Chapter Thirteen

Hunter I hadn’t traveled to the Elders for quite a while. Usually, my intuition was enough to help me understand things and figure out the right answer. I parked my SUV at the safe house belonging to the pack. It was pack property and that meant communal property. Shifters shared. That was how it was. It was how we survived those who hunted us and destroyed us. Our respect for others’ space wasn’t an illusion like most humans. As I stepped out into the brisk air, I could smell the snow that had already fallen and the new storm building.

The Elders were well hidden like the gnomes and other woodland supernatural creatures, and the mountain housed all elder shifters. The inhabitants’ ages were anyone’s guess. In fact, it was always a favorite child game, to guess the age of the ancient ones. I needed to hurry if I want to get back home before the storm hits. I stripped and packed my clothes inside the vehicle, placing the key in the false pocket created in one of the logs.

The rest of the traveling I would need to do as my wolf. I held Erin’s panties in a small pouch I had strapped around my neck. The elders offered robes for visitors as they almost all arrived naked. I had adapted a fanny pack so that when I needed to shift, I could still carry things. I didn’t often use it, but in times like this, it was helpful not to allow her scent to permeate the whole area. A plastic bag and then inside the pack should do it. The wolfman wanted to go back and take his chosen woman at the potent reminder of her but first, we needed to get things right. I had to find out all I could and then how to proceed. I couldn’t help thinking about the implications of what I suspected was true. If so, what would soon be happening to Erin would be both exciting and scary for her and the repercussions were incredible for their relationship.

The trip went fast as I relished the freedom my wolf form took. My stomach cramped a little the further I went away from Erin, and there was a tickling winter chill on my legs, but it would soon pass. My fur kept me warm and my urgency ensured I would not be diverted by the sheer joy of running. There was no scent of a human or anything else except for the chitter-chatter of other animals as they lived their life in the forest. I didn’t stop except to kill some game as a token gift for the elder.

I arrived at the tavern first and as was my custom, I stopped to consume protein and carbs, have a draft, and ask where to find Elder Sims. The owner, Martin, sent his son to give the elder the message that there was someone here and was he at home to visitors? It wasn’t long before the boy came back with an invitation to visit in fifteen minutes.

As Hunter approached the old, weathered cabin, it almost appeared as though it had been a natural growth rather than separate logs cinched and built by shifters. I supposed it could have been a mountain man cabin. People didn’t realize how many of their mountain man legends were about shifters who did better in the wild than in the overly confused world of mankind.

As I knocked on the solid wood door, I was surprised when it was answered by a young man, late twenties, or early thirties if I were to guess.

“Hello, am I at the right cabin? Elder Sims?”

The young man laughed in a deep and reassuring voice. “I can imagine your surprise. Right cabin, the wrong person. I’m Elder Sims’ apprentice, Tremaine Bold. Please come in. Elder Sims isn’t as spry as he used to be and too much up and down can wear on his joints and his mood.” The man laughed again as he stepped out of the doorway to allow me passage.

“This way, please.”

It was surprisingly airy and light inside. Most cabins were dark and could do with more windows, but it seemed that wasn’t the case here.

I turned to ask when Tremaine smiled and motioned into another room. “Light. It’s a secret only the elders share amongst themselves. Guess we won’t find out for another couple hundred years. Until then we’ll need windows and electricity.”

Elder Sims was sitting in a large leather and skin upholstered chair. It fit the white-headed man who was still large and bulky, but in a more diminished state than his first couple hundred years. He extended his hand.

“Joshua Hunter, you have turned out well. Take a seat.” The elder indicated a large chair like his and Tremaine took the one next to him. “I see you’ve met my apprentice. The best one you could have. When your time comes to share your knowledge, pick a man like Tremaine.” The old man settled back. “How are your parents? Littermates?”

“Thank you. They’re all good last communication I had. I fear I haven’t checked in for the last month. I appreciate the reminder. The only two near me now are Suzanne and her family and Gage. We are close. Suzanne keeps better contact than Gage or me with the others.”

“Yes, that’s how it is, so make sure you have plenty of girls. Hopefully one in each litter, or you’ll never know what’s going on in your children’s lives.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll try to remember,” Hunter laughed with the two other men.

“How’s the pack? Still a good mix? No troublemakers?”

“I have a stable pack and the older ones have been able to keep the younger ones out of trouble. I rarely have to intervene.”

“Good, that’s as it should be.”

“Would you like some refreshment? Tea, coffee, water? Elderberry wine?” asked Elder Sims then he laughed at his own joke.

I smiled at the joke. I didn’t jest normally, but if an Elder tells a joke, you laugh. “Tea would be nice, sir, but I can get it if you like.”

“Nonsense. My mate’s requirement was when I got an apprentice, she got house help. Good negotiator that woman.”

“I’ll let Racina know.” Tremaine was up like a light.

“He’s sweet on that girl, but he wants to wait. I agree. She’s still rather young, maturity-wise. Mrs. Sims will fix that before too long.” The elder slapped his hands on the arms of his roomy chair. “Tell me what’s going on.”

I spoke of Gage and his business, Gage’s attraction to one of the tenants, how I’d disregarded his interest and Gage’s desire to have me meet Erin until it was unavoidable. “I thought he would have a good time with her, and they would part ways. Human, you know, and I didn’t want to dilute the bloodline by life-bonding with one.”

“Yes, we do the best we can, but we are a diminishing race.”

“Understood, but if I could… well, it doesn’t matter now. Erin’s apartment had been broken into and at first, I figured it was just young shifters playing around. They left their scent. But then Erin’s boss was murdered that same night, things became serious. Once I saw those photos, there was no doubt what it was. Hellhounds.”

The room was silent, and the older werewolf took a drink of his obviously special concoction and seemed to think on the information thus far. “Who do you think called them in?”

“No idea. Don’t even know if there is more than one. But there are other issues.”

The man cracked a smile then. “There always are, pup, there always are.”

Hunter went on to retell the incidents that followed the death, the break-in that left hound scent and where Erin was now. “And then there is Erin herself. Not only did her employer write shifter books, but she has attributes and behaviors that have me confused.” I continued to explain all I’d observed about Erin and the full moon issues, the loss of parents and grandparents. Her fascination with shifters and her unconscious identifying of Gage and me as shifters.

Hunter pulled her underwear out and handed them to the elder. “I wondered when you were going to share these.” He sniffed delicately. “Yes, definitely shifter, but she’s never changed. She’s untried. And a bit of human as well. No family to tell her of her heritage, she might have gone her whole life without knowing if it weren’t for the job that brought her here. And she is with you and Gage?”

“Yes. And she’s having the worst time with sexual agitation. She’s almost desperate to mate. And my wolf…”

“And your wolf is about to claw his way out regardless of your control.”

“Yes, exactly. Gage says it’s the same for him.”

“Is she the one for you two?”

“She’s our mate. I needed to understand what is going on before we claim her. She does have some trouble being submissive when necessary, but we are working on that.” I grin because that is fun as well.

“So, she’s being hunted by the Hellhounds. Luckily, she hasn’t done much to change her seclusion lifestyle, because they will destroy an innocent like her. We need to find who has hired them. After the full moon.”

The elder stopped talking and closed his eyes, her scent still strong. “She’s had sex some time ago, I’d say, but no one has claimed her. You two take her, but she has a life secret that she must learn. Some shifter made a mistake some years ago and tried to cover the proof of it and in the process, made it worse.

“Your woman is special, Hunter, but if the shifter has brought in the hounds in the hopes of cleaning it all up or stopping the fates from being fulfilled, there is no stopping them until the deed is done or the hound is destroyed. There is probably only one hound. She is the key to whatever it is the shifter wants to hide. Erin is that final link. She is ripe for the coming of age. She has all the information at her disposal if she looks for it. I have tried to unlock her past memories. If that works even a little it will be enough to force her to search out the truth. You need to get the pack to accept and then protect her if it comes to that. She is worthy of their protection.”

“Elder, can we mark her first and discover the secret after? The full moon is less than a day away.”

“Yes. Remember, she will need to believe enough to shift during the full moon. You need her to do that. Force her if you must.”

“How does one do that?”

“She wants the claiming. She needs to mate. Her life depends on it. If you must force her, use that, show her the way you were shown. Then as she shifts, claim with your mark. Somehow, I don’t think you will have to go to those extremes, though. I think she will trust enough.”

“I can try, but our wolves are hard to suppress when we’re near her.”

“That’s fine if she’s in agreement. It’s the only way.”

They discussed a little of the semantics of having pups or cubs without pure blood. “Your pups would be fine with their shifter blood. Probably show no differences in raising, shifting abilities than you had as a pubescent pup ready to transform. Cats call it shimmering or in mixed groups, sometimes it’s called trawsforming. Whatever you call it, your offspring will be fine. I would imagine by her scent and her desperation to mate now that she has found her soulmates; she may be as much as a quarter human, but not more. Any more dilution and the response would be significantly less. Your pups would be more than 85% shifter. We have many with less blood who are unhindered by the mix.”

I relaxed. The weight of that worry was off my shoulders. Now to get that woman settled.

“But she’s in danger if the Hellhound is still after her. Let me send you with a little something, a tea, to help her shift. It will make her harder to handle on the first shift, but she will do fine. She may start to hemorrhage if she hasn’t mated soon enough. She can’t shift before mating. She might start her estrus early if she is in distress already. Make sure she has the tea. It will help smooth some of the way. The rest is up to you and Gage.”

“But how do we get her to change back?”

“She won’t stay shifted because the tea will make her want to change into whatever form you and Gage are in, so make sure he is with you when she drinks the tea, but no one else. Also, the transition will be easier if you remind her to follow the little animal in her brain and the two of you.”

“Right so tea, mate, mark, and shift. If she starts to bleed, what?”

“Then no matter the time, you have to give her the tea, mate and make her follow you into shifting. Marking will have to come after that. Then she will follow you back into human form. It will stop all the internal anguish once she has mated and her inner animal released. It doesn’t need to be for long, but it needs to happen. Then she should shift every day for a week. Then every few weeks at minimum and then at least once a month from then on out.”

Hunter was eager to return home, but Elder Sims went on to discuss how to help her shift, when to expect her to change, the best timing. If she doesn’t do it right or if he or Gage didn’t mark her as she morphs, she could go rogue due to the madness that takes over when a shifter cannot shift or mate.

“Each is a kind of madness in and of itself which is why the first time for each is so particularly important. Because of her inexperience, your girl has to do both on the same night.”

I thank the elder and take off for the SUV. I now have more concerns than when I went up to Elder Mountain because now, just knowing I would have taken Erin no matter her beginnings, now I had more responsibility to do things right.

I got to the cabin quickly, shifted, changed, climbed into my car, and found Gage had called me several times. It had to be important because he knew I wouldn’t have my phone with me on the mountain. The message was clear. Her animal was feeling caged, she bolted when he was dealing with a work issue. He tracked her to the apartment when he realized she was gone. She’d been there and left before he arrived. No trace.

The update was the same on the next two phone calls. Gage had everyone out looking for her, but at the last call, it was noon and she was still gone. My first thought was how would we find her? Then the punishment she would receive when I got my hands on her after Gage and I take her and mark her. She will be ours then, and the time for training would begin. Assuming the hounds didn’t get to her first.

My fear for her out there alone was nearly debilitating. I would have to focus and find her. She had no idea of the danger she was in. What if her shifter self just takes over despite what the elder said? If she didn’t have a guide her first time, she might go rogue without a way to return. She is more shifter than human, and she never even knew. All I could think about was getting her back.