Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon: WAXING CRESCENT

Levi - I regret blinking. Though, I had to blink to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. What Sterling did was beyond the laws of physics - yes I’m passing physics - but nothing about it made sense.

My heart rate skyrocketed. My vision, which probably would have blurred with the amount of blood pumping to my brain, sharpened. I saw every fiber of Sterling’s fur, the color and shape of his eyes, the footprints he made in the snow … correction, paw prints.

He had paws.

Four of them!

Positive I was going crazy, my brain worked over the details again. In one second, my best friend stood there and the next he was swallowed up by this creature. Teeth bared, showing his dominance which he really didn’t need too. I had no intention of challenging him. I had only one logical response.

I turn on my heels and bolt into the trees. I avoid the path that leads back towards Sterling’s house. The cool crisp wind rushes across my face, heat still rising off my body as I run. The snowflakes are now the size of golf balls. They slap me in the eyes as I dodge the trees and jump over whatever looks large enough to cause me to stumble. My swiftness of flight should have been cause for surprise, but all I can think about is the need to outrun the supernatural wolf on my heels.

Or in other words, outrun Sterling.

My house comes into view. It’s nestled off the side of the freeway, the open field off the backyard is covered in caribou. The creatures scatter at the sight of me creating a stampede off in the opposite direction.

I jump the fence and cross the road without pause. The moment I reach my own yard another realization hits. I’m not out of breath. My lungs don’t burn from the constant strain nor do my legs feel weak … so why stop?

The thought is so brief, that I don’t argue with it.

I keep running.

Through my yard and over the front gate. I jump the neighbors fence and run through their yard, because on the other side of them, is another open field. This one is overgrown with weeds and rock. However, it leads right up to start of another grove of trees and into the next set of mountain terrain.

It wasn’t long until a close knit series of trees signals me to stop running. I scan the lower branches for an opening. An opening completely invisible to those that don’t know it’s there. The snow adds to the difficulty but eventually I drop to my hands and knees and push through the thicket.

The weight of the snow pulls the branches down complicating the path. Sticks scrape across my sleeves until the treehouse appears before me. Its multicolored layers of painted wood glow in contrast to the white landscape. The canopy above this particular spot had kept the snow from soaking the structure.

I climb the steps to the first landing, then continue up the next ladder to the next second level. Inside I notice a trail of snow following me. Though I know it’s not a real home, I slip off my shoes before entering anyway. Finding a quiet corner was easy. I slide down the wall until I can wrap my arms around my knees, the silence surrounds me and finally, I can think.

My entire childhood with Sterling raced through my mind as I wonder how I missed it. Being a werewolf is such a big detail in my best friends life, and yet, I had no idea.

I said it out loud, “My best friend is a werewolf. My best friend has always been a werewolf?” I groan and hit the back of my head against the wall. I say it again, using every variation possible but none of which tasted right. Until I said, “My best friend has always been a wolf.”

There it was.

The tremors in my body stilled and I know, it isn’t the human turning into a wolf that freaked me out. It’s that from birth, Sterling has always been a wolf that could take on human form.

My hand travels to my side over the wound that had completely healed overnight. So what does that make me?

I can hear things from far away.

I can see details clearly from a distance.

I just ran for miles and experienced very little fatigue.

Does that make me a freak of nature? One that sweet Mrs. Wolfe is going to kill. The thought sends a shutter down my spine. That’s when I hear the crunch of snow boots at a distance, followed by a gasp as clearly as if it were right beside me.

I was no longer alone.

Sterling, transformed back to his human form, had caught up. I knew that simply from the sound. It changed from four soft padded paws to two large size 12 boots on a teenage boy.

“This is amazing.” Sterling gasps again from somewhere below. “Who made this?”

From were I sit, I close my eyes and I listen. I hear the crunching snow in the distance and I can tell Sterling is at the base of the tree. His heartbeat is steady, his breathing shallow, I know he’s listening for me. Sterling takes a deep breath, checking to see if Levi’s scent is nearby.

Which it is.

I take a breath of my own. Sterling has a distinct smell of bark, dirt and sweat. A few moments pass and I hear him shake the wood lines on the rope ladder that lead to the first floor. He knocks the snow off his boots as he stomps on the hard wooden platform.

Sterling chuckles.

The treehouse amused him. Sterling had always been playful and curious. I just never thought of him as a puppy until now, but it fits.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” Sterling says his voice sincere. “I know it’s shocking but there’s one thing you need to know.”

“You have a dental plan?” I cringed at my own bad joke. I’m clearly off my game, but it did help in a way. Hearing Sterling smirk brought reality back to me.

“Wolves are were loyal. My pack may not appreciate that you know what we are, but they know you’re my friend. And I’m not going to let you get hurt because of me.” The laugh escapes my throat so easily and Sterling’s feet paused on the bottom step of the next ladder.

“You may be loyal to me as your friend but you’re first loyal to your pack, right?”

I can hear a sigh escape Sterling’s chest before he begins to climb. He walks into the room wearing the same clothes and boots he was wearing before he shifted. Though they were wet and little dirty across his chest and the front of his legs. His footsteps made no sounds as he walks to the wall opposite of myself and let his own back slide down until he too was sitting.

“That’s true,” Sterling admits. “It’s the pack first, but you didn’t ask for this. We will figure out what’s going on first. That much I know. If you really are turning into a wolf or werewolf, or nothing at all, my family will want to know how it happened. And hopefully try to reverse it.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. The cocktail of smells around me triggering the nerves between my eyes. The last thing I needed during this mess was a headache.

“You promised me it was a dog.”

Sterling’s eyebrow quirks, “After all this you’re still angry about that?”

“Why did you lie about the dog?”

He sighs again, having to repeat himself. “Just by calling it a wolf, the hospital would have alerted Wildlife Fish and Game. A lot of questions would have been asked and hunts for the rabid wolf would have began in our woods.”

“RABID?” Yes, I shrieked.

“No. It wasn’t …” Sterling’s face twists in frustration. “Rabid or not they would have assumed it was and started hunting for it. You had a rabies shot, you’re fine.”

I lifted up my shirt to point out the obvious, “Clearly theirs something wrong.”

“Adrenaline could have helped you heal fast and heightened some of your other senses for a while. Give it time and you’ll be back to normal.” I listened carefully to Sterling’s heartbeat, its erratic pattern convinced me Sterling was doing his best to comfort me, but he wasn’t lying.

“When’s the full moon?” I ask, and Sterling raised an eyebrow. “Humor me.”

“About a week until the first night of the full moon.” He answers.

“What happens to you on the full moon?”

“That part of the myth is a little true. The moon does have a certain pull when it’s full. To be specific, anyone who hasn’t reached puberty shifts for the entire three days. Usually after that, we can shift back during the day, though we are bit moody.” He shrugs.

“Is that why all your nieces and nephews are at your house?”

He shrugs, “They’re here for various reasons, but my older cousins are here to help with exactly that.”

I recall the two women that were at the table. They all resembled each other in some way, so of course they were all part of the Wolfe family … the Wolfe pack.

My shoulders shake as the silent laugh bubbled to the surface. “Isn’t your last name to literal?”

Sterling’s shoulders relaxed, “I think Great, Great Grandpa was going for ironic.”

“He changed it to Wolfe?” I ask, and Sterling nods. I press the palms of my hands to my eyes, rubbing them hard. “This is ridiculous. My friend is wolf who is named Wolfe and he spends three days a month as a wolf.”

“Hey! I’ve been through puberty!” Sterling insists, making me lose control of a laugh. The short snort loosens the tension in the small room. Sterling’s shoulders slid back to the wall, “Levi, turning a human into a wolf is a made up story. It’s not possible. You’re going to be fine.”

“What would make it possible?” I ask.

“Levi.”

“Again just humor me,” I say dropping my hands to my knees. “Say it never has been possible, until today. What could have changed to make it happen?”

Sterling wants to say something but he can’t. There was nothing to say, neither one of them had the imagination to grasp such possibilities.

Groaning I pull my fingers through my curls, “Your mother is going to kill me.” I say.

“Your mother’s in law enforcement,” Sterling points out. “My mom won’t touch you.”

The tight grip on my heart suddenly released. He was right. My mom would investigate my death and from what I was observing Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe wouldn’t dare let that happen.

“And your father?” I ask. “Isn’t he the Alpha?”

Sterling nods, “Yes, but the pack answers to mom when dad isn’t around and dad answers to mom when he is. Basically, my mom is smart. She won’t jeopardize our lives by killing the son of a cop. Now can we talk about how you just ran here, up the mountain, on two feet, faster than I could on all four? Were you even tired? Did you trip once?”

My mind retraces the path of my frantic run. The snow covered many holes and obstacles. Tripping and stumbling had happened, but it never once slowed me down.

“I can’t do that in human form.” Sterling admits, “I’m faster than normal humans and wolves, but even I have to go around most obstacles.”

“Can you hear from far distances?” I ask, leaning forward on my elbows.

“Not as well as you may think. I have to be listening, but even then it’s more a feeling than hearing. Instincts tell us a lot. We first feel it, then we pick out sounds or see things sharper. Like a heart rate or breathing. If my hearing was perfect I’d be hearing everybody all the time. Instead I have to focus and pay attention to the emotion around me, then I can hear it.”

“Where did you come from? I know your family has been here for generations but…”

“The town only knows a small portion of our history. If you really want to see, you’ll have to come back to the house.” His invitation makes my heart skip a beat, and Sterling’s eyebrow quirks, proving he’d heard it.

“I really don’t want to go back to your house.” I admit.

Sterling takes a long drag through his teeth making a slight hiss, “weeeeeellll.”

“I don’t have a choice.” I finish for him, Sterling nods. “Your mom wants to keep a close eye on me?”

“If we’re going to make sense of what’s happening to you, we need to keep a close eye on you.”

My arms are crossed over my knees, so I bury my face into them, “can we stay here a little longer?” I ask, voice muffled.

“Sure.” Sterling rises to his feet to get a better look around. “What is this place? It’s amazing!”

“It is … wait.” I lift my head, “You must run through these woods all the time. How did you not find this?”

Sterling shrugs, “I have no idea. I would have never thought to go through those trees if I wasn’t following your scent.”

“Really?”

Sterling shook the perplexed expression from his face, “Anyway, It looks old but, taken care of.”

“Ity showed it to me.” I explained how Mr. Allen had built it a long time ago, but had given it to Ity as a safe place to hide away.

Sterling gapes again, a new light suddenly igniting in his eyes, “Ity showed you?” I feel the heat rise in my face and did my best to hide it. “You not only talked with her, but she brought you to a secret hide out?”

It was a big deal. Going from a blundering idiot who couldn’t form a sentence to carrying on a full conversation with her AND taking her home to boot. Even I was a bit impressed with myself.

“Maybe you were healed by love.” Sterling jokes. I threw a small pebble at him which he easily dodged. “A puppy in LOVE.” He laughs at his own joke.

“It could have been that steak she fed me. That thing was good.”

“She fed you too!?”

“Mrs. Allen caught us on the doorstep. She insisted I eat.”

Sterling is on his feet springing to his friends side, “You had a date!”

“What? No.”

Sterling proceeds to list out that day’s events on his fingers, “One, you guys talked. Two, she took you somewhere nice and secret. Three, you had meal together. And four, you took her home.”

“With her AND her foster mom.”

“That’s called a chaperone and it’s natural to have one at our age.”

“Yeah, in the 18th century,” I mock in return, though a little proud of the fact he was right. I stood and walked to the door with Sterling right on my heels begging for more details.

“You walked her to the door, didn’t you?”

Completely ignoring him now, I attempt to change the subject. I left the second level of the treehouse, landing solid on the first floor before asking the question that had been on the tip of my brain since I’d seen Sterling shift.

“So your clothes,” I motion to Sterling’s body. “Do they shift with you?”

Sterling stopped bouncing and rolls his eyes, “I was wondering when you were going to ask something stupid.”

I laugh leading him down the rope ladder, “It’s not stupid, it’s weird. Stupid would be asking if your betrothed knows you’re technically a canine.”

“The Goss pack are close family friends.”

“PACK?” I snort a laugh, “I should have guessed she’s a wolf too.”

“Wait, no…” Sterling sputters trying to insist that’s not what he meant to say. What he meant was he wasn’t betrothed, but I was already racing him home through the trees. My speed forcing Sterling to shift to all fours in order to not fall behind.

CHAPTER END