Wolf's Den - A BBW Shifter Romance Novel (9 page)

“Bullshit, Dolan,” Yeager replied and then looked at me as if to reassure me it wasn’t true. But I knew it was. Something told me Dolan wasn’t lying.

“That black haired bitch wasn’t my mother but Cassie is my half-sister. She belongs with us. She’s the key and I mean to have her. You can try to stand in the way, gray, but you’ll die,” Dolan warned. I had no idea what the big shifter was talking about and I didn’t want to find out. Suddenly, Yeager shifted. It took only a few seconds and must have cost him greatly by the howl of pain he let out. The gray wolf bolted from the cabin, wiggling from the clothes he wore moments earlier as he went, and Dolan never had a chance.

Yeager leapt and took the big man to the ground. He would have had Dolan’s neck in his jaws if they hadn’t tumbled down the slope in a jumble of gray fur and black leather. The other wolves followed and for a brief moment, I had a path to escape. I wanted to see what had become of Yeager but I steeled my resolve and ran away from the cabin. I had to save my mate!

I ran as fast as I could, wearing shoes now so I didn’t have to pick a careful path. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going but I figured if I headed downhill, I’d eventually find the highway. For ten minutes, I ran through the forest, stumbling and almost going down several times. I expected a black wolf to appear and end my escape but none did. I was thirty miles from Gold Canyon but I tried to remain optimistic. I’d find the highway, catch a ride and bring back Murphy. But as more time passed and I found myself in the middle of nowhere, desperately lost, I lost hope.

I stopped running to find my bearings. I’d never make it but I had to try. Near me, there was a small rise and I climbed to the top of it to get my bearings. I couldn’t see anything but wilderness around me. Then I remembered my phone. I pulled it from my pocket and turned it on. Why did it take so long? Finally, it flared to life and I had bars. Yes! I dialed Edie.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been worried...,” she began to say as she picked up.

“Edie, shut up. I need your help. Don’t ask questions, just do what I tell you,” I told her firmly.

“All right,” she said obviously hearing the distress in my voice.

“Find a biker named Murphy. Tell him Yeager needs his help. We’re about thirty miles up the highway near Yosemite. He needs to come now and he needs to bring friends,” I told Edie.

“I’ll do it. Are you OK?” she asked worriedly.

“For now, yes, but we need Murphy. Go now!” I told Edie. My friend told me she was already on her way out of the diner and then hung up. I felt better but it would take at least half an hour for Murphy to get here after Edie found him. That was assuming he came at all. I had no idea who Murphy was or what he could do. I could only assume he was a shifter and he would come to our aid.

I reflected on Dolan’s claim as I stood there. Was I really his sister? Was his father also mine? I didn’t want to believe it but I knew deep inside somehow he was telling the truth. I don’t know why but it made sense just like Yeager’s claims had when he revealed them to me. What Dolan’s claims meant, however, I wasn’t sure. I had no doubt that Dolan intended more than bringing his sister into the fold. He meant to make me his mate. The revulsion I felt at that thought drove me to action.

It was stupid but I turned and headed back towards the cabin. I had no idea what I could do to help, but I had to try. I had to help Yeager. He was my mate. I accepted that fully now. I cared deeply for him and whether those feelings came about through destiny or happenstance didn’t matter. I loved him and I couldn’t leave him to Dolan and his gang. The peril he was in cemented my love for the man. If we were going to die, we were going to die together. There was no way I would let Dolan take me as his mate.

I ran even faster towards the cabin. For all I knew, I was running towards my death but I didn’t care. I picked my way through the forest wishing I could move faster. Then I went down, my foot catching an exposed tree root. I tumbled and rolled down a slope and when I came to a stop, I was bleeding from my leg. I began to cry. I’d never make it in time. Yeager could only stand so long against four other wolves. What could I do? How could I help? If only I could be like Yeager. If only I could become a wolf.

~~O~~

The gray wolf ran for its life. The four black wolves pursued but the gray was faster and more nimble. Still, he’d almost been cornered several times. With multiple pursuers, it was only a matter of time. The gray wolf, however, wasn’t worried about his own survival. He was worried about his mate. This was a distraction to allow her to escape. The gray wolf that was Yeager knew Murphy and his friends could never get to him in time but they could protect Cassie and keep her safe after he was gone.

The gray wolf leapt over a fallen tree and then through a thick stand of trees. He had never been here before and hoped the terrain would work to his favor but it didn’t. The gray wolf that was Yeager broke through the trees and found a wall of rock. He skid to a halt and looked for a way to escape but the black wolves were on him too quickly. The black wolf that was Dolan, the one with the ragged scar on its face, led his pack towards the gray wolf. They surrounded the gray wolf leaving him no route to escape. He’d have to fight his way past them or he’d die here trying.

Then the gray wolf scented something strange and wonderful. The gray wolf scented his mate and she was coming.

~~O~~

I shook my head at the thought. I wasn’t a wolf but what if I were? I could help my mate, I could help Yeager. It was a ridiculous thought. Yeager wasn’t aware of any female shifters. Why would I think I was one? But it was all I had. I had no idea how to accomplish such a thing even if I could. I had to believe it was possible though. I had to. Yeager’s life depended on it. I had to do something to save the man I loved.

“Focus, Cassie. You can do this,” I told myself as I tried to banish my doubts. I took a deep breath and looked into myself. I tried to find that place within me that sensed this was all real from the beginning. The part of me that knew Yeager was my mate the moment he told me, maybe the moment I saw him. Maybe there I’d find an answer. I fought to quiet my mind, to push out the fear and apprehension. I fought to believe that I could do this because it’s all I had to hold on to.

I found nothing at first but I continued to seek what may not have even existed. Then I discovered a shred of memory, a flash of something distant. I strived to grab hold of it but the memory was elusive. I pursued it with a grim determination and almost let go of it as it came into focus. It wasn’t my memory that I’d found at all. The memory was that of a wolf. I found myself running through the woods on four paws. I followed another wolf, its mate I assumed. A moment later, I lost hold of the memory and it faded.

But what I found there was all I needed, the feeling I required to become what I was destined to be. I’d felt it before and lost it as Dolan attacked me. Now, I followed that feeling as I stripped naked there in the forest. I felt my body begin to change and I fought the fear of it. I felt the pain as I fell to my hands and knees. I smelled the forest in ways I didn’t know were possible, the passing of a deer nearby hours before, the rain that had fallen over a month ago, a dead mouse that lay nearby hidden in the debris of the forest floor. My vision sharpened and I began to perceive detail I had missed before. I looked down and instead of my hands, I found two black paws.

The pain passed and I immediately began to run. There was no time to ponder what I had become. I ran faster than I’d ever run before. I ran towards the unmistakable scent of my mate. I ran like a wolf.

~~O~~

The gray growled and its fur bristled. One of the blacks approached but the gray wolf that was Yeager darted towards it, jaws snapping and growling. The black retreated. Still, it was only a matter of time. The black wolves, including the one that was Dolan, would find a weakness. The black wolves had time on their side. They would find an opening, and then they would rush the gray wolf and finish him. But the gray wolf, much to his astonishment and confusion, knew help was on the way.

The black wolf that was Dolan glared at the gray wolf with his gray-green eyes. He hungered to avenge his father, to take from the gray what he valued most and make her his own but then shock and fear registered in those eyes. The black wolf with the scar turned as it caught a scent, a scent he recognized but could not reconcile with what he knew. From the trees behind emerged a large black wolf with a white patch on its back and bright emerald green eyes. It bared its teeth and snarled in challenge to the black wolf that was Dolan. The black and white wolf that was Cassie could not only see the fear in her brother’s eyes but smell it on him as well.

~~O~~

For a moment, no wolf moved. Each of us judged the situation, formed strategies and sized up our enemies. It was instinctual. I saw the appeal of being a shifter. As a woman I was still but nineteen, still trying to figure out the world and find my place in it. As a wolf, I was fully realized. My instincts and skills were finely honed. I wasn’t a juvenile or a floundering new cub. I was a beautiful she-wolf and among my many attributes was a penchant for killing that I found neither distasteful nor alarming.

Dolan made the first move, rushing me, as Yeager moved to block his pack from intervening. Surprise was on our side and we had gained the advantage though they numbered four and we were but two. The black wolf with the scar bounded up the slope and I made ready to greet him, teeth bared and snarling. His heavy body slammed into mine but I absorbed the impact and sank my teeth into Dolan’s shoulder as we tumbled into the trees. He howled in pain but shook free of my grasp, rolling away and gaining his feet again. I found my bearings as well, as we circled each other, each of us looking for an opening in the other’s defenses.

Yeager stood between us and the rest of Dolan’s pack. The wolf that was Yeager was big as wolves went and the others kept their distance, unwilling to attack unless they had a clear advantage. Strangely enough, none of this seemed out of the ordinary. I retained memories of my human form but none of the emotions and fears. I was free to act but I relied on instinct as well. I knew who and what I was but I was a wolf now. Combat and killing were not foreign to my kind.

Dolan and I continued to circle one another. I felt no need to rush in and give away any advantage I might have. I patiently waited, as did my adversary, for an opportunity. Then I saw it. Dolan’s focus was momentarily disturbed as Yeager and one of Dolan’s pack engaged. I ignored it. Yeager could take care of himself, the trust we had developed, or fate had provided, playing to our advantage. I feinted one way and Dolan, caught off guard, moved to defend. As he overcompensated in reaction to my feint, I found my opening.

I attacked, lunging for the big black wolf, lowering my head and crashing into his ribcage. Dolan tried to bend and sink his fangs into me but got a mouthful of my thick fur instead. Being a bit fluffy as I was had its advantages. Without the leverage a bite would have provided, Dolan was knocked from his paws and onto his back. I moved in for the kill, my mouth watering at the thought. I threw myself at the fallen wolf and straddled him, my fangs showing, growling menacingly as saliva dripped from my mouth.

I smelled the fear as I went for Dolan’s exposed throat. One of his pack, however, slammed into me and denied me my kill. Dolan got to his paws as I rolled away. He was injured, likely a broken rib or two, but not out. Now, however, it was two against one. I stole a glance at Yeager. I saw in his eyes a hint of regret at letting one of Dolan’s pack escape as he stared back. I forgave him with my eyes. The matter was forgotten, another advantage of being a wolf I suppose. We each turned our attention to our foes.

I danced with two black wolves now, Dolan and one of his pack. Again, we played the game, each in defensive mode but ready to exploit any opening. Yeager and the two black wolves he faced did the same. Yeager and I were outnumbered, however, and this was not combat over territory or a fresh kill. There would be no backing down, no submission. This fight was to the death and the odds were not in our favor.

How long it had been since I spoke to Edie, I didn’t know. My sense of time was distorted in this form. For wolves, time was measured by sunrises and sunsets, by the seasons and the moon instead of clocks and calendars. Still, I knew it hadn’t been long enough. Help may have been on its way but likely too late to make a difference. That is assuming Edie could even find the man named Murphy and convince him to come.

Suddenly, the wolf that wasn’t Dolan lunged at me. It was a half-hearted attempt that I easily avoided but it was too late when I realized it was just a distraction. Dolan came at me from the opposite side, his jaws open. I twisted in an attempt to escape but this time I failed. Dolan sank his teeth into my side. I yelped in pain as I resisted the urge to counter and bite Dolan and expose myself to the other wolf. But I moved as if I might be that stupid.