Goldilocks (13 page)

“
You
can’t just blow me off like that. You know about the wolves don’t you? And the bear!? Jake what are you hiding..?!” Hannah pushed, blowing out a frustrated sigh when he jerked away from her, his head turning towards the closest ridge of the northern pass above them.

“Nothing,” Jake answered with a shrug, pointing up the steepest of the hills yet. “Can you climb?” he asked, already starting up the slope before waiting for her answer.

“No!” Hannah snapped, her arms folding in defiance as she held her ground.

A glance over his shoulder and Jake
bit back the curse he wanted to growl out in frustration.

“You asked me on a walk, but we’re not walking we’re practically running. And speaking of running,
you
haven’t answered one question that I’ve had. Do you know how much courage it took for me not to go screaming for my father to bring his gun out here?” Hannah shook her head, pointing back the way that they’d come. “That bear saved my life, but just like the wolves, that bear wasn’t a bear. Well not like any bear I’ve ever seen. He…”

“I’ll answer your questions, I promise,” Jake interrupted her, his lips pulling into a grim line at the faint sound of
a distant howl.

Hannah’s human ears hadn’t heard it, but Jake could bet that the wolf had a little less than
ten miles to cover, and at its size and speed, he had fifteen minutes tops before it would be on them.

“I
will explain everything, but right now, you
have
to follow me,” he sighed extended his hand for her to take.

“
Everything
?” Hannah hesitated before placing her hand in his, their eyes locking for a moment when he nearly jerked away from her.

“Yes…” Jake nodded, pulling her up next to him. “Everything.”

Hannah blushed as the warmth of his breath washed over her face, her eyes pulling away first before nodding in agreement. “Fine.”

Jake almost sighed in relief as he released her hand, starting once again up the hill.
Being near her did things to him that he couldn’t begin to understand just yet. Touching her for the first time had nearly knocked him on his feet, his knees weak from the fire that seemed to course through him. It was more than just an attraction. It was territorial. The way he felt about his home and his family. It blazed just as bright as that, when it shouldn’t have. And this was not the time to start sorting it all out.

Jake lengthened
his stride, glancing behind him ever so often to make sure that Hannah was keeping up. She wasn’t quite on his heels, but she climbed without complaint, her breathing and heartbeat as steady as it was on one of her jogs. Just over the ridge, he could have her hidden and safe in a matter of minutes, they just needed to move a little faster.

Be careful Jake! This one is just as stro
ng as the last, if not stronger. Can’t leave… The Inspector saw something… Asking questions…

“
Is that the glass lake?” Hannah exclaimed as she reached the top of the ridge just behind him, her hand shielding her eyes from the blinding sunlight that now shown down unhampered by the overhanging trees in the forest.

Jake glanced out at the span of water in the distance and then behind him, catching the excitement in her face as she pointed. Her normally tight pon
ytail had loosened itself, fly-a-way tendrils escaping in golden wisp that framed her face perfectly. The green of her eyes were brighter than he’d ever seen before, and had it been any other time he would have offered to take her down to it.

“Lake San Cristobal,” Jake nodded. “It’s so crystal clear, that on a day like this, the surface gives you a perfectly inverted image of the landscape above.”

“I saw it on the map from the one stop shop. Sam had it marked as a ‘must see’” Hannah’s brow lifted hopefully.

“One day soon, I’ll show you, but…” Jake’s words halted, the hairs on the back of his neck bristling at what he had missed before.

The wolf’s howl hadn’t been as distant as he thought. They were getting smarter, and the woods had many valleys that allowed deceiving echoes to reach those who were close. While he’d taken a risk, heading directly into the wind, thinking there was time to head the wolf off; the wolf had instead tricked him, catching their scent and flanking them at an adjacent climb. There was no mistaking the crunch of claws against the semi rocky terrain, the low growl that Hannah definitely heard now.

Her features twisted in alarm as she spun around
to search the forest below them, her eyes widening in question when Jake closed the distance between her and him in three giant steps.

“Hannah, I need you to trust me right now and run!”

“What?!”

“I need you to go! NOW!” Jake growled out, kicking off his shoes as he backed away from her with a shake of his head.

“I don’t understand?!” Hannah’s voice quivered as she reached for him, fear in her eyes as her gaze slipped over his shoulder. “You can’t leave me now…PLEASE!”

She was frozen in place, her body now trembling as she spotted the wolf coming across the top of the ridge
behind Jake, his teeth bared. He’d be on them in seconds, and Jake was shaking almost as badly as she was, his face more livid than afraid as he glanced behind him and then back to her.

“I didn’t plan for you to find out this way Hannah,” Jake gritted out, his words pained as he fought to control the shift that had already started. “Just go! Please! RUN!”

The last word came out as a terrifying roar, his clothes shredding from his body as the shift changed him in an instant, his form writhing as he whirled to catch the brunt of the wolf’s weight. They collided with an earth jarring thud; Hannah’s piercing screams lost in the ferocious growls being exchanged between the two animals. Jake’s massive body shielded her from the reaching swipe of dangerous claws that would have surely ripped her face apart, the passing wind of the near miss sending her stumbling backwards, her hands reaching for anything that would keep her from tumbling.

Run Hannah RUN!
Jake’s voice was clear as a bell in her head, jerking Hannah’s eyes to the humongous ball of sandy brown and mangy grey fur that was now clamoring in the opposite direction.

Her t
houghts buzzed -vivid flashes of herself jogging through the woods, sitting at the creek and even staring straight ahead in government class- assaulting her already overwhelmed mind, causing her body to react before she even thought to make it cooperate.

Sharp rocks met her soft palms as she scrambled across the uneven ground of the ridge on her hands and knees, her body sliding downwards faster than she could control it. Hannah bit back tears as the material of her shirt tore away from her belly, allowing stinging cuts to rip across her sides, pa
in singing through her ribs with a vengeance.

Jake was on
his hind legs now, the wolf advancing from the fall he’d taken, intent on reaching the pass on the other side. Hannah’s form was but a dot in the dense covering of the forest as she found level ground, her golden blonde locks and tattered red running jacket disappearing from sight within seconds of her bursting into a full on sprint. Jake threw his muzzle up in a challenge; his arms open to welcome his attacker as he let a fierce roar bellow from the depths of his gut. The fire he felt burning within him had never been so wanting as it was now. Had the wolf not been immortal, he would have killed him with the first jab of his lethally sharp claws.

The piercing yelp of pain that he brought forth from the vile beast was only the beginning of what he planned to do to the animal that had threatened Hannah’s life. There would be hell to pay, and this time he wouldn’t mind picking up the pieces.

Chapter 16:

“What were you doing with the inspector’s daughter!?” Rone bellowed the second Jake stumbled through the door, his form shifting to bear just as Jake shifted to human.

It had taken everything in him to gather what was left of the wolf’s parts and drag it all
the way up to the mouth of the abyss and another hour to heal well enough to make the journey back down the mountain towards home. He’d expected his father to be angry, but he’d never expected a confrontation like this. The rules had always been the same. In their home they lived as humans. Their creation form was used only for the protection of the woods, and not against each other. Jake nearly crumpled from exhaustion as he regarded his father warily, his more tender human body drooping as he donned one of the robes from the peg to cover his nakedness.

“She was in the woods…”

Liar!
Rone snapped, throwing the thought with such accusation that Jake fell back against the door from the force of it.

He had yet to regain his strength from what had proven to be a brutal match with the wolf, his wounds still seeping from not fully healing yet. Even still his anger pulsed through him with a quickness, his body not full
y shifted when his father pinned him back with planted claws. The wood of the door cracked in protest of the assault, splinters flying as Rone’s eyes stared directly into his son’s flashing ones, violating the precious memories that Jake had tried to hide deep in the recesses of his memory. It’s where his nightmares lived, and the things he kept most sacred stayed protected, but Rone paid no mind to the barrier he’d never dared cross without his son’s permission, his prying feelers snatching hold of everything that was Hannah, pulling it forward until Jake snarled in indignation against the intrusion.

“You have no right!”
Jake shouted, pure anger shifting his face so that they were muzzle to muzzle, his partial shift only held in place by the horrified expression on his mother’s face as she flew from the bedroom with her hands on her chest.

Marigold!
Rone stopped his wife from protesting, his stare never leaving his son’s face as he discarded memory after memory of Hannah that proved Jake’s words true.
You know the rules!
She was in here!
” Rone sniffed heavily, his wide black nose crinkling in disgust at the faint scent of oranges and vanilla still lingering in the air.
She knows!

You can’
t possibly understand….!

I do!
Rone snapped, slamming his closed paws against the door so hard that the stone beneath their feet trembled from the force.
She is human! You would break our covenant for a…a…lesser?!

I never
said…

I see it in you
r heart, in your eyes, in the way that you defend her like she is worth more than all that we have protected!
I don’t!

“
You do!” Rone gritted out, snatching his own robe from the row of pegs beside the door as he shifted smoothly back into his human form. “Stay away from her.”

“I won’t,” Jake whispered, his jaw tightening in determination as his eyes locked with his father’s once again.

“Rone…” Marigold whispered softly, her unshed tears evident in the pleading of her tone.

“If you don’t,” Rone shook his head, a low rumble st
arting deep in his throat as he pushed flashes of the past through his son’s head, reminding him of what they’d lost to their lesser creations.

“She needs me,” Jake choked out
with a shake of his head, his hand slipping behind his back to pull the door open once again.

“Rone don’t,” Marigold chided
as Jake took a step back out into the passageway he’d been so grateful to see only minutes before.

Rone only stared as his son turned on his heel and limped away, his form shifting to all fours as he turned the corner and di
sappeared. It wasn’t fair, and he knew it, but his son was the only seed left of their kind.
If he turns like all the others…

Don’t think like that.
Marigold warned her husband, reminding him with gentle memories, how difficult the eighteenth year had been for the two of them.
It’s his right to have what we have. It’s only natural, and yet you take it away without explanation.

It will pass.
Rone pushed away the images that would surely break his resolve if he lingered in them too long.

But is it
fair?
Marigold pressed, her thoughts now on the day that their son had been born.
These woods will survive long after we’re gone. Whatever our son chooses…

Rone wouldn’t hear the rest, a growl starting deep in his belly as he slammed the door closed with
a swift kick of his foot. His wife knew when to let things be, but her eyes told him that he would soon listen whether he wanted to or not. Even still, Rone said the only thing he’d always taught his son to be true when it came to keeping the blood of the covenant pure.

He has no choice. Only his duty.

**********

Jake shoved his father’s words from his thoughts, throwing up a block so that he couldn’t see where he was headed. His thinking spot had not offered him any solace, the burnt orange color of the setting
sunlight only reminding him of what he’d felt earlier today when he’d grabbed hold of Hannah’s hand. There had never been any need for secrets between the three of them, and now that his eighteenth year was approaching, there were nothing but secrets. Jake wanted nothing more than an explanation of why
this
human, out of all the other humans he’d been around, affected him in this way.

He’d been terrified that she would get hurt up on that ridge, and then heartbroken at the look in her eyes when he’d shifted in front of her. He wanted her to know that he was just like her in every way except for that. She was the only human who’d ever know
n of their existence, and now that she did, he knew his father wouldn’t hesitate to silence her if need be. Their existence was sacred, and much needed because of Creed and his pack. He’d have to make her understand, which meant going against a promise that the covenant had made to each other long ago. He just hoped she’d listen.

**********

Bright lights through the trees stopped Jake from continuing down the trail towards the cabin. It was well after dark, yet ‘Big Red’ was just turning down the narrow trek off of the main road, its motor squealing in protest as the gears were shifted down into low and finally into neutral as it rolled to a stop. Through the darkness, Jake could see that both Hannah and her father were climbing from the truck, him rushing around to ease an arm around her before leading her towards the front porch.

Their voices were raised as if in an argument, Hannah’s normally light tone, stressed and breaking as she murmured something in reply.

“It doesn’t matter Hannah. Wolves?! Can’t you see that you could have been killed!”

“But I wasn’t!”

“Not this time no, but…”
“I told you that I needed to clear my head dad! I left school because it was just one of those days. I needed to get out of there!”

“So you do the one thing that I ask you not to, and then scare the life out of me when you show up all bruised and cut!”
“You didn’t have to take me to the hospital. We have pain meds here!”
“Pain meds that you wouldn’t need, had you listened!”
“Don’t try and treat me like a child now…!”

“You are my child Hannah!”

“You just want to lock me up and hold onto me like you did mom! If it weren’t for you telling her that she couldn’t work; she would have never gotten that crazy night job!”

“It’s not my fault that she was murdered Hannah! I’m not the one who…”

“Who stabbed her and then cut her up into little bits and left her as rat food!?” Hannah screamed, tears breaking her voice into jerking sobs.

“Hannah don’t…”

“Dad…I’m sorry. I need to go to bed.”

“Hannah wait…”

Jake hadn’t meant to listen for as long as he did. He’d only wanted to make sure that she was alright. Her father had mentioned wolves, but nothing about a bear, which could only mean she hadn’t told him...yet. Jake listened as Hannah’s footsteps retreated further into the cabin, her soft sobs barely audible from his position in the woods.

He, like everyone else around here, had wondered where her mother was, and now he knew. Anger shot through him at the obvious pain that Hannah was still in, her sharp words replaying over and over in his head as he thought of how he would have felt if the same fate had befallen her up on the ridge today.

He could still hear them talking, their voices a little more muffled than before, but he turned back the way he’d come, allowing them some privacy. It didn’t matter that they didn’t know he was listening. He already felt like he’d heard too much. Tomorrow he’d explain everything to her. Hopefully when he was done she wouldn’t look at him like the monster he’d been today.