At First Sight: A Timber Wolves Companion (5 page)

The guy I saw carrying Scout wasn’t Alex. I might have thought it was at first, but once I got a good look at Alex and saw the vision guy multiple times in a matter of minutes, there was no mistaking the two. Vision guy was bigger, darker,
scarier…

Mr. Tall, Dark and Insane.

Alex’s brother was going to kill Scout.

All the air left my lungs, and the room tilted. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t let it happen. I had to do something. I had to stop him. I had to--

You have to get a grip, Tal
.

It was Jase’s voice in my head. Not like he actually spoke the words to me like he might on the night of a full moon, but the voice in my head sounded like him. It’s what he would have said if he were here, and he would be right. Panicking wasn’t going to help anyone with anything. Anyway, I didn’t See the future. I knew this. So, why was I getting so worked up?

Because you keep getting a high-def vision of Alex’s brother carrying around my dead, mutilated body?

My head was turning into a Donovan family reunion.

I rolled my shoulders, dropped my jaw, and took a deep, slow breath in through my nose. It was a trick I picked up in my two weeks as a yoga student. According to the instructor, it was impossible to remain stressed when your shoulders and jaw were relaxed and you had plenty of oxygen. I was more than a little surprised when it worked.

It was time to think this through logically. No more freaking out. I could do calm, cool, and collected. I just needed to do that whole shoulder, jaw, breath thing again.

Once I was good and oxygenated, I reviewed the facts. Yes, I had thought my powers were manifesting over the summer when I thought I Saw an unknown male walking with a ripped up Scout in his arms. However, ten minutes later, when my mom was trying to calm me down, I had my first experience with my true Sight. Multiple experiments over the next few hours proved I was a Soul Seer. Since Seers can only See one thing, the not-really vision was forgotten.

So, what was going on now? Why did I keep reliving that horrible scene every time I looked at Alex?

Rephrase the question
, my mother’s voice echoed in my head.
Why do you keep reliving that horrible scene every time you look at the new Shifter?

That was it. Alex was an unknown Shifter in our Territory, breaking most every rule known to our people. He was a threat. So, of course when I looked at him, I was reminded of my crazy not-really vision from the summer. In it, Scout had obviously been mauled by something with claws. Something like a Shifter in coyote form.

But why does he have the face of Alex’s brother? Hmmm…? You don’t think that is a bit too convenient?

It was. Or, it would have been if I actually knew what Alex’s brother looked like, or if I could honestly remember if the guy in front of me now was the same one I Saw initially over the summer. It seemed logical that my brain was filling in the face with Alex’s features. And since I got an I-love-Scout vibe off of him the moment I shook his hand and knew he would never hurt her, those features had warped enough to create what I thought his older brother might look like.

It made perfect sense.

So why did I still feel like crawling out of my own skin due to fear? Why did my gut swear this was going to happen, that I would see my best friend die?

“Or are you going to sit here and stare into space for the next thirty minutes?”

I jerked up at the sound of Scout’s voice to find her looming over me. Ms. Ryder and her red boots had disappeared, and the rest of the class was already shuffling toward the exit.

“What?”

Scout flashed a smile. “Daydream much?”

“Sorry. The red boots hypnotized me.”

“They were something, weren’t they?” Scout said, pulling me up out of the too-tiny theater seat with one hand. “Do you think I could pull those off?”

“I’m not sure anyone could pull those off. And I’m pretty sure they would clash with your wardrobe, which is made up entirely of jeans and t-shirts.”

Scout leaned back against the row of chairs and chewed on the inside of her lip. The theater was now empty, which meant that her public face - which consisted of narrowed eyes begging someone to try to mess with her and an unsmiling mouth - was gone, and my Scout made an appearance. “Cowboys wear jeans, t-shirts, and boots. If they can do it, why can’t I?”

“Maybe because you’re not a cowboy?”

She sighed before starting to stalk up the aisle. “You’re probably right.” She glanced at the schedule stuck in the front of her notebook. “You’ve got lunch now, right?”

“Yep.” Not that I was excited about it. All I had to eat was what my mother packed for me. Raw fruits and vegetables. Yum.

“Great. Me, too. We can swing by your locker first since it’s in this hall, and then we’ll go grab mine.”

Now it was my turn to chew on my lip. I didn’t want to lie to Scout or hurt her feelings, but there was something I needed to do.

“Can I just catch up with you in the cafeteria?” Why couldn’t I just sound normal instead of like a frightened chipmunk? “I need to make a call.”

Scout chose to ignore my weirdness with a shrug. “No problem. Our normal side?”

“Be there in five!” I said a little too enthusiastically.

I stopped by the theater door and waited until I saw Scout round the corner. Then, I pulled out my phone and dialed with shaking fingers. “Toby,” I said the moment he picked up the phone. “We need to talk.”

Charlie

I didn’t grow up in Lake County. Well, not technically since my parents live forty-five minutes away, but I’ve spent enough time there to know nothing but trouble comes out of Lake View Trailer Park.

“Pop quiz, assholes,” Toby said from the driver’s seat of his Escalade. “How did we discover this location?”

“We quoted bad Keanu Reeves movies so much the Matrix opened our eyes to the truth?” Jase was sprawled out behind me with his head in the seat and his feet propped up on the window. Like everything else Jase had done over the last few months, it was a dominance play. He purposefully broke the rules, daring Toby, our Pack Leader, to correct him. At first these idiotic gestures led to some rather phenomenal discussions - the kind involving fists and blood - but lately Toby was letting it slide. I think it was more from weariness than submission, but Jase didn’t realize that.

Toby glared into the rearview mirror. “Wrong,” he said, visibly wincing when Jase propped one dirty Nike on the leather headrest.

“Mrs. Matthews Saw where the other Shifters were hiding out,” I said, diffusing the situation as always. “We’re here to ask them nicely to leave within the next twenty-four hours. After that, we won’t be so cordial.”

Of course, none of that was true. Getting the address was a result of Jase and I distracting his father, the school’s superintendent, while Toby flashed his badge and smile to talk the board office secretary into handing over confidential student information. And no one was planning on asking anything nicely, today or any other day. Shifters were encroaching on our Territory. They would leave quickly and quietly, or there would be a Challenge, and no one wanted a Challenge. Even Jase, who loudly proclaimed to anyone who would listen how he wanted vengeance for his newly broken nose, didn’t want a Challenge.

The address we got was for one of the lots in the very back of the trailer park. From what I could see, the trailers became less nice the further away you got from the main road, and the ones on the main road all looked like they needed to be condemned. By the time Toby parked, we were looking at places I was sure no one could actually live in. Most of them tilted one way or another, they were all covered in rust, and one even had a chunk missing from the side like a tyrannosaurus-sized Rottweiler had taken a bite out of it. Only one of the places looked even half-way decent, and it was the one with a Shifter leaning against the front door as if he’d been expecting us.

“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath. From the way the guy’s eyebrows twitched I think he might have heard me, which was crazy. We were too close to the new moon for his ears to be that good.

Jase flipped himself around into a proper sitting position. “Told you so.”

So, this was the guy Jase encountered down at The Strip a few days ago when he was out with Scout. He’d texted Toby immediately, a rare show of maturity and submission on his part, and told him there was a rogue Shifter in our Territory. At the time, Toby hadn’t worried about it. He was sure it was someone passing through who just wanted to mess with the cocky, self-assured coyote who happened to have crossed his path. His theory changed the minute Jase found the second one, Alex, at school today.

“Jase…” Toby began.

“You’re the Pack Leader. I’m here as back-up. My mouth stays shut, and my fists stay at my sides until you tell me otherwise.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

He didn’t even bother reminding me of my role. He knew I would do what he said. I always did what Toby said, had ever since we were kids, and even when it meant I would get my ass worn out for it. Maybe it was because he was my big brother, or maybe it was because even before we Changed I understood pack dynamics. Either way, Toby led, and I followed. Some people might have called me a pansy for it, but only once. Just because my brother is more dominant doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own.

We made a triangle as we walked up to the shoddy porch. Toby took the lead with Jase and I flanking him a few steps behind. As Shifters, things like who walks where is important. By walking in front of his pack members instead of behind them he was saying,
“I can take you on my own, but my boys are here if you try any funny stuff.”

Liam, whose name we learned from the chatty board secretary, didn’t look like he would try any funny stuff. Actually, he didn’t look like he understood the concept of funny. Everything from the set of his jaw to the bored expression in his eyes screamed,
“Asshole!”

“I told your pup I wasn’t going anywhere,” Liam said with a bored tone. Jase stiffened at the insult, but kept his word and didn’t say or do anything. I was impressed.

Toby stood at the bottom of the splintered front steps, his feet shoulder-width apart and arms crossed over his chest. I could see how much he hated having to stand below the other Shifter, but there was no way both of them would fit on the small landing.

“I am Toby Hagan, Pack Leader of the Hagan Pack, and I say you’re leaving tonight.”

Liam raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

The whole world stopped and waited for Toby’s response. This was it. Toby had told him to leave our Territory, and he had refused. The next step was a Challenge, a fight to the death. There were other Challenges, the kind that happened within a pack whenever someone wanted to take over the position of Pack Leader, which didn’t require death to pronounce a winner, but this wasn’t that kind of Challenge. A pack is family, and unless there is something really screwed up going on, you usually don’t want to kill someone in your family. Beat them to a pulp so they would never question your ability as a leader again? Sure. Sounded like fun actually. But those rules only applied within a pack. Once you ventured outside your family circle, the rules changed. A Challenge meant a Pack Leader had to fulfill his promise to protect his pack with his life.

Toby had never faced a Challenge of any kind, let alone one in which he might die. I looked at the massive Shifter who still leaned against the front door with casual ease and realized my brother might not be walking away from this. I suddenly felt like regurgitating the entire contents of my stomach.

I stepped forward, getting ready to do something extremely stupid, when the door of the trailer slung open. It should have dislodged Liam, making him stumble backwards, but he pulled himself up just in time.

“Oh, it’s you.” The newcomer shot Jase a sardonic smile. “We didn’t get a proper introduction earlier,” he said, as he walked down the steps. “Alex Cole. Sorry about all that business earlier today. I didn’t really to mean to…” He tapped his nose. Jase’s growl was low and quiet, but Alex heard it. “Seriously, man, if you hadn’t hit Scout first…”

“You hit Scout?” I couldn’t stop the words from pouring out of my mouth. Something kicked in my gut, and I found myself mentally reassessing every one of her movements from earlier in the afternoon. There was no bruising on her face, nothing like Jase’s nose. She hadn’t moved stiffly or slowly, but she had flinched slightly both of the times I hugged her. Since most of her arms were bared, thanks to the tiny t-shirt she was wearing, I decided it was probably a shoulder. Scout wasn’t a girly girl and carried more than her share of bruises and scars over the years, most of them badges of honor in her eyes, but still my blood boiled at the idea of Jase purposefully hurting her and this egotistical Shifter coming to her defense.

Jase must have seen the fury raging inside me because he lifted his hands in surrender. “Complete accident. I was aiming at him.”

“And your fist slipped and pounded into your sister instead?”

“She ninja’d her way in between us!”

“Enough,” Toby hissed, reminding us where we were and why we were here.

I looked up to see Liam back in his original position against the door. “Seems like you have some trouble controlling your pack there, Hagan. I wonder what the Alphas would say if they knew you can’t even control the youngest under your charge?” He took a deep breath, his gaze wandering out to the trees just beyond the edge of the trailer park. “Stefan has been searching for a new Territory to station a few of the aged Potentials. This is a beautiful place. It’s a nice change of scenery for someone who has been serving at the Den for the past ten years.”

“What would you know of the Den?” Toby, who was always cool and in control, sounded like someone was choking him.

Liam tucked a thumb into the waistband of his jeans. “Would you like to see my mark?”

Toby didn’t move for a full minute. He appeared dumbstruck, but I really hoped he was weighing the options in his head and coming up with one that didn’t include him Challenging a member of the Alpha Pack. Finally, Toby spoke.

“I would.”

Oh good God, we were all going to die. Stupid, pompous Toby. He actually wanted to see the mark? Like anyone was dumb enough to lie about something like that.

“You don’t believe me?”

I wondered if my life would be spared if I mentioned my belief in him. Even his brother had moved away from us, as if he was afraid of becoming collateral damage when Liam decided to separate our limbs from our bodies in the name of the Alpha Pack.

“You’re what? Eighteen? Nineteen?” Toby still stood with his arms across his chest. Whatever it was that had caused him to squeak out a response before was gone. His voice was once again infused with condescending derision. “And look at where you’re living. Sorry, but no member of the Alpha Pack would be caught dead in a rat-infested hell hole like this one.” Toby cocked his head to one side and looked Liam up and down. “My guess is that you’ve been banished and the whole Alpha Pack bluff is something you use with coyote Shifters thinking your natural Dominance will keep them from Challenging you.”

Alex, who was standing just outside my peripheral vision, seemed to pale.

“Have it your way,” Liam said before tugging down his jeans.

“This is so not what I meant when I said I wanted to see a strip show,” Jase muttered, staring at the ground. Toby was watching Liam. And me? I was watching Alex. I watched his pulse jump erratically in his throat and his fist squeeze together at his side and knew Toby wouldn’t see anything on the elder Cole’s hip.

“My apologies… Taxiarho Cole?”

I snapped my attention back to my own brother to see him with his head bowed and neck arched in submission.

“Potential Cole,” Liam said, marking himself as someone who would one day ascend to the rank of Taxiarho or Stratego, the Shifter equivalent of the Royal Guard. Some Potentials never reached either of those stations, but if Liam had the mark, which he must for Toby to have submitted so completely and quickly, then he was definitely moving up in the Shifter world, sooner rather than later.

But it didn’t make sense. I may not be the most observant guy in the world, but I can tell when someone is about to wet themselves because they think they're about to get busted in a lie. And Alex was going to have to change his underwear when we left. Something wasn’t on the up-and-up. I could feel it in my bones.

I glanced over at Jase. We were only cousins, but in many ways he was closer to me than even Toby. We grew up side by side and could communicate with nothing more than a look. The one we shared in front of the Cole’s home said neither of us believed a bit of this crap.

Toby, however, seemed to believe him but wasn’t exactly impressed. “If you don’t mind my asking,
Potential Cole,
why have you and the Alphas decided to grace us with your presence?” The annoyance in his tone was more than evident.

Liam ambled down from his perch, leaning against the rail once he was on the bottom step. “I have business to attend to here.”

“What kind of business?” Toby asked.

“Private Alpha Pack business.”

“So, I should contact the Alpha Pack with my inquiry?”

Alex’s fist clenched again. Perhaps my brother wasn’t as oblivious as to the wrongness of this situation as I thought.

But while Alex looked like he was on the verge of some sort of fit, Liam just casually shrugged his shoulders. “If you choose to bother them with your concerns, that’s your call.”

The wind blew, carrying Liam’s scent with it. This far away from a full moon, I shouldn’t have been able to pick up his smell so easily, and it certainly shouldn’t have triggered a fight or flight response. I watched Toby, ready to follow my pack Leader’s decision on what to do next.

To my surprise, Toby didn’t growl or offer his throat in submission. Instead, he uncrossed his arms and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He rocked back on his heels as if he was completely unaware of the way the other Shifter’s scent had affected me and Jase, who was snarling quietly at my side.

“Here’s the way this is going to work,” Toby said, causing Liam’s eyes to narrow. “You can stay here, and I won’t alert the Alpha Pack.” Liam started to say something, but Toby held up a hand. “Maybe you are who you say you are, or maybe not, but I know that neither of us really want to get the Alphas involved in our business. So, you stay, and I’ll keep my mouth shut, as long as you agree to a few terms.”

“Terms?”

“You’ll stay within the confines of Lake County during the full moon, and you won’t have any contact with any member of my pack. Deal?”

“Deal.”

I thought I might have heard Toby sigh in relief.

“For the record,” Jase said, “My sister is part of the Hagan Pack.”

“No.” I wasn’t quite sure who had said it, but then he repeated himself. “No. I’m not staying away from Scout,” Alex said.

Liam rubbed the back of his head. “Alex…”

“No. She’s mine. You can’t make me stay away from her.”

Of the three of us, I’m the least volatile. As Pack Leader, Toby is always on the edge of lashing out, and since starting to come into his own Dominance, Jase was getting just as bad. They both had tendencies to Hulk out at the drop of a hat, going from normal guy to angry coyote in a matter of seconds, but not me. I wasn’t concerned with Dominance in the least, and I learned a long time ago that the only thing aggression would get you is more of the same in return. That’s why it shocked everyone, including myself, when I rounded on the younger Cole.