Chapter 898 Chapter 898
He was sure he hadn’t slept at all. The entire night, he was like a young kid waiting for Christmas morning. The sun hadn’t even started to rise, and he was already standing beside the van watching Orson’s house. His animal was what he pictured having a dog as a pet might be like. He was prancing, just waiting for Foster to give in and let him loose. Was it going to seem like he was impatiently waiting for her? Would that be a good or bad thing? He really didn’t know. Twice, he’d looked at his phone and debated calling one of the team to talk to, but given the time, if they were actually resting and not driving or on an op, he’d probably get yelled at for doing that.
Just as he remembered Webb was at the Factory and pulled out his phone to call him, Ena stepped outside. He should count to ten inside his head so he wouldn’t run to her. His animal didn’t agree, making it harder. When he reached the number, he started a leisurely walk in her direction.
She met him at the end of the walkway. She smiled. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake now.”
“I’m so used to being on the road; I live on long naps.” He shrugged. It wasn’t a total lie.
She looked around. “It looks like Savan and Zach are already out.”
He turned and then noticed the lights on in their houses. He hadn’t even noticed it. “They must have gone out before I was up.” How he’d missed it wasn’t hard to figure out; he had stared at the door of Orson’s from the time he sat up until she came out it.
“At least they’re sticking to not running alone, that’s something.”
Foster had forgotten all about that. “Yeah.” He nodded.
She smiled. “Shall we go?”
He nodded again. He probably looked like a bobblehead doll, but it was taking a lot of his energy to keep his coyote under control. The furry thing thought grabbing and kissing her would be a good way to start the morning. Foster wasn’t in complete disagreement with that idea, but she seemed happy, and he wasn’t taking a chance on changing that.
Watching her dart in and out of the trees was a thing of beauty. She had lightning reflexes, and he felt elated just watching her. Her coyote was smaller than his, but she was fast. His animal was more than happy to trot along behind her and watch her tail disappear each time she changed her route. Foster decided they were both besotted with her in any form.
She cleared a small creek that hadn’t thawed yet completely. He was shocked when he jumped it without hesitation or complaint. He didn’t do water areas, and neither did his animal. She had some kind of magic hold on both of them.
Ena glanced over her shoulder at him and yipped, basically telling him to keep up. She bound up a hill and disappeared over it, and he let his coyote take over to catch up. The other side was slippery, so he bound down it landing on small patches of snow clinging to the last minutes of winter.
When he reached the bottom, his coyote put the brakes on and slid several feet. Before Foster had time to assess the reason, they were a few feet from Ena. She was hunched down, ears back and teeth bared. In front of her were three wolves. Judging by the size of them, they hadn’t fought hunger during the cold months. Ena was growling, warning them off.
Being shapeshifters, they were bigger than the wild variety of coyotes, but the creatures in front of them still had some weight on them. Foster’s animal wasn’t going to back down as long as Ena still stood there. He let him keep control because shifter or not; he still knew more about defending himself than Foster did.
The lead wolf was baring his teeth, very sharp-looking ones, as the other two stood to his side, mimicking him.
Foster heard something move behind them and turned just enough that he wasn’t giving the wolves an opportunity. Three male coyotes were coming down the hill. He had no idea which was Savan or Zach and no clue who the third was, but he was grateful for the backup.
Ena lunged and snapped at the main wolf, and Foster was glad his coyote was in charge because his heart would have stopped right then. His animal moved closer to her and growled louder.
The one wolf lunged forward and snapped, and Foster caught the movement to his right as one of the bigger coyotes behind them came forward. If he could talk, he would have told these wild animals that they had just screwed up a run with his mate. When the second one moved forward, he pushed everything to the back of his mind so he could defend Ena at any cost.
The lead wolf moved his belly closer to the ground. Foster knew he was preparing to attack. A low, eerie cat yel came from behind them. Something jumped over him, and Minn landed between Ena and the wolves. Her tail was flicking, and she came close to smacking him in the head.
The back two wolves froze. They probably thought, “What the hell is that, and why is it here?” Foster looked to see the other two Coyotes fanning out to the sides. If these wolves were smart, they’d tuck their tails and run for all they had.
A second feline warning came from behind them, and Foster was so happy to see Jesse stalking up behind them.
The lead wolf turned and realized he was outnumbered. With fast feet, he spun and took off toward the back of the property. His friends made quick work out of following him.
Minn sat down and looked around like none of it had happened. Jesse ran to her, rubbed along her side, and then looked at Ena. He chuffed and then turned and ran up the hill, with Minn following.
Ena turned and looked at Foster, and then as if she hadn’t even noticed the other three, she yipped at them and took off.
Foster’s brain was still processing, but his animal wasn’t going to let her run alone, so while he digested that close call, his animal ran after her.