Chapter 8
Klaus
Present
Ijust can’t get over that little shit jacking my snack. I huff my displeasure as we trot over the park boundary. The moment I step over the invisible line, a shock sparks in my chest and I have an instant need to be somewhere. Where... I have no idea. I just know I can’t bear to waste a single moment in getting there. Without thinking, I start running full out.
Derrick keeps pace with me, but something tells me he isn’t following my lead. No, I suspect he’s been consumed by the same force as me. We run for miles, which I don't normally do at this speed. I should be exhausted and my breathing labored, but the only thing I can feel is my desire to reach her.
Her?
A wave of confusion rushes through me, clouding my thoughts, and I slow a fraction. NO! I need to focus on getting there as fast as possible. I shake my head, trying to clear my mind and push forward into the forest in front of us. It's pitch black in here, the trees blocking out the moonlight, but we keep running, following this… pull. We suddenly burst out of the trees into a field with prairie grasses. I keep running, the tall blades constantly smacking me in the face, but I ignore it as I power through.
We’ve been running through this field for about five miles when the need to slow down overwhelms me. Derrick slows as well, proving my suspicions were correct. We continue walking for a quarter of a mile and then reduce our speed again to a crawl for another quarter mile. We finally inch up to the edge of the meadow, and my paws stick to the ground.
I glance over at Derrick, and he’s staring at his paw, jerking as if he’s trying to lift it up. Well, at least it’s not just me. I’m tempted to believe Derrick is pulling another prank on me. Clearly, it can't be him, which raises the question, what’s going on?
With no other choice, I lay down and observe my surroundings. There’s a large open section with a few low lying bushes bordered by the grass we were just running through.
Sniffing the air, I pick up a couple different scents, the most prominent belonging to a human male. He’s come to this place a few other times, his scent trail registering at varying levels of strength. His most recent trail leads away from the area, which occurred only forty minutes ago.
The second scent I’m picking up definitely belongs to Alex. I lift my head a bit more, trying to get a stronger hold on the scent Alex left behind. I swear both trails lead to the same spot in the center of the clearing. The human’s scent seems like they just turned around on the spot. But Alex’s scent… just vanishes.
I mull over some possibilities and come up with only one conclusion. There has to be some way to get underground right there. Alex must have figured it out and went exploring alone. I won’t be able to confirm my theory until I’m able to move and explore whatever is hidden myself.
I catch Derrick’s ears pricking forward so I focus my hearing. As soon as I do, I pick up the gasping and wheezing sound of a human huffing and puffing, clearly showing he overexerted himself. The scent blowing toward me confirms it’s the same man who was here before. About a minute after hearing him, he comes crashing into the clearing. Without pausing, he runs to the center where I can only assume the underground entrance is located.
He pauses and places his hands on his knees while taking deep, ragged breaths. This guy obviously doesn’t exercise much. After a moment, he reaches his hands into both jacket pockets and quickly jerks them out and checks his back pants pockets. Not finding what he’s searching for, his hands dart to his front pockets, then he pats down his body in quick jerking movements. It’s like watching a train wreck as I see him start to panic. “FUCK!” he shouts.
He drops his head down and spins in a circle, staring at the ground. I’m pretty sure he’s lost something. Pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight, he directs the beam over the ground. He runs a few steps to the left and then dashes to the right, repeating his spin every couple feet. He retraces his steps, walking back the way he came with his head and flashlight constantly pointed at the ground seeking whatever he lost. As he runs through the grass, he uses his arms to move the blades out of his way to see the ground better.
As soon as he’s out of sight, Marcus emerges from the trees, where the man disappeared. I watch as Marcus slinks into the grass, vanishing from sight as he heads our way. He’ll be here in moments based on the pace he’s set.
I’m so focused on watching for Marcus, I don’t notice Derrick leaving my side. I realize he’s no longer next to me when I see him running around the clearing, sniffing about from the corner of my eye. With my attention now on Derrick, I catch the comical sight of him making a spastic jerk of his body. His full attention focused on the ground with the gleam in his eye he gets when he’s excited about one of his nerd topics. Hmmm, interesting. Maybe he’s found what the human was searching for.
My mind wanders, thinking about the pull that drew us to this spot. It has fallen into the background and instead of the dire urgency I felt to get here, I’m now almost content, but there’s also a feeling of anticipation. Like something I didn’t even know I was waiting for is about to appear.
Derrick lets out a small, excited yip, pulling my attention back to him. With a nod of his head, he beckons me over. I let out a huff and shake my head, not wanting to give in too quickly after the stunt he pulled. At my refusal, Derrick emits a low growl and slams his front paws on the ground, bending his body so his ass is in the air. Rolling my eyes at his impatience, I make my way over to him.
Derrick begins pawing at the ground and lets out a whine, drawing my attention to what only he would pick up on. With a confirming glance around me, I can now see the entire clearing is covered in Queen’s Thistle. I think Derrick told me a story about it once… a story about… what was I doing again? Oh yes, exploring the area. I trot around the perimeter of the clearing just as Marcus arrives.
As I pass by Marcus, we touch foreheads, our version of a fist bump in wolf form. He lets out a sharp breath and nods his head in the direction the human went as if to say, “What the hell is going on with that guy?” I just shake my head, not knowing what my answer would be. We can talk about it once we shift back and Alex is with us.
Resuming my exploration of the surroundings, I spot some pipes coming out of the ground a few yards into the field, near the edge of the clearing. I head over to them and spot an old-fashioned water pump even farther out. Before I can make my way to examine them, I hear a grinding sound and spin my body around to face the middle of the clearing.
Thankfully, Derrick is right there, staring intently at where the noise is coming from. After the sound stops we hear three clicks, then a pop and finally a slight hiss. You can hear the sound of sand shifting before one of the bushes begins to levitate and tips over. Oh wait, no, it’s just attached to a hatchl that has opened.
Alex’s cursing can be heard coming from the opening as I walk over to peer inside. “Son of a bitch! Fuck this skinny ass tube. How do they expect anyone of any size to make it to the top before the walls start squeezing in? Not to mention trying to carry dead weight to the top.” I snicker at his commentary. The poor guy hates small spaces.
“Who are you calling a ‘poor guy,’ Klaus? And stop laughing at me while you’re at it! You would feel the same way if you had to climb this ladder in a sausage tube,” he yells out to me with a pissy tone. How the fuck did he know what I thought?
“I have no idea, asshole, but I need some help over here!” he says, once again responding to my thoughts.
Before the sound of his voice even dies out, Derrick is shifting and reaching down into the hole, not caring about his nudity. He takes in a sharp breath, and his biceps flex as he works to pull something up. It must be the deadweight Alex mentioned.
The expression on Derrick’s face makes me pause. There’s reverence in his gaze like he’s pulling up the most treasured item he’s ever laid his fingers on. “That’s because I am,” he whispers to himself in reply. Again, I have no idea how the guys are replying to my thoughts. Last I knew, they weren’t perceptive enough to read my facial features in wolf form, and even if they could, they haven’t been focusing on me.
A perplexed expression covers Derrick’s face. I hear him murmur to himself, “Hearing Marcus and Klaus in my mind is too fucking trippy.” Derrick’s top half re-emerges from the opening, and in his arms is a fragile-looking woman with platinum blonde hair. My lungs strain with the breath I’m holding while waiting for him to turn so I can catch a glimpse of her face. An intense throb beats in my chest and before I can process the origin, a tortured whine reaches my ears. Whipping my head around, I realize the only possible source of the noise is Marcus. My eyes dart around, trying to assess what could’ve caused him to make that sound.
