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Nobody hurt what’s mine.
Cole
The poor condition of the female bothered me more than it should have, and I wasn’t sure why. Silas was all riled up. It was obvious he had kept some of his thoughts back. Judging by the golden glow in his eyes, his wolf was riding him hard. To be honest, so was mine, but I was better at controlling him.
My wolf reacted as soon as Silas brought her in. There was interest from him, and something more, which was strange given she was a human. He didn’t normally care about humans unless they were a threat to us.
Living up here meant we didn’t need to interact with many humans. Sometimes hikers passed through the forest in the summer, but mostly we only saw other lone wolves when they crossed the mountains. Shifters like us who opted to remain unaffiliated with a pack.
We saw even fewer people and wolves in the winter. The snow always cut us off from the towns below for at least two months once winter storms closed the mountain pass. The area wasn’t popular with skiers because of the dense forest, which meant there were few roads around here. Why the girl had even attempted to cross the mountain this late was a mystery.
She was lucky she survived.
I tidied up the kitchen while Silas stoked the fire. We had enough logs to last well into spring and plenty of supplies. Given the severity of the storm raging outside, I fully expected the pass to close overnight. Tanner wasn’t back yet, but he’d have no problems getting through, although he might need to leave the 4x4 lower down in the valley and come up the mountain on foot.
Silas looked up as soon as I walked back into the living room. “She’s still out of it.”
“She’s probably exhausted, plus she has a nasty head wound. Give her time to recover. I checked her pulse, and it was steady.”
Silas hopped up and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet in the corner. “Want one?”
I nodded. He passed me a glass, and I took a long swallow. The liquor burned my throat as it slipped down like velvet, lighting a trail of fiery warmth. “We need some more of this. Remind me to order some.”
He threw me a wry smile. “Tanner likes it too, which is why there aren’t many bottles left.”
Tanner drank too much. He used alcohol to drown out the memories. It was unhealthy, but no matter how often I suggested he talk to someone, he took no notice. The man refused to let anyone see his vulnerable side, even us, his brothers. He viewed it as a sign of weakness.
“Have you heard from him?”
“No,” I said. “But he’ll be back soon.” Our brother often disappeared for a week at a time; sometimes longer. He did enforcement-type jobs for the local mafia. Carlos Carelli liked to make good use of Tanner’s need for violence.
After doing whatever jobs Carlos asked him to take care of, Tanner always came back calmer. Winter was the worst. Being cooped up here riled him up after a while, but when he got too antsy, he disappeared for a few days, hunting whatever prey he could find. Deer mostly. Our freezer was well-stocked with game.
I didn’t know how he would react to having a female here. Unless she was well enough to leave in the morning - which I doubted - she would be stuck here for a while. At least we had a spare room and more than enough food to feed an extra mouth.
“He better not hurt her,” Silas said in a low voice.
“He won’t.” I wouldn’t let him. My wolf growled deep in my chest at the very idea of anyone hurting our female.
My drink went down the wrong way, and I coughed. Our female? My wolf chuffed. You’ve got to be kidding! He ignored me and closed his eyes.
“You OK?” Silas fixed me with a sharp look.
“Yeah. Fine.” I had no intention of discussing this with him. It would soon get fucking awkward if we fought over a female. Not that we hadn’t shared females before - we had, many times. Poly relationships were common among shifters, but the way my wolf was reacting told me he thought we had some kind of ownership claim on the female. And from Silas’s behavior since he found her, his wolf thought the same.
We might need to have a conversation. But not yet. It was late.
“Are you taking the first watch or am I?” I asked.
“I’ll stay with her for now.”
“OK. Any changes or she seems worse, call me. I’ll get some sleep and then come and sit with her.”
He nodded and leaned back in his chair. I noticed how he kept looking at her while she slept, her petite body curled up under the blankets piled over her. The blue tinge to her skin had disappeared and she was now a much healthier pink. Knowing she would be hungry and thirsty when she woke, I placed a bottle of water on the table.
“There’s some soup in the refrigerator. Warm some up if she wakes. She needs to eat.” I scowled at how thin she was.
“Yeah. She needs fattening up.”
