Thomas' Heart

Chapter One

Present…

Keep them safe, Mary.

Through our link, I felt the tug of Charlene’s fear and automatically sent my love back. She’d been withdrawing so much since leaving home. Some of it I could attribute to her fear of returning to the world she’d left long ago. But I knew her well enough to see there was more troubling her. I also knew she’d tell me when she was ready.

I will, Mary said, reaching out to squeeze Charlene’s hand. After years of keeping Jim safe, these two will be a breeze.

Charlene laughed, and I looked over at Jim. He was playing with Michelle’s brothers, the little ones who’d completely won over Charlene. Me too. Emmitt stood by his Mate, grinning as he watched Jim. Overwhelming pride filled me. My sons had their own family now. Emmitt’s cubs had gone through so much and needed safety and stability, like another cub I once knew. I glanced at Carlos who stood quietly beside Grey. Even after all these years that boy still carried the weight of his past.

Luke and Bethi entered the lobby, drawing my attention. Before their scents even reached me, I knew they’d completed the bond. They moved as if one person, aware of the other even as they separated. Another Mated pair. A thread of satisfaction drifted over our link, and I knew Charlene sensed them, too. Not many understood how much value each Mating held for our kind, though Bethi might.

That girl knew things about us we hadn’t even known. I hoped the mating would put both Luke and Bethi at ease now.

Luke caught my eye and nodded toward the lobby doors. Even from across the room with conversation flowing, I heard him just fine when he asked me to meet him outside.

I moved toward the exit, and he followed.

Congratulations, I said as soon as the doors closed.

Thank you.

The young man’s scent didn’t match his words. A light coat of worry clung to him. It was not something a newly Mated male should be feeling. The euphoria usually lasted more than the first night.

Something on your mind? I asked, studying him closely.

Yeah. A few things actually. Grey mentioned you and Gregory roamed quite a bit in your youth. In all your time in the woods, did you come across many families?

Not many, I said, thinking back. Men who had females kept to themselves. Hidden if they could manage it. There were a few families we knew who welcomed us, but most did not.

And how many males did you come across grieving the loss of a daughter or a wife?

I frowned, wondering what he was getting at. Had Bethi remembered something more?

A few. Life was hard in the woods. That’s why Charlene made such an impact in so many ways. What’s this about?

A suspicion. My parents were killed when I was still a cub, and something about that is bothering me with everything that’s going on now.

Like what? I asked.

I found them after school. Da was on the floor, his throat ripped out. Ma was in the corner, not far from him. The police blamed it on a break in. But nothing had been taken. Just their lives.

Luke’s gaze became unfocused.

Da’s throat told me it was one of our own. Humans typically don’t kill like that. I’d always thought that Ma had tried to stop a fight for territory. We had a good thing there, blending with the humans. But, Bethi says these Urbat have been searching for her kind. What if…while the Urbat were searching for them—Luke nodded toward the women inside—they’ve been attacking families and any Mated pairs, reducing our numbers just in case they couldn’t find what they were looking for? It’s easier to take power when there’s no opposition.

A heavy feeling settled in my stomach. Luke’s grim suspicions didn’t sound as impossible as I would have liked. Back then, territory fights might have ended in death for one of the two males, but a female? We protected our females. Yet, his questions about the Urbat truly troubled me. Bethi only recently revealed the truth of their existence to us. We’d been blind to them and their intention. Could they be behind the many attacks our people had suffered? Attacks we’d blamed on humans?

There’s something else that’s really bothering me.

More than that?

Luke nodded. You found Charlene a long time ago. Joshua is proof that there have been traitors among you for a while. So, why now? Why not attack when they first discovered Charlene?

Luke’s question, along with Charlene’s growing distance, threw me into the past, back to a time when I’d had a black and white view of life and humans.

Maybe, I said slowly, they did.

Tell me, he said.

Past…

I don’t like this, Thomas, Grey sent to me over our link as I shifted to my skin.

You never do, I said softly, my gaze on the dark cabin. But you saw what they did.

We all had. I couldn’t shake the image of the frozen wolf body we’d found several miles behind us. A single bullet wound to its back. It could have been one of us if we’d been earlier.

After seeing no sign of human tracks around the body, we’d followed the wolf’s trail. It had been shot miles from where it had finally succumbed to the injury. Miles from where the humans had baited the creature and lain in wait.

We can’t allow them to stay. You know what will happen, I said.

We both knew firsthand what human hunters would do. They would keep hunting.

Almost eighteen years ago while out on a hunt, our parents had been shot. To protect us, they had led the hunters away from where they’d left us. Grey had waited three days for them to return before going in search. According to Grey, he’d eventually found them under a pine. Cold and in their skin, they’d lain close together. A few days old at the time, I only remembered bits of Grey digging and hunting. I remembered nothing of our parents but what he’d told me.

I do know, he sent quietly. That doesn’t change the risk each time we do this. I don’t want to lose you.

Nor I you, I sent back. So let’s do this carefully.

I crept toward the dark structure and used a cord to noiselessly lift the latch.

Are you almost ready? I sent to Gregory.

Yeah. We’re coming your way now.

I paused outside the door, listening. From within the small cabin, one of the hunters shifted in his sleep then everything quieted again.

They’re on their way, I sent to Grey.

Then hurry up.

I carefully opened the door and stepped inside. A soft glow came from the stove that threw off the heat these weak humans needed to sleep comfortably in our cool northern climates. Two forms lay unaware and huddled under the covers. I touched the scar on my thigh and felt no remorse for what I was about to do. Experience had shown me that humans shot at anything that moved. They took from their habitat, unconcerned with the destruction they left behind.

If they couldn’t concern themselves with the lives they took, neither could I.

Setting the food cache on the floor, I unpacked and opened their processed foods and placed them all over in the cabin. The peanut butter I smeared on their sleeping bags.

We’re almost there, Gregory sent.

I looked back at my work then left the cabin as quietly as I’d entered. I didn’t bother closing the door. The nearby sound of snapping branches forewarned me of Gregory’s approach. Shifting to my fur, I ran for the trees then turned to face the clearing. Grey stood beside me, his hackles high.

Gregory broke through the underbrush and raced toward us. When he reached my side, he turned, and we all started backing away together.

Within the shelter of the trees, we watched the brown bear he’d provoked lumber into the clearing. It rose on its back legs and sniffed the air.

He caught the scent.

I could hear the amusement in Gregory’s message and glanced at him. He watched the bear fall to all four and amble toward the cabin. It snuffled and huffed and nudged its way inside. Within minutes, sounds inside escalated to a startled yell then screaming.

It’s done. I turned to leave.

Grey and Gregory trotted beside me as we left the madness behind. Despite Gregory’s brief amusement, none of us delighted in what we did. It wasn’t revenge. It was survival of a species.

We’ll continue south, I sent both of them, and check the areas we cleared last fall.

Sometimes different humans came back to try again. We dealt with them, too. Never the same way, though. Since we’d started, we’d kept our methods diverse and unique. Brown bears worked well in the countryside where they were plentiful. Besides brown and black bears, we’d used wolverines, an occasional rattler, recluse spiders, an angry elk or moose, and cougars, but they didn’t need much encouraging. Some humans saved us the trouble and fell victim to their own stupidity when lost in the woods.

So many methods and so many humans.

As we traveled south, I recalled our first human cleansing. It had been after Grey and I found Gregory alone.

Humans had entered the woods, clearing trees not far from the family’s territory, just weeks after Grey and I had last stayed with them. Following the path of cleared trees, more humans had arrived with machines to scrape away earth and lay gravel. The humans, machines, and new road had slowly driven the game out of their territory.

That winter the weather turned colder than previous seasons. The already scarce game became a necessary source of sustenance for all predators, not just us.

With little food, Sharon had succumbed to sickness, a rare thing for our kind. Dennis had followed his Mate not long after, leaving fourteen-year-old Gregory alone until we’d returned.

Just thinking about Dennis and Sharon brought a pang. Even after four years, I missed them deeply. They’d been the closest thing to parents I’d ever known. The pair had let Grey and me stay on with them after finding out we were on our own. Gregory and I, close to the same age, had bonded quickly. We had stayed until I’d turned ten, but afterwards had made a point to stop by every time we were close.

Do you smell it? Gregory sent me, interrupting my thoughts.

I raised my nose to the breeze and caught the light scent of another of our kind. A territory marking. Lifting my head, I let loose a courtesy howl. We continued forward as we waited for a response. After coming across more markings, I howled again.

Maybe he left because of the hunters so close, Gregory sent me.

The hunters’ tracks around their cabin had indicated they’d been there for almost a week. These scent markings were only a day old. I doubted the pack keeping this territory had left because of the hunters, or they would have left right away.

I studied everything as we moved deeper into the claimed territory. The wildlife hushed when we passed, but seemed otherwise normal.

Several miles in, Grey scented blood and took off running. Gregory and I raced after him, arriving in the clearing moments after he had.

A man lay naked in the center of the clearing. A bullet hole gave the cause of his death. The heel of one of his feet had pushed back the leaves. Probably due to shifting. Behind him, his Mate and two cubs were on the ground. Each one pierced with a bullet near the heart.

Not far from them, lay a bundle.

The family had lived there. Their tracks were all over in the loam of the small clearing.

Grey shifted to his skin and went to check the female and cubs. It was pointless. They’d shifted. Proof they were dead. I went to the bundle and nosed it open. Human food lay within.

Do you think they raided the human cabin? Gregory asked. I glanced back and saw he’d shifted too and was checking the man.

I didn’t answer right away. Something felt wrong. How could all of them return to their den so seriously wounded? I went to look at the cubs with Grey. It was hard seeing their innocent, lifeless faces. My hatred for humans burned hotter. How could they so disregard life? Even if this family had stolen food, why did they all have to die for it? Were humans the only species with a right to eat? And why had the parents risked their cubs by taking them to raid the hunter’s supplies?

Grey gently closed the eyes of both boys. I looked away, too angry to see more. My gaze caught on a splintered section of a tree trunk further into the woods. I trotted over to it and sniffed. Metal and gun powder. My gut churned as I realized all my assumptions were wrong.

Shift, I commanded both of them. They immediately complied and trotted toward me.

We need to leave. Now.

I took off at a run. Grey moved to my left flank and Gregory my right as we silently raced through the trees. I kept my nose to the wind, scenting for any hint of trouble. Miles grew between us and the dead family; and still, I kept running.

In the distance, I spotted a rocky formation and veered toward it. The height would give us a view of our back trail and what may lay ahead.

We made no noise as we crept to the top then lay on our bellies to survey the trees below us. Spring was slowly budding the trees, leaving much open to our inspection. Nothing moved. I crept back then shifted to my skin and squatted low. Grey and Gregory did the same.

What we saw back there…what we’re supposed to believe…it’s all a lie, I said.

Gregory frowned, but didn’t look as concerned as Grey. Grey had likely already figured out what I had.

What do you mean? They weren’t shot by those hunters?

I slowly shook my head.

"The wolf we’d found had been poorly shot and left to limp off to die. The tracks we followed…the way the hunters had their cache of food tied up in a tree…it was obvious the wolf had gotten too close to their camp and they’d been worried about their supplies. That’s how humans always react when something wild gets too close to what they perceive is theirs. But that’s not what happened to that family.

They were shot where they lay, I said. Kill shots. Whoever shot them saw them shift. But, there wasn’t any human tracks or scents. Just werewolf.

Six distinct scents, Grey said. There are a female and a male unaccounted for. The second female’s scent was all over the clearing. The male’s was only when we entered.

The cache had five scents. Four male. One female, I said, and he nodded.

A family of five with a female cub and the scent of an unknown male wolf. A frustrated growl escaped me as I drew the logical conclusion. Females were growing increasingly scarce. An unMated male had likely scented the family, discovered the female, and had forcefully taken her.

Males are growing desperate for Mates if they’re willing to kill a family and stage it to look like an accident, Grey said solemnly. We need to tell an Elder what we found.

How? We have no proof it was one of our own, and all the evidence points to human hunters we just sent a bear to kill.

I exhaled heavily, regretting venting my frustration on him. Our kind’s numbers were already so low that we rarely saw families any more as we traveled. If we started killing each other, our species wouldn’t have a chance.

You’re right. The Elders need to be aware of what might be happening. But, we need to find another way to let them know. We’ll head south and make contact with as many of our kind as we can. We’ll ask questions and gather information. Hopefully, we’ll find something we can share that won’t get us killed, too.

Grey nodded once then shifted to his fur. Gregory and I quickly did the same.

We saw nothing out of the ordinary as we traveled that day or the next. The third day we stumbled into another male’s territory, but he was alone and hadn’t had contact with anyone in months. We hunted with him and stayed the night then left the following dawn.

Our slow progress south didn’t provide us with the information we’d hoped. We found a few old scent markings and scoured each of those territories for signs to indicate why the land had been abandoned. Given the vast expanse each territory covered, there was no guarantee we didn’t miss something.

As time passed and we found nothing further, I was sure we’d stumbled across an isolated incident. I worried about the girl who’d been taken and knew, if we didn’t find anything soon, we’d need to reach out to an Elder and confess everything regardless of our wellbeing. It was what I should have done in the first place.

When we stopped that night, I said as much to Grey and Gregory. Neither tried to defend my initial choice to find other evidence, and I knew they felt the same shame I did. With little choice, I reached out to Elder Jean.

We found the bodies of a Mated pair and two cubs. All were shot. A human cache of food was nearby as if the family had raided it. However, I don’t think they did. There was a scent of a second female, but no signs of the female at the Mated pair’s den. And, there was a unique fresh scent of another male. It didn’t seem familial, and it was on the cache of food. I believe a young female may have been taken from her family.

Did you track the male? he sent back.

Guilt-ridden, I admitted the truth.

Due to the shots, we did not.

Very well.

A minute later a call went out for any male with a young female to reach out to an Elder.

What does he plan to do? Gregory asked.

He didn’t say much on the matter, I said.

And our part in this is forgiven?

I carefully worded our involvement and neglected to mention the part about the bear.

Gregory grinned and clapped me on the back. We all rested easier.

A human? I said, arms crossed as I studied the man before me. A cold breeze swept through the trees and brushed my exposed flesh. Summer hadn’t yet reached this far north.

That’s what I heard.

The command that Winifred had sent the day before took on new meaning. At the time, I’d wondered why she’d bothered to Command something so obvious. Who would ever want to try to Claim a human female with or without Elder permission?

Thank you for the information, I said.

The man shifted back into his wolf and, with a nod, ran north. He was probably smarter than we were. Humans were scarce in the ice and snow of northern Canada, making the area safe for our kind to roam. We used to be able to say the same for lower Alberta and Saskatchewan. Now, there was a human at the sanctuary; it wasn’t safe anymore.

The female Elder’s pushes to get us to join human society had previously been subtler than this. She’d gone so far as to start wearing clothing and gain employment. We had fur for a reason. We were meant for the woods. And, humans were destroying our natural habitat.

Winifred’s welcome of the enemy in our sanctuary threw subtlety aside. She couldn’t force us to mingle with humans.

What are you thinking, Thomas? Grey asked.

I turned to my older brother.

I’m thinking we need to find out what Winifred is doing. How is inviting a human to the only permanent place humans have no right or reason to trod in our best interest? Living among them has done something to her head. Her loyalties need to be questioned.

Careful, Grey said. I didn’t raise you and watch you grow to see you maimed by an Elder.

She’s in her position to protect us. When she starts making decisions that involve revealing us to humans, we have a right to question her.

Without saying more, I shifted to my wolf. I shook out the fur that coated my skin and took off at a run. Snow crunched under my paws as I raced south through the dense woods. Glints of the moon broke through between the trees to light the way. Grey and Gregory followed.

Pacing ourselves, we stopped to hunt game and rest before dawn. We didn’t need much sleep. The sun hadn’t yet cleared the tree tops before we were running again.

The sounds and smells of the woods drove me to run faster. To run free. We belonged out here away from the dangers of civilization. Winifred had it wrong. Working and talking with the humans had messed with her thinking. Humans didn’t belong in the woods any more than we belonged in their world. Whenever they came to the woods, we died. Bringing one to our sanctuary could only end the same. But this time, it wouldn’t be a pelt laying on the ground. The human had to die.

I can feel your mood, Grey sent me. Talk.

The human needs to die.

And you’re going to make that happen when an Elder is supporting the human’s presence?

I could feel Grey’s annoyance just as he had felt my anger. Grey was my pack. He had raised me, successfully filling the role of mother and father. However, he did older brother best. When I was five, he’d changed our bond, relinquishing the role of pack leader to me. At the time, I’d thought he was doing it to be mean. There were moments it still felt that way. But I knew now he’d done it to teach me. To force me to take risks and conquer fear. To become strong and a survivor. To think.

The Elder won’t be a problem—Grey snorted—if the pack controlling the sanctuary doesn’t want her there.

We won’t be the only ones going to sanctuary.

I’m counting on that. We’ll increase in number because the others won’t want a human there either.

Chapter Two

Game on the way south was plentiful, and we ate well. However, for two days we saw no one. There were a few abandoned territories, which I would have expected as we moved closer to the human populace, but no new trails.

It frustrated me that we were nearing sanctuary and still only