It feels like a lifetime ago when we were worried about the deer movement patterns changing. Back before we were worried about whether I was going to die, or whether my boys would die trying to defend my honor.
Honor.
I scoff out loud, the sound of it dying on my lips as Lydia’s computer program finally hums to life in front of me.
It only takes a moment of looking over the little lines showing the deer movements before I see it. It was faint before—the shift in movement. But now, some weeks later, it’s become more clear.
The crisscross of lines and begun to form a pattern. A real, definable pattern.
And I think I know what it means.
The deer have all been moving in a distinct way that shows they’re moving away from something. They’re avoiding something.
Ever since that day that Romulus discovered the slaughtered herd down by the barn, they’ve started moving deeper into the forest in droves.
And of course.
That’s when it hits me, a thought that I’m sure has crossed Romulus’ mind weeks before mine. It was Remus’ pack that slaughtered those animals in the first place. There were so many signs pointing to their approach, to the growing boldness of his pack.
In the distraction of the wedding, my turning, and eventual poisoning—I’d forgotten all about it.
But that was when it really began. When they realized how close they could get to us without getting killed.
But more than that, what I’m seeing in front of me isn’t where Remus was. It’s where he now is.
The movement of the deer have given him away. And he never did get very far.
In the midst of the tagged deer’s paths is a growing blank spot, an area that, as the weeks have passed, they’ve grown skittish to travel. That is where Remus and his pack have been hunting and hiding out since they disappeared after my turning ceremony.
They never went far after all.
They always stayed near, close enough to act should Remus’ plan have not worked.
But it did work.
I press one hand to my stomach as a wave of nausea tries to overtake me. It takes me a moment to stand steady on my feet again.
When it’s passed, I’m overwhelmed with a new emotion.
Rage.
The location is in the Free Territory, of course, but I’m surprised they haven’t gone farther away than they have. I’m also surprised that Romulus and the boys haven’t acted before now. Surely, they must have been able to track them there already.
What have they been waiting for?
I wish I knew what their plan was. Or, at the very least, if they even have one.
After last night, I can’t be sure that they didn’t just go barreling headfirst into Remus’ pack like I once did.
But I suppose it doesn’t matter though, because I know that’s where the boys have gone now.
And I also know that they should have been back by now.
Long before now, with Remus’ pack so close.
That nagging paranoia that’s been clawing at my spine isn’t just a hunch, it’s my wolf instinct kicking in. I may not have been able to complete my first transformation yet, but those shifter abilities are still buried within me. Deep within me, but still there.
Even if I can’t smell the way I could for a moment, or see in the dark, or hear a mouse scuttling through the leaves outside. Even with the change in our bond—I can feel them.