Chapter 83: Inseparable

Daphne

My calves were starting to burn from walking along the contours of the steep grades. I was following behind Bart, and considering the fact that one of his thighs was probably bigger than my torso, the guy was surprisingly light on his feet. He wasn’t even breathing hard, and he had barely broken a sweat despite the fact that he was one very hairy werebear.

Likewise, Oliver was behind me, his cheeks slightly red, like he was just out for a brisk walk on a nice spring day.

“You know what, I’m going to shift.” I announced, and started stripping out of my clothes. The two big men promptly turned their backs, like they’d never seen a naked woman before. I appreciated their modesty, and in moments I had wedged my clothes into a tree and was back in the form of my spirit animal. I gave a low yelp to let them know it was safe to turn around.

I thought perhaps they would shift too. I rather hoped they would, I wanted to see their animal forms, but instead, Bart just gave a grunt, and we continued, criss crossing the forest, going up in elevation with each pass. We were about half way through our third pass when Bart held up a hand. I froze in place, and so did Oliver. I pricked my ears in the direction that Bart was staring.

I couldn’t see anything in the trees, but as I slowed my breath, I did hear some rustling from up the hill, and the noise was moving steadily closer. Bart slowly eased behind a broad tree, and Oliver motioned for me to circle back to where he was squatting behind some low growing sumac trees. I doubted that the spindly trunks would really camoflage the big man, but I pressed my wolf close to the earth and watched the hillside above us.

A few dead leaves were stirred up and came fluttering down moments before I saw Kodi picking her way down the hill. She was moving quickly, and muttering to herself. When she was only fifteen yards from our hiding place she stopped to catch her breath, pushing her black-blue hair out of her face as she glanced behind her.

“She’s beautiful…” Oliver whispered beside me. His words were barely audible, even though I was right beside him, yet Kodi stiffened and looked straight toward us.

Kodi reached behind her back, and I saw the slightest glint of sun on metal as she palmed a knife. “What are you f.uckers playing at, huh? Who sent you?” She growled. She held the knife out in front of her, like a threat, but she turned from side to side, clearly not sure exactly where the threat was coming from.

“Easy, girl, we just want to talk to you,” Bart stepped out from behind his tree with his hands up.

Kodi started to scramble backward, but I heard more movement from above. My brothers and Bella must have been closing in on us.

I…I know what you are. I can smell you!” Her voice was strained, and a little high pitched. “Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here! This isn’t your territory! This is mine! I marked it!”

“I told you, we just want to talk,” Bart took another step toward her. “Why don’t you put that knife down, Kodi. It is Kodi, right?”

“Kodi…” She repeated the name, like she hadn’t heard it spoken in a long time. She started to lower the knife, but then a twig snapped from somewhere up the hillside.

“If you wanna talk, why don’t you call off your damn dogs?” She spat, bringing the knife back up again, so that the tip was on level with her lips.

“Fair enough,” Bart agreed easily. “Hey Alphas!” He shouted, his voice so big and booming that it seemed to echo off the lake. “That’s enough now, we’ve got it from here.”

The scuffling sounds from up the hill ceased, but Kodi did not relax.

“And what about your pal over there in the bushes! Yeah! You, I can see you squatting there. Are you taking a s.hit, or you want to come out and join us?”

Oliver glanced at me, and I could see the warning in his eyes to stay down, stay out of sight, before he stood slowly, and stepped out, with his hands out, like he was surrendering. “Hi,” he said lamely. “I’m Ollie,”

“I don’t need your god-damned name, pretty boy. What do you want?” I saw her other hand move to her waist, and realized she had a second knife, one in each hand now.

“We heard you’ve been having some trouble with the locals here,” Bart said, his tone light and friendly. “Maybe we can help you out.”

“I don’t have trouble,” Kodi laughed, but it sounded off, it sounded insane, “I have everything under control.”

The wind shifted, and I smelled the scent of my brothers, and I knew they were close and silently moving closer.

“You killed innocent kids,” Bart said, wagging his head sadly.

“They weren’t innocent! Nobody is innocent! They took my mate! They killed Bruce!” Her voice took on that shrill, crazy note again.

Wyatt came into view, with Bella close behind him. I couldn’t see Byron yet, but I sensed he was close too, flanking her on the right.

“I said to call off your damn wolves!” Kodi screached, and then, without warning she spun, and sent her knife spinning through the air at speeds that seemed to fast for the naked eye. It would have embedded itself in Wyatt’s chest, should have, except that Bella threw herself infront of him.

My protest came out as a sharp bark, and Byron screamed, “No!” But it was all for nothing. The air around Bella seemed to shift and shimmer, the knife seemed to hit an invisible barrier, and clattered harmlessly to the side, the blade embedding itself in the dead leaves and damp earth.

Kodi went still, and stiff as a statue, her mouth sagging open as she stared at Bella. “Princess!”

Wyatt had grabbed Bella’s slight body, and shoved it back behind his own, as if his flesh was better protection than her supernatural gift.

“Oh you!” Kodi laughed again, that sick sounding laugh, “I should have remembered the stink of you two! Stop hidng behind that asshole and face me, Princess! Its because of you! I lost Bruce because of you!”

They were closing in on her, slowly surrounding the woman. I came out of my hiding place to close the gap between Oliver and my brother Byron. Kodi sensed my movement and whirled, narrowing her eyes at me. “The bitch from the cave,” she muttered darkly, and then turned back to Bella and my brother, whom she deemed the bigger threat.

“Wanna know something about bear shifters?” Kodi called out. It was hard to tell whom she was actually addressing. “They only get one mate. One! If you reject your mate, you will be alone forever. There are no second chances! And if you lose your mate! You die! You are supposed to die! I’m supposed to die!” Her voice cracked and the knife lowered.

She might not have died, but she certainly seemed to have lost her mind when she lost her mate. “I failed,” she moaned, “And they killed Bruce.”

“I’m so sorry for what happened to your mate, Kodi,” Bart said, his voice surprisingly soft and soothing. “But it’s not true you know, not everyone dies. You can go on living. You may not find another mate, but you can find love again, if you give it a chance.”

“Why can you all just leave me alone!” She hissed, her body coiling as she sank lower, bending her knees like she was ready to attack.

“We want to help you,” Oliver said, he was almost close enough to touch her now.

“I don’t need your help!” Kodi screeched, and slashed at Oliver with the knife, he jerked back, but not before the blade sliced through the fabric of his shirt, taking a little skin with it. And then they converged on her, my brothers, and the bears. Wyatt got one arm, Byron the other, and Bart gently pried the knife from her hand.

She growled and thrashed and I could feel her trying to shift, I could smell the ozone, but Bart quickly produced a syringe from his pocket and jabbed it into her thigh, depressing the plunger in one smooth, practiced motion. Kodi looked at him, her eyes suddenly wide and full of pain and a silent accusation.

I shifted back into my human form, not caring that I was standing naked infront of the bear-shifters. The two men didn’t even glance in my direction anyway, their eyes were glued to Kodi as she slowly went limp. Bart caught her and lifted her in his arms like she was only a child.

“Sorry, Kodi, but it’s for your own good. We only want to help you,” Bart said again quietly. “Don’t worry, we are going to take you someplace safe.”

“No one is… safe,” Kodi panted, her head rolling on her neck, she gazed straight at me. “I”ll come for you… I’ll come for… all of you.” And then her eyes rolled back in her head, as whatever drug cocktail Bart had injected her with did its work.

“Not today, sweetheart,” Oliver said, but he sounded sad. He finally spared a glance my way, and then gallantly removed his t-shirt and offered it to me.

I shook my head. “Nah, my clothes are just back there.” I turned and started back the way we had come. I could hear the others still talking amonst themselves, trying to figure out the best way to transport Kodi out of the woods. I would let my Alpha brothers and the bears deal with Kodi. Now that she was safely in the custody of her own kind, I could return to the campus.

And the first thing I needed to do was go to Bleakley house and talk to Nate.