Wolf Marked by Alexis Calder

12

Greta was on her feet and out of the tent faster than I expected for someone of her age. I followed, chasing the child and Greta down the pathways, past the clusters of tents, until we reached the woods near where I’d entered when I’d arrived.

A male with sandy-blonde hair was laying on the ground, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. His clothes were torn and his shirt was bloody. He was moaning in pain, his hands gripping for the ground and finding no purchase.

“What happened to him?” Had someone attacked him in the camp?

“Why isn’t he healing?” The child asked. “He should be healing. Shift, Daddy. You need to heal.”

She ran forward and Greta caught her, then passed her to me. On instinct, I reached for the girl and pulled her into my arms.

“Get the child out of here and keep her away,” Greta ordered.

I looked down at the kid. The little girl had the same blonde hair as the fallen man. She was trying to stay strong but I could almost feel her fear.

“Go, now,” Greta barked.

I grabbed the child’s hand. “Come on, I need your help.”

“What’s wrong with my dad?” she asked, her eyes glued to him.

I guided her away, leading her back toward the common area of camp. “I’m new here. Can you give me a tour while Greta helps your dad?”

The child finally looked up at me. “He’s dying.”

“Greta will help him,” I assured her.

“He should be healing,” she said.

I tried to hide my concern. Wolves healed fast. Even a major injury didn’t linger long but not everything could be healed with wolf strength. Some things were too serious. I couldn’t imagine what happened to him here to make him that injured but I needed to stay strong for the girl. “It’ll be okay.”

She shook her head. “I’m almost eleven. I don’t need you to lie to me.”

“Alright,” I said. “I don’t know what happened to your dad but I know Greta will do her best.”

“What if they can’t fix him?” she asked.

I didn’t have an answer for her. “Come on, let’s find something we can do while we wait. What’s your name?”

“Megan,” she said.

“Megan, I’m Lola.” I smiled. “Tell me, is there any place we can find something to eat?” Most of the shifters I grew up with would jump at the chance to eat something when they were stressed. I wasn’t sure if it would help distract her, but it was worth a try.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll show you.”

Megan led me back to the common area where several people were out cooking various foods. She introduced me to people and it didn’t take long before I had a cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal. I ate the food as quickly as possible. I was starving, but my new charge wasn’t interested in eating. I knew I needed to find another way to distract her.

“What’s your favorite way to cheer up when you’re having a bad day?” I asked.

“I guess I like to go for a swim,” she said. “But I don’t feel like swimming now. I want to see my dad.”

“Greta needs to concentrate on helping him. We’re going to help him by giving her some time to focus. Do you understand?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’m scared.”

“I know. We’ll check on him soon, I promise,” I said. “Can you show me where you swim? We don’t have to get in the water. We’ll look and then we can go check in on your dad.”

“I can do that,” she agreed.

I followed Megan through the trees, deeper into the woods. We left the tents behind and I realized if not for her guidance, I would be totally lost. Alec really had been on to something when he said I wasn’t going to make it to town. I had no way of knowing which direction I was headed. It all looked the same.

“What is that?” I stopped walking and pointed to a little cabin. “Are there humans out here?”

“Naw, that’s Alec’s place,” she said.

I stared at the little house and wondered if he was in there right now. What did he do all day as the non-alpha of this feral pack? And why the hell was his home so far away from the others?

“How come he’s in a cabin while everyone else lives in tents?” I asked.

“It’s the border. Nobody else wanted it,” she said. “Don’t go beyond the cabin. That’s when the bad things happen.”

“Wait, you have a border?” I asked. “With magic?”

“No, no magic allowed here. Past the cabin is where the High Key Pack lives. We don’t go on their side and they don’t go on ours,” she said.

“Got it.” I understood pack rivalry. At least that was something that seemed to be similar here. “Do you know where Wolf Creek is from here?” I probably should have asked that right away but I think part of me didn’t want to know.

“I’m not sure. I think it’s a few days walk,” she said.

I eased a little knowing there was some distance between us. I still wondered exactly how far I’d traveled in wolf form before the others found me. I might have spent days wandering in circles for all I knew.

“Wait, we’re not going into someone else’s territory to get to the swimming hole, are we?” I asked.

“No, of course not,” she said. “I might be a kid, but I’m not stupid.”

“You most definitely are not,” I confirmed. I was terrible at this whole distracting the kid thing.

We resumed our walk, away from the cabin. There was a part of me that was a little disappointed. I sort of wanted to go knock on his door. But that was ridiculous.

It didn’t take long before I could feel the air getting cooler and damper. The ground was a little softer, and the shrubs around us were greener. We were getting closer to water.

A few cheers and some yelling sent birds flying. I looked up and watched them fleeing the noise and caught a glimpse of the sun through the trees. It was closer to midday than I realized. I wondered how long we’d been walking.

I heard splashes, followed by more playful screams just as the lake came into view. It stopped me in my tracks.

This was not a swimming hole. This was a full on, huge lake. There was a little island in the center of it and it stretched for what had to be a mile across. I’d never seen a lake this size in real life.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“And freezing. Don’t let them fool you,” Megan said, lifting her chin toward the group of kids on the shore.

They were running around on the sandy beach, their pants rolled up to their knees. Two kids were kicking water on each other in some kind of splashing game and a few quieter kids were skipping rocks. They all looked like they were close in age to Megan.

“You want to go play with them?” I asked.

“Not really,” she said. “Can we go back and check on my dad?”

We’d been gone a while. With any luck, it was enough time for Greta to do something to help the poor man. “Sure.”

Our walk back to camp was silent and I felt like I’d failed at trying to keep the girl’s spirits up. It was tough when I didn’t know what was going on or how to comfort her.

When we arrived back to where her dad had been, Alec was waiting but the male and Greta were gone.

“Where is he?” Megan asked. “Is he alive?”

Alec walked toward her then knelt so he was closer to Megan’s height. “He’s in his bed, and Greta is still attending him. I think he’s going to be okay, but he’s got a long night of fighting. Do you understand?”

Megan swallowed and nodded.

“You need to be strong, can you do that for him?” Alec asked.

“I can.” She lifted her chin and set her jaw in a look of pure determination.

“Good.” Alec stood. “Your mother asked that you go to Delilah’s. You’ll stay with her until your dad is recovered.”

Megan nodded. “Thank you.”

“Go on, now, they’re expecting you.”

Megan gave me a weak smile before taking off at a run. I waited until she was out of sight before turning to Alec. He was unexpectedly gentle and sweet with the girl. It was going to be harder than I thought to convince myself that I should avoid him.

“Is he really going to be okay?” I wanted to ask for details about what happened to Megan’s dad, but I wasn’t sure it was my place.

“I hope so,” he said.

“You were very good with her,” I said.

“Megan’s a good kid.”

“She seems sweet,” I agreed.

“We need to talk,” he said, his tone serious.

“Oh?”

“You’re still covered in blood.” His eyes swept over me. “Did Sheila not show you where the lake is?”

“Megan did. There were kids playing there, though. Not sure it’s the best time to wash up,” I said.

“They won’t be there now,” he said. “It’s near lunch.”

“What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked, worried he was trying to change the subject.

“Alec, you ready?”

I turned to see a group of shifters walking toward us.

“Going somewhere?” I asked.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said.

“Um, no. You can’t go. You don’t just drop the we need to talk on someone then take off.” My hands were on my hips and I was pissed that he would do that. “Seriously. Not cool.”

The group stopped as they approached us and a large shifter with huge sideburns and long dark hair made his way toward Alec. “We’re ready when you are.”

“We’ll talk later,” Alec said. “In the meantime, there’s a shower that works in my cabin if you want to use it.”

He walked away, joining the group of shifters. A few of them glanced at me before turning around and walking away.

What the fuck was going on here? He tells me he needs to talk and then takes off with the guys? I knew Alec didn’t owe me anything. In fact, I was the one who owed him. He’d saved my life and I was crazy grateful for the shoes. But I’d just seen a shifter bleeding out and Alec was acting strange.

Something was going on here but I wasn’t sure if it was nefarious. Either way, there was no way I was going to Alec’s cabin to use his shower. Sure, a shower sounded like pretty much the best thing ever at the moment, but I’d figure out how to find the lake on my own.

I headed back in the direction I’d gone with Megan, but it didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t going to find it without help. Fuck. Why was I so bad at navigation? My sense of direction was shit. I wasn’t going to find the lake. But I probably could find Sheila’s tent. I turned around and managed to find my way back to camp and headed for Sheila’s. As I walked there, I couldn’t help but wonder what I’d really gotten myself into.

My mind was a tangled mess as I weighed the limited information for pros and cons. There was so much I didn’t know about my new friends. I’d been warned my whole life about how dangerous feral shifters were, but I wasn’t seeing any signs of them being a threat.

None of them had once hurt me. That was more than most of the people I’d known in my old life. Even those I was related to by blood. While my own mother had never physically harmed me, she didn’t lift a finger to help, either. What kind of mother did that?

In the short time I’d been here, this group of feral shifters was more like a pack than my own pack growing up. I saw signs of community, support, kindness, and joy. They shared meals and presented a united front when a problem arose. Shit, another family stepped up to help Megan when her dad was injured. Nobody once even checked on me when my mom nearly died of an overdose when I was twelve.

I knew I shouldn’t get too attached and that I should be cautious, but things were looking pretty good from an outsider’s perspective. It was all the things I wished I’d had growing up that I never even knew I wanted. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but even with Alec’s weirdness, this place was better than Wolf Creek.

Surprisingly, I managed to find Sheila’s tent. When I stepped inside, it was empty. Instead of risking getting lost forever trying to find Sheila, I decided I’d wait. I plopped down in one of the folding chairs and closed my eyes for a bit. My mind was too restless to settle so I opened my eyes and looked around the room.

That’s when I noticed the little stash of books under her cot. Thrilled to see them, I walked over and sorted through the pile. I had a feeling she’d be okay with me borrowing one to read. It wasn’t like I’d take it out of her room.

I settled on a glossy paperback with a woman in a huge, old fashioned dress on the cover. It was well loved and the wear on the spine told me it had been read more than the other books in her little stash. I took that as a good sign and got comfortable on one of the folding chairs.

I was a few chapters in when the tent flap opened, but it wasn’t Sheila.

“Doesn’t anyone knock around here?” I asked.

“Where exactly am I supposed to knock on the canvas?” Malcom asked.

“Good point,” I said as I set the book down.

“Hey, good one. I borrowed that when we had a massive rainstorm and couldn’t do anything,” he said.

“I didn’t expect it to be your style,” I admitted.

“There isn’t a lot to do around here,” he said.

“Wait, why aren’t you off doing whatever with Alec?” I hadn’t noticed before, but Malcom was absent from the group.

“That’s kind of why I’m here,” he said.

My brow furrowed. “Oh?”

“You can’t stay,” he said.

“Excuse me?” I bristled, feeling all the hurt and rejection from Wolf Creek flooding into me.

“It’s not safe for you here,” he said.

“According to Alec, it’s not safe for me out there, either,” I said. “Which is it?”

“Alec isn’t who you think he is,” he said.

The tent opened and Shelia walked in. She seemed surprised to see Malcom. “Hey, Malcom. I didn’t expect to find you here.”

“Hey, Sheila. I came to check in our foundling,” Malcom said.

“She’s just fine,” Sheila said.

“I see that.” He nodded to me. “See you later, Lola.”

Sheila narrowed her eyes as she watched him leave, then stared at the doorway for a bit before turning back to me. “Careful with that one. Alec seems to trust him, but I’m not so sure.”

“You three seemed so close when I met you.” I was going to get whiplash from them.

“I think Alec keeps him close because it’s better than leaving him on his own. I don’t think he’d do anything to hurt us, but there’s something a little off about him.” She walked over to the empty folding chair and sat down next to me. “He’s never told us his story. Who does that?”

“You won’t tell me Alec’s,” I reminded her.

“That’s different. He’ll tell you when he’s ready. Malcom has never told anyone. Not a single soul.”

“Maybe it’s painful,” I said.

“All our stories are painful or we wouldn’t be here,” she said. “Look at you. Look at me. We’re a pair or rejects. We’ve got sad stories, just like everyone here. But for some reason, he won’t share. Not even when he’s drunk. It’s weird.”

“You know everyone’s story?” I was skeptical. Sure, I’d shared part of mine, but I left out most of the details. “I’m not sure I’d be open to telling everyone.”

“When you’re here long enough, it comes out eventually,” she said.

“How long have you known them? Alec and Malcom?”

“I’ve known Alec since I got here five years ago. Malcom’s only been here about a year.” She stood. “But enough with that. We’ve got shit to do.”

“We do?” I asked, surprised. “Would it be possible to add a detour to the lake?”

“Oh, shit, yeah, sorry,” she said. “I’ll walk you down there and then we can help with the fire.”

“We’re having a fire?” I asked.

“It’s half-moon,” she said.

“What is half-moon?”

“Basically, an excuse to get drunk and run around naked or shift. Whatever you’re into,” she said.

I laughed. “You serious?”

“Yeah. We do it the week after the full moon every month. Full moon, New Moon, Half Moon. We like to celebrate.” She grinned. “You’re going to love it.”