Page 40 of Ravaged Wolf
The rest of the welcome committee has gone back to nature. Nia, Pritchard, and Bevan are scavengers, so they’ve always let their wolf hang out, as Mom puts it, but this is next level. Nia still has the partial perma-claws—she’s got them painted bright red rather than her usual black—but now she’s also sporting wolf ears that poke through her black hair, and she’s got them pierced from base to tip.
I was always fascinated by Nia. She kind of stomps through life, but not like she’s angry. More like she’s Godzilla and everyone else is Tokyo.
Nia is sitting on the topmost log, drumming her combat boot heels against its bark. Her mate, Pritchard, squats beside her. He basically looks like someone shoved a wolf into a shirt and pants, kind of like humans squeeze theirdogs into sweaters. His feet are paws. His head is more muzzle than face.
Nia and Pritchard mated really early, and they were never reallytogether, at least while I was still going to the Academy. I can’t tell if they’re together now. He’s sitting close to her, but not too close, and in every mated pair that I know, the male is dominant, and that is not the vibe I’m getting from them.
The fourth member of the welcoming committee, Bevan Nevitts, is strolling back and forth like the log is a balance beam. He’s the only one who waves and smiles as we pile out of the bus, flashing his gold teeth. His tail is sticking out of his drawers, and as he turns, everyone can see that instead of bothering to sew a hole, he’s cut the rear of his pants from waist to crotch and pinned the seam partially back together with diaper pins. The kind with yellow ducks on the heads.
It’s a look.
“Good trip?” Bevan hollers down.
At the same time, Seth orders, “Get your luggage and come around this side.” He points to a narrow trail that’s been cleared through the dense woods to skirt the downed trees.
Seth casts Bevan a dark look, and Bevan raises his palms in the air, grinning. “Sorry, boss. Forgot that I was supposed to forget my manners.”
Seth’s jaw tenses. He ignores Bevan and barks down at us, “We leave in five.”
Then he steps off the back of the blockade and disappears on the far side. The others follow him.
We all turn back toward the bus, only to hear the screech of the doors closing. The bus driver has already taken our bags from the stowage compartment and piled them in the middle of the road. We gape as he proceeds toreverse the bus straight back out the way we came. The woods are encroaching on the road so much, there’s nowhere for him to turn. Tree roots are breaking through the packed dirt. The road is going back to nature, too.
As the sound of the bus’s engine grows fainter, the knot in my stomach grows. This is it. I’m doing this. There’s no going back now.
My mom’s voice echoes in my head.“You have never succeeded at anything you started. Do you think it wise to fail in a cave somewhere in the wilderness surrounded by strangers?”
I set my chin, and I’m the first to grab my duffel bag and the tote I’ve stuffed with my various cosmetics, toiletries, and sundries.
The others follow my lead, the males from facilities helping the nurse with luggage, but they don’t offer to help me with mine. I don’t expect them to—unmated males always treat me with that weird combination of pity-tinged respect and superstitious wariness. When we all round the blockade, though, and Nia sees that I’m carrying my own bags, her mouth curls with contempt.
“Izzy’s bags too heavy for you delicate flowers?” she asks. I had no idea she knew my name. I’m surprised. I was pretty forgettable in school. I made a point of blending in.
The males look down and shuffle their feet.
Bevan bounds toward me, careening to a halt about three feet away. “I’ll take those, milady,” he says and thrusts out his arm in my direction.
He’s treating me with kid gloves, too, but more like I’m venomous than cursed, and it doesn’t sting so bad as the usual ten-foot-pole treatment. I can’t help but smile as I hang my bags on his forearm. He’s such a hyper person, you’d think he’d be wiry, but he’s actually pretty muscular,especially for a scavenger. He doesn’t even have to flex to hold my bags up.
He gives me a goofy bow and goes to strap my luggage onto the back of a four-wheeler. There are several ATVs waiting for us, including the dual-sport bike that Nia is mounting.
Bevan and Seth mount four-wheelers. The nurse hurries to double-up with Seth, grabbing him by the waist and giggling about how it’s her first time, and she’s so nervous and excited. Seth’s jaw is so tight that his teeth must ache.
The Moon Lake males watch me, waiting for me to make my choice. I don’t want to spread my legs and sit so close to another male.
I don’t want to hold another male’s waist. I know touching another male won’t erase anything. It’s not like there’s psychic energy left on my fingers from when I touched Trevor’s face, and my thumb pressed into his stubbly jaw, or when he held my hands at his side.
But still.
If there were, I wouldn’t want it to rub off.
And that’s silly and stupid, and everyone is waiting for me to make a decision. I break out in a sweat. My collar is too tight and scratchy. My gaze sweeps the scene as if I’m looking for an escape and catches on Nia.
She’s smiling and patting the seat behind her butt. “Wanna ride with me?” She arches a pierced eyebrow.
It feels like an out. I take it.
It’s not until my butt is perched on the narrow ledge, my front plastered to her back, and the rubber soles of my Keds propped on thin, stubby metal pegs that I realize what I’ve gotten myself into.
