“Why aren’t you living on their pack lands, then?” the other demanded.
“Go ask Miles that question.”
The taller man muttered, “I’m not taking on the Fenris Pack. They’re fucking crazy.”
“Watch your language in front of the kids!” Dakota snapped at him before she could stop herself.
In answer, the man shifted into wolf form, and turned and ran. The other man cursed under his breath, but followed suit, shifting and vanishing into the darkness. Dakota helped Sarah to disentangle the scraps of net that still clung to her. She’d already shifted back into human form. She was bleeding from her mouth and trying not to cry.
Naomi turned human again as the men ran into the woods, and stood there waving her fists at them. “Yeah, that’s right, you’d better run!” she yelled at their retreating backs. “Attack my friend, will you?”
Then she glanced at Dakota and shook her head.
“You know, I’m not complaining or anything, but being your friend is hazardous to one’s health.”
“It kind of sounds like you’re complaining,” Dakota observed mildly as they all limped back towards the cabin. “Aren’t we having fun yet?”
“This is your idea of fun?” Sarah groused. “Of course it is. You think washing your hands every day is normal. Why am I surrounded by crazy people?”
When they were all inside, Dakota shut the door and propped a rickety chair against it, which was actually pointless, because one good kick would knock the whole shack down.
Then she turned and looked sternly at Sarah. “Do you see now why I don’t want you running around on your own? No more going out by yourselves. Any of you. I mean it,” Dakota said.
Sarah nodded, staring down at the ground. “Thank you for coming to get me,” she said quietly. She looked at her younger brother and sisters. “They don’t have anyone else but me.”
“Do you want me to run into town and get help?” Naomi asked.
Dakota shook her head, frustrated. She didn’t want to let the kidnappers escape, but she also couldn’t send Naomi out into the night by herself. The wolves might be lying in wait somewhere. It sucked that there was no phone service in town; she’d never realized how much she relied on having a cell phone, and phone lines hadn’t even been run to most of the new town’s buildings.
“It’s too dangerous. We’ll stay inside. There were only two of them, and they tried to go after Sarah when she was alone, so I think they’re pretty weak and cowardly. We should be okay if we stick together. First thing in the morning, we’ll head into town together,” she said.
They all crowded into the bedroom, and Dakota and Naomi sat up to keep watch. In the morning they packed up and started walking down the road towards town.
They hadn’t gone too far when a white SUV pulled up. David was driving, and Macy sat in the front seat next to him. He was looking at Macy like he wanted to write poetry for her. She grinned and waved at them.
“Turns out that nice is actually a refreshing change,” she said to Dakota. “We brought breakfast for you guys.” She held up a paper bag. “Why are you walking to town with your suitcases? What happened? Did the house fall down on you when it rained?”
“If only,” Dakota said, and told her what had happened.
“I wish I’d been there,” David said. “I would have ripped their hides off.”
Personally, Dakota thought he would have peed himself and then fainted, but Macy patted him on the shoulder and said, “You sure would have, babe.” He seemed like a nice guy, in a wimpy, artsy kind of way.
“So we can’t stay at the cabin anymore,” Dakota said, setting her suitcase down on the ground. “The next time, those guys might come back and rip the door off its hinges. Or just, you know, blow on it and knock it down.”
Macy frowned in thought. “You should go stay on the Fenris Pack property like Miles asked you to. He may be a jerk, but he’s the bad-assiest jerk in the territory.”
“Assiest? Okay. You’re right, even if your grammar is wrong,” Dakota said reluctantly. The cubs’ safety came before her own desire to avoid Miles and the dark, hungry desire he stirred up inside her.
As they drove, they scarfed down the egg and bacon sandwiches that Macy had brought for them. The Fenris Pack property was a couple of miles from the town center, at the end of a long dirt road that was hemmed in by trees and thick underbrush on either side. David and Macy dropped them off at the clearing at the end of the road and headed back towards town.
“Well, this is much nicer, at least,” Dakota said, looking around.