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Coyotes stalked through the trees toward them. Her aunt lifted Dani in the air toward a high branch and she grabbed hold of it and pulled herself up just as the coyotes attacked. Her aunt tried to shift to protect herself, but the coyotes chased her into the swiftly falling darkness. She’d tried to block out the sound of her aunt’s screams by covering her ears, but that hadn’t stopped it. She stayed perched on the branch with her arms clinging to the trunk until the sun rose. The coyotes had come back and circled the tree for a while. She’d stared down at them, and knew she was looking at natural coyotes and not shifters. After what felt like ages, a loud howl broke through the air, and they slunk back into the trees. She thought perhaps their leader was calling them home.
She’d waited on the branch until she almost fell off as exhaustion tried to claim her. After climbing down, she’d found the herd’s belongings destroyed by claws and fangs. She thought the coyotes were probably looking for food, but that hadn’t made anything about the situation easier. She took refuge in one of the tents and stayed for a few days, and then she salvaged what she could—some food, clothes, a blanket—and began to walk. As she wandered through the woods, she scented the metallic peppermint of her people’s blood and knew she’d hit the killing ground. Her people had fallen here, including her mother and father. The herd was small, only fourteen, and she was the only child not old enough to shift.
Days later, after the food ran out and she was exhausted and sore from sleeping in trees and worrying about predators, she stumbled right into a group of bears. They were enormous, with big black claws and huge fangs. She’d thought she would die right there, after surviving the killing spree of the coyotes and managing to walk who-knew-how-far on her own. She’d dropped to the ground, too tired to flee or put up a fight. Someone picked her up, and she blinked weary eyes at the man who held her. It was the bear king, who took her to his wife, Glory, who took her to Alice, the woman Dani would come to think of as her mother. Alice had loved her from that moment, even though she’d tried for years to find any link to Dani’s family. Reindeer, however, never used human-run hospitals or doctors, or dealt with the government—there was no record of Dani’s birth or her parents. She was a ghost and an orphan, until Alice adopted her, and Row had promised to be the best big brother to her.
“Are you okay, Dancer?” Tesli asked, putting a gentle hand on Dani’s shoulder.
“You can call me Dani, and yeah. I was just thinking about my herd.” She touched her cheeks and found them wet with tears she hadn’t realized she’d been crying.
Tesli sat down. “Herds are nomadic by nature. I think it’s an instinct thing from our natural ancestors, you know? Like how birds fly south for the winter.”
“We’re technically winter animals,” Liam pointed out.
She snorted. “We’re nomads like our ancestors, but now we drive RVs and caravan like circus people.”
Liam’s brow arched. “Seriously? Did you just compare us to circus people?”
“Or gypsies. Is there such a thing as circus gypsies?” Tesli asked, her voice teasing and her eyes glittering with mischief.
“Good grief,” Dragos said.
“My mate fenced in our yard and said he’d plant willow trees for me. I think you can have safety and freedom at the same time.”
Dragos’s dark brow arched. “I don’t have to remind you that you said you were stolen from your own backyard.” He gestured to his outfit. He looked ready to go to war. “We train from youth to be fighters. Nothing is more precious to us than our herd and our family. I can fight in my shift as well as my human form. Our horns and hooves are deadly.”
“You can’t fight against drug-laced darts or guns,” Dani pointed out.
His lips tightened in a frown, and Dani wondered if she’d crossed a line. He blew out a sharp breath and said, “You’re right. Tesli was stolen from us when she was grocery shopping. Her guard was nearly killed trying to protect her.” He looked over her head out the window, his eyes focusing sharply on the movement of the males outside.
“Why are reindeer nomadic?” She rubbed at her arms to stave off the chill she felt. It wasn’t that it was cold in the office, it was that she found herself feeling like that little girl lost out in the woods again, and she couldn’t shake it. She needed Adam. She wanted him there so she could make sure he was okay, but also so she could stick herself to his side with industrial strength adhesive.
“It’s the way things have always been,” Dragos said.
“Even a devastating change like the death of my herd and my family can bring about something wonderful as time passes. Without being adopted by the bears, I might never have found my truemate. It was painful to lose my family.” She stopped for a long moment, watching the males carry more accelerant, dousing the buildings inside and out. “I wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy. But I love my mate, and I’m blessed to have him in my life.”
Dragos smiled at her when she looked over her shoulder at him. “You’re very sweet.”
“You probably think I’m naïve.”
He shrugged. “You know about love. I know about war. I’ve been fighting my whole life to keep the herd safe. It’s tempting for me to want what you have with your mate—a place to call home that is never changing—but I still fear it’s too dangerous for us.”
“I wonder if there are orphans like me out there in the world, with no way to contact herds for help.”
Liam said, “That’s not a bad idea.”
“What isn’t?” Tesli asked.
“Having a website. I need to think about it a little more, but we should have a way for our people to keep in contact with each other. We have no clue how many reindeer there even are in the States, because none of the herds keep in touch with each other. If we’d been available before, your bear family would have found us and we could have helped.”
“None of us should have to be alone,” Tesli said.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Adam couldn’t stop his constant, rumbling growling. His wolf was agitated and prowling. He believed that Dani was safe with the reindeer, but he wouldn’t feel remotely at ease until he held her in his arms and was sure that she was okay. His knuckles popped as he clenched his fists together.
“She’s safe. That’s what you need to focus on right now,” Acksel said, turning from the passenger seat of the SUV and looking at Adam.
“I know,” Adam bit out.
