I finally spot a good place to head back down the hill and turn to head in my intended direction. As I turn, my paw catches on a rock causing me to skid a bit. I quickly correct and fix my gait, lengthening my stride as I try to make up the seconds the skid cost me. About halfway down the hill, I run up a fallen tree to get a bit of height to scrutinize my surroundings. I spot a hollowed-out log off to the left, perfect for hiding. I jump off the trunk, making my way to the log, and slip inside it once I get to it.
Dropping the rabbit, I focus on slowing my breathing down to be as quiet as possible while trying to listen for Klaus. As I’m concentrating, my hearing sharpens and picks up the constant thud of paws hitting the forest floor. He’s at the top of the hill. I can hear him running on the upper ledge, trying to find where I am. Within moments he starts to make his way back down the hill approaching me. Shit. I bet he found the place I lost my footing. He makes his way down the embankment, and just as he’s about to pass me, I change my mind about hiding. I pop out from inside the log and bark right in his face.
I can't help but whoof a laugh as he jumps mid-stride and stumbles back a few steps. He catches his footing and bends his head low as he growls at me. Knowing the game is over, I reach down and grab his rabbit, tossing it over to him as a peace offering. It falls to the ground with a thud right at his feet, but he ignores it. Instead, he bares his teeth before barking at me. If I could understand him, I’m sure he would be cursing me out right now. I offer a playful yap back, and he just huffs at me with exasperation before lunging in my direction.
Out of self-preservation, I leap over his head and take off to the west. If he can’t take a joke and wants to be a bitch, we can continue the chase while still making our way back to the park where Alex and Marcus should be by now.
Klaus is right behind me, snapping at my heels. Darn cranky old man. Instead of continuing to attack my heels, he switches to snapping at my tail. I yelp as he catches it, teeth sinking in with a sharp twinge of pain. He relentlessly holds on as we continue running through the forest. All of a sudden, we speed out into a field. I make my way through the tall grasses and start running in a circle around the open area.
After making a full circle around the field, I haven’t been able to dislodge Klaus from my tail. Our movements cause a disturbance, stirring the bugs living among the grass. The air is suddenly filled with the flying buggers. Without warning, the sky right above the grasses lights up and spreads across the field. I stop suddenly in awe at the sight before me, causing Klaus to run right into my backside, tipping me over on my side.
Klaus is quick to recover and pounces on me, not noticing the fireflies all around us. The weight of his body has me slamming down on my back in a second, knocking the air out of my lungs, causing me to wheeze. His front paws land on my chest to hold me down as his teeth snap in my face. Aw, the old man is so cute when I rile him up. I shift my gaze back up to catch another glimpse of the blinking lights. Klaus follows my line of sight. His eyes widen, mesmerized by the light show going on. While he‘s distracted, I roll over, dislodging his paws from my chest, and I’m finally able to sit up next to him.
We sit side by side, staring up at the sky, enjoying the fireflies. We take in nature’s relaxing concert accompanying the light show. The other bugs in the area are singing with the wind blowing the grasses in the field, creating a beautiful melody. An owl hoots in the distance, and a chipmunk squeaks as it hides in its home. After a few minutes of soaking in the moment, Klaus nudges me with his nose and nods his head in the direction of the guys.
We both take off at a trot making good time, covering the distance between us and our destination. Before long we’re arriving at the park’s boundary, intending to hunt down our two friends as soon as we cross. As my paw steps over the border, a zing jolts through my chest, and suddenly panic overwhelms me.
Without thinking, I’m running at full speed again. Even faster than I was running when Klaus was chasing me. I have no idea where exactly I’m going, but I find myself having no control over whether or not I follow the instinct inside me. I can’t be certain if Klaus feels the same thing as me or is simply following my lead, but we remain shoulder to shoulder as we run.
All I know with one hundred percent certainty is that I have to hurry! This driving force propels me forward, and I just know I need to make it in time to protect what’s mine.Wait… what?
Chapter 4
Marcus
Four Hours Ago
My best friends have no idea that every time we meet for our annual trip, I arrive at the location at least three hours early. It's become ingrained within my personality to over-investigate the safety of an area, before they arrive. I don't want it to fall on me if, Fates forbid, some kind of trap is waiting for us. We’re all the future leaders of our people. Unofficially, we already fill those roles. The other guys don’t like to acknowledge that there's always a legitimate threat against us. Our positions may add a target on our backs, but there’s also a constant threat of humans finding out what we are. My uncle made it a part of my training to always be aware of my surroundings and to consider any threats that could come my way.
Before I even left North Pack’s headquarters, I looked up aerial maps of the park and surrounding areas and downloaded them to my phone and a tablet for backup. I researched the surrounding towns, ensuring I was aware of any and all disturbances in the vicinity. I also have a few exit strategies and places scoped out if we need to make a quick escape and hide. As I said, I’m always aware of my surroundings and constantly have a contingency plan.
When someone wants to visit and arrives at the park, there aren’t many options. The only entrance on a map, and I checked several maps spanning the last hundred years, is a paved road from the south, which isn’t anywhere close to here. I’m currently walking into the park by way of a dirt road that isn’t on any map I could find. I found this road by checking satellite images. This is precisely why I conduct the extensive research I do.
I also researched the park itself and mostly found a whole lot of nothing. What I do know is that it was once owned by a Mr. Verburgh. He originally came from England shortly after America started to boom and established a corporation by the name of Verburgh Innovations Co. The research and development his company produces has influenced just about every industry you can think of, but he mostly focused on his passions, scientific and medical experimentation.
Once he died, his trust had been transferred to his son, who continued to pursue his father’s passions. Apparently, the whole Verburgh family had a massive hard-on for their legacy. Each generation seemed to get a bit darker with their research tactics, and less and less ethical with the experiments. When proof of how immoral and inhumane their activities had become was leaked to the media, people gathered outside their facilities to protest.
The park disappears from the trust’s holdings around eighty years ago. The problem is I haven’t been able to track down exactly what happened after that, the paper trail is nonexistent. It appears the state took ownership of the land around fifty years ago when it became the largest park in the Midwest. Although, considering there’s an unmarked road leading into the park, I'm more likely to believe this is all a front.
Despite the shady past of this park, or maybe because of it, I’ve had a nagging sensation driving me to investigate in person for a while. All the guys feel the same about this place, desperate to come here as well. A whisper inside my mind tells me that whatever is driving us to arrive here is going to change everything. I’m just not sure if it’s going to be worth it or not.
I keep my ears focused on my surroundings, making sure I’m not caught off guard. If I hear anything coming, I can quickly duck into the woods lining either side of the road. Thankfully, the trees also offer me shade from the scorching sun. Tucking my hands into my pockets, I make my way down the lane and cross over the border into the park, and instantly feel a zing in my chest.What the hell was that?I rub at the sensation… I've felt that feeling before… haven’t I? I shake my head, reminding myself to stay focused, but for some reason, I’m... hopeful. For what I’m not sure, but there's a lightness filling my soul as if a part of it knows it will find something that has been stolen from it.
It takes a while, but I finally reach the end of the road, which dead-ends in a small open area. There’s a dead patch of grass underneath a tree on the edge of the clearing. It looks like the grass probably died because of a vehicle parking there continuously and repeatedly. If that’s the case, where’s the vehicle now? Sniffing the air I pick up the remaining scent of a human and exhaust fumes.
I've nothing better to do than wait around, the guys won’t be here for another three-ish hours. I find a discreet place in the woods with an unobstructed view of the parking spot, and sit with my back against a tree. With my legs stretched out in front of me and crossed at the ankles, I get as comfortable as I can since I have no idea how long I’ll be staying in this spot. I pull out my phone to check on the backup plans in case the guys and I need to ditch this place quickly. I have an inkling we’ll be needing them.
I’m scrolling through some news pages I like to follow when the sound of a truck approaching reaches my ears. I glance up to see a man wearing glasses driving a double cab pickup truck. And sure enough, he parks in the shade where the patch of dead grass is. As soon as the truck stops, he jumps out. I watch as he opens the back door and hurriedly grabs enough grocery bags to fill both of his hands. Then he kicks the door closed with his foot and marches into the trees.
Why would one guy need to carrythatmany grocery bags into a park with nothing for hundreds of miles? I move to follow him but quickly pause, realizing I should keep some distance between us so he doesn’t notice me stalking him. So instead, I wait a minute and walk over to his truck. I peer inside the windows and take in the gray cloth-covered seats and black-carpeted floorboards. There’s still a hint left of that new car smell mingled with the assortment of groceries he just took with him, but nothing else. I don’t see many humans keep their vehicles so clean; most of them have at least a little trash, maybe a bottle of water. I move to turn but pause as an afterthought hits me, and I reach out to try the door handle. For whatever reason, he didn’t lock the truck, probably because his hands were so full or maybe because we’re in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. Hell, he could even be planning on coming back. I pull the driver’s door open and climb in so I can check under the seats and in the glove box to see if I can find out something about this man.
Things keep getting more and more suspicious when I discover the truck is void of anything personal. I can’t even find the manual or a fingerprint smudge. I roll my eyes, getting irritated with the constant lack of answers I’ve been running into lately. I could chalk it up to coincidence, but I don’t believe in such a thing.
I move to climb out of the truck and spot a phone cradled in a notch on the door, hidden from view. Well, now… seems like he forgot to grab it in his rush to get the groceries. I snatch the phone, but I’m not holding my breath that it will offer me any information. Technology has advanced to where I can’t hack a password protected device without some of the gear Alex set me up with, and unfortunately I left it at home. Now if Alex was here, he might be able to work his tech mojo. I roughly tap my finger on the screen and sure enough, the phone is password protected. I let out a growl when I see there isn’t even a photo saved to the lock screen. Ok, there is, but it’s a solid black screensaver. I put the phone back where I found it and slam the door shut. My instincts were right, there’s something going on somewhere within this park.
I should track the man now… as soon as I turn in the direction he left, I can’t budge from the spot I’m standing in.What the fuck is going on here?It’s like my shoes are glued to the ground. I can’t even pull my feet out of them to move. A tugging blooms, where I felt the zing in my chest, pulling me back toward the woods where I previously waited. With this new sensation, I test to see if my feet are free to follow the encouraging directions. Sure enough, as soon as I blindly listen to the tug, I’m able to move again.
Relieved, I perform an about-face, determined to discover where the man went. But again, when I attempt to lift my foot and take a step, I find my feet cemented to the ground. I struggle harder this time to free them, trying everything I can think of. Jumping does nothing, so I grab a hold of my leg with both hands and pull with all of my might, my arm muscles bulging with the strain. My leg doesn’t budge, but maybe that’s a good thing. If it had, I probably would’ve kicked myself in the face.
