Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) (7 page)

I shook my head to clear the dark thoughts
and broke into a run. I veered away from the others and loped
across the soft desert sand through red rock walls that twisted and
branched to the point where loss of attention to the path meant
getting lost and possible death by starvation and thirst if not by
rattlesnakes.

I loped through scrub brush and down winding
game trails until I left the other werewolves far behind. I cut
across the path of our jeeps from the day before and followed them
at a breakneck speed. I didn't slow until I reached the mouth of
White Horse Canyon. The scent of death touched my nose before I
traveled half a dozen feet along the narrow trail. The jeeps would
have had to take it easy here with their cargo. I pushed the
thought aside and padded through the salt grass and rocks that
lined the meager trail.

The canyon turned to the west to follow the
river that had once been great enough to carve its deep channel,
but now trickled along the bottom until swelled by the occasional
flash flood to cover the trail. I followed it a short distance,
then turned up a deer trail that smelled of Zach, Max, and lifeless
bodies. They must have carried them one or two at a time up the
winding trail to the canyon hidden behind.

I took a steeling breath, then topped the
rise. My stomach turned and breath caught at the sight and smell of
twenty-four bodies in the ravine below. I was responsible for
fourteen of their deaths. I swallowed and forced myself to look at
them. Faces of young men and women around the age of the werewolves
at Two stared unseeing at the full moon. Several of the girls were
beautiful. I could imagine suitors kissing their cheeks and working
up the courage to ask for a dance. The men reminded me of soldiers
sent off to war, barely old enough to hold a gun, yet entrusted
with the lives of those on either end. I pictured mothers saying
farewell and fathers telling their sons how proud they were.

A lump formed in my throat. Sorrow rose so
strongly I couldn’t hold it in. The agony I felt over Sam’s death
and the death of the other werewolves at Two battered against my
mind and thoughts until I couldn’t think any longer. The fact that
other families would feel the same loss for the Hunters below made
my bones ache. I lifted my nose to the moon and howled for the
lives that would never be lived because of a foolish decision to
attack a werewolf hideout.

A few minutes later, nine other voices rose
to mingle with mine, their howls as dark and raw as my own with the
loss of our companions. We said goodbye to them as wolves letting
go of trusted comrades, saying farewell to boys we had grown up
with and watched mature, of memories wasted and lives thrown away.
We might not have made a proper pack, but when our parents took the
easy way out of raising us, we stood by one another and helped each
other through the hard times.

I let the guilt I felt at not being prepared
for the attack tangle in my voice. I was the leader of Two. I
accepted responsibility for their deaths and for the loss of the
Hunters in the ravine beneath my feet. The heaviness on my
shoulders threatened to choke me and my voice died away while the
others continued to echo through the countless canyons. They, too,
eventually faded, leaving the desert sands fuller and more empty
with their passing.

I studied the bodies below until their faces
blurred into one and Sam's empty eyes stared back at me. A drop of
water fell on my head, shaking me from the memory. I blinked and
rose, the rare desert rain falling like tiny stars laced with
moonlight. The moon was starting its descent in the sky, casting a
halo of silver from behind clouds that had gathered while I was
lost in my thoughts. I closed my eyes and relished the moon's
embrace for a moment, then forced myself to turn toward home.

It was hard to leave the bodies of the
Hunters, strangers who had come with the intent to kill us, but who
were nonetheless sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and
perhaps lovers whose bodies wouldn't be mourned or buried like they
deserved.

I ran away from thoughts that would be
treated as outrageous back at Two. I thought of Sam, Riff, Jason,
and Sy, once full of life, hope, and dreams, and now just bodies
that would be taken home in the morning for their own loved ones to
mourn. I regretted that I couldn't go with them and wish their
families the condolences and respect they deserved, but I didn't
dare leave Nora to the whims of the others if a vengeful mood came
upon them. A group of wolves could be worse than a mob if fueled by
the right type of rage.

I arrived back at Two to find Nora gone, her
scent hours old. A pit formed in my stomach, but I wasn’t
surprised. I picked up her trail amid the rain just outside camp
where Brian had been stabbed in the leg. His blood colored the
sandy ground in a dry dark patch that would soon be washed away by
the rain. Fear didn't color Nora’s scent, only anxiety and urgency
so I knew no one was chasing her. She had chosen the perfect night
for her escape, the only night when I didn't post sentries at Two
because usually no one was there to worry about.

I loped along her trail, her scent growing
stronger and stronger until I made out her form stumbling through
the shadows. She glanced back, but her gaze moved past my black fur
camouflaged in the darkness. She wiped rain from her forehead and
continued around the corner. I trotted to catch up to her, then
stopped.

She stood in the middle of the trail and
glared at me with her hands on her hips. “I'm not going back,” she
said in a tone edged with the slightest hint of fear.

I wondered if she had ever seen a phased
werewolf before. We looked like normal wolves, but bigger. A phased
werewolf weighed the same as in human form because mass wasn't lost
during the phase, just relocated, which made for some quite
intimidating animals, and I was the biggest werewolf of any I had
met.

I sat down on the trail and watched her,
weighing my options. The rain fell around us with a patter that
sounded like tiny feet, turning the dusty ground into plastered mud
while the few plants soaked in what they could reach.

I couldn't phase back to human form until
the moon sunk below the horizon, so I could either drag her back
unwillingly in my wolf form, facing who knows what kind of
battering she was capable of after the last several assaults I had
experienced, or I could go with her, make sure she was safe, then
convince her to return with me after the moon had lost its
hold.

I rose and walked slowly through the rain to
her side. She stiffened and I could tell she forced herself not to
run. A twist of her fear tangled on the night breeze and a pang ran
through me at the thought that she had seen so much of what we
really were and was still afraid. I gave a soft snort and passed
her on the trail. It surprised me how hard it was to turn my back
on her with her Hunter background even after what I knew of her. I
fought back a wry smile at our similarities, reminding myself that
a wolf's smile looked a bit more menacing than a human's.

“
Where are you going?” Nora
demanded from behind me.

I kept walking, knowing she had no choice
but to catch up.

Her feet thudded on the path and she huffed
when she grew near. “What? You going to walk me to my dad's?” The
heavy sarcasm held a hint of hope.

I was grateful I couldn't answer in wolf
form and kept walking. She caught up to my side, then fell in step
at the far side of the path. We walked for several minutes in
silence. The breeze brought me her subtle scent of vanilla and
sunflowers touched with rain. She studied the moon, the stars, the
landscape around us, everything to avoid looking directly at me. I
almost gave up and walked away when she cleared her throat
softly.

“
It's nice not walking
alone,” she said in an uncertain voice. The rain pattered around us
lightly, but the darkness of the clouds to the east indicated
heavier rainfall at higher elevations. I wondered how she dared to
walk through a night where even the full moon was obscured by
clouds and the rain sounded like a hundred creatures waiting just
out of sight.

I glanced at her. She stared straight ahead,
but her hand strayed over and rested on my back. I walked on as
though I didn't notice, but a surge of warmth ran from the spot on
my back and down my legs, making them weak. I wondered at the
strength she had over me and what she represented. My mother had
pretty much threatened to come over and kill her for me, and I had
no doubts what Nora's parents would do if they ever found Two.

I kept seeing her eyes that first night in
camp, wide with pain but fierce with determination. When she looked
at me, I smelled fear, but also an edge of defiance and courage
that I admired. Her look had pierced right through me and wrapped
around my heart. I shouldn’t have saved her from the others, but at
that point, it was the only course of action available to me. The
heat from her hand and the tremor that ran through my skin at her
touch scared me. I needed to keep my wits about me and I couldn’t
let her make me so vulnerable. Yet here we were, walking through
the night against all logic, and I still felt weak under her
touch.

If she felt anything strange she didn't show
it, but she kept her hand on my fur. I didn't know if it was for
comfort or because my eyesight was better in the dark. I was glad
that as a wolf I couldn't ask. The emotions that warred inside me
were conflicted enough without adding her hostility. We continued
on through the desert rain, two strangers with more in common than
either dared to admit.

***

The moon set and the gray edge of dawn
showed on the eastern horizon. The rain continued to fall softly,
but the dark clouds in the distance told of rains that hadn’t let
up. Nora's hand eventually lifted and I knew she realized I was no
longer forced to stay a wolf.

The closest clothing cache among those
hidden along the landscape for emergencies wasn't too far away. I
figured I could run to it, phase, dress, and reach her again before
she got too far. I padded to the edge of the trail, glanced back to
find her watching with an expression of loss and determination that
sent a pang of regret through my heart, and disappeared into the
sage.

I ran to the clothes hidden in a waterproof
pack between two small boulders over the next ridge, phased, pulled
on a pair of shorts, and ran back to the trail. She was gone as I
had expected. Her footprints left the trail and headed sharply
downhill to disappear over a stone rise. I climbed it and hurried
down to find her at the edge of a natural chasm.

She glanced back and her eyes widened before
she started to work her way to the bottom.

“
I wouldn't do that,” I
warned.

She glared up at me, her green eyes
sparking. “Go home, or run away from a beast?”

Her words cut like knives and I fought back
the urge to bare my teeth and snarl. “It's raining. These gorges
carry flash floods through the desert. If you're caught at the
bottom, you might never get out.”

“
Oh, I'm so scared,” she
said. She rolled her eyes and slid to the bottom. As if to prove
her point, she walked down the ravine.

The sound of water touched my ears and my
heart slowed. “Get out of there.”

She stopped. “If you come down here, I'll
cut you again,” she warned. She brandished a knife and I bristled
at an answering echo of remembered pain that ran down my back.

I gestured up the hill. “If the water
reaches you, I won't be fast enough to get you out.”

An emotion flickered in her eyes too fast
for me to catch, then she smiled. “You're just trying to scare me.”
She turned to continue walking, but stopped when the rush of water
reached her ears. She turned back and the world slowed. “Vance?”
she asked.

A raging river of water rushed around the
corner above her carrying logs and debris torn from the ground by
its heedless descent. Her eyes widened and she screamed. The
plunging wall of water swallowed her before I could move.

“
Nora!” I
yelled.

I ran along the bank, fighting to keep her
in view despite the debris that battered her body and the sage and
twisted bushes that impeded my flight. I pushed myself to run
faster than I ever had before. I rounded the next bend and my heart
slowed at the roar of water that plummeted toward the edge of the
ravine that led to a deep wash below. I glanced back in time to see
Nora forced under the water by branches entangled around her. There
was only one way to save her.

I slid down the side of the chasm. Gnarled
roots and branches grabbed at my hands and body, then I pushed off
and landed at the edge of the ravine. A puff of dust rose at my
feet as though mocking the water that plummeted toward me. Sound
dropped off the edge of the cliff at my back, a fall that would
kill us both if I made any mistakes. The water roared closer, its
sound multiplied by the chasm walls and the debris that was
propelled by the water’s maddening rush. I braced myself across the
opening and gritted my teeth.

The first rush of muddy water surged past,
then the branches, small tree trunks, and other debris that had
been torn free by the raging water slammed into my body with a
force that tore the air from my lungs. I held on and felt for
Nora's body. An arm caught around my neck, then she was cradled
against my chest, her small weight nothing compared to the force I
held back. I pushed slowly to the side, inching slowly backward
with the weight of the debris that pounded against us. I turned my
back on it to protect Nora and felt the bite of broken branches
against my bare skin.

One exceedingly sharp pain tore into my
side. I ground my teeth to keep from crying out and reached the
edge. The earth gave way when I grabbed onto it with my free hand
and we dunked back under the water. I pushed against the bottom of
the ravine with my feet and we surged back to the surface. I used
the momentum to lever Nora onto the bank above.