“I’m going,” Jacy retorted, his feet moving slowly out of the cabin. “Damn, I hope he’s calmed down by the time I reach him.”
“What? Who?” Alinka, or Ali as they all called her, asked as Jacy came around the side of the cabin. “What’s up? You look worried, Jacy.”
“No,” Jacy said far too quickly, Ali’s eyebrows raising as she stared hard at him. “I’ve just got a lot to do and I was just coming to find you. Can you take over scheduling our Sentries? I might be out of camp for a while and want to ensure that’s taken care of.”
Ali broke into a huge smile, her short hair framing her face making her look far younger than she truly was. “Are you serious? Of course I will.”
“Yes, I’m serious, now go and get things organized.” Jacy watched as she spun away excited. “Wait, have you seen Levi?”
“Yeah,” Ali flung over her shoulder, not slowing down as she sped away. “He’s over at the Healer’s, she wants him to go find some plants for her to use. You know he’s the best at that.”
“Thanks.” Jacy headed toward the other side of camp, moments later finding Levi as he left their Healer’s cabin.
“Morning,” Levi greeted Jacy, his blonde curly hair a mess, as usual, his hand tucking some stray locks behind his ear. “You need me for something? I’ve got a list here from . . .”
Jacy didn’t have time so cut him off. “I need you to take over for a bit. Rafe and I have something we need to attend to.”
“Sure.” Levi’s face grew serious. “Can I help?”
“No, we’ve got it covered, but if you can take care of things here I’d appreciate it.”
“All right.” Levi frowned, his blue eyes piercing as he sized Jacy up. “Anything I need to be worried about?”
“No,” Jacy lied easily. “Everything’s all right.”
“Okay,” Levi replied, his stare following Jacy as he walked toward the forest.
He didn’t like lying to his friend but there was no point in worrying anyone and if Levi was thinking about Rafe then his mind wouldn’t be on the job at hand. Taking care of the Pack came first so Jacy didn’t enlighten him. He knew Levi was aware of the lie. The scent of it had hung between them, but Levi knew better than to press him. If Jacy was holding something back then that was his right as Beta and Levi knew the rule: obey.
As soon as he entered the trees, Jacy undressed, wrapping his clothes in a bundle and hanging them from a branch. His transformation was quick, not as quick as Rafe’s, but then again, nobody could transform like the Alpha. He heard his bones break, moving within his body to take the form of his dark brown Wolf.
Once complete he shook his body, the fur rippling as he raised his head and sniffed. Catching the scent of his Alpha, Jacy took off at a fast pace, hoping against hope that he could talk some sense into Rafe.
He was under no illusions that it would be easy. Rafe could be hard-headed and stubborn, but if Ellie was telling the truth, Jacy had no option but to force his Alpha to go in search of the mate that his mother was certain was near.
“Good luck with that,” he told himself as his beast loped through the forest silently.
Tasha jogged deeper into the woods, her pursuers not as far behind her as she’d thought, chastising herself softly. “Lazy bones, you shouldn’t have slept so long.”
She was exhausted, the “long” sleep had lasted all of four hours and she’d been on the run for weeks. Her heart ached as her mind filled with visions of her parents being slaughtered. They were so weak when the rogues attacked that they didn’t stand a chance. The mysterious illness that ravaged her Pack was something none of them had witnessed before and nobody knew how to combat it.
As the illness struck their Alpha had done everything he could, working with their Healers to help those struck down. Only a few weren’t affected and Tasha was one of those. Her mother said she was “blessed” and “lucky” not to have fallen to the illness but Tasha felt anything but.
She nursed her parents as best she could, for five whole days, as they grew weaker and weaker. Then the rogues arrived.
A group of only twenty or so but it was enough to decimate her beloved Pack.
With even the Alpha lying sick in his bed the rogues had swarmed through the camp, picking off her friends as they went. She’d grabbed her father’s shotgun, standing guard at their bedroom door, waiting for the end to come.
She wasn’t stupid. Tasha knew she’d die but she’d have the pleasure of taking at least a couple with her. Then her mom had to go and spoil her plans for a big exit, making her grab some clothes and sneak out the back and into the forest.
Damn! She’d fought her mother until her mom did something Tasha had never witnessed before: she cried.
Her mother actually cried. Shoot. How could she argue with her when she did that? She couldn’t.
Tasha had grabbed some clothes, water, and a few precious items, stuffing them into a backpack and handing over the shotgun to her mom. The twisted smile her mother gave her tore at her heart and she swore she could hear it break inside her.
“Mom!” she’d implored. “Please don’t make me do this.”
“Tasha Montgomery! You’ll do as you’re told, missy.” Her mom’s voice was strong again, holding that air of command she used whenever Tasha didn’t want to do something. “Not only do I need to know you’re alive. You, my darling, have to warn other Packs. There’s something not right about any of this and I’m scared to think that this is just the beginning. Others could be in danger, baby, it’s your duty to alert them to what happened here.”
Tasha’s
