Chapter 64 Wolves Stand Guard
Canyon stood in the yard, leaning against a tree.
He took one last look at the female sleeping on the couch inside, confused at what he was feeling.
He’d been watching and pacing and keeping guard over her for five hours now.
She wasn’t his mate, and still… she stirred something inside him he didn’t understand.
He found her attractive, but was there more?
If she wasn’t his mate, what more could there be?
All he knew for certain was that his wolf would sit guard over her all night, but Canyon needed sleep if he was going to be worth a damn tomorrow.
He returned to his truck, one eye still on the house. Wulf sat motionless near a truck tire. Canyon went around to the passenger side, reached in the open window and shook his brother.
Bro, I need sleep.
Timber got up stiffly and jumped out the window, stumbling when he hit the ground. After a moment, he loped away, saying I got you.
Canyon undressed and shifted, and within a few moments, he was asleep as a wolf in the warm spot Timber had just vacated. He fell easily into a dream.
He was in a meadow, and the dream female was there next to him. They walked hand in hand and every time Canyon tried to look at her, he could see only flowers and sunshine. She led him to acres and acres of Foxglove stalks, then she pulled six out of the ground and threw them at his feet.
Canyon woke up while it was still dark, being shaken by someone. Timber was there, his injured arm bent gingerly into his side.
“Bro,” Timber whispered. “I don’t feel good.”
Even in the dark, Canyon could tell Timber’s face was swollen again. Canyon got up and jumped out the window. Timber shifted and looked at the window, then fell to the ground. His eyes closed and his tongue lolled. Canyon nosed his brother, shocked at his sickly scent.
Canyon sat down on his haunches, threw back his head, and howled in anguish.
“Aarrrrroooooooooooooooooo.”
No response—Canyon was on his own. He shifted and pulled his clothes on, his mind whirling. He had to take Timber to the cat doctor, now.
***
Sage woke with a start, falling off the couch onto her butt, with a wolf howling in her yard. She shot to her feet, her mind finally clear but filled with the strange memories of yesterday.
The howling wound to a stop, and she was certain it was Canyon.
He’d sounded like his heart was breaking.
She had to go to him. She pulled on her jacket and went outside.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she strode silently to the truck, where she heard Canyon speaking.
She crept around the open tailgate to see a black wolf laying on the ground—Timber—his left foreleg bandaged, his eyes closed and his mouth open and panting.
Canyon was near him, dressing quickly, while the robot sat near Timber’s head, shining light onto him.
“Bro,” Canyon said, his voice a low rumble. “Hang in there. I’m taking you to the cat doctor, now. Sage’ll go with us. I hope.”
Sage cleared her throat and stepped closer. “What happened to him?”
Canyon met her eyes, his expression grave.
“A giant spider got him.”
Sage gasped. “Kiki.”
Canyon cocked his head. “That thing’s got a name… and it’s Kiki?”
Sage snapped her mouth shut, then dropped to her knees next to the massive wolf. She touched his bandaged foreleg. “Can I see?”
Canyon sliced the bandage off with a knife. Sage’s heart hurt at the long, ugly gash through skin and muscle. She thought fast, knowing her aunts would kill her if they found out what she was about to do, but she wouldn’t let Timber die.
“Take him inside.” she said. “I’ve got to gather some plants.”
“Foxglove.”
“How do you know that?”
“Dream.”
Sage blinked at him. Someone had told him a foxen secret in a dream?
Canyon pulled Timber up and threw him over his shoulder, then started toward the house. Sage stared after him, panic threatening at the thought that she’d just invited two vod into her aunt’s house. She swallowed it down.
“I need a flashlight,” she murmured.
The robot zoomed toward her with words flashing on the screen, and they played through a speaker in a monotone voice.
:Hello Miss June. It is good to see you. I will help—
Miss June? Good to see me?
Sage looked for a keyboard, muttering “How?”
:I will light your way to the Foxglove—
Okay… whatever this thing was, it was advanced. “Go ahead,” she said.
It wheeled through the yard shining light in front of them, until they reached the garden.
Sage pulled six Foxglove plants out of the ground and took them onto the back porch to a workstation set up for this exact thing, while the robot waited at the bottom of the steps.
She prepared the paste quickly then took the entire mortar inside through the back door.
Once inside, she listened for Canyon and heard nothing. She entered the small bathroom just inside the door and found a first aid kit, then she gathered her courage and left the bathroom, passing through the kitchen to the living room.
Timber lay on the couch as a wolf, his left foreleg split open and weeping.
Canyon stood nearby, his hand on the back of his neck, his eyes on his brother.
Involuntarily Sage glanced out the front window to the yard, as if her aunts were at that moment coming down the driveway to raise hell, but no lights shone outside.
It was just her and the Wheeling brothers.
Sage hurried to Timber, placing the kit and the paste down. She knelt, finding her purse and phone on the floor where she’d left them. She shoved her phone in her purse and pushed the purse under the end table, then turned to Timber. He panted heavily, long tongue lolling over sharp teeth.
First, she cleaned the injury, then pulled on gloves and applied the paste thickly.
She covered the long wound and worked the paste into the joints above and below it.
Timber relaxed and his breathing eased, letting Sage’s fear and worry ease also.
She’d done this before. It was a rite of passage for teenaged foxen males to steal into the hole and antagonize Kiki.
Sage wiped off the excess paste, carefully bagging it and throwing it away.
She covered the injury with gauze, suddenly hyper-aware of Canyon standing near her.
He hadn’t said a word while she’d been working, only watched and stayed close.
She stripped her gloves off, turning them inside out, bagging them, and throwing them away, then she found a temporary cover for the mortar full of paste.
She turned to Canyon and handed him the mortar.
“Reapply the paste every 12 hours for 3 days. After 6 times, a shift will heal the injury.”
“What is that thing?” Canyon asked. “It’s no spider.”
Sage shook her head mutely, thrusting the paste at Canyon. Canyon took it from her and set it on the coffee table.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice serious. “You saved my brother’s life.”
Sage didn’t respond, didn’t even look him in the eyes. She nodded limply, the weight of their two different worlds weighing heavily on her, then she waited for him to do something.
When he didn’t move she motioned to Timber. “You can take him now.”
“Take him where?”
Sage shook her head, flustered. “Take him home I guess. Just… go.” She flapped her hands toward the door.
Canyon looked at the door, then he looked at Timber. He shook his head and faced Sage. “We’re not going home. We’re your guard.”
Panic swept through Sage. She backed into the kitchen. “You are arresting me!”
Canyon shook his head. “Not arresting, protecting.” He swept his hand at her. “You’re a One True Mate. You’ve got the name, you’re the right age, you’ve probably got a pendant stashed around somewhere.” Canyon looked all around the room.
Sage closed her eyes and grasped her throat. Was this real? Was this happening? She moved closer to Canyon, studying him. Her dumb nose told her nothing, but he seemed sincere.
A One True Mate? Her?
She shook her head, running over everything she knew about the wolven prophecy in her mind.
The wolven had lost virtually all their females in the poisoning 30 years ago.
Rhen had promised them new mates. Trevor Burbank had found his mate, the dragen from Scotland had found his mate, and Crew Arcoal had found his mate.
There were rumors that more mates were found and they were all living together, but only rumors.
The mates were half-human, half-angel, and each of them had a unique power.
No way. That wasn’t her. She was half-human, half-foxen, unable to shift, speak ruhi, or go dim, and she had no power.
But then she remembered the smoke-slime stuff in the passageway, the door she’d revealed into the cavern, and the thing that had called her name.
She looked at Canyon suspiciously. “I’ve got a what stashed around here?”
Canyon held up his fingers an inch apart, his gaze boring through her. “You were gifted a pendant at birth. Small, gold, angel on one side and wolf on the other…”
He raised his eyebrows. “If your mate is a wolf.”