B0079G5GMK EBOK (2 page)

Sofia

I lay on the sofa, wrapped in a warm wool blanket, leaning against David's warm body. He
was
read
ing
some creepy story, concentrating, but I ju
st enjoyed the voices around me
that filled my mind with their warmth and happily watched my pack's morning routines. Even the knowledge of Adam being
back couldn't shock my mind. T
hough
his howling kept me awake at night
, I was convinced that he would not dare to approach Clarissa or my family without having my permission first.
             

I had fifteen strong shape shifters in my pack, if we counted our guests as well, and I couldn't believe that even Adam in his lust would be so stupid as to attack us. I sighed and looked at my daughters who
were scuffling
down the stairs. Well, actually I wouldn'
t call Marie's coming a scuffle. S
he practically danced her way down and spun like a ballerina straight
in
to Tiamhaidh's arms and kissed him teasingly. Clarissa, on the other hand, was scuffling, but just a little.

I looked at her and noticed dark shades under her eyes that seemed to be there all the time nowadays. I should tighten my grip on her mind and protect it better, so she could rest more. Obviously, I had underestimated Adam's powers. Somehow he seemed to manage to howl in her mind and she couldn't resist him, at least not as well as I had thought. I wiped her mind lightly and was shocked when I realized how fu
ll of Adam it was. Adam's
burning
black
eyes
were haunting her every second and controlling
her thoughts completely. Her mind was weak and exhausted and she had no power to fight Adam anymore. I got up from David's lap and kissed him quickly. He glanced at me absently and immersed himself back in his book. I went to Clarissa and pressed her in
to
my arms. She sighed tiredly and b
uried herself deep in my embrace
. Although my daughter was clearly taller than me, she managed to dig into my arms like a small baby and I held her tightly while I petted her
silky blond
hair.

“This has to end,” I mumb
led to her hair and felt her nodding
lightly. She knew, without a word, what I meant.

I marched angrily to the front door and glanced at the men around the table. “Joshua and Daniel, I need you to come with me.” When they didn't move, I snapped. “Now! We're going for a morning jog.”

Tiamhaidh
looked at me, surprised, but he saw that this was not the place to ask questions. Joshua and Daniel looked confused, but were on their way to the front door. Bruun and Flow, our shepherd dogs, spun wildly at their feet, but I ordered them away. I felt their disappointment like a stab in my mind, but where I was going, I couldn't take them. There their lives would have no value and I could only hope that taking Joshua and Daniel with me would guarantee my getting out of there without a scratch. I smiled to the others constrainedly and left without any e
xplanation. T
he
moment the
door slammed shut, I had Daniel on my back.

“What's going on, Fia?” He asked demandingly. “Where are we actually going?”

Joshua didn't say a word. He just kept looking
at me searchingly. I think
he knew where I wanted to take them and since Daniel didn't seem to notice his bloodthirsty grin, I decided to stay quiet and kept walking.

As soon as I reached the woods and could slip safely under the trees, I stopped. I glanced at the men and grinned tiredly. In a few seconds I shifted my shape to a golden brown wolf and stared at them with my eyes of gold. How many times during these years had I dreamed of this mome
nt? How many times had I hoped
for this opportunity to change my shape in this carefree way, and now when I could truly do so, I had to do it out of necessity. I knew that the only way to get close enough to Adam was by being a wolf. As a human, I couldn't track him ever, and even though he was a master of hiding, I as a wolf was so out of his league that he had no chance against me. Joshua shrugged and grinned at Daniel. In a trice he was a wolf too, leaving Daniel no choice but to do the same or go back home.

We lumbered side by side, deeper in the woods, leaving only some airy footprints on the frosty ground. Once in a while, I whiffed the moss and some boug
hs under the young trees, as
I knew that at some point Adam had to have left at least some marks. Daniel and Joshua settled for staying behind me as they trusted me to lead us to our prey. At this point we
shared our minds so completely
that they knew exactly what I had in mind.

Adam had built several small shelters nearby our house, but I sensed that he didn't spend his time in them except when he was spying on Clarissa. He had to have a more permanent base somewhere further and since the woods weren't endless, I was sure that sooner or later we would find him. I let the autumn sun warm my fur and e
njoyed my wolf being. My paws sa
nk in the soft moss and left their prints there for a while. My snout got wet from the dew droplets that
were
stil
l glittering
on the grass. The sun had melted almost all of the frost and even though there was a light ice-cold breeze that cooled the woods, my fur was warm and the light breeze couldn't freeze me. I felt an irresistible desire to howl and could barely control myself as we continued our silent search. I knew that even the smallest error would reveal us to Adam, although I was pretty sure he already knew we were looking for him.

It took us almost three hours to get to the square where the trees, brought down by the storm, lay on top of one another. If we hadn't crossed Adam's hiding place,
we might have missed it, since
it was extremely well hidden and very unnoticeable. Thick branches of fir hid a
small cave that was next to an
abandoned fox's nest. When a fox's smell was mixed with a wolf's, the result was a tota
l mess of smells that could confuse
even the most meritorious hunter.

A light breeze blew a hint of something familiar to my snout and we decided t
o dig deeper and look particularly
under the fallen trees. Adam was there. He
was lying
, rolled up lik
e a ball, very silent, and trying
not to breath
e
. Despite the dim light in the nest, I saw him clearly enough to send a strict command to him through my mind. “Show yourself!” I com
manded and added a painful stab
that I knew would hurt his mind.

Adam didn't move an inch. I tightened my grip and stroked him again, faster and harder. He squealed and stood up. Joshua and Daniel had moved beside me and were staring at Adam with their canine teeth revealed, growling threateningly. “Sofia,” Adam croaked with an effort. “You found me quite quickly.” “Where are the others?” I pressed him hard. Adam's eyes gleamed dangerously. “There are no others.” “You don't think I would believe that no one knows that you're here, not even Gunward?” I grunted in his mind. “Oh, he knows alright, at least by now, but he's not coming unless you call him,” Adam mocked.

In my mind I saw David lying on our couch, relaxed, and me snuggling in his arms. I saw his smile full of warmth and his deep blue eyes and I knew it was not the time to call Gunward, not yet. I actually didn't even want him to come, not now when everything was almost back to normal between me and David. I also knew that Adam knew that.

I growled at him, frustrated. “What do you want?” “Clarissa. Give me Clarissa and I'll leave you alone,” Adam claimed boldly. “You're insane! You have no right to claim Clarissa and you know that. If you agree to leave now, we can forget that you were even here.” “No, Sofia. This time that won't work. I'm not going anywhere,” Adam revealed his teeth lightly, but stopped threatening me at once when Joshua and Daniel took a step towards him. “It's my birthright to claim her to be mine and you know that well enough. Why do you deny me that while you give it to the other males?”

I didn't answer
him, but instead I revealed my fangs and growled. “What do you want for leaving?”
I asked. Adam looked at me and this time I thought I felt some kind of uncertainty coming from him. “Just give me an equal chance, like you gave the others.”

I could sense his fear and this time I was really confused. He was truly scared of my denial. “What do you mean? What kind of chance are you talking about? I don't understand,” I wiped his thoughts with wonder. “I want the same kind of chance that you gave the other shape shifters. I will honor your rules and if Clarissa does not choose me, I promise you, I'll be gone for good.”

I searched his face for betrayal, but I saw no trace of
it. He just stood and begged
with his devil eyes. He would never be humble, that I knew for sure, and he would never openly beg, but something in his eyes moved me and I trembled. Even though I wanted to drive him away, I knew he was right. I had to give him an equal chance. I lowered my head and turned my back to him. Finally I swayed my tail demonstratively. “All right then, but Clarissa is the one who decides who
m
she wi
ll choose. If you try to weasel
in any way, you're ou
t.” I knew without even looking
that he was grinning. “It's a deal. I won't bother you anymore. I'll turn myself into a human and start hunting Clarissa tomorrow.”

I sighed. Why did the idea of Adam hunting Clarissa make me feel uncomfortable? T
here was nothing that I could do
now so I started to run. After grunting at Adam once more, Joshua and Daniel followed me.

We ran home as fast as we could and when we were close enough to see our house we stopped and stood on the grass heaving breathlessly. I didn't know whether I had made the right decision, especially when my head was full of complaints from Joshua and Daniel and I could hardly imagine how the other members of our pack would react. I breathed exhausted
ly
awhile, before I turned myself back to my human form and
returned to face
my pack at home.

I didn't know how to explain this to them, but I knew that there would be trouble for sure. Adam would never settle for behaving like a decent human being nor would he respect the rules we had made. He would weasel and lie and do whatever it took to have Clarissa to himself. And without any of us even noticing he would, eventually, win her heart. I wasn't sure if that was the best for Clarissa, so I had no choice but tighten Clarissa's guard. My pack couldn't do that without the help of the new strange males, but under these circumstances, I believed that they would be pleased to help us
.

The house was quiet as we came back. David had left for work and had probably taken Clarissa to school. I knew that Joshua had something on his mind for Clarissa after her school day. Some sort of surprise where all
the
young males were involved. So I was quite sure Adam would not get close to Clarissa during the day. It was so silent that I wasn't expecting anyone to be there and was surprised to see Tiamhaidh standing at the door and waiting for us. Just as if I had asked, he raised his brows and laughed.

“Gavin took Marie to school. I thought you would like to talk to me.”

Relief rumbled over me and all the tension on my shoulders disappeared. No need to explain anything. Tiamhaidh would support me in all my decisions, even if he didn't like them.

“What about Mathanan and Ciall?” I asked.

“Matt is in the kitchen, planning the dinner, and Ciall, well, I don't have a clue. My best guess is that he's working out at your gym,” Tiamhaidh looked at me searchingly. 

I smiled widely. My gym meant exactly five training machines and a very small room, but still there seemed to be at least one person from our pack there all the time. I wanted to build it for my own emergency exercise, for there didn't seem to be enough hours in the day and once in a while I really needed to disappear for an hour or two.

I didn't actually need t
hat extra training but my brain
seemed to need some hard training at times, and I thought the other shape shifters felt the same. The best thing for us would have been to hunt daily as wolves, but I didn't want to risk our cover by bumping into some over-eager b
erry picker, or even worse,
deer hunters. So we had decided to stay in our human for
ms as long as we could. The new
comers, the strange males, actually didn't have a choice as we had forbidden them their right to shift shapes for now, so it seemed reasonable that we walked with two feet as well.

“I'
ll take a shower and meet you in
the living room, okay?” I said to Tiamhaidh,
who
was slumping
at my door post.

He nodded lightly and left to rob some food from Mathanan. I went to my bedroom and dropped my sweaty clothes in a heap on the floor. Luckily I had my own bathroom in my bedroom, with both a shower and a bath. At this point, I had no strength to drag myself to our big bathroom, at least not when I knew that Tiamhaidh would intrude my privacy and come there to talk with me.