The Wolf You Feed Arc (5 page)

They sat at a table and Andy placed plates of food in front of them.
 

It looks like what we have!
Nea sounded surprised.

Of course it is. What did you expect them to eat?
Tore did nothing to hide the laughter in his voice.

After breakfast, Tore gave Andy twenty dollars to drive them to Casper.
 

Where did you get that?
Annike was surprised.
They didn’t use cash in the commune.
 

Hunting. I sold pelts and game in Cody to earn some beer money.

“Come on guys, let’s go.” Andy handed Tore a map. “Here, this might help you plan your route, it’s a bit large scale I’m afraid.”

“That’s great, thanks.”

Annike and Tore poured over it in the back seat while Nea sat biting her nails next to Andy in the front.

Once we reach Casper, we’ll hitch along the highways, until we reach Nebraska.
Tore spoke on their common frequency.

Can Andy hear us?
Annike asked.
 

Tore shook his head.
Humans only communicate through speech.
He traced the route they were taking.
With Andy driving us, we’ll clear the clan’s territory faster than I expected and without leaving a scent trail.
This will throw them off for weeks, maybe longer
.

***

That night, they hunted outside of Casper and found a quiet area down by the river to rest. The girls were feeling more comfortable now. They were well versed with life out in the open. It was more natural for them to live this way. It was the big conurbations that made them nervous.
 

Tore felt more relaxed too. This far outside the clan’s territory felt safer. But he still wanted to put more distance between them and his brother. Even if they had crossed the two hundred mile exclusion zone, he didn’t trust Erik to keep his promise.

The next day, they began their journey to Cheyenne. It took them several days and they arrived exhausted. Tore decided they should stay awhile. He wanted to earn some money and get their strength back. They stayed in a disused barn for a couple of weeks. They found work on a farm where the humans were kind and gave them a meal each day as well as money for their labor. It was familiar work. They’d grown up looking after animals, tending clan crops, planting, and harvesting.
 

In the evenings, they returned to the barn. Tore and Annike waited until Nea was asleep and snuck away to make love into the night. By the time they left Cheyenne, it was no surprise that Annike found herself pregnant.

“I’m so sorry, Tore. I know it couldn’t be worse timing, we have no money and…”

Tore took her in his arms. He wasn’t mad, he was proud. “Hey if it’s anyone’s fault it’s mine. We’ll manage somehow.”
 

They talked into the night. Convinced it would be a boy, Tore said “I can smell the testosterone already.”

 
Annike laughed, “That’s not possible, and you know it.” But she hoped he was right.
 

The next day, Tore woke with a plan.

“But why south?” Annike lay on the grass looking at the map. Tore’s finger stabbed at a spot he’d picked out in Arkansas.

“Why not?” He slid his body over hers and kissed her. “Hot Springs has a similar ecology and landscape to Yellowstone. It’ll feel like home. Besides, Felix told me that when Liam left he went somewhere around there.”

“What? Liam is in Arkansas? But won’t your Dad think you’ll head there?” Nea said.

“Dad doesn’t know. Felix found out by accident. He ran into a human girlfriend of Liam’s in Cody. She’d heard from Liam a few years after he left. He sent her a postcard from somewhere in Arkansas. Felix told me, but I never mentioned it to Dad or my brothers. You know what Isak was like, we weren’t allowed to speak about him and so I kept it to myself. I’m not sure if Liam is still there, but I know he was a few years ago. When we get settled, I’ll try finding him.”

They didn’t discuss it any further. Other cities never entered their heads. Hot Springs just became
the plan
.

***

“What do you have Henrik?” David poured over the map of Omaha, trying to decide where Tore might be heading next. The fugitives had been steadily limping east, but he couldn’t imagine them continuing until they got to the coast.
 

Henrik was breathing heavily, he’d run across town with the news for David. “One of the trackers picked up their scents.”

David’s mouth fell open in disbelief, “Fresh?”

Henrik nodded, “An hour or so old.”

David tapped the map. “Show me where.”

He couldn’t believe their luck. After seven months of crisscrossing back and forth across the states, following leads that ended up nowhere, he had honestly thought this one was no different.

Henrik pointed out an area about a mile away. David looked closely. “You have to be kidding me?”

Henrik shook his head.
 

“Damn it. That’s a huge freight station and if they get on a train we’re stuffed. They could head out in any direction, including back the way we’ve come. How the hell am I gonna tell Erik about this?”

When David and Henrik met up with the other trackers, they were walking up and down the lines, about two minutes out of the loading area.

“Well?” David didn’t really need to ask, the expressions on their faces told it all. Tore had evaded them once more. “What nothing? You don’t know which way they headed?”

They shook their heads. An older Lycan stepped forwards. “Their scent stops here. They boarded a train sometime in the last couple of hours. A lot of trains leave this place every hour David. It’s impossible to say which one they got onto. But we do know one thing; they’ll be traveling slower. Judging by the changes in scent we have been picking up, both females are pregnant.”

David spun around and kicked out at a pile of trash. As plastic containers spun across the grass, he cursed. “Well this is gonna piss Erik off, no end.”

***

As the months passed, traveling became more difficult for Nea and Annike. With their pregnancies inching closer to full term, the need to find somewhere to settle became a priority. In January they arrived in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They were a long way south now, and had to be careful. It wasn’t safe for them to be seen hunting as wolves in this area. The girls were both tiring easily and traveling any further, was out of the question. Their options were running out.

Although Hot Springs wasn’t the perfect location, the mountains provided a safe and secluded environment for the birth. After Tore scoped out the city further, he was happier with the location. The town was a thriving holiday resort, so there was plenty of casual labor.

The national park itself was reminiscent of their home back in Yellowstone. The game was plentiful, even though it was winter. They ate well most days, even though they could have survived in their wolf forms for a couple of weeks without feeding. Despite them being safe, well fed, and comfortable, the closer the girls came to giving birth the more tense Tore became.

What’s the problem, Tore?

He pulled her close, rubbing his hand across his face.
Just nervous about you giving birth.

Why are you worried? It should be me being anxious not you.

I dunno. When you first told me the news, nine months seemed a long way away, but now there are only three or four weeks left…Annike, what if something goes wrong? We don’t have a clan midwife to help.

I know, Tore, but both Nea and I have been around plenty of births. All the older girls help out with them.

They do?

Yeah, course we do.

So… what happens, I mean…
he looked away blushing.

What?

Well, it’s gonna sound stupid but I never really knew.
He looked away again.

Come on, get it out. What do you want to know?

He lowered his voice.
When you give birth, do you…do you do it in your human or wolf form.

Annike tried not to smile.
Wolf, because the babies are born as pups, yeah?

He blushed,
Yeah, I thought they were…

So, we usually go into our wolf form a few days before they are due and stay that way for a week or more after the birth.

Why don’t you use your human form after?

Well, as I said, they are pups. It’s easier to feed them in our wolf form and we can keep them warm with our fur…Tore, you did know that the babies will be pups, didn’t you?

He shook his head looking ashamed,
Not really. I only ever saw a newborn when it was in human form.

Annike couldn’t help but laugh.
I’m sorry, Tore. Look, our young don’t transition for ten days to two weeks. When they are born they look like a puppy, though they are quite a bit larger, usually around four or five pounds. After the first week, they put on weight quickly and then they transition into their human form. By then they are about six or seven pounds, sometimes a bit bigger. They stay in human form until they are seventeen.

I know that much, Annike. I’m not that stupid, I remember my own transition.

I don’t think you’re stupid, Tore. Most males wouldn’t know these things because they are kept away from the mothers and infants until after they have taken their human forms.

Why?

So they don’t attack them, I suppose. I think it dates back to when our people actually lived with real wolves over in Europe, when we were persecuted. Male wolves could be unpredictable around the young and were known to kill them. Actually it seems rather foolish, really.

Do you think I’ll attack mine or Nea’s?

Annike hugged him tight. He looked so worried,
I’m sure you wouldn’t.
She tried to sound confident but in all honesty, she’d never seen any male near a newborn. Now Annike began to fret, what if he did try to attack them? Could Nea or her fend him off?

Tore was quiet for a while.
We won’t take any chances. I’ll stay away from you. You must keep me away from Nea and she has to protect you when it’s your time, okay?

Annike kissed him,
Okay, we’ll be careful.

 
5

November 1979,Yellowstone National Park.
 

“What the hell do you mean, you’ve lost them? Lost them where?” Erik said.

“They vanished when they left the commune. They got ahead of us by a few weeks before we got some info out of a human called Andy. He’d taken them to Casper,” said Erik’s right hand man, David.
 

“So how come it took you so long to track them there?”

“We didn’t expect them to go east. I sent scouts to Cody thinking that’d be their first port of call and they had been there, but their scent disappeared.”

“They must have got picked up by a passing motorist.”

“Yeah, most likely. But I still expected Tore to stick to the landscape he was familiar with. So, I sent patrols scouting up and down our territory but they picked up nothing.”

“So how’d you get to the human?” David was irritating Erik now. Allowing Tore to get such a large head start was unforgivable.
 

“We had a stroke of luck. Henrik ran into the boy in a bar. The guy recognized him as Tore’s brother and asked how he had enjoyed the concert in Denver. Henrik didn’t know what he was talking about but he played along, sensing that what the Andy had to say might give us a lead. We found out, he’d taken them as far as Casper. Then we wasted another week hunting around Denver trying to find some leads.”

Erik frowned, “So how did you track them east? You’re not making sense. If they were heading to Denver…” David looked at the floor and shuffled around from foot to foot.

“Spit it out!”

“Well, it was just more luck. Georg and I had to go to Cheyenne to meet a guy about that
special crop.
He mentioned he’d seen Georg a few weeks earlier in town. We told him he couldn’t have; Georg had been in Denver hunting for Tore. But the guy was adamant. It was then the penny dropped, and I wondered if the guy might have seen Tore. It was a stab in the dark, but it paid off. It’s a good job all you brothers look so alike. Anyway, after the meeting, we took a few days to scout the area. I picked up their scent on the outskirts of town near a farmhouse. The couple who ran the place confirmed they had stayed close by and worked for them, but they’d left a month or so earlier.”