Violet (The Silver Series Book 4) (6 page)

Rafe didn't look away, but his gaze was calm
and non-threatening. He kept his hands on his knees and the barest
hint of a smile touched his lips even though his eyes shone with
obvious happiness. The wolf sniffed his face, followed by his
chest, hands, and hair, then walked a full circle around him
smelling his clothes, feet, and back.

The wolf went around to sniff his face again
and the animal's breath moved Rafe’s hair back from his face. Rafe
laughed and pushed the wolf. The wolf snorted, then licked Rafe
across the face. Rafe wiped his face with a hand and the other
wolves bounded forward, surrounding him in a pile of paws, softly
wagging tails, excited yips, and much sniffing and licking.

Rafe ran his hands through each wolf's fur
and spoke to them in undertones I couldn't make out. He seemed lost
with them in a world I couldn't follow, and the look on his face
was one of contentment, and, finally, peace. I watched him with the
wild wolves and couldn't help smiling at how happy he seemed with
them, and how they hadn't forgotten him. I wondered what his full
story was; it was obvious they were special to him and they treated
him as one of their own.

I moved a foot slightly and a twig snapped
beneath my toes. Rafe’s head jerked up as if he had just remembered
me. He gave me a sheepish smile and rose from his sitting position
to his knees. “Sorry. It's been a while.” He motioned for me to
join him.

Advancing on seven wild wolves was something
I hadn't prepared for. I set a foot into the thicket and they all
rose around Rafe.

“
It's alright,” he
reassured them softly. “She's with me.” He turned back to me. “They
won't hurt you. I promise.”

“
Do they understand you?” I
asked to cover my fear.

He shook his head with a small smile. “It's
more the tone they respond to. Wolves don't have a set language.
They speak through body language and tones instead of words.” He
set a hand on the lead wolf's shoulder. “She's a friend,” he said
quietly.

I took another few steps into the clearing,
then stopped where he indicated.

“
Kneel down,” he
instructed, his eyes holding mine.

My heart pounded in my throat, but I knelt
slowly into the long grass that swayed around us. Rafe rose and
knelt next to me. The wolves followed him and I clenched my hands
together so tightly that they hurt. Rafe noticed and put his hand
over mine. The touch sent a rush of warmth through my skin. I
wondered if he could hear the way my pulse rushed.

“
Hold out your hands like
this,” he said, showing me his hand palm up with his fingers
loosely closed.

I did as he instructed and froze when the
big wolf stuck out his dark muzzle and sniffed my hand. He then
licked my palm and turned away with a soft snort. The others wolves
rushed to me, their noses sniffing and tails waving.

“
What just happened?” I
asked, amazed.

“
He accepted you as a
visitor to the pack,” Rafe said, reaching out to rub a small brown
wolf under the chin. The wolf leaned into his hand and he scratched
its forehead as well.

“
What if he refused
me?”

Rafe kept his gaze on the small wolf. “The
pack would have attacked.”

I stared at him, my heart in my throat. “Now
you tell me!”

He glanced at me and gave a small, serious
smile. “Don't worry. I would have defended you.”

I shook my head in disbelief and smiled when
a lithe, gray wolf let me rub her ears.

“
Smile with your mouth
closed,” Rafe advised. “It's better not to show teeth.”

I quickly shut my mouth and dropped my hand.
“Am I going to get eaten out here?”

He regarded me for a moment, and when I
stared at him, he lifted an eyebrow. “You really think I would have
brought you into danger just after getting you out of it?”

He rose and several wolves trailed behind
him through the clearing. I glanced at the other wolves around me
and hurried to follow. The wolves walked with an air of belonging
to the wild woods, so different from the few dogs I had been around
that they didn't even seem related. The wolves exuded a confidence
of their own abilities, and I felt like one of them instead of a
master surrounded by pets.

Rafe waited for me just past the trees and
lead me into a quiet hollow where older, towering trees provided
shelter and thickly interlocking bushes created an enclosed space
with only a few exits. One tree, a massive old oak toward the end,
had fallen and the exposed roots made a hollow in the earth.
Someone or something had dug away at the hollow to create a
tunnel.

Rafe crouched a few paces away and threw me
a smile. “Watch.”

He gave a soft, whining sound, then waited.
A few seconds later, a female wolf almost as big as the alpha but
so skinny her ribs showed through her soft tawny fur came out and
rushed at Rafe. He put his arms around her neck and held her tight.
She whined and licked his face and he laughed, saying soft things
to her that I couldn't make out.

The female wolf gave a sharp bark and
glanced at the tunnel. I had to stifle a laugh when four fat,
clumsy wolf cubs appeared. They fell over each other and tripped on
their own feet in an effort to reach Rafe first.

“
They're new,” he said with
a grin. A cloud swept across his face. “A lot happens in six
months.” The cloud disappeared as quickly as it appeared and he
buried his head in a wolf pup's downy fur. “They're perfect.” He
glanced back at me. “Come and see.”

“
Are you sure it's
alright?” I knew mother animals defended their babies and didn't
want to risk any of my limbs as much as I wanted to hold a
pup.

Rafe nodded. “They trust me and they'll
trust you because you came with me. Don't worry.”

I took a calming breath and crossed the
ground to his side, then sat down. The pups immediately swarmed to
me, tripping over my legs and licking my fingers. The mother wolf
sniffed my hair and ice ran through my veins at the fear that she
would bite me, but she merely gave a concluding sniff and went to
lie down near the tunnel entrance.

Rafe settled on his back and let the pups
climb all over him. He rubbed their ears and tugged on their paws
and let them chew on his fingers with their needle-sharp milk
teeth. He closed his eyes and truly relaxed for the first time.

I ran my hands through the grass at my side
while one of the chubby female puppies slept in my lap. I took a
deep breath of the cool forest air and for the first time, I wanted
to phase just so that I could better experience what it was to be a
wolf; but I didn't want to break Rafe's reverie, so I settled for
watching the leaves sway in the trees overhead and bring down the
scent of rain and ever-present life.

***

Rafe glanced back at me, then ducked into a
small cave entrance about a half-mile from the wolves' den. “You
can come in. It's empty,” he called out.

I ducked under the stone lip and was
surprised to find a wide cavern beyond. The ground sloped downhill
to a flat place about the size of an average living room. The
charcoaled remains of an old fire sat near the entrance, while the
rest of the cave was littered with pieces of wood, a few scraps of
clothing, and what looked like an old bear hide. A camper's cooler
sat in one corner, while crystal clear water trickled down the
other side to form a tiny pool.

Rafe cupped his hand in the water and drank
from it, then motioned for me to do the same. The water was so cool
and fresh it tasted like how the bottled water commercials always
portrayed their products, the difference being that any brand of
bottled water tasted the same to me, while the pool in Rafe's cave
tasted like mineral-laced snow fresh from the highest peak. I took
another drink and glanced up to find Rafe watching me. Water
dripped down my chin and I wiped it away with an embarrassed
smile.

He went to the cooler and opened it with the
reverence of a child unveiling his most prized possessions. He set
out a wind-up radio worn with use, a canteen, a pair of shoelaces,
a small Swiss Army knife, a marble, a length of rope, and a
battered crayon drawing of a man, woman, and little boy.

My heart slowed when I realized what he
showed me. “How long have you been here?”

He picked up the child's drawing and stared
at it intently. “Since I was four.”

I didn't know what to say. My stomach
twisted and I fought for words, but nothing came.

He ran his fingers softly over the man and
woman in the drawing. “I drew this by the campfire while my dad and
mom cooked tinfoil dinners. Uncle Mitch and Aunt Diana had come to
spend the night with us. Mitch was Dad's only brother and was a
great uncle. I was so happy when he came.”

Rafe fell quiet, his eyes distant. I waited
in silence, afraid to break his reverie, but also afraid of what
his pain-filled gaze would reveal.

He brushed his hair back from his face and
looked at the cave ceiling. “I liked to climb. It was a game of
ours for me to climb a tree and Dad to find me.” His voice took on
a strange tone. “I didn't realize until later that he always found
me so easily because he was a werewolf and could just smell me
out.”

His brow furrowed and he closed his eyes. “I
climbed a tree just outside the light of the fire and waited for
Dad to find me. Dad suddenly straightened up and looked me right in
the eyes. 'Stay there, Rafey,' he said, as calmly as that. Then
they were attacked.”

“
By what?” I couldn't keep
still. The horror on his face made my skin crawl, and I wanted more
than anything to give him a hug and protect him from whatever had
happened, but he was still caught in the memory.

“
Men with guns, machetes,
and knives attacked my parents and aunt and uncle before they could
defend themselves. They were shot, then hacked apart while they
were still alive.” He rubbed his closed eyes. “My mom screamed
again and again, but tree branches were in the way and I couldn't
see what they were doing to her. But my dad had fallen below the
tree when they shot him. He kept his eyes on mine while they cut
off his arms and legs. He mouthed, 'I love you,' before they cut
off his head.”

A tear leaked from the corner of his eye,
but he seemed not to notice. “I stayed up there for two days, long
after they had carried away the bodies and destroyed the campsite.”
He turned and looked at me, his golden eyes haunted. “This picture
was the only thing they left. It was as if they knew I was out
there somewhere.”

“
That's horrible,” I said
softly. He fell silent and even though he looked at me, I could
tell he was seeing something else. I tried to think of anything to
take his mind off it. “What about the wolves? How did you come to
live with them?”

He blinked and looked around the cave.
“Paul, the old alpha,” he paused and glanced at me. “I guess it's
weird I named him after my father. It was the only name I could
think of at the time.” He gave a sad half-smile. “Paul and his pack
came to the remains of the camp and he looked right up at me like
my father had. I slid down from the tree, phased into a wolf for
the first time in my life, and followed them away.”

“
I thought werewolves phase
for the first time when they turn seven.”

He shrugged. “Desperate times call for
desperate measures. I needed to be a wolf, so I was.” He tipped his
head back against the cave wall. “I went back later that night for
the picture and found this place to keep it safe.”

“
Where did you learn how to
speak so well?”

He gestured to the radio. “I began to miss
being human, so I would phase and sneak into camps late at night
and raid things I could use, like clothes and the radio.” A shadow
of a smile touched his lips. “When I got older and more daring, I
used to invite myself to their campfires and talk with them, just
to enjoy being human for a bit. But I never met another werewolf
and I thought I was a fluke.”

“
Until you were captured by
Tannin's men,” I concluded.

He nodded. “Then it was easier not to speak
because I was so used to being silent.”

I was about to ask another question when a
deep howl reverberated through the cave. Rafe's face lit up and he
glanced at me, then cupped his hands around his mouth and sent back
an answering howl. A chill ran through my body at the sound along
with a shuddering need to phase and be a wolf.

Rafe gave an understanding smile. “I'll meet
you outside.” He disappeared through the cave entrance before I
could say anything.

The shudder ran through my body again and I
was surprised to find that I was looking forward to phasing and
experiencing the wolf side that had been such a part of Rafe's
life. Heaviness hung over my thoughts at what he had been through.
I couldn't imagine anyone living through that and turning out even
remotely normal. The fact that Rafe handled what he had been
through at Tannin's hands so calmly showed a depth of animal
nature, the instinct to take everything in stride and keep on
fighting no matter what. I saw the things I hadn't understood about
him before in a new light, and it made me happy that I had chosen
to go with Rafe instead of returning to a society of walls and
restrictions.

I set my backpack down with the remainder of
the supplies and turned the power off on the cell phone, then slid
it into the back pocket. I looked at the cave around me while I
pulled off my gas station clothes. Rough drawings in charcoal
covered the wall at a child's height, changing to stone etchings
and intricate paintings with earthen colors as the distance from
the floor increased. It was as though I watched him grow up through
the drawings on the walls.