Carlos' Peace

Note to the reader: Werewolves can communicate with each other via their minds. Due to limitations of HiNovel at the time of uploading this book, these mental conversations are not designated by italics as they typically would be. However, this should not negatively impact your reading experience, so long as you're aware of how they can communicate. Thank you for your understanding!

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Jim’s stomach growled, and I glanced at Luke and Thomas, who were still talking outside while the rest of us gathered in the lobby for dinner. The cubs wouldn’t be able to keep Jim distracted from his hunger for too much longer.

Grey moved slightly beside me, and I scented a thread of worry.

What is it? I sent him.

Just thinking about that time you tried to make me a grilled cheese sandwich.

My skills have improved.

They have, Carlos. But that was the turning point. I never knew cheese straight in the pan would smoke so much, Grey sent back with amusement.

It’s time for me to take the oath, I sent to remind him I was no longer the cub he’d raised.

Winifred wants to wait as long as possible to give you and Jim both a chance to change your minds. There’s no hurry yet.

Jim laughed loudly and Grey went back to watching the cubs play. He didn’t fool me. Something was weighing on him.

A surge of pain and resentment, not my own, filled my head. I carefully pushed it to the back of my mind. I held so much already. A lifetime of emotions that tore me apart and gave me the strength and determination to keep moving on.

And now, more than ever, I needed to be strong. Leaving the Compound had shaken everyone. Our people needed to know the Elders had a plan and that our race would be safe. The only plan, however, was to reach the next gifted woman. That was fine, though. It was a start for our people and for me because the gifted women—Charlene, Michelle, Gabby, and Bethi—would finally lead me to where I needed to be.

After everything the women had shared, I felt in my gut, the Urbat who wanted them were the same who’d destroyed my life. My family.

I turned away from Grey as the group moved toward the hotel’s dining room. The meal was drawn out by the service and the idle talk. I itched to do something, anything, to keep us moving toward our next step. But I’d learned long ago impatience had a high cost.

Once Grey and I went back to our shared room after dinner, he kept up his teasing reminiscing, worrying me. I didn’t ask, although I wanted to. Instead, I closed myself in the bathroom to brush my teeth, then I went to bed.

It didn’t take me long to fall asleep; but when I did, I watched it happen again. My hell.

An unusual hush fell over the clearing, and Dad lifted his head from the deer he and Mom were eating. Mom nudged me so I stopped nursing and licked my muzzle. Playfully, I nipped at her. She cleaned me too much.

She didn’t answer with a playful growl, though. In fact, she turned sharply toward the woods. Dad growled low in his throat and put himself between us and the trees. A few seconds later, I heard something coming our way. It sounded like Dad coming back from a hunt. But Dad was already with us.

Excitedly, I crouched down to see under Mom’s body. This would be the first time I’d met any other of our kind.

Four of them crashed through the trees. They didn’t slow as they broke into the clearing. Three ran straight at Dad. The snarls that pulled back their lips and exposed their teeth killed my excitement. My heart started to race with fear and confusion.

Dad lunged forward. He was a little bigger than the others, but not strong enough for three. They brought him down as the fourth charged Mom. She stood her ground, a barrier of protection for her young.

The wolf caught Mom’s throat in his jaws and forced her to her back.

In seconds, it was over for my parents. Terrified, I stayed cowering on the ground.

The wolves surrounded me. One changed to his skin, standing on two legs like a human.

“Nothing personal, cub.” Then, he laughed. “Nah, this is personal. You’re worse than the humans.”

He reached down and picked me up by the hind leg. The three other wolves sat back and watched as he yanked my foreleg, dislocating my shoulder. I yowled in pain.

“You need to learn when to be quiet.” He squeezed my muzzle hard. I couldn’t breathe, and thrashed in his hold. Just as lights started dancing in my eyes, the ferns to our right moved. He loosened his hold. I didn’t think. I lashed out with my teeth, sinking them into his forearm. He dropped me, and on three legs, I bolted toward the badger hole I’d sniffed out earlier.

I cleared the entrance with less than a second lead. The wolf chasing me thrust his head in after me, almost catching my tail in his teeth.

A high yip of pain echoed in the clearing.

“Get back,” I heard the man speak as I made my way further into the tunnel. It was a deep one.

“Where do you think you’re going, pup? Your family wants to say hi. Come back out. Don’t make us come in.”

But they didn’t come in. They waited outside and ate the deer we’d brought down as a family. Complete terror kept me locked in the hole. I was hungry and in pain, but I kept quiet, hoping they would think I’d died.

It was another day before they left. It was another day before I ventured from the hole. Birds were picking at my parents’ remains. I quietly chased them away and went to lay by my mom. She smelled bad. I didn’t care. As I lay there, I remembered how she’d cleaned my muzzle. I should have been neater. I should have listened better and not played around so much.

I woke just as the grey-eyed man entered the clearing. The dream always held me until Grey found me. I didn’t mind anymore. It was the only memory I had of my family, and it helped me remember why I was training to be an Elder. My people needed more order. More discipline.

But, the dream also reminded me of what the Urbat had taken from me. What I needed to get back.

Another jolt of anger and fear filled my mind. They were coming more frequently lately. I pulled the emotions deeper and locked them away, hoping that in some way I was helping the one person I wasn’t even sure existed.

While most Males obsessed over finding their Mate one day, I obsessed over my one memory of my family, and the invisible cub in the ferns who’d saved me. The cub my parents’ killers had Claimed and taken with them. The cub I couldn’t remember but was the only possible explanation for all the emotions that came over the otherwise silent link in my mind.

My twin.

****

Travel by car wasn’t ideal. I didn’t fit well in most of them, and they reeked of fumes. Any of us could have reached our next destination quicker and in more comfort in our fur. But the cars did serve a purpose. Their reek covered our scents so that when we stopped at the next hotel, we were safer than we would have been if we’d arrived by paw.

By the time we reached our hotel in the city of our final destination, I had a cramp in my left calf.

“I could eat a goat,” Grey said as I parked. “What about you?” He opened the door and got out, not really waiting for a reply. Grey liked to talk for the sake of talking.

I opened the door and stood with moderate ease. The cramp slowly faded, and I walked to the trunk and removed our bags. The rest were doing the same.

No one talked much as we went inside and split into room groups. Grey and I were sharing again. Now that Luke and Bethi were Mated, and Emmitt and Michelle were Mated, the Elders gave them more privacy while still keeping them close. As in, right next door. Luke’s snores were easy to hear through every hotel’s walls.

Bethi’s muffled words reached us as I unpacked my toiletries.

“I’m going to go talk to Winifred.”

“Want me to come?”

“Nah. She’s just down the hall and these rooms get hot when crowded.”

“Try not to fall asleep.”

“Hmm. Someone wants to sleep in the hall tonight.”

A door closed, and I heard footsteps in the hall.

“She’s a tough one,” Grey said.

“Tell me about it,” Luke said from the other room.

Ignoring them both, I left the room and explored the hotel.

There are three exits for the second floor, I sent to Grey. One at the end of the hall to the right of our room. It leads to a stairwell that lets out at the back of the hotel. The other is at the opposite end and leads to the front. The last is the main staircase, which we came up.

Thank you. I’ll share the information.

Passing Winifred’s open door, I heard her say, “Sam’s out driving to see what kind of place she’s stopped at. When he gets back we can go.” Clay stood in the doorway, watching Gabby walk toward him.

I returned to our room where Grey grinned at me.

“We’re going to go find the girl,” he said.

“When?”

“Sam’s doing a drive by with Gabby’s guidance. Once he knows what we’re heading into, we leave.