Page 98 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

It was amazing how much control you could have when you were worried about someone else’s more than your own.

Monday at school was a shitshow of epic proportions.

Even though Layla and Viv had both shifted and run forty miles this morning before dawn, they both had a couple near misses throughout the day.

Viv nearly bit off another girl’s head in field practice and had to fake a stomachache to get out of participating.

And Layla, stuck fending off Quinn’s advances all day, nearly snapped her very canine jaws at him in the cafeteria.

I expertly shifted the attention to myself with a rather dramatic sweep of my arm across the table, accidentally sending all of our lunches falling to the scuffed floor.

We had to get new lunches, which I grudgingly had to pay for, but at least it gave Layla the minute of peace to get control of herself and very politely tell Quinn she needed some time to herself.

Miraculously, she didn’t seem to have a problem at home with her brothers and sisters.

“It’s like my wolf knows them,” she explained. “Like it knows it can’t hurt them.”

She’d shrugged.

“I don’t get it, but I don’t think being at home is going to be as hard as I thought it would be. School on the other hand…”

Vivian wasn’t so lucky. She had to lock herself in her room for the night to keep from barking at her father when he wandered in drunk, but that was par for the course for a Monday night for her.

She’d shrugged too, telling me that it was only a little harder than usual to keep from eating him alive.

She’d laughed. I didn’t.

When I broke out of my thoughts, telling myself not to worry so much about them, I found Clay watching me curiously. My arms were elbow deep in soapy dishwater, and I gazed without seeing out the window above the sink to the darkening sky outside.

Clay slouched against the counter to my right, a strange, curious look dipping his brows low and pulling at a corner of his mouth.

“What?” I asked, a flush creeping up my neck.

“I don’t know what you did to me, but I haven’t slept as good as I did last night since I was a kid.”

I smiled at that.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept as peacefully, either.

Except maybe the time I awoke to find Jared curled at the edge of my bed.

But this was different. Clay had tucked me in tight against his chest, curling and bending to form his body to mine as though he was the mold and I was the putty.

And I was the putty. The way I’d melted into him…

I couldn’t be sure, but after the first few moments of trepidation and desire waned, giving way to exhaustion, I was probably asleep within seconds.

His level breaths expanded and contracted against my back. His warm breath caressed my hair. My wolf was in her absolute bliss.

I mean, she might’ve been happier if he’d given in to us in the woods, but it was the next best thing, so she didn’t complain much.

“Good,” I told him and bit my lower lip. “I haven’t either,” I admitted.

His eyes widened. “Maybe…” he trailed off, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck. “Maybe we could—”

“Just admit it,” I teased, flicking bubbles at him. “You liked it.”

His face twisted into a scowl.

“My big scary mate is actually just a giant teddy bear who likes to cuddle.”

His fists clenched. “Take that back.” I shook my head. “Nope.”

Before I could blink, he was there, one hand on my back and the other plunged into the soapy water. I barely had time to gasp before he splashed water and bubbles all over my face and shirt.

I blinked through the wetness and suds to find him several paces away, grinning like a fool.

“This doesn’t change anything,” I said, advancing as he retreated up the stairs, away from my dreams of retaliation. “You’re still my little cuddle bunches!” I called after him, groaning as I shook my arms, flicking the wetness off the ends of my fingers.

“Bastard.”

I heard the shower turn on upstairs and went back to the sink to finish washing up the last few dishes from dinner, secretly hoping that using the water down here would fuck with his temperature up there.

Bugger deserved it.

My phone pinged in my back pocket, and I dried my hands quickly before drawing it out. A message from Clay flashed across the screen.

Clay: I’ve been called a lot of things. Cuddle bunches is by far the worst.

I began thumbing out a reply, a smirk on my lips,

when my phone pinged again.

Clay: I’ll be ready in ten.

Five words and I was right back to where I was earlier today when I got home. On edge and flighty. The caged bird living in my chest trying to break free all over again.

The questions I’d been asking myself all day replayed like an interrogation reel in my head.

What if the wolves from the eastern pack attack us? What if one of us gets hurt?

What if they are to blame for the missing wolves? And…

…what if they are not?

If they aren’t then that didn’t necessarily mean it was Ryland’s doing, but it’d be one more tick on the proverbial tally chart on his side.

I huffed out a breath and willed my thrumming pulse to slow.

Allie: I’ll wait outside.

Before I could finish the last two dishes, my screen flashed with another message from the countertop. I leaned over to see it was Clay again even though the shower was still running.

Clay: Don’t go far.

I rolled my eyes and emptied the sink, guzzling a tall glass of water in preparation for the long run. A run that would normally take us less than an hour would take us nearly two tonight. We’d decided to double back and leave a dummy trail before retracing our steps and cutting through the river.

I shuddered. It was probably colder than ice by now. But it would be worth it if we were right. We couldn’t have anyone be able to track where we went. It would raise too many questions that we didn’t have the answers to. Not yet anyway.

Deciding to play nice this time, I stripped down to bare skin before the bathroom light in the cabin went out and set my folded clothes on the bottom step of the porch.

“All right girl,” I cooed to my wolf. “Your turn.”

She surged to the surface, pushing me back so she could take control of the reins. The pain lasted only a brief second before I was staring out through lupine eyes at the sharpness of the evening right after sunset.

We padded around in a circle, wanting to run, but also knowing we needed to wait for Clay. It felt… different this time. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was, but my skin felt more sensitive and my movements more jarring.

By the time Clay came outside another minute later, in nothing but a pair of loose khakis, I figured out what it was.

I was still very much here. Normally, my wolf tucked me into the back of my own mind like a lone sock tucked into the back of a drawer because it didn’t have a match.

Not this time.

My legs felt strong. My chest cavity wide. I felt the outer edges of my being like I’d never felt them before. Foreign but also fitting. Like a coat you forgot you had that fit just like the first day you bought it.

Charity was right.

Hey, Clay’s deep timbre rumbled through my thoughts, and I whipped my head up to find him loping down the stairs, doing a lazy circle around me as though appraising me. You good?

Great, I replied before taking off at a sprint, eager to feel the push and flex of the earth being chewed beneath my paws.

Clay caught up to me easily and we ran side by side through the night to the east.

Pace yourself, Clay whispered in my thoughts after we got a few miles in. It’s going to be a long night.

I grinned inwardly.

What? I teased. Do you need me to slow down? Smartass.

Clay had been right after all. By the time we were nearing the eastern border after doubling back, leaving the dummy trail, and taking the long way around back through the river, I was dead tired.

We paused for a drink in the icy water and most of my drink splashed out of my mouth and dripped down my chin. Wholly unable to close my mouth for the raucous breaths sawing in and out in clouds from my jowls.

Told you, Clay said, and I growled at him.

How much further?

We’re nearly there already, Clay told me. The borders to their territory are just through that copse of trees there.

He inclined his head toward a thicket, where a natural break was formed to almost look like a doorway. Enchanting and menacing at the same time.

It’s not too late to turn back, you know, Clay added.

You’re worn out, maybe it isn’t such a good idea to—

We’re going in, I pressed. I did not almost kill myself running for the past two hours straight just to chicken out now that we were here. If there were answers to be had on the other side of that copse of trees, I would have them one way or the other.

Clay didn’t speak, he just looked on toward the entry to foreign territory as though considering his options.

Is there, like, a protocol or something we need to follow?

Or do we just walk through.

He turned his head back to me, his bright blue eyes looking even brighter surrounded by the dark gray— near black—fur of his wolf.

I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but even in this form, he was drop dead gorgeous.

Muscled and wide shouldered with a handsome lupine face.

Or maybe it was just my wolf thinking he was attractive?

Who knew.

Normally we’d require permission to enter another pack’s territory, but since we can’t do that because it requires alpha consent, we’re going to have to walk in without it.

Is that dangerous? Can be.

Care to elaborate?

Clay dropped his head and scraped at the dirt with his paw. Ry keeps wolves at our borders, they run the perimeter. Most packs do that. If one crosses into our boundaries and is caught, they are usually given an opportunity to turn around and leave.

So you’re saying we just go in there, ask permission to enter and if they say no…what? We just have to leave?

Not all packs give foreign wolves the opportunity to leave peacefully.

So…?