Page 19 of Caligo

I stopped dead in my tracks. “You’re scared,” I repeated dumbly.

He nodded, and his voice got quiet. “I’m scared I’m going to lose you. This isn’t a game. It’s not training anymore, it’s life or death, and I’m the one who got you involved.” Taking my hands, Jasper continued. “If you get hurt, I’ll have only myself to blame. I don’t want to live without you, and I don’t think I could if I knew your pain was my fault.”

“Jasper, I… I don’t know what to say. We should probably --”

Jasper cut me off, pressing his lips against mine. His touch, his proximity -- it made all of my worries go away. All that mattered in the world was Jasper kissing me, and it was all I focused on. He grabbed either side of my face, barely breaking our kiss. “Don’t say anything, baby, let me talk.” He kissed me again, slipping his tongue between my lips. “I’m going to tell you something, and out of all the things I’ve told you, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the one that makes you want to run. Promise me you won’t.”

“Jasper, I don’t know if now is such a great time for another bombshell. Let’s set up the perimeter and go home.” I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but his tight grip left me immobile.

He continued to stare at me. “No. This is important.” His voice was gentle, but firm.

“What could be more important than our safety?” I was getting frustrated now, and threw my hands out to the side. Jasper could be so stubborn sometimes. “Fine. Fine,” I huffed. “If it means you’ll let us do our job, I promise I won’t run away.”

He ran his thumb along my lip, and breathed out heavily. “Ava, I --”

“Hey, Jasp, wait up!” Jasper was cut off by a deep voice calling out to him.

“Shit,” Jasper cursed under his breath. “We’ll come back to this, so don’t think you’re off the hook yet.” He tugged his gaze away from me, squinting into the dark where a tall figure was jogging towards us. His body relaxed. “It’s okay. It’s Adrian.”

Adrian joined us, not a bit out of breath from his jog. “Hey. I passed Alpha in the parking lot on my way to see Beau, and he mentioned you guys were beefing up security. Thought you might need a hand.”

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, obviously agitated at our interrupted conversation. “Yeah, man, thanks.” He offered a weak smile to his best friend and immediately settled into business mode. “The pack found Beau a little east of the field.” He motioned to the left of us. “We should probably set up the motion sensors for a kilometre or so on either other side. It’s not perfect, but it’ll be better than nothing. We can regroup at the exact spot the pack found him later to see if there’s any tracks or evidence we can follow.”

The three of us worked in silence, inching our way from one edge of the forest to the other. The only sounds were the occasional snap of a stick underfoot, or the eerie call of a lone owl. Looking around at the deep woods, I knew Jasper was right. The perimeter wasn’t a perfect solution, but hopefully it would at least give us a buffer, or some idea as to what we were working against. We eventually worked our way back around to the small clearing where Beau was found. I rested my head on Jasper’s shoulder, sending some good vibes out into the universe Beau would recover. Adrian must have been thinking along the same lines, because he shook his head. “I can’t believe it, man.”

Jasper wrapped his arm around me, rubbing my shoulder gently. “I know. That’s why we have to take this guy down soon, so no one else has to feel like this. We need to search the area, see if anything got left behind. I’m doubtful, though, because whoever this guy is, he knows what he’s doing. We’ll split up, but don’t go far enough away you can’t hear each other.” Adrian nodded, heading towards the far side of the clearing. Jasper turned me towards him. “Ava, are you armed?”

I reached behind me, the feel of my blades reassuring. “Yeah. I’m good.”

He kissed my lips briefly before releasing me. “Good. Stay close. We still have to talk after this.”

I groaned. At this point I’d rather be found by this wolf than hear whatever he wanted to drop on me now. I turned away, headed for some bushes outside of the clearing. I examined the area in detail, looking for any sign of the attacker. The ground wasn’t cold enough for the snow to stick overnight, which meant the dirt was soft enough for footprints to stick. The heavy, large sneaker prints were obviously Beau’s, unless our unknown wolf had shown up fresh from the gym. I brushed my hands through the bushes, coming up short. I searched the area for several more minutes, becoming increasingly more frustrated as I found nothing. We couldn’t hunt this thing with no leads.

“I think I found something!” Adrian’s voice carried over to where I was looking, and I left my own futile search to join him. He was standing over a wet patch of dirt, and beckoned me over. “Come see.” Jasper was already crouched next to the spot, examining something intently.

I crouched next to him. “What did he find?”

“Look.” Jasper pointed to a smeared bit of dirt. “It’s a print. Fresh. It looks like someone turned away in a hurry. But this is the interesting bit.” He carefully lifted his foot to sit next to the print, his own shoe engulfing the size of the dirt print by nearly double. “It’s a woman’s print.”

I checked out what he was saying, and everything lined up with my own tracking knowledge. “Huh. So, either a woman was out here and saw the attack happen or…”

Jasper finished my sentence for me. “Or, we’re looking for two attackers, not one.”

Finding nothing else, we walked Adrian back to his house before leaving pack lands, finding safety in numbers. The enhanced perimeter alarm was set up, linked to Jasper’s phone if anything should set it off. By the time we made it back to my apartment, his phone had already gone off for a deer, raccoon, and several birds.

“At least we know the alarm works,” I told him, slipping off my shoes. “But it might make for some sleepless nights when the noise wakes us up every twenty minutes.”

Jasper sat on my bed, leaning against the headboard. “I’m not sure I would have slept much anyways until we catch this guy. Guys, I mean.” He closed his eyes. “I’m so angry at myself because I never considered the idea of two people working together. But they’ve been covering their tracks well, and I’ve only ever seen signs of one wolf.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up. I never thought about there being more than one, either. Will you be okay for a minute if I take a shower? I need to warm up. My clothes got soaked through.” I plucked at my damp sweater.

He eyed me from the bed hungrily, all earlier signs of frustration forgotten. “Want some company?”

I rolled my eyes, chucking him a towel from the bathroom door. “Come on, then.”

Turning the shower on as hot as I could handle, I undressed and stepped into the steam. I tried to psych myself up before Jasper joined me and could see my nerves.I can do this. Being a Venator is in my blood. I’m tougher than I think I am.Truth be told, I was terrified. But for the first time in my life, I felt like I was doing somethingright.I heard Jasper step into the bathroom, and I took a deep breath to calm myself. He didn’t need to see my nerves on top of everything else. Everything would be fine.

He pulled aside the curtain, and I couldn’t help but admire his thickly muscled frame. It still astounded me this godlike man was in my house, let alone in my shower.

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