Page 34 of To Challenge a Wolf

Malachi chuffed through his teeth and nodded once.

“Smart,” Rhett said. “Be right back.”

Rhett darted over at least an acre of trees and followed the scent of Malachi to a neat pile of clothes at the base of a tree. Of course, a six-inch height difference meant Malachi’s torso was wider than his. The waist of the jeans fell to Rhett’s hips (and might not stay up if he tried running full-out), but he was safe to wear them on the walk home. The shirt hung on him, and the shoes though they were at least two sizes too big. He rolled the underwear into a tight ball and shoved them into the back pocket of the jeans. No sense leaving them in the woods for Malachi to retrieve later.

He caught up with the pack halfway home, and Aaron nodded his approval, to which Rhett rolled his eyes. He drew a long breath to catalogue scents. Most were strong and steady, and several wolves even made small talk back and forth. The only one who seemed in trouble was Ezra. He kept up with the group,but his breathing was tight. Cassius and Trevor walked on either side of him, and each kept a hand on his upper back. Robert followed close behind them. A few hundred feet before they emerged into Rhett’s yard, Ezra stopped.

“Dad,” Ezra said, a sudden plea in his voice. A gasp followed.

Robert drew Ezra into a wolf hug, his arms encircling his son as though Ezra were a little pup. The picture would be comical—Ezra was the second-largest wolf in the pack—if not for the gasps that now sounded loud as the wolves grew quiet. Trevor and Cassius gripped Ezra’s shoulders, and Trevor kept up his low soothing purr-growl.

“You’re safe, Ezra,” Cassius said quietly. “Safe with your pack.”

Robert grabbed hold of Ezra’s hand and pressed it to his own chest. “Breathe with me, son. Easy does it. In and out.”

Malachi moved in closer to Ezra and nosed his other hand. A few other wolves made a circle of protection, and Rhett joined them.

It took about ten minutes, which was less than Rhett expected given what had happened tonight. Robert continued to talk quietly to Ezra, steady despite fighting for his own life so recently. Ezra’s brother and brother-in-law kept their grounding hold on his shoulders. Then Ezra folded forward and rested his head on his father’s shoulder, all his clenched limbs relaxing. A long breath filled his lungs, held for a few seconds, and left him in a sigh.

“Feel like putty,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, y’all. I thought I could keep it down, but it bubbled up.”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Aaron said, and several wolves growled agreement.

“Can we go home?”

“Are you ready, son?” Robert still held him up.

Ezra lifted his head and took a step back. He didn’t wobble. “I’m a little wiped, but I can make it fine.”

They set out again for Rhett’s cabin. Ezra’s scent began to calm, and as his son’s did, Robert’s did too. Several hundred feet from the cabin, several of the pack came running to meet them. Kelsey, Ann, April…and Vivian.

“Trev!” Kelsey grabbed hold of Trevor in a hug that spoke of real fear. “Are you all right? Is everybody all right?”

“Yeah, it’s okay, Kels.”

“We’re all well, Kelsey,” Robert said.

Kelsey turned to her brothers-in-law and hugged first Cassius, then Ezra. “The cameras quit alerting us about fifteen minutes ago, and when y’all didn’t show up we started thinking maybe…” Kelsey released Ezra and latched onto Trevor again.

Quietly Ezra said, “Got panicky for a little while when it was all done. They waited it out with me. We were out of camera range at that point.”

“Oh,” Kelsey said. She still hadn’t let go of Trevor.

“Hey,” Trevor said. “We’re all okay, Kels. Let’s go inside.”

“Oh.” Kelsey stepped back. She turned to take in the entire group of wolves, her tear-glossed eyes resting on each for a moment. “Y’all okay?”

“Sure,” Rhett said. “Nothing to it.”

“You lost your shirt.”

“In a good cause.”

She spotted the giant golden wolf in their midst, beside whom April was already standing with one hand on his back. “Oh my gosh, Mal! That’s you, isn’t it?”

Malachi dipped a nod and gave a low growl of greeting.

“We saw you on the camera feed. Wow, Mal, hi.” Then she focused on April, whose scent was all over the place, an erratic mixture of shock, relief, and lingering fear. “Yeah, let’s go inside.”

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