Chapter 178: Living With The Monster

Calix Pov

The training yard was empty except for the two of us and the grass was still wet from the morning mist. Maddie held a short wooden staff in her hands and her feet were planted wide on the dirt path. She moved her left shoulder back and swung the wood toward my ribs with a quick, solid snap.

"Your left side is completely open today, Calix," Maddie noted and she wiped a strand of silver hair away from her damp forehead. She did not look tired at all, but her skin had a pale color under the gray clouds. "If a peak hunter drops down from the pine ledge tonight, he will slide a blade right under your leather vest before you can turn your boots around."

"I am watching your wrists, not the ledge," I replied and I used my own wooden rod to tap the tip of her staff down toward the grass. I took a slow step forward and touched the side of her jaw with my bare thumb. The skin felt cool and smooth, and her gray eyes were soft as she looked back at me. "You are moving faster than you did last week. The strength is staying steady."

"It is not my strength."

"We are going to keep training anyway."

"He told me your grip is weak," Maddie whispered and she dropped the wooden staff onto the grass. She pulled her wool coat tight around her chest and her gaze moved down to her boots. "He sits behind my eyes while we are eating our stew, Calix. He laughs every time you give me the larger piece of deer fat. He tells me you are just fattening up a mountain bird for the high winter trade."

"He does not know anything about this pack," I insisted and I threw my own staff toward the woodpile. I walked over and pulled her against my shirt, wrapping my heavy arms right around her shoulders. She pressed her nose into my collarbone and I could feel her short, quick breaths hitting my neck. "We are going to eat our dinner together and we are going to ignore the voice in the dark."

"The pack is watching the door, Calix."

"Let them watch."

We walked back into the small kitchen area after the sun went down behind the ridge. I set two wooden bowls on the pine table and poured the hot broth from the black iron pot. Maddie sat on the low stool and picked up her spoon, but she stopped with the wood inches from her lips and her fingers started to tremble.

"Maddie, take a drink of the water," I urged and I pushed the clay cup closer to her hand.

"He says the water tastes like valley mud," Maddie muttered and she dropped the spoon back into the bowl with a small splash. She covered her ears with both palms and squeezed her eyes shut until her eyelids wrinkled up tight. "He is talking louder today, Calix. He keeps repeating the names of the old kings who died on the stone table. I cannot hear my own thoughts when I look at the meat."

"Look at me instead," I instructed and I reached across the table to pull her hands away from her head. I held her fingers tight against the wood. "Focus on the shape of my thumbs. We are going to go out with the hunters for the full moon run tonight. The air will clear the smoke out of your brain."

"The moon is very bright tonight."

"The run will help the muscles."

The remaining wolves of WolfTrail gathered at the edge of the pine woods two hours later. Rex was standing near the front line with his long spear stuck in the dirt, and Elara was leaning against a thick tree trunk with her gray wool wrap around her shoulders. Her eyes were fixed on Maddie’s face, and she moved her boots back two inches when we stopped in the clearing.

"The wind is coming from the north today, Alpha," Rex reported and he lifted his chin toward the high ridge. "The deer are moving down into the lower brush. If we run the boundary line we can drive three of them into the valley traps before midnight."

"We are running the inner circle tonight, Rex," I commanded and I took off my leather coat, dropping it onto a dry log. "Nobody crosses the creek line. We stay together and we keep a steady pace so the thin wolves do not drop in the rocks."

"The white fur is going to slow us down," Elara muttered and she stepped into the center of the path. She looked at Maddie’s silver hair and her lips turned down into a hard line. "She does not even have the gold light on her neck anymore, Calix. We are risking the pack safety for a female who carries a peak ghost in her ribs."

"Keep your mouth shut, Elara," I ordered and I felt the heat of the wolf power rising up into my throat.

Maddie did not answer the female. She stood completely still by the log, and her gray eyes suddenly went wide and blank as she stared at the bright white moon above the pines. Her shoulders snapped back with a loud pop and her fingers locked into rigid hooks against her thighs.

"Maddie?" I asked and I reached out my hand to touch her arm.

A loud yellow flash hit the dirt path and Maddie’s body tore through her clothes in a single second. The white wolf took her place on the moss, but the fur along her spine was shot through with dark gray lines that looked like thick mountain ink. Her eyes flared into a bright yellow color that looked like burning sulfur under the trees.

"The run belongs to the peaks," the white wolf growled. The sound was deep and heavy, and it did not come from a wolf’s throat at all. It was Kai’s voice, echoing off the pine trunks so hard the small birds scattered from the branches.

"Rex, get the ropes," I yelled and I started to shift my own skin.

The white wolf did not wait for my paws to hit the dirt. She launched her body across the clearing with immense speed, her heavy shoulders slamming right into Elara’s chest. The impact made a loud cracking sound like a dry branch snapping in the winter. Elara screamed and went down hard on the rocks, her head hitting the base of the pine tree.

"Maddie, stop," I roared as my brown wolf form took over my limbs.

The white wolf stayed on top of Elara, her long teeth sinking deep into the female’s shoulder. Blood sprayed across the gray moss and Elara’s body went completely limp under the heavy paws. The yellow eyes turned toward the rest of the pack, and the long white jaws opened wide with a dry mountain laugh that filled the woods.