A red fox has replaced Hunter in his hammock, legs tangled in the netting and trapped within his clothes. The more he struggles, the more he traps himself, which only succeeds in making him panic.
“I’ve got him,” Stryker declares, following Bane’s lead, only to quickly withdraw his hand with a yip. “He fucking bit me!”
Huffing in amusement, Mason pushes himself off of me, walking over. As soon as he starts speaking, Hunter begins to settle down, latching on to the bond to ease his panic. Within a few seconds, Mason has him out of the hammock and back on solid ground, plucking off the mask hanging from one of his ears. It’s useless in this form, and I make sure to stay seated, not taking any risks of getting cut or scraped up so that we don’t need to muzzle the poor kid when he’s already freaking out during his first shift.
After several minutes of Mason explaining the process to shift back, Hunter merely cocks his head, a stubborn glint appearing in his eyes. Despite the way he hangs on Mason’s every word, being able to shift is something Hunter mentioned wanting back in Zane’s safe house. He’s also brought it up several times since waking up in the car on our way here, clearly excited about the prospect of finding out what he is, and now that he finally has? It’s obvious he’s in no rush to change back.
With a small bark, he darts over to Adelaide, running circles between her ankles while she laughs before he sprints off, dirt and sand stirred up in a small cloud beneath his paws. Addie sneezes, the guys turning to look at Mason with expectant looks.
Groaning, he cracks his neck. “I’m going, I’m going.” He sets off at a jog, picking up the pace as he wakes up more.
“Off to see how fast he can run?”
Stryker shrugs, but there’s a smile on his face as he shakes out the hand that got nipped. “Can’t blame the kid. You think human teenagers like to test their limits? Nothing compared to a shifter. It’s usually the time pack hierarchy is established, constantly picking fights to see how much we’re capable of before someone knocks us down a peg. It’s got to be worse on him since it’s a completely new form and experience, learning how to roll with the new instincts. I’ll be shocked if Mason manages to catch him at all.”
Bane snorts. “Doubt it unless he pulls a cheap trick. Not like vipers are made for distance running, so he’s stuck on two feet trying to out-maneuver a fox. He’s just lucky we aren’t near a city, so less to worry about. Not too much trouble the kid can get into out here.”
Addie giggles, but her attention is quickly pulled to the sunrise starting to crest over the water. Brushing sand off of her clothes, she walks down the beach, only to kick off her shoes and sit near enough that the water can lap at her toes. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she stares off in pensive silence, soaking it all in.
Xander and Devin show up a little while later, the former offering me a glass of cloudy water. “Bottoms up, newbie.”
“Yay, breakfast poison, my favorite,” I deadpan, exhausted from sleeping so terribly last night. After guzzling it down, the flavor no different than a normal glass of water with a bit of an aftertaste lingering on my tongue, I pass the glass back.
“When you’re hungry, just head to any of the villages. Someone will set you up,” Xander declares. “We’re at the far end of the island near the next bridge if you need anything, but feel free to explore. Heads up though, the current is stronger than it looks, so I wouldn’t risk attempting to swim back, especially at night. So wherever you end up at dusk is where you should hunker down for the night. We’ve already sent word down the chain, so no one will attack you, though they might be a bit wary until they get to know you. The farther out you get, the more you run into people that don’t venture to the mainland often, so they’re more withdrawn. Still, no one is going to let you starve to death.”
As they walk away, I glance at Stryker and mouth,one sec,before jogging after them. We’re still well within eavesdropping distance by the time that I catch up with the two wolves, but it offers the illusion of privacy, at least. Otherwise there’s no way Bane and Stryker would have stayed put, but as much as they want to protect me, they’re also trying to be more careful about straddling the line bordering suffocation after the Zane incident, realizing what a slippery slope it is.
Everything’s just so damn hard, and we’re devolving into a state of mental exhaustion trying to keep up with it all.
They pause to let me catch up. “What’s up?” Xander asks.
“Why didn't you guys ever mention Kara?” As Devin narrows his eyes, I lift my hands in surrender. “Sara told me. It’s just that, well-” I shift between my feet uncomfortably. “How you convinced my mom to bring you along to break me out, I mean.”
Devin replies easily, like the answer should be obvious and I’m dumb for not seeing it. “You've made it plenty clear that you're not sold on this place. Her safety hinges on her existence being kept a secret. So while we may want to help people like her-“ he flicks his gaze over me, assessing and annoyed “-we don't know or trust you any more than you trust us. We’re not going to go out of our way to talk about our pregnant mate to strangers and potentially put her in danger. I don't need to scream to anyone that will listen that I love her. Our relationship is exactly that; ours.”
By the time he’s done with his tangent, I’m grimacing. “Yeah, I really misinterpreted your looks when I first saw you guys. But after hearing about your mate, it wasn’t sitting well and I couldn’t help bringing it up. Especially since we’re still tiptoeing around each other, here.”
Xander mimics my bitter look. “Not something we enjoy by any means, but being undercover to do recon means we've gotten pretty good at faking it when necessary, and adapting to situations on the fly. Ultimately, it all comes down to communication. Kara knows we'd never do anything, and the goal is always rescuing people, not abducting them. Sometimes that's from really shitty situations, and we can't just grab them and run, or risk people following us back home. Same way you made it look like you ran off with your new boyfriend to square things away human side.”
Devin adds, “And worse, a lot of times people don't even know what they are, so they're inclined to think we're crazy and not want to come with us, preferring to stay in their crappy lives.”
"Better the devil you know than the one you don't,” I agree with a sigh.
Xander rolls his shoulders, cracking his neck. “It sucks, but that's the way it goes. More often than not, I'm afraid. Sometimes we can at least get them out of an abusive relationship or point them in a new direction before we call it a wash and come home, though. Kara knows we'd never cheat on her and doesn't mind if we have to pretend to be interested in some chick if it means we can help get her away from an abusive boyfriend or out of a toxic situation. It may not have been what we set out to do, but that doesn't mean the trip was a failure."
I dry my sweaty palms on my shorts. "I'm sorry for what happened in the woods. I wish I would've known all this, then."
Devin huffs, but for just a moment, he drops his standoffish attitude. "I'll admit, I was scared for a second back there, when Aiden lost it. Thought I was going to have to come back to tell Kara that he was dead, find a way to keep the details from her."
He meets my eye, a hard glint to his. "Because Aiden never would have been able to live with himself if he killed you. He would have been terrified afterward that there might be even the slightest possibility that our baby's blood would trigger him too. If he walked away from your corpse and regained rational thought before your men put him down, he'd have done the deed himself."
Feeling like my insides have gone through a blender, I quietly rasp, "I'm sorry."
Looking away from me, Devin gazes off into the forest, rebuilding his defensive shell a little more with every word. "Don't be, it was a smart move. If Kara was in your shoes, I'd hope she'd do the same thing. She's tiny, too, and I doubt that woman could throw a punch at her worst enemy; she's too sweet for her own good.”
He starts striding away without a backward glance, Xander giving me a wry smile before he rushes off to follow. “There's no shame in running if you know you don't stand a chance in a direct fight. Not when your death would as good as kill the people that desperately need you to stay alive."
