Chapter 7 - Aris

I've been staring at Linnea for the past six hours as we tromped through the woods. Around us, the trees shuffle, and wildlife reacts to our heavy footfalls. Bigby leads the train with me at the end to make sure Linnea doesn't trail away from us. I'm not sure it's exactly necessary—now that the blood-bond is in place, I think I would feel her absence if she did trail too far behind. But still, I've made it a point to walk behind her, telling her to pick up the pace when she starts to slip away from the others. During the time that I've been trailing her, I've made some observations.

The first is that she's dressed like a cat burglar, wearing a tight-fitting black turtleneck and black leggings with sneakers. Her hair is slicked back into a ponytail, her curls spilling out over her shoulders when she moves.

Her outfit isn't without its perks. Even in the dim moonlight passing through the trees above us, I can make out the lines of her curves and watch her tits and ass bounce as she moves. Linnea has always been bigger, but it's clear that she's in great shape. She hasn't asked to stop or rest once and isn't even breathing hard as we practically scale up the side of a mountain.

An image comes to me of us training in the gym together, me spotting her as she bench-presses. I picture glancing across the gym and seeing her on the stair-climber, her ass hugged in all the right places by leggings just like these.

I think about her outfit—all black. We wore uniforms in high school, but I wouldn't have pegged criminal chic as her style, and I make a note to ask her about it. Why was she dressed for a heist when that shifter took her from her home?

Not that she'll just answer any of my questions. My second observation is that she hasn't forgotten who I was in high school. So far, she's been downright unpleasant to me. High school was a long time ago, but I can practically hear her replaying old scenes in her head. I'm not the person I used to be back then, but I don't know how to tell her that.

Logically, I know it's a good idea to let her go, let her deal with whatever Varun will do to her when his shifters clock her coming back into town, but logic doesn't matter. Every time I start to entertain the thought of leaving her behind, I get a sharp pain in my stomach, and my mind skitters away.

Besides, it hasn't been bad watching her ass sway in front of me or catching her as she trips on roots, feeling her soft curves under my hands for a moment before she wrenches away from my touch.

Even right now, she's staring defiantly at me, but I catch her gaze flitting up to the house on the hill. I refuse to turn. I won't look at it. It will only serve to distract me from the mission—I can't be thinking about my parents, my childhood, or what it was like growing up above the town.

Though Bigby, Linnea, and I went to high school together, neither of them have ever seen my childhood home. The property I left behind when I took off for school and never came back. Thinking about it gathering dust is painful, but so is facing what I gave up.

"There's a lot of work to do before we can call it a day," I continue, surveying the team. They're all pissed we couldn't just shift to come up the hill—if we had, it would have taken half as much time, but I couldn't risk leaving Linnea behind. "First thing we need to do is get in touch with the commander. Byron, did you send the info you got from Varun's tech?"

"Shot it out to HQ back at the bar."

"Okay, great. See if you can set up a connection so we can see what they've learned back at HQ."

"Got it," Byron says, turning and pulling equipment from his backpack.

"Eva and Percy, go find us something to eat. A lot of something—I'm sure you're all starving like I am. And we're going to need our strength."

Eva grins, rubbing her hands together, and takes off for the edge of the woods, shifting right as she hits the lines of trees. I don't miss the way Linnea's eyes widen, tracking Eva's movements. I wonder if Linnea has ever seen someone shift before, and suddenly, irrationally, I want to show her my other form. I push the thought away, returning to the task at hand.

"She never waits for you to finish what you're saying," Percy says, rolling his eyes and dropping his pack on the ground. He starts to roll his sleeves up. "Like, do you prefer rabbit? Deer? What kind of meal are we putting together? What's the theme? Eva doesn't—"

"Percy," I say, cutting him off. He glances up at me mid-sleeve-roll, a goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah?" he asks, like he couldn't possibly know what I want from him. He can be frustrating to work with, but he eases the tension in the group.

"If you don't go now, you'll never catch up with her."

"As you wish, Boss," he quips back, dropping his comms watch on his pack and taking off for the spot in the trees Eva disappeared into. Just like her, Percy shifts when he reaches the cover of the woods. Linnea stares directly at the ground, and I stare at the way her hair tumbles over her shoulders, how her hands are kneading together just above her thighs.

"Sir?" Ado asks, drawing my attention away from Linnea.

"Oh, yeah. Ado, you're on watch. Check the perimeter and alert me at any sign of the rogues headed this way. They—" I pause, wondering how much I should be revealing about where we are. I decide to trust my team. "This area, it's scent-covered. As long as we stay within the borders, they won't be able to locate us that way."

Ado raises a single eyebrow but doesn't say anything. He just turns and walks toward the perimeter of the area to begin his duties.

Of course, the grounds are scent-covered, protected by ancient magic and rituals that keep the house and its property safe. My dad was obsessive about it; he said it was the alpha's duty to protect his home first and his pack second. When he showed me how it worked and explained the intense work that went into masking our scents here, he said my mother would never have to feel unsafe when she was within the walls of their home.

I can't help glancing toward Linnea. The waves of fear and fury roll off of her, pungent and so intense I wonder if the other members of the team can smell them too, or if it's just from our bond. It feels like her every feeling is going to bowl me over.

"Are she and I a team?" Bigby asks, tipping his head at me and glancing at Linnea quickly. I know he's fucking with me, I can see the humor on his face, and I tell myself not to rise to the bait.

"No," I say, a little too sharply. I can't help it—when the others move toward her or glance in her direction, my body goes on high alert. "We'll—all three of us are staying here, getting the cabins ready."

I could have done the hunting or protected the perimeter myself, but I need to keep Linnea close. The thought of her out in the woods or on the perimeter with Ado makes me clench my jaw.

"Bigby," I say, "bring back as much firewood as you can. I don't want to have to think about it for the next week. These cabins have running water, but we have to get it going. Linnea and I will go around to each one, clear them out, get them ready."

"I can go with Bigby," Linnea says determinedly.

"Oh, no thank you," Bigby says, holding his hands up and turning away from us. "I am not getting in the middle of this."

"There is nothing to get in the middle of!" Linnea shouts after him as I say, "Good idea."

With Bigby gone and Byron lost in his own world a few yards away, it's just Linnea and I, standing in the center of the cabins, facing one another.

I swallow, letting my eyes trace over the shape of her, dying to unzip the black jacket she's wearing over her turtleneck, run my hands over her sides, feel—

"Don't we have housekeeping to do?" Linnea snaps, turning and stomping over to the nearest cabin. I catch up with her and put my hand on hers, pulling it away from the door handle. When she tips her head up, meeting my eyes, it takes all my willpower not to take her lips with mine.

"What are you doing?" she deadpans, even as she doesn't move her hand away from my grip. I notice the light pink blush that dusts her cheeks, spreading out over her freckles.

"Not this one," I say, pulling her toward the next cabin, clearing my voice when it comes out a little too gruff. "We'll do that one last."

The biggest cabin in the center was where my mom and dad would stay when we came out here to practice hunting. Sometimes, my dad would invite other shifters from the pack, and they would bring their sons, too. We'd have friendly competition, seeing who could bring back the most impressive catches. My mom and the other women would clean up our finds and turn them into proper meals, making jerky, canning, or freezing the rest.

My dad hated the grocery store—said it was indecent for a man to eat something he didn't kill himself. Those hunting parties would stock our house with meat for the whole winter, and my parents would regularly make deliveries to other families in town, dropping off casseroles or bundles of meat with vegetables from the garden.

I can't stomach the thought of going into his cabin right now, but I know I'll have to. There's one primary cabin and four smaller ones—Bigby, Eva, and Ado will get their own. Percy and Byron will share one, while Linnea and I take my parents' old cabin. I won't have anyone else sleeping there, and I won't have Linnea sleeping out of my sight.

"It reeks in here," Linnea says when we walk into the first cabin. I roll my eyes at her.

"These cabins have been out of commission for years," I say, immediately opening the curtains and windows. "It makes sense that they aren't exactly fresh."

"How many years?"

"That's none of your business."

"I'm pretty sure it is," Linnea says, popping her hip out and putting her fist there. "You've kidnapped me—"

"—I did not kidnap you—"

"—So the least you can do is tell me what these cabins are and why you know about them."

"No."

"Is this some sort of weird sex thing? A cult of some sort?"

"Linnea," I say, turning toward her and handing her a large pot from the kitchen. She raises her eyebrows as I push it into her hands. "Fill this up with water and dump it in the toilet."

"So, you're just going to ignore my questions."

When I don't say anything, she sighs audibly and stomps away. At least, a moment later, I hear her in the bathroom doing what I said. I turn on the faucet in the kitchen and wait while it creaks. It eventually stutters and spits out air and water until a clean stream comes through.

We move through the cabins methodically, airing them out and getting the water running again. I find the linen closets and set out sheets and pillows on the beds. Luckily, the cabins are pretty well stocked, with essentials like flour, canned beans, and seasonings.

Linnea's running a broom along the floor of a cabin when Percy and Eva return with two limp deer carcasses and a handful of rabbits. Byron looks disgusted by the dead bodies, but Ado is right at home, immediately taking out his knife and starting to clean them up so we can cook.

I assign Eva to the perimeter, tell Percy to keep a close eye on Linnea, and slip away from the team for just a moment to myself.