Home > Heartsong (Green Creek #3)(8)

Heartsong (Green Creek #3)(8)
Author: TJ Klune

I fell to my knees and I was

I am

wolf

i am wolf and strong and proud and this forest is mine this forest is home this

is where i am

this is where i am

this is

squirrel fuckin squirrel

i am going to chase you

i am gonna eat you

run run run

howl and sing and let them hear

there is

(robbie)

(robbie)

(ROBBIE)

????

is that

what is that

another wolf

is that another wolf

who are you

you aren’t here

where are you

i can’t find you

BUT I CAN SMELL YOU

I CAN SMELL YOU

(robbie robbie robbie)

why are you here

why are you with me

(i see you)

(i see you)

what is

who is

who am

who am i

i am

wolf

i am

i am

i

gasped as I broke out of my shift, falling to the ground, skidding on leaves and pine needles. I landed on my back, chest heaving as I stared through the canopy above. There were flashes of blue sky beyond green leaves.

But all I felt was the blue.

“What the fuck?” I whispered.

I pushed myself up off the ground. I grimaced as a cut on my shoulder began to stitch itself back together. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

I stood slowly, head cocked.

Listening.

I would have sworn there had been another wolf in the refuge.

One I didn’t know.

I stood still.

Waiting for something. Anything.

Nothing happened.

I looked around.

Only trees.

I was alone.

My skin was chilled.

“Great,” I muttered. “Now you’re hearing things. Fan-fucking-tastic.”

I decided to head for home.

 

I didn’t tell Ezra what I thought I’d heard.

We had other things to worry about.

 

 

protect me/trust you

 

 

“Jesus Christ,” I moaned. “How can you call this music?”

Ezra grinned. “Feel free to stick your head out the window like a good wolf if you think it’ll help.”

“That’s speciesist. You should feel really bad and apologize.” But I rolled down the window anyway. It was warmer than it’d been in Maine. I was stiff and sore, ready to get the hell out of this car, especially since we’d been listening to a woman wail in Italian for the past hour. Ezra thought opera would teach me to be cultured, but it was mostly torture. It didn’t help that we were stuck in traffic as we neared Fredericksburg, a small city outside of Washington, DC. The air was thick with exhaust, and I was pretty sure we were going to be poisoned and die.

“I feel really bad and apologize,” Ezra recited dutifully.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Ah. Well. At least I tried.” But since he wasn’t a complete asshole, he turned down the woman screeching about her lost love or spaghetti or whatever. “We’re almost there.”

“That’s what you’ve been saying for the past two hours.”

He glanced over at me. “How did I not know that you were like this?”

I hung my hand out the window, tapping it against the side of the car. “Because we’ve never had to go this far before.”

“We could have flown.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. Because a werewolf in a small enclosed metal tube with a bunch of strangers and screaming children is always a good idea.”

“You’ve never flown before.”

I shrugged. “Never had the need to. And I don’t like the idea of being so… high. I like having my feet on the ground.”

The car inched forward. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

“I think it’s really bad, so.” A sign up ahead said our exit was only a few miles away. I was relieved. We’d reach the pack before nightfall. “Do they know we’re coming?”

“They’ve been notified, yes. They didn’t respond, but we’ve done our due diligence.”

“And what do we do if they’re not there?”

I felt him looking over at me. “Where would they be?”

“I don’t know. But if they cut off contact with Michelle, what makes you think they’re going to want to see us?”

“Because they’re not stupid,” Ezra said patiently. “They know there are rules in place for a reason. If they’re not there, we’ll wait for them. They have to return sometime. It’s their home. They wouldn’t leave it behind. Territory is important to a wolf, especially to an Alpha.”

“And if they attack?”

He sounded surprised. “Why would they?”

“Maybe they don’t want to see us. Maybe there’s a reason they stopped responding.”

“Be that as it may, whatever their reason is, our job is to make sure they understand the rules and are following them.”

We hadn’t yet come across a pack that was truly defiant once we reminded them of their place. Sure, there were always going to be disagreements, but Michelle wasn’t so stuck in her ways that she wouldn’t listen to the problems of the wolves.

We were her emissaries, an extension of her, and a few of the packs disliked me on sight because of it. I always explained to them that I understood what they were doing and that I was an intermediary. A peacemaker. I carried their concerns back to the Alpha of all, and if she thought the concerns had merit and needed her intervention, she would meet with them face-to-face. Everyone left feeling like they’d been heard. Sometimes changes were made.

Sometimes they weren’t.

But still.

This felt a little different.

“If anything goes weird, you stay behind me,” I told Ezra.

He laughed. “Protect me, will you?”

“Yes.”

“I believe that.”

“Good.”

“Even though you know I don’t need it.”

“Whatever. Just let me have this, okay? It’ll make me feel better.”

“All right, Robbie. Whatever you need.”

We drove on.

 

They were waiting for us.

They lived outside of Fredericksburg, the town dropping away into rolling farmlands the farther we drove. I was disconcerted by the sprawling fields that replaced the trees, but to each their own. I’m sure they found a place to run when they needed it.

The GPS led us to a gravel driveway at the end of a one-lane road. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was the color of a bone-deep bruise. Thunder rumbled in the distance behind heavy clouds.

The car hit a deep pothole, and I bounced in my seat. I turned to snarl at Ezra to slow the hell down, but he came to a stop, his gnarled hands tightening on the steering wheel as he stared straight ahead.

The gravel driveway opened up to a large circle in front of an old house. It was different than the picture Michelle had sent to me. That house had been run-down, looking like it’d be easier to level it than to repair. But it looked as if they’d fixed it up nicely. The paint on the porch was new, and so were the shutters. The roof had been replaced, as had the siding. The bones of the house were the same, but they’d managed to make it look almost new.

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