Just a Wolf

Amelia

“Why don’t we use the conference room?” I suggest. “There’s a nice big table we can lay everything out on.”

Theo nods underneath the huge stack of items he is carrying. “Sounds good.”

It takes a couple more trips to the garage, and some rummaging around in the packhouse storage closets and basement, before we get all the supplies that we have available, including the sturdy carrying packs. The three of us stand staring at the table, looking at the huge heaps of things on there, trying to decide where to start.

“Well,” I say, “how many people do you suppose are going tomorrow?”

“We won’t know the final count until the morning,” Theo says, but I’m thinking maybe a dozen.”

“Okay, let’s put together a dozen packs, then if we need more tomorrow morning we can take care of it then.”

We get to work. The carrying packs are kind of shaped like saddlebags for horses, two compartments, one for each side of the wolf, with a buckle to go underneath so it stays on while running. The straps can also be converted to be worn over human shoulders like a regular backpack. We inspect each pack, laughing some more about the TTSBPPs, trying to find more rhymes to add to the acronym, eventually giving up when we get up to a dozen letters and start forgetting what they stand for.

Into each pack we put a flashlight with fresh batteries, headlamp, spare batteries, water bottles, snacks like granola bars and beef jerky and trail mix, some hand wipes, some first aid supplies, a compass, a utility knife, a handkerchief, tissue, lightweight but sturdy rope and hardware for any climbing that might be necessary, and a helmet.

We make sure to distribute the weight evenly between the two sides of the packs. They are full, and heavy, but wolves are strong in either our wolf or human form, so carrying them won’t be a problem. Everyone will be on their own to make sure to have sturdy shoes and jackets, which can be carried while shifted in a lighter weight bag we are also sending, designed to nestle between the two main sides of the big carrying packs. Theo and Dom both want to bring their wetsuits too, just in case there is deep water to traverse.

We try to make sure that we account for every eventuality, without overburdening the hikers. The leaders of our packs never realize how much thought and preparation by grunts like us goes into this sort of thing, but they’d certainly be annoyed to discover halfway through the mission that we hadn’t thought of everything.

It takes all afternoon, which flies by in a very pleasant way even though we are working on Christmas. As the assistants to our pack’s Beta and Gamma, Theo and I have worked together a lot, and he is a good friend. Dom is fitting right in, and seeming to enjoy himself a good deal. Having him here with me, working together on something, feels so right. He probably had pictured us spending the rest of the day downstairs in my room kissing, but he acts perfectly cheerful while he helps get everything ready for tomorrow. We’ll have time alone later.

Finally, we have it all ready. We decide to go ahead and load up three cars with the gear, Dom’s SUV and two of ours, so we each grab a couple of the filled packs and start carrying them out to the garage at the back of the property. It’ll take a couple of trips, but that seems easier than pulling the cars around to the packhouse to load them.

The sun is sinking below the horizon as we get the packs in the cars, and we’re talking about what to do about dinner as we head back to the packhouse. It looks like everyone else must be staying with their families for Christmas dinner, so I suppose it will just be the three of us.

Oh - except for one other. “Um,” I say, “whatever happened to Evan?”

Dom’s eyes widen. “Still hiking?” I think we all forgot about the poor guy.

“It’s almost dark,” I point out. “Could he have gotten lost on the way back?”

“Pfsh, no,” we hear from behind us, and turn to see Evan walking towards us from the forest behind the garage, on the other side of the sturdy chain link fence that surrounds the property.

Theo grins. “Um, lose your shirt, dude?” He walks over towards the fence. “Keep walking a ways, the gate is right up there, I’ll let you in.”

Evan looks down at himself, bare chested, wearing jeans and shoes with no socks. Clearly he has shifted and that’s all he wanted to carry on his back while he was running as a wolf. We walk along the fenceline with him until we get to the gate, and Theo punches in the security code to open it.

As he is coming through the gate, I am about to ask him how he enjoyed the forest in Arcata, when I smell a familiar scent. Even in our human forms, wolves have very sensitive noses. And every person, especially every wolf, has a distinctive scent. It is as much a part of identifying each other as appearance. And I know where I have smelled this scent before, this lingering trace of somebody that Evan must have been with. I smelled her yesterday.

I blurt out, “Were you with Corinne?!”

Evan says, shocked, “What?”

Dom says, alarmed, “What?”

Theo says, confused, “What?”

Dominic

“Who the hell is Corinne?” Theo asks.

I probably should be more cautious, not call out my packmate like this, but I can’t stop myself from saying, “A rogue!”

Theo looks at Evan, and says again, “What?”

Evan looks completely baffled, and rather than answering Theo, looks at me and starts saying, “How do you…?” but then stops himself.

Amelia is standing with her hands on her hips, looking back and forth between all of us. “Apparently we all need to talk,” she says. “Let’s go inside.”

Theo is glaring at Evan as we walk back, probably wondering what kind of pack we are running if we’re hanging out with rogues. Amelia sees his outraged expression, and starts to explain. “I wasn’t going to say anything about it until tomorrow,” she tells him, “but one of the rogues approached me in Arcata, looking for help.”

Theo turns his eyes on her, and asks indignantly, “Help? Help doing what, arranging another ambush?”

“No,” Amelia assures him, “she was trying to break away from the other rogues, and she was asking about whether she could apply to join our pack.”

Theo actually stops walking. “Are you kidding me?” he says in an exasperated voice. “How could you fall for such a thing, Amelia? Isn’t she one of the rogues that attacked Dark Woods?”

Evan breaks in, and I’m grateful to him for taking the heat off my mate. “She was, yes, but I believe that she is no threat. She told me the same thing, that she has left the rogues, and is hoping to join a pack.” He looks over at Amelia. “I didn’t know she had talked to you about it already.”

I have to say, “I scared her away when I found Amelia talking to her in Arcata yesterday. She ran off.”

Amelia nods. “Yes, so I didn’t get the chance to make a plan with her or anything.”

We’ve gotten into the packhouse, and Theo heads into the kitchen. “I’m gonna put some steaks on the grill for us,” he says, sort of distractedly.

Amelia nods, and says, “I’ll get a salad together.”

They start working, and Evan says, “Um, I need to go upstairs for a minute.”

“Yeah,” I say, giving him some side-eye. I don’t need this buff surfer prancing around shirtless in front of my mate. Although to give her credit, she doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to his lack of attire.

I start helping Amelia chop up some lettuce and stuff, while she tells more of the story about Corinne to Theo. He is clearly extremely dubious, and probably trying to figure out what he is going to report to his Beta.

Evan comes back very quickly, thankfully wearing a shirt, listens to the rest of Amelia’s story, then says, “I found her while I was hiking today. I caught her scent in the forest you sent me to in Arcata,” nodding to Amelia. “I knew it was one of the rogues, and I figured I’d chase them down and try to get some information. I was ready for a fight. But when I caught her, she just submitted and told me everything I needed to know.”

Theo has some steaks cooking on their kitchen’s indoor grill, and it smells delicious. He is listening to Evan with a furrowed brow. “So, what did she tell you?”

“She’s left the rogues, and will help us catch them.” Evan’s face grows tense, like he is furious, and he adds, “They abused her. She’s had a terrible time of it, and they need to pay.”

“Pfsh,” Theo makes a dismissive noise, then shrugs. “Don’t forget she’s a rogue too. She deserved whatever she got.”

Amelia shakes her head, while she slices up a cucumber. “No,” she says, “she didn’t deserve any of it. The whole reason she became a rogue in the first place is because she reported the Alpha’s son for raping her, and his father kicked her out of the pack for complaining about it.”

Theo stares at her.

“She was fifteen,” Amelia adds.

“Well, shit,” Theo says. We all know that a lot of packs are much more brutal than either of ours. He looks back and forth between Amelia and Evan. “Do you actually believe this story?”

“I do,” Evan says firmly. “Absolutely.”

“Me too,” Amelia says.

Theo obviously doesn’t know what to say, or do. He looks down at the grill, and says, “Well, these are ready.” He loads them up onto a plate and carries it over to a table. Amelia brings a plate of bread rolls that we found in the cupboard, and I carry over the salad.

“Evan, can you grab those plates?” she asks him.

He hesitates, though. “Um,” he says, and she looks back over at him. “I, uh, I don’t think I’m going to eat. But I need to take some of the food.”

“Huh?” Amelia asks.

“I told Corinne I’d bring her something.”

Theo looks up from the steak he has put on the table. “What? Where? All the way back in Arcata?”

“Um, no,” Evan says. “She came most of the way back here with me. She’s waiting in the forest a couple of miles away.”

All three of us stare at him, for a solid minute, before Amelia says, in a decisive voice, “Well, I’ll pack up a care package for her. We’ll all bring it out.”

Theo and Evan and I stare around at each other. We will?