My chest ached as I watched Liam disappear into the forest with his brother. They'd be able to shift away from me, and that scared me. Too easily they had both bloodied the other. I cringed, wanting to stop him.
"Don't worry. He'll be all right," Steve said.
"Thanks," I whispered, even though I didn't believe it. Too many unknowns saturated this plan. Aaron gave up too soon. I saw the fury in his face. I didn't like this.
"Nothing's going to happen," Steve said as if reading my mind. "That's why Liam's going with them. He's keeping tabs on Aaron. As long as Liam's with him, he can't do anything to you or Ty."
I slumped down to the ground and leaned my back against a tree. Tucking my knees to my chest, I fiddled with a twig in the dirt. "But that doesn't keep him safe," I said.
Steve sat down next to me. "Hey, the guy didn't become Alpha from the lottery. He's smart, strong, and very skilled. He's dealt with his brother before. He can take care of himself. Don't worry so much."
"You really have a lot of faith in him, don't you?" I asked, lifting my gaze. Steve seemed so young, alone, without the others. He reminded me of a little brother, had I had one.
"Liam came to me when I had no one. He taught me to be who I am, how to live the way I do. I'd follow him to the ends of the earth if I had to. I owe him my life."
The candidness of Steve's words shocked me. "What happened to you? I mean, how did you..."
"Become a werewolf," Steve said with a small grin.
"Yeah."
"My mother was a photographer for a small wildlife publication in New York. I was on Summer Break, so I joined her at the location she was at in Australia. Rumors sprang of a wild dog break, tearing up the local farmsteads, mostly killing livestock and the likes. While my mother was out one night, doing a shoot, she was attacked. They brought her to the local hospital. I never left her side. Perhaps in hind sight I should have, for when she shifted that first night, I was her meal."
"What?" I gasped, staring at him. I couldn't summon a coherent response.
Steve shrugged, his focus on the dirt, as he picked at it. "It's okay. It wasn't her fault. The first shift without anyone helping you is terrifying. Her wolf was scared and the natural instinct of a wolf when scared is to attack. I doubt she knew it was me."
Wow. I couldn't believe how strong he was being. My problems felt so small. "What happened to her?" I asked.
Steve fidgeted, and I regretted the question. "The medical staff," he said, "put her down." "They didn't understand. They saw a wolf attacking a kid. They stopped her."
"Steve, I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he said, not looking at me. "I didn't shift until after I was flown back here. Liam picked up my scent. He took me in. The pack's my family now. They can be a little annoying," Steve said with a forced smirk, "but they're all I have."
I took a breath and exhaled. "I don't even know what to say."
"The point is, trust Liam." Steve nudged me in the side with a small grin. "He won't fail you."
I decided I really liked Steve. "Maybe you're right."
"That makes you the first person to admit that this year," Steve said with a chuckle. "Maybe you can talk to the others?"
I couldn't help but laugh, and shook my head. "I'll try," I said.
My gaze drifted to the surrounding woods and I wondered what Liam and the others were doing. "Do you guys...hunt a lot?" I asked. The vision I had of them killing some animal with their own claws and teeth made me woozy.
"Every night," Steve said. "Sometimes twice a day. Once you've had raw meat in wolf form, it's kind of hard to turn back. We eat mostly that way."
He must have seen my appalled expression because he added, "It's an acquired taste. You'll see once you've made your first shift. Everything changes."
My gut knotted. I still didn't believe that I could ever do something like that, never mind turn into a wolf.
I stood up. What was taking them so long?
"Shouldn't we have just demanded to be taken to Ty?" I asked. "She's probably scared stiff and all alone. She could even be tied up, or worse." I started to pace.
Steve watched me from the ground. "Probably," he said. "But Liam knows how to play his brother's games. We already demanded for them to leave our territory, to make another out right demand, we'd have to challenge him again." Steve shrugged, standing up. "It's politics, Charlotte. One win, equals one resignation."
"But I can force him not to change, Steve," I said with a groan.
"True, but I think Liam wanted to try to do this as peacefully as possible. I don't know Aaron really at all, so I'm just guessing. I don't think you want to make Aaron more upset than you have to. The guy's a little loony."
"That's why I'm worried about Ty," I said.
It didn't matter anyway, they already left. No one would run back here just because I wanted them to. At least I didn't think that possible.
The cell phone in my pocket rang and I muttered an obscenity under my breath. Couldn't my father let it go this one time? I told him I'd be home soon. Pulling the small black phone from the pocket, I flicked it open. "Dad, please. I'm okay. I'll be home..." My voice broke off and everything in me went cold. "Ty?" I asked.
She spoke so fast, I could barely understand her. Steve jumped to my side, listening. "Okay, Ty, calm down," I said. "Where are you?"
"I got away," she said. Her voice trembled. "I need your help. I'm trapped. I'm in some kind of underground tunnel. I can't find the way out. It's so dark."
I tried to take a deep breath. "Okay, how'd you get to where you are? Where was he keeping you?"
"In the basement of an old barn," she said. "I don't know. I just managed to get out and I found this passageway. I thought it would lead me outside. There's water everywhere. I can barely see. I'm so scared."
"There must be an old well system under the farm," Steve said.
Ty screamed.
"Ty?" I yelled back.
Sobbing filled the receiver. "I thought I saw something move," she said. "Please, Charlotte. I'm so scared."
I turned to Steve. "We have to get her."
He looked torn. "We should wait for Liam," he said. "They're supposed to meet us here. There'd be no way for them to know where we were."
"We'll leave a note!"
"Charlotte," he said with whine.
"Do you hear her Steve? She's in trouble. She needs us now. I'm not leaving her there with who knows what down in some dark tunnel. She needs us. I am going with or without you."
The phone still to my ear, I started through the woods. I had no idea what direction to go in, but I didn't care.
Steve's hand landed on my shoulder, stopping me. "What if it's a trap, Charlotte? I'm supposed to protect you."
I glared at him. "How can it be a trap if Liam's with Aaron and his pack? Please." I shook his grasp free and continued forward. Another scream filled my ear.
"Ty?" I asked.
"I think someone's down here with me," Ty said. "I think I'm being followed. Please help me."
"I'm coming, Ty. Don't wo..." My phone beeped twice and then fizzled out. "No, no, no!" I smacked my cell phone several times, but the connection was gone. "I lost her. It's dead." Stress poisoned my veins.
I strode forward, pushing the loose branches from my path. I could hear Steve behind me, but I couldn't even see. He grabbed my arm.
"I'm going, Steve."
"That's the wrong way," he said.
Steve shrugged and gave a weak smile. "Liam will kill me if I let you out of my sight."
I felt like crying. "Thank you," I said.
He titled his head to the side, and pointed up at the halo of branches overhead. "The moon's over there. So that means East is this way." He pointed in the opposite direction. "If we head in this way, we should end up at the main road. It will lead us to the old farm. It's a good hike though, about six miles from where we are."
"Six miles?" This would take forever on foot. Ty needed us now.
"I can shift and you can ride me," Steve said with a shrug. "It'll be a lot faster. Of course, you'll have to hold on harder. We won't exactly be loping."
The thought of riding a wolf at a full out run, leaping over logs, twisting and turning on a dime, made me cringe. I knew I'd fall off.
"Let's do it," I said.
Steve didn't hesitate. He stepped under the covering of the brush. They snapped and popped, shaking as he changed form. With a low gurgling sniff, Steve's long angular nose poked through the shrubs. I could hear my pulse in my ears.
Steve, the smallest in the pack, stood leaner and far lankier than the others. His dark brown coat had white spattered around his muzzle, and his eyes, although gold, still held their human likeness. I stared, seeing the intelligence behind the animal. Steve cocked his head to the side and I turned away.
I needed to find something to write on.
"We better leave a note," I said. I needed to focus. Of course the woods left little to work with.
Steve grunted and pushed his large wolf body past me. I watched, curious as to what he would do. How could a wolf leave a message?
Steve stopped in front of the large oak tree and pushed up onto his hind legs, resting his forepaws on the bark. Scratching down, his claws sliced letters into the tree.
My jaw dropped. "You can write with your nails?"
Steve gave a wolfy grin and I shook my head. Why should I be surprised? At this point, anything had become possible.
He finished his carving and then hopped down, motioning for me to look. With a deep breath, I approached his art.
'Ty in trouble. Went to Farm.'
"That'll work." I said. "Come on, Ty needs us."
The tremor in her voice still rang in my head. I even forgot about my fear of riding Steve as I hoisted myself up on his back. I did better this time on my mount, and gripped the scruff on his neck. My thigh muscles squeezed his ribs.
"Okay," I said
Steve lunged forward, and I buried my head against his neck. He bounded and moved through the foliage at an ever-increasing pace, his stride more rude and choppy than Liam's had been. I hung on with all my might. Each twist of his hindquarters made my hips slide in the opposite direction. I did everything I could to keep Ty my focus, the one rationale of why I needed to be up there.
My body felt numb when the old weathered farmhouse came into view. Steve's nose gave a short, snarled sniff. A faint mist of breath circled his nostrils as he stopped about a hundred yards from the farmstead. Still under the faint covering of trees, I peeled my hands from his hair, and slid down. My knees wobbled and I almost lost my balance. Steve caught my shirt with his teeth, holding me in place.
"Thanks." I said. My cheeks burned, but he didn't seem to notice. He stared at the house and the dirty, sage colored barn. Most of the windows had been broken and the panes wore thick layers of dust. The place had to have been abandoned for at least a decade. Even the large, rolling barn door leaned half off its hinge, cracks splintering it in more than one place.
In the bleak lighting from the moon, the place gave off an eerie vibration. Everything was too quiet. Not even a bird rustled. A pit formed in my stomach.