Chapter Thirty-Four

June

The wind was a bit obnoxious, pulling at my hair and clothes. But I was able to pass through the main village and get into the trees soon enough, where the wind was cut down significantly. I was full of energy and determination, and maybe a bit anxious over what Smokey wanted.

I spotted him easily in the field, so I supposed I'd find out soon.

Smokey wasn't naked today, which was saying something. He had on a pair of sweatpants and some slip-on sandals. He stood next to a smaller male, arms crossed and obviously grumbling at each other.

Great. The perfect time to approach him . I grimaced and stepped forward.

Smokey's head snapped to look at me the moment I entered the field. "Afternoon, sleeping beauty."

I winced. "Hello, Smokey."

"Sorry, June," he said. "I get a bit cranky when I don't sleep well."

"I don't think any of us did, Smokey. It's okay. What did you want to see me for?"

Smokey jerked his head to the male standing next to him. "June, this is Tanner. He's our best tracker."

I gave him a once over. He stood about my height, which was shorter than a lot of the other males I'd seen so far, but he was built like a truck. He wore shorts, and I could see the thigh muscles of a runner. He reminded me of my old coach, actually. He'd seen a lot of sun, and his face and shoulders were absolutely dripping with freckles. He kept his head shaved, but he had a neat black beard trimmed short to his chin.

"Hello," I said.

Tanner nodded sharply. "Hello, June. Nice to meet you."

"I told Tanner here how fast you shot out of those woods last night," Smokey said. "We think you could be a candidate for his team."

"A tracker?"

"The trackers keep things off the pack lands that shouldn't be here," Tanner explained.

"And they're having a hard time of it lately," Smokey jabbed.

Tanner growled.

"Relax, Tanner. I don't blame you. There's something not right about those rogues."

"Agreed," Tanner said.

He turned to me. "The more the merrier, as long as you can keep up."

"She can keep up all right," Smokey said, bringing a hand down on my shoulder. "Run with her right now and see."

"Hmm. But how's her nose?" Tanner asked.

"She passed her first test quick enough," Smokey said. "But I doubt you'll just take my word for it. Run with her, Tanner."

The tracker looked me up and down one more time. "All right. June, you up for a little run?"

I was opening my mouth to answer when Smokey cut me off.

"Not that prissy little run you did for me the other day," he growled. "Run like you mean it. Run like last night."

"Yes, I'm up for a run." I glared at him. "A real one."

"Good." Tanner took off his shirt. "Let's get to it, then."

We shifted. It was getting easier for me every time. When it was all said and done, Tanner had a similar build to my own wolf. Long, sleek legs and tail. But his own coat was the more common gray I had seen throughout the pack, albeit a slightly darker shade.

All right, June. Follow me if you can.

Run! My wolf skipped with excitement. Yes, run. We would run, and I'd stop holding back. If this wolf body was going to break like my human one did, it would have done as much last night.

Tanner shot out of the training field like he was jumping a puddle, and I almost lost sight of him.

Taking off, the trees were a blur, much like last night. It was as though now that my feet had the taste of running again, I couldn't stop. My wolf was about to burst with excitement too; our tongue hung out of our mouth for a moment before I pulled it back in and charged harder.

The trees didn't go far before opening up to rocky mountain fields. Tanner was easy enough to spot, and we were drinking in his scent too. My wolf added it to our collection of smells, and we should have no problem recognizing Tanner by scent now.

Faster. Harder. We pushed down slopes and up hills. Tanner was a bolt of lightning, weaving through trees and over rocks in no discernable pattern, making him the most difficult thing I'd chased, probably ever.

Not bad, June. Let's see if you can follow me through the water , Tanner taunted.

We ran along the side of a very steep hill, and Tanner jumped down the sharp slope to a lake at the bottom.

I hesitated, but watching him land with a splash in the water, I saw that it would be fine. I backed up, then leaped off the steep hill, landing with a splash of my own.

Swimming with paws was very different, and I panicked for a moment until my wolf helped us steer upward. We broke the surface of the water and took a deep breath.

Now, where did Tanner go?

We paddled to the nearest shore and shook out our fur. I looked around sharply. There was no sign of Tanner, but there were plenty of trees to hide in. We sniffed the air but didn't catch any hint of Tanner.

Walking into the trees and looking around for tracks, a gray motion caught the corner of our eyes. I whipped our head around, just to see the end of a tail disappear behind some brush.

Yes!

My wolf was excited. We chased after the tail, twisting around a fallen tree and leaping over a puddle. I caught the scent of the wolf in my nose. It was Tanner! Or was it? The smell of Tanner was definitely there, but so was another musk of a wolf I hadn't met.

There, the rustling of a wolf against low branches off to the side. Making the decision that this was some kind of trick, my wolf and I abandoned the not-quite-right Tanner and went after the new one.

I got a much better glimpse of the wolf this time as it ran between trees. It looked a lot like Tanner, but again the smell wasn't quite there.

Deciding to stop, my wolf and I sat in the middle of the trees.

What do we do now?

Smell.

I closed my eyes. My wolf mostly took over when we were smelling things, and I sat back and let her do her thing as we smelled the air around us.

Suddenly, we were on our feet and walking back toward the lake. Nose to the ground, we ran without really looking until my wolf took me to a paw print. One single print in the muddy bank before Tanner had jumped into the thicker grass that wouldn't leave signs as easily.

But now we had him. The smell, the direction of the print, we ran. Tanner had taken a sharp turn, another trick to confuse us, but it wasn't going to work this time. With his scent in our nose and his trail in front of us, there was no way we were going to lose him this time.

More wolves. A distraction. They were intentionally showing small bits of themselves and making noises. I would have smiled if I had my human mouth. Clever, but not clever enough.

The scent was getting stronger, we were getting closer. Through the trees and around large rocks, we chased the trail. As it grew stronger, my heart raced with excitement.

Here!

My wolf insisted we had found where the trail ended. I looked around, confused. There wasn't much around us. A rocky cliff to one side, and a few sparse trees to the other.

Here?

Yes, here.

I looked around again, and the lines in the dirt might barely be claws pushing off the ground as someone jumped. Jumped to . . . a thick but low-hanging branch in a gnarly old evergreen tree. I ran to it, putting our front paws as high on the tree as I could get them, and let out a long howl.

"All right, all right, you found me." Tanner chuckled as he dropped out of the tree. He had shed his wolf form and hidden as a human. Clever—as a human he was much smaller and it was easier to hide.

I sat down, satisfied with myself as two other wolves came out of the trees to sit around us.

The other wolves threw back their heads and howled. I was so excited that I joined them.

Tanner walked over and patted me on the back. He nodded to the other wolves, then beamed at me with approval.

"Well, boys, we have found ourselves a tracker."