Chapter 13 #2
Nose scrunching up, she groaned. "There's a big difference between killing rabbits and killing Nazis. And it's not the actual killing that bothers me. I'm not a vegetarian or anything, but raw meat? It doesn't make you sick once you shift to human?"
She followed where he directed, catching up to Leo and Stephen. "Wolf shifters don't get sick unless we're exposed to silver.”
She knew that, but it hadn't registered. The idea of never getting sick had some appeal to it, but the rest did nothing to entice her to accept that there was a wolf running around in her skull.
Without warning, a vague memory surfaced.
Something to do with burning her hands? Her father had taken her next door for a birthday party.
She couldn't have been more than five or six, but she'd burned them bad enough that her father had to take her to the emergency department.
Her mother had thought she'd burned them on the stove, but Samara couldn't remember anything past the pain.
Had she been stupid enough to burn her hands on the stove?
Her memory ran deeper. She’d reached into the drawer where her friend’s mother kept the fine china and silverware because it looked prettier than the copper and stainless steel they used at home.
Silverware. Had she touched it and burned herself on the silverware?
No, of course not. She had been a normal human child, not a wolf shifter.
It must have been the stove, and she forgot because everyone was so worried about her.
Why had she thought about that now? She couldn't even remember the details. What did it mean? Was her subconscious warning her about something?
"Hey, are you okay?" Kellen took one of her hands in his and only then did she realize that she'd raised both of them so she could look at her palms.
"Yeah." She pulled her hand out of his because she didn't want them to be touched at that moment. Not with the memory of harsh pain searing them. "I'm fine. I just...it's nothing."
"If you're sure." Again, he put his hand on the small of her back as she continued stomping through the woods, determined to forget whatever she was trying to remember. Even through the heavy jacket, she could feel his warmth there, and it was comforting.
To shake off any further concern, and to kill time while they walked, she decided it was time to learn more about the Winterbourne Brotherhood. "All right, I have questions. If Kellen owns the restaurant, and Stephen owns the gym, what do you do for a living, Leo?"
"I own an apartment complex closer to the highway, but I also work as a jack of all trades," he said over his shoulder.
"I can fix almost anything. Roofs, cars, plumbing, air conditioners, that sort of thing.
Not computers, though. Circuit boards and software are a special kind of hell I don't have the patience for. "
"Okay. What year were you all born?"
"1842," Stephen said.
"1847," Leo said.
"1845," Kellen said.
"So, you all remember the Civil War. Were any packs involved with that?"
Kellen snorted. "Not Riverstone. Josiah would have killed any wolf who tried to leave."
"I don't remember anyone from the Firebrand pack talking about it. We did help a few former slaves who were moving west and somehow managed to stumble into our territory, but as far as I know, no pack members left to fight," Leo said.
Stephen looked over his shoulder at her. "My parents migrated from Germany to the U.S. when they were still human. They settled in Des Moines first, then headed west. Moonclaw pack alpha changed them. Even after I was born, the actions of regular humans didn’t interest them much."
Samara made mental notes of each answer. "Why did you all join the Army?"
"The world was changing." Leo signaled them to slow down because of a hidden slope he'd started to slide down.
"But we weren't. We needed to find a safe way to become modern men, to understand how all the new technology worked.
We'd been hiding out in the boonies for so long, we'd only heard about airplanes, telephones, transistors.
..all of that stuff was just unimaginable to us. "
Kellen took a step down the slope, then dug his boot in and held his hand to give Samara extra leverage. She grabbed it since falling on her ass was not part of her plan for the day.
"We also needed to know if our packs could use any of that against us or if we could use it against our packs if we had to," Stephen said, picking up pace now that they were on steadier ground. "That's why we bought and learned to use a drone."
All their decisions made sense. "Have you ever thought of joining the military again? Are you still worried about falling behind?"
"We have," Stephen said. "Navy SEALS in Vietnam and Air Force pilots in Iraq."
Kellen gave a slight shake of his head. "Killing people isn't what our brotherhood is about,” he said. “So, we served for no more than four years before we faked our deaths."
The pressure of Kellen’s palm against hers increased. She squeezed his hand, grateful he hadn’t let go.
His gaze was distant as he continued. "We left killing behind when we walked away from our packs but changed that pledge when we served in the military.
All we want is to carve out a life that suits us.
A quiet peaceful life that doesn't involve assassinating other wolf shifters.
But like Leo said, we need to grow and change with the times if we're to survive.
The military, believe it or not, offered the safest way we could do that without Josiah finding us.
We were so isolated that World War I was done and over with before we realized what it was all about.
World War II was too big to be ignored, and we had access to newspapers and movie news reels by that point.
Vietnam and Iraq were more about keeping our skills sharp. "
"Did you ever shift while in combat?" she asked, fascinated by Kellen's story.
"Sometimes. It was easier to do in the jungle than when we were pilots. Still, we learned what we needed to learn to survive back here in the States. As for those bounty hunters who threatened you...I would do the same thing to anyone who hurt my brothers, friends, and anyone else I care about."
Oh, heavens. She could feel the possessiveness just from his quick glance in her direction.
He cared about her. Well, that was nice.
It was too soon to talk about deeper emotions, but still.
..she'd done some damage to herself in the past by getting involved with men who cared, but didn't love her.
Had she made the same mistake again? At least her grandfather wasn't around to remind her of all of her relationship mistakes.
Now she was getting mired in her own mental muck. Time to think of a less serious question. "What modern marvel is your favorite?"
"Toilet paper," Stephen said with a luxurious sigh.
"Toothpaste," Leo piped in.
"Electric razors," Kellen added.
"Crayons," Leo said with a smile widening with memories.
"Milkshakes," Kellen said and licked his lips as if tasting one at that moment.
"Bubblegum," Stephen countered.
"Records," all three at the same time.
"Movies," Stephen and Leo said as they stopped to look at each other with Stephen jabbing Leo in the ribs.
"Marilyn!" Stephen yelled at Leo and started laughing like a little boy before starting to walk again.
"Marilyn?" She had to think about it for a second. "You mean Marilyn Monroe?"
Leo threw his arms up toward the sky. "God had a very creative imagination when he brought her into the world."
"I see. What about you, Stephen? Did you fall under Marilyn's spell?"
"Oh, no. My heart belongs to Doris Day."
They kept snickering, but Kellen said nothing, his gaze on the ground and not on her.
"What about you?" She nudged him.
"No, Marilyn and Doris do nothing for me."
"Oh, come on." She goosed him again.
"I prefer brunettes."
"Well, I would certainly hope so. But who was your special brunette before you met me?"
He peeked at her, and she swore he was blushing. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Nope. Gotta know who my competition is."
After a huge sigh, Kellen rolled his eyes and said, "Sophia Loren."
"Wow." Giving into instinct, she looked down at her own chest. Her girls were flattened under a sports bra, dragged down by the knife sheath, and hidden under a heavy jacket, but even after last night she had to wonder what Kellen thought of her average-sized—
Without warning, Kellen spun her to face him. "Sophia was a movie star with make-up artists and hairstylists at her beck and call. I never met her or dated anyone who ever came close to looking like her. You have nothing to worry about."
Samara gave him the biggest fake smile of her life, before turning out of his clutch to continue walking. After all, she asked the question, and she got what she deserved. "Me worry? Ha!"
But she was worried, in the most irrational way. So much so that she lost her focus and Kellen had to pull her back before she slammed into Leo who had stopped abruptly. "Stephen, take a whiff."
"Yeah that's pretty pungent."
Samara took a deep breath and got a nose full of urine even without enhanced wolf shifter senses.
"What the..."
"Everyone stay still." Leo started to back up, forcing the others to do the same.
Looking around, he found a thick branch lying on the ground.
He picked it up and walked forward about ten steps with the branch held out in front of him, gently pushing the leaves and pine needles off a bump on the ground.
"Wolf traps." He motioned them forward, signaling caution, until they could see the sharp metal poking out from under the leaves. "Josiah knew we were coming."