Chapter 5

Blair stood on the curb where he could watch the six still in the van, keep an eye on the three in the store, and survey any movement around them in this tiny town. His cat wasn’t happy with this situation.

They’d been driving for two and a half hours. Priority had been a quick stop for gas and the game of bathroom tag. He rubbed his hand over the top of his hair. Only fate would put him in this situation. His cat had conveyed the emotion of what the fuck when he could smell again as they were driving. The blended scent of nine females had been more than even his cat knew what to do with.

Turning, he checked the other direction, then glanced in the store’s window. Kobie, Torrey, and he thought her name was Cortney were at the cash now. Daisie had woken from her nap about forty-five minutes ago and talked non-stop. He knew their names, approximate ages of everyone, their personal preference for food, flowers, and how bad cussing was—even if he was a boy, it was bad.

He glanced in the van at her. She was still chatting up a storm. How had they taken her through the bush and kept her quiet? He had no idea but hoped they were able to do it again. If his calculations were right, they had another hour of driving, and then they were going to be going cross-country on foot.

Cortney came out and gave him a quick look. “Prepare for the drama.” She whispered.

He frowned and watched her open the van door. “Annamarie, Nichelle, you get the bigger packs.” She tossed the backpacks in.

“What? Why? Oh my god. I’m a pack mule.” Annamarie whined.

Blair put his head down and rubbed his jaw so the smirk on his face wasn’t visible as Annamarie was still mumbling about having to carry a backpack instead of a smaller portable pack that you’d wear around your neck in cat form—to which Nichelle reveled in telling her she could carry when she could shift.

He looked up to check around them and noticed an older couple coming along the sidewalk. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kobie and Torrey come out of the store with the rest of their purchases. He gave Kobie a quick, exaggerated wide-eyed look, then glanced at the couple. A van and nine women were something anyone would notice seeing.

“Got everything, honey, we’ll be able to hit the trail now,” Kobie said, pausing beside him and smiling up at him like they were a couple.

Blair smiled, and it was real. She was sharp. That was a huge blessing in his mind.

“Brave man.”

He turned to look at the older gentlemen. “Wilderness survival.” He blurted out.

The man chuckled, “Hope you survive it.” His wife swatted him, then gave him a gentle nudge to keep walking.

As soon as they were gone, Blair stepped over to the van. “You get the protein bars and jerky?” He couldn’t think of anything else to help with the shifts they may have to do.

Kobie nodded, “yeah, juice pouches too. They take up less space.”

“I’m going to have a backache,” Annamarie complained.

Nichelle took the bag Torrey held out and looked at the other girl, “well at least you’ll be alive to feel your backache.”

Blair was really liking Nichelle’s attitude.

Annamarie’s expression changed to guilt, then sorrow. She nodded, without further comment.

Blair knew he shouldn’t give them false hope, but he couldn’t handle the emotions suddenly coming off them. They were suffocating him. He climbed into the driver’s side and turned around when everyone else was back in. “My friend has sent people from the Alliance to look for the rest of your clan.” It wasn’t a lie.

“Do you think they’ll find them?” Nichelle gave him a pleading look, her dark blue eyes asking him to lie if he had to.

“They’ll have answers for you by the time we get where we’re going.” He said and left it there. He knew they’d find them or find out what happened to them.

“Will they bring my daddy back?” Daisie asked in an excited voice.

He almost lost himself in her big eyes, before he could think of anything to say her mother interrupted.

“Let Blair focus on driving, okay, we’ll chat later.”

Daisie nodded. “Okay. I can’t wait to be in the trees again.”

Turning, Blair caught the look Kobie gave him. Yeah, he knew it was dumb to say anything to them that would give them too much hope. He inclined his head to her and turned away as he started the van. It would be late afternoon by the time they reached the point they were going on foot. He watched every car they went by as he left the small town. If they were lucky, they’d meet up with the other clan before dark—if they weren’t lucky, it was going to be a long, sleepless night of standing guard.

“Here’s your change.” Kobie held out the money. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to bring a bank card or anything.”

Blair motioned to the glove box. “It’s not mine, it was in the van when I picked it up, so it’s Alliance money. Put the envelope in my pack.” He watched as she took it out and put the change in it. “And I’m pretty sure shopping was the last thing on your mind when you got everyone out of there.”

She looked over at him, a sadness in her eyes.

He gave her an earnest look. “You did good.” He whispered.

She inhaled a deep breath and then nodded her head.

Blair turned back to the road. There had to be an emotional tidal wave inside her—but he couldn’t pick up on it at all. Her father, the Alpha, was out there somewhere, and she had no idea if he was alive or what. He glanced in the mirror and watched the fifteen-year-old, Kasia. She hadn’t uttered more than two words the whole time. Her mother, Torrey, had a haunted look in her eyes. He wondered if one of the men found dead had been her mate. He glanced to Kobie. He needed a moment alone to get more details. How he was managing that, he had no idea.

“Rest now,” Kobie said in a commanding tone. “We’re going to hit the ground running as soon as we’re in the bush.” That part was a bit softer.

“How long do you think it will take us to meet up with that clan on foot?” Franki asked.

Kobie looked over at Blair. He paused on her expression for a moment, surprised she was deferring to him to answer. Glancing at the road for a second, he looked back at her. “I can’t say for sure, I don’t know the terrain, but I’m hoping we’ll find them before nightfall.” No one made any further comment. Blair checked his phone. He’d hoped Devin or Gage would send him some sort of update by now.

He slowed down and watched for a place to pull the van off the road. This area was thick and a good place to slip into the brush leaving no evidence in the direction they’d gone.

“Up there,” Kobie said softly.

He looked where she pointed. It was a small path into the bush. “We’ll leave the van there.” Leaning forward, he turned on the GPS and hoped there was enough signal here. He didn’t like just dumping the Alliance’s van in the middle of nowhere and walking away.

Kobie leaned over and brought up the map on it so it would give rough coordinates. “Are you sending them coordinates from this?”

“Seems like the thing to do.” He said as he pulled the van in as far as he could and put it in park.

“There’s a small compass in my pack. Find Northeast on it. We have to stay on point all the way there from here.” He took the map from her and glanced at the GPS before he shut the van off. Picking up his phone, he typed the coordinates in a message to Devin. The signal was faint, but it would still send as soon as there was one.

Climbing out, he stretched and rolled his shoulders before looking at the map. It took him a moment to find their location on it. Living where he did, it was easier for him to find unmarked roads and trails from the color keys on a map than it would be for others. He glanced over to see Kobie turning slowly with the compass. Most shifters didn’t carry a compass with them. Then again, most hadn’t tried to compete with Calum Dante in the middle of a three-hundred-acre bush before. That man and his cat were insanely good at traveling in a forest so thick there was nothing to give away a direction, but he always found the predetermined location every damn time.

“Got it.” Kobie pointed.

“Give the compass and map to someone that isn’t shifting, so they can keep us on course.” He typed a quick message to Gage, telling him they were heading into the bush now and would try to update when he could. He hit send and watched to see if it sent.

“I’ll take the compass and map.” Cortney went over to Kobie.

“I want to help too.” Daisie got out of the van and bounced.

Blair smiled down at her and then held out his phone. “I have to turn the ringer off because we can’t let anyone hear us, but I need to know if I get any calls or messages.”

She gave him a serious nod. “I’ll keep it in my pouch and check all the time.”

He winked at her and watched her put it in the front pocket of the small pack she had around her waist. “Thanks, honey.” He watched the others as they prepared packs or backpacks. He wasn’t sure how many were going to travel on four paws but hoped at least a few would. The more scenting around them, the easier this would go.

Kobie rolled up her jacket and held it out to Nichelle, who put it into her backpack. When the teen moved over to take Mika’s jacket, Blair took that opportunity to go over and talk to the leader among the women.

Kobie looked up at him as she took off her hiking boots and tied them together.

Blair sat on the ground and took his boots off. “The men you found,” he said in barely an audible voice, but knew she’d hear, “any of their mates?”

Kobie tied her boots to the pack and then took off her socks. “Two were.” She motioned with her head to where Torrey and Mika stood. “Fish went back and buried them.” She said with barely any voice at all.

Blair nodded. There was nothing more he could say about it. “The others?”

Kobie paused and looked at him. “My father, my brother, Cortney’s mate, and fifteen of our men never came back.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a hunting knife. “Ten women and young males went missing before that in the last year.” Standing up, she looked over at Cortney and held up the blade.

Cortney came over and took it. She glanced down at him, “Daisie won’t make a sound once we’re moving.”

Blair nodded.

Mika came over and leaned down and pulled a knife out of her boot and gave it to Cortney as well. “Torrey and you shifting?”

Cortney shook her head, “No, we’ll stay like this and keep watch over the four girls.”

Mika nodded, and then just stood there.

All of them looked down at him. It took a few seconds to sink in that they wanted him to make himself scarce so they could strip down and shift. Clearing his throat, he motioned to the van. “I’ll go shift over there.” Getting up, he made fast work of getting there. Grabbing his pack out of the still opened door, he tucked the keys under the mat and closed the door.

“Should we take the blankets?” Torrey asked, looking at him through the window on the other side.

“As many as you can, in case we don’t meet up before night.”

She nodded and reached back into the van.

He watched the young teen, Kasia come over to the van. She opened the door and pulled out his backpack. Coming around, she took his boots from his hand and tied them to the backpack, then slung it over her shoulder.

“Thanks.” He’d actually planned to leave it behind, but the change of clothes and other gear inside could come in handy.

“I just want to do something to help.” She said quietly, with no emotion in her voice at all.

“I appreciate that honey, I really do.” He gave her a soft look and for a second, the pain eased in her eyes. With a nod, she turned around and went back to the others.

Pulling his shirt over his head, he rolled it and jammed it into his small pack. He wanted to believe it was going to be as easy as a run through the bush to meet up with this other clan and then all the weight would be off his shoulders, but his gut was telling him that wasn’t how this was going to go down. His cat was so silent he had to wonder if they slept when they weren’t on the outside.

Shucking his jeans off, he rolled them tightly and stuffed them into the pack, and then zipped it up. Adjusting the long strap to its full length, he put it over his head and one arm through it. On his human body, it hung to his waist and made him look like he was wearing a purse. Shaking his head at his own ridiculous thought, he shifted in the next moment.