Without thinking, I slapped my hand against the pocket of my jeans, and heard a crunch as my cellphone ringtone abruptly cut off.
I sighed, and Hector very carefully said nothing as I pulled my newly broken phone from my pocket.
Hector just nodded and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a new phone. “I’ll call Aeric and let him know the spare is your new main.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” I didn’t bother looking at the phone—I knew from experience it had all the numbers and applications I used.
Instead, I looked at the Low Marsh Pack territory. “This is the last strip of border we share with them,” I said. “I don’t think we’ll find anything more. Let’s head back.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
I shook my head as I started to jog through the forest.
I need to get rid of Fletching first. I can figure out what’s wrong with me after that. It’s nothing too dangerous, or I would have reacted before now. Maybe it’s not even me; maybe Pip’s powers are growing.
Though it was an excuse for me, the thought brought a frown to my lips.
I hadn’t been happy about transferring to the Northern Lakes Pack from my home in Colorado, but things had changed. With Pip, especially. I’d never hated her, but strangely, she’d become some kind of friend. It was more than I ever thought I’d feel for her, because she was the reason why I’d been forced to become Alpha of the Northern Lakes Pack.
Chapter 17
Pip
I locked the welcome center’s double doors and pulled on them, testing to make sure they wouldn’t open. They rattled, but stayed shut.
“Excellent! Time to head home for a late dinner.” I put the keys away in my backpack, slung the backpack over my shoulder, and waltzed out onto the sidewalk.
It was late. The streetlights were already on though the sun hadn’t set quite yet, and everything was that beautiful dusty blue shade of twilight when the sounds of the day start to settle and seem muffled.
I’d stayed after usual work hours to modify one of the center’s displays—the signs had gotten so faded you could barely read the print, so I’d printed off new copies and then struggled for an hour with figuring out how to laminate them, then had to clean up the mess I’d made, and time had gotten away from me.
I salivated as I passed the Goats On The Roof Pub. The delicious aroma of their Friday fish fry tickled my nose as I passed by the restaurant, dodging a car that was attempting to parallel park in a spot on the street just in front of the building.
With the exceptions of the restaurants and pubs, all other stores and buildings had closed on main street, but the hum of conversation dripped from the eateries, and the windows glowed with a pleasant light as I passed them, making my way to the empty park.
One of the swings swung, creaking in a totally not creepy way even though no one was on the equipment, but I ignored it as I marched across the park lawn, joining up with the paved path I took home.
I followed the paved path out of Timber Ridge and into the tree line, diving into the forest.
What do I have to eat? I think there’s some leftover pizza in the fridge, or some chili in the freezer, but I’d have to thaw that.
I’d also have to feed the cats, but the question was, did I need to feed them before I got a chance to eat?
If I don’t, there’s a big possibility they’ll do something bratty…
I paused when I picked up on my hunter senses spiking. I lifted my head up and strained my ears as I listened.
Then I felt it, the cold blast of a wolf closing in.
It was moving fast, but erratically.
That’s not a Northern Lakes wolf.
I flung my backpack off and got my daggers out. I tucked my fingers to my mouth and made the shrill, specific whistle that I used in lieu of a wolf howl, and still had just enough time to turn around and face the incoming wolf head on.
Dolph, the Alpha of the Low Marsh Pack, stepped out of the trees. His beard was longer than the last time I’d seen him, and based on the greasiness of his hair, I didn’t know that he’d showered since I’d last seen him, either.
“Phillipa Sabre,” he said.
His brown eyes seemed a little glassy, and the smile on his lips was creepy enough to make my spine shiver as he strolled toward me.
“What do you want?” I put my back to a tree, preparing myself to climb.
“Retribution,” he said. “I told you I’d come for it.”
I snorted. “So you attack me instead of Greyson—who actually killed your guy? Yeah, that’s retribution, for sure.”
Dolph wiped his hands off on his grease-stained jeans and licked his lips. “Nah, you see, if we get you, it’ll hit your Alpha hard, so I get my revenge on you both.”
“And you think no one is going to suspect you? Dream on.” I adjusted my hold on my daggers as I watched his legs, studying the way he crouched. “The Northern Lakes Pack will raze you to the ground.”
He lunged, but I was prepared for it, and shot up the tree, yanking my feet out of reach as I juggled my daggers—I had plenty of practice holding them while climbing.
Once I was safely situated, I whistled again—though it was a pretty bad sign no one had come yet.
That meant either no one heard me, or maybe Dolph had brought extra wolves…
I clung to the trunk, honing in on my senses, then cursed when I felt two more cold blasts.
Fantastic. He has backup.
“Nope, we can’t have you cheating like that.” Dolph set a hand on my tree and peered up at me, his eyes glowing. “Come down, hunter.”
“Do you seriously think I’m that stupid?” I called down to him. “Or is it just that you are so stupid you think that’ll work?”
Dolph laughed. “No, I know exactly how your mind works. So come down, or else my friend here will go pay a visit to downtown Timber Ridge.”
Another wolf stepped out of the shadows—this one was a woman with rusty brown hair and a mean look in her green eyes. She seemed already half feral as she snarled at me, and my heart fell.
She could tear through an entire restaurant or pub before the Pack realizes what’s going on. And I left my cellphone in my backpack, so I can’t call Aeric or Wyatt.
I seriously needed to get a Bluetooth headset. Or maybe one of those fancy phone watches. Hands free devices were underrated.
“Come down, Phillipa,” Dolph repeated in a harder voice. “Unless you want human blood on your hands.”
He has to be bluffing. Greyson would legally be allowed to kill him if he did something like that, and the supernatural community in general would stamp the Pack out for doing such a thing.
But…his eyes had the same glassy look as the wolf I’d fought.
If he was taking wolfsbane, there was a good chance he was half feral and wouldn’t think the consequences through.
I can’t risk it.
I bit my lip, then started to pick my way down out of the tree, going as slowly as I could to buy time.