And then the older man, who had incredible powers of observation, winked.
* * *
They were racing through the woods, full bore on four legs, their keen night vision and even keener sense of smell trained on finding any traces of the missing hiker, any signs of his being injured or unconscious and unable to call for help.
Under the moonlight, in their fur-covered forms, their bodies were free to ripple with power, their strong muscles propelling them through with a unified purpose. The telepathic link was flowing throughout all five and keeping them in sync.
Theoretically.
What thefuck, Col!Barric’s thought rumbled through the link.
Shit!I didn’t mean to send—Col scrambled to apologize, while his body was still hurtling through the woods at the speed of one of Simon’s smaller vehicles.
Merek’s thought chimed in.At least give us more entertaining thoughts for hours on end than how comely her face is, or how her eyes warm your soul.
Aylwyn started to send an image, and Col couldn’t stop himself from leaping towards the blond wolf at high speed, his fangs bared and a growl ripping out of him.
ENOUGH!TheVixar’sthought lashed through their minds, as Aylwyn deftly dodged Col, and the auburn wolf regained his footing when his lunge didn’t connect.
The four wolves all circled Col, who was still snarling, eyes intent on the blond wolf who looked to all the world as if he were grinning.
A wave of energy emanated out of theVixar,and surrounded Col’s auburn wolf, shimmering around it, the molecules shifting. Col’s human form stood in the center.
Tybalt shifted into human form, and the other three followed suit. TheVixar’seyes were steely, and fixed on Col.
“You will return to the house immediately,” Tybalt ordered. “Stay there until we are back from our search.”
“As you say, so shall it be,Vixar.” Col crossed his arms, thumped his chest, but Tybalt and the others had already shifted back to wolf form and run off.
To complete the mission that he was hindering.
In wolf form, their telepathic link was dependent on the strength of theWar-Pack, or if one had an especial facility, as they had discovered Barric to have. Or if the thoughts were so concentrated that they were as if their minds were shouting.
As they had just discovered Col to have.
And the thoughts had been concentrated onher.
It had been his greatest fear, that his out-of-control senses would become that liability for theWar-Pack, so much of a burden that theVixarhad to literally order him to leave.
He shifted back into his wolf form in order to make the trip back to the house, alone with his thoughts of self-recrimination, castigating himself each minute until the backyard of the house was finally in view.
He came to a stop, and shifted into human form in order to enter the house. Despite everything, he still had a glimmer of hope that she would be there. A glimpse of her that would somehow make the humiliation and anguish of what had happened less so.
It was no less than he deserved, then, to find out that she had left just minutes before his arrival.
