Animal Secrets: A Paranormal Romance (The Animal Sagas) (2 page)

The idea of getting to lead a run, which was a semi-big deal in the pack hierarchy, and then return to Clay’s arms afterward sounded wonderful to her. Lynda and Ben had given her all the basic details earlier and she understood exactly what they wanted her to do. Once she got to the run she was keenly aware of all the other females in the pack and wanted to do her best to fit in without coming off as too bossy.

Once there she began to study the map closely with one of the other senior females, a wolf named Leyna, who was assigned to travel with her just in case she lost her way in the new territory.  The elder wolf knew her way around these parts like the back of her paw and Ben knew that she would be a great help to the newest pack member. Leyna was intelligent, strong, outspoken and most of all fair, which Ben felt would be a great way of gently guiding Sonya into pack ways.

As all the women gathered they began to shed their garments once they had received the details of the nights run. They began the run in human form through the woods, with their mates and other male members of the pack, as well as Lynda, howling and cheering them along. It was hard for many of the men to resist joining in on the run, as the call of the woods was so very strong. A few steps in was all any of the women could take before they all began to shift into their wolf counterpart. It was an incredible sight.

Sonya waited a few moments giving the most senior members time to get started before she joined in with the other pack members further down the pecking order. She wanted to be sure she did not step on any toes or do anything against pack tradition. As Sonya ran she transformed into her mountain lion form, kicking up rocks and dirt behind her as soon as the transformation was complete. She could not run as fast for as long as some of the other wolves, but the women were careful not to leave the chosen leader of the run behind. Eventually they reached a point in the run where they had to make a sharp turn, and Sonya, exhausted from sprinting for so long, slid off to the side to rest for a second.

Leyna ran over to Sonya’s side and stopped as the other wolves unintentionally ran past their activity leader.

“Are you all right? Did you get hurt?” she asked Sonya.

Sonya started to answer then immediately winced in pain. She instinctively drew her injured paw to her and licked it. She had twisted her paw in a pile of rocks when she slid in to stop here. She hated to disappoint Lynda but she knew if she made the wolves wait for her now, she would be holding them back even more.

“Yes, I sprained my paw. But please, can you lead the rest of the run? Don’t let me hold you or the others up.” she asked the senior wolf.

The wolf nodded, completely understanding the cougars injury. It was in no way life threatening but it was one that could cause the trip back to be a long and slow one and maybe even possibly re-injure the limb. Her silver fur glimmering in the moonlight, Leyna told her, “I will send Clay back to help you.”

Sonya, still in her Cougar form, nodded in response. As she watched the wolves run off she felt a pang of sorrow. Even though the wolves had welcomed the two sisters into their family, they were still very different from the wolves. She again licked her paw and did her best to inspect it for any cuts or scrapes as she lay there. Sonya wondered to herself, as she waited for help, if their ancestors had once held any traditions kind of like the ones she was now participating in?

Overall, the path of the Yukonia was a more solitary one, but it might have been interesting to know how they interacted with one another when they were together. Unfortunately, she and Lynda were the last of their line. At least, that was the best they could figure since they had gotten no replies to their funeral notices about a year ago when their parents had died. So strange. When they were just teenagers many of their clan began to die out and no young had been born in many years. In fact, Sonya, to their knowledge, was the last to be born, and she was considered to be a miracle, since many other pairs had tried to produce offspring and had failed.

Sonya transformed back into her human form as she lay there, but she still could not walk, as it was her right ankle that was twisted. She reached down and rubbed it with a frown. It wasn’t broken, thank goodness, and it had no obvious cuts, just a little trail rash, but it was beginning to throb in sync with her heartbeat. And the throb was slowly growing in intensity. This was certainly not how she had imagined her night ending. She was sure that Clay would come to help her as soon as he found out, but it hurt her pride a little that he would have to rescue her again. And she was more than a little bit  embarrassed that she had not been able to finish the run with the other girls in the first place.

Chapter 4

“She-cat,” the trees breathed the words ominously somewhere above her. Sonya looked up, startled at the sound. As far as she knew she was completely by herself out here since all the other ladies had long since left her on their way back to the finish.

At the same time, back at the packs camp, Lynda was banished to her bedroom while the men engaged in their own traditional event. She was not sure what it was, but she was sure that she was not permitted to be part of it. Ben had made that more than clear to her.

“Men only,” he reminded her again as he walked out the door just a little but ago. “So stay here and I’ll be back in a few hours.”

She was tempted to sneak off and take a peek at all the festivities anyway (suddenly she felt much more like Sonya) but the pain in her sides from her ever expanding stomach kept her from being too mischievous. Bummer – she was really curious. As she lay in her bed drowsily dreaming of Ben’s return and what might happen when he got back, she suddenly felt a shock of pain bolt through her. She and her sister were very strongly connected and she knew that this twinge meant something was wrong with Sonya instantly.

She jumped up out of bed as best that she could, no where near as agile as she normally was, ignoring the aches of her growing body. She ran out of the house, looked for the men, didn’t see them, looked for any help of any kind and realized that all the women were gone too. Basically everyone was gone except for her. And with that realization she ran straight into the woods.

As she ran she tossed off her clothes as fast as she could and immediately transformed. It was actually far easier to run in cougar form than it was to run in human form with her extended belly. And it felt so nice to be a cat again – she had forgotten how much she loved her cat counter part. By the time she got maybe a mile into the woods she was confronted by the approach of a pack of racing wolves.

“Sonya, do you know where is she?” Lynda cried out when Leyna bolted past her as the leader of the pack of females.

“She hurt her ankle,” Leyna called back, not wanting to stop. “Keep going past the meadow and you will find her.”

Lynda frowned – she knew that a simple twisted ankle would not cause the kind of twinge she had just felt. So she continued on through the woods, looking for Sonya. The evening was beginning to grow darker and though she had explored these woods a few times with Ben she had never done it at night, or by herself, or in her cougar form. So this was a whole different experience – and she was quickly approaching the furtherest part of the forest that she had ever been in.

Back at the camp, as the female wolves reunited with their mates, and those who were still single selected mates, Ben and Clay stood patiently amidst the pack.

“Where is Sonya?” Clay growled as he looked out over the gathering of females.

“She’ll be here, don’t worry” Ben assured him.

But Clay was getting antsy. Waiting was not his strong suit – never had been. Their relationship was still very new, and he and Sonya still got into spats now and then. So he hoped that she had not decided to just keep on running – but it would not surprise him at all if she did. She loved to push his buttons every chance that she got but thankfully not quite as much as she used to.

“Look at us, the only two without mates,” Clay fretted as he watched the other males tackle and frolic about the grounds with their mates.

“Well, at least I know where mine is,” Ben laughed and turned, headed back toward his house. A moment later her emerged back out to go right back to where Clay was still standing, with a new scowl on his face. “Okay, maybe I spoke too soon.”

“Lynda’s gone? Are you sure?” Clay asked with a frown. Just then Leyna ran up to the pair and lowered her head in respect to the Alpha.

“Leyna, where is Sonya?” Clay asked urgently.

“She twisted her ankle when we were running back in the woods. She asked me to lead the pack so that the tradition would not be interrupted.”

“Is she hurt very badly?” Clay asked, prepared to run off into the woods as soon as he got an answer.

“It didn’t look too bad, but Lynda is probably already with her, I’m sure,” Leyna said.

“Lynda?” Ben’s eyes narrowed sharply. He would have never thought that she would run off into the woods. He thought maybe she went for a walk, but not that she had gone off on her own. Especially in her current pregnant form.

“This is not good, I need to go to her,” Ben said quickly to no one in particular.

“Ben you can’t,” Clay warned him. “The pack will be expecting you to lead the ceremony. It’s just about time to start it anyway. Everyone is already gathering over there – they’re just waiting on you. You can’t leave.”

Ben sighed and nodded his head, he knew Clay was right. “But what if she gets hurt out there?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring them both back home,” Clay assured him before tearing off into the woods.

Chapter 5

In the woods Sonya was staring up into the trees looking for the source of the sound she heard just seconds ago. When she heard the crunch of leaves behind her, that was totally unexpected. What could possibly sneak up on a cougaress, even if she were in her human form, right now. She looked from one direction to the other and then whipped her head around to find a woman in a dark cloak standing behind her. With the hood pulled up like that it was impossible to discern her features.

“She-cat,” she said again in that croaky voice, and her voice seemed to emanate from the trees, the grass, and the sky. It seemed to seep from every object in the forest.

“Who are you?” Sonya asked the intruder shyly. She was still nude from the run, and with her ankle hurt she knew that she could not run far.

“No matter who I am. But I am here to ensure that my curse is upheld,” the woman replied to Sonya.

“Curse? Exactly what are you talking about? I think you’ve got the wrong person, old lady!” Sonya exclaimed to the cloaked figure just as Lynda ran up to help her.

“Sonya, are you okay? And who are you talking to?” she asked Sonya breathlessly, trying to catch her breath. Just then she turned and saw the figure standing about twenty feet away and she froze right on the spot.

“The curse,” the witch continued. “My curse. The one that has been placed on your kind, ever since one of mine was murdered by one of yours.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Sonya protested, and Lynda lowered her head defensively.

“Twenty years ago one of your kind took the life of my child, so in turn I took the lives of all of your children. Plus I made it impossible for any more children to be born from your kind. And when you two are gone the death of my child will be avenged. But I never thought that you would dare to venture into the bloodline of another were,” she hissed. “But you, Yukonia, you will do anything, won’t you?”

Lynda bristled at the figures claims. At the same time Sonya managed to get to her feet, though she winced as she set her injured foot to the ground.

“Be careful who you threaten, old woman” Sonya warned, leaning against Lynda, still in her cougar form. Lynda growled a low deep moan at the old woman.

“Oh, I’m not threatening little girl,” the witch promised from beneath her shadowed hood. “I will make good on my curse. You two are the last of your kind so I am almost done already. I have been patiently waiting for your kind to disappear for years now – I will not be defeated when I am so very close to the end.”

And with that statement the dark hooded figure pulled her gnarled hands from her pockets, holding a stick of some kind. “I just needed to expand my curse now to finish you both off. So now, those babies you now carry inside you, cougar bitch, they will not survive! Furthermore, there will be no more children from any kind of were line,” she snapped out her words, and waved the stick in her hand with such fury that Lynda was sure she was telling the truth. She backed away protectively from the cloaked figure as the babies inside her suddenly felt different.

“You can run she-cat,” the old woman cackled as Lynda slowly retreated. “But the damage is already done. I will make sure that those twins you carry are never born, and that neither of you ever have a fertile cycle again.”

“Back off!” Sonya growled at the woman protecting her sister and her offspring.

“Or what? What do you think you can do?” the witch asked and her hood slipped back enough to reveal her glowing green eyes. “You have no power to stop me, your ancestors had no power to stop me, what is done, is done. And soon you will both be done too!”

The cloaked figure bent down and picked up a leaf from the ground. It was a leaf from the pile of leaves where Sonya had been laying just seconds ago before the old lady had appeared. Overall this pile of leaves was nothing special – except for this one leaf. On it was a single drop of blood from a small cut on Sonya’s injured ankle.

“This is all I need,” she smiled and cackled once more in that croaky old woman voice as she waved the leaf about in front of her.

“Be gone from here, hag!” Clay’s loud voice boomed from behind them as he came tearing up the path at that very second.

The witch shrieked at Clays yell, waved the stick and then shimmered in response to his intrusion. Clay, still in his wolf form, lifted his head toward the moon and howled long and hard, alerting the other wolves in the pack that there was danger, and their support was needed. When the other wolves heard this, they began to howl in return. All of the wolves, Ben included, began charging through the woods back toward Clay’s howling.