Just a Wolf

Dominic

Theo follows behind me in the River Moon SUV. I drive back East on the 299 to get to where we pulled over for the rogues’ car two days ago. I hope I recognize the spot coming from this direction. It’d be embarrassing to have to ask the Alpha or Beta if they remember where it was.

They’re paying no attention to me, of course. Alpha Ross is twisted a little towards me in his seat so that he can talk to Nolan in the back. I’ve never really been so close to our Alpha before. This dude is so huge and intimidating. How can he even find the room to twist sideways in his seat?

I’m scanning the opposite side of the road, and I’m pretty sure I see where we had stopped, so I slow down to pull over, and Theo does the same. When I stop the car, Ross says the first words that he has ever spoken to me directly. He looks at me and says, “Stay with the car,” then gets out with the rest of them, including Evan. I guess he gets to go with them. He meets my eyes for a moment before following behind our Alpha and Beta, to cross the road to the side the fight was on.

It looks like Theo is staying behind with River Moon’s car. Their Beta and Gamma join our leaders. When they have all crossed the highway and disappeared into the trees, Theo gets out of his car and comes and stands at the side of mine. I get out as well, and we stand there, leaning against the car, gazing into the trees.

“I wonder how long this’ll take?” I ask.

Theo shrugs. “It’ll be a while. They’re planning to shift, so they will find it easier to follow the rogues’ scent. Maybe figure out where they went. They’re doing reconnaissance for the battle.”

That makes sense. In our human forms we basically just have human senses. Wolves have far superior abilities to hear and smell.

“What’s the plan after that? What if they find the rogues?”

“They’ll be as careful as they can. They just want to learn enough to prepare for the battle. That won’t be for a few days.”

I look around. It’s not impossible the rogues would show up here again.

I think he can tell what I’m doing. “Don’t worry,” he says, “if the rogues show up we just shift, and then we can mind-link our leaders. They’ll get back here fast.”

That’s another advantage of becoming wolves. In that form we can access the mind-link, which normally only our Alpha and Beta have access to. They can do it while human, but the rest of us have to be wolves to talk to each other’s minds.

A car drives past, heading west, and the driver slows down across the road, starting to pull over. “Need help?” the man says, apparently thinking we are standing here waiting for rescue.

“No, thanks,” Theo calls over, waving him off. He shrugs and rolls his window back up as he drives away.

Theo looks at the trees on our side of the road. “Want to come over here and sit down?” he asks. It’s a good idea, probably best not to be seen standing on the road. Just a couple of cars parked there are less likely to attract attention without stranded drivers next to them.

We move a few yards off the road, and find a fallen log to sit on. We can still see the cars from here.

He takes his cell phone out of his pocket, tries to open an app, then shrugs. “No service out here.” He puts it away.

We sit silently for a few minutes. It’s actually nice to have an excuse to just sit in the forest, the trees looming high overhead, the forest floor a squashy carpet of leaves and pine needles and moss. It smells nice out here. I’d think it smells wonderful if it wasn’t for the fact that I now am familiar with the most fantastic scent in the world. My fingers reach up and brush against her spot on my throat, while I look around at the peaceful surroundings.

“Squirrel,” Theo says, pointing, and I look over at him with a smile. He shrugs. Then, he says, “So you’ve been hanging out with Amelia?”

I look up at him. He’s taller than me, sort of gangly, watching me with dark eyes. His skin is a little darker than mine, I think. He doesn’t seem unfriendly, just curious. “Um, yeah,” I say.

“Hm,” he says, and is quiet for a minute. “Are you, uh, friends with Evan?” He gestures over across the highway, where they all walked away from the cars.

“I guess,” I say. “I didn’t really know him very well before we got here. We’re just roommates.”

He nods, and I suspect that he is wondering about whether we are in some kind of love triangle. Pfsh. If only he knew. I know that Amelia was at the meeting with both Evan and Theo yesterday. I suppose Evan was making it obvious then too. Theo apparently noticed. I wonder if Amelia even saw it. I doubt it. I was unsure yesterday, but since she not-marked me, I have total confidence in her. We are already bonded, and nothing will come between us. I feel sorry for Evan again. Pining for someone that has no interest in you can’t be very fun.

I can’t say any of this to Theo, though. I barely know him, I have to keep my secret, and besides, we’re a couple of guys. Deep conversations about relationships hardly seems our style.

A few more minutes pass, the wind whispering through the pine needles above, some birds calling, some squirrels scampering nearby. Theo breaks the silence to say, “Some of us are going surfing tomorrow. Evan said he’ll give it a try. Want to come along?”

Oh, that’s nice of him. I’ve surfed a few times, Dad taught me when I was younger, and we used to go out to the coast on vacations sometimes. But I wouldn’t want to miss any time with Amelia. I don’t know what she’ll be doing tomorrow. “Um, maybe,” I say. “I like surfing. But I don’t know if they’ll need me for anything,” nodding my head over across the street.

“Okay, just let me know in the morning. We’ll leave after breakfast.”

“Thanks, man,” I say. River Moon people seem really nice. I’m glad that the packs are moving towards an alliance.

Beta Nolan

We’ve tucked our clothes into bags behind a log, and the five of us spread out across the area, following the scent of the rogues. We can’t mind-link with the River Moon wolves, that is pack specific, but I am able to keep track of what Ross and Evan are doing. It seems that the rogues have been all over this area, many times, over many days. It’s hard to figure out whether they have any specific home base. I suspect that the trap they laid for us the other day was just set up at a random spot along the road, not really related to any den they might be maintaining.

After a couple of hours, Ross tells us to head back to the car, and I start loping back in the direction of the road. I get back to the clothes and shift, and am dressing when Ross arrives, followed shortly by Evan.

When we make it back to the road, Michael and Malcolm have already arrived. We gather behind the cars in the forest on the other side of the road.

“Find anything definitive?” Ross asks the River Moon Beta.

“No,” Malcolm replies, “just a lot of random tracks, all over the whole area. I’m starting to think that they just sleep out in the woods. We didn’t find any structures that appear to be in use.”

“Same,” says Ross. “It makes it difficult to know how to approach a battle, if we don’t know where they are going to be.”

Malcolm nods, but says, “I mind-linked with Alpha Kanen, to let him know what we’re doing, and he wants to talk to us about it.” He looks over at the other River Moon members. “So we’re going to drive on up to his lodge. It’s not too far from here, maybe forty-five minutes away. You’re welcome to join us if you like.”

“I would,” Ross replies, nodding. “My Luna contacted me about the plans she is making for the mating ceremony she’s planning, and I’d like to get Kanen’s approval about some details.”

That makes sense. Another handy mind-link ability is between some fated mate pairs. Not always, but sometimes you can communicate directly to your mate’s mind while in human form. It isn’t very reliable, and strengthens during emotional times. But Alphas and their Lunas can usually do it, regardless of the circumstances. Another gift of the gods.

“Great,” Malcolm says. “Why don’t you follow behind us.”

We all load back into our cars, and the River Moon SUV takes the lead this time. Dominic follows behind their driver as we pull off the highway onto a winding back road.