a wolf it was clear when he noticed what Dr. Bennett had been too preoccupied to see. Scars on my abdomen. Scars that shouldn’t have been there. I knew he would see them, and a conversation would follow.

One that I dreaded.

I had denied my wolf, refusing to shift and risk being caught by small town locals or worse leave a trail for a tracker to follow. But it came with a risk of its own—moon craze. The human side blacks out and the wolf takes over. Lost to instinct and the need to hunt, a moon crazed werewolf is overwhelmed with blood, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake.

The shift and regular hunting for our wolf’s natural prey are how we have kept the duality in check for centuries. Werewolves are moon bound creatures. Pack wolves honored that. They followed lunar cycles and hunted for game regularly. Rogues did not. My scars weren’t just marks on my body.

They were a mark against me and all the proof my mother needed to convince the council that I was indeed a disperser.

I considered myself lucky. My wolf had taught me a lesson, ignoring me when I tried shifting to heal after a run in with a particularly nasty tracker. It was slow and painful, but I survived, and she never broke our bond.

Much to my relief, my explanation would have to wait.

Lucas’ ears perked, twitching in the direction Dr. Bennett ran. My hearing wasn’t as good in human form, but it didn’t take long for the sounds of a running pack to reach my ears. The hunting party was doubling back.

“Maybe they flushed him out and he’s headed right to us.” Even as I said it, I knew it was wishful thinking.

He was too smart for that.

He evaded Lucas, the best tracker the council had, and Gabe, who I suspected had some sort of military or police training. Not to mention me. After a year on the run, I’d gotten good at detecting and avoiding other wolves. But the rogue did more than follow me, he had stalked me and managed to get close enough to leave me a message in my motel room.

Lucas pawed at my stomach, in silent warning. If he noticed the scars, others would too. There would be no skirting around that conversation. The hunting party would catch up with me before I reached my clothes and got dressed. So, I did the only thing I could do.

I shifted.

Benjamin, as expected, led the group with his trackers behind him. Dr. Bennett pulled up the rear with another injured wolf, who hadn’t fared as well as I had. Her front leg was wrapped from her paw clear up to where it met her shoulder, and she had a hell of a limp. Dr. Bennett cast a suspicious glance my way—or maybe I was paranoid, and he simply looked in my general direction.

I was betting on the former.

I decided to come clean. I didn’t have the time or energy to devote to keeping my scars hidden. Solving my father’s murder and the challenge were more than enough for one wolf to handle. When an opportunity presented itself, I planned to pull Benjamin aside and tell him about the lapse with my wolf.

In the meantime, there were more pressing matters. Like how the rogue escaped. Again.

Benjamin howled and tore off in the direction of his house. The rest of the wolves chorused a response that made my fur stand on end before they took off after him. Lucas and I hung back with the doctor and his latest patient. When we reached the tree line, I peeled off from the group and retrieved my clothes.

But someone had gotten there first.

The rogue’s scent lingered in the air. He knew where I’d put my things before I went on the run with Lucas, and he had been there recently. The question was how. I hadn’t smelled or sensed him when I put my clothes there. We were already at the lookout when we first noticed him.

How had he been in two places at once? He moved as if the laws of physics didn’t apply to him.

The bark of the tree was shredded. Four deep gouges were left in the pulp, and my clothes didn’t fare any better. There were slashes through my shirt and jeans. My undergarments were missing. I didn’t pack a change of clothes. What little I owned was back at the lodge.

Still, commando and shredded clothes were better than nothing. I had no intention of recounting the events of my run with Lucas and our run-in with the rogue to Benjamin and half a dozen council trackers naked. I felt exposed enough as it was.

Until I scooped them up and had a mouth full of the rogue’s musk.

Naked didn’t seem that bad after all. The smell permeated my clothes and senses. My body reacted in alternating fits of sneezing and gagging. I clawed at the hard packed earth with my front paws until I made a hole large enough for what was left of my clothes and buried them.

I bolted toward the back of Lucas’ house, up the wooden stairs and through the slider that had been left open; taking care to wipe my dirt covered paws on the mat. Benjamin and the rest of the hunting party were seated in the living room. All eyes were on me as I trotted past with my head up and tail wagging as if I hadn’t a care in the world—when in fact the opposite was true.

Bounding up the stairs two at a time, I made a beeline for Lucas’ room and rifled through his wardrobe for something to wear. I wouldn’t set any fashion trends with a faded blue t-shirt and gray sweats that tied at the waist, but I wasn’t naked, and they covered my scars.

Lucas’ voice carried up to the second floor as he recounted what happened in the woods. He gave a thorough and detailed report, but I knew Benjamin would want to hear my version. Witness accounts often varied which is why he always compared notes.

“Lina.” Benjamin said in way of greeting as I descended the stairs. “Lucas just finished explaining what happened before we found the two of you in the woods. Is there anything you’d like to add?”

“He marked the tree and my clothes.” I grabbed an unopened bottle of water off the coffee table and took a long pull of the icy cold liquid as I mustered up the courage to share the last detail.

I felt dirty, violated and in a way, I supposed I had been.

“He decided to go on a panty raid and took a souvenir.” I tried to make light of the situation in the hopes it would make telling the pack a rogue made off with my bra and panties easier.

It didn’t. My mouth felt like the Sahara. I guzzled down the rest of the water and swapped out the empty for a full one.

Everything stopped. Even the sounds of Eliza fussing about in the kitchen as she prepared to feed the masses came to a halt. No one as much as whispered or fidgeted. They sat stone still, with their eyes fixed on me, as if the pack members had been replaced with gargoyles.

“Come again?” Benjamin asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m sure he will.” A wolf I didn’t recognize made a crude remark about the rogue’s sexual intentions.

Lucas was up and over the back of the couch, ready to defend my honor, but Ethan Tremblay—the wolf I met earlier at the lodge—beat him to it.

“You will apologize to Miss Redford.” Ethan pinned the hulk of a man against the wall with one hand wrapped around his throat. “And to our host.”

“Yes, sir.” The man’s rank became obvious when he refused to meet Tremblay’s eyes.

And much to my surprise, Ethan Tremblay’s higher rank became obvious as well.

When Tremblay mentioned he was from the Northwestern territory, I hadn’t pegged him for an alpha. Apparently, I had been wrong. He was a lower-level alpha, what the council referred to as a local. Though based on the amount of power and testosterone Ethan pumped into the room, he could have risen to much higher ranks if not for his status as bitten.

“Thank you, Ethan.” Benjamin brought the impromptu meeting back to order. “You were saying, Lina?”

“I think Lucas pretty well covered it.” I nodded in his direction. “The only thing I had to add was that he marked national pack land.” I cleared my throat. “And that he took some of my clothes.”

“It seems you have an admirer, Miss Redford.” T.J. Holt, the regional alpha for Georgia, spoke up. “Albeit an unstable one.”

T.J Holt had been a friend and ally of my father. I hoped I had inherited some of that loyalty.

“And here I thought my reputation preceded me.” I replied with a shrug and half-hearted smile.

“Maybe it has.” T.J. scratched at the stubble along his chin. He raised his hands in a placating gesture at my arched brow and pointed glare. “I’m not victim blaming. I’m just saying he sees a connection. It doesn’t matter if it’s reciprocated.”

“Like what?” I shook my head. “Kindred spirit?”

“Could be.” T.J. shrugged. “He probably got it in his head that the two of you have something in common."

So much for inheriting some of that loyalty.

“But you’re not victim blaming, right?” I asked while scratching an itch in my eye with my middle finger.

Lucas hid his smile behind his hand and covered his laugh with a cough. His father, however, was not amused. Benjamin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. I imagined him silently counting to ten. Which was a method that never seemed to work for me.

That was just ten seconds longer that I had to think about why I was mad in the first place.

“Lucas, why don’t you and Dr. Bennett escort Lina back to the lodge? Her wound needs tending.” Benjamin turned his attention to the wound on my shoulder that began to seep through the light cotton shirt.

“Yes, sir.” Lucas crossed the room and joined me by my side.

“Thank you for your help today.” I addressed Benjamin, but cast a few glances and nods around the room to let the other alphas present that I included them in my thanks as well.

Dr. Bennett collected his medical bag and returned with three sacked lunches courtesy of Eliza when he met us at the door.

“Oh, and Lina, the council has requested your presence tomorrow morning. Nine o’clock sharp.” Benjamin’s dismissal was brusque, but I caught the concerned look in his eyes.

He couldn’t afford to play favorites in his position. Neither could I, but I was grateful to have Lucas and the doctor at my side. Two people who knew the truth and that I trusted, because I was too exhausted to pretend.

I wanted to go back to my room, close the blinds and sleep until I had to appear before the council. Something told me I was going to need all the rest that I could get. I escaped one trap, only to walk right into another.

And I wasn’t sure if I could work my way out of this one.