PackRescue (8 page)

But before her wolf let itself indulge, it had a piece of
business to attend to. Moving smoothly and powerfully, Fina loped forward a few
feet and waited. Another female, smaller than her, sleekly muscled and elegantly
beautiful because of it, strolled her way with a wide-eyed crowd of young,
impetuous males so close on her tail their muzzles bounced off each other as
they pressed in after her, jostling each other for a whiff of her scent. When
the female was close enough, Fina’s wolf growled in warning. She turned to the
side, presenting her flank to the other but held her tail high. The glossy,
reddish-brown fur on her haunches stood up and her head was low to the ground.

The smaller female accepted her challenge and snarled. They
circled slowly, not losing eye contact. They struck at the same time but Fina’s
attack was motivated by anger and a perceived slight that her wolf’s intellect
was too limited to comprehend. It only knew this bitch had offended her. She
lined her thickly boned head up with her spine and slammed into the other
female’s flank, bowling her over. Fina’s strong jaw latched on to the other’s
neck and she sprayed spittle all over the golden-brown fur that was lightly
streaked with the color of sunshine. She let go just as quickly, trotting off
with her tail and her head held high. The other female’s scent and lack of
resistance had clearly telegraphed her capitulation.

The drooling males who’d been following the female weren’t
as perceptive. Four of them rushed at Fina, snarling and growling and making
more noise than effective aggression…or romantic overture. Fina spun and dipped
her head. She nipped the belly of one, sending him yelping and racing for the
tree line. She slammed her shoulder into another then turned to snap at a third
when two massive chestnut-brown males came up from behind her and flanked her.

These were no blundering pretenders. These were prime males
and they stood shoulder to shoulder with her, lifted their lips and showed
their massive teeth without making a sound. The last of the combative males
turned tail and ran off into the woods.

Fina trotted forward then slowly paced around her would-be
champions. They truly were magnificent and they held themselves with a
stillness that was as virile as it was confident. These males had no problem
letting her sniff them first, judge their status, gauge their worth. The one
with the taller haunches drew her eye first. He was easily the largest wolf she’d
ever seen and his powerful frame was covered in thick muscle and a dense,
protective covering of fur. It was so glossy it shone eerily in the moonlight.
He cocked his tail, inviting her inspection when she walked behind him and his
pale eyes, luminescent like the ocean, looked back over his massive shoulder at
her with haughty confidence.

Fina sniffed and felt the delicate tissues around her
ovaries quiver with anticipation. Her womb, though, was strangely quiet but
Fina’s wolf distanced itself from the deadened feeling. His testicles were large,
round and stood out proudly from his body. The fur-cloaked shaft guarding his
penis was deeply and securely rooted inside his loins. His size and confidence
trumpeted Alpha and he snarled at her with a touch of self-entitled arrogance
when she lingered too long at his vulnerable backside.

Fina moved on to the second wolf. This one wasn’t quite as
massive as the first but his health and virility were equally unmistakable.
There was no arrogance in this wolf and his eyes followed her with clear and
unfeigned desire. Yet it was an oddly chaste, restrained need that radiated
from his powerful body. Fina’s wolf registered the restraint, puzzled by it.
She continued moving. She shoved his tail aside with her snout then held her
nose very close to his back end and inhaled. Again her eggs jostled each other
in an attempt to free themselves from the pack and be joined with this male’s
seed. His…or the other’s. She sensed the strong family connection between this
wolf and the first. They smelled like…home.

Fina trotted around to face them, rubbed her snout over the
high, broad skull of the first wolf then that of second, then stepped back and
waited.

Cutler lifted his head and looked down his long, smoothly
furred snout at the young female standing before him. Her strength made her
cocky, although he didn’t doubt it was well-deserved. She was large for a
female but that roused his interest in her even more. This was a powerful,
worthy female and he would have to work hard to run her down—harder than he’d
ever had to work to claim any female.

Without thinking about it, Cutler knew he
would
claim
this female. The struggle would make the claiming glorious. She was his. She
was his mate. He knew that just as surely as he knew he was the single most
powerful creature in these woods. She had bright silver-blue eyes and they
looked at him and his brother with brazen insolence. She was a child of Alphas
and her wolf’s haughty pride would accept no less as her mate.

He also sensed a gentleness in her. She was confident enough
to reveal that to them. She would make a formidable but loving mother. That
same spirit softened the haughtiness in her just enough to accept his Beta. His
brother. With a low, resigned growl, Cutler’s wolf cast its blue-green eyes
over Nathaniel. He could smell the other wolf’s need for the bitch and it was
as strong as his own. Unless he was willing to kill his brother, he would have
to share her. For the first time in his adult life, the idea of sharing an
Alpha’s privilege did not meet with fierce, instinctual resistance.

His brother’s focused blue eyes turned to him as they came
to an innate understanding and acceptance of the bonds that would shape the
rest of their lives.

Cutler shook his head violently. He was a creature ruled by
its base needs and passions…not foolish, half-witted thought. The moon was full
and he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his brother. Their mate—their
perfect and long-awaited mate—was standing in front of them, beautiful and
strong and theirs to claim soon. The wolf understood the undercurrent of scents
coming from its mate and those scents told him that he must wait. Even now
there were changes taking place in her body and they must be allowed to
progress to completion before the time was right to make her fully his…his and
his brother’s. He shook his head again, casting off the last of the thoughts
that were beyond his simple understanding, and jumped, lifting his forelegs off
the ground then dropping down onto his chest, spreading his paws forward and
out. He dipped his head to the side. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and his
tail swished over the ground in excited anticipation.

The reddish-brown bitch in front of him did the same thing
then she jumped up again, spronked in place, flicked her tail up and raced away.
His brother jammed his shoulder into his playfully, knocked him off balance
then raced after the bitch, yapping with excitement. Cutler took off after
them, stretching his powerful body out fully. The ground rushed by beneath him.
At times all four of his paws were off the ground as he hurtled forward
unimpeded. He sensed the wolves they passed. Fina’s wolf was smart and
experienced in evasion, using the playing, wrestling bodies of the others to
distract him and Nath. Given her age that surprised Cutler and, more than a few
times, they lost sight of her, despite her height and size. But the bitch hadn’t
counted on the powerful effect her scent had on the Alpha and Beta and no
matter how fast she ran—no matter how fast she spun or backtracked around the
tumbling, rollicking bodies of the others—those two tracked her with
single-minded deliberation. Fina put on a burst of speed, surprising her
pursuers so much they slowed up just as she disappeared into the forest.

The Alpha lifted his head to the moon and howled. His Beta
joined him then, one by one, the song was picked up by members of their pack.
He let their mate gain a head start on them. A bitch this singular was worth a
long, difficult chase and he relished the anticipation of it. But his need for
her wouldn’t let him tarry long and soon, with his brother at his side, Cutler
sped off into the woods. The rest of his pack started to take off as well,
disappearing in all directions, running and trumpeting their joy and freedom.

Fina ran like the wind. She was young and powerful and born
for the chase. The ground she was running over was unfamiliar, the terrain
different from what she was used to but that didn’t deter her. The mountains
she had known were old and worn down. The rocky slopes she scampered up now
were new, fresh and jagged but her haunches were strong and her paws tough and
resilient.

They held against the sharp rocks. They were flexible, thick
and rough and clung to stone like sticky, sweet honey.

She couldn’t hear them but she sensed the males following
her. She was a female, young and new like the land she raced over. She was
worthy and she knew without doubt they would follow her. There had been other
bitches in the pack, back in the clearing. She’d led the two big males a merry
chase amongst them, knowing with a surety as powerful as she knew the sun would
rise they wouldn’t be distracted by the others.

They were hers.

Her sharp ears told her a big, heavy male was rushing toward
her, behind her and to the left. She veered slightly to the right, running down
the granite outcropping she’d been following and put on a burst of speed. She
knew the males would attempt to corral her, steer her through these woods but
her wolf’s sense accepted this. They knew this land. She didn’t. They would run
for miles and miles tonight but they would ensure the distance was far greater
than their displacement. She was theirs as much as they were hers and they
would ensure she wasn’t hurt and didn’t travel too far from their clearing.

The second male closed in on her, farther behind and
slightly to the right. Fina adjusted her course accordingly. After a few
minutes of sustained running, she saw why. A deep crevice in the earth opened
up beside her path and below, she heard the violent rush of water through a narrow
gorge. If she had continued straight she might have run over the edge. She
followed the edge of the gorge and the land dipped. The sound of the water was
quieter and she knew the river basin had spread out, allowing it to flow
calmly. She leaped down a short, sandy incline and ran along the riverbank,
turned and retraced her steps. She did this three times before choosing a
shallow slow-moving expanse of water. Fina jumped off the trail she’d left,
landing squarely in four inches of river water, then trotted over to the far
bank. She drank then melted into the trees, looking back the way she had come
and waiting.

Less than a minute later two massive, brown, male wolves
appeared on the far bank. Their noses to the hard-packed sand and rocks, they
tracked her path—up the bank then back—then tracked it again. The slightly
smaller wolf growled its displeasure and the larger one lifted a forepaw and
shoved his brother’s jowl out of the way so he could sniff the trail yet again.
Fina’s wolf opened its mouth, panted with smug pleasure then rose smoothly to
her feet, turned and crept deeper into the woods without disturbing so much as
a fallen twig.

After she was out of earshot she chose a tiny clearing near
the base of an ancient pine. The ground was cushioned by decades of fallen
needles and she lay down and rested. Within moments she had recovered her
strength and was back on her feet. Fina lifted her head and howled. The forest
around her fell absolutely silent then she was off, again racing through the
trees and over the rocky terrain.

Again she sensed the two males behind her, long before they
gained enough ground on her for her to hear them.

She let them catch her once before the moon set and they
caught up to her on their own once. Each time the three of them rushed at each
other, bluff charging, tackling, nipping at ears and tumbling over each other
in abandoned, jubilant play. Each time the three of them stopped suddenly,
almost as if by unspoken agreement. Close together, they stretched out on their
bellies, tongues lolling and breathing hard. Each time, after they’d recovered
sufficiently, Fina would leap to her feet, yip playfully and take off again and
it would start all over.

After a long, exhausting and demanding night of play, Cutler’s
deepest instinct again told him to lift his eyes to the sky. The moon was low
on the far horizon. He stopped running and began baying to it. He heard his
brother stop running then trot back to his side to take up the call. Seconds
later, they heard the bitch’s higher but no less powerful call in the distance.
Other distant calls echoed theirs. Soon she appeared, stepping up onto the
granite outcropping he and Nath were standing on. She dipped her head then
flung it back, adding her voice to theirs for a second time, then she allowed
them to flank her for the short trot back to the spot they’d started from.

Fina brushed Ryan’s dark-blond hair back from his forehead
as Nath gently carried the sleeping child to his bed. She pulled back the
covers then watched as Cutler eased Ryan’s shoes off his feet.

Ryan had barely woken when they’d picked him up at the Pikes’
after the pack run. He’d been snuggled deep inside his child-sized sleeping
bag, lying in a jumble with the other children. They’d considering leaving him
there for the remainder of the night but Ryan liked to say good-bye to Nath
when he left to guide an overnight trip and Nath would be leaving the house at
about seven in the morning. Nath had carried the boy and Cutler had walked in
front of them. A strange prescience filled Fina as she walked. The Alpha headed
up their odd little family, taking the lead and clearing the way. The child
rested safe in the strong, protective arms of the Beta. As the lone female, she
walked between the two powerful males. She shook her head and dismissed her
foolish, girlish, romantic thoughts.