Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon: FIRST QUARTER

Sterling - She walks, we follow. Ten minutes down the side of the highway past the golf course and country club. She passes the residential homes until the highway changes into a regular road, which curves up. Halfway up the turn, the trees begin to line the asphalt and then they become forest.

I’d never gone this way to the Allen home. In fact, I’m not sure this road connects with the Allen’s main road at all. Levi too hadn’t been aware of this route, he’d never followed her beyond the school parking lot. I can tell this new level of stalking wasn’t sitting well with him. His steps were slower, and I often have to urge him forward so that we don’t put too much distance between us.

Being a wolf I’m able to keep track of her from a much farther distance than a normal human. Levi being … whatever he is … can probably track Ity merely by her scent. It makes me uncomfortable not knowing what he’s becoming.

Ity seems peaceful on this walk. So much, that even I can’t help but notice the allure to her beauty. She’s that kind of girl that didn’t know she was beautiful, or at the very least it wasn’t important to her. And she always seems to know exactly what’s going on. Never surprised by scenes around her or the stupidity of people.

One time I’d watched as Levi stalked her at the County Tractor Pull. It’s an event that my entire family enjoys attending. The noise, the action, the demolition derby and motorbike races, all appeal to the cubs. They are often set loose during this event, running this way and that, while my parents sit back and enjoy catching up with town officials.

On that day, Ity had been lead to stand close to the sidelines, by her usual group of girls. She followed them through the crowds with her normal passive energy. I had watched her view the motorcycles zip passed and around the arena when one of the triplets, Sebastian, pushed through their legs for a closer look.

He got to close.

Suddenly he was in the path of the motorbikes. I’d taken two steps to rescue him, when Ity’s hand reached out, and as easily as breathing, she grabbed the nine year old by the back of the pants. One pull and he was back at her side seconds before a blue dirt bike zipped passed. Close enough it kicked dirt into the crowd.

No one else saw, nor did Trinity bring attention to it. Sebastian and I looked at her, but her face was already submerged in a book. It never occurred to me how close that had been. Had she not moved at that moment, Sebastian would have been hit and everyone would have seen it.

That was the first time I realized she has always been aware of her surroundings.

We stop as Ity pauses at the place the asphalt ends and it dissolves into a long the dirt road. Her hands trace to her shoulders where her red hood rests. Glancing off to the side she carefully pulls the cotton hood over her hair before proceeding.

“Did she spot us?” Levi asks. He’d caught it too, but she kept walking.

We slink along a good distance away, when she stops again.

We stop too.

Levi’s body goes rigid seconds before the hair on the back of my neck ripple to attention.

Something’s not right, I think. My eyes narrow in on Ity’s hands. They twitch suspiciously at her side, then she quickly steps backward.

The sudden movement brings her back only an inch, but it’s enough. A light brown blur sails passed her shoulders. Its yellowed teeth bare and snapping short of her neck before falling into the snow on the other side.

Wolf.

Defiantly male and the same size as me but at least two more years of muscle. His coat of fur is made up of three shades of grey, the lighter tone covering most of his body making him almost look white. The deeper gray patterns look like ink spills across his back and tail. He maneuvers quickly, one sharp turn he’s facing Trinity again for a second attempt. Trinity’s not waiting, in fact, she digs the toe of her shoe into the dirt and runs right at the wolf.

Her angle is perfect. The gray wolf’s momentum was focused toward her and he can’t redirect it rapidly enough. Instead Ity runs right past him, and plunges herself into the trees.

Levi lunges forward, his instincts similar to mine. I too wanted to blindly run after this wolf. It was an intruder in my territory, but I’d also been taught not to attack without a plan. My hand shoots out and pulls Levi back to me. It takes some extra strength to do so.

“He’s trying to hurt her.” Levi protests. I hold my hand up hoping to calm him.

“Yes, and she can’t out run a wolf.” I agree. Levi returns with a look that clearly said ‘duh’. So quickly I clarify. “And how are you going to explain that you can?”

His mouth opens before closing again but understanding didn’t keep him from urgently looking to where Trinity had disappeared.

“I’ll catch him, but when you catch up to her you need a way to both safely escape!” I say. I had no idea what his solution was going to entell. Wendy is too far away to drive and even if Levi was able to get to Wendy, the timing would have to be right. And I couldn’t guarantee we’d hit the road at the same time.

Luckily a lightbulb seemed to go on behind Levi’s eyes.

“Help her get her to the top of the GRADE, I’ll be there with … something!” In two blinks Levi disappears down the street we’d come.

Not questioning, I turn and chase after the victim and assailant.

A branch caught her hood pulling it from her head and exposing her long locks as they whipped uncontrolled in the draft behind her. Boots pound on the asphalt as she cut across the main road and back into the thick brush on the other side. Twine branches scratch at her long red sleeves tearing open small holes in her hoodie and jeans as she barrels through. Her speed is interrupted by divots in the snow, branches and other forest obstacles. Though she stumbles, her speed is enough to stay ahead of the Grey-Wolf.

Running for your life is a great motivator.

I manage to parallel her. Angling my run to get steadily closer. The GRADE was coming up ahead. It’s a cliff made of pressed red rock that practically vertical in spots and made smooth by the many off-road and adventure bikers that dare to ride down its face. But there is also a rocky face meant for rock climbing and if she could get up it, I could keep the Gray-Wolf from reaching her.

The stride between my front and back legs lengthened. The brush doesn’t cut through my thick coat like it was through Trinity’s pants, and knowing the terrain is a benefit against one less familiar. Yet strangely, Trinity does seem to know where she’s headed.

Still, panting with every step, I’m closing in. The thick trees break away showing the debris covered base before the rocky cliff shoots upward in front of her.

To my surprise Trinity’s footing doesn’t falter, she reaches the base of the cliff and instantly secures foot and hand holds, then proceeds to lift herself upward.

Her resilience, again, piques my interest.

My paws leave the thick brush and push off against stone. Teeth bared and front paws extended, I collide hard with her pursuer and the two of us fall short of the fleeting girl.

Landing on all fours I turn to face the Gray-Wolf, he did not. He hit the ground, his thick gray coat skids across the rocky surface. He throws his head around, whoever he was, he makes it quickly back on his feet facing me. Seeing his agility, I know I can’t give him the satisfaction of catching his bearings.

I spring forward, showing my teeth and targeting the wild wolfs neck. Pawing at my mussel he blocks me. His powerful swipe sends a sting of pain through my face and I roll to snap at him again.

Rocks fall from above as Ity’s footing slips. She had paused halfway up to watch the scene below. Two wolves fighting is surely something she hadn’t seen before, or possibly she was debating the safety of the plateau above. In a world of Wolf vs human, the middle of a cliff is quite possibly the safest place to hide. However gravity won’t allow her stay there for long.

The hum of a motorbike’s engine echos down the rocks to Trinity and I below. I throw my head back, howl upward and a sniff. Her eyebrows flit upwards and again she climbs.

During that moment of distraction the Gray-Wolf catches a tuff of my shoulder with its teeth, and he pulls me to the ground. On my back he has an ideal angle to attack from above, yet instead, he backs away. With a brief glance up at the girl, the Grey-Wolf retreats into the trees.

I roll back to all fours, primed to follow but more falling debris from above causes me to pause. I look up in time to see Trinity a few feet from the top of the cliff. Another rev of the motorbike vibrates from the same direction moments before an extra set of hands appears over the edge. It’s Levi. He reaches out and pulls her from my view.

The cold air puffed white as I release the breath I’d been holding and I set out the opposite direction of the Gray-Wolf. The cliff isn’t the only way to get to the top, and I suspect whoever this wolf was he isn’t going to give up quite so simply.

Cresting the top of the steep hill my sharp ears piqued. The motorbike shifts at top speed heading opposite the main road. Pressing my wolf nose to the ground I catch a cocktail of smells. From the deep fragrance of the earth, to the light musk from the brush thriving beneath the snow and there it was. Faintly floating on the wind; sweaty, and heavy. Three, maybe four others.

The Grey-Wolf wasn’t alone.

CHAPTER END