The Last Lycan

Chapter 10 - A Long Drive Indeed

The old doctor, Ellu, began packing the odds and ends back into her bag. Heather helped, passing over the items in solemn silence. The fire that once burned behind her honey irises had dampened, and she seemed to be doing anything possible to avoid me. Whatever this procedure with the white fuzzy stick was for, I do not think it gave her the outcome she hoped for.

(“Can I come back in now?”) a muffled feminine voice called from outside. The other visiting she-wolf, Aurora, had circled around the front of the house. (“I have groceries I still need to give you.”)

Heather rolled her eyes to the heavens, throwing her head back as she did so, and wrenched the door open. (“You gonna keep eye-f*****g my mate?”)

A snarl punctuated her words, stoking her fire once more, which left me transfixed.

‘You keep pretending you don’t, but you love it when our woman goes all dominant, just like I do.’ Kirill was practically a purring mess. Some big bad wolf he thought he was.

(“Maybe put a shirt on him, then; I’m only mortal. How am I meant to ignore a mountain of muscle who blushes?”)

(“Can you at least pretend to try?”) Heather grasped the thin, brown sacks filled with items from Aurora and carried them through to the kitchen. (“Why’s there a random egg on top?”)

(“That’s from your Wyandotte hen. I thought it was about to s**t on me, but it popped an egg out instead.”) The she-wolf followed, leaving me alone with the old woman.

Never had I been more aware that I was half naked in front of a stranger, folding my arms across myself in self-consciousness. She laughed, shaking her head at me, which only deepened my frown and the heat radiating in my cheeks.

(“—like I’m actually gonna do anything.”) The pair returned, my mate at the back of the two carrying a swath of fabric. (“It’s just funny to see you totally possessive over a wolf male. Your guys are usually kicked out the door before the sun rises without so much as a pat on the ass.”)

(“Can you not mention that around my mate, please?”) Heather snapped and shoved a thick, hooded sweater over my head. I growled at her roughness and her continual dressing of me, but she ignored my grumblings, as always, and continued to yank the hem down on me.

(“He can’t even understand us.”)

(“Just… don’t.”)

(“Are the two of you finished?”) The doctor butted in, grabbing her bag and inclining her head to the door. (“I’ve got spring herbs to pot at home.”)

(“I’m coming, Ellu. And Heather? I’ve taken you off all the patrol rotas for now, until your guy is settled.”)

Heather released a huge sigh, as though an immense weight had been lifted. (“Thanks. I’ve been worried about leaving him home alone. It’s not that I think he’ll start trouble. I’m just not confident that trouble won’t start something with him… and I’m kinda worried he might try to take off again if it does.”)

(“Hmm. Alpha Richard has been more edgy in the last year since his son, Dominic, was born. I’m still surprised he let a rogue on pack lands.”)

(“That courtesy might be revoked pretty damn soon unless I find some accommodation on the outskirts of the pack.”) My mate followed her visitors to the door and out to the vehicle they had arrived in. I stayed back but followed their figures with quick eyes and sharper ears. (“Didn’t you say you had an idea about that?”)

(“Oh, yeah! It’s the hunting rest shack, right near the scent markers. It’s tucked in the woods away from anyone, so it’s got plenty of shelter from the strong coastal winds and comes with a lot of privacy. We don’t use it much when we hunt beyond the pack borders, so it won’t be missed.”)

(“If I remember right, it doesn’t even have running water.”)

(“It does have water, just maybe not inside. Look, it’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing, and right now, you need it. You wanna see it sometime?”)

Heather cast me a glance out of the corner of her eye. (“Can we see it now?”)

(If you remember where it is, I can meet you up there once I’ve dropped Ellu off.”) Aurora opened the door for the doctor. (“You could shift and have a nice romantic run together? Burn off some of that s****l tension building like Krakatoa.”)

(“The last time I saw him naked, I mounted him.”) Whatever it was my mate said, her face flamed the shade of her hair.

(“When did this happen?! You’re holding out on me!”)

(“Girls, talk smut later.”) The doctor cranked the window of the vehicle down. (“At this rate, I’ll be home faster if I shift.”)

(“Ellu, you’re a hundred and thirty. Simmer down before you put your hip out.”) Aurora ducked out of the way of the swat the doctor levelled at her.

(“How about it, Konstantin?”) Heather crossed the threshold of her home and reached for the small blue book she used to communicate with me out of her back pocket. “Shift and run with me?”

Shift…?

No one had seen my wolf, and it terrified me to my core that anyone would know what I was.

Heather’s hopeful expression stretched across her face, her brows tilted and her pretty lips pointed in a small smile. Each optimistic feature of hers vanished as I backed up, my heart hammering into my ribs and my breaths coming shallow with memories of the four-legged wolves who discovered my pack – four-legged wolves just like my mate. My people were destroyed down to the last lycan, except for me, a feat made possible by my father’s sacrifice, one I would not squander.

“No,” I said with as much emphasis as I could muster to show I would not be convinced to step out of my skin.

‘Hey!’ Kirill protested, as I knew he would. ‘I wouldn’t mind getting out for some fresh air. It’s been a few months, and it’s beginning to stink in here.’

‘It’ll have to keep on stinking. We haven’t survived as long as we have by indulging in wants.’

‘How many times does our mate have to show you she won’t harm us?’

‘What of the wolves with her? Can you trust them?’ It wasn’t just Heather who I was worried about seeing our shifted wolf form. It was the eyes not belonging to Heather that concerned me.

‘The young she-wolf barely clears our shoulder; we can take her if she tries anything. But the old woman? She has a mean right hook that I’m not too confident about.’

(“A wolf male reluctant to strip and show off his wolf?”) Aurora called from her vehicle, elevated above the cab. (“Qavirtaqeq (weird). Never thought I’d see the day. Wonder why?”)

(“Well, he has to have a wolf. Hellebore keeps sneaking off to link with him, and I wouldn’t even be able to identify him as a mate if he didn’t.”)

(“The man has his secrets, so let him keep them.”) The doctor yanked her young companion inside.

There was something more behind her haste than a desire to get about her day. Regardless of the matter, it was discussed in the privacy of their vehicle, with the conversation muffled within the encased windows or lost to a mind-link. They set off in a crunch of gravel displaced under the tyres, disappearing into the winding forest track.

(“Well, big guy, fancy a drive if you won’t shift?”) Heather picked up a set of metallic prongs, keys, that enabled the wheeled vehicles to be operated. She broke open the book tucked under her arm and flicked through the pages to find the words she wished to express. I leaned a little closer, curious as to what she wanted now. “We drive. No shift.”

Her gaze flicked up to mine, catching me a breath away from her face. Her hand lifted to my jaw, hovering near enough to warm my skin but far enough away to sting with the denied touch. The round contour of her bottom lip reddened under the bite of her teeth, making it all the more tempting. Whatever it was she wanted to add or do, she turned her tail upon the decision, which only made Kirill grumble louder and blame me for her rethink.

(“Aurora will meet us at the shack, so let’s get moving before I get her in trouble.”) The hand that hung poised over my beard slipped to my hand instead, tugging me towards the outdoors.

She jiggled her set of prongs into her door, a distinct clunk following, and she led me to a sealed lean-to on the side of her home. The door of it lifted with a rattle and squeak above, Heather’s arms outstretched to hold the huge door as she grappled to reach something off to the side. Not content to simply watch her struggle, I took the weight of the door with ease with one palm, rewarded with a heart-fluttering smile from her in gratitude. My mate grasped the item, a long, square length of wood that propped up the overhead door.

“Thank you,” she said in my language. (“Now, I know you’ve seen cars, but have you been in one?”)

She held up a tiny black box on the metal collection of keys, and the vehicle flashed its light, emitting a sharp and shrill beep that flinched me backwards. Her laughter was immediate, the melody echoing louder and harsher because of my wolf, joining her glee in my head.

‘Heart of a tiger, loaf.’

Heather managed to quell her delight at my overreaction, patting my arm. (“Wow. Better hope the airbags don’t go off. You’ll piss yourself otherwise.”)

Guiding me to the right of the vehicle, she opened the white door splattered with mud across its exterior and beckoned me to get in. I had crossed paths with many a vehicle in my year living in this unfamiliar land. And we had something akin to this in my home pack, an addition brought forth by our Alpha to deliver the outside world closer. Never had I been in one when it moved.

This would be another day of firsts.

I slid into the seat that provided little comfort as my knees collided with the hard interior. It left much for me to wonder why anyone would sit in one of these things for any period of time, let alone drive one.

(“I think you need more legroom than my last passenger.”) Heather reached between my legs without warning, turning my body more rigid than a lump of granite.

My seat almost skidded out from under me, hurling me into the back, much to the further chortling of my mate. If I was rigid before, I was shattered into dust when she reached over me with a strap, fixing me in place, and shoved her flaming hair and equally flaming scent under my nose as she did so.

(“There.”) She sucked the round of her lips between her teeth, tilting in a smile. (“No escaping on me now.”)

Heather slammed the door on me and swayed her hips around to the adjacent seat, repeating the same actions she had with me, minus the seat adjustment. The first thing she did after whirring the vehicle to life was to crank a lever to her side to lower the window, despite the brisk temperature. I was thankful for the burst of fresh air to dilute her aroma, but it did nothing to dispel the thick friction tingling my skin from her close proximity.

Wherever she was taking me, I was in for a long journey indeed.