Chapter 5 - Maddox
Crap. This was bad in so many ways. Her scent wasn't as strong as it had been before, but it was still lingering around. I knew they would be able to smell her no matter how much I was trying to cover her scent up with my own.
I quickly scanned the area, trying to think of where to go, where to hide Jillian. We couldn't run; there would be too much noise. There was nowhere really to hide from them. We were in the middle of the woods, so there were no buildings nearby.
I paused as my eyes landed on a tree a few feet away from us. It was a pine tree. You could hardly see through the pines. It was so dense you couldn't see the trunk of the tree. I grabbed Jillian’s hand as an idea sparked. "This way."
She hurried with me as we neared the tree, getting close to it. I could hear footsteps and pressed her against the trunk, making both of us stay extra still. I felt her heat through my jacket, and her breath was soft and even. My eyes scanned the space, listening to where they were coming from.
"Up," I whispered as I pointed up into the lowest branch, and Jillian swallowed, looking nervous.
"Is this going to work?" she asked in a soft tone as I grabbed her arm and we moved.
I offered her a hand up, and she started climbing.
I followed her, lending a hand where she needed it.
Once we were both secure up there, I stood in front of her, trying to at least cover her as well as I could.
The smell of the tree and mine should be enough.
There was also enough wind to take the scent away.
Jillian was silent for a long moment, her body cold against mine. "Who is the Alpha of this pack?" she whispered.
I glanced at her before looking back at the ground, my eyes scanning the space. "His name is Andrew. He rules his pack like women are disposable, and I imagine finding a woman in the woods is a game for them." I glanced at her. "You think I'm a dick, this would be another level."
She swallowed, placing her hand on her chest. Her fingers curled together, and I could see they were shaking.
She swallowed, and I watched as she chewed on her cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered, tears blooming in her eyes. I could see how scared she was. Moments ago, she was calm, and now I could see that she was losing her composure.
I didn't like this look on her. I could handle the defiant and smart mouth she had on her, but this broken look I couldn't. I reached out, pulling her against me, and wiped at her eyes.
"I don't blame you. People do things in fear.
" As angry as I was, I understood why she was running.
She wasn't the first person to try. I had thought starting over sounded good for a moment.
Anyone under this pressure would think it's a good idea.
We both froze at the sound of footsteps nearing us.
Neither of us moved as four wolves surveyed the area.
I took them in knowing they weren't from our pack.
Two of them were larger, while the other two were smaller.
But none of them was Andrew. I felt a little relief.
It didn't mean that he wasn't out there with them.
They sniffed the air, and I pressed against Jillian tightly. I could feel her shiver against me, feeling how cold she was. I was tempted to ask why she thought of running away without properly dressing herself, but it was a question for another time.
I wrapped my arms around her, holding her against me, hoping it would help soothe the cold away. She looked at me slowly, her mouth moved, but no words came out. I knew what the words were. Thank you.
She fit against me like she was made for me. Her hands pressed against my chest, and I could feel them shaking slightly. But she was watching them with curious eyes, her expression falling neutral.
"I thought you said you smelled a woman," a sharp voice broke through the silence, and we both looked, seeing that two of the wolves had shifted into their human form.
They were both larger guys, looking frustrated.
One was dark skinned with black hair. The other had a slight tan with tattoos that wrapped around both his arms.
"I know I did," One of them snarled. "I smelled one."
"Then why can't we find her?" the other snapped back angrily.
I felt the wind pick up slightly, thankful for it. Her scent was gone. I had masked it perfectly, which meant we could probably get away from them without them noticing.
"I can still smell it lingering. There was a woman here. I know it."
Okay, maybe not all her scent.
"She isn't here now." The first one snapped, looking ready to fight. "And I won't want to spend all night looking for a woman that may or may not exist."
The other two wolves growled in unison, seeming to agree. They all looked anxious, and I felt Jillian lean closer to me. My arms tightened around her, trying to make sure she didn't fall from our spot.
"Man, I'm telling you. There is a woman here. I could smell it. She wasn't from our pack either."
"That's Maddox's pack. There is no way a random woman is coming from his pack into ours."
"I smelled it!" The guy snapped angrily.
The first guy grumbled, irritated. "Fine, span out. Look for this imaginary woman. But if we don't find her, it's on your ass, not us."
They moved, and both of us watched them with our eyes. Jillian seemed to relax against me for a moment before moving, looking around me. She pointed to the right of me. Her lips moved once more, but no voice came out. But I could see what she was mouthing. Tracker.
I nodded. It was clear that the one wolf was a tracker wolf, someone who had a stronger sense of smell than the rest. He was the one that we had to watch because he could scent Jillian while the others might not. But as long as the others didn't believe him, we would be okay.
I pointed to my arm and tapped my finger twice, then lowered my hand, bouncing it twice, and stated that we just needed to watch and lie low. Jillian nodded her head in agreement.
Time seemed to move, but we didn't. We remained silent and vigilant in the tree. We watched the guys round other trees. We watched as a couple of fights broke out, Jillian tensing in my arms as they did. But silence filled the space eventually.
I looked around, taking in the woods. The guys weren't near us, but I could still sense they were around us. Every few moments, someone would wander back towards our area, but never near our tree.
I fought my tiredness and held back a yawn, knowing that we needed to stay alert. Once an opening occurred, we were going to take off back towards my pack, but we had to wait.
I glanced back at Jillian, who leaned against the trunk.
She had an arm pulled up, draping an arm over it.
She looked out towards the woods, and I felt a tug deep in my chest. I took in her fair skin and the freckles on her face.
Her skin looked smooth, untouched by the sun.
Her lips were in a thin line, and I imagined they were soft.
Her orange hair looked different from what it did in the sun. It fell in curls around her, framing her face. Her green eyes looked hopeful and soft. It took me by surprise how much I enjoyed staring at her. It was comforting.
We moved every once in a while, trying to keep each of our limbs awake. At one point, my foot fell asleep, sending a painful tingling sensation through my entire leg.
Jillian looked tired as she looked around.
I knew we didn't have much time left before we would both be too tired to run for it.
I watched her eyes grow heavy, and then she would shake her head, trying to push it away.
I moved my foot, poking her leg with it.
She looked at me, and I mouthed, 'How are you? '
She shrugged, waving a hand around us. I smiled when a voice broke through the silence.
"There is no woman here, Quinton!"
We both looked down, seeing one guy shove another. Suddenly, fists were flying as one of the guys was pinned down, the other punching at him violently. I felt the branch shake from Jillian, and I moved closer, trying to hide her from view.
You could hear the one yelling to stop, the other spewing how much of an idiot he was. Blood splattered over the ground, and you could hear the sound as fists connected with flesh.
"Enough!" A new voice snapped. "Jesus Christ! You think Andrew is going to love the idea that you're beating the shit out of his tracker! Pull your shit together!"
"I'm done looking for this woman!"
"Just because you can't smell her doesn't mean she wasn't here." The tracker spat as he wiped at his nose. Blood smeared over his face, and I felt Jillian lean closer to me.
"Well, she isn't here now! We are wasting our time looking around."
"Yeah, and what do you think Andrew will say once we tell him what we've been doing? He will ask why we came back empty-handed. And he won't be pissed at me. He's going to be pissed at you for interfering with my ability to sniff her out."
The guy placed a hand on his nose. "Jesus, I think you broke it."
The other guy turned, running a hand over his face as he looked around. "Even if there was a girl here, she's clearly not here now."
"Well, we can't return with nothing. So, you'd better get looking again." The other one shifted, and the guy holding his nose headed off up towards the other guys, leaving us alone once more.
I ground my teeth together, knowing we needed to move now. This was our moment. They were all a mess and couldn't focus together as a team anymore.
I tapped her shoe, and she raised an eyebrow at me. I held my hand out, wanting her to give it to me. She made a face and mouthed what at me.
I softly sighed and grabbed her ankle, untying her left shoe. She swatted at my hand, but I stopped her, yanking the shoe free. I pointed down and slowly started to scale down the tree. Jillian followed me, taking quick, slow steps, both of us making sure not to make any noise as we moved.
I scanned the area once she got to the bottom. There were no wolves around us, but we needed to give them something to get them to move away from us. If they thought a woman was still here, I needed to get them to move away from us, even if it was just for a few moments.
I held my hand up, telling her to stay as I stepped a little further out of the tree. I scanned the space and pulled the shoe up. I threw with all my might, sending the shoe spiraling through the air. It went out of sight and landed loudly near some bushes by a creek just a few yards from us.
I took a step back into the tree just as a couple of wolves came running. They went toward the shoe, sniffing and heading in a northerly direction. We waited a couple more moments, watching the rest of the group catch up and take off in that direction.
I grabbed Jillian's hand. "We need to move. That should direct them for a while, so we can get back into my territory."
Jillian nodded as she stepped out of the tree, taking off in the south direction back towards my pack. I squeezed her hand tightly as we moved, making sure she stayed with me each step of the way.