After my little taste of freedom on the bus over the past few days, I want more.
I’ll never go back to living under someone else’s thumb. If I’m not free to come and go as I please then Bloodstone Pack isn’t the place for me. If that happens, I’ll give Oak Fast a shot.
Jenny makes a face like she’s sucking on something sour. “Oh, all right. I want to go on record that I don’t like it. Look at her, she’s not even wearing a raincoat. She’s going to get swept right off the mountain.”
Carla gives my arm a pat and pulls out of the bus station parking lot. “She likes to fuss. If we let her, it'll pass quickly. You want me to take the main road off town or is there another way you’d like to go?”
I’m grateful for Carla’s easy nature. Driving a girl out into the middle of nowhere for a hike in a storm probably isn’t a request she gets every day. “Main road would be perfect. Thank you so much.”
The ride out of Oak Fast is quick and easy, and Carla’s right. Jenny does tire herself out pretty quickly. We drive for aboutfive or so minutes when I see the road marker that Gus circled. It’s a trail head sign for Samson Peak. The arrow says it’s two miles out. That’s where I’m going to start my trek to Bloodstone Territory proper. I squint and see another sign a hundred yards past the sign for Samson Peak.
Red River 15 miles.
Good. It’s not too far off.
“There, that’s where I need to get off,” I say, pointing at the trailhead sign. “Just up there.”
Carla starts to slow to pull off to the side while Jenny leans forward and squints out of the windshield. “How did you see that? I can’t see anything with the rain coming down.” She’s right, the rain is pouring now. The only way I was able to see the trail head sign is because of my shifter senses.
I shrug and give her a smile. “I’ve always had good eyesight.”
“Ate lots of carrots, huh?” Carla muses. I don’t understand the reference but I nod at her all the same.
“Yeah, I love carrots.”
“I can see that far too,” she tells me. “Must be on account of all the carrots.” There’s something in the way she says ‘too’, the humor that I hear when she talks about the carrots that makes me pause and really look the woman over. She’s middle-aged and pretty with auburn hair cut into a blunt bob. She’s wearing standard fare for a mountain town with boots and work pants and a heavy coat which, when I look at her, is completely at odds with her delicate features. There’s a restless energy to her with the way she taps her fingers on the steering wheel that I didn’t pick up on before, with Jenny’s energy filling the cab. She seemed calm before and she is but there’s a little something extra to the way she moves as she drives. Alert and wide-eyed. Her profile shows a pert button nose and a delicate curve of her chin. All it takes is a quick glance between us for me to understand what it is I’m seeing.
“You’re a bunny shifter,” I say and take a quick sniff to confirm. Yup, that’s one hundred percent bunny.
She chuckles and pulls off the road in front of the sign. “You got me.”
“I’ve never met a bunny shifter.”
“We prefer rabbit on a first meet and greet but since Jenny likes you so much I’ll allow bunny.”
I blush hot at her words. “Sorry,” I tell her and duck my head. “I-well, I’ve never been anywhere,” I tell her and gesture around with my hands. “And now I’m here and I’m meeting all kinds of wonderful people and now a bunn-I mean, rabbit shifter to boot? You don’t know how excited I am.”
Carla smiles at me. “I’m awfully glad that you’re here, Cordy. It’s nice to meet another shifter.”
I beam at her. I’ve never met another shifter outside of Frostclaw, let alone one that wasn’t a wolf. “Pleased to meet you too, Carla.” I have so many questions for her. I wonder if she knows Jazzy. I open my mouth to ask her but stop when Jenny speaks.
“Wait, you’re a shifter?”
Carla and I both freeze at Jenny’s question. We lock eyes and I wince a second later while Carla sucks her teeth and gives me a knowing look.
“Wolfs outta the bag,” she whispers to me and Jenny lets out a gasp.
“You’re a wolf?!”
I want to run, or at least I think I do. My fight or flight has never been one hundred percent on point and everything feels off since my wolf arrived. Still, I manage to turn to look at Jenny with an apologetic smile.
“I-well, surprise?”
Jenny’s mouth opens and closes a few times like a fish out of water and then she shakes her head and slaps a hand over her mouth with a groan. “I cannot believe this!”
My heart falls at her words. It’s just like I feared it would be when she found out that I was a wolf, just like the ferals she talked about in the woods, but I push on. I’ve dealt with worse in Frostclaw and I know I can win Jenny back over to being my friend. She’s friends with Carla. Even if I’m not the right kind, Jenny is still open to shifters.
I hold up my hands like I’m soothing a scared animal. “I know that it’s a shock but I promise I-I’m not bad and-”
