Chapter 19 Challenged
Challenged
Monte
Seven days later, after insisting my Alpha needed to stay home to rest, Felix grew too restless to be housebound any longer.
After much grumbling on both our parts, I finally accepted that the cuts had healed enough for him to work, and he conceded that I could resume my visits to the elderly members of the pack as well.
Ara and I loaded up empty boxes into the pack car that we’d borrowed for the day. Three deliveries down for the day, three more to go.
“By the way….” I began as casually as I could. “Did they mention anything?”
Ara buckled her seatbelt and frowned off into the distance. “No, they didn’t. I asked, but they said that they hadn’t heard anything about Jared or Hunter either. However, they had started to hear some of the same troubling rumors as everyone else.”
That was a problem. As we drove to the next house on our list, I tried not to panic too much about the pattern that had begun to emerge throughout the day.
With each member of the pack that we’d visited, the reception had been warm, but there had also been an uncomfortable atmosphere, as if they had questions, but didn’t know how to bring them up.
When I explicitly asked if there was anything I could do for them, they were all quick to reassure me that I was already doing more than could be expected.
Was it just them being overly conscious since the council meeting or was there something else to it?
“Even if Jared really did go drop Hunter off in the furthest corner of Redrow territory, there still would have been plenty of time for him to get back by now,” I wondered aloud. “Or did he decide to stay with Hunter now?”
All these trips had made me deeply aware of exactly how large our land was, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was taking so long for Jared to return.
It wasn’t so much that I wanted him to be back, but more so that I wanted to hear confirmation that Hunter had indeed been delivered into exile and wasn’t creeping around somewhere much closer.
“If Hunter does show his face, then he won’t get far,” Ara said, reading my thoughts perfectly. “The pack is loyal to you, Monte. If he tries to ask any of them for help, then we will hear of it immediately.”
I tried to accept her words at face value, but it wasn’t easy.
During the week while I’d stayed at the pack house with Felix, dozens of members had visited, each bringing gifts and openly relieved to see that we were doing well.
It was a show of faith that I was grateful for, yet it made me wonder if they were just cowed by Felix’s obvious brilliance.
Did they really accept me or were they just doing as their leader desired? Would I ever find true acceptance here?
Such nagging fears refused to leave me alone, especially as Ara and I finished our deliveries for the day.
Each of the final three visits was more strenuous than the last, with crotchety old wolves complaining about everything under the moon.
They changed their minds a dozen times about what they wanted on their next delivery, and they grouched and complained about how we stacked the nonperishables.
Then, after we rearranged everything, they complained again and demanded that we go back to the previous configuration.
“Was it just my imagination or did I hear Blacktooth really say that Felix had let the pack fall to pieces lately?” I asked once we were back in the car, getting ready to start our journey home.
“I heard that too,” Ara agreed, then looked away. “As well as a few other things. They were… not pleasant.”
I considered asking exactly what she’d heard, but decided against it. Felix had told me not to pay attention to the grumbling of wolves because the Redrows had always been a contentious, loose-tongued lot, but it was difficult to put that into practice.
Ara suddenly cursed under her breath.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s a lot later than I thought. The start of the drive will be fine, but we’re gonna be looking straight at the sun as it sets for the back half of the trip.”
I checked the time, and sure enough, she was right. This was not going to be pleasant.
“You want me to drive?” she asked.
“Nah, I’ve got it.” A few weeks ago that would’ve been a lie and me trying to show confidence I didn’t have. But now, it somehow felt like the truth.
“Alright,” Ara said after a moment, confident in my answer.
I wanted to be confident in myself too and bring us both home, safe and sound. However, the Goddess can bring both good fortune and bad.
Tonight, we had nothing short of the worst luck known to shifters.
During the last hour of our drive, the sun dipped dangerously low.
It wasn’t quite blinding, but it was still painful and forced me to pay much more attention to the road than I otherwise would have.
Watching out for oncoming traffic was a life-or-death struggle, and a single moment’s inattention could spell death.
I did slow down, but that could only help so much.
However, paying careful attention to the road in front of us meant that I wasn’t nearly as aware of our other surroundings as I might have been.
I didn’t see the movement in the trees until it was too late, but even if I had, I’m not sure my reflexes would have been fast enough to salvage the situation.
In a horrible repeat of that fateful night with Felix in the storm, a crack split the air, and a tree slammed down into the road before us.
I drove my foot down against the brake as quickly as I could, but the front fender still crashed into the fallen trunk at a respectable speed.
Ara and I were both jolted forward, and my seatbelt viciously dug into my flesh.
The blood pounding in my head was overwhelming, but I could still make out the sound of Ara groaning next to me. My own teeth were clenched so tight that my jaw stung, and it took serious effort to relax.
Nothing felt broken. When I reached over, Ara seemed to be in the same boat. She had already recovered from her shock and was checking herself for damage.
“You alright?” My ribs screamed in protest, but I didn’t know if that meant they were broken or just bruised.
Ara nodded, her hand shaking as she struggled to release her seatbelt. When she finally managed it, she glanced up, and her eyes widened in horror.
“Monte!” she screamed, but whatever else she was going to say was cut off by the sound of glass shattering behind me.
There was a single moment of blistering pain, then I was falling into darkness.
Waking up had never been this painful before. It was a groggy, miserable experience, and it felt like my head had just been gripped in a metal vise. Nausea churned in my stomach, making me feel on the brink of vomiting.
The world was dark, and for a moment, I wondered if I had gone completely blind. But then I made out the shapes of distant trees. I didn’t dare turn my head for fear of making the nausea worse, but it looked like I was in the middle of a forest clearing.
I was sitting, that much was clear. My hands couldn’t move, but I didn’t know if that’s because I was injured or because they were bound.
The pounding didn’t subside, but my night vision did improve, and I saw movement among the trees.
There were wolves lurking there, and a strange smell filled the clearing.
They reeked of blood and metal, an unfamiliar combination that still brushed against the edge of my memories.
It was almost like something I’d smelled before, but not quite.
My heart then stopped. Where was Ara? Had she managed to escape or were they holding her here with me? I kept her name behind my lips just in case she managed to escape. I didn’t want to give my captors any more information than they already had.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.”
It took a long, sluggish moment for me to realize that the voice hadn’t been inside my head. It sounded so utterly out of place, especially in a situation like this.
But then Jared stepped into view, and I knew that it wasn’t just my imagination. He crouched down before me, draped in a white fur cloak, and gave me a cursory inspection.
“Good, it looks like I won’t need to explain things to you,” he said. “Judging by the fear in your eyes, you already understand that I’m not here to rescue you.”
His lips curled in a feral grin as he watched me, waiting for my reaction.
“Where…” I managed, but my throat was dry and my lips were cracked. Every syllable hurt, but that wasn’t enough to stop me. “Where’s Hunter?”
Jared shrugged indifferently. “Who knows? Maybe he’s dead in a ditch somewhere.
Last I saw him, he was drowning himself in drink, trying desperately to forget how he’d just ruined his entire life.
He blamed me at first, of course, but he eventually realized that he was just as much to blame for his current circumstances as anyone else. ”
So that was it then. Maybe Hunter was a piece of garbage, but Jared had at least played some role in his downfall. For all I knew, Jared had convinced Hunter to return and assault me.
Jared leaned closer. “But Hunter’s really not the one you should be worried about right now.” He then gave me a more thorough look up and down, slowly appraising me as if I was a piece of meat. Richly marbled meat, judging by the satisfied gleam in his eye.
“Why?” I croaked. “Why are you doing this?”
He watched me intently, searching for something in my face. Going by his frown, he didn’t find what he was looking for.
“He really didn’t tell you, did he?” Jared asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. “You have no idea who I am.”
I swallowed and shook my head, no idea what the idiot was talking about.
Suddenly, Jared laughed aloud. It was a full-throated laugh too, complete with throwing his head back. In my peripheral vision, I saw that some of the wolves in the trees stopped to look our way.