Silas tossed the cell phone into the black duffel bag and rubbed his sore jaw. He'd lost count how many miles he'd run with that damned bag tucked between his teeth, but Colorado was a long time ago.
He spat and threw the bag into the bushes. If his unkempt appearance wasn't enough to scare these folks senseless, the sight of him stomping up their driveway with a mysterious bag would.
But then, if Zel had sent him, maybe this family wasn't as clueless as he anticipated.
He rubbed at the scraggly beard and absently pawed at his side. The phantom sting wasn't the only thing he had left from his father's attack. Scars formed a raised spiderweb across his ribcage and he scratched at it, cursing the twisting feeling in his chest.
Silas sniffed and recoiled at his own stench. Back home — he winced. His mother may very well be dead now, too. — he'd have just rolled into the lake, splashed around, and called it a day. The longer he spent in civilization, the more uncomfortable he felt and the more aware of just how ragged he looked.
"Can, uh, can we help you?"
His head shot up at the unexpected voice. Dad would tan my hide if he knew someone got the drop on me. Silas straightened his shoulders and cleared his scratchy throat.
"Yes, sir," he said to the slightly balding man standing in the driveway, one hand on the mailbox and the other hovering around his waistband. "I'm looking for the Montgomery residence. Could you point me in the right direction?"
The man narrowed his eyes. "And who might you be?"
"Dad, what's goin' on?" A giant of a man stomped onto the porch of the double-wide mobile home and Silas adjusted his footing. He knew it the second the guy came outside. Even if his scent had slapped Silas across the face, the lightning fast bound off the porch told him all he needed to know.
The giant had him pinned faster than he could think, forearm to Silas's throat.
"The fuck are you?" The man spat.
Silas growled and kicked him backward before wiping the spittle off his face. "I'm a friend of Annie's."
The balding man and the giant stared at him.
He sighed. "Annaliese Montgomery? The name ring a bell?"
"Anna?" A woman in her early fifties stumbled down the steps of the porch, slender hand covering her mouth. She was tall, too, and reminded him of a the towering cornstalks he passed by on the way in: just straight up, no heft, no curve, no nothing.
But he could see the resemblance if he squinted. Annie was almost always in coyote form, just how they both preferred it, but he'd seen her human a few times and she was just as tall. The woman's hair fell out of its loose knot as she raced forward and stopped in front of him, spilling around her shoulders like a wave of silver and brown. Must've got that from her mama, too.
"Ma, what are you —"
"— Hush, Caleb." She turned her small hazel eyes on Silas, and they widened. The image of his own mother's eyes bulged in fear and desperation, burned itself in his memory. "You know my baby? She's alive? Where is she?" The woman peered around either side of him like Annie might pop out any second.
"She ain't here," Silas reported. "She's alive, but she's in trouble. Big trouble. Somebody sent me for him." He jerked his chin in the direction of the giant — Caleb. "Had no idea he was one of us though."
Silas looked at the woman and at the balding man and sniffed. Neither of them smelled like anything more than human.
"Keep your nose out of our business," Caleb snapped. "And her trouble is her problem. We don't need that shit around here."
Silas scowled. "That's your blood, man."
Caleb sneered. "Yeah, well, tell her that."
"Tell her yourself," he growled. "That's assuming she ain't killed first."
"Where have you two been?"
Seth drew up short as he and Annaliese stepped through the front door and all eyes turned to them. He cut a look to Edward who turned away, lips twitching with amusement. "Uh, just — out?"
Annaliese snorted and leaned against the wall next to the door, keeping his hand locked tight in hers.
"Nice of you to come back," Jacob muttered. "If we can anticipate five to ten coyotes, we have them outnumbered easily. The problem is, we still don't know enough about your kind to make this a fair fight."
Seth gave her hand a small squeeze of reassurance — and warning. Jacob had a knack for pissing people off, he noted.
"Are all coyotes as fast as you? What about strength? Healing? Are there any…extra powers we should know about? What about how you hunt? And - "
"—whoa, whoa," Annaliese said and held her hands up to stop the barrage of questions. Harlen and Wate choked back laughter and she fought the urge to join them.
"Yeah, man. You already know how Annie operates. It can't be too different," Embry said, offering her an apologetic nod.
She shrugged. "The questions make sense. I've been operating best I can like one of you, but our pack dynamics are a little different. For one, we don't usually patrol or hunt in as big a' group as you. On hunting and foraging trips," — Seth caught the surprise on Yara, Harlen, and Wate's faces and grimaced. Foraging, unless it was another of Annie's poisonous plant trips, meant stealing. He cut his eyes to Edward who remained stoic. — "…we might leave in large groups, but we always split into pairs. Y'all like to go headfirst at every blood- I mean, vampire 'til you wear yourselves out. We prefer a more efficient approach."
"Lure, trap, ambush," Wate interjected.
Annaliese nodded. "We set a trap with fresh blood or send whoever looks weakest, have two scouts close to the trap, two more slightly further out, while the others herd our prey or enemy into the danger zone." She winked. "Then it's game over."
"It will be males only," Harlen chimed in. "Save for Val and Annie's stubborn asses, we don't allow our women to fight."
Seth watched Annaliese's face for signs of trouble. If there was anything she hated more than Damian, it was being told what she could or couldn't do.
Seth knew exactly what they let happen to the women of their pack, he thought bitterly. Edward's eyes snapped to him, and Seth fought to keep his face neutral. Not a word, man. Not a single word.
Annaliese shifted slightly closer as if sensing his thoughts.
"Most are as fast as me. Except Damian, we tend to be slightly smaller than y'all. What we lack in muscle mass, we more than make up for in agility." Annaliese eyed Edward, who stood a few feet away. "Almost as agile as your friends here, except on four legs instead of two."
"Yeah, right," River said, rolling his eyes.
Seth thought back to how she'd sneaked up on him once without ever leaving his house. Granted, he had been more focused on what she would do to him once he finally caught up with her, but the fact that she'd been nearly untraceable was impressive. "I can vouch for that," he piped up.
"But that day in the woods," Embry said. "When you two…you know…We heard them coming. They can't be too light on their feet."
Wate was on him before anyone could blink, much to the displeasure of the wolves. Wate let Embry's throat go and stepped back.
Embry rolled his neck with a scowl. "That's different. You're in human form. No shapeshifter would be dumb enough to attack us like that."
Annaliese grimaced. "Which is the biggest difference between us and you. We don't separate ourselves from our animal form, so switching between the two is as easy and fast as breathing. We just prefer four legs, and the adjustment period can be a little disorienting if we stay coyotes for too long." She searched the Cullens' faces for something Seth couldn't place before nodding at Jasper, satisfied. "Are you the one who can sense emotions?"
Jasper glanced at Jacob and nodded.
"Good, then you already know what I mean when I say sometimes this form gets constricting. Maybe the wolves feel it at times, too. S'like wearing a pair of jeans that are a little too tight. Not all that uncomfortable after a while, but if you can wear a pair of sweats or just go naked then, well…Is there really a competition?"
"I don't get how that's an advantage," Jacob said.
Seth watched Harlen wait for Annaliese's approval, a nonverbal check he had often with Sam, Jacob, and Embry, too. Harlen spoke. "When you and your animal spirit are one and the same, the coyote no longer becomes a tool to be use whenever you feel like it," he said. "Or a weapon."
Annaliese nodded. "Where senses fail, animal instinct kicks in. Sometimes we don't even need to think. We just do."
Seth rubbed a small circle into the small of her back, recalling the same conversation weeks ago, Annaliese crumbling into a heap of tears and snot on his bed.
"That might explain why I can't see anything."
Seth's head jerked to Alice, who'd been silent since the lot of them had shown up on their doorstep. He expected them to look different, no matter how much he knew they'd forever be frozen. It was always Alice who reminded him just how different the Cullens were. She was still — as she would always be — incredibly small compared to most of the people in the room. Unchanging. Frozen.
Seth shivered.
"If you use instinct, we won't know what will happen until it does." She sighed. "Which makes my sight useless."
"Waiting until they arrive would be advantageous," Edward said. "Especially knowing their hunting style."
Jasper nodded. "We'd need to lure them here with Annaliese's scent, which would require going there first. But the islands could be a boon. It'll keep the fighting away from most residential areas. And, unless we know what direction he'll take, that's our best chance."
Everyone looked expectantly at Annaliese, Yara, Harlen, and Wate.
"Damian's patient — or was, until Annie left," Wate grumbled. "Ordinarily, he'd go east toward Harrison Mills and stick to the forest as long as possible, then southeast before he started questioning the locals. That's what he did when she first left, after Tony…disappeared."
Maybe it was a good thing Paul and Sam weren't here, Seth thought.
All of the plotting and scheming wouldn't matter, but, as Edward cut him a look, he stilled that train of thought and focused on something — anything — to get his friend out of his head: the size of the wood planks on the pristine floors, the quiet tick of a well preserved grandfather clock, how he hadn't taken on a new freelance web design client in weeks and would run out of money soon, the scent of Annaliese clinging to his skin.
He'd never been into exhibitionism before, but Annaliese's appetite was off the charts. And the things she could do with her —
"What about you, Seth?"
He blinked and brought his attention back to the tasks at hand. "Sure," he answered with a confident nod, oblivious to anything that had been said.
Jacob nodded, too. "Good. We'll let you handle the coyotes, then, since you're more…in tune with them telepathically."
"And Edward will remain nearby since he's the fastest Cullen. As the strongest, Emmett will also be close in case things get out of hand."
Seth nodded and kept his mind on the feel of his bare feet pressed into the floor. Annaliese joined her old pack outside, all of them ditching their clothes by the back door. He resisted the urge to follow them and instead sat on the couch, restless.
Seth listened for her heartbeat and sighed as he sank down into the cushions. He let his head drop back and eyes drift shut, replaying Annaliese's memory of Damian and his guards' animal and human forms. His head throbbed.
Tomorrow would come too soon, and he'd be faced with an impossible choice: his pack or Annaliese. Either way, someone would end up hating him and, if Annaliese had her way, at least one person would be dead.
Just need to get through tomorrow, he thought to himself. After tomorrow, things will be fine.
They had to be.
