Page 15 of Wild
“I have no doubt, Liz. You understand what I am?”
“I do, and I’m not afraid.”
Alexander walked toward the dirt road leading in the opposite direction, the one I’d seen on numerous occasions but had never followed. When Alexander got to the road, he shifted into a grizzly that reminded me of the grizzly that had attacked yesterday.
I ran back to the RV and jumped inside, not from fear of the grizzly but from fear I might lose track of him. I felt as if I were betraying Sam, but the more Alexander said, the more I began questioning Sam’s intentions. He’d almost pushed me out the door to file his land papers.
The house at the end of the road looked much like Sam’s.
Alexander stood on the front porch, having shifted back into a man. I was taken aback at his cabin’s resemblance to Sam’s. I climbed from the RV and stepped onto the porch.
“Would you like to come inside?”
“The porch is fine. Say what you have to say so I can go.”
We sat in the chairs on the porch, me studying the house, stealing a glance through the large front windows.
“I see you’ve noticed.”
“That you and Sam have the same cabins? Yeah, can you explain that?”
Alexander chuckled. “I thought it would be obvious.”
“He’s your brother.”
Alexander laughed again, this time a loud, hardy laugh. “Very perceptive.”
“Wait a minute.” I held my palms up. “You two share this land.”
“And?”
“The two of you are fighting over it. The papers he wants me to file are against you, not a group of farmers.”
“And that, my dear, is why you’re an attorney.”
That wasn’t why I was an attorney. That reason would be apparent to them very soon.
The front door to the cabin opened, and two men stepped out onto the porch. Alexander turned and introduced them.
“That’s Prague. Yes, he’s from Prague.”
Prague gave me a casual salute and sat on one of the steps. He looked much younger than Alexander or the other man.
“And that’s Anthony.”
Anthony filled the chair on my other side. “Nice to meet you,” he said, too politely.
“And the man my brother had killed was Sven.”
“He attacked me. Sam saved my ass.” Not really.
“Sven attacked you because of Sam. This disagreement between us has gone on for almost three hundred years. Others, unfortunately, have been brought into it.”
“Sam didn’t say anything about having family. Though one of the others mentioned he had a wife and child who were murdered.”
“By another shifter,” Alexander said. “He blames me for that as much as he does the old gypsy woman.” He nodded toward the trees. “All this land was given to us by our father. He forced us to split the land when Sam and I couldn’t come to an agreement. Sam wanted it all in repayment for his family being slaughtered.”
“Who was the old gypsy woman?” I asked. “It’s the second time I’ve heard her be spoken of in a derogatory way.”
