Wolf's Holiday (3 page)

“I’d like to take you somewhere.” He interrupted her story about Tasha and the missing oatmeal. Rude, maybe, but he was too excited to wait.

She raised a light eyebrow. “Aren’t we going somewhere now?”

“Yes. I mean, obviously. Only, I meant somewhere else another time. Anywhere you want to go.”

She sat back in her seat. “Where would I want to go?”

“I don’t know. There must be somewhere.” He’d been all over the United States and Canada when he’d been on the run. So many of their returning pack mates had lived all over. “Surely there is someplace you want to visit.”

“I’ve seen my parents and Magnolia. Saw their shop. Spent a few nights staying with them.”

He nodded. “That’s great. I was thinking of somewhere more than just outside of Sioux Falls. Like a place that would take us days to get to by car.”

His mate chewed on her lip. He wasn’t getting the excitement he expected from his suggestion. “Why would I want to do that?”

Her question struck him silent. Finally, he answered, “For the adventure of it? For the novelty of seeing someplace new?”

“We’re wolf shifters, sweetheart. I want to stay home and see my pack get steady. I don’t want to run around having adventures when they might need me there. Why? Are you getting wanderlust for your humans? We don’t have enough loathed to satisfy you?”

“Have I stepped in a minefield I didn’t know existed?” He laced their fingers together, but she did not return the squeeze he gave her. “Want to tell me what’s going on with you lately?”

B pointed ahead. “You should leave the car there. We’ll start our hike from beneath those trees. That way someone would really have to look for the car to find us.”

She was right, but her statement didn’t negate his question. “Avoidance, much?”

His mate huffed loudly. “You sound like one of them, the
humans
.”

After he parked the car, she got out and grabbed the pack she’d filled for the two of them. He held out his hand. Instead of giving the pack to him, she slung it over her back.

He tried to bite back the flippant remark he wanted to make. Tried, and failed. “So am I totally incompetent? Dying? What is it?”

She gritted her teeth. “You worry about your leg. I’ll carry.”

They walked together in silence and for an hour he let himself pretend he was enjoying the cool air, the snow in the trees, and the sounds of birds in the distance. Outside of any town, he didn’t need to worry about anything other than tripping over a log.

He was giving his mate time to collect herself. Why talking about a hypothetical trip caused her so much angst, he didn’t know. Why she acted like he would collapse at any second, he didn’t know. The only thing he could be sure of was he’d loved B his entire life and they were going to work out, eventually, what bothered her.

They had to. His mate staying so silently unhappy couldn’t be allowed to continue.

“One of the things I like about this time of year is the newness of it. At least, that’s how the humans treat it. Even if you don’t celebrate any of the holidays as part of a religion, a few weeks later it’s New Year’s Eve. A chance for a new year, a fresh start. What will happen? You have no idea, but it could be so much better. You know opportunity and potential are just around the corner. Even though, in a lot of places, it’s still so cold.”

His leg wasn’t bothering him at all; he’d not expected it to, and he casually peeled a piece of bark off one of the trees as he passed. The snow could be rough. But when it went away, everything was reawakened, new again.

“Do you wish I was human?” She spoke from behind him, and he stopped. Slowly, he turned.

“Is that a joke?”

She joined him, her steps tentative...“No.”

“Why would you ask such a stupid question?”

His mate growled. “Obviously, I don’t think it’s stupid or I wouldn’t have asked. Never mind.” She waved her hand at him. “Let’s keep moving.”

Drew grabbed her arm. “I get to answer.”

“I thought it was a stupid question.”

He took her cheeks in his hands, gently cupping her face. “Betty Holden….”

“Tao. Shouldn’t it be Tao? Isn’t that what the humans do? Take their husband’s last names?”

Okay. He’d officially walked into Betty’s anger and he wanted the why. “Not all of them do. But I’d imagine that’s neither here nor there. And you’re so much more to me than a wife. You’re my entire world, my eternity. I don’t think all human males feel that way about their women. So, Betty Holden Tao. What is going on with you? How could you think for even half a second I would want you to be human?”

“Everything is about the humans. Making them feel at home. Fitting them in. You’re so happy to have them. Some of us wolves were here and holding the pack together when there weren’t any humans present.”

He leaned forward, speaking very close to her beautiful red lips. “Have I not been making you feel important?”

“I don’t need you to cater to me. I want to feel valued for what I am and not have to change into something else to fit into this new version of life you have. There are some things, Drew, that shouldn’t change. They need to stay the same, to keep them safe and treasured. Our pack isn’t a dumping ground for every human or wolf with an issue to come prancing in. We need to value who we are and who we have always been. You’re Alpha. Be Alpha.”Betty withdrew, pulling her bag closer. “Let’s keep walking.”

He followed. “Are we talking about the humans, or are we still discussing me and my leg?”

B halted. “I smell wildlife. Do you?”

“Some.”He sniffed the air. “Not much is going to be wandering around in this weather, which is good for us. Are you going to answer my question?”

“You know I don’t usually agree with Ryker. Only, in this case, I have to agree with him. Blood-oathing anyone and everyone who comes back because of some misplaced belief that everyone gets to come home again is going to get you killed.”

The tremor in her voice left him heartsick. How long had she been carrying around all this worry, and why hadn’t she said anything earlier?

“When I took over the pack, I made a promise to rebuild what once was.”

“They got kicked out, Drew.” She threw her hands in the air before she dug into her bag to pull out a bottle of water’s tried to hand it to him, but he shook his head; he wasn’t thirsty. His mate, however, opened the lid and took a big pull of water. “There were reasons they left.”

He shook his head. “I got kicked out.”

“Not everyone is you. Magnum was crazy. But even the truly evil aren’t always wrong. Some of the time, they’re going to be right. All I am trying to say to you, my Alpha, is don’t assume every sob story coming through the door isn’t really a maniacal loon with an agenda not congruent with your own.”

He took a deep breath in through his nose. His hands tingled, a signal his temper triggered at the criticism, yet he had to admit the truth to B’s words. “I appreciate you love me. Your worry matters to me more than I can say. I will try to investigate further those who come in. That’s all I can promise.”

“If that’s the best I’m going to get, then so be it.”

They walked side by side uphill. His leg stayed strong. The part of him that liked the color in B’s cheeks when she got mad almost pointed out his strength to her for no other reason than to pick a fight. Yet, her scent had cooled, and her shoulders looked straighter. Better to leave well enough alone until they’d gotten themselves on steadier ground.

A sound caught his attention, and he stopped to listen. Nothing more than a breaking twig, which could have been caused by local wildlife. Natural predators would avoid them. He didn’t smell any humans or shifters in the area. Squirrels and other animals scrounging for food didn’t concern him much, unless they were higher on the food chain than him and B.

“Smell anything?” he whispered. Her eyes shifted to wolf for a split second, a beautiful, strong show of her power on display.

“No. What are you sensing?”

“Nothing. Just a feeling. Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her near him while they kept walking up the hill. Of all the places in the world for Stewart to pick, why the top of this mountain? He’d ask him, once they found him.

Drew scented the bears only seconds before the roar sounded in the clearing. B gasped, her hand coming to her throat. A mother and a cub were directly in their pathos, that wasn’t good news. Even if he shifted, that bear—the mother—was going to be bigger and deadlier. She had a cub to protect.

“Shouldn’t they be hibernating?”

B’s question seemed so out of place, it indicated her complete and utter shock at the danger in front of them. “Betty Tao. I don’t keep track of which bears do and don’t hibernate for the winter. Snap out of your shock.”

She blinked then blew out a low, slow breath. “Do we run or play dead?”

“I’m mostly concerned she has a baby with her. That’s going to make her really….”

He never finished his sentence. Mama Bear charged.

“Run,” he shouted at Betty, and, for once, his mate listened. Both of them tore backwards, B’s pack going flying in the chaos.

The bear couldn’t chase both of them unless the cub joined in, and so far it hadn’t. What Drew needed was to get the bear away from B and focused on him.

“Hey.” He slid to a stop and whirled to face the animal. “You. You want me. Run, B.”

“Are you crazy?” she snarled, halting a few steps beyond him. “Do you want to get yourself killed? Shift. We’ll both outrun her. We can’t fight her, but we can run away.”

Fleeing irked his wolf. The need to protect his mate burned in his blood, but she made sense. If he didn’t run with her, she
wouldn’t
go. The potential to lose her to her own stubbornness outweighed his pride. In seconds, he’d called his shift upon him, cursing the pain lacing through his body. Before his father’s goon shot him, he could have made the transition in better time. B, in her wolf form, caught his eye, and the two of them ran together.

The bear gave chase and she was surprisingly fast at it, too. He sniffed the air, his senses better as a wolf. Somewhere ahead, a fire burned. Great, he’d go in that direction. Looking at B, he tried to indicate she should follow. Only his mate had other ideas.

With a growl, she shoved at him with her head before darting right. He skidded from her unexpected shove just in time to see the bear leave him and take off after his mate.

No. No. No. No. No
.

Oh damn it, B.
He pursued the bear when he heard the cub growl behind him. He rushed to a stop. The cub was young and inexperienced. He didn’t want to hurt the cub; he wanted it to go away. Drew needed to confuse him, get him to pay attention to someone other than him.

He shifted. “That’s right. This is strange. One second I’m wolf, the next I’m human. Weird.” Drew raised his arms up, making himself bigger. He reached down and grabbed a large stick. “See the stick. You probably won’t chase it like a dog. But maybe I can get you to look at it if I throw it over there.”

Drew sent the stick flying. As the bear cub watched the object soar through the sky, Drew shifted, pain lacing through his body at the three rapid changes in a row. He didn’t care. Using his wolf nose, he set off after the mama bear. Didn’t she care her cub was alone, or had the hunt driven her to forget why she’d gotten angry to begin with? He needed to find his mate. Nothing could happen to B.

***

B ran hard, her pulse pounding. Her jaunts with the pack were clearly not getting the job done. She needed to heighten her skills. Drew was stronger, but she didn’t think there would be any doubt anymore, she was faster.

Not that speed would do her any good if the crazed mama bear who, wouldn’t give up pursuit caught her. Too late, she missed when Mama closed the gap until she swiped with her claw, catching B across her back. The burn shocked her more than pain. She’d never really been hurt before. Pack training hadn’t prepared her for the shock of getting hit.

She whirled, cutting to the side. If the bear caught her, even at a dead run, then enough was enough. She hadn’t really wanted to kill or injure the bear. Mama ran past her and then turned to snarl at Betty. Were its eyes…red? There was something wrong with the creature. Some kind of bear mental illness.

B growled and ignored her aching back. The bear lunged forward, and B jumped. Sharpness dug into her shoulders and she was flung backward. Surprise caught her when she didn’t hit the ground. What the hell?

She looked around flailing wildly. What the fuck was going on?

The bear and the ground got farther and farther away, and B struggled to wrench her neck around to see what held her. The largest bird she’d ever seen carried her through the sky.

Oh no.
This isn’t normal
. Betty didn’t dare shift, what if the bird-thing dropped her? She growled. What the fuck was the thing carrying her? Was it bringing her back to its nest to feed it to its babies?

Ah, hell. Why hadn’t she read some sort of guidebook for the area so she could have known there was a possibility she would be assaulted by a rabid bear and carried off by giant monster birds?

The bird descended and the Earth grew closer and closer. The bird suddenly dropped her and she landed in a soft bed of snow. Her body hurt as she tried to roll over and a wave of dizziness assaulted her.

Monster-bird landed in front of her and seconds later shifted into a tall, dark-haired man. A bird shifter—right from the old legends. Impossible and yet, there he was. Of course, most humans probably thought that of her.

“Wolf, you are very hurt. Shift so I can see to your wounds.”

Betty growled. Like hell she planned to shift for the man who’d picked her up in his talons and deposited her who knew where. Sure, he’d saved her life, only the question had to be asked of why. What did he want of her?

“Don’t be foolish. I cannot grasp the true depth of your injuries if you don’t shift back. Like this, you will die. Though I suppose that is your choice.”

B’s mind spun. Was she truly fatally injured? Numb, she wasn’t feeling anything. Seeing no other choice, B called her shift onto herself. Pain pulsated from her scalp downward. She was hurt. Badly. Although the injury was on her back, B didn’t need a mirror to feel her skin was torn and blood had to be leaking from her wounds.