Chapter 8 - Jasper
I knew that there was decay in our forests; we all knew that, but I didn’t know that it was this bad.
Given all that I’ve been distracted by over the past few days (not to mention the lack of sleep), the issue of the decaying forest has admittedly taken a bit of a backseat in my mind.
That makes me feel like shit.
Clearly, it’s a big, big problem.
Our imminent threat alarm sounded this morning, indicating that someone has spotted something. I’m not going to assume what that thing is, but I’ve got some ideas.
We’ve been searching for that something for a whole day, and all we’ve found are more and more patches of decaying forest.
That’s all.
I instructed my men to spread out, some of us in our wolf forms, others in our human forms. We’ve all noticed the increasing decay, but no one’s said anything. Not even those who are in their human forms—it’s just something that hangs over us as we soldier on.
But I can tell that morale is getting low.
As the sun begins to set, I instruct everyone to stop.
“We’ll find a place to camp for the night. I see a higher, shielded area a dozen trees to the right, we’ll go there.”
“Yes, Alpha”, I hear them respond in unison as they follow behind me.
“I’ll coordinate nightwatch,” Dylan says, frowning beneath the moonlight. He almost looks as tired as I feel, but nightwatch is something we need to coordinate if there’s a threat still lurking around.
“Good,” I tell him. “I’ll go first.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod. “Just make sure that we set up camp properly, the usual way, with all the correct vantage points. We’re not taking any chances.”
When we talk about setting up camp, all that entails is making a fire and positioning ourselves in a spot that is hidden but has a view of all our surroundings.
We like sleeping outdoors, heck, I prefer it to cabin life sometimes. To sleeping on the couch, definitely.
But I’m not thinking about that right now.
Dylan helps out as promised, and soon most of my men are asleep, their snores mingling in with the rest of the night-time wildlife in these woods.
I feel the heat from the flames warm my bare back as I gaze out at the sleeping forest. It’s so dark, so vast, and who knows what’s hiding among the trees. But at least, here, there’s healthy land.
It’s nice to be reminded of the good.
I have hope.
Somehow, after a little while, my mind begins to drift to Tara. I wonder what she’s doing, and I wonder whether she’s afraid.
I didn’t like the look on her face when the alarm went off.
But why should I care?
Because she’s my alibi for this whole marrying-a-witch thing. Still, it’s not like I want her to be scared.
Rationally, I know that she’s safe at the pack, safer than she’d be out here anyway. But she’s still just a human, and she’s with my packmates who don’t know or particularly like her yet.
I consider doing something, but then realize that there’s nothing I can do.
Once we find out exactly what this threat is, everyone will be a whole lot safer. Tara included. She’ll be less anxious, and that’ll be better for us both.
I’ve never liked seeing her anxious. Frustrated, maybe a little flustered, yes, but actually worried, no.
“Alpha?”
“Yes?” I turn to one of my shifters who’s interrupting my train of thought. The way he said Alpha made it sound like he’d been saying it a few times.
“It’s my turn to nightwatch.”
“Yep,” I say, patting him on the back. “It’s all yours.”
I’m about to walk off to an inviting patch of fluffy grass when his voice stops me in my tracks.
“Did you see something?”
“No. Did you?”
“No,” he says. “But you seemed mesmerized by something or maybe just very deep in thought?”
“Strange,” I respond. “I wasn’t thinking about anything at all.”
***
“Alpha! You’ve got to come and see this,” one of my guys calls in a way that makes me think that whatever it is, it’s worse than your average area of blackened forest.
I’m there in seconds, and when I realize what it is, the first thing I feel is rage.
I’m a warrior, and so that means I’m pretty accustomed to seeing dead bodies. But even though I’ve become desensitized to the shock, that doesn’t take away my anger at seeing a fellow shifter killed and discarded so casually as though their life didn’t mean a thing.
The shifter, a male probably around my age, isn’t one of ours, but still, he is one of us nonetheless.
I know that his death has everything to do with this witch’s curse.
“We’ll take him back with us and bury him properly,” I tell my men. “I’m going to see if I can find anything further in this direction—if we’ve got nothing, we’ll head back.”
We’re close to the edge of the forest on our side of the land, and once we reach that edge, there’s nowhere further to look.
But the fact that the body is here must mean something. It might lead us to a clue.
I pace forward, more determined than ever before to figure out what the hell is going on. I know there has to be something here.
I sense it.
Rain begins to dribble down my back, the sky an abyss of swirling gray clouds. It’ll be storming soon, which doesn’t help, but it’s not like we haven’t braved storms before.
I instruct my guys to shift, and as we do, a deep, primal howl rolls through me. My limbs stretch as far as they’ll go, racing over the earth as I kick small rocks behind me.
All my senses are attuned to the environment. Aside from the wet sensation of rain dripping off my fur, I can smell everything and hear everything around me.
I’m growling now, my paws almost reaching the edge of the territory. I move forward full steam ahead.
And then—
The reality of the situation has already dawned on me.
There’s nothing here.
As I skid up to the edge, covered with trees, I hang my head. The land here is so blackened, it looks as though it’s covered with mold.
How did things get so bleak?
If there was something here, you’d find it, I tell myself. Whatever, whoever did this to the shifter and dared to even come close to our pack is gone.
At least for now.
I shift back to human, my regular vision returning to me.
Then I face my army.
“Let’s try to get back before the storm becomes too violent. There’s nothing here, we should go.”
We’ll go back straight this time instead of taking the long way around so it shouldn’t take too long.
They move without question, racing back along the direct path through the woods with each of their paws plummeting into the earth. Some have appointed themselves to stay in their human forms so that they can carry the body of the dead shifter.
I watch them for a moment beneath the rain as their bodies move in near-perfect unison.
Despite all the crap, I feel something positive.
My pack is doing a good job—I’m proud.
***
It shouldn’t be too long now. We’re almost home, and I can practically smell the familiar scent of our territory.
For the most part, my thoughts have synced up with the constant rhythm at which I’m moving. I’m not in my mind, but in my body, laser-focused on the path ahead.
Dylan calls me from behind. “I hear something!” He yells.
I stop, and all those around me do too.
“What is it?” I call.
My men are exhausted, even in their wolf forms; they seem out of breath. I look sharply at the trees and the forest that lies both behind us and ahead.
I don’t see anything.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I thought I heard some weird sound, maybe I was wrong. Could be the wind, it just seemed strange.”
It’s possible he’s heard something, but it’s also likely that his mind is playing tricks on him, and it’s just the wind. Either way, it’s better we press forward. The rain that’s pouring all around us doesn’t help things.
“We should go,” I begin to say, but my voice trails off. My head snaps behind me, scanning.
The wind dies.
Something is definitely wrong.
“Everyone stay sharp,” I say, my voice low but loud enough to cut through the sounds of the rain. “Dylan, what exactly was that sound like? A screech?”
He’s about to respond, but it’s too late. A familiar, deafening scream echoes through the air. I look up, but I don’t see anything because where I need to be looking is behind.
Suddenly, a blur of white shadow slams into one of my wolves from the side. He tumbles across the forest floor.
Three of them pounce, colliding with the shadow monster mid-air, one manages to sink its jaws in before he’s hurtled into a closest tree. His whimpers echo through the air.
More and more of my wolves try to jump and dig their claws into the shadow monsters that are hitting them from all sides.
“Run!” I roar, “Get the body back to our pack.”
The rain falls harder, blurring my vision, and before I know it, a monster tackles me to the ground. Just as it aims for my neck, I shift, slinking out of its grasp.
Most of my men have listened to me and are racing down the path that leads back home. Not all. Dylan is in his wolf, snarling, twisting on his paws as two shadow monsters circle him.
Another one is headed in his direction, sweeping down from the clouds to hit him from behind, and I lurch.
I waste no time.
Growling, I throw myself at it, jaws wide, crashing into its center. It’s like biting into fire and smoke.
I hear the shadow monster scream as it flies higher into the air. The other two are lower, circling both Dylan and me.
I turn to him and growl, baring my teeth wide. I can see from the look in his wolf eyes that he knows what I’m telling him to do.
He doesn’t hesitate anymore.
Suddenly, he lunges, disappearing into the woods to join the others.
I’m alone. Three shadow monsters are circling me, and from the distance I can see more coming. I have to hold them here long enough for the rest of my pack to get home.
Teasing them, I lurch to the side before jumping up behind the two monsters and sinking my jaws into their shadowy necks.
One screams, the other lunges at me mid-air, but I dodge him, ducking away inches from his jaws before landing back down onto the floor.
I grin. I’m playing with them now.