Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

5

AARAV

The drive to the trailhead was uneventful sans meeting a park ranger who wanted to know what he was doing in her park. She’d been perfectly agreeable once he’d explained the situation and had even given him her cell number so that he could contact her if Sam wasn’t found soon.

He’d parked at the entrance to the Crooked Rock hiking trail just as Connie had instructed. He’d been worried he’d have to track the boys using his abilities, but everything was quite clearly marked.

The ground was soft and the land smelled inviting. Flowers bloomed on the surrounding hillsides and the sky was blue and clear of clouds. The beautiful landscape stretched out for miles in every direction.

He half ran half jogged about thirty minutes before he heard voices.

The campsite was in a small clearing near a slowly running stream. The boys were splashing about in the water and carrying-on very loudly.

No one could’ve missed them.

“Hello?” He called out to announce himself.

A couple of heads turned his way while he was counting. The four Tragher boys, and then three, four, five others. But no Sam. He would’ve recognized Sam.

“Deputy? What’s wrong?” Oscar Tragher, Helen’s oldest approached. The young man was a senior in high school, six-two, built like a warrior, and had bright red hair like Tor. “Are mom and dad okay?”

The other boys immediately paused at that question and looked at Aarav.

“Oh, yes.” He answered back quickly to alleviate the instant flash of worry in all their faces. “I’m actually looking for Sam Roberts. His parents came home today and haven’t been able to get a hold of him. Is he out here with you?”

Several heads shook immediately. Honesty.

“He was at the house at the beginning of the week. He was planning to come out here too, but his girlfriend called and we haven’t seen him since. He’s not picking up his phone?” Oscar turned to one of his brothers. “Darren, try to call him.”

Darren dug through a backpack full of gear until he found a phone. He hit a couple of buttons and then held the device to his ear. A few seconds later he shook his head. “It’s either dead or he has it turned off. Straight to voicemail.”

Oscar frowned.

“He’s probably with Gretchen. If I had to guess.”

“Gretchen who? His parents didn’t mention he had a girlfriend.”

Oscar rubbed the scruff on his neck and chin. “Yeah….they probably don’t know he and Gretchen are a thing again. They were a year or so back before Gretchen’s mom passed. Gretchen had a rough go of it for a while, dumped Sam on his ass. Wouldn’t talk to him.”

“They got back together at the beginning of summer,” Darren said, joining the conversation. “They spend a lot of time together poking around her mom’s old observation blinds and hiking in Denali.

“So all of you know this, but neither of their parents do?”

“I doubt it. She never tells her dad anything specific. And they never go to each other’s homes like they used to. I think they’re trying to keep it a secret.” Oscar shoved his hands into his shorts pockets. “They weren’t doing anything dangerous.”

“It’s okay. It wouldn’t be a problem, except—”

“Except Sam is being a douche not telling his parents where he went,” Darren said, spitting out the words like they tasted bad.

Aarav nodded. “Yes, it appears that way, unless they are hurt and can’t answer the phone. Or something happened to both their phones. Do you have Gretchen’s number?”

Darren went back to his phone, clicked again, and then held it to his ear. “Hers is the same. Dead or she’s got it off.”

“Thank you, boys.”

“Hey?” Oscar stepped forward. “You’ll let us know if you find him? Or should we head back home?”

“I’ll be sure to let you know, guys. Thank you. And if you hear from either of them or see them, you do the same.”

They all verbally agreed and Aarav turned back to the trail that would take him to his squad car. Darren and Oscar were at his side a moment later.

“Boys?”

“Hey, you shouldn’t walk the trail alone. What if a bear got you? Nobody would know. The town should really have another deputy so you have a partner.”

Aarav smiled, touched that the boys would want to look out for him. They had no idea the wildlife kept a nice long distance because he himself smelled like a predator. Even natural grizzly bears would turn and run the other direction after getting a good whiff.

Still, he didn’t have a good argument to send the boys back to their camp so he could run back alone.

“Can you keep up?”

Oscar gave a grin that said he wasn’t phased at all by the challenge. “Old man, you’ll have to keep up with us.”

“Old man.” Aarav huffed out a half-way offended laugh. Then launched into a ground eating jog that had the boys working hard to keep up. He was impressed though. He held back some, but they were in good shape for humans.

“Dude, you must run every day.” Oscar panted out between breaths. They’d paused at the top of a ridge to admire the view and catch a breather.

“No, not really.” Aarav only got a turn to shift and hunt about once a week on the Tribe’s land.

Darren mopped his face with his shirt. “You’re in full gear and hiking boots, running like this is flat ground. Were you like a SEAL or some other special forces?”

“Something like that, yes,” Aarav answered. Col’s mate, Naomi, had taught him the names of all the human special forces and told him to agree if someone suggested it or asked, but never to elaborate or actually claim membership.

It had worked every time.

“Hey, hold up.” Darren smacked his shoulder and pointed up the trail.

Aarav followed the direction of the boy’s hand and froze, grabbing Oscar’s arm. “Hold still.”

Both boys were silent.

All three stared at the three large grey and reddish-colored wolves standing no more than fifteen yards away, up the ridge only a little way from their position.

“I’ve never seen wolves this close before.” Oscar’s words were a light whisper. “They typically avoid people.”

Aarav took a deep breath. Natural or Reylean?

They looked big—Reylean big—but the wind was wrong. He couldn’t get a scent to be sure.

“Let’s wait. They’re not acting aggressive.” He knew the Tribe had a trio of juvenile wolves that roamed Denali. They had chosen not to assimilate into the human population as of yet. He’d been informed they were originally a part of Knox’s pack, but now under Col’s authority. They had shifted and spoken long enough to swear allegiance to the dragon, but they mostly kept to themselves.

So why were they showing themselves now? He hadn’t met them personally. They almost never came to the cabins.

Minutes dragged by.

Aarav could hear everything. Every crunch or rustle of a leaf. Every chirp of every bird. Every chitter of a nearby squirrel.

Still the wolves didn’t move.

Minutes dragged by. He and the boys stayed still and stayed facing the wolves. “Just stare at them.”

“We know. We’ve encountered wolves before. We grew up camping on this mountain, Deputy.” Darren spoke slowly and quietly, but never once dropped his gaze from the threat.

Aarav wasn’t worried about the wolves in the least, natural or not, but if these were the three Reyleans who roamed, maybe they had seen the missing kid. With Oscar and Darren there, he couldn’t ask them.

Then the wolves turned and left the ridge, disappearing from view.

“You know, they were way up there, but those guys were huge.” Oscar straightened his stance, and twisted back and forth, stretching his back. “Gabby would’ve called Twilight-wolf-huge.”

“I know, right.” Darren laughed. Then followed suit, stretching until his back cracked audibly. “They had to weigh several hundred pounds each. Easily twice the size of a typical wolf, right?”

“More like three times.” Oscar put an arm behind his head and stretched. Then looked squarely at Aarav. “What do you think, Deputy?”

Aarav frowned, but nodded reluctantly. “They were larger than normal.” He should’ve realized how big they were from the start, but he hadn’t seen a natural wolf in person or in a photo, so he didn’t have anything to base their relative size against. He’d seen dogs. But he’d been told wolves were bigger than most dogs.

“Ready to start again?” Aarav tipped his chin toward the trail up the hill. Both boys nodded and they resumed the ground-eating muscle-exhausting jog. They got to his squad car ten minutes later. No other wildlife encounters.

“You boys sure you’re good to get back to the site?”

“Oh yeah, those wolves are long gone. They were curious. If they were after us for real, we wouldn’t have seen them coming and they would’ve surrounded us. They were checking us out the same way we were watching them. See you round, Deputy.”

“Very good. Thank you, boys.”

They turned and walked back toward the marked trail at the edge of the parking area.

Aarav stood next to his car until he couldn’t hear their voices or their footsteps any longer before getting into his car and leaving. They were fine. They were right, the wolves weren’t interested in them. They were Reylean teenagers, probably just curious about the human group of boys out having a good time.

About halfway down the road back to town he dialed the Roberts.

“This is Deputy Di’Rham.”

“Did you find him?” Mr. Roberts asked immediately.

“No, sir. I’m sorry. He wasn’t out with the Tragher’s. They thought that he might be with his girlfriend. So I’m headed over to the Hardisty’s to speak with Gavin.”

“Hardisty? He’s seeing Gretchen again?”

“That’s what Oscar and Darren said.”

“They broke up a year ago. She broke his heart and left him after her mother passed.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Mr. Roberts, I’m simply relaying what I was told. I’m on my way to speak to Gretchen’s father. I’ll keep you updated if I learn anything.”

“Yes, well…thank you, Deputy. I appreciate the update.”

Aarav ended the call and continued the drive through the park back toward Mystery. He’d told Connie he would update her too, but he’d wait till he talked to Hardisty first. She was busy with that class at the MCC anyway.

She wouldn’t want to be interrupted…and not by him again.