Chapter 9 - Dan
I don’t even think when Luke shouts to me, I just bolt from the room. Everything is wiped from my mind except the purity of action, and it tastes like complete liberation.
This, I know how to do. I’d prefer a firefight to a difficult conversation any day of the week.
When we get to the site, though, I feel as if I might change my mind.
“What happened?” I whisper, my voice refusing to push through my throat. The air is practically singing with tension, as if it’s disturbed; the entire area could explode.
It looks like it already did.
At a perimeter point where our town limit meets Eccles, there is a huge trail of blackened debris. It looks like a forest fire screamed through the area, but in an extremely defined, serpentine shape.
“We don’t know,” Luke says, shaking his head. “And that’s what I don’t like about this.”
“Do we have a report?”
Luke nods and gestures to the nearby thicket of trees. I find two of our newest recruited warriors waiting for us. One of them is on the ground, clearly injured.
“Jesus, Declan,” I say, getting down on my knees to examine the wounded soldier. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” he says in a strained voice. “It’s nothing, boss, I promise.”
I look over at Ryan, Declan’s patrol partner, and he shakes his head. Both of Declan’s boots look melted, and his pants are blackened all the way up to the knees. I reach out to take a look underneath, but Declan grabs my hand.
“Don’t, boss,” he mutters, hoarsely. “I haven’t got much skin left. It’s not worth seeing.”
“What the fuck happened?” I exclaim, worry for my downed soldier, clashing with my desire to attack something.
“There was an electromagnetic surge,” Ryan says. “Sloan is monitoring that through satellite. We came to investigate. There wasn’t much to see, just a burst of light through the trees. We went after it, and Declan ran directly into the scorched trail it was leaving behind it.”
“I thought once the fire passed, it would be cool enough to run on,” Declan groans. “There was too much scrub in the way, and I couldn’t keep up with it. I thought chasing it through its own trail would be the only way to catch it.”
“The path it left behind was hotter than a forest fire,” Ryan says. “I saw Declan’s clothes go black, and his boots melted. He went down like a ton of bricks, and I thought I was going to watch him get completely incinerated.”
“You shouldn’t have come in after me!” Declan snaps. “You risked your life for me, and the snake got away!”
“Hey!” I say sharply. “Ryan did the right thing. Are you hurt, Ryan?”
“No,” he answers, shaking his head. “I’m a bit toasted, but I was able to grab Declan and drag him to safety without completely entering the hot zone.”
“I’m the only one dumb enough to literally try and grab it by the tail,” Declan mutters.
“Have we got medical coming?” I ask.
Luke nods. “Brad is sending healers from Eccles. They won’t be long. They’ve got the best facilities there, and they can take care of him.”
I look down at Declan’s ruined legs again, feeling a hard knot in my chest.
He isn’t healing. Even a wolf would need some time to get over injuries as severe as these, but I can’t see any healing happening at all.
“Where’s the snake now?” I ask.
Luke shakes his head. “Heat signature traveled back towards the mountain. It’s gone.”
“What the fuck was it doing out here?” I say.
Luke shrugs. “I can’t even begin to guess. But, boss…”
“Yeah?”
“It looks like it was scouting our new location.”
I let that sink in, pinching my lower lip with my fingers as I think.
It’s intelligent, we know that, but how smart is this thing? Was it really scoping out our new town, checking our defenses, and planning an attack?
Running footsteps and shouts break through my thoughts, and I stand up to greet the Eccles medics. After making sure Declan is on his way to safety, we put in a call to cover the patrol.
“I want everyone pulled in closer to town,” I say as Luke texts out the new orders. “A much smaller perimeter. And if anyone sees this thing, pull back—immediately. Do you understand?”
“Yes, boss,” Luke says. “I’ll text this out on the main thread now, then after we get back to town, I’ll go out and evaluate each checkpoint, making sure everyone knows what to do.”
“Good,” I mutter, shifting and running back into the forest. Luke stays on my heels, and I let my thoughts drift away again as I let the physical exertion clear my mind.
When we arrive back, I realize I don’t want to scare Grace with the information, and Luke and I give her a quick, insufficient explanation about coyotes. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t buy it, but she doesn’t argue with me, either.
She isn’t stupid. Well, actually, she’s probably a lot smarter than I am. I should be more honest with her.
As she cleans up the kitchen, I wrestle with my thoughts, trying to think of a way to tell her what happened without scaring her half to death. The longer we spend in silence, the worse the tension gets, until it seems impossible to break it.
“We should go,” she says, wiping her hands dry after stacking the dishes. “The pack will be waiting for us.”
“Yeah,” I say, trying to summon a friendly tone. “I asked everyone to assemble at the main square.”
“Let’s go, then,” she says, striding out the door ahead of me. I have to jog to catch up, and I’m actually kind of impressed by how fast she can move while looking completely calm and composed the whole time.
She looks like she could break into a run and streak through three miles without breaking a sweat.
When she completely bypasses the car and walks towards the street, I realize she wants to walk into town, and she seems completely confident about where she’s going.
That’s right… she said she explored this place before. She must know it really well.
My next thought gives me such a stab of anxiety, I actually stop, and Grace gets ahead of me a few paces.
She must know the whole area! Even the mountains where the snake has been hanging out. She was also in the circle every time that thing woke up…
Grace turns and looks over her shoulder. Her cool, steady gaze unnerves me.
It’s like she has a whole universe of secrets inside her.
“Are you coming?” she asks.
“Of course,” I answer, my mind tumbling with contradicting thoughts.
The side street curves gently onto the narrow main road, and up ahead, I see people gathered at the park.
Children are playing, laughing as they chase each other through the fields.
Someone has a barbecue fired up, and I can smell the tangy sauce and rich meat roasting on the grill.
A few people are playing instruments while others dance.
It’s my responsibility to protect these people. They trust me. I can’t let them down.
As we approach, people turn to greet us, and even though everyone is welcoming, I sense a hint of anxiety in the air.
None of these people know me. I can’t blame them for hanging back a little. I need to earn their trust.
Grace and I take our position in the little covered seating area, and to my surprise, Grace steps forward to take the lead.
“Thank you for coming, everyone,” she says warmly.
“We’re here on our first day as a new pack to choose council members, and I’d like them to be elected by all of you.
The first thing I want to do is welcome everyone—the people who chose to come, as well as those who were selected in the lottery system… like me.”
A nasty, regretful feeling tangles inside me, and I remind myself again that Grace had no say in this. I always have to account for that.
I’ve lived for duty every day of my life, but I can’t expect her to do the same.
While I’m fumbling with my thoughts, Grace addresses the concerns of others who were brought here by the lottery system, assuring them that she feels just as lost and confused as they do, and that in time, they’ll build a new home even better than the last.
“I know the people who have come from Eccles will probably be excited to start over fresh,” she says with a smile.
“Since all of us know what it’s like to have absolutely no say in pack decisions.
Those of you from Rose Hollow are used to an inclusive system where every voice is heard—and Clover folk, I’m not sure how your meetings would usually go? ”
“We’re just happy to be here,” a teenage girl says, stepping forward. “We’re close to Caliente, and this town has all the modern amenities our older pack members are refusing. I basically don’t care how you run things, so long as I’ve still got hot running water and a decent signal on my phone.”
Laughter breaks out through the crowd, and Grace smiles. “Good to know. Anyone else have something to say before we start?”
“We’re from Rose Hollow,” a young woman says, stepping forward. “And I’d like to nominate myself for council, if that’s okay. My name is Julia, and I’m committed to making a new home here.”
“Thank you, Julia,” Grace says. “Anyone else?”
“I’m Fletcher.” A young man with tangled blond hair and faded, patched clothes steps forward. “I’m from Eccles, and I sure as hell want to make sure we make a better pack here than the one we just left!”
A few cheers break out, and Grace looks like she wants to cheer as well. Even though I jumped into this with duty in mind, I didn’t really think about the complexity of it. Having someone in leadership who was hurt by Eccles’ first families could be our strength—or our greatest weakness.
Thoughts of the snake tease my senses again, and I try to turn my mind away from it. I have an innate distrust of magic workers, and I didn’t need close encounters with an ancient spirit to put it there.
But it sure as fuck didn’t help.
As other nominations are made, I step forward to take control of the meeting.
“It’s excellent to see so many people willing to offer their time and skills for the sake of the pack,” I say. “We’ll have a group discussion and elect all our new members by majority vote.”
“Sounds like it’s going to take a while,” someone mutters.
“That’s why we brought food,” Julia says, smiling.
A few people laugh, and I laugh too, enjoying the vibe.
I really think this is going to work. People are getting along so well already.
As we move into the discussions to elect our new council, I try to keep thoughts of the snake locked away so I can focus.
We need to be united and strong before it attacks. But what if we do all this work just to get blown to hell?
When we pause for a break, I try to talk to Grace, but she moves away from me into the crowd. Even though she smiles and engages with people, all I can see is how strange and different she appears compared to the others.
It’s definitely her scent, but something else as well. As if my instincts are trying to warn me that something isn’t right.
She pauses in the crowd, tilting her head as if listening to something. When she turns and looks right at me, I see a flash of something dark in her eyes before she covers it with a smile. Suspicion blooms in me, and I know I can’t avoid this any longer.
I have to find out more about her, especially her magic. The snake needs witches and sorcerers… and I might have to protect Grace.
As she turns away from me, an even uglier thought crowds into my mind.
I might have to protect everyone else… from her.