Chapter Twenty-One

Iwalked with my brothers for miles. We moved fairly quickly now, knowing we needed to close the distance. The only reason I believed we could do that was the idea that the werecat was going to need to sleep sooner than us. Move, eat, move, sleep, move. If we were right about this being a rogue, we had to trust that it wasn't moving too fast or too far and hope we could catch up to it.

Moving south, we slowly left the tundra and entered thicker areas of tree coverage. We passed two private homesteads, making us realize the werecat had left the park entirely. I wasn't surprised that people lived in the middle of nowhere like this, but I was surprised we happened across them, and there was no evidence of anyone having been killed. The werecat we were going after had passed right by these humans, but the inhabitants were fine, going about their chores, not realizing that anyone was passing right by them. Only Niko seemed to be as confused as I was by it, but we didn't talk while we moved.

I had enough conditioning at this point to keep up with my brothers. I worked through the initial burn in my legs while me and Davor warmed up during our first hike, and now we kept a solid jogging pace, even with our packs. We were still far weaker than Niko, but the breaks taken were still very short, and we weren't slowing down too much. After a solid twelve hours of moving, Niko was the one who stopped.

"We'll take a long break here. Get your naps in. Six hours off our feet should be a good recovery time. Jacky, you're taking first watch. Two hours, then four of sleep."

With a nod, I settled in for that watch. I wasn't spooked by a bear, and I tried to keep calm, the stiffness in my legs and aching muscles making it both easier and harder. I didn't have the energy to be anxious. All of my energy went to keeping my senses alert. When those two hours passed, I woke up Niko, then fell down with my back to Davor's for a nap.

We started moving after the break without much fanfare. Davor sent an update to Jabari that we were still tracking, and we ate some of the rations Subira had prepared. They were a shock, certainly, but it felt good. I needed it as Niko started jogging, and I ran after him.

Another twelve hours. I had no idea the pace we were going. Just doing my best to keep up with my brothers. Davor was faring better than me, but not by much. Niko was the one who felt like he was at home in the terrain even though it wasn't anywhere near the forest he once roamed. At the end of the run, not even sure of the time anymore, I looked at Davor as he opened the case and started typing.

"Where are we?" I asked him, huffing. We had passed another two remote homesteads closely and gone over a road.

"For you, I'll do this in imperial measurements. We've been keeping a pace of about five miles an hour for twenty-four hours of travel from the campsite. We've covered just over one hundred and twenty miles." Hearing those numbers made me sick to my stomach, but Davor was looking at the computer in his case. "The case has a tracker in it, and the data says our target went around the town of Ambler, definitely avoiding the potential exposure."

"And still heading south," Niko murmured, staring into the distance. "Hasn't rested or hunted yet. What the hell is this werecat doing? Avoiding a town that was in its path when it wouldn't have eaten in over a day? Not killing a single easy meal this entire way?" Niko shook his head but didn't look at us.

"Yes, it's rather unusual," Davor agreed, sighing heavily. "Certainly not within the bounds of what we know about werecats in the Last Change."

"Of course it's not," I growled, frustrated to hear those words from them. "I'm here. It can never be fucking normal."

They both looked at me, a little wide-eyed, as I tossed my bag down.

"I'm taking the first nap," I said, trying to rein in my frustration and anger.

"I'll take the first watch, then," Davor said, his surprise coming through his tone as well as his scent. "Niko?"

"No problem with that," Niko said, his shrug not one I needed to see.

I closed my eyes, trying to think of home. Trying to find some semblance of peace, but of course, I was wandering in an unknown forest with no territory to protect me. My legs burned, and my head hurt. I was asleep quickly, but I knew before my eyes ever closed that it wasn't going to be as restful as I would have wanted.

When I was woken up for watch, I growled at Niko, making him back up and rest a little further away than he had previously. We tried to stay close for security, within a few feet. Niko went a clear five or six away from me, doubling that normal proximity. Watch was simple, with nothing around. It was early morning. Time wasn't fickle in Alaska like it had been in the Black Forest, but the light messed with me just as much as the perpetual dark had when it came to telling time. I was glad it was light out, but it was frustrating to figure out whether I should be tired or not. I tried to piece together the trip so far and realized it was already nearly a week since I had first learned of this mess. It was June 12th already. The days had disappeared on me. It was the morning of June 12th. A week before, Heath was asking me if I wanted to go to the pack meeting. A week before, I went out to dinner with Niko.

"Fuck me," I mumbled to myself, the loudest noise in the immediate vicinity. Nothing reacted to the noise, nature not caring about the frustration of one tired and cranky werecat.

I woke up my brothers and was ready to go before they were. I ate the ration, letting it course through me, accepting the fast and easy energy. My legs hurt far less after the rest, something I had to be grateful for.

"How do you two feel?" I asked Niko and Davor since they seemed even better than I did.

"Fine. You don't do long runs very often, do you?" Niko slung his bag on and looked me over.

"No, definitely not," I said, feeling incompetent all of a sudden. He clearly did.

"It's okay. It can take a really long time to really get used to the limits our bodies can go when we have the resources to make that happen. We'll need to eat soon, though. This should be our last day eating the rations without a proper meal if we can help it." Niko stretched his arms as Davor joined up, his update to Jabari already finished.

"You seem to be doing rather well through this. I heard in Russia you went the distance as well, but I never reviewed that route as much as I should have to get a good idea of it," he said.

"Full run in werecat form for… five hours? Longer?" I said, not enjoying even the memory of it, and it had been years now. I couldn't remember some of the specifics. "That made me want to die." That piece of my memory was clear as day.

Niko started walking, passing me to continue following the trail but stopped behind me after ten or so steps.

"Your endurance is building. It will for a long time, naturally. We're more powerful as we get older," Davor said, nodding in appreciation. "Add to that the fights you've had over the years; it only makes sense that you're doing better with this while Russia had been harder on your body." Davor stopped talking suddenly, looking beyond me at Niko, most likely. I turned to my brother, who was quickly turning away.

"Let's move," Niko ordered.

We started jogging. Checking my watch, an hour passed, and something felt weird to me.

Why had Davor stopped talking all of a sudden? Did Niko stop him?

I tried not to think more about it after a second hour of letting it linger and focused on keeping the pace, my senses alert for any sign of the werecat.

It was at hour five that we had a small break.

"Finally. We're coming up on a heavier area of scent. Lots of other predators as well," Niko said, and three steps later, I caught the same scent. Niko slowed, with Davor and me still following his lead.

The kill was old. Very old. Based on the timeline I had put together during my last watch, it was just under three weeks old. It looked and smelled like it, too. It was almost unidentifiable, but there was also a lot of it left.

"Scavengers should have cleaned this up by now, right?" I knew a thing or two, I hoped.

"Yeah, if it was killed by a normal werecat or just any other predator," Niko confirmed. "It didn't guard the kill. Its natural scent, as you can tell, is different."

"Yeah…" It didn't smell like a normal werecat. It was the same in the basics, clearly different from a werewolf, but there was something in the scent that changed its entire makeup. I would never forget it, that was certain. I hadn't thought enough about it, but while Davor and Niko looked at the kill, trying to learn something, I realized that something was different in the scent.

"Is magic coming off the werecat in the Last Change?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes," Niko answered. "It's the only time the curse we have really presents itself as something magical in the scent of magic being used actively. If that makes sense."

It did. If the twins and Subira were right—and they probably were—magic was in everything, something I mostly ignored because we couldn't smell it in everything. We could smell magic when it was used.

Or can we smell it when it's out of place? Weird.

"Sorry, I didn't think to mention that."

"It's fine. I like figuring stuff out on my own," I said, shrugging.

"Two weeks, not three," Davor finally whispered. "This kill is more recent than the deaths. All the ground we covered, and it took nearly a week to cover what we've covered in a couple of days, if that."

"It was moving slow…" Niko nodded. "We have a chance to catch up, then."

"Yes. I wouldn't doubt if it found a place to rest after this for some time. We need to keep moving and try to find more." Davor started off, leaving Niko and me scrambling a little to follow him.

After another hour, Davor slowed, and we slid to a stop at another homestead, a cabin and a few outbuildings, along with an apparent garden. There were no vehicles nearby, not even an ATV. It looked like there was no one around, but the werecat's scent led up to the door. It had been out of my line of sight when we stopped, but the werecat had broken into the building and destroyed the inside.

"Avoided every home until this one, and it just ate?" I said, truly not understanding this werecat.

Davor ignored me, walking in without a word. Niko didn't follow and grabbed my bag to stop me. He shook his head slowly when I tried to ask why, making me cut the question off before I made a sound.

"It stayed here for some time," Davor whispered. "Days, if not a week…" Davor looked back at us. "It denned in here, but I don't know why. Using human structures doesn't… It's a rogue. It has no attachment to this place or shouldn't."

"Davor?" Niko was cautious, which was a further reminder to keep my mouth shut.

Davor ran a hand through his hair, and I saw the beginning of that frustrated Davor I knew very well. He had a mean tongue when he was feeling a lot.

"This doesn't make any sense," he growled softly, and when he looked back at us, they were a werecat's eyes. "Why doesn't this make any sense?"

"Perhaps we should move on and keep tracking," Niko suggested softly.

"No," Davor growled in return, his eyes damn near glowing in the shadowed home. "I need to figure this out."

"Then we'll stop early. I'll catch us a meal. Help Jacky set this up for us to stay in."

"Okay," Davor murmured, disappearing from view. I tried to take a step, but Niko pulled, and I followed him away.

"Davor hates bad data," Niko whispered quickly, his voice low enough to keep it from reaching Davor's ear. "He hates anomalies. He hates not knowing or understanding something. This werecat is getting stranger with every step we take closer to it. If he snaps at you, snap back, but don't be the first one to snap. Let him ride this out, please. He'll cool off when we eat if he hasn't already."

"How long are you allowed to be gone before I need to write you off as dead?" I asked, looking back at the cabin.

"Very funny. If I'm gone for two hours, come find me with Davor. I won't go far. Going to chase down some close game."

I nodded and stepped away from him, taking his pack when he held it out. He stripped and folded his clothes, putting them on top. I was walking away as he Changed. I had a feeling he was going to be back in less than an hour, dragging a kill straight to the door.

"Davor?" I called as I went in and put Niko's things down, then my own. I could hear him muttering but was unable to make out the words. I found him in the back bedroom, the last room I checked. This was a nice cabin, with two bedrooms, an off-the-grid kitchen, and a bathroom.

"Davor?" I said again.

He was writing notes in a little notebook I hadn't seen before. He stopped and looked up.

"Yes?"

"Niko went hunting," I said quickly. "You okay?"

I saw the spark of something coming to him, that sharpness in his expression that told me I was going to be bitten by him. I lowered my head, ready for it, bracing and preparing myself to have a retort.

It never came. No sharp or mean comment came. I blinked after a moment, seeing him inhale deeply and exhale with his eyes closed. He continued to do it until all the frustration was subdued. It had to have taken five minutes, but he never snapped at me.

"I'm not, but that's my problem and not your fault," he said finally. "The person I'm talking to, my therapist, has been telling me that it's impossible to know everything and I shouldn't… misplace my frustration on people. I'm sorry."

"No problem. You should double their pay," I said, smiling as he looked at me a little dumbfounded. Eventually, he smiled in return.

"I probably should," he agreed. "What are you planning?"

"I'm going to clean up a little so Niko can cook whatever he brings back."

"Let me help," he said, shoving the notebook back into his pack and following me out.