“Thank him for me,” I said into Declan’s ear.
Who?
“Your wolf. Evie and Maggie said the others talk to their monsters as if they’re separate beings.”
The wolfish smile Declan gave me didn’t ease the foreboding of his next words.Oh, we’re much older than that. I am my wolf and my wolf is me.
What was I supposed to say to that? I flexed my hands in his fur. “Neat?”
Brilliant. Just brilliant. The man was showing me sides of him I had never even thought about and I couldn’t come up with anything better.
We came to a quick stop in the clearing Briggs pointed to. I didn’t bother to get down as Declan paced the length of the gap in the trees, nose to the ground.
And you couldn’t find their scent trail?Declan asked Briggs.
Brigg’s wolf form swallowed her reply, but I took that to be a no as Declan kept searching. I was no Justice of the Harrowlands, but I had that second set of eyes Declan mentioned. Scanning the clearing, nothing stood out but more sticks and pine needles. I looked again, examining with the same eye that did the pantry inventory. Bushes, snow, wolves still too large for my liking. Wait.
“Dec, those bushes to the right. Why do they look… distorted?”
Everyone crowded close to the bush that had branches sticking up at right angles. Declan sneezed after he chuffed in the air.
Decayed portal magic, but it has a mixed scent, like no single magic made the portal to begin with.
I didn’t know much about magic but that didn’t seem right.
Declan’s toothy smile was adorable.At least we know the wolves didn’t get lost. What a smart mate you are!
I couldn’t tell you why I was blushing, or why the praise filled me up to bursting. Declan had complimented me a million times over the course of our friendship.
The watch can come back and comb the area again. Let’s get home. Last one there gets to explain to Momma why you were at the border!
Declan huffed a lupine cackle into the cold air, swishing his bushy tail, and took off through the forest. All ten fingers and all ten toes, if possible, went into hanging on to his fur. It was only moments before we left his siblings behind. Ravens tracked our progress overhead, calling out a warning to the creatures of Sombermane that death was near. Wind tore at my clothes. I melted further into Declan and streamlined his flight. We were almost one as we blurred through the wood. Something tightly controlled inside me broke out of its box, flooding me with anticipation. For the first time, no one expected me to be anywhere. My list of things to do was down to one and an Old Magic wolf was at my command.
Faster.I called to Declan and scrunched my hands in his ruff, pain easing out of them as I grippedtighter. He howled as he obliged me, running flat out. I barely saw the sinkholes he dodged and the Slip Footed Buck that skidded to a halt just in time not to collide with us. I tried to take in everything and then decided I didn’t need to see anything and just let myself feel as we ate up the miles.
This was freedom. The wind, the fur below me, Declan’s muscles straining hard, his harsh breaths in the frigid air, my hair whipping against my face, and a curl of magic twining through me. It was small, a whisper of connection, but it felt right coming from Declan, as if it had meant to reside inside me all along. I laughed as I let it wind through me, thrilled with the excitement of living. His paws pounded the earth and snow, the cold whipping joy against us. The high lasted right until we skidded to a glorious halt, right into Nightfell.
Chapter 8
Fallon
Declan let out a furious roar. Ned somehow threw up a spray of pea gravel right behind us but no one noticed. Wolf shifters surrounded us. Thankfully, they came fully dressed because there were absolutely hundreds of them. So many that I couldn’t detect the town beyond.
I slid off his back with weak knees, the enormity of my task ahead and the overwhelming welcome settling like a lead ball in my gut. Everyone wanted to touch Declan, all talking at once in a wall of sound only outdone by the cacophony of a bardic band starting up. Lutes and panpipes joined a piano-squeezebox and an Orc’s sitar. Magic made the echo of the instruments reach much farther than it should have.
Lights shot up into the cold sky, bathing the crowd in luminance that highlighted and then hid thesurrounding wolves. Magic breathed through the assembled monsters as some of them dropped into their lupine form. Others clapped Declan on the shoulder, offering so many gifts he couldn’t possibly hold them all.
“Can you help us organize a party to Timbertrail? We might finally get through the woods.”
Declan’s furrowed brow looked as overwhelmed as I felt. Everyone had a request for him, like he had never left.
One small wolf tugged on my sleeve and I dropped to meet her eye.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Declan’s friend. Who are you?”
Her little hands balled up into shy fists. “Missy. But you don’t look like friends.”
