"Collin, heads up. Coyotes incoming. Friendly and enemy," Jacob barked into his cellphone.
The younger wolf's response was pained. "Yeah, we know. We've got two that showed up at our apartment. River and Brady have them under lock and key."
"Damn," Jacob hissed. "Okay, well, we can't leave you guys alone. Leah either...Listen, I don't care how you do it. Get them, get Leah, and yourselves to Victoria. I'll text you the address."
Annalise looked up at him from her place on the floor where she sat with Yara's head in her lap. "What's happening?" she whispered, careful not to wake the sleeping coyote.
Seth slipped to the floor next to her and draped a long arm around her shoulders. "I think he's drawing attention away from the reservation. There's no reason to bring this to innocent people."
She turned her attention to Jacob who was furiously tapping away on his cell. Hashing out the details to the group chat, Seth figured. "What are their names?" she asked him, hesitant as he stuck her with a cold stare.
Jacob sighed, rubbing his temples. "He didn't say. I know you said there were only two we needed to worry about, but your friend tells a different story. For now, we have no choice but to treat everyone as the enemy. You understand?"
To their surprise, Annalise nodded. "I follow your lead, Jacob. Long as Seth, Yara, and Zel aren't hurt, I don't have anything to say."
Seth slid his own phone out of the pocket of the sweats Sam loaned him. He pulled up his contact list and texted his sister. The response was short, "Headed north. Call soon."
At least she was okay.
He pocketed the phone and pulled Annalise into his side. After everything, perhaps he should have known better. Trouble usually came in threes. First, it was the dead shifter, Tony. Then, the random vampires...
At least now, they were one pack again. One unit, moving toward the same end. No more complicated hierarchies, tense treaties, and territorial lines. Five years of it had been enough.
Annalise peered up at him with a sad smile as if to apologize. He shook his head. "Your fight is my fight," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.
"Okay, guys. We're moving everyone to the Cullen house in Victoria. Sam, I'm leaving Paul, Jared, and Quil with you." Jacob paused as he surveyed Embry, offering his old friend a sad smile.
Anyone that wasn't Seth that had an imprint was staying behind.
Aside from Leah, Embry was the only original pack member yet to do so.
"We'll still move off the reservation until this blows over," Sam said. "We don't want to run the risk of our scents leading the coyotes here."
"You can stay with my mom and Charlie," Seth offered. "They're the only ones off the rez who know about us."
"That doesn't take care of our scent. Our lives are here. Anyone who comes looking will find it." Paul pointed out.
Jacob nodded. "Good point. I know we don't like it, but I'll have the Cullens run a few loops through here. No shifter will come within miles of the place with their stench hanging around. My hope is by being obvious about heading north, Annie's old pack won't think twice about crossing the border. By that time, hopefully the Cullens will be back. Either way, it should keep the coyotes away from here."
Having vampires on the reservation wasn't something to be handled lightly. Friends or not, there were some lines best left uncrossed. Yet here Jacob was. Crossing them. For him.
Annalise frowned. "You really think your Cullens will fight if it comes down to it? I get why you all are willing, but...I'm nothing to them."
Jacob offered a small smile. "They are the ones who offered sanctuary. There's one, Alice, who can see the future. She couldn't see shifters at first, but I've been around long enough that our pack is kind of an exception. She saw us with them but couldn't see clearly beyond it...probably thanks to your...friends."
Annalise's eyebrows shot up. "A seer?"
Jacob nodded with a proud smile. "A telepath and empath too, among others."
She let out a low whistle. "Sweetin'," she breathed, glancing at Seth. "You wasn't kidding about having strong allies."
Jacob snorted in amusement before carrying on the marching orders. "Annie, now would be a good time to give us any extra info that might give us an upper hand."
Annalise shook her head. "If they're fleeing, if things are as chaotic as it sounds...I don't know how much good my info will be."
"There has to be something."
She looked down at her sleeping friend, pensive. "Well…Yara said Damian had killed three of them and was going after Val's son when she—and, apparently, others—fled."
"And? It doesn't sound like this Damian guy is exactly a saint."
She nodded. "True. As vicious as he is, though, he's never been so open about killing our own. He usually injures the ones who try to leave in some way…or we just never hear anything from them again. But, what's worse...Val was his first mate, it's why she's stuck by him so long."
"Then...he tried to kill his own son?"
The collective shock and disgust radiated through the room. Seth couldn't imagine going after his own flesh and blood. Let alone his own son.
Annalise stared into space, lost in thought. "My guess: he's losing power too fast. Something must have finally tipped the scales and he's getting desperate. I just wish I knew what. Damian's ruled that pack with an iron fist for over a decade."
Seth pulled her from her thoughts. "You said that Val lady wasn't as bad. Could she flip? May that would give us an edge if we can get her on our side."
Her expression steeled. "The one thing you don't do is mess with someone's pup." She shook her head. "That's how I know something's up. The only thing Val loves more than Damian is their son. Silas is everything to her and Damian knows that. There's only one way to know exactly what's going on there and that's to see it. Maybe…if Yara – If Yara joined your pack, perhaps…?"
"No." Jacob's response was quick, leaving little room for negotiation. "No offense, but I trust her as much as I trust any other coyote that 'stumbles' into our territory. How did she know where you were? Coquitlam is too far for coincidence. Even if she were going out on a limb and wandering aimlessly, Collin and the others should have smelled her before she got this close."
Annalise sighed. "I know, I know, but aside from her joining the pack, I just don't know how else to get the truth."
No matter which way they looked, they were stuck. Unless…Seth recalled the first day Annalise met his pack.
"When our packs were split," Seth started, "As alphas, Sam and Jake could hear each other's thoughts, even if we couldn't hear Sam…"
The others waited to hear the rest of his half-cocked theory. Frankly, Seth wasn't even sure where he was headed with this, but the words were coming out, the long-shot piecing itself together with each second.
"Well, I noticed that she reacted the same to you as we do when Jake gives an alpha order. I know you're not in the same pack anymore, but…well, is it possible you have an alpha somewhere in your family?"
Annalise frowned. "You know I'm the only shifter of my blood family...but our pack wasn't led by birthright. Damian took control through power, and we were compelled to follow him since he gave us the best chance at living the life we thought we wanted."
"You were his mate though," Jacob pointed out. "The strongest female of your pack. An alpha in your own right."
She shrugged, her frown deepening. "I guess, technically, but that's not how we did things…"
"Who cares about that part," Paul muttered. "This Yara chick clearly is loyal to you, which means she was never loyal to that Damian guy. If there's a shot that she's under your command, you should take it."
Annalise sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "That's an awful tall assumption, y'all. Even if her loyalty was to me, I'm not...that anymore. I lead no one." She glanced at Seth for a moment before looking down at Yara. "But I owe it y'all to at least try."
"Good. Seth, you guys get loaded up. We'll leave for Victoria in 15." Jacob checked his phone. "Cullens are already headed this way to mark this area with their scents. Drive with the windows down once you leave Forks. Sam, you, Paul, and Jared get packed and get to Sue and Charlie's as fast you can."
Annalise shook the young woman awake, bringing them both to their feet. "Let's wait in the truck, Yara. We need to talk."
Seth followed, but not before nodding in thanks to his old friend. Jacob gave him a curt nod before turning his attention to the others.
As Seth climbed into his truck, his phone chimed, signaling the text for the Cullens' address. "All right," he said, cranking the truck to life and throwing it in reverse. "Let's go."
Zora Lee let the tent flap close behind her, blocking out the rabid snarls just outside her sleeping quarters. As the oldest member of this pack, she was often overlooked by everyone save for the young and the wounded.
And, frankly, she quite preferred that. Flying under the radar afforded her a different kind of luxury that no other shifter here had: freedom. As much as she could have at any rate.
She shifted back to her human form, stretching her body out as she re-acclimated to being on two legs. It was difficult to hold this form for long. She'd always told the others it was old age setting in, but the truth...The truth was far more complicated than that.
Zora reached for the red silk robe hanging off the coat rack and wrapped it around her body. She sat atop one of the old milk crates around the small table in the center of her tent, held her hands over the candles still lit from the night before.
"Zel!"
The husky, feminine voice shouting her name only belonged to one person: Valerie Hoight, the first of Damian's victims and the most blind.
The tent flaps pulled back and in rushed the blonde, she-coyote, carting a bleeding young man in her arms. "Val." Zora greeted, not bothering to look up from the flames dancing beneath her palms.
"Please, Zel, you have to help him. He's dying." Valerie's stern face was streaked with blood, tears, and sweat. "He's going to kill me, but my boy don't have to die."
Zora regarded the woman, hating the way her own heart twinged in sympathy. "I ain't stoppin' justice, chile, you know better than that," she said finally.
Valerie fell to her knees, her boy's head bobbing with the sudden movement. If Zora was younger, stupider, maybe she would've thought him dead. But he was there, fighting, hanging on by a small thread. Waiting. Just waiting.
Like Annalise. Like the others. Like she had, once.
"Silas shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes, Zel, you know that. I know I ain't right, never have been, but I have always done what I thought was best for this pack." Valerie's voice cracked. "Please, I ain't got much time."
Zora sighed and nodded her head to the makeshift pallet on the ground. Valerie laid Silas down over the thick blankets, crossed his hands over his torso, and nodded.
"Can't make no promises," Zora called after the coldhearted heifer.
Just leave her son and go, Zora grumbled, grabbing one of the candles and making her way to the injured boy. What kind of mother…
From the small trunk at the head of the pallet, Zora pulled out the jars of herbs and fixings—secret things she liked to keep that way—and knelt by Silas's side.
His eyes flickered open as she slid one sharp nail down the young man's chest. He howled.
"Hush that fuss," she chided. She paused. Valerie was right. It wasn't the boy's fault his daddy wasn't worth his salt. "Just breathe, son. In through the nose, out through the mouth real slow. Like when ya mama's the one on cook-duty and you get sick off that nasty, meat shit she call stew."
Silas coughed out a weak laugh as she spread a healing salve into the mark.
"Straight to the heart, straight through the blood," Zora whispered. She met Silas's hazy, confused look and smiled. "This will speed up the healin' real quick. Just you wait."
He pulled in a ragged breath, gasping as the injured organs stitched themselves back together. In her years, she'd learned a thing or two...or more. She watched with a clinical detachment as the gaping wounds in his neck, torso, and legs closed and the color came back to his tawny skin.
"Always heard you was good at healing," His voice, deeper than any young man's she'd ever heard, cracked. He cleared his throat, wiping at the still-wet blood on his body. "But this is…"
Zora smiled as Silas sat up right. Though still covered in blood, no one would know he'd been seconds from death's doorstep.
"It's not natural," he settled, "Even for us."
Zora winked, bringing an index finger to her lips. "Shh," she said. "Some things betta kept quiet, don't you think?"
She watched him work through the implications of her words, turn over the scenarios in his head before he gave a curt nod. "I don't know how to thank you, Miss Zel."
Zora paused and held the candle sideways, letting the wax drip at Silas's bare feet. He recoiled, curling into the pallet, his eyes afraid. "Relax, boy," she laughed quietly, watching the shapes of wax as it dried against the earth. "You really want to help?"
Silas hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Tell me somethin'," she whispered, "Your daddy. You love him?"
He scowled, his jaw working into a hard line.
Zora smiled sadly. He could try to fight it all he wanted. Love never did do a soul good. At least not in her experience. "You still don't want him to get hurt. Even after he nearly killed you?"
Silas frowned.
It was as she figured. Still, Damian needn't die for her to do what she'd come here to do all those years ago. "And what he did to Annie? And the others? Your mama?"
"What you need me to do?" Silas asked, clearly over the third-degree treatment. The truth was hidden there, underneath the hard, practiced stoicism.
Zora laughed. The boy reminded her of someone she knew, the early days of her life, before she changed into this...creature, trapped between human and animal, yet belonging to neither.
"I need you to run a little errand for me. Tell me, boy, you ever been to Polkville, Mississippi?"
A/N: Things are heating up! How y'all holding up? Stay safe out there. Happy new year! Don't forget to leave a review of if you're enjoying the story so far! Shoutout to Pens71 for the follow!