Silver-White (The Great North Woods Pack #1) (13 page)

Evie was quiet for a while, trying to
recall as many details of her encounter as she could. Some were very clear,
while others remained foggy. “This cabin looked better in the dream,” she said
with certainty. “It was in almost perfect condition.”

“You probably saw it as it once was, back
when I was a young man,” her grandfather said. “You both know I built these
cabins, but did you know I also met Ruach here?”

The girls looked at each other and then
together answered no.

“I did. Myself and a handful of men—all
of them older wolves—were here surveying the land. We built the first few
cabins and were preparing to return home, when, on the last night here, he
called me to my meeting.”

“How old were you, Papa?” Evie asked.

“I was seventeen then. Here working for
my father. Securing more property and preparing it for service. It was a great
time in my life,” he said thoughtfully. “I’d always been big for my age, but
that year, that trip, was the first time I was allowed to work with the men
without my father’s supervision. I had won his trust, and it was a very big
deal for me.” He smiled. “And after I met the wolf, well, life got better yet.”

“No more being a kid, right?” Erica
said,

“That’s right,” he smiled.

“You said you were seventeen?” Evie
asked to clarify.

“That I was. Barely had a whisker on my
chin.”

“What about now?” Evie pressed.

“Now,” he said with a funny, stifled
grin, “Whiskers or age?”

“Age, Papa.”

“I’m seventy one.”

Evie studied his expression. Erica
cleared her throat.

Joseph Snow let his smile spread. “All
right, all right. Seventy one times two.”

“We age
very
gracefully,” Erica said. “See why I’m excited?”

“That’s crazy,” Evie said, and went
straight into asking how long a wolf could live. She stopped halfway through
her question, when she realized she’d lost her grandfather’s attention. He was
standing rigidly, frozen in his tracks, and for a moment wore an expression of
intense focus. When he did move again, it was only enough to sniff the air.

“Erica,” he said. “Did your father and
brother go out on their patrol as they were supposed to?”

“I think so,” she said. “Why?”

“The wind is from the west,” he said,
and his soft, thoughtful tone of the minute before was long gone. Now he
sounded nearer to a general. “Earl and Matthew should be patrolling the western
line this afternoon. They should have detected a strange scent by now, yet I’ve
heard no warning call.”

“What’s wrong?” Evie asked with a look
of confusion. She’d just begun forgetting her own problems and was enjoying the
relaxed conversation.

“When the air stirred,” her Papa Joe
told her. “I could have sworn I smelled a cat. I’ll need to shift to be certain.”

“A
cat
?”
Evie said with an open mouth. She didn’t know whether to laugh or panic. “Are
y’all serious?”

“
Big
cats,” Erica said. Her pretty face was suddenly distorted with concern. Clearly
it was no laughing matter.

“Erica,” the Alpha said, removing his
watch and handing it to her as he spoke. “Get on the four wheeler and start to
the house. Evie and I will run along with you.”

“
We’ll
what?”
Evie said.

Her grandfather turned to her as Erica
ran for her ATV. “Are you terribly fond of those clothes or shoes?”

“Sure,” Evie stammered, her insides
suddenly jumping. “I mean, I guess. I don’t know!”

“Remove what you care to save,” he spoke
over her. “This is your chance to break the rules and make the change in
daylight. Get to it.”

Before Evie could respond, the sound of
a distant howl met their ears.

“There’s Earl,” her grandfather said. “His
warning call.” The words had scarcely left his lips when he made the change. Before
his torn clothing could reach the ground, he was the snow white wolf. With his
nose raised to the light wind, the lord of his lands scented the air filtering
in between the trees. After a brief call of reply, saying simply, “I hear,” he
lowered his head. His eyes locked with Evie’s, intensely green, and from deep
in his belly there began a low and guttural growl. Every nearby bird, every
squirrel and chipmunk began chirping their own alarms. Even a great black raven
cawed of distress from its perch high in a tree.

“Go,” his growl was saying, and Evie
obeyed just as Erica had instantly obeyed. As she peeled off her shoes Evie
heard the whirring whine and rumble of Erica’s quad firing to life behind her. She
spun and watched her cousin start up the trail. Then, looking back over her
shoulder, she saw the patriarch’s great white bulk dazzling in the late day
light. His great scruff had bristled, the crest along his shoulders stood on
end, and his now deadly serious eyes smoldered with what Evie guessed to be an
intense rage. He barked a simple command in a deep voice, “fast,” and all questions
ceased in Evie’s mind. She obeyed her order without fussing over her clothing.

Facing forward to the trailhead, she took
in a long breath, filling her suddenly-pounding chest. In what felt like slow
motion, she pushed off as she exhaled, beginning her run. With the
word-thoughts
run
and
haste
and
danger
repeating in her head, she saw her cousin speeding away
before her, felt her bare feet striking hard on the ground, and once more felt the
impact of the white wolf’s lowered head striking her back. The hit was less
forceful than the previous night’s, deemed all that was necessary—the final
push that narrowed her mind to the singular task of
being
the wolf.

Evie felt her clothes falling away; air
ruffled her fur. Two feet struck the ground—the wide and padded paws that fell
softer than human feet but with many times the traction—and then the third and
fourth struck, dug in, and launched her. In a second she shot forward in chase
of Erica’s noisy ATV.

With the shift, all fear of the unknown
seemed to leave her. The night before had been about running—the joy of wolves.
But now Evie felt the rage of the wolf. Her jaws snapped angrily and her teeth
clicked. Along her back her silvery crest stood on end, prickling from the cool
tingles surging up and down her spine. Her mind was bent on the clear task
before her; her focus, her life, was fulfillment of her role—in this moment
being the guardianship of the delicate human a few yards from her nose. The goal
for which she now strove was this human’s safe escort to the security of the oak
house. From her heart pumped raw determination, and in her throat there rose a
grumbled message; a warning of woe to any and all who might dare oppose her.
She’d never felt more serious about anything.

Then her leader overtook her, drawing up
alongside of her in long bounds. It was the first time she’d run only with the
white wolf; for a few strides the present leaped shoulder to shoulder with the future,
and Evie felt the great pride of her bloodline pulsing through her veins. He
was magnificent to see, a legend to run alongside of.

Closing easily on their subject, the two
wolves fanned out on either side of the human on the machine, who was by now
glancing back and around at every bend in the trail. Her eyes were wide like a
deer’s mesmerized by headlights.

“Sneak!” the white wolf complained
through an array of angry snarls, shaking his head with fury. “Trespasser. My
land. My
home
. Meddling, clawing,
Cat!
”

-10-

Minutes later the three burst from the shadows
of the trail onto the open lawn. Erica made straight for the driveway, her
escorts leaping at either side. She skidded to a stop in the driveway, killed
the engine, and jumped from the ATV. The two wolves circled her wide as she ran
to the house, where she met her aunt and grandmother waiting on the porch with
worried expressions. When she was at their sides, she turned back for a clear
and steady look at the two wolves.

Only once had she seen a wolf apart from
the shadows of night, and that had been her gray brother, shifting in his early
weeks of learned control. But these white and silver-white were the most
magnificent animals she’d ever beheld. Seeing them in daylight raised goose
bumps on her skin; her entire body trembled with fear and wonder. They were
everything she wished to be, and everything she was not yet.

“Stay,” barked the white wolf now to the
silver-white, turning his great bulk to the western pasture, flexing his
powerful legs as he turned. He pushed off into a long leap, but at the end of
the stride he whirled around in a flash of white, snarling terribly and kicking
up dust. “
Stay!
” he scolded the young
wolf, because she had begun to follow against orders.

Evie crouched, lowering her head and tucking
tail before the massive punisher. Though she cowered, her ears were back and
her fangs were bared; her bitter protests rumbled in her throat.

Deep down she knew better than to defy
him. Seeing him for the first time in the clear light of day, the battle scars marking
the Alpha’s wonderful physique were now evident. Old and grown over, along his
shoulders, flanks and belly there were black stripes, only visible when his fur
was ruffled by the sudden changing of direction. He had fought and won more
battles than she could guess; he had stood the test of time, suppressing all
rivals and defeating all enemies. His rank was deserved, Evie understood, not a
given. But in the fire of the moment, the urge, the temptation to run at his
side was too great for her to ignore. She’d been warned of danger and then set
loose. Her human rationale was not yet capable of harnessing the snarling beast
once it had been loosed.

“I go,” Evie had growled as her leader
had taken off, causing him to whirl about. And as he’d stood over her she’d
repeated, “No,” many times through her snarls. But then suddenly the white wolf
turned away again without another warning. In seconds he was nearing the inner
fences of the pasture, poised for a long jump, and Evie arose slowly from her
crouched position, intent on following
him
rather his order. As soon as he reached the shadows of the trees, she decided,
she would be after him.

She stood ready, tensely watching him
go; her muscles twitched with anticipation. Now the white wolf leapt the outer
fence, he was near the trees, and Evie let her legs spring. Before she could make
a full stride, however, she felt herself suddenly bowled over by a heavy strike
to her flank; a surprised yelp escaped her throat. Rolling and landing upon her
side amid a cloud of dust and a rush of fresh anger, she looked up just as she
felt herself being pinned heavily to the ground. Her attacker was a wolf, gray-saddled
and white-bellied, with familiar eyes.

“Obey,” growled her grandmother through
bared teeth.

“I go!” Evie protested, whining and
thrashing violently beneath the weight of her captor.

“Calm,” grumbled her grandmother.
“Young. Unwise.”

“Wolf!”

“Indeed.
Young
wolf.”

“Let me go! I fight!”

“Not your fight. Stay here. Safe.”

Evie protested many times over through
angry snarls and high, sad whines, until at last, realizing that she could
neither move nor sway the old wolf, she gave in to a sudden, deep despair. Dropping
her muzzle to her fluffy chest, she covered her face with white paws and cried
in the dark.

“Settle,” said the gray wolf standing
over. “Peace, child.” Only when she felt her granddaughter’s quaking body begin
to calm did she relax her stance and step slightly back.

But despair was all that had stilled
Evie. As the gray’s weight left her, the silver-white stood freely again, and peace
was far from her. The nearest victim for her wrath was the ATV Erica had left
parked close by. At it the young wolf snarled and snapped, gnashing her teeth
against its fenders, tearing off and flinging pieces of dirtied plastic by the
mouthful. When punishing the quad no longer pleased her she lunged across the
drive, slamming her heavy shoulder against the nearest garage bay door; the
door rumbled and shook it in its track. From there she spied a burning bush
near the
corner of the house; it was just beginning to turn autumn red. She sprang upon
it as if it had threatened her, tearing and snarling and hurling the thin
branches in all directions, yet crying all the while with a whistling whine in
her nose.

When the flame of her anger finally burned
low, turning toward the house again she saw the beautifully-coated gray wolf
watching her with keen eyes, pacing as she watched, ready to meet any challenge
or block any attempted escape. Her mother and cousin were clearly frightened,
standing back against the house under the overhang of the front porch.

Instantly shame entered Evie’s
conscience, weighing heavily upon her swollen heart. Once again despair took hold
of her, and she dropped her white belly to the dirt. She could not bear the
feeling of their displeased looks on her; she averted her eyes from them all.
With oversized muscles, she suddenly understood, came also hypersensitive
emotions.