~ ~ Chapter twenty Eight ~ ~
‘I’m not hiding from anyone,’ I argued back, sparing Saxon a quick glare before looking around our surroundings once more.
We had finally reached the place I first saw Brody’s mate at and I was beginning to doubt she would even pass back through this way and that’s to say if we haven’t even missed her yet. Saxon was trying to convince me to stay stuck in the shadows, to keep out of sight; hiding like a scared little puppy.
I can’t do that, it’s simply not in my nature to back down or hide. Especially from someone who almost handed me my furry hide on a plate.
‘Eva, you’re a part of this pack now, we don’t have slackers and everyone does as they are told.’ He growled back lowly, trying to reign in his anger. ‘I want you to stay back with Brody, he will jeopardise everything if he realises, not to mention what if you two get into a fight again – whose side do you expect him to pick?’
Sighing softly as I refused to meet his eyes, knowing he had a point on that last part. For starters, if Brody does see her and puts two and two together, he isn’t going to be happy and I’m the closest chance we have to calming him down. Then not to mention it would be completely unfair on him to see his sister and mate going at each other, even if he doesn’t understand.
Slowing raising my eyes to look over at Brody who was silently communicating with Grant and Chris, I was also a bit worried he wouldn’t have my back and that thought alone was enough to crush me.
‘Fine,’ I mumbled softly and looked over, meeting Saxon’s dark eyes, ‘I’ll stay back with Brody, and we’ll go over to the other side of town so there’s less chance of us seeing her.’
‘Good, uh, I mean thank you,’ Saxon quickly used some manners and I shook my head a little, finding it amusing.
‘Good,’ I replied, smirking a little and his eyes narrowed playfully as he lunged at me, wrapping his arms around my torso and trapping my own down by my sides; picking me up off the ground and spinning me around, my feet flying up into the air as I laughed loudly and carefree.
My lips were parted wide in a grin and he sat me back down on my feet, planting a soft kiss on the side of my neck, “Thank you for reasoning with me, I know it’s hard for you,” he ruined it with the teasing tone at the end.
Spinning around in his arms and pushing at his chest at the same time, I growled softly, “I am a girl you know,” I warned, hiding my smile.
Saxon frowned, “Uh, I think I know that.” My statement confused him and I chuckled.
“It means it’s in my nature to change my mind at will,” I winked and quickly ducked out of his arms, skipping back a few steps and staying just out of his reach as he leant out to grab a hold of me again.
“In your case people may call it being unstable,” he chuckled at his own joke, shaking his head.
“Uncool Sax, uncool,” I muttered while shaking my head slowly, adding dramatic effect.
Saxon smirked brightly and lunged forward again, wrapping one arm around me as he gave me a side on hug, “You know I love you babe,” and he winked before stealing a quick kiss and jumping out of my reach as my cheeks heated up.
“Yeah...yeah, whatever,” I huffed, my brain failing me on a good comeback yet again. I really need to invest in a new brain.
Walking towards my family, I stepped up alongside Brody and swung one arm over his shoulders, pulling him in close to my side, “C’mon bro’, me and you are going to the other side of town to try and catch us a big bad wolf,” and I winked with a grin playing on my lips.
Brody raised an eyebrow and looked back over at Saxon, “I thought you would have teamed up with the love of your life, since, you know, you loudly confessed it.”
Lifting my arm up off his shoulders, I brought the palm of my hand flat across the back of his head. A loud thwacking sound echoed for a moment and he cringed, “What the heck Eva?”
“I could say the exact same Brody,” I snapped back, “Just get over it all already.”
“Who is Saxon even chasing?” Brody asked as he lounged on the wooden park bench, under the shade of a large gum tree.
Shrugging as I flopped back down on to the seat next to him, “Some wolf.”
“Some wolf,” he scoffed, copying my words. “You’re telling me you don’t even know who or why you are chasing someone with him?”
‘Well duh Brody, of course I know who I'm chasing and why, it’s your stupid new dodgy mate’...but I couldn’t exactly say that out loud to him, now could I?
“Just someone who we need information from,” I mumbled, looking out across the road at all the little shops lined up, people coming and going, but at a leisurely pace. This town wasn’t too bad actually, it had a nice serenity feel to it.
“We?”
“Huh?” I frowned, looking back over at him.
Brody narrowed his eyes with suspicion, “You just said ‘we need information’ Eva.”
“No I didn’t,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes and looking away quickly since I'm not a very good liar.
“Yes-.”
He started to argue back, but Saxon’s voice filled my mind, blocking out whatever Brody had to say. ‘She’s coming your way!’ He roared furiously and I jumped to my feet, my head snapping to the left and then to the right, trying to determine which way she was going to come from.
“What is it?” Brody growled, standing up alongside me and I raised a finger to my lips to shush him.
His mate was good; you couldn’t tell where she was by sniffing for her scent, so I had to rely on my hearing alone. Tilting my head slightly to the left and closing my eyes, I tuned out the footsteps of people, the sounds of cars, children’s laughter, any sound that I knew did not belong to one of a wolf.
The faintest thumping sound filled my ears and I concentrated on it even more, listening only to the sound of what I swear were paws running across bitumen. Why she doesn’t know the supposed wolf laws of ‘never running in wolf form in a public place’ is beyond me, she obviously is like me and just had no one ever tell her.
Snapping my head to the left and opening my eyes, I saw her. Brody gasped loudly as she bolted across the road, breaking out from a side street, and ran off into the woods lining the edge of town. She never spared a glance for Brody or me.
“You’re hunting my mate!” Brody roared, turning on me with a ticked off expression.
Meeting his eyes for a brief moment, “I’ll explain later, but I need to catch her,” and I took off, leaving a cursing and violently angrily brother behind.
Not that he stayed behind for very long, Brody was quick to start running up behind me as I took off after his mate.
Breaking through the trees, I watched the back of her furry body disappear further up ahead in the bushes. My eyes glanced around for a split second and I noticed a half fallen tree, quickly running up onto it and down the length before leaping off the end and flying through the air, ‘Better catch me,’ I whispered in my mind.
My body free fell down towards the leaf and rock covered wood floor, I didn’t panic though, I knew he would catch me and just as that thought entered my mind, the flash of black fur underneath me caught my body. Landing on Saxon’s back with a soft thumping sound, I quickly latched on in position and grinned to myself.
‘See, now are you glad we practiced you catching me?’
He snorted loudly, ‘And what if I had missed or not got to you in time? What if I wasn’t even coming this way?’ He fired at me, obviously not enjoying it as much as I had.
Rolling my eyes, I didn’t answer him at first as I stared down at his back, feeling his strong muscles working under my weight as he ran. Listening to the deep thumping of his paws as they hit the soft dirt, tearing it up a little, and a small smile spread across my lips.
‘We both know you would never have missed,’ I whispered teasingly, ‘and we both know you were following my scent.’
Loud snarls behind me had my head turning so I could look over my shoulder. Brody was coming up Saxon’s rear and he looked furious. Staring at him with sad eyes, I couldn’t even speak to him through mind link right now to calm him down.
‘You’re going to need to get him out of the way Eva, he will ruin everything,’ Saxon growled in my head and I nodded a little, knowing I had to deal with this. He is my brother and it’s because of me that he is even here right now.
‘Leave it to me,’ I muttered and before Saxon could ask what that meant, I was standing up on his back, holding onto large chunks of his fur to keep from falling off and then I pushed off, leaping into the air in the direction of my brother.
Landing on the ground perfectly, I grinned, but my self-satisfaction was a little too early as my feet slipped out from underneath because of some loose rocks and I fell flat on my butt. Groaning loudly in pain, I rolled over onto my side and rubbed at my butt cheeks, complaining loudly about how horrible the woods are.
Brody slid to a stop, spraying dirt up into my face and I shut my eyes tight to avoid grains getting in under my eyelids, while waving my arms frantically in the air before my face, “Dirt is disgusting!”
Chris came up behind him, as I opened my eyes and watched Grant just bolt past the three of us. Wiping grains away from my face, just in time to see the idiot grinning like mad and I quickly covered my eyes with my hands as he sprayed an even bigger amount of dirt all over my body and face, I could feel it all mixing in with my hair.
“I hate you CC!”
A deep rumbling sound echoed around me and I knew he was laughing, looking up at him with daggers, “Very uncool and I will be getting payback later,” I warned him, not that he was fazed by my threat anyway. I wish I had the ability to scare Chris, but I simply don’t and it sucks big time.
It sucks so much that Chris snorted once, proving just how much he didn’t take my threat seriously, and then flung some more dirt up onto my leg as he walked past.
“I'm so getting you back,” I growled, angrily brushing clumps of soil off my leg and arms, before standing up and rubbing at my head vigorously.
A loud snarl caught my attention and I slowed my hands down as I brushed dirt free from my hair. Turning my head a little to the side, I peeked over at Brody and offered a small smile, “Um...hi?”
I know I'm meant to be distracting him right now, but I have no idea what to say. I didn’t think any further than just jumping off Saxon’s back and landing in front of him as my plan.
He snorted loudly and stepped to the side quickly, and I matched it just as instantly. Though, I was looking out over at the trees, trying to act as if I hadn’t just blocked him
Brody nudged me, not heaps hard, but enough to make me stumble back a few steps and snapped my eyes to meet his, “That was rude,” I muttered, still racking my brain for a really good way to distract him.
Oh stuff it; he’s going to find out pretty soon anyway.
“Your mate has been spying on us, and when I chased her down and confronted her, she attacked me.” I blurted it out, watching his eyes widen, but I didn’t stop there. “She had some other wolf help her escape, so I asked Saxon to help me hunt her down and get answers – she’s not a nice person bro’, but I didn’t want you finding out ‘til we knew more.”
My voice trailed off as I watched the angry look in his eyes die to one of sadness and heartbreak. He didn’t know his mate very well, but he was crushed by her actions already and I feared he was going to make a huge mistake because of this.
“Brody!” I screamed out and tried to grab onto him as he bolted past me, leaving me standing there in shock and despair as I watched him run with purpose.
‘Brody’s coming up behind you hard and fast,’ I told Saxon instantly, warning him that he was about to have one heck of time catching Alana now.
‘Run away Eva! It’s a trap!’ Saxon roared back, the anger and fury in his tone causing my body to flinch.
Shaking my head no, ‘I won’t run, my family is with you too you know. I won’t abandon you guys,’ and I started running forward, not caring that I was knowingly running head on into a trap, because I won’t actually be doing that.
I'm not entirely stupid.
I will run around the trap, suss it out and figure out some kind of plan to help everyone when I know more.
I know I should change into my wolf form, to help me fight off any attackers, but there were two problems with that move. One, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with my brothers at all. Even though it’s all pretty much one sided right now, I can still gather the gist of what they are saying back by watching their movements and looking into their eyes. Problem number two? I would be left without clothing if I needed to change back into human form and being naked in front of people is something I particularly hate.
It wasn’t too hard to find everyone, not only were their scents still lingering heavily in the air and along the bushes, but their growling was almost deafening as I snuck up through the undertow of the woods. Branches scraping at my bare arms and legs as I pushed my way through slowly, and found a good lookout spot.
Peering through the green leaves, shock filled my body as I noticed the amount of scungy and feral looking wolves that had my family and new pack surrounded; all too familiar looking feral wolves as well. We’ve fought these buggers before, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who Alana was working for.
I should have figured it out sooner; of course someone spying on us would have been working for the one and only Lefty, Houdini, Saxon’s mortal enemy.
The culprit was nowhere to be seen though, but Alana was; standing up front and centre, leading the small group of ferals against my side. Rolling my eyes as I looked at them and then looked at us; they stood no chance at all and were going to be whipped like cream by us.
As my eyes swept over my side, they landed on Brody. He was crouched slightly, with his head low and his ears pinned back while a vicious growl emitted from his throat in a long steady sound. My heart broke for him, after all the hell he has put me through over Saxon being the ‘bad guy’, his mate has just turned out to be the worst of them all.
I admit that Brody had been right in the beginning though, Saxon was the bad guy, but he changed his ways – well, he has been changing his ways and making an effort. Any fool can see that.
Two black feral wolves ran forward, striking out at Vance and Grant, but both the boys were well prepared for the attack and dodged them easily before striking out and causing some damage of their own on the ferals.
This was the first move that started the full on attack and within seconds, wolves were everywhere, the enemy and my own side, all mixed up as one. The soft ground was flung up into the air by their paws tearing into it, leaves and twigs flew in every direction, and if it wasn’t for my good eyesight; I would never have been able to keep up with it all.
‘Stay back,’ Saxon ordered and I growled through our mind link as my response.
I was actually half contemplating on listening to him, knowing that if I did run out and join this fight, then he would put himself in jeopardy because he will be too focused on defending us both. Then I would get angry because I don’t believe I need his help as much as what he thinks I do.
It just wasn’t worth it.
What made it all worth it though was when I saw the dirty brown wolf sneaking up behind Brody and just from the quick glance at the enemy and then at my brother; I knew my brother was in big trouble. The wolf was like twice his twice and was about to strike at him from behind on a surprise attack.
Brody stood no chance right now.
I ran forward, surged with the raw power to protect my brother, but as I ran, a flash of fur caught my attention and I slid to a stop from pure shock. Alana bolted through her fighting wolves, teeth bared and a furious growl rumbling through her chest as she finally leapt up into the air and came landing down half on top of her own pack member, bowling him out of the way.
She was quick to get back on her feet and stand her ground, blocking the feral wolfs path as he snarled at her and went to go for Brody again. My brother had finally noticed the commotion behind him and spun around, eyes widening for a split second as he took in Alana’s defensive stance as she stood with her back to him.
Smiling slightly, I felt smug at witnessing this. She might be the enemy, but she knew exactly who Brody was to her and wasn’t about to let anyone harm him.
The feral wolf growled once more and took one last lunge in Brody’s direction, but Alana sprung forward, sunk her teeth into the side of his neck, and tore fur and flesh away, snarling her warning to back off and the wolf listened this time, quickly backing away with annoyance.
I stood still as I watched Alana slowly turn around, hardness in her eyes that shouldn’t be there, along with panic towards Brody’s safety, but as her eyes met his, she quickly looked away from the foul look he shot her. He turned his back on her and ran off to help Grant and Chris.
‘Duck!’ Vance roared in my mind, and I spun around in shock to see a familiar feral wolf leaping towards me, its pitch black eyes trained on my body and its jaws open wide enough so he could latch onto my delicate skin and tear me to pieces.
My eyes stared right into his and I couldn’t move. I was stuck as I watched him flying towards me, just staring at that scar. Lefty.
The weight of a small truck slammed into my back and sent my body flying forward through the air as the wind was knocked out of my lungs. I gasped loudly and desperately to get air down my throat before I even had the chance to hit the ground and I knew already that that was going to bruise my back for a little while.
I didn’t get to land on the ground as Saxon shouted out my name through my head and the next second, I was slamming into his furry body, he took the brunt of my fall and cushioned it at the same time. Gasping as I rolled off of him and onto the dirt, my lungs filled back up with air that burnt my throat.
Coughing a little as I raised my head and looked over at Lefty, who was circling with Vance, both jumping at the other to get a grip with their teeth, but the other would jump out of the way in the nick of time.
‘He’s here,’ I muttered, pushing myself up to my feet and standing alongside Saxon.
‘I told you to stay away, he almost killed you if Vance hadn’t gotten to you in time,’ Saxon snapped and then took off, shouting at me to disappear.
So that truck slamming into me was Vance? Wow, who knew the grump would save me?
Chris was instantly at my side, nudging my ribs with his big head and looking up at me with worry in his eyes. Smiling down at him, I gently laid a hand on his head and rubbed behind his ear, “I'm okay.”
Something rough and pointy hit my thigh and a small scream escaped my mouth before I could stop it, and I quickly looked down at a big fat thick stick hitting my leg. Grant was holding it in his mouth and motioning for me to take it, but Chris was snickering from my other side.
“Shut up CC,” I muttered hotly and took the stick from Grant, whacking it onto my open palm and giving Chris a menacing look, “I have a stick,” I warned, but I ruined it by breaking out into a smile.
I have a stick and he has giant sharp teeth. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he wins.
“Thanks Grant,” I turned back to my brother and gently poked his ribs with the tip of my stick, “Let’s go.” I ran forward, not waiting for them as I gripped one end of the stick and whacked some feral wolf across the back of the head, distracting him from Brody.
The wolf spun around to go at me, but was met by a double attack from Chris and Grant as they both powered into him, slaying him to the ground.
Looking away, I realised the feral’s were starting to disappear, they obviously had worked out that we had the upper hand right now, but two main ones were still left behind; Alana and Lefty, plus two others.
Saxon and Lefty were going at each other and I paused to watch my mate, my heart going out to him. He wasn’t fighting with his head right now, he was fighting with blind rage and he was losing. Cringing as Lefty bit into his back and Saxon howled, a small tear built up in the corner of my eye.
Before I could even take a step towards him Alana lunged forward from out of nowhere really, and a growl of pure rage erupted from my throat as I saw who her target was – Saxon. She had no fear at attacking an Alpha head on, it was as if she didn’t even care what position he held, he was just another wolf in her eyes and that ticked me off.
“No one attacks him but me!” I roared, leaping out from my hiding spot and charging forward on two human legs, dodging a side on attack that came from a dirty brown feral wolf, with the help of Chris who flew at the feral from nowhere.
One minute there was this wolf running at me; teeth bared and a nasty look in his eyes. Then the next he was gone, with Chris slaying into him, rolling along the ground and away from me.
Using all the strength I had within my body, I slammed shoulder first into Alana’s side, winding her enough to distract her from who she was aiming for. She was quick to get back up on her feet, where I was a little bit slow and she bowled me over instantly, snapping at my face.
Rolling over on the ground and sending dirt flying up around me, I watched her turn back around to face me, and my eyes widened. She was confused. She didn’t know what to do.
I was in shock and I didn’t know what to do now either, do I attack Brody’s mate full on or do I hope she leaves me alone?
Brody answered my silent question by suddenly appearing over top of me, head down low and growling at his own mate. Alana looked shocked, but I could also see understanding in her eyes. Wriggling out from underneath my brother, I stood up and jumped at the sound of a loud bark.
Alana’s head snapped over to look at Lefty and I watched as he slowly back away for the thicker section of trees, he was going to make a run for it.
“Don’t let him get away!” I screamed out for anyone to listen and when no one moved, I bolted forward, picking up a large rock and pelting it at him as I ran. It missed him by inches as I slammed into a wall of fur and stumbled back. Looking at Saxon with shock, “What are you doing?”
‘I'm injured Eva,’ he spat out, acid in his tone that wasn’t directed at me, but he more to himself and I lowered my arm, dropping to my knees in front of his head and looked back up to him.
‘You’ll be okay though?’ I asked softly, eyeing his body for any life threatening injuries, and then looking back into his black eyes when I couldn’t see anything.
‘Yes,’ he growled again and then lowered his head, so the top of his face pressed up softly against my forehead, ‘Sorry for snapping,’ he mumbled and I smiled softly.
‘It’s okay.’
‘I love you.’
Grinning as my cheeks heated up a little, ‘I know- who couldn’t love me?’ I joked.
A small whine to the side of us caught my attention and I looked over at my family. Saxon groaned loudly in my mind, ‘They ruin everything,’ he mumbled, sounding like a pouting child and I rolled my eyes.
Brody was standing off to the side from everyone, near the tree lines that would take us back home. He looked more than ready to leave as Grant walked over to him. They also seemed to be arguing silently. Looking away from them and to Chris, who had interrupted Saxon and I, I frowned slightly.
“What’s going on?”
He rolled his eyes back at me, paying me out because he couldn’t reply and I pulled a face back at him, “I know that dumbass, but we can play charades.”
He snorted and shook his head, then pawed at the ground and looked over at Brody before looking back at me again. Tilting my head slightly, “You all want to go home?”
He nodded and then stepped forward, ignoring Saxon as he bit onto my top and yanked it lightly then looked back over at my brothers, “You want us to come with you?” Chris nodded again and I grinned, “See, I'm awesome at this game.”
Chris snorted again at the same time Saxon did and I chuckled softly, giving them both a teasing look. ‘Are you ready to go home or what?’ I asked Saxon.
‘Yeah, I need to rest and I’m just tired of this,’ I frowned in confusion and he rolled his eyes before clearing it up for me. ‘I'm tired of running around the country, I have a pack to run, I have school to finish, I have a life that I can’t keep putting on hold for this. You have school; I’ve seen your grades Eva and you’re not going to pass if we keep taking time off.’
“It’s school holidays though...,” I trailed off, I thought the holidays were about taking time off.
Saxon groaned in my mind again, ‘I know, but I had plans and this wasn’t included in it. Let’s just go home.’
“Fine, if that’s what you really want,” I muttered, standing up to my feet and brushing the dirt off of my knees before I looked at Chris and grinned, “We’re coming.”
He nodded and started walking over to the others, Vance trailing behind him while I stood next to Saxon for a moment and watched them all. As I took my first step in the direction of the others, Saxon’s big boof head blocked my way.
‘What are you going to do about her?’ He asked as the others disappeared through the trees. I looked in the direction he was nodding and was surprised to see Alana standing there, looking after Brody with a longing gaze in her eyes.
Shrugging as I slowly walked towards her, but made sure not to get too close, I offered her a friendly smile and a wave.
Saxon started chuckling loudly in my mind, ‘Wow, that smile is what nightmares are made of.’
“Shut up,” I hissed back at him, sending him a nasty glare before looking back to Alana who was now watching me cautiously.
Offering another friendly smile, “Um, hi, remember me?” I asked and ignored Saxon’s deep laughter in my head, “Uh...thanks for saving Brody’s butt before, I appreciate it and I’m sure he does too.”
She just stared at me with no expression, just that blank look in her eyes as if she didn’t trust me.
Rolling my eyes at her stubbornness, this is just what we needed, another stubborn person added to the family. I think we already have more than enough of those.
“Well,” I huffed, “Brody clearly needs time, you did attack his sister and you are a part of the enemy pack-.”
‘Eva!’ Saxon scolded loudly and I shot him a look that screamed shut up.
“Whatever,” I mumbled, meaning it for Saxon and then eyed Alana up and down once more, “If you’re finished being the enemy, you can come back to our home town and try to get to know Brody...he needs someone to pull him back into line,” I mumbled on the end. Saxon nudged me in the back, his silent signal to hurry up.
“I’ve got to go now, might see you around then,” I waved her bye and followed Saxon into the tree line and I swear as we walked about ten steps in, I heard a faint ‘thanks’ in a females voice, but I didn’t look back.
~~
A/N – READ ME
Okay, so I’m taking a short break from writing (2-3 weeks) and I know a lot of you aren’t going to be happy about this, but please do not post ‘upload’ requests on my wall or msg them to me in my PM. Not to be rude, but I will just ignore them.
I’m going through a rough time at the moment and I need to get my head back in the right place and just take a step back from writing for a little bit. The plan is that when I start back up again, I will be my old self and will start writing much better chapters than what I have been for these past few weeks.
Not to sound rude, but if you don’t like this – I don’t want to hear about it. I’m under enough stress and pressure, and I don’t need the extras added on top
Thank you to everyone who supports this. XO I really do appreciate it.