Or her brothers.
Besides, Ralph was a Royal Fairy. If he left the farm, he’d have no powers to protect himself, so why would he leave?
“Are you ready?” Nico had joined them and handed Chaz a rifle.
“You do realize we could have a traitor working on the farm,” she stated the obvious.
“Mom and Dad are checking into the backgrounds of every single person here. There are only five people on the farm that are relatively new and not either a Royal Fairy, a member of the pack, or on the Twilight Crossing Council.”
“Doesn’t mean someone doesn’t have it in for the Wolfairies,” she said. Her entire life, she’d experienced different forms of sex and racism. Many humans feared paranormal creatures, even the ones who posed as your friends.
Something she’d learned the hard way.
Chaz nodded. “We’ll deal with that while you figure out this wolf.”
Nico pointed to the east. “I’ll be near the old lookout, and Chaz will be on the bluff. Drew will be right here watching everything, ready to intervene if necessary.”
“Let’s do this,” she said.
Drew raced behind the cabin and shifted into his wolf form as her other brothers took off to their posts in the woods. The wolf would probably smell them, and he might not show himself since every other time she’d encountered him, she’d been alone.
Drew returned as a wolf. He grunted, standing at her side.
She patted his head. Drew had always been a little different from their other brothers. A little less alpha, but no less a powerful wolf with a deadly bite. He nudged her with his snout.
She inched toward the property line. Chaz and Nico had taken cover, ready to put the wolf to sleep long enough to drag him into the cabin. In the distance, the bushes rustled. The smell of death crept closer and closer. A chill settled in her bones. She swallowed her fear and stepped into the forest, leaving behind the safety of her family home and Drew. When she glanced over her shoulder, all she saw was the thick, gray clouds.
“Drew? Can you still hear me?”
“It’s muffled, but yes. And I can see you as clear as day,” he projected back.
“Here comes the big-ass wolf,” Chaz said.
The whites of the wolf’s eyes glowed under the brightness of the moon and stars. It only served to make his dark eyes more menacing.
“Hold off,” she projected to her brothers.
“Are you crazy?” Chaz responded.
“No more than you.” The hair on the back of her neck rose. The desire to shift grabbed ahold of her system. If the beast attacked, she’d be more capable of defending herself in wolf form. “I want to try to communicate with it before you maim it.”
“We’ve already done that,” Nico said.
“We’ve only threatened the creature.” Leave it to Drew to be on her side. “I’ve got her back, so give her a little time.”
“I’m going on record as not liking this idea,” Chaz said with a long breath. “But I’ll give you no more than five minutes.” Chaz had been the kind of Alpha that listened to the members of his pack. He didn’t rule with a heavy thumb, but when he made a decision, it was final and arguing would only prove to piss him off, forcing him to show his power and strength.
The only wolves that could even come close to Chaz were Nico and Drew. Their bloodline the thickest and strongest of all the packs on earth.
Smoke puffed from the dark wolf’s nostrils. A deep growl echoed in the night. He stopped twenty paces away with his head in the air as he sniffed.
“Can you hear me?” she asked, keeping her projection open so her brothers could hear as well.
If she wasn’t mistaken, the wolf nodded.
“Can you speak?”
The wolf cocked his head, lifting one ear.
“Do you understand me?”
He tilted his head in the other direction before he lowered it and took two tentative steps forward.
“I’m taking my shot,” Chaz said.
“Wait.” She held out her hand. “Come here,” she whispered. “We just want to understand you.”
“Sister, that’s not entirely true. If he killed Ralph, he’ll go before the council, and we’ll all vote to have him put down,” Chaz said.
She knew it to be true and even though the beast smelled like a dead deer left on the side of the road for two days, he had a right to be heard as the accused.
“Talk to me,” she said a little louder.
“Why do you want to lure that creature closer?” Nico asked.
“I sense he’s scared,” she said, holding her hand out as if he were a puppy needing to get a whiff of whoever was about to pet him.
“I don’t know what the fuck he has to be frightened of. The damn thing is huge. Bigger than Uncle Aldo, and that’s saying a lot,” Nico said.
The wolf stopped a few feet away. He raised his snout, getting a good whiff of her scent. He lowered his head, scuffing his foot on the ground.
“That’s an act of aggression,” Chaz said. “I’m not going to wait anymore.”
“All right.” She took her gaze off the wolf and glanced toward the tree.
The ground beneath her rocked with the force of a powerful earthquake. When she looked up, the wolf was on his hind legs about to tackle her. In a second, her brother Drew, in his wolf form, knocked her from the wolf’s path.
Pop!
The wolf howled a desperate cry for help as the tip of the tranquilizer nailed him in the side of the neck. The wolf jumped to his feet, shaking his head, and lunged forward.
Drew, who was a big wolf, dwarfed in comparison to this creature, but Drew stood his ground.
“I’m going to hit him again,” Chaz said.
The
