Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 53 - Gate Crashing

"Huh," I muttered.

The scout who was leading us turned around and caught my eye. "There's a river behind the hazels. Just follow it until you see the standing stones."

Well, there was no denying it anymore. Vik and Ivan were holding their little meeting in our valley. In a way, that gave me the advantage, because I knew the terrain very well. It didn't outweigh the annoyance that flockies were treading on our soil — hypocritical, I know.

"Thanks," I told her. "You can go back or stay with us. Your choice."

The girl nodded. I knew she would stay. She'd been making eyes at Mort the whole walk, and he'd done nothing to discourage her. He was walking with Kaitlyn: they had been hanging out since she'd started training with us, and she'd proved herself a very capable wing-woman.

So the scout dropped back to join them, and I stopped to wait for Jess. She had been deep in conversation with Lee, the two of them ribbing each other like old friends, but I didn't doubt she had recognised our surroundings.

"This is where we split," I announced. "Ian, Hannah, Stevie and Ewan stay here. Get pissed if you want, so long as you can fight come midnight. And no fires. Lee and Jaz are with me."

"Aye, aye, sir," Ian answered in a booming voice, and laughter echoed him. The group began to split, slowly and messily, with every raider moving towards their leader. I was left with about twenty-five shifters. The pack wolves would outnumber us, but that wouldn't matter.

Jess had reached my side by then. She was standing closer than she needed to, which was probably a good sign. "I didn't realise we were coming here."

"Neither did I," I told her.

She leaned into me, her head resting against my shoulder. "Are you going to fight them?"

"Only if they make me."

We had come prepared for a fight but not looking for one. Eira had her armour stashed in Tom's car, we were all wearing loose clothes in case we had to shift suddenly, and everyone had their knife. Well ... everyone except Jess, and perhaps that was an oversight.

I pressed the handle of my knife into her hand, and she raised an eyebrow.

"That's for you. Just in case," I muttered. "And we'd better disguise your scent, because I wouldn't put it past Ivan Lloyd to snitch on you."

Jess took the blade hesitantly, tucking it into her back pocket. "Now you don't have a knife. I don't want you getting stabbed again."

"Eira has a spare..." I let the sentence dangle in the hope she might take the hint, but my sister was daydreaming, and I had to nudge her and ask for it directly. She was smirking when she handed it over: the handle was worn and the blade was nicked. But it was sharp, and that was really the only quality I looked for in a knife.

"Okay," Jess said. "But how do I fix my scent? Most of us can't turn that shit off, y'know."

She stank of Silver Lake. Ivan would notice, and he would probably tell Vaughan that one of his pack members was running around with Llewellyns, and then everything would go to shit. I took off my jacket and held it out.

"Sorry. It would also help if we, um—"

"If we what?" she demanded, eyes wide.

I choked. "No. No. I was going to say hug. The other thing would work, too, but that's not... No."

Jess took the jacket slowly. She seemed reassured, but the bond between us was suddenly taunt. That caught my bastard of a wolf's attention, naturally, and I could feel her wolf stirring to answer him.