Chapter 7 A Chance for Revenge
Lyra
More time passes. It’s hot as hell outside, but that doesn’t stop Jorin and me from training. Every day, after we eat breakfast, we go out to a nearby meadow and spar. Sometimes, we’re in our human forms. Other times, we shift and fight in our wolf forms. Either way, I learn a lot. We rotate where we train every day so that the rogues hopefully won’t smell us in the same spot and stalk us there. One thing I’ve learned about Jorin is that he’s always very cautious.
One day, when the summer sun is high overhead, we’re fighting in our human forms, working on tricking our opponents, when a familiar odor hits me, and I freeze.
Jorin isn’t expecting it, and he ends up kicking me in the side, hard. I wince.
“So sorry, Lyra,” he says, rushing over to me. “Are you all right?”
I place a hand on my side and press hard to try to make the pain ease down, but it’s not that noticeable to me. “I’m fine,” I assure him. “It’s not your fault. I got distracted. Do you smell that?”
Jorin lifts his head and smells the air. He rotates a bit, and then he nods. “I do. That’s the same scent we picked up on all those weeks ago, when you found that letter from Bram, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” I take another deep breath. Goddess, how I long to see my friend again. But I also don’t want to put him in any danger. “I have to follow it.”
“Of course,” Jorin agrees. “Perhaps he’s leaving us more information about what’s going on in Running River Pack. Let’s shift and run in our wolf forms. We’ll get there faster.”
I don’t have to be told twice. Hiding behind a bush, I strip and shift, then use my teeth to place my clothes in my backpack and wiggle into it. When I step back out, Jorin is ready as well, and we take off running.
I take the lead. Jorin used to be faster than me, but I don’t think he is now. I suppose I’ve gotten stronger through my training. Or maybe he’s just giving me the lead because he knows how important this is to me and doesn’t want to hang me up. The idea that I might actually get to see Bram has me running as fast as possible.
We aren’t headed to the same place that we went to last time. It’s smart of Bram to mix it up a bit so that if he is followed, no one will be able to go back to that spot in an attempt to catch us. The scent gets stronger. I tear through some underbrush and come into a clearing, and then, I see an envelope perched between two branches of a tree.
I don’t run right for it, though. Bram’s scent is still so strong, I think he might be nearby. Instead of going for the letter, I rush right past that tree toward the edge of the forest, following my nose but scanning all around looking for any sign of Bram.
I don’t see him.
Jorin rushes up behind me and grabs my tail between his teeth, just hard enough to get me to turn around. Through the mind-link, he says, “It’s too dangerous, Lyra. You’re close to the border of Running River Pack lands. The patrol could come by and see you, and if they see you, they will kill you. They probably think you’re already dead from being chained to that tree.” He releases my tail.
He’s right, of course, but I can’t stop looking for Bram. I stand there, frozen to the ground, searching and finding nothing. Even his scent is dissipating.
“I’m sorry,” Jorin tells me.
I shake my head, unable to speak, even through the mind-link. I miss Bram so much. In fact, I miss many people from my old pack. I even miss Tessa sometimes when I don’t think about what she did to me.
But I can’t waste any tears crying for a life that’s no longer mine. I force my chin up and walk back to the tree. Standing on my hind legs, I’m able to reach the envelope. With it between my teeth, I begin the long run back to our cabin. We may go out and finish training later, but for now, all I can think about is getting back to a place far enough away from the border that it’s safe for us to shift so I can read Bram’s missive.
It seems to take so long to get back. I’ve been running so fast for so long my legs are burning, and my lungs are on fire. We finally reach the cottage. Through the mind-link, Jorin says, “I’m going to go take a shower.” In his wolf form, he pads into the bathroom, leaving me with my letter.
I drop it on my bed and shift. Getting dressed takes longer than it should, and then, I can finally rip the letter open.
“Dear Lyra,” it begins. I sink down on my bed and scan ahead but tell myself to slow down.
“I hope you are doing well. I worry about you. But every once in a while, I dare to go deeper into the woods, and I pick up traces of your scent. They’re faint enough to tell me you’re not nearby at the time but fresh enough that I know that you’re out there somewhere, alive and well.
“Alive anyway. Maybe not well. It’s impossible for me to know that.
“Alpha Kaelen has announced his engagement to Tessa. The entire pack was surprised, but it seems they are claiming to be mates. No one thinks it’s true, but for some reason, he’s infatuated with her. I think it’s because she betrayed you, and that makes her attractive to him in ways he can’t understand.
“We are on the warpath again. Next Friday, Alpha Kaelen is launching an attack against Moon Falls Pack. I only know this because I’ve become one of his commanders recently. It hasn’t been easy convincing him I believe you killed Arica, but it’s the only way I could make him think I was on his side. This information may be valuable to you. They’ll be taking the northern passage to get there, probably Thursday evening. You know that road has narrow passages that twitch through the trees. It would be possible to set booby traps that would disrupt the army and potentially take out a large number of forces–should anyone be interested in that.”
I pause in my reading and take a deep breath. Bram is trying to help me sabotage Alpha Kalean’s forces.
“Goddess,” I whisper aloud. “This could change everything.”