“We’ve got company.” He shifted and waited for me to do the same.
I hurried out of my clothes and made way for my wolf. His heightened senses surveyed the area as he followed Dante. The dappled sunlight played against the crushed leaves littering the forest floor. Richly textured bark adorned the towering trees around us as my wolf cut between the trunks. Various scents drifted by. The earthy, musty scent of rich, dense soil competed with the stale aroma of an old rodent den. Sage mosses clung to sharp rocks, shining with moisture as they neared what would become a perimeter line.
A familiar scent caused my wolf’s hackles to rise and he burst ahead of Dante. Fresh, as though it had just been laid, was a territory marking announcing the presence of the enemy. Thisone I recognized as one of the prisoners that had worked her way free earlier that day. Two others I didn’t know, indicating our former prisoner had clearly been joined by a larger pack. They’d followed us.
My wolf sent communication through the pack bond, pushing certain wolves out to the perimeter to relay what they found. He roamed a little farther, catching another marking with one of the same scents and two others. Another, just beyond. They were trying to entice us farther and farther out.
A moment later, my pack members all came back with the same findings. The enemy was trying to draw us out, spreading out our people, leaving gaping holes in which they could push through. A disorganized pack would fall for the bait, recognizing the enemy by the few they knew and going on a chase. With us scattered, the enemy could dart in and grab their prize.
It was as obvious as it was rudimentary. Only untrained or untested alphas would fall for something so obvious.
“How could they think this would work?” I asked as my wolf brought everyone back in and tightened up our defenses. We’d pull the perimeter in a little and cut down the space between sentries. The rest of the pack would cluster in the middle, keeping Aurelia at the center. “We hit their village hard and fast with an excellent strategy. They should know the experience level they are dealing with from that alone.”
“They walked out of our line earlier today and disappeared without a trace. You might’ve been checking on our true mate, but the rest of the pack was on hand. Standing around. Didn’t matter. We didn’t even smell them on the trail as they left their little breadcrumbs for their packmates. They might very well think this would work. Now they know it won’t. An enemy can still learn something from a failed attempt. The question is, what will they do now?”
Those were all good points.
My wolf headed to check in at each new station of the perimeter. We had to ensure there were no holes in the defenses. When he was done, and after a final check to make sure all was well and there were no new markings, he headed toward the supplies. We’d need to organize those in a way that protected the animals and the carts. A raid had the potential to be just as devastating as an attack.
As he did, he said, “When we get back, you are to make good with our true mate. She is hurting. You’ve ripped her life apart. It is your duty to support and help her. Stop pissing her off and chasing her away.”
If only our circumstances didn’t make that so damn difficult.
Chapter 19
Aurelia
“Hello, darling. Good journey?” Hadriel sidestepped someone hurrying by before reaching me, his mustache a little mussed on one side and his hair standing on end as though he’d repeatedly run his fingers through it. He quirked an eyebrow at me. “I’m your monitor once again. Thank the fucking gods and their kinks, am I right? I was bored out of my fucking face today. Come on, sit down. Let’s get some wine and be merry, shall we? We have to wait a while for everything to get setup before we can tuck into that product of yours. Be honest with me.” He gave me a side-eye. “You’re being truthful about its safety, right? You seem like you believe it one hundred percent. And you just popped that one thing you found on the ground into your mouth. That could’ve come from anywhere and you just chucked it right in. Are you some sort of ethereal being that isn’t affected by the woes of mortals? Is that why your product doesn’t kill you?”
I twisted to try and stretch out my back before kneading my legs. “I’m definitely not ethereal. You’ll be okay, I promise. And if half of the stories you told me are true, you’ll be more than fine. If you step into a nightmare, I’ll be on hand to coachyou back onto the right path. I have a lot of experience guiding people through a rough journey.”
“I love the lingo you’ve devised. Great marketing technique.” He motioned for someone hurrying by. “We need wine. Alpha’s orders.”
He got a funny look, but the woman nodded and changed direction.
“A little white lie for his favorite prisoner.” He patted my knee. “While we wait, tell me a story. A happy one, for a change. You do have a happy story that doesn’t end in a horrible situation, I trust?”
As it turned out, I didn’t have very many. Not that appeased him, at any rate. Things I found solace in, for example, made him unbearably depressed—his words, not mine. Recounting little highlights of my day made him grimace at me. Having lived a life as colorful as his, I could see how my small victories and the little nothings that made me grin would seem lackluster in comparison.
After we’d gotten our wine—it was delicious; I’d never had anything so fine—a man with a pot belly and dirty apron set up a few cooking contraptions that weren’t much more than a pot set over an open fire. He set up a table as well, cutting vegetables and fresh-looking raw meat I assumed had been hunted recently. I didn’t see many herbs, and when water was brought to him and as he prepared to get his cooking underway—a stew, I presumed—it was clear he didn’t have much concern for the taste of his end product.
“No.” I was up before I’d realized, putting out my hand to stop him from turning for the pot with the items he’d just picked up. “No, no.” I hadn’t meant to intercede, but I motioned for him to put the items down again anyway. He took a step back in confusion. “No, you don’t just throw it all into the pot and hope for the best. Here, let me help.”
Helping essentially meant I took over completely. He didn’t seem to know which herbs to use and which ones he was missing entirely. I found it hard to believe they’d have such amazing wine but sit down to a flavorless meal.
“Did you guys happen to steal my supplies from the work shed?” I asked Hadriel as the meat seared at the bottom of the pot with the few spices they had on hand.
“Uh...” Hadriel looked around, wine glass in hand. He hadn’t bothered to get up when I’d decided to take over the cooking operations.
It turned out they had. The alpha was very thorough in procuring my belongings, and not just from the work shed, either. Dante walked up with the spice rack from my kitchen and I wondered if the alpha had thought it was meant for the product. Why else would he have grabbed it? Given the state of their cooking setup, I could see the confusion.
“My dirty uncle, what is all this?” Hadriel asked when the spices were delivered. For some reason, the alpha wouldn’t release any of the dried herbs he’d taken from the work shed. He probably thought I’d create some sort of plague with a bit of basil.
“I like to cook,” I said as I grabbed what I needed and turned toward the pots. “That’s putting it mildly, actually. My favorite thing to do when I get home from work is to look around at what ingredients I have on hand and use them to make something. Granny rarely gave us anything exotic, only on special occasions, and sometimes the meat was too tough for anything besides stew. I’ve gotten very good at stew?—“
“You realize she is rolling in gold, right?” Hadriel said, standing next to me now and watching my efforts. “She’s swimming in it. She could give you enough food for daily feasts if she wanted to. It’d be a drop in the well.”
I held up my hand, closing my eyes. “Please, I’m not ready to hear any of that. I need to process it, and I can’t do that right now, not in this situation. Let’s just pretend my reality hasn’t changed, okay? I need that.”
