I should be able to smell them, even in human form. It took me forever to find the road they were talking about, Wells Road, it wasn't on any map but the guy at the gas station knew where it was, and here I am, out where some lady got attacked by wild dogs just last night, and I'm not smelling anything. It hasn't snowed since last night, hasn't snowed for a week, no chance for the elements to wash away the scent. Looks like it's finally warming up into March. The dirt road is long and I'm tired and on edge and staring at the half-frozen puddles watching for a paw print or scuffle mark or anything to indicate their presence, because I can't smell a damned thing.

I should be able to smell them. I pass two houses buried deep in the trees and then the dirt road trails off into nothing, and I yell, kick a tree, then sit in the snow to nurse my foot. Where are they? How are they hiding?

My head bumps time against the tree trunk. Why can't it be easy? Why can't I find them? Everyone's gone. Kayla, Zeke, my mom. Maybe they're dead. And if they weren't, what could I do to save them?

Bump, bump, bump.

The forest is still, no birds chirping. Water dripping from the trees and soft clumps of snow falling. I think I can sit here forever, my ass growing numb, I can melt into the forest and become it. I close my eyes.

(Daniel)

It's a whisper. I imagine I can smell Kayla, her lilac-wild scent, her hair falling over her bare shoulder.

(I'm here)

I sit up straight, eyes scanning between the trees. In a few moments I close my eyes and listen hard. Take deep breaths, filtering through everything I smell for that one hint of lilac.

(where are you I can't find you)

Softly the answer comes, almost too quiet.

(I'm here)

I stand up and begin taking off my clothes. I drop them unceremoniously into the snow. The change trembles in me, or maybe that's the cold. Before it comes, I kick my stuff behind a tree. Then I'm a wolf.

It's like putting on a pair of glasses. Suddenly every sound and scent is ten times clearer.

Of course, it's a bit too late.

The black wolf emerges from only twenty feet away. I stare him, feeling my lips curl back to reveal my fangs, angry that he was hiding so close, angry that he has some way to hide from me, angry that Kayla is around and I'm sure it's this one, the black wolf, who has taken her and harmed her.

He snarls back at me.

Two more wolves walk out from behind bushes and trees where I was so certain, only seconds ago, that nothing and no one could possibly be there. From behind me my senses snap with the sound of more wolves crunching over the snow, exhaling meaty breaths into the cold air. Three – no, five – make that seven wolves behind me. All walking toward me. Tightening the noose.

I'm surrounded.

I could try to fight them, and my wolf wants that. I could rip them to shreds. Surrounded like I am, I won't get too far fighting them all at once. This isn't like the attack outside Zeke's barn, where only a couple could come at me at once. This isn't even like when I killed my father and uncles – there were only three of them. Ten against one. I might fight better than most of them, but it will be hard to fight with so many wolves on my back. And I can't assume I can fight better than most of them. They know something I don't, this invisibility stuff.

There's only one other option.

I hesitate, not knowing which way to run. I want to run back the way they came, however they got here, but without a scent to go by, it's impossible to know.

Well, it's probably not down the road, the way I came.

I dart at the wolves at my left shoulder. They've been waiting for this, and gather their haunches to leap at me, but as soon as they jump I slide, stiff-legged and belly on the ground, beneath them. They thought I was going to fight. Now the chase is on.

Darting through the snow, narrowing avoiding trees, branches whipping my face and making my eyes tear, I can hear them panting, leap, racing after me. Now I know how those rabbits and squirrels felt as I chased them. Blindly running away, unable to stop and think of a way to outsmart the predator behind them. I can't look for a scent.

trees branch duck jump dodge bush jump faster faster faster

Their scent grows closer, hot and heavy on my heels. The adrenaline of panic has worn off and pain stabs my lungs with each breath, my muscles burning with each step.

And then for a split second I get a whiff of lilacs, and I nearly stop short.

Teeth cutting into my leg forces me to buck off my pursuer and keep running. Behind me, however, I hear noises other than those of pursuit. Short growls followed by sharp whimpers that cut off so fast they leave an echo in the cold air of the forest. I smell more wolves now, though I can't see them.

I dig into the snow and run as fast as my tiring muscles will allow, and finally I feel the wolves behind me backing off. I'm outrunning them!

(Daniel)

Her voice, so clear in my head, stops me. I pivot on my front legs, whipping around into a crouch, ready in case that black wolf is behind me, somehow tricking me with Kayla's voice and scent.

Instead of the enemy pack behind me, racing to catch up, a different set of wolves – three of them - stand panting at intervals along the way I came. Their sides heave, and blood streaks their fur. A couple of wolf carcasses lay cut open, their glistening red innards steaming into the cool air. I'm not sure how I know these are different wolves, and not enemy wolves, but I do. Something about their scent is pack. They smell as familiar as Sunday dinner.

(Kayla?) I send out, looking for her toffee-colored fur.

The wolves move toward me, but one makes her way to the front of the pack. I yell, "Kayla!" which comes out as a yelp because I've forgotten that I'm not human, and run to her, my wolf fur melting off along the way until my bare limbs are floundering in the snow. I throw my arms around the ruff of her neck and hug her until her pelt fades away and we're grasping one another, skin to skin.

"What just happened?" I ask. "Did you kill all of them?" There are only four wolves including Kayla, against all those other wolves. Against ten other wolves.

"We managed to ambush them while they were chasing you," Kayla explains, smiling and breathing hard. "We knew they were setting a trap for you, so we got here first. It worked out perfectly. They never knew we were here. We were able to start at the back of the pack and pick them off, one by one. Some got away, but we killed two and injured at least five others."

"The black one?"

She shakes her head. "He was the leader of this attack, the most powerful one of this group. He sensed our presence, and took off before we even got close."

"I couldn't smell them," I tell her. "They didn't have a scent at all until I turned wolf."

Kayla nods. "Pack magic."

Finally I turn my attention from Kayla to the other wolves surrounding us, keeping a respectful distance. "This is our pack?"

"All that's left." Kayla gazes at the others, and they take this as a signal to reveal their human forms.

"Mom!" I cry. "Aunt Julie!" As for the third, I don't recognize him. He doesn't look like my dad, or my uncles. He looks to be a few years older than me, maybe in his early twenties, with curly blond hair and eyes of such a pale blue that at first glance I wonder if he's blind. But he's looking directly at me, not in a challenging way. More like he's waiting for me. Finally, when it becomes apparent that he will not be the first to speak, I ask, "Who are you?"

"My name is Remy Loupe," he states. And again waits.

Loupe was my grandmother's maiden name. I recall what Kayla had told me, about my great-grandfather, Fallon Loupe, and the four children who managed to escape his killing spree. Remy must be the son or grandson of one of the other survivors.

I nod, and Remy drops his eyes. Tension I hadn't been aware of dissolves from the air. I sense that he was not the leader, even among three women. It's strange to me that he is willing to allow me, someone much younger and less experienced, to have a higher place in the pack.

(Daniel)

Kayla has returned to wolf form, and quickly the others follow suit. I'm still sitting on my bare ass in the snow. I look into her deep brown eyes.

(You don't need me to be your leader, do you?)

(I made a mistake, putting this all on your shoulders. You are strong – but together we can be stronger.)

For some reason, this makes my shoulders droop with relief. I melt into wolf.

(Together... I like that idea.)

It's hard to tell if she's smiling, but I can feel her happiness radiating into me. I don't have to be some impossible superhero responsible for saving the world. I don't have to protect Kayla, and she doesn't have to protect me. We can look out for each other.

We head off toward home, Kayla and I, shoulder to shoulder, surrounded by our family.

THE END

___

Author's Note:

Hi everyone!  Thanks for reading all the way to the end!  

If you feel like it, you can review this book over on Goodreads.  I'm not sure if I will post the sequel, Dreamwalkers, here on Wattpad, but it is available for sale (and sometimes free) via the links on my profile page.  Happy reading :)