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“Yeah, that one’s fine.” Her voice was subdued, which made me feel like a dick for ruining the happy vibe. I should have kept my goddamn mouth shut.
“Thirsty?” I asked. We’d brought some drinks and snacks in a backpack. Felling trees was sweaty work, and we’d be out here for a while.
“I’m good,” she replied. Silas ignored me, more focused on yanking his jacket and shirt off. God, he was such an exhibitionist.
“Stand with Cole,” Silas instructed. “I can control where the tree falls to an extent, but I don’t want you anywhere near the drop zone.”
She moved closer to me and I gently pulled her back so we were well out of the way. We both watched as Silas wielded the ax and cut sharp, precise chunks out of the trunk.
Using a chainsaw was the easiest way to cut down a tree, but this wasn’t an enormous tree, and Silas liked to show off. So here we were, watching him sweat, flex his muscles, and do his best impression of a sexy lumberjack.
Fuck my life.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and focused on the noises in the surrounding forest. Birds twittered high above and squirrels made loud kuks and quaas to warn all their brethren we were around.
The sun disappeared, and Eva shivered. “You warm enough?”
“I’m OK, but it is rather cold,” she admitted, hugging herself.
“Come here, sweetheart.” I pulled her against my chest and wrapped my arms around her slim body.
While she had put on some weight since being with us, she could still stand to gain a few pounds. It made me sad to think nobody had taken good care of my girl. Well, that wasn’t the case anymore. As long as she was with us, I’d make sure she ate well every single day.
At first she was stiff as a board in my arms, but slowly, her body relaxed as she absorbed my heat. I was always warm because as wolves, our body temperatures ran hotter than humans.
It was a bonus in winter, and the reason Silas was perfectly comfortable shirtless in sub-zero temperatures.
“Timber!” He whooped with excitement as the tree fell to one side, well away from us.
“And now we drag it back to the cabin.” We could have brought the snowmobile and attached it with a chain, but we weren’t too far away from the cabin and it was easy enough to carry a tree this size, if awkward.
Silas could do it and enjoy being covered in tree sap and pine needles. It would serve the bastard right for annoying me. Just as he dropped the ax and turned to Eva with a wide grin, my ears picked up a sharp, menacing growl from the trees.
Silas
Something wasn’t right. There were plenty of other predators in the forest, but they always steered well clear of us. This was a mountain lion, an aggressive one. The cat slunk out from the trees, snarling, mouth foaming, eyes wild.
“It’s rabid,” Cole said in a low voice, confirming what I suspected. Fuck. When rabies took hold, affected animals didn’t react the way an animal normally would. Their brain chemistry changed, which made them unpredictable and dangerous as fuck. The cat needed putting down, and fast.
My gun was over by the fallen tree; too far away. Cole was behind me, with Eva tucked behind him. He was also too far away from the gun, which was a problem.
The only solution was to shift, but Eva knew nothing about our true nature and this was not exactly the best way to clue her in. Then the cat screamed and launched itself into the air.
I shifted on instinct, my clothes falling away, and met it half-way. Thick, viscous blood exploded in my mouth as my powerful jaws locked on the cat’s throat and tore through skin and sinew.
It struggled, sharp claws swiping across my side, but my wolf was far more powerful than this half-starved cat. The fight was over in seconds.
The sun came out high above. Scarlet blood stood out in stark contrast to the pristine snow. I dropped the cat and watched as its eyes glazed over. At least the poor thing would no longer suffer a miserable, protracted death.
Fuck know’s where it had picked up rabies. Most likely from an infected skunk. I prayed there were no more rabid cats out there. We’d all need to be on our guard from now on.
When I shifted back, Eva remained pressed against Cole, well back from the blood spattered snow where the cat’s corpse lay steaming in the sun. Nudity didn’t bother me, but fuck, it was cold.
Cole smirked at me and then released Eva long enough to tug his jacket off and throw it in my direction. I looked at Eva. From how pale and still she was, she was clearly in shock.
It was always difficult for humans when they found out we existed. Some embraced us with open arms; others never quite got over it and remained permanently terrified.
It was why most shifters preferred not to interact with the human population. Although integration was better now than it had been in the past, with a few mixed schools and more shifter-human relationships.
