Chapter One
Declan wanted to head south, had planned to head south the entire time, but the wolf hot on his tail had driven him north against his will. He’d been running for days with the other wolf nipping at his heels with an unusual sense of determination. As often as he and his twin brother Lachlan had been chased out of different territories over the years, he’d never been chased for so long by another wolf.
There’d been one determined set of betas from a puma clowder a few years back that had chased him and Lachlan for a couple days at the order of their alpha, but wolves tended to be different. They didn’t normally stray far from whatever territory their pack had claimed, so Declan and Lachlan had always been able to outrun them in the end.
This was different.
This time the wolf who’d run him out of the territory they’d been in had kept on him long after he and Lachlan had been forced to split up. A handful of days later and still running, Declan was exhausted. Only his superior speed had allowed him to keep one step ahead of the sleek brown wolf that was tailing him so far. Declan wasn’t sure exactly how long he’d been on the move, but the ache in his bones and the exhaustion that was quickly working its way through him told him that he probably didn’t want to know. Still Declan didn’t think he could keep up the pace he’d been forced to set for too much longer.
Breathing ragged, Declan pushed himself harder, forced his legs to keep moving despite the way his paws were beginning to stumble over nothing. He could still hear the other wolf, could smell him when the winds changed, and he knew he was too tired, too hungry and weak, to put up much of a fight. Plus, the still slowly healing wound on his side was draining his strength faster than he wanted to admit. The claw marks were the reason he and Lachlan had tried to barter for some time from the pack the beta that was chasing him belonged to.
They’d run afoul of a bear about a week before, and Declan had taken a heavy paw to the side in an attempt to protect his brother.
Lachlan, wracked with misplaced guilt and anger over the wound, had talked him into seeking out refuge with the pack that they’d caught wind of a short distance to the north. Declan had been reluctant at first, but the thought of finding a territory they could settle in to get some rest, even if it was only for a few weeks, was too tempting to pass up.
It hadn’t ended well to say the least. The alpha had been willing to hear their case, had seemed interested in what Declan had been willing to offer in exchange. Yet as soon as their identities became known, they’d been chased out. As a result the healing that Declan had already done had slowly begun to unravel. The strain his body was being put through had drained the energy he would have normally used for healing, and as a result the wound was unable to close as quickly as it should have.
He wasn’t losing blood anymore but the injury, three deep grooves that were cut into the flesh of his side, throbbed in synch with his heartbeat. The straps of the small pack on his back dug into his side painfully as he ran, but Declan refused to slow down long enough to shimmy out of it. Besides, the bag, a twin to the one his brother carried, was filled with things that he could ill afford to lose if something happened. Things like a change of clothes, a disposable cell phone, cash; things that they’d need to move quickly. Without it he’d be stuck moving around in his wolf form no matter what, that or forced to steal some clothes from somewhere. Theft was something both he and Lachlan tried to avoid for a number of reasons. Mainly it had to do with the fact that the kind of extra attention they would undoubtedly gain was likely to attract hunters.
And once hunters were on their trail they were always hard pressed to shake them. Those people would run a were to ground if they were suspected of having put a paw out of
Declan wanted to head south, had planned to head south the entire time, but the wolf hot on his tail had driven him north against his will. He’d been running for days with the other wolf nipping at his heels with an unusual sense of determination. As often as he and his twin brother Lachlan had been chased out of different territories over the years, he’d never been chased for so long by another wolf.
There’d been one determined set of betas from a puma clowder a few years back that had chased him and Lachlan for a couple days at the order of their alpha, but wolves tended to be different. They didn’t normally stray far from whatever territory their pack had claimed, so Declan and Lachlan had always been able to outrun them in the end.
This was different.
This time the wolf who’d run him out of the territory they’d been in had kept on him long after he and Lachlan had been forced to split up. A handful of days later and still running, Declan was exhausted. Only his superior speed had allowed him to keep one step ahead of the sleek brown wolf that was tailing him so far. Declan wasn’t sure exactly how long he’d been on the move, but the ache in his bones and the exhaustion that was quickly working its way through him told him that he probably didn’t want to know. Still Declan didn’t think he could keep up the pace he’d been forced to set for too much longer.
Breathing ragged, Declan pushed himself harder, forced his legs to keep moving despite the way his paws were beginning to stumble over nothing. He could still hear the other wolf, could smell him when the winds changed, and he knew he was too tired, too hungry and weak, to put up much of a fight. Plus, the still slowly healing wound on his side was draining his strength faster than he wanted to admit. The claw marks were the reason he and Lachlan had tried to barter for some time from the pack the beta that was chasing him belonged to.
They’d run afoul of a bear about a week before, and Declan had taken a heavy paw to the side in an attempt to protect his brother.
Lachlan, wracked with misplaced guilt and anger over the wound, had talked him into seeking out refuge with the pack that they’d caught wind of a short distance to the north. Declan had been reluctant at first, but the thought of finding a territory they could settle in to get some rest, even if it was only for a few weeks, was too tempting to pass up.
It hadn’t ended well to say the least. The alpha had been willing to hear their case, had seemed interested in what Declan had been willing to offer in exchange. Yet as soon as their identities became known, they’d been chased out. As a result the healing that Declan had already done had slowly begun to unravel. The strain his body was being put through had drained the energy he would have normally used for healing, and as a result the wound was unable to close as quickly as it should have.
He wasn’t losing blood anymore but the injury, three deep grooves that were cut into the flesh of his side, throbbed in synch with his heartbeat. The straps of the small pack on his back dug into his side painfully as he ran, but Declan refused to slow down long enough to shimmy out of it. Besides, the bag, a twin to the one his brother carried, was filled with things that he could ill afford to lose if something happened. Things like a change of clothes, a disposable cell phone, cash; things that they’d need to move quickly. Without it he’d be stuck moving around in his wolf form no matter what, that or forced to steal some clothes from somewhere. Theft was something both he and Lachlan tried to avoid for a number of reasons. Mainly it had to do with the fact that the kind of extra attention they would undoubtedly gain was likely to attract hunters.
And once hunters were on their trail they were always hard pressed to shake them. Those people would run a were to ground if they were suspected of having put a paw out of
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