Silver-White (The Great North Woods Pack #1) (10 page)

Evie smirked. Eli wasn’t typically the
frightful type.

“We all meet him at some point,” he went
on. “He sort of seals the wolf deal, so to speak. We never know where or when
he’ll show. It just happens. On his terms.”

Eli set down the brush now and let
Chappy exit the barn to the pasture. “I need to bring Old Tom in for a
brushing. Walk with me?”

Evie followed him out the pasture door.

“Were you scared when you saw him?” Eli
asked, outside now.

“Honestly, no,” Evie said. “As I
remember it, I think I was amazed by him more than anything. But it was a
dream. It had that …unreal feeling, so I don’t know for sure.”

“Get over here, Tom,” Eli shouted.
“Evie’s got a carrot for you, buddy.”

Evie shook the carrot bag. Old Tom made
his way over, his head bobbing, neighing low and happily. His wide nostrils
worked hard when he neared the carrots.

“Why did you ask about the dream wolf?”
Evie asked, feeding Tom the carrot.

“I don’t know,” Eli said, taking the
horse by the halter. “Curious, I guess. Wondering what it’s like.”

“Didn’t you say we all meet him?”

“We do, we do. It’s just … my little
cousin’s a prodigy, it seems. I’m wondering what
that’s
like. Who knows, maybe I’m a little jealous.”

“Oh no,” Evie sighed.

“Not
that
jealous,” he laughed. “Mostly I’m impressed as all hell with you, Red.”

“Not you,” Evie said. “You just reminded
me … I’m supposed to meet Erica down at The Kitchen.”

Eli checked his watch. “She should be
there another hour or so. But I’ll level with you, Evie; you’ve got your work
cut out for you there. That girl’s
mad
jealous
of you now. Uncle Earl even told me he’s worried about her.”

“Don’t remind me,” she muttered. “I
should get going, try to keep the peace.” She hugged her cousin quickly.
“Thanks for talking. And for being cool.”

“You got it,” he said. “I’ll be out
tonight, if you’re up for another run.”

“I’ll be there,” Evie smiled, and leaving
the carrots with Eli, she gave Old Tom a quick pat on his big shoulder and
started jogging for the house.

With Papa Joe still busy in his study,
Evie felt brazen enough to hop into his shiny new truck and drive it to town. The
keys were tucked up under the sun visor, as always. And he’d let her drive
trucks in years past, even before she’d had her license. If she’d asked, he
would have said yes anyway. It was pointless to bother him while working. By
her reasoning, she was saving them both a little time.

Evie parked the big four-door before
Grandma’s Kitchen, next to her grandmother’s car, and went inside. Erica was
behind the counter. Her mother and grandmother were in a booth, surrounded by a
group of the aunts, uncles and kiddie cousins taking up several of the
adjoining booths and tables. Only a handful of customers were not relatives. After
waving to the others, Evie walked to the counter and took a seat across from
Erica.

“He let you take the truck, huh?”

“Sort of,” Evie smiled.

“Brave.”

“How much longer are you here?”

“Celia will be in by one thirtyish; I’d
say I can fly around two. I was thinking of going down to Cold Springs for some
lunch, if you wanna go.”

“I’m starving,” Evie said. “It’s a
plan.”

Erica stepped away to refill an older
man’s coffee down the counter. Evie watched her, noticing the way the light
from the wide windows lightened her brown eyes and shined on her black hair.
Other than her light skin and the large whites of her eyes, all else about
Erica seemed … darkish. Her pleasantries were forced. Even her voice seemed smokier.

Evie got up and walked to a free chair
at one of the kiddie tables. The younger cousins were of course excited to talk
with her. Probably, she figured, the same she had always been fascinated with
her older cousins at their age. For that reason she made sure to pay each child
as much attention as she could. She wanted them to have that same feeling she
had always had growing up—that feelings of connectedness and importance. Of
course, with everyone talking at once, it wasn’t easy to carry on a
conversation with any
one
relative.

At two Evie and Erica stepped outside
together. The air was cool but the afternoon sun was warm—the perfect sort of
day. Evie’s mother was taking the truck home, Erica was out of work, and they were
both full of that energizing promise of an afternoon of freedom.

Around in back of The Kitchen they slid
into Erica’s little red MX-5. Erica dropped the top after starting the engine.
Turning out from The Kitchen she burned a little patch. Both girls laughed.
Erica turned up the stereo, and they were off—down the windy southbound road to
Cold Springs.

For the first few minutes they spoke of
nothing serious. Erica was riding a high after finishing work, and Evie hoped that
the darkness in her demeanor had passed. It hadn’t, of course—within a mile or
two south of Ludlow Erica looked just as flustered as she’d been at work. She took
a pack of Marlboro’s from her purse, fumbling with the pack as she shifted the
car on the windy road.

“No,” Evie thought aloud before she
could stop herself.

“Don’t give me that pious crap,” Erica
answered with a sidelong scowl.

“I can’t believe my eyes. You people are
one surprise after another.”

“Relax. I only smoke a few here and
there.”

“When did this start?”

“Try after I started spending all my
weekends at The Kitchen.”

“Is smoking a prerequisite?”

“Funny. You try waiting on all of them,
all smiley and bubbly for pocket change tips. ‘Would you like your coffee
topped off?’
Ugh
. Besides, once I
change it won’t matter. I’ll have super lungs like the rest of the family.”

“
What?
”

“Do you have eyes, Red? Look at our
family and think about it. Do any of them look their age? Has anyone over the
age of twenty even had a cold that you can remember?”

Evie gave no reply at first. She
couldn’t focus on Erica’s voice because she was watching her steer the car with
her knees, cupping the lighter close to the cigarette’s end, and losing the
battle with the wind. “Want me to steer?” she finally offered.

“I know how to drive,” Erica snapped,
her brown eyes blackening at her cousin.

“I was trying to help.”

“I didn’t ask for it. Keep your hands
off my wheel.”

Evie faced forward again with a flash of
hurt anger warming her cheeks. As the road came back into focus, her anger vanished
as quickly as it had come, expelled from her mind by the last sight anyone in a
small, fast-moving convertible hopes to see from the helplessness of the
passenger seat—a tall dark figure looming in the road ahead. She opened her
mouth to scream, just as Erica lifted her eyes to the road.

-7-

Miatas and moose never mix well.

In the few seconds that followed her
sighting of the moose, Erica made some of the most important decisions in her
life, without the benefit of a second thought. Dropping both cigarette and
lighter the instant she sighted the threat, her fingers had barely closed
around the wheel when she cranked it hard left, stomping the brake pedal to the
floor so hard that if felt her right foot would go through the Miata’s floor.
The car veered into the opposing lane, missing the hind legs of the lumbering
moose by inches, and came to a skidding stop on the opposite shoulder of the
road. In the next instant, lifting her right hand from the parking brake lever,
Erica reached out in time to catch a handful of her cousin’s shirt, just before
she could break away.

For Evie the same few seconds had been
vastly different. She did not hear the sound of screeching tires or her
cousin’s scream. For her, the world around her seemed to go away upon first
sight of the favored prey of her ancestors. In her head there came a strong,
earthy scent, and through flashing predator eyes, her vision became a fixed
tunnel narrowed on the fleeing moose. She was hungry; the moose was no longer
an obstacle, he was a meal on tall legs.

When the car skidded to a stop, muscle
memory kicked in. Evie was free of her seatbelt and dragging Erica from the
driver’s seat into the road. Across both lanes they battled frantically, Evie
never once turning back, Erica never letting go. When they reached the opposing
shoulder, Erica got a firm handle on a large swath of Evie’s hair. Knowing that
she could not hold her back much longer, she took her chance, released Evie’s
shirt, clasped more hair, planted her feet, and with both arms pulled back with
all her strength.

There was a terrible shriek. Evie went
down in a spinning motion onto her back, and took Erica with her. Erica flew
over her, still holding her hair. Together they tumbled and rolled down the
embankment, landing in the leafy bottom of a dry ditch. Erica won the luck of the
fall, landing on top. When her wits returned after the fall, she pinned her
cousin to the ground.

“Evie,” she gasped, staring into wild
green eyes. “Listen to me! You can’t chase it! You can’t change here!”

From Evie there was no response. During
the fight she’d lost all awareness of herself and the world around her. The sudden
full-minded, full-bodied desire for prey had instantly overridden anger with
her cousin, her fear of a collision, and lastly her rationale. Acting on pure
instinct, she’d known only that there was food near, that something hindered
her from giving chase, and had fought not personally but as an animal trying to
escape that hindrance.

As the moose crashed away through the
trees, Evie felt herself slowly returning to a state of conscious control. Its strong
scent faded along with its crashes, and her urge to chase and kill gradually shrank
away into absurdity. Her heartbeat calmed, her vision cleared, and her cousin’s
face appeared close to her own. Erica’s voice was distressed, her brown eyes
shining. Lastly, severe discomfort became overly apparent.

“Evie!”

“What?” Evie groaned.

“Are you,
you
again?”

“Ugh, yes. You’re hurting me.”

“If you try to run again I’ll—”

“I won’t,” Evie said. “Let me up.”

“Not a chance,” Erica panted. “Not until
I’m sure. What—what movie did we used to watch obsessively … as kids?”

“Snowy River,” Evie answered with a
groan. “Jess and the horses. Now let me up.”

Erica relaxed, only then realizing that
one of her hands still gripped her cousin’s hair. She released it, shaking off
the loose hairs, then rolled off to one side and sat up against the bank. Evie
rose slower, running her hand up over her hot-aching head. Both were breathing
hard from the battle.

“Sorry about the hair,” Erica said. “I
had to stop you. It was the easiest thing to grab.”

“Did you yank half of it out?”

“Not
half
.
Most of it is still there.”

Evie’s scowl relaxed slightly. “Very
funny. Was that a moose?”

“Yeah. Close call.”

“I saw it there. I tried to warn you. I
tried to scream. But everything just …”

“Went wolf,” Erica finished. “I know. It
happens. It wasn’t your fault, it was mine. I didn’t see it in time.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Fine if you don’t count the headache,”
Evie grimaced. “Something tells me we’d better keep this to ourselves.”

“Definitely. I won’t tell if you won’t,”
Erica said, her head turning, her eyes scanning in every direction. “Let’s get
out of here before another one shows up. This stretch of road is moose ally.”

The two girls stood together, brushing
leaves and dirt from their clothing. Then they climbed the bank to the road. As
they crossed to the car, a pickup truck came into view, rounding the bend in
the distance.

“Crap,” Erica grumbled. “Walk casual. Play
tourist if they stop.”

The truck slowed as it neared, its side
window lowering. The girls were just getting into the car, as casually as
possible. They only looked over when they heard a voice.

“You ladies all set?”

At first glance Evie recognized his
profile. He was the older man who’d sat a few seats down from her at The
Kitchen’s counter.

“Yes, thanks, Ed,” Erica called. “We
jumped a moose and got out to try and get a picture.” She flashed her phone. “It
was a big bull. You should have seen him. Huge rack!”

“About scared me half to death,” Evie
chimed, laying her accent on thick. “I was fixin’ to die when I saw that big
thing standing out there.”

The old timer didn’t buy it. “That’s
quite a strip of rubber you left in the road, young Miss Ludlow.”