Resounding Truth: (Werewolf Novella) (The Resounding Series) (5 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

Dru slowed as they reached the new campsite, her legs aching and body weary. Karis ran toward her as she approached, her sister hitting her knees and pulling her into an awkward hug. Derik trotted past her without a glance and made his way toward the rest of the pack, who were for the most part in human form.

"Oh my God, Dru. I thought something had happened to you. After losing Mom and Dad, I don't think I would survive it." Karis buried her small face in the side of Dru's neck, Dru rubbing her face against the girl's hair.

She let her sister cry a little as she scanned the people in front of her, the white wolf nowhere to be seen. Karis pulled back and tried to wipe the tears from Dru's fur, but Dru nudged her away, moving beside her and turning toward the growing crowd of people.

A few people turned and started to clap, and before long the entire pack was clapping and whooping for Dru, Karis laughing as tears rolled down her cheeks. Derik walked out from a large tent just beyond the crowd and added his applause as well, a look of pride on his handsome face.

"We all fought hard today, and though we lost far too many of our family members, their sacrifice will be honored tonight as we release their souls to our ancestors. A great celebration has been thrown in the heavens. Won't you join me in celebrating their lives down here?" He lifted his hands and everyone raised their voices in agreement.

For the first time all day, Dru caught the look of loss sitting heavy on Derik's face. He felt the pain of loss because he was their Alpha. Whether he was a bastard or not, he was forced to emotionally suffer the death of his people. She moved past him, brushing along his leg as she hurried toward the tent that smelled like her sister. She morphed quickly and worked her hair into a bun on her head, her skin clammy and her legs weak.

Dru pulled a white cotton shirt over her head and slipped into a pair of loose black britches that were a size too large. The pack had various boxes of clothing that were carried from place to place, and their supplies and other necessities had been moved just before the battle that morning. She had always wanted to go into the human village and get a new dress or something more formfitting, but time and money had deemed those things impossible.

She finished making herself somewhat presentable and slipped out into the early evening celebration. Members of the pack stopped to thank her for fighting so hard beside them and for helping Derik to protect them as they journeyed to the new camp. She hadn't realized until that moment that it had just been her and Derik fighting at the end. He deserved the credit, not her, but sacrifice was expected of him, so no one would offer him praise.

Dru scanned the crowd, happy to find her sister engaged in laughter and storytelling with some of the girls in the pack. Seth was nowhere to be found, but he would turn up soon and she would slip into his arms; the warm hug of a friend was much needed at the moment. She spotted Derik and moved to the other side of the fire, sitting down on a large log and closing her eyes for a minute to rest.

Derik’s voice brought her to. "I'm proud of you for what you did today. Staying behind and fighting beside me shows that your father's blood runs deep in your veins."

The anger over him killing her father would never be too far from the surface of her emotions, and yet it was the way of their kind. Derik had been Alpha for two years, and her father wouldn't have been pleased with Derik’s methods, but he would have been impressed with his results, because he had been leading their pack effectively. Derik wasn't kind or caring, but for the most part they were all safe, well fed and still together in family units. Having someone care for them as her father had was a dream long passed.

"I didn't do much, but thanks."

She shrugged, and he moved to sit next to her, the soft cream-colored material of his shirt accenting the dark hues of his skin. He pressed his shoulder to hers and ran his fingers down his face, a deep sigh leaving him as they sat in silence.

She wasn't sure what to say. To thank him would be an affront, because he’d done nothing more than was expected of him. To promise him help in the future would sting his pride, as if he needed her help. Anything she might say could start them down another warpath, and she was much too tired to battle with him again. The moon moved further into the sky and the pull of the desire to mate sat heavy in the air.

Many of the other mature members of their pack had left to be with their mates or gone into a nearby town to find company for the evening. She looked around the remaining faces and felt the first stab of fear.

"Where’s Seth?" she asked, realizing that she had said it out loud when Derik sighed again.

"He didn't make it."

"What?" She turned toward Derik, her heart almost stopping in her chest as she tried to piece together what he was telling her. "Where is he? Did he have to stay behind for some reason?"

Derik reached out and ran his hands down her arms, pulling her to stand with him as he wrapped his large arms around her waist. "No. He didn't make it."

"I heard that, but where is he?" She pressed her hands to Derik's strong chest, the soft cotton of his shirt leaving little buffer between her skin and his.

"Dru. He laid down his life for our pack this morning. He fought beside me and he didn't make it. He was killed by two arrows from a woman's bow before I could get to her." He held her close as she let herself relax against him, her forehead resting on his chest as her breathing became labored.

"Oh my god. How? Why? Where was I when he needed protection?" she whispered as the weight of Derik's chin rested upon her head. She had been in the forest—flirting with a human. She had been testing fate and daring it to give her something more than the good man that had taken her into his arms and deep into his heart. Seth wasn't her true mate, but they had made a life together, one that was comfortable and easy.

Tears filled her eyes and dripped down the front of Derik's shirt, his arms tight around her as he whispered soft words of comfort. She didn't want his comfort. She wanted revenge.

Dru pulled back a little and looked up at him. "Why didn't you tell me at the creek? You must be hurting from the loss more than any of us can imagine."

He lifted his chin, his jaw locking as his eyes showed no sign of anything other than stark concentration. "I feel his loss as I would any other from the pack. When I became Alpha everything changed for me and Seth, and though he was my brother by blood, every one of our members is mine by inheritance."

Even in the midst of such a devastating tragedy, he wasn't going to let her in. He wasn't going to offer her any semblance of partnership, friendship or companionship. The boy she'd been pledged to and had come to love as a child was nothing like the man before her. She moved her hands to her face, wiping away her tears and tucking away the painful emotions that surfaced from knowing she would never laugh with Seth again or snuggle up to him on a lazy afternoon. That would be for her to suffer in private.

"You need rest. Go now before the moon reaches its peak. I will put Zarith in charge of watching over everyone."

"Where are you going?" she asked, pulling back to look at him. The moonlight spread across his handsome features, the dark glint in his eye calling to the wolf inside of her that desired a male worthy of creating her family with.

"I'm going to the village. Just hope I don't kill someone in the midst of my passion and rage." He growled softly and reached over to touch her face, his thumb brushing her mouth. "I want you so damn bad, and yet it would be the end of me."

Dru said nothing as he bit his lip and studied her for a minute, the heat in his gaze only causing her blood to boil with desire. He finally turned and jogged toward the forest, the desire for him dying down slowly as the wind of the evening rolled in and covered her heated skin.

It was only a matter of time before she would be by his side, hating life forever. Pairing up with Seth had simply been a means of stopping Derik in his tracks. He wasn't the man she wanted him to be, so she avoided him, and he held her at bay. He didn't want to hear her speak truth over him and force him to change with the sheer power of her seductive will. She didn't want to go to bed hating the man next to her, only to wake up to him every morning.

They avoided one another, and yet they had always been destined to be. Fighting with each other only made the need to be wrapped up together, naked and sweaty, worse.

Dru dropped to the bench below her, the world crashing in around her. The sounds and smells of the forest ushered in a calm that covered her wounded heart. Seth had been a good man, a good wolf, and didn't deserve to meet his end. Had Derik even taken his body or burned it or buried it? There probably wasn't time for that in the midst of the battle.

She hadn't seen Seth lying on the ground at the campsite as she’d fought, and her first order of business had been a quick assessment of the carnage. She had needed to know if her sister was safe or if she'd gone to meet their parents in the sky. Dru bowed her head, her fingers brushing back the small, loose strands of hair that danced in front of her, tickling her face.

Was the Huntress that killed Seth the same one that had attacked her? She hadn’t seen any other Huntresses with a bow and arrow during the fight. Was Seth’s killer the dark-haired, green eyed vixen that the white wolf had placed himself in front of? Was the wolf her lover and somehow the Huntress didn't know he was a wolf?

Nothing made sense and everything hurt.

Dru sighed and pressed her face into her hands, sadness coating the desire to hump the closest thing she could find. The moon could go to hell with its power of forcing procreation upon any unsuspecting beast. The world could go to hell for taking her father and mother and leaving her to take care of Karis alone. She was a horrible caregiver, much too concerned with her own happiness and future than anyone else's.

Everyone could go to hell.

"This seat taken?"

The sound of his voice jerked her from her depression. She looked up as goose bumps covered her exposed skin.

Caleb.

"No, but you'll not be welcomed here."

He sat down and smiled, wincing as he did. Dru leaned over and took his face into her hand, pulling him close and inspecting the gash on his cheek. "Good Lord, what happened?"

He reached up and put his hand over hers, turning and pressing his nose into her palm before breathing in deeply. He groaned softly and the sound slammed into her need painfully. She pulled her hand back slowly, not wanting to appear rude, but not entirely sure it was a good idea for her to be anywhere near him, or anyone for that matter.

He appeared to be everything she'd been searching for, but that was something she'd yet to actually test. Her spirit told her of his goodness, and a rightness sat between them that had been evident in the forest earlier that day.

"How did you know we were here?"

"Which question first, Drucilia? My face or my mad tracking skills?" He winked and smiled, wincing again.

She winced too, unable to stop the worry that blossomed within her. She stood and reached for his hand, pulling him up with her.

"We're going to stitch up that gash, and you can explain both."

She held onto his hand. The warm, soft strength in his fingers tugged at her desire to belong to someone, but she beat the unwanted emotion back down and suffocated the guilt caused by being with this stranger in the forest while Seth had met his death.

"It will heal soon. It was just the perfect angle." He pulled back on her hand and she stopped, turning to face him. "I found you because I've been searching for you for a long time, like I told you in the forest this morning. Tracking you now that your scent is on my shirt is easy."

She tilted her head, pulling her hand from his. "You're a shifter."

"Yes," he said softly, his gaze focused firmly on her. "I won't stay long, since I know your Alpha just left. I just needed to see that you made it safely here."

"Safely? How did you know we were in trouble?"

He lifted his hand and moved it to hover just before her, over her heart, his words soft and thick with promise. "Can I?"

She looked down at his hand before taking it and placing it above her breast over her heart, her words clouded with question. "Yes."

He moved another step closer, as his thumb absently rubbed her collarbone. "I told you in the woods this morning that you'd yet to truly mate. I only know that because in my visions you belong to me."

She swallowed hard and simply focused on breathing, her heart aching for there to be truth in his words. To belong to someone that might care for her as a beloved was a dream too precious to taint. She smiled sadly and placed her hand over his, pulling it carefully from her chest before pressing her nose to his palm. She couldn't help but taste his skin, the warm sensations of his flavor and scent rushing along her nerve endings.

Large, sea-blue eyes filled with hunger and compassion stared at her as her eyes closed and she was swept away in sudden visions of his world. He growled softly as she kissed the padded roughness of his hand, each touch bringing his reality into more clarity behind her closed eyelids. The few scenes of his past that resounded within her spoke of painful truth.