Watercolor Girl

24

Evie

“If you all wouldn’t mind, I would like to excuse myself so that I might get a moment to shower.” I stood, “it was so wonderful to meet you both, and if there’s anything at all that you need that we’ve overlooked, please let me know. I’m new to this, so try not to hold it against me.” They both laughed, Rea nodded her approval to me.

“Thank you for your hospitality thus far, Luna. We understand the day has been hectic and we appreciate the time you’ve made available for us.”

“Thank you, Alpha, Luna,” I nodded to each. Before turning and striding away.

When I got to our room I stripped balling my clothes up in the corner of the bathroom before stepping under the hot water. I could feel Lev’s anxiety mounting until it dropped into the pit of his stomach. I missed him washing my hair. I washed my own hair, letting the water wash away the stink of my mate’s brother. Trying to figure out the meaning of all of this. Stev wouldn’t have shown up and let himself be so easily taken without reason. As I remembered him he was an incredibly adept warrior. Formidable and strong. He had been in human form, which would be more recognizable to those who had known him only a few years ago. His scent had been slight, hard to pick up despite the wind in my favor. He would know to change his position with the change or the wind. Something just wasn’t right. Within the prison linking wasn’t possible. Steps had been taken to ensure that prisoners could not silently plot an escape with each other. So being put in there with Taylor wouldn’t help him. What was the motive? Why was Lev taking so long. How had he gotten so far into the territory without being detected. Why him? If he directed “Soldiers” he would know it wise not to come here himself. I dig through the bags Rea had left on the table. Finding and shredding a pair of jeans we had picked up today, a bra, and a spaghetti strap tank. All black, of course. At this point it had become a signature color for me. I needed to go back to where Stacy had been caught. I was missing something. I knew I was. I wasn’t good at anything in this life but I knew the woods. I could figure it out. I knew I could. I went through the pockets of my discarded pants, checking my phone for what reason, I knew not, the only number I had was Rea and she would link me if needed. I didn’t even have Lev’s number yet. Maybe I could track Stev’s scent far enough to figure out where he’d come from. It was faint but I could pick it up. The sun was setting casting an orange glow across the main pack. It took me about 40 minutes to walk to the area of entrance, I walked into the woods, undressed, folding my clothes as usual and placing them neatly on my boots. This was the ritual, and I found comfort in the little things like this. I shifted, sniffing for his scent, which still sat like the thinnest fog just above the ground. I asked Nox for her eyes, so that my vision was the best it could be. Looking through her eyes in the dark was akin daylight but with minor color variations. She could see vibrations her vision was so good. We followed the thin scent which waxed and waned a bit. Moving slowly and deliberately, silently through the dark woods. We came to spot of incredibly strong scent, he had marked here, I found nothing but I marked the bark of a tree with my claws just in case I should need to refer back for any reason. I continued along, the scent thinning some and becoming harder to follow, moving silently through the forest like a shadow, slowly, we tracked it out to the edge of the territory. I reached out searching for colors. I was too far away to find Lev or Rea, but I picked up the slightest ripple, not close, but it would help guide my direction if the scent dissipated. I stayed low to the ground, tracking silently. I couldn’t see the stars through the trees, but I knew they were there. The night had quieted the forest. If you listened long enough you could tell the time by what you could hear out here. I had been out here at least two hours, maybe a little more. A skunk moved nearby, it’s telltale odor and the sound of its movements distancing itself from me. I waited for silence again before continuing on. They couldn’t be this close. I expected it would be several hours before I came to anything of any value, if anything at all really, but if I could confirm a direction, I would be happy and consider this mission a success. When the scent for strong again, I moved away from it, following the wispy edges of it. I had always been taught to stay off the main scent trails, they were easy to set traps on. I kept eyes focused for traps set off the main trail, if I had been trained of this, anyone else would have the same knowledge. Stev did, anyway, and it was his scent I was following. My mind wandered slightly, I wondered if he knew it was me. If he remembered my scent. I remember him breathing me in when he had me held against the wall. I let the thought go, and refocuses, I could afford no distractions.

I continued on, another hour maybe before reaching out again. More little slivers of colors. Faint and flickering, but they were there. Renewing my drive to continue. If I could get close enough to listen, maybe I could learn something about why this was happening.

“I’m losing you, little one.”

“I see no wolfsbane.”

“Nor do I, but our connection is fading.”

“Can you share with me? If I recede just enough, is it possible to share control?”

“We’ve never done this. I couldn’t say.”

“I need your eyes, Nox.”

“Maybe I can give you one. Maybe we can share.” My vision changed, it was worse but still better then mine on my own. I would have to rely on other senses I didn’t trust as much without my sight. We moved on, so slowly it felt like we were crawling on our belly. But I could hear something. A humming, soft and almost not there at all. The same humming I had heard the night Lev and I ran. I could see the stars somewhat now. But only through small opening, and that’s when I saw something out of place, thin and glinting, I couldn’t climb silently, not in this form, I shifted, still sharing with Nox, I would need her. Whatever was separating us hadn’t disabled our ability to shift. The bark was rough against my bare skin, but Nox forced us on, moving us like a whisper up the tree. We found a thin wire, it emitted a gentle hum. Stapled into the bark of the tree. We could only follow it so far with my poor vision obstructing us.

“Give it to me little one. I will keep us safe. I will be silent. I will not be brash and short sighted.” With her words I receded back. Watching through her superior eyes. She followed the wire, before severing it and moving back down the tree. She does as she promised, moving slowly and tracking with her superior sense of scent. She moved more quickly then me, but with the same silence and deliberation. I reached out, the colors were more vivid. We were close. But Nox was fading. I was losing her. I couldn’t lose her. I pushed myself out, forward again.

“Stay with me little one.” She made space for me. I had no idea how we were doing this but I didn’t care how she was doing it. I sat with her, watching the world through her, but not existing at all.

Within another hour, we were in a field of wolfsbane. It was everywhere. Surrounding us, pushing us apart. But she held me there with her.

“This is them little one. The pup and his mate, the prisoner’s. I can smell him.”

“We have no evacuation plan, Nox.”

“The hunting trail is only 2 miles southwest. If we can get them there.”

“How do we get them through the wolfsbane? Will they be coherent enough to run?”

“That I do not know. But if one makes it.” She was stalking closer to the shed, there were 10 inside.

“You must reach them little one. You must inform them to follow, to step only where we step.”

“They’re in human form Nox. They aren’t wolves and they won’t be able to shift.”

“We must do something, little one. We can distract. We are water through the trees. Let them chase us if they are seen.” I reached out filtering through them, sitting in each mind for just a moment. There was no guard there. I probed before attempting contact.

“Be silent, can you hear me?” A long pause followed, Nox waited, listening for their responses.

“Yes.”

“Are you guarded?”

“Not by men. But by camera. There is a field of wolfsbane around us.”

“Are there injuries?”

“No.”

“Are you weak?”

“Some.”

“We are going to free you. But we are one. You must travel. You must travel southwest, to the Storm Solstice pack. You must find their alpha right away. It is dangerous. There are traps. But you must travel quickly. You must keep your wits about you despite the flowers. We are a wolf, do not be afraid.” Nox silently destroyed the lock, swinging the door back. They filtered out towards the wood line, one at a time. When the last was out Nox followed. They ran minding themselves well. Moving quickly and quietly like only wolves could do.

“Reach for your loved ones if you can. Shift is if you can. If you cannot, just keep moving. You will come to a small trail, follow it to the pack. Move quickly, your lives depend on it.” We followed them to the trail before I heard movements behind us. “GO - DO NOT LOOK BACK NO MATTER WHAT YOU HEAR.”

Nox circled back sitting silently as they grew louder.

“5 little one.”

“I don’t know if we can handle 5.”

“I can handle 5.”

“Are they wolves or humans?”

“They are wolves.”

“Nox thats too many.”

“Little one. The others will die. We must try.”

“You said we would distract. We can run.”she watched them as they moved by us, 5 indeed, they were in a staggered wedge formation. We listened, nothing followed them. Nox began to stalk them.

“Can you reach your mate?” I reached, but returned empty.

“We are on our own, little one. Must protect the pack.” Nox moved silently behind the line, efficient. She hit the first one, ending him instantly, her teeth finding his throat and tearing it out before she retreated back into the woods. She circled around the front, flanking them again, she hit another one, and then there were 3. She doubled back, laying herself flat into the dead floor of the forest, they stalked back, sniffing the ground and air for her, but Nox left nothing for them to track. In a flash of black lightening she hit another one. Not quite hitting her mark, but the damage would be fatal, the death would be swift, but not instant. She hit the next immediately after, rolling him along the ground before her teeth found their mark.

“You are alone now. Do you wish to surrender?”

“Not before I taste your blood.” He longed at Nox, his claws finding her flank, she fell, rolling just quick enough to miss the teeth snapping for her throat. Pain searing through her upper left hind. He was charging her again, he didn’t count on her patience. It was a quick grab and he was gone.

“They will track us now. We must move quickly.” She moved quickly. Sprinting toward the trail, we found it quickly, the scent of the running humans was strong with their sweat. She sprinted after them.

Lev

I sat across from my brother, who I thought had been executed for his crimes. It was like seeing a ghost, a living ghost. The reincarnation of a nightmare.

“Brother.” His voice a growl.

“Stev.”

“Look how well you’ve done for yourself in this little podunk s**t hole pack. I see my title has done well for you.”

“It has.”

“Not the skinny little punk you were as a pup. The loser you always were.”

“I owe it all to the title.”

“Of course you do, you owe everything you have to me.”

“What is everything I have, Stev.”

“Your title, your status, even your little mate.”

“My mate was a fate bond. And you are no goddess that I know of.”

“I’m still alive, little brother. And I want what’s mine.”

“Nothing here is yours. You were stripped of all your claims to the pack and excommunicated for what you did to that she wolf. You have no rightful claim to Storm Solstice or anything else for that matter.”

“Ciaran promised me my title. And I intend to take it back.”

“Ciaran is dead, Stev. No promises he made you will be kept.” His eyes widened some at that but he recovered quickly.

“I’ll have what I’m owed. The b***h who survived and my title.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. Your actions have caused great bodily harm to a member of our guard. That alone is punishable by death. I don’t make the rules. I simply follow them.”

“You always were a f*****g p***y, Lev. The great disappointment of the Lyons line. The weak link.”

“You’re right. But I didn’t r**e a wolf on a locker room floor.”

“What’s yours to take isn’t r**e. It’s collecting on an agreement. If she pupped, that is mine too.”

“Nothing of hers is yours. She owed you nothing, Stev. You would have been wise to stay away longer. All laws fade in time. Had you waited just a few more years, we wouldn’t be able to charge you for the crimes you committed against her.” He laughed.

“In the death of an alpha, the next qualified stands to accept in the interim. Alpha Thomas will never convict me. The b***h will be mine. And oh the things I have planned for her. The years that I spent waiting for the moment. She’ll sufferer them. All the pain will be hers. When my mate rejected me, it ached, it festered for years into an infection of hatred now petrified. I will make her ache the way she made me ache.”

“I can’t understand why you didn’t just take her when she was out there in the woods, all by herself. No guards, no contacts, no one to check on her. You could have had her for months out there. Why wait?” His smile was sick and it took all the control I had in my body not to tear his throat out.

“It took me years to find my way back. To build the militia. I want her shame to be seen. An audience to the retribution she’s going to endure. I missed her by minutes. But I won’t again.”

“Rogue life has weakened you, brother. You’ll stay here until it’s decided what to do with you. Alpha Thomas is busy being observed by the watchful eye of a larger pack. It might take quite awhile for him to see your case.”

“I have all the patience in the world.”

“So be it. I’m sorry it turned out like this.” I stood to leave, he reached for my arm but I shook him off.

“I will have her. Send her to me, give me what is mine and I will disappear and never come back.”

“You’ll sit in here until Alpha can hear your case. I won’t send your victim back to the rings of hell you have planned for her. What you receive will be decided by the alpha.” He smiled again. I walked out of the room. Rage seething through my body. Patrick’s hand came down on my shoulder.

“Are you ok? That was… disturbing.”

“Yeah. I just gotta find my mate.”

“She was in the kitchen with the Alpha, Luna, and the human - “

“Rea. Her name is Rea.”

“And Rea. She went up to the beta wing to shower, hasn’t been back down since. I think Alpha and Luna retired for the night.” I nodded.

“He stays in isolation. Give him no opportunity to see or figure out that Thomas is here. Say nothing of my title and under no circumstances let him find out about Evie. He’ll have a 24 hour a day guard, absolutely no privileges or privacy. He doesn’t get showers, he doesn’t come out until his date of execution. Is that understood?”

“Of course. Go find your mate. I’d need mine after that.”

“Thank you, Patrick. Call if there’s any issues. No matter how small they may seem.”

I left the prison feeling dirty. A shower sounded perfect. Evie wouldn’t mind taking another I’m sure I could entice her with my magnetic s*x eyes. I giggled to myself as I drove back to the pack house. I had no sooner walked in the door when I was accosted rather firmly by Rea who marched me to my office and slammed the door behind us.

“Lev where is she?”

“What?”

“Is she with you. Was she with you? I can’t link Evie. I thought she was at the prison with you.”

“No Rea, she never came there. It’s too dangerous to have her anywhere near him.” Panic started to settle in my gut. “Patrick said she was last with you and the Snow Claw court.”

“She left us over an hour ago, Lev. She was there, she showered. But I can’t link her and I can’t find her.” I reached out, forcing an impossible distance but finding nothing. The panic in my gut spread to my extremities, pins and needles started to burn my hands and feet, un to my knees and elbows.

“She has to be here, Rea, why can’t I find her?”

“That’s why I thought she was at the prison with you. You can’t link there, it’s fortified to void any possibility of linking between prisoners. But if she was never there with you, she’s been gone for over an hour.” Stev’s statements flooded into my head. But he was here. So he didn’t have her. He was genuinely surprised to hear about Ciaran’s death. There’s no way he could have coordinated her kidnap, and Evie wouldn’t have gone quietly, it wasn’t possible. My brain raced. Scenario after scenario playing behind my eyes. I ran from the office, out the door of the pack house, searching the air for her scent. She hadn’t been gone long enough for her scent to have faded completely. I picked it up, it was faint and fading a bit with the breezy night. I walked with it, following it down to an empty corner of the main pack. Past that into a field that had been used even before my time for production and cultivation of crops to feed the pack. I followed her musky earthy scent until it mixed with the scent of blood. But not Evie’s blood. Til lent me his vision, we walked into the wood, Rea trailing close behind. Several feet in I realized this is where Stacy must have sprung the trap. The blood was his and not Evie’s. Her clothes were folded up neatly at the base of a tree, sitting atop her boots. It took Rea’s eyes longer to spot them, she ran to them, picking them up and staring at me confused and questioning.

“She went in to find them, Rea.” I scanned the darkness of the woods. Listening to the breeze through the trees. It would be hard if not impossible to track her here with this wind and the nocturnal animals that would have obscured her scent even more.

“Can you find her, Lev?” Rea’s voice was shrill and panicky. It made me even more anxious.

“No. The only wolf in this pack that could track a scent in these conditions is Evie.” We stood in silence for several minutes, gazing out into the woods. The pins and needles of my panic moved to my core. There was nothing I could to find her.

“Lev!!” Rea held up Evie’s phone,

If can pick up his scent. I can find the base.

It was a blank message to no one. A text typed to an empty recipient. We put her clothes back as she’d left them. Walking back towards the pack house, slowly and silently. Rea, who was normally the voice of reassurance, was silent.

“Why would she just take off by herself? Why would she do that? She could have waited or at least told someone.” Rea sniffled a bit, she wasn’t crying, but she was fighting it.

“Because she doesn’t know how to do it any other way, cowboy. If having a tag along would only slow her down, maybe she knew that. Maybe she didn’t want to endanger anyone else, maybe she is just stubborn and pig headed, maybe anything.”

“Did she tell you who we found in the woods?”

“No. She said one of the patrolmen were injured, permanent type of injury. She mentioned briefly that you think you got the guy who set the trap, but that was really it.”

“How much do you know about Evie? What about her past has she told you about.” She looked up at me.

“Nothing really, honestly. I’ve always accepted the relationship she was willing to have on a here and now basis, I didn’t ask about her past. I could tell certain things about her, but I never asked for an explanation of why these things were as they were. Since I’ve been here I’ve picked up on a few things, obviously. The blow up with dude alpha and his dad was enlightening. The vulgar s**t dude alpha said to her before you got into the ring.”

“It was my brother, Rea. That did that to her.”

“I know, I’ve gathered as much.”

“Evie dragged him out of the woods earlier this evening.” Rea looked up at me again.

“That’s who you had to go interview?!” I nodded.

“I had to see what he knew. The point patrol said Evie never shifted in front of him, so he has no idea she’s who pulled him out. Rea, the things he said keep clawing into my mind. All of his problems are her fault. But he’s relatively ignorant. He didn’t know Ciaran is dead. He doesn’t know why, he thinks I’m the beta and Thomas is filling in until a new alpha can be appointed. He doesn’t know she’s my mate. I think the reason he was out there was because he was waiting for Ciaran. I think it’s possible they’ve been meeting or at least somehow in communication. It all feels too simple and too complicated at the same time. Rea if they get a hold of her…”

“That’s enough. It’d take an army to catch her. They don’t have anyone that can outmatch her, not if all they have are people controlled by family separations and the threats of what happens if they fail. You played with that little alpha like a cat plays with a mouse, and no offense Cowboy, but you have almost 0 training background to take on an alpha raised and primed for it his whole life. Jelly, she was born with the natural talent to do what she’s doing right now, and she’s honed it precisely over the years she’s spent out there in isolation.” That was the Rea I needed. The one who always had the positive words, who didn’t let us bog down in our own thoughts. I put my arm around her and gave her a quick squeeze. A physical thank you before dropping my arm away and putting my hand back in my pocket. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

“Alpha we have activity out in the Northeast area of the territory.”

“Activity?”

“We don’t know what yet, we have sensors going off like crazy.”

“Have Patrick and his first choice meet me out at the wood line. I’m on my way.”

“What’s going on, cowboy?”

“Something out in the woods at the edge of the territory. It’s miles from where Evie went in, but it’s something.” It had been hours since we realized my little one was gone. Rea and I had sat up waiting. Checking our phones compulsively, reaching out searching for a link. Rea had started drinking probably 2 hours ago and was beyond the point of tipsy. She seemed to sober up some when I started gathering myself to go meet my patrol.

“Can I come?”

“I don’t know what it is Rea. But it’s multiple. Patrol says sensors are going off like crazy which means it’s not an individual. There are more then one.”

“That’s not an answer.” Blunt and to the point. I had intentionally not given an answer.

“Not this time, it’s too dangerous if it’s rogues.” She slumped down and sipped at her gin.

“Keep me informed if it’s my pup, cowboy.” I nodded, trying not to make eye contact as I started to the door.