The Lost Mate

Max

I followed Nash around the wilds around Rustknoll, staying well away from pack territories, for several days. With Nash as my guide, I found places I hadn’t checked on my former search, but none of them yielded my long desired results. I’d largely given up, but Nash still seemed invested so I kept my resignation to myself.

Occasionally, he would comment about something he remembered, some recollection of an abandoned pup, and I kept the pointlessness of what we were doing to myself.

After all, continuing didn’t hurt, I reminded myself whenever my frustration and disappointment became more than I could tolerate. We ranged further than my original search and at least I could block off more of my internal map in my mind. I’d never need to search this area again.

“We stayed here the first winter,” Nash told me. “Pretty good hunting and I shifted so we didn’t freeze.” We passed a roughly constructed structure that could barely be considered a shelter, built from refuse and branches, and nearly falling to the ground while nature swallowed it up from all directions.

The idea of children shivering out in this hovel in the middle of the wilderness pissed me off, even more than my bad temper from another failed search.

A snap caught my ear. I wasn’t the only one, Nash looking in the same direction as the sound. “Pretend you didn’t hear,” I cautioned him. “If it is a threat, we’ll let them think they’re catching us off guard.” Nash was more of the attack first, ask questions later type, but we were going with a more subtle strategic approach since we were doing this my way.

We continued walking, with no evidence of anyone following us for long enough that I almost could have imagined that the sound might have been a deer or rabbit, except that prey animals wouldn’t usually get close to a werewolf. They would have been directly in our scent trail so they would have known we were nearby. Prey animals weren’t stupid. There were other innocuous explanations for the sounds, but...

“Think that was nothing?” I asked Nash, interested in his take.

“No.”

“Me neither.” Our conclusion was confirmed as the wind shifted and I caught a whiff of pack wolf scent, maybe the same as the one who had attacked us last time. I’d hoped we’d lost them, but clearly they were determined. I glanced at Nash, wondering what he had done that they wanted him so badly.

My questions were cut short when a mass of snarling grey fur rushed the clearing, golden eyes directed at me. Two more followed him in my direction. Apparently I wasn’t being underestimated anymore.

Two more had gone for Nash as well. The odds weren’t in our favour. “Run!” I ordered through the link. “We’ll try to lose them!”

Nash had already made the same assessment, so it took him no time to dash away. Running in the same direction as him, I only hoped he knew where he was going. All five wolves were still on our tails, so I decided to split up, using a sturdy tree to help me take a sharp corner and I tore off adjacent to the chase.

The sound of growls at my manoeuvre followed me and I grinned at the sound. A quick glance behind showed that only two of them were behind me, better odds than before. Hopefully Nash could keep ahead of the other three, because his skills were definitely better suited to running and skulking than fighting while outnumbered.

Meanwhile, my two pursuers were spreading out, the second lagging. I ran for a couple more minutes, leaping and dodging, before I whirled around and met the first wolf.

I didn’t have much time for restraint, so I feinted in one direction and then slipped under, going for the jugular. I didn’t get a good bite, so he wouldn’t bleed out, but it was enough to start sapping his energy. I didn’t need a dramatic blow, I just needed to do enough damage to put them out of commission.

I lunged again, the other wolf snapping his jaws at me defensively. I backed off and aimed for his hind flank, ripping his flesh just as the second one burst through the trees, surprise at my direction in his canine eyes.

Meeting him head on, his jaws aimed for my throat, so I twisted, rolling underneath and shoving him hard into a tree. I jumped to my feet and attacked him, blood and fur flying. I left them both injured as I ran back in the direction I came, confident I’d outpace them now. Pack wolves were strong, but after all my searching, my stamina was nearly unmatched.

A third wolf had apparently decided to follow behind his pack mates, which was stupid of him since their main advantage had been in numbers, but lucky for me. There was surprise, or maybe fear, as I barrelled towards him, giving him no time to prepare himself. He managed to get his teeth into the back of my neck, but I grabbed his leg and dislocated the joint. His cry of pain was all I needed to hear. My neck stung where his teeth ripped my flesh as I ran back the way I had come.

“Holding up?” I asked Nash.

“I’m behind a gas station on the highway and I’m cornered. If I go any further humans might see me.” There was real fear in his voice, probably at the idea that he might expose our secrets and have hunters coming for him. Everyone, rogue or pack, wished to avoid drawing the hunters’ attention.

“I’ll be there soon, just play defensive.” Only a minute later I caught up, and I charged towards one of the last enemies, throwing my weight at him. Nash went for the other wolf, and the fight continued. Nash managed to knock out his attacker, and I pinned the one I was fighting on the ground, my teeth in his throat. He gave up, letting his body go limp as a sign of his defeat.

“Watch him, I’m shifting out of my fur,” I told Nash, who took my place at my captive’s throat. I barely felt the pain of my wounds as I turned into my human self, although they’d hurt once my adrenaline wore off.

“Shift,” I ordered the prone wolf, and after a moment he obeyed, shifting into a brown-haired kid who probably wasn’t even twenty yet.

“Would you like to get out of here alive, wolf?” I asked, letting a menacing growl hint in my tone.

“I’m not telling you anything, so do whatever you want,” he said, but I didn’t miss the tremor hiding in the defiance.

“I’m not planning to do anything to you. But you know, the four other wolves who came along with you are injured, and it would be easy to kill any one of them now. Or, instead, you could just answer a few simple questions. Like, which pack are you from? You smell familiar.”

He didn’t answer.

I dug around in my bag, and turned on my cell, and set it to recording. Then I pulled a knife out of my bag and held it to my prisoner’s throat and looked at Nash. “Just act for now, don’t do anything permanent.”

Then, purely for the wolf’s ears, I said to Nash, “Go and sever the leg on that one. He doesn’t need it because it looks like he’s going to die anyway.”

I turned my eyes back to the quivering wolf. “Or you could tell me your pack name? Because I know your scent and I will figure it out, but the convenience might put me in a better mood.” A trickle of blood wound its way down his throat and I let up the pressure a bit. I wasn’t actually planning to kill anyone I didn’t have to, but this wolf didn’t need to know that. His eyes darted between me and Nash, and in this case, Nash’s unnerving behaviour worked in my favour.

“Bluegorge.” The words came through gritted teeth, but I understood them. Nash stiffened.

“And what does Bluegorge want with me and Nash?” It was time for the secrets to come out, whether Nash wanted them to or not. I’d given him plenty of time to confess, and getting hunted down was inhibiting my goals. Even worse, Bluegorge’s involvement might impact Glenshadow, and I wouldn’t allow that.

“Nothing.”

“Lie. Maybe just start with the leg below the knee, Nash.”

“Please don’t, that’s my mate’s brother!” Rookie mistake, telling me that. This wolf was pretty young, and I felt sorry for the kid. Not enough not to do what needed to be done, though. My patience had finally run out.

“Your mate’s going to be very upset when her brother’s crippled, only crippled, if he’s lucky, thanks to your silence. And don’t worry, since you don’t seem to like talking I’ll make sure she knows. I understand how important mates are. I actually have a mate, too, but I can’t find her and it’s making me a bit...agitated. And you’ve just interrupted my search for her again so I’m not feeling very generous.”

The unconscious wolf whimpered as Nash dug his teeth into the leg. Nash’s eyes implored me not to continue with my questioning, but it was too late. He’d had more than enough chances to come clean voluntarily.

“I guess it’s lucky he’s out, he probably won’t feel it as much. Nash...”

“Wait, wait! I’ll tell you.”

“Why are you after Nash?”

My prisoner closed his eyes, and inhaled roughly. Nash stiffened. Maybe I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear, but it was time to get answers. At least this search wasn’t going to be a total waste of time like all the others.