Chapter Four

Present Time

Though I’d grown up my entire life among the forest, the trees frightened me as I ran. They seemed like cold, distant strangers rather than the friends and allies they had been in the past. They towered above me, judging and watching my panicked flight with detachment. I couldn’t ignore them—they were everywhere, of course—but I pretended that what I sensed was imaginary. Perhaps it was, and I was just being childish in my fear. Or perhaps not.

My four legs pounded against the ground, and the sound of an owl calling reached my pointed ears. Again, I was frightened. Was it following me? Hunting me down like a mouse? Irrational, I whimpered, the bag that Mark had given me clamped between my sharp teeth muffling the sound.

It wasn’t long before I heard howls in the distance. I knew instantly what the cause of them was, and the fur rose on my back.

My escape had finally been noted.

I picked up speed, knowing where to go. But worry gnawed at me. Would I be putting the humans in danger if I went to them? Would Dane be angry? If the Pack did find Dane and the rest of them, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Uncle Richard would gather half the Pack, no doubt, to track me and follow my scent.

But I won’t make it easy for them. I had to go to Dane. I had to warn him. Quickly, my pendant glowing so brightly that it almost hurt my eyes, I began to circle the trees. My path crossed the old one, and I kept at it. Before long, my trail was winding throughout all the trees, confusing and the scent blending together in the air until there was no way to discern my true direction.

Then I ran, each leap covering a huge distance. I tried to make my paws touch the ground as lightly as possible, so I couldn’t be followed. My breathing did not become heavier, like it once had, as I climbed up the mountain. I was used to the climb; I’d made it many times, so often in fact that there was a slight path made from my trips. Rocks skittered down and made slight sounds, and I silently prayed that they wouldn’t be heard.

Once I made it to the top, I glanced back once. The breath did finally catch in my throat, but not for weariness or exertion. I could see shadows down below, winding in and out of the trees just as I had. They were so far away that even my sharp wolf eyes could not discern the shape, but I knew what they were anyway… because of the glowing rocks embedded in their chests. Pendants.

They were coming. And quickly, from what I could see. My trail had confused them; I’d been successful. But Jeff was in the lead—I could see his bright green pendant. He may have helped me escape, but Jeff would never fail on purpose in a hunt. He would find my real trail soon enough. And he would show the others.

I turned around and ran again, pressing my sharp teeth against my bottom lip to keep from making any sounds that I might make in my terror. Jeff would find me. I can’t go to Dane, I realized. But where could I go? I had to keep going. Find the nearest city, and take shelter there—the Pack wouldn’t dare to venture among the humans. I had been the only odd one; I was the only one who’d found the humans fascinating, who hadn’t been able to stay away from them after seeing tem that first time. I couldn’t explain why even to myself. Was it their expressions, free from the wolf that was always behind our kinds’ countenances? Was it their simplicity, or their complication, with their devotion to their families and their ever-changing emotions?

Or maybe it was just Dane I couldn’t stay away from. The rare smile that always made his eyes glow… the way he brushed my hair back from my face… Jeff had touched me, many times in every way, but his fingers had never trailed across my skin with such… such…

Either way, my fascination with the humans had led me to this. Father had been right in only one thing he’d ever told me: Humans were dangerous. But not in the way that he meant, that they had guns and would shoot us if they knew what we were. No. Humans were dangerous because they were so addicting and interesting. Dane’s touch, so unlike Jeff’s and Mark’s, had been so… searching? No, not searching. The right word eluded me as I ran.

But I continued to rack my brain for the right word to describe Dane’s touch. Even when Jeff finally found my path and let out a howl that echoed off of the mountains I did not stray from my focus. It was silly, really, but I couldn’t let myself stop.

Tender? Loving? Exploring…?

I couldn’t stop looking for that word, because it was a distraction. Because it almost made me forget about the trees and the darkness of the night. About Jeff and the Pack behind me.

Because it just made me think of Dane.