I inhaled through my nose. Mixed with the flowers was the smell of magic, my magic, Paladin magic. This land was special, and I think even the city wolves sensed that. Trying to push Sawyer from my mind and the sense of urgency I felt to get to him and to Marmal to find this troll, I forced myself to calm down and take a breath, to enjoy this moment of what I had accomplished for our people.
“A lot of people want to thank you,” Rab said. “Come on.”
I followed him into the little campsites where people were waking up and sitting in front of fires as they made breakfast.
“Thank you, Alpha!” a Paladin woman with one kid on each hip called out to me as I passed. I gave her a small smile and nodded my head. People were out and about, stretching and looking up at the rising sun. Imagine a year underground and then coming back to this Garden of Eden.
“She healed our land!” another said, and I suddenly felt awkward with the public attention, but continued to walk and be seen like Rab said. I didn’t want to be known as an absent leader, especially if I was going away for a while. I sipped my coffee and nibbled my burrito as I waved and nodded at people who we passed by.
We came upon an open field where a bunch of city wolves seemed to be surveying the land and pointing out different areas for building. I recognized one of them as the man who’d almost challenged me in the bunker. As if sensing me behind him, he turned. There was regret in his eyes, even shame. He gave me a small nod of his head and I nodded back. That was as much of an apology as I was going to get.
“Hey, I heard you’re leaving soon,” Willow called to me from behind. I turned to see her holding her daughter. The baby looked so much like her mother, all except for the beautiful brown eyes she had compared to her mother’s Paladin blue. She would forever be known in our community as one of the few Paladin children born without wolf shifter magic in the time that we had no alpha … and I would hold guilt over that for the rest of my life.
Still, she was perfect.
I’d been worried Creek would be born without a wolf since he too was born before I’d claimed the land, but I could smell his wolf just under his skin, something he got from his father and my city wolf lineage no doubt. In that case, his wolf wouldn’t emerge until around his first birthday, as was normal in city wolf genetics.
“Yeah, I’m just making the rounds,” I told Willow, “and then I’m going to get Sawyer and bring him back.”
She nodded as if she understood, and then booped her daughter’s nose. “I’m taking Daisy for a playdate with Creek, and then I’m going to make mashed corn soup!” She said the last few words in an excited voice to the baby, who blew a raspberry in her face.
I smiled. Willow was such a natural mother, and I loved the name Daisy. In all the drama I’d totally forgotten to ask what they’d named her. I had a dark thought then. What if Sage, Sawyer, Walsh and I all died and none of us made it back? Who would take care of Creek? My mom was great but she wasn’t a warrior. What if the Ithaki attacked and she died too and there was no one to take care of my son? Panic seized me.
“Hey, Willow, Rab…” I looked at them both awkwardly, deciding something in the spur of the moment. They stared at me with concern, probably because I sounded on the verge of tears. “I, uh, my mom’s going to be looking after Creek while I’m gone, but if something were to happen to her, and my dad … and I didn’t come home…” I blew air through my lips nervously. “If anything happens to me, will you make sure Creek is taken care of?” My throat tightened with emotion at that thought, but it was a very real thing to have to think about right now. Sage and I were going on a dangerous mission and I needed to know my son would be okay.
Willow grabbed her heart, clutching Daisy closer to her as tears lined her eyes. As a new mother, I hoped she understood my panic.
“I hope that never happens, but if it does, that baby boy will have a long and happy life,” Willow promised. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Me too,” Rab said. “We will provide for him and protect him with our lives, as if he were our own.”
A huge weight lifted off of me then. That was what I needed to hear. Now I was ready to go fight for my man.
The horses that the Paladins kept on the back side of the land had grazed the wild grasses and drank from the stream over the past year, so they were in pretty good shape. Sage was able to convince two of them to wear a saddle, so we were in luck. It had been a year since either had been ridden, but they seemed okay with it, other than some twitchy tails. I couldn’t go into Wolf City and get a car and just drive on over to Troll Village, so this was the next best thing. Saying goodbye to the Paladin Village this morning had been hard. Our two wolf packs were trying to start fresh, and I was supposed to be their leader and I was leaving. But I had to do this.
Because I was linked to this land, I knew our territory without even looking down for the blue stone crushed path. I felt it like a guideline just under my skin. Some parts felt and smelled like home and the others were foreign. Not that it mattered much since the Ithaki had broken the peace agreement and we were at war with everyone. But, luckily, it was a short trek through the Wild Lands on horseback and to the edge of Troll Village.
The problem was that Marmal’s farm was at the very outer edge, near Vampire City, and we were going to have to come up through the entire village to find her. Once we stepped inside troll territory, it would be a full day’s ride. I’d painted Sage’s face with blue paint and dressed her to look like a Paladin trader. Wearing deer skin that barely covered our asses was no big deal after our year in the woods. We’d also braided our hair and tied two carved bone ornaments onto the ends. We had some goods to sell that Willow had hooked us up with, and most importantly I was wearing my cuffs. No one should be able to smell what I was, other than a wolf. The face paint and deep hood over my head should also hide my identity if I was on some wanted list.
We guided the horses up a steep hill through the last stretch of Wild Lands and I was pleased to see the small rock fence at the top indicating a territory change.
Troll Village, here we come.
“Owww wooaaaw!” an unfamiliar voice shouted a battle cry from the trees.
“Ithaki!” Sage barely got the warning out when an arrow whizzed past my head and sank into the ground, right in front of my horse. My mare reared upward, as I tightened my thighs around her to hold on, and gripped the reins for dear life.
Dammit! Those bastards.
Pulling a throwing knife from my thigh holster, I spun my horse around and eyed a streak of red cloth in the treetop.
“Hiya!” I spurred my horse lightly and she took off running in the direction of the Ithaki hiding in the tree. Throwing the knife, there was a yelp. A woman dressed in red rags fell backward out of the tree, clutching her chest, and hit the ground with a thud, dying instantly.
I’d killed many squirrels that way in the Dark Woods.
I relaxed a little, releasing the breath I’d been holding.
“Look out!” Sage screamed just as what felt like a boot thudded into my back and I went flying off my horse. I spun awkwardly in mid-air, falling backward just in time to see the vampire-Ithaki sailing through the air after me. He was covered in dirt camouflage, but I could smell him, that metallic vampire smell mixed with hot wires for fey magic. The air whooshed out of me as I hit the ground hard, and for a second I couldn’t catch my breath. It felt like my lung collapsed, but I’d had the wind knocked out of me enough times to know that wasn’t the case.