“Who’s going after the girls?” Lycell questioned looking to Wilder.
“It will have to be Hunter. Devin will have to stay here.” Devin paced the length of the room visibly upset before questioning his father.
“It’s my wife and pups. Not Hunter’s.” His tone is defiant and hard.
“That has nothing to do with anything. He is the one most skillful in a fight, Devin, and he has as much at stake as you do,” Wilder said furrowing his brow with both eyebrows raised with his blue eyes deepening. You don’t know how to fight the Lion shifters.” Devin stood huffing and resting his arms on the fireplace mantel looking at Hunter.
“One of my sons has to stay here, and I choose Devin. One of your son’s will have to remain behind as well, Wilder said to Lycell. You make your choice. You have one minute.”
“I’m going with them,” Lycell said. “Thorn and Tracker, he said glancing at them, “meet me outside. Lycell looked at Damon. “You have to be here. Listen to Wilder and follow his directions.” Damon nodded and when he glanced around to tell his brothers good hunting, they had already gone.
Lycell hit Hunter on his back and they strode out with Devin sulking in the back of the room not wanting to speak to Wilder. “When you have enough experience, then you can take the lead. You don’t have the taste for blood. You’ve sat at a desk all your life and played with figures and video games. This isn’t a game.”
“When will I get a chance to prove myself, father?” Devin questioned Wilder. “No one has as much time in the field as Hunter except you, Lycell, and Drayton. How will I get a chance to prove that I am ever bit a hunter and tracker as Hunter.”
“Then you had better spend your time learning to hunt and go to our council meetings than trying to fuck every shifter female that wiggles her ass at you.” Devin lowered his head because everything his father said had been true. But he declared himself a changed man. That is until the next opportunity presented itself.
The group of werewolves led by Lycell met up at the horse stall where the grooms had their horses waiting for them. “We’re taking an old Indian trail. Tracker has the directions pinpointed and we will travel north,” Lycell said.
“North? Into the Sierra Nevada?” Hunter asked. Not because it bothered him but because he needed to know what he was dealing with.
“Yes,” Tracker said to Hunter.
“We can’t use the horses but for a few miles. Then we will have to swim across the lake and go through a few national parks. With bears and mountain lions,” Thorn added, his voice breaking. Because he was afraid, and because he was smart enough to be afraid.
“If it’s snowing then it’s up to you, Hunter. You’ll take the lead,” Tracker said.
“Did I hear you say bears?” Lycell questioned walking from a stall leading his favorite stallion.
“Yes, father. I did say bears,” Thorn said.
“You were too young to know about this but...”
“I know,” Tracker said jumping on his horse. “Hunter told me all about you and that bear.”
Lycell looked at Hunter, Hunter glanced at the ground with a closed smile while taking the reins to his horse. After everyone mounted, Lycell looked to Tracker and Hunter. “Why are you bringing a bow and arrows? You are after all werewolves. We don’t need that.”
“I might see a bear, father, and I don’t want to wait until it’s on me. You’ve proven that it’s difficult to handle a bear at close range,” Tracker said. Lycell nodded his head in agreement and the others snickered so Lycell couldn’t hear. But then he hears everything.
With the horses it took little time to get to the lake. They would have to cross it. If they took another route, they would have a hard time finding the place on the map that Tracker had located. “We need a map, uncle,” Hunter said to Lycell. “Not any map. We need a Google map of the area,” he said jumping from his horse.
“I have one on my smartphone. As soon as we get a signal then we can find out how many structures are due north,” Tracker said. But I have an idea of where the house is located. I’m never wrong.” Thorn rolled his eyes. He remembered the first time Tracker was lost.
“But how will we know which one it is?” Thorn asked.
Lycell and Hunter began answering him at the same time. Then Lycell stopped and he deferred to Hunter with a wave of his hand.
“It will be the largest and most expensive home in the area. And it will be in an isolated area.” Everyone dismounted and began walking closer to the lake. Tracker circled around the area looking for a signal.
As they sat crouched down near the lake, two men came walking out of the forest and they had their guns at their side. They were smiling as they approached the Samsa group.
Hunter and Lycell knew instinctively when men have a plastered smile it’s because they intend you harm or they are friendly. In either case no one wanted to take a chance especially since they held guns and they were pointed at them.
“Had any luck,” the tall skinny one said to Lycell.
“With what?” Lycell asked.
“Fishing of course. You are here to fish? It isn’t hunting season yet and you don’t have guns.” The werewolves came to the same conclusion. Why are they carrying guns if it isn’t hunting season? The Samsas thought.
The werewolves broke with a smile at the same time. They had to change the conversation. They knew instinctively that they had to get the humans talking. Humans enjoyed boasting and talking about themselves, and they talked too much. What were they doing with guns?
“Have you two been out fishing?” Tracker asked the two men.
“Yes. Caught two today. Two big ones.” They smiled nervous smiles.
“Did you use your guns?” Tracker asked. They both looked down and before they could look up, Hunter and Thorn had them by the juggler. “What do you want us to do with them, father?” Thorn said his hands on one of the men’s shoulder lifting him off the ground seconds later.
Lycell pulled ropes out of his saddle bags hanging across his black stallion and threw it to Tracker followed by a roll of masking tape. “Now tie them to the tree and let’s get out of here. Someone will find them tomorrow. Throw their guns in the river.”
After Thorn and Tracker had done that, they sent their horses home and prepared to swim across the lake.
“Couldn’t you find and easier route?” Thorn said to Tracker before they jumped into the lake.
“Yeah, but I know how you and father have a dislike for bears. Not too many on this side of the lake,” Tracker said.