Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Camp was already chattering when I woke. I could hear people up and moving around. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I stood up and stretched my body. My wrists were a little sore from where Elijah had held them, but other than that, I felt good and rested. I dug through my backpack, thankful for the deodorant I had put in there “just in case.”

Stepping outside, I made my way to the main tent, hoping Kostas was cooking something for breakfast. My stomach ached when I walked in and found muffins and eggs on the table. Beyond the table, the couch Everett had slept on was empty.

“It’s a miracle,” Jack said, seeming to have noticed where I was looking. “His arm looks way better than I thought it would. He woke up early this morning and was ready to hunt. You must really know your stuff.”

I sat down and dished up my plate with food. I’d expected that Everett’s arm would be better than last night, but I hadn’t thought it would have healed enough for him to hunt today. Maybe Lycans healed faster than humans.

I relayed my thoughts to Jack.

“We do,” he said, “but not to the capacity that Everett healed. I thought he would be out of the hunt for the weekend.” Jack patted my back in appreciation as he dished up his own plate.

That was surprising to me. Yarrow had healing properties, but it wasn’t anything magical.

After breakfast, Kleio approached me giddily, bouncing up and down. “We have most of the day to ourselves. Let’s go on a scavenger hunt again—this time without the babysitter.” Her eyes were alight with anticipation.

I nodded, ready to be back in the woods. Maybe we would get lucky again like last weekend.

We stopped at my tent to grab my backpack, my supplies ready to go from when I’d packed them on Friday. I slung my pack over my shoulder and followed Kleio across the field.

Snarls and growls broke up the quiet as we neared the edge of the forest. The cages holding the rogues were more crowded than last weekend. I could tell the difference between the rogues that had been in the cage since last weekend and the ones that had been freshly caught. The ones who’d been here longer were thinner and more aggressive. They looked dirtier and more ragged.

Looking up to the banners above the cages, I smiled, seeing that the Cedar Moon Pack was in the lead with fifteen rogues. The rest of the cages had fewer captives, although Kip and Elijah’s cage with the Juniper Pack banner above it had about ten rogues. It was surprising they could continue to hunt after Everett had injured Kip so badly.

Quickly, the smile left my face as I felt overcome with bittersweet feelings. Yes, the Cedar Moon Pack was winning, but what were they winning at? Catching the obviously sick rogue wolves? It didn’t seem fair that they should have to be locked up for a month in misery. And while my situation was certainly different than theirs, I knew a thing or two about being trapped here. Was there something that could be done to help the rogues who had been captured?

Before I could think more on it, Kleio pulled me past the cages and into the forest, the cool air from the shade of the trees blowing over us. I was coming to enjoy the quiet moments with Kleio. She was always insightful and willing to answer my questions. The yarrow was plentiful out here, and occasionally I would lean over and pick some, placing it gently in my pocket. Never knew when you’d need some around these shifters. The path in the woods widened, allowing Kleio and me to walk side by side.

“So, I saw you and Everett on the couch last night.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

Not her too, I thought. At least she wasn’t as overbearing as Jenny. She seemed to be genuinely interested in whatever was going on between Everett and me and not about to tell me how to navigate the situation.

A tree to my left caught my eye. It was growing almost sideways, parallel to the ground. I rubbed a leaf between my fingers. Nothing rare, just an oak tree growing oddly.

“I don’t know what it is.” I decided to be honest. “One minute he’s all authoritative and bossy, and the next minute he’s being sweet.”

We continued walking on the trail. I scanned the forest in a back and forth motion, not willing to miss anything of interest.

“Male Lycans are known for being dominant and protective,” Kleio said. “Jack used to drive me crazy with his domineering attitude. I put him in check real quick. It has gotten better, but you need to understand that they can’t fight their instincts.”

“Instincts to do what?”

“Protect, silly.”

“If it’s every Lycan’s instinct to protect, then Kip and Elijah never would have attacked me,” I said.

“Well, it’s not about protecting everyone. It’s their instinct to protect those who are…important to them.” Kleio said, looking at me like I should know what she was talking about.

“How am I important to Everett? He’s hardly talked to me, kissed me once, and spent the rest of the time ignoring me.”

Kleio’s eyes grew wide. “He kissed you?” I nodded my head, and she started smiling. “How was it? I mean, what did it feel like?”

I looked down, trying to put into words what the kiss had felt like. “It was a good kiss? I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Kleio.”

“Think about how it felt. What did you feel?”

I had felt a lot of things with that kiss. It was as if the world had gone fuzzy around us and all my senses had focused on Everett.

I tried to put what I had felt into words. “It was consuming. I felt like there was something between us that kept pulling us closer together.” She nodded knowingly. “What, Kleio? What are you not telling me?”

She stopped walking and turned to me, grabbing my arm, making sure I had her full attention. “You’re important to Everett. I think he likes you, Elise. He wouldn’t have risked losing the hunt by coming to save you yesterday if he didn’t care.”

“Is that what you feel with Jack? The overwhelming feeling?”

She smiled at me, reminiscing. “Totally. I felt it from the first time we touched.”

I broke eye contact with Kleio and looked around the forest where we were standing. It was calming, as it always was, its sounds soothing. Something inside of me felt unsettled hearing Kleio’s words. I wasn’t imagining what I was feeling—Kleio had the same feelings with Jack. But that made me even more uneasy. They were deeply infatuated with each other. I couldn’t imagine getting to a place like that with Everett. It wasn’t the reason I’d come to Minnesota.

“There it is!” Kleio broke away and jogged to the red mulberry we had transplanted last weekend. I followed her, eager to see how the tree was faring. Transplanting could be hard on trees, especially one so young.

She crouched down next to the sapling, admiring its leaves. “Looks good, right?”

I bent down next to her, letting my knees squish into the soil. I rubbed a leaf between my fingers and ran my hand along the trunk, giving it a slight wiggle to see if the roots had grown and stabilized the tree. Everything checked out.

“It looks great!” I said. “I would call this a successful transplant.”

Kleio stood up, stepping back, admiring the tree. “It really feels good to save a tree, even just a small one.”

“Every tree is important to the forest. Everything around us is in a symbiotic relationship, relying on each other to survive.”

She looked at me funny, cocking her head to the side. “That’s kind of like our pack house. We eat together, work together, and live together—everyone working toward a mutual interest.”

“Yeah, kind of like a…pack house?” It was my turn to give Kleio a funny look.

“I forgot you know nothing of shifter culture.” She could sense my puzzlement. “We live in a pack house, which is basically a large house with a bunch of smaller apartments for the families that are a part of the pack. Living together as a family is very important to us. Some members have their own places close by, but most of the pack lives in the main house. It’s like living with all your extended family.”

My face must have contorted into a disgusted look at the thought of living with my entire family.

Kleio laughed. “It’s great. People who support you constantly surround you. Plus we throw some exceptional parties. You should come to the party we’re having next weekend to celebrate the end of the Deca Tournament!”

Being at another event surrounded by shifters was not something I wanted to do, but I was politely and told Kleio I would think about it.

With the mulberry doing well, we spent the afternoon walking the woods, me naming plants for Kleio between bites of the sandwiches she had packed. She spent a lot of time trying to get information about Everett from me. I kept my lips closed. Her tracking skills weren’t as bad she claimed them to be, and we made it back to Camp just in time for the evening meal.

Dinner was delicious, as always, and I retired early to my tent as the sun was setting. Tomorrow I could get back to the cabin. I knew Jenny would assume I’d spent the weekend with Wilder…which felt strange to play along with now. But what else could I tell her? That I’d been with…Everett? It wasn’t like I could tell her the truth. For the past week and a half, I had basically done more of Jenny’s research about wolves than I had done of my own.

In my head, I tossed around the idea of telling her about the shifters. I didn’t know her that well; I had only just met her. While it would be nice to have a sounding board who wasn’t a shifter, she seemed only interested in telling me what to do instead of listening and giving advice, and I didn’t know yet if I could trust her with a secret like this.

I got ready for bed, still wearing my leggings and shirt from Friday. I made a mental note to pack a change of clothes along with my deodorant since I continued to end up in this situation. Since it was a weekend-long event, no one showered or bathed. It was truly camping, with no running water or electricity. Luckily I had practiced in taking care of my needs in the woods, or being without a toilet would be mortifying. I scrubbed my teeth with my finger and a bottle of water, doing the best I could to keep clean. This level of hygiene was not what I was used to.

I lay in my bed for a while, the glow of the moon gradually lighting my tent. The cloudless night gave the moon nothing to hide behind, and it shone brightly in the sky. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the glow beneath my eyelids. I sat up in bed, rubbing my face. When I couldn’t sleep my mind raced. Mostly with thoughts about my research. It was hard to escape camping in a tent in the woods, the sounds and smells of nature constantly surrounding me.

If I couldn’t sleep, I might as well put my wakeful mind to work. I still needed to sketch the red mulberry and take some notes about its surroundings. Now was as good of time as any.

It was remarkable how bright the moon was tonight. The moon was like a flashlight in the sky, lighting the earth. I crossed my fingers that I’d remember the way to the red mulberry. Twice now, I had been to the tree and the stream it grew next to. The topography class I had taken in undergrad taught me that water flowed at low points in the forest. If I was walking on a slight decline, I would be going in the right direction. Hopefully I was as good of a tracker as the shifters.