Solace

Jesse pulled the van in and looked at the path that led into the trees. It was so overgrown; he could barely make out the trail. There was no way he was driving on that. He groaned, which meant he was going to have to walk it. He was so tired of this back country-middle-of-hell’s forest area—

“One more, then I’m hopping back over the border and going home.” He mumbled as he put the van in park. It wasn’t unusual for him to talk out loud to himself, he spent a lot of time on the road alone. Grabbing the phone, he sighed. If a forty percent complete house and a small trailer could be called home. He’d had every intention of finishing it and enjoying that beautiful space he’d bought near his clan—and the Tomas organization had ramped up their chaos in his world.

Opening his window, he snapped a picture of the unforgiving dense growth and typed out a message to Calum. He hadn’t talked to him for a few days, so he figured he’d better get in touch, so the big man didn’t send out a search party.

He read the message. Lost in hell. Your kind of fun. After this one I’m coming back. Nodding he hit send.

He should probably report to Devin too. Jesse liked that he was dealing with him most of the time now instead of his father. Devin didn’t care how much he swore, he didn’t have to be political or be afraid of crossing some hierarchical rule. He had the greatest respect for the king of all shifters—but didn’t envy the man’s job.

His phone beeped. Opening the message from Calum he grinned. Be careful not to hurt your delicate pads in the undergrowth. No reply was needed for that, he decided.

He pulled the van in as far as he dared. Shutting it off, he leaned back and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked rough, and with good reason, he hadn’t stopped to rest much in the past week. His hair had taken on a new style of its own, not that it lay down and behaved normally. His eyes were bloodshot, which only made the pale green look even paler. If he found this clan, they were going to take one look at him and pass on any offers of assistance because he looked like a wretch.

Getting out, he stretched. The amount of driving he’d been doing lately couldn’t be good for a body. His cat ached to get out and run. Looking up the mountain, he debated on going for a quick run, then changed his mind. The last thing he needed was to run onto another clan’s territory. Five years ago, he would have without much thought. Now, with everything he knew about the shifter world, not a chance.

Things were messed up. Really messed up. If he hadn’t been with Devin and the others when they’d gone to find Calum, he never would have believed the bizarre events that had been going on. Bizarre was a nicer way of saying ‘fucked up shit’. The fact that clans had lost touch with the Alliance over the years wasn’t shocking. There hadn’t always been internet and cellphones—but after the last few months, of looking for those clans he was ready to admit shit was getting real—and not in a good way. Entire clans were gone, without a trace and the only way that could happen was if Tomas had found them. Jesse thought of it as a failure on several levels, the Alliance and the clans themselves. He knew if it were his clan they would have packed up and gone to find the Alliance or even the next closest clan.

Opening the door, he looked in his cooler and found he only had two energy drinks. Should shifters drink these things? No. Most shifters didn’t have to drive the entire length of provinces and states constantly either. Ducking his head, he checked out the ‘trail’ again. Yeah, he was drinking one of these. Grabbing it, he closed the cooler and took a long drink. Setting the can on top, he brought up his contact list on his phone and hit Devin’s name.

“Jesse. Where are you now?”

He grinned, he really liked how Devin always got to the point quickly. “I’m at the last location on my list.”

“Is anyone there?”

Leaning against the door, he twisted the can back and forth on top of the cooler. “I don’t know yet, it’s a long walk to get up there.”

“Middle of a bush?”

Jesse nodded his head slowly, “yeah, on top of a mountain I’m guessing.”

“I’m jealous,” Devin said in a quiet tone.

“Don’t be. I have to do it on two feet.”

“Oh, well, not as envious now.” He cleared his throat. “I talked to Dad about the last location.”

Jesse gave the bottom of his jaw a vigorous rub. A shave was long overdue. “What was the decision?” His last stop had found a long-lost clan of lynx shifters, unfortunately, due to isolation and no communication the clan had more or less died off. There had been six almost geriatric shifters remaining.

“He’s going to offer to move them to live among another lynx clan.”

Jesse shrugged, “elder knowledge is always welcome.”

“That’s his take too.”

“You know we need to start getting like clans together more or there’s going to be a lot going extinct.”

“Easier said than done with that Tomas lunatic lurking around every corner.” There was a low growl in his voice.

Jesse understood why, Devin’s mate had been engaged to Aiden Tomas, without ever knowing what he was all about. Then again at that point, she hadn’t even known about shifters. He didn’t know how that was possible when you were one, but this year had been enlightening in so for many, himself included.

“What kind are you looking for now?” Devin mumbled something, “I have so many papers on this desk now I can’t find anything.”

Jesse swallowed the laugh, not wanting to offend the future leader, who was still adjusting to going from being in hiding to the most active in the Alliance. “My kind.” He grinned.

“That’s good, I saw bears on the list,” there were papers rustling, “wherever it is, and was worried if we should send like or at least similar-sized Alliance reps to look.”

Jesse took another quick sip. “That’s a thought.” He’d never actually seen a bear shifter after they’d shifted and was sure he could go without ever having to, never mind walking into their area and saying ‘hey, Alliance sent me, sorry we lost you’ to a clan of much larger shifters than himself.

“How long do you figure you’ll be?”

Picking up the can, he closed the door and walked to the front of the van. “Well, as long as this path leads to their area, and I don’t have to go searching I should connect with them.”

“Great. Dad wants you at Blair’s when they’re working on weapons training.”

“Do we have definite locations now?” Jesse felt like he was out of the loop and that annoyed him. He’d seen the damage Aiden Tomas was doing to his kind and had vowed he would not stop until that organization was stopped.

“We have several. Including the location of Blair’s brother.”

“Oh shit,” Jesse smirked. “I’ll get back as soon as I can so we can start coming up with a plan. Is Calum sticking around Blair’s for now?”

“Yeah, he’s refusing to go anywhere until they figure out how Tomas’ people got on the property and basically walked off.”

“What?” He’d missed a lot in a few days. “Put a leash on him and Blair, until I get there.”

Devin chuckled, “Blair is newly mated, so he’s distracted enough.”

“He’s one brave SOB. Taking on a whole clan of women.” Jesse set the drink on the hood of the van and went over and opened the door, reaching in he grabbed his run pack.

There were voices in the background. “Call me once you’ve found that clan’s area and let me know what you find, and Jesse?”

“Yeah?”

“Try to find some that don’t need canes, it will be easier for them to walk down the mountain.”

Jesse sighed, “let’s hope I do.”

Devin hung up without notice. Looking at the phone, he checked for any messages. There was none, that was rare, but he’d take it. Stuffing the phone into his pack, he put it over his head and flipped it to his back so he wouldn’t get hung up on any branches as he walked. He debated if he should grab the handgun under his seat and add it to the pack. Shrugging it off, he decided not. That was for moments when he couldn’t shift and haul ass.

He realized he hadn’t asked if a decision had been made about moving smaller clans. Half of the clan reps were for it though, and he agreed with them. Moving clans that were less than twenty to either another clan of the same likeness or closer to any clan would make security easier seemed like a solid plan. When he’d spoken to Zain earlier, inquiring about how the rest of the clan coordinating team were doing, the news hadn’t been promising. Clans were disappearing and Jesse was willing to bet Tomas was responsible for all of it.

Downing the rest of the drink, he tossed the can in the van and closed the door. Inhaling slowly, he started up the rough trail. This was going to be a long walk.

Tightening the cord, she checked the tension of the furs. “We’ll be warm this year, Thera.” Leah glanced at the leopard laying on the platform. She lifted her head an inch, looked back at her, and then lay back in the sunlight. “At least you don’t try to eat them now.” Going over, she bent down and rubbed her hand along the animal’s soft coat. “Aunt Tillie would be so happy you’ve settled down.” Blowing out a breath, she got back up. Her head was aching, the constant pressure that made it feel like something was squeezing it, but that was nothing new. If she managed to get all the potatoes dug up, maybe she’d go have a short nap. There wasn’t much free time in the fall for taking long breaks.

She stopped halfway to the garden and rubbed the center of her forehead. “I’m fine. I need to do this before winter hits.” Blowing out a breath, she concentrated on staying focused and here. There was so much to do before the cold weather hit. Leah looked around at the leaves, without Papa Low, she could only guess when that would be, she didn’t have his intuition about the weather. Her mouth quirked with a smile, Nana Pearl would have laughed at that and said it wasn’t intuition, but arthritis that told him when the cold was moving in.

Pausing beside the shed, she opened it to get out a pail and shovel. The potatoes were the last to come out, she’d gotten the other root vegetables stored for winter in the last few weeks. Brushing her hair back from her face, she watched Thera pace back and forth outside the garden area. If it weren’t for her, she would be so lonely, so lost.

As she started down the path along the rows, Thera came bounding after her, cutting in front of her. “We don’t have time for a run right now, girl.” She smiled at the way the large cat stared at her. “Let me get them dug up first, then we’ll go for a run and pick them up later.” Thera walked over to the edge of the garden and sat down. Leah chuckled to herself quietly. “I’d ask you to help, but then they’d be all sliced up with those claws.” Thera made a deep rasping meow noise. To a person that didn’t know better, it may have sounded like a huge bullfrog, but Leah understood as if she’d used actual words. “Of course, you’d get your paws dirty.”

Picking up the shovel, she moved over to the row. The garden had been good this year, which surprised her. It was the first year without Papa Low’s secret fertilizer. She’d planted more than needed, but Papa Virgil had always said it was better to have too much than not enough.

“I could preserve half of it and make the trek to town and sell it at the market…” Like they used to do. Biting her lip, she shook her head. “I could do it.” She nodded, “with a little help, but I could try it again.” Sighing, she looked across to the other side of the fence. She missed Papa Low. The others too, but her grandfather and Aunt Tillie had been her absolute favorite people on earth.

Leah inhaled slowly. “Not that we know a lot of people.” She murmured and then started to turn the soil carefully, keeping the shovel turned to the right angle to not slice open the fleshy roots under the soil.

“I miss people, Thera.” She didn’t bother to look at the cat, knowing she would hear her regardless of where she lay down. “I know, I know, I can’t handle people.” She paused and looked at the ground, not really seeing it. “They are terrifying, rude, pushy…” Minn didn’t like it when people weren’t nice to her. Blinking, she concentrated on the plant in front of her, bending down, she pulled it from the soil, shook it, and tossed it beside the row. “I could do it, get some other supplies,” she whispered. She was running out of so much including paper and brushes. Aunt Tillie had shown her how to use plants and other items to make paints, but she couldn’t find all the colors she’d like to have. Painting helped. Helped her stay grounded, stay present. “We could do it, together, go down the mountain.”

Evanna had always protected her. Always kept her safe, even before Minn was around. Her heart accelerated, causing her to catch her breath. Pausing she looked at Thera, “I’ll think about it some more.” Even though she’d said it aloud, she knew already that there wouldn’t be a trip down the mountain, there wouldn’t be new brushes and crisp paper. She couldn’t even control her panic at the thought of doing it, so there was no way Minn or Evanna would let her load up preserves and trek down there and out of their safe place.

She had to get her emotions back under control or she’d lose it and have one of those moments that left her feeling like she’d failed again. It had been better for the last few months, and she wanted to keep it that way. She didn’t like when she receded so far into her mind that when she came back there was no clarity on what had happened. According to her journal, Evanna hadn’t had to take over for a month now, at least there were no gaps, so she could only assume she hadn’t been here.

Thera got up and came over and rubbed up against her. She offered her a quick look, “I’m fine, we’ve got this.”