“Okay, Jo, I officially confess to being lost in the Canadian wilderness,” announced Nicky, my satyr chauffer. I raised my eyebrow at him and made no comment. We were driving through a lovely little town, all dressed up for Christmas with inflatable characters on front lawns and garland wrapped around porch pillars. It had snowed recently, but only a dusting covered the brown grass.

“I think you exaggerate, Nicky. Where are those instructions you printed out?” After three days travelling from Florida, the luxury SUV’s interior was a mess due to Nicky’s insistence on buying souvenirs every time we stopped to eat or sleep. I twisted in my seat to look behind and saw the dog-eared corners of the sheaf of directions sticking out from underneath a red sweatshirt bearing the declaration that the wearer loved Canada. I snagged the papers and leafed through to the last page. I frowned.

“The directions end with this town. We’re supposed to punch some numbers into a GPS, whatever that is.”

“Jo, you know darn well what a GPS is. It’s been sitting in front of you on my dash for the whole trip. Punch the numbers in.” Nicky pulled the SUV over in front of a store front whose window announced that hunting and fishing licenses were for sale within. I pointedly handed him the page with the information on it.

“You know I don’t do that kind of thing.”

“For the sake of the vanished gods, Jo!” gritted Nicky. I peeked and saw that his usually sunny yellow aura was turning muddy.

I was surprised. Nicky had been a pleasant travelling companion up until now, putting up with my technophobia. His handsome face with the stereotypic goatee was creased with annoyance. So now Nicky was tired of me, just like my Grove sisters. He had been delighted with the assignment to drive me to my new job in Northern Ontario when we were in Florida. “Road trip!” he had caroled and then told me to ignore the permanent tent in his pants that all satyrs sported. He would be the perfect gentleman. This was very un-satyr-like behavior, so I wondered if one of my Grove sisters had told him to leave me alone. If so, it was another example of them coddling me, even as they were forcing me out of the Grove. They didn’t think I could handle it on my own, that I was too fragile. Still, I liked Nicky and tried to smooth things over.

“Why are you angry with me, Nicky? It’s not my intention to be obstinate.”

He sighed and rubbed the spot where his horns were hidden in his luxuriant chestnut head of hair. “I’m not mad, Jo. I just don’t get you. If I had been in a healing sleep in my tree for seventy years, the first thing I’d do upon emerging would be to get up to speed with the new century. There’re so many advancements that have made the world a much smaller place. Humans have been to the moon, for Dionysus’s sake. And yet, you make a point of avoiding it all. You haven’t struck me as being an unreasonably stubborn person, so why, Honey Lips?”

It was complicated to say the least, and I hadn’t even begun to unravel all my reasons for myself, let alone be able to explain it to others. I looked at my clenched hands resting in my lap. “I don’t know, Nicky. One minute I was going to blow up some train tracks with my French Resistance cell, and the next it was all fire and bullets. Then my tree is disgorging me onto the grass in the Florida Grove. It was horrifying to find out that I had been so badly hurt that it took seventy years to heal me, first in a loaned tree in Provence and then in my own tree. Every human I knew was long dead.” I glanced at him but saw nothing but sympathy. “You know I had a human lover, yes?”

Nicky nodded. “Yes. He was a baker in a family of bakers in the Montmartre district of Paris. You joined the Resistance together, and he died in the same ambush that injured you.”

I looked back down at my hands. “I miss him. I miss the life we had in the bakery before the war. Those were happy times, and it would have been years before he would have noticed I wasn’t aging. But that was all snatched away from me. My sisters in the Grove want me to forget about what I’ve lost and get with the program. Apparently, I have too much potential to waste my time moping around the Grove. This assignment is to start me on the path to reintegrating with society but…”

“You haven’t finished grieving.” Nicky’s sympathy made me want to burst into tears.

“No, not yet. I’ve been outside of my tree for two years now, so I do understand that I have to move on, but it’s all too much.” It made me feel weak and cowardly. Where was the courage I had dredged up when we fought the Nazis? I had been a fearless warrior. Now I lived in the shadows, pulling a corner of my shawl over my face, hiding. I was startled out of my thoughts by a gentle hand on my knee.

“Jo, take your time. Grief doesn’t have a schedule. Going to this the lykán camp will be good for you. You can integrate back in at your own pace.”

I sat up straighter. “Sure, Nicky. Let’s do this GPS thing.”

Nicky ended up punching in the numbers, but I watched him do it. I jumped a little when the box on the dashboard spoke in the sultry tones of a woman with a British accent.

“Drive 2.4 miles along County Road 19 to the intersection of Regional Road 12.”

“And we’re off!” declared Nicky.

****

After numerous twists and turns, we pulled up to iron gates. I squinted up at name carved into the wooden sign that hung above me.

Dyre Private Resort

I shook my head. How subtle. I let out a long sigh.

“More second thoughts, Jo? Courage, Honey Lips.”

I smiled at Nicky. I would be sorry to see him leave, but he was needed in Michigan for something or other. Fortunately, I would have Aunt Min to keep me company at Camp Dyrewolf.

“Always, Nicky. But I’m looking forward to seeing Aunt Min. She counseled me for a few months after I left my tree but then she had to leave for this job.”

An intercom on the gate pillar on Nicky’s side crackled. “You going to tell me who you are or just sit there all day?” It was a testy, male voice.

I looked up and saw a camera.

Nicky leaned toward the intercom. “Nicolas Andropopulis delivering Joanna Kourakis.”

“Yeah.” I heard the click as the intercom turned off. I pushed the button to roll down my window. Despite the chill in the air, I stuck my head out and inhaled the scent of the pine forest. I missed the company of trees. As I did hundreds of times a day, I reached up to finger the polished disc of wood hanging from its leather thong around my neck. It was from my tree and allowed me to leave my Grove without sickening and dying.

I sensed him rather than saw him. Turning my head slowly to the right, I locked gazes with a slender white wolf with amber eyes. My first lykánthropos, and he was magnificent. An adolescent by the looks of him, with legs that were too gangly and shoulders that were too narrow. I wondered how much effort it would take for him to launch into the air and fly through the window at my throat. One snap of his jaws, and my hundred-year-long life would be over.

“Bring it on, fluffy,” I told him. Nicky’s head jerked toward me, and he saw the lykán. He cursed under his breath. There was no love lost between Pan’s get and the children of Selene.

The wolf gave me a big doggy smile and lifted a leg. A copious stream of urine marked the SUV’s back tire.

“You can piss on it all you like, it’s still my sweet ride.” Nicky was furious underneath his insouciant reply. He had explained to me exactly how much the top-of-the-line SUV had cost him. I was still baffled by modern prices. For what he had paid for the large chunk of rolling metal, Armand and I could have bought three bakeries in Paris.

With a flick of his tail, the wolf shifter vanished into the thick pines. The gates started to swing open. They looked on the verge of falling apart from rust, but the hinges made no sound as they moved. The veneer of neglect over very efficient machinery. I had done some studying of lykáns when I found out I was to come here and knew that was a common lykán ruse.

We drove up the dirt road through heavy forest. Frozen weeds stuck up in the center and brushed the undercarriage, but there were no potholes, washouts, or washboards. Again, care under apparent neglect. As we rounded a long curve, the resort appeared before us. Rustic would be one word to describe it. The buildings were made from logs and painted rust red. The end of each log was tipped with white for variety. We pulled up in front of a sign that said, “Guests Only”.

The screen door opened, and Aunt Min bustled out, carrying a suitcase. As expected, she looked no different from the last time I had seen her: pale blonde hair done up in a chignon, merry chocolate brown eyes and the physical appearance of a human woman in her late forties although she was hundreds of years older than that. Physically, I was very similar to her, being from the same Grove lineage, although to human eyes I appeared to be twenty years younger. Never the fashion plate, Aunt Min wore shapeless cargo pants and a puffy pink down-filled parka zipped up to her neck. She held a steaming coffee cup decorated with a picture of a mosquito and the caption “Nipigon Air Force”.

“Jo and Nicky! Right on time. Unload your belongings, dear. I’m in a hurry.”

I slowly got out of the SUV and watched Aunt Min throw her suitcase carelessly into Nicky’s back seat. It landed on a pile of ceramic souvenirs, and I heard something break. Nicky gave a wordless yelp and darted around to the back hatch to remove my two bags. Keeping one eye on Aunt Min, he placed them on the porch. He gave me a sideways hug so I wouldn’t get poked by his happy stick and then leapt back into the driver’s seat.

“Aunt Min?” That was plaintive even to my own ears.

She gave me a quick hug and plopped herself into what had been my seat. “I’m in a rush, dear. Kel will look after you. Have fun.” She reached over and squeezed the satyr’s thigh. “I know I will. Nicky, let’s go.” The look on Nicky’s face was priceless. The satyr might have met his match.

I stood there forlornly watching Nicky back into the parking lot and do a quick turnabout. The last glimpse I had of Aunt Min was of her waving out her window. Her tinkling laugh echoed through the tall pines. I had been looking forward to spending time with the one Grove sister who didn’t get on my case about my Luddite tendencies. It never occurred to me that I was Min’s replacement. The screen door thumped again, and I turned to see a man emerge from the building’s dark interior.

His aura told me he was lykán since I had never seen that boiling orange color in a human. The man’s approach, all smooth and deadly predator, confirmed my guess. He leaned against one of the support pillars for the porch’s roof and gave me the once over. He seemed less than impressed.

I gave a little wave. “I’m Joanna Kourakis, but most people call me Jo.”

“Jo.” He tasted the name and found it sour. This must be the Kel who was to look after me. Kel was dark and lean, with wide shoulders. The amber eyes above the beard stubble must be a lykán characteristic. “You’re replacing Minerva as our healer, I take it.”

Ooh, nobody called Min “Minerva”. I gave a smile that was more of a wince. “I wasn’t aware that she would be leaving. This has really taken me by surprise. I’m not sure I’m prepared to take over here.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t be taking over. The Lykán Conclave grudgingly lets this place exist, and one of their stipulations is that we have an empathic healer on call.” Kel leaned forward and lowered his voice but my dryad hearing picked up his words perfectly well. “But nobody will be calling you.” Kel did snark well.

“Well, super. Glad to know I’ll be able to meet expectations.” I was stranded here now with no apparent way of leaving and no job to do.

“Yeah, not big on expectations here.” Now he was being smug. “I’m Kel Hawthorne. I’ll get your cabin key.” He ducked back into the office, and, although I hadn’t been invited, I followed him.

I was surprised to find myself in a charming lobby. There were brochures for local attractions and a topographic map of the area on the wall behind the reception counter. Homemade posters advertised events such as Christmas in July and the Great Scavenger Hunt. I felt Kel’s gaze on me.

“Is this all window dressing?” I asked, waving my hand at the lobby.

“Yeah. Some humans do make it up here, despite the gate. Or they motor across the lake. They’re told this place is private membership only, and most leave without a fuss.” He selected from a wall rack one of a dozen large antique keys that had numbers hanging from them. The one he selected was number five. I wondered what happened to the humans who did make a fuss.

Kel pushed by me and exited without holding the screen door open for me. I caught it with my foot before it could slam in my face. Walking by my two lonely bags in the parking lot, he headed up a dirt road that ran up a hill beside the lodge. Sighing, I picked up the bags and followed him.

I hadn’t quite caught up to him by the time he strode up onto the porch of a sweet little cabin and fitted the key to the front door. I followed him inside and surveyed the contents of the cabin with approval. There was a kitchen complete with stove and refrigerator. A comfy sofa and matching armchair faced a stone fireplace.

Kel opened a door. “Your bedroom. Bathroom is next door. I’ve stocked you with towels, but you’re in charge of laundering them.”

“No maid service then?” I said jokingly and was rewarded with a frown.

“Everyone here cleans up after themselves. Or at least those who wear skin occasionally. The ones who stay in fur don’t need to worry about it.”

“How many are there of each category?” I was curious as to how many patients I might have. Kel told me they wouldn’t be needing my services, but it wouldn’t hurt to know.

“You don’t need to know that,” he answered, unsurprisingly.

“Okay.” I put my suitcases down by the bedroom door. Going to the kitchen, I checked the contents of the refrigerator and then started opening cupboards. I was well stocked for now, but no doubt I was expected to rustle up my own supplies in the future. I could feel Kel hovering behind me. I couldn’t trust my empathic senses with an unfamiliar species, but he felt a little off balance to me. Was my apparent lack of despair at being unwanted throwing him off?

“There’s enough food to last you a couple of days. I bought you the same stuff Minerva ate. I make a grocery run every Monday morning. Make a list of what you want. Leave it at the office. Or you can email it to me.”

I turned to face him. “I don’t do email. I’ll drop the list off at the front desk.”

He smirked. “Not at all? Don’t even want to know what the Wi-Fi password is?”

“Nope.” Agape, leader of the Florida Grove dryads, had pressed one of those little phones on me when I left. It was at the bottom of one of the suitcases.

Kel crossed his arms. “You’re a strange one. Not anything like Minerva.”

I smiled. “You have that correct. You leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. And everyone is happy. Is there anything else you wish to show me?” If not, leave.

“No.” He subjected me to his amber stare a few seconds too long, obviously debating whether to say something else. He gave into the impulse. “Keep out of the woods. The ones who stay in fur can be impulsive.”

I cocked my head to one side. “You’re telling a dryad to stay out of the woods? Did that work with Min?”

“No, but she could take care of herself.”

My shoulders tensed. “And I can’t?”

His shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s something about you. Something lost. Or sad. It makes you seem like prey.”

I laughed. “Does ‘impulsive’ translate to ‘hunt down and eat lone dryads found in the woods’? Do I need to carry some sort of protection? Like wolfsbane? A rolled-up newspaper?”

“You can try, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Enjoy your cabin.” He extended the key to me, and I took it. He left, gently closing the door behind him. I hovered there for a moment and then locked it. I didn’t feel threatened here, but I wouldn’t ignore Kel’s warning about impulsive campers who never changed out of their wolf form.

I found a glass in one of the cupboards and ran the sink water before filling it. The water tasted pure, free of the chemicals the cities put in their water supplies. In Florida, we either drank rainwater or bought (!) spring water tasting of the plastic it was bottled in. I had found a good thing about this place already. I could be positive if I put my mind to it.

My bedroom had a comfy double bed and a dresser set. I unpacked my belongings and stowed my suitcases under the bed. I found the phone and placed it on the top of the dresser. It dinged at me, and I ignored it. The bathroom had a glass-walled shower on one side and a free-standing tub on the other. Again, luxury hidden in a rustic setting. Exploring further, I found a mud room at the back of the cabin and a door that led to a deck. I slipped my coat back on to check it out.

There was a little clearing ringed with poplars and maples. There must have been a fire within the last twenty years to explain the lack of spruce and pine. Or it had been cleared to build the resort. I would commune with the soil later and try and find out the wood’s history. There was a rustle in the undergrowth to my right, and I turned to face the sound. The adolescent white wolf emerged from the foliage and stood there panting a grin at me.

“We meet again,” I commented. The wolf rippled as if in a heat mirage. A teenager stood there, naked, but he politely covered his bits with his hands. One of those who wore skin on occasion, then. He was a good-looking kid with reddish-blonde hair that contrasted nicely with his amber eyes.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Evan.”

“Joanna but you can call me Jo.”

“What if I want to call you Anna? Or Anna-Jo?” His grin was sly.

“I can’t stop you, but I may not answer to it.” I touched his mind with my empathic abilities. I felt what I thought was curiosity and a bit of male interest. He was a teenager after all. “You visiting, Evan? Perhaps you could bring clothes next time.”

“Arcadians aren’t bothered much by nudity. Are dryads different? Prudish maybe?”

I ignored his innuendos. “Arcadians? Is that what you call yourselves? I’ve been using lykán in my mind. Was that rude?”

Evan pursed his lips. “Not really, I guess. It’s just not something we call ourselves. We originated in Arcadia, Greece.”

“Well, I’ll try and call you Arcadians from now on. Do you want to come in? I can lend you some sweatpants."

“Why do you keep trying to dress me, Anna-Jo?”

“As your counselor, it would not be appropriate to be alone with you when you have no clothes on. Plus, you must be freezing.”

He appeared to consider that, and then his mocking grin broke out again. “But I don’t need a counselor, so I’ll pass on the invite. And I don’t feel the cold that much. Have a nice day, Anna-Jo.”

“You too, Evan.” I watched as he shimmered back into a wolf. With a flick of his tail, he melted into the woods. I knew he would be back. His attraction to me was superficial, but his curiosity was not.

****

There was a bookshelf in my cabin. It held what I assumed was typical fare for a cottage visitor. There were books on tree and bird identification, as well as on local history. There was a large stock of romances, and I noted with amusement that one was entitled The Dryad’s Lost Love. I pulled it off the shelf, and an envelope fell to the floor. I picked it up and saw it was addressed to me.

I opened it and went right to the final signature. As I suspected, it was from Aunt Min. I sighed and made myself comfortable on the sofa.

Dear Jo,

Surprise! You’re here and I’m not. But, as we both know, I couldn’t do anything for you two years ago so why should it be any different now? There was talk at the Grove of shipping you to the Greek colony, so I put the kibosh on that by telling them to send you here. I think you’ll benefit from not having a sister ask you how you are doing every five minutes and from having something to take your mind off things. Kel will tell you that there’s nothing for you to do here but you’ve already figured out that’s not true.

There are thirty shifters here, including Kel. Of those, all are adolescent, except Kel. seventeen never shift to human form. Of the twelve that do, only about five are interested in interaction. The others shift so that they can eat human food when they tire of wild game. They all have their reasons for preferring wolf form but won’t talk to you about it. In the past, the clans would have let them live their lives as wolves in some remote area, but modern civilization makes that difficult. There’s always the risk that they might give away the existence of shifters. Hence this rehabilitation camp. It’s only a few years old so Kel has a bit of time before the oldest kids reach adulthood and must conform to clan rules. Whether he admits it or not, he needs our help to find a solution that is acceptable to the Conclave.

Good luck, Kiddo and don’t forget to have fun.

Your Auntie Min.

P.S. In case it’s not obvious, burn after reading.

I read the letter again and then tossed it into the fire. It sounded like Kel had his work cut out for him. With so much at stake, I needed to find a way to reach the lykán adolescents. My empathic abilities were a bit better than Min’s so hopefully I could push through where she couldn’t. Sighing, I opened the dryad romance and settled in. Seems I had work to do after all, but I was going to have a little holiday first.

****

By the next morning, the temperature had dropped considerably. A cold wind stirred leafless branches, and the threat of snow loomed over me in the gray sky. I did have clothing for the occasion, not easily obtained in Florida, I might add. I bundled up warmly and took to the woods. There were clear trails in the snow, but I saw deer hoof rather than wolf pad prints. I jogged along at a good pace and congratulated myself for all the hard work I had put in to rehabilitate my body after its long sleep. I had to keep up the exercise so staying in my cabin was not for me. I would have to take my chances with the more impulsive lykáns. If things got a bit tense, I could slip into one of the big white pines dotting the trails.

There was a flash of white in the woods. Evan was paralleling me. He had shown himself to be friendly, so I would assume he was escorting rather than stalking me. I got a bit worried when a larger, more formidable gray wolf joined him. If that big bruiser attacked, Evan wouldn’t be able to stop him. I reached out mentally toward them to get the lay of the land. Evan wasn’t thinking about much except the enjoyment of stretching his legs in a wood where all the brambles and bushes had died off in the cold weather. Passage was a lot easier. The other…I drew back quickly. It was Kel and he was angry. Of course. I was disobeying his instructions to stay out of the woods. Still, he was letting me go on my way, rather than forcing me to turn back.

More barely visible forms joined Evan and Kel. I had a full pack escort. I kept going for another hour, and no one bothered me. Some wolves dropped out and streaked away. New ones would join. At the end of my allotted time, I turned back, following my tracks to avoid getting lost. The last thing I wanted to do was ask Kel to lead me home. I reached my cabin door finally, pleasantly exhausted. My outing had served its purpose. I had gotten much needed exercise, I had shown Kel that I wasn’t going to dance to his tune, and I had introduced myself to some of Camp Dyre’s residents.

Once inside, I peeled off my boots and socks, and my coat, then padded over to the tamped-down fire and built it up. I made myself instant hot chocolate, promising myself that I would take the time in the future to heat milk on the stove for a proper version. Armand’s mother, Madame Chenier, would have been horrified to see me making it in such a cavalier manner. I imagined her exclaiming in horror and pouring my cup down the drain. Let me show you how it’s done, my dear child. She had still had the soft accents of Provence even though she had been living in Paris for twenty years when I met her. I thought of the bakery with its rich warm smells, especially just before Christmas when we were all madly bustling to fill orders. It was hard work, but I had felt part of a family and proud that I could help.

The fire was burning nicely so I pulled the sofa closer and positioned the footstool in front of the fire. I was toasting my feet and sipping my inferior drink when there came a banging at my door. I cast out mentally. Kel. In a pissy mood.

“Come in,” I called.

The door swung open forcefully, but Kel caught it before it hit the wall. He closed it and made a point of locking it.

“Sorry, forgot,” I told him. “Country living and all that. But people do seem to knock before storming in.”

“Why the hell did you ignore my advice and go for a skip in the woods?” he snarled at me. Literally. Then he sniffed the air in the direction of my hot chocolate.

“It wasn’t a skip. It was a steady trot. I thought I had clearly indicated that I wasn’t going to stay inside by my use of sarcasm.”

Ignoring my response, Kel took off his boots and jacket and stomped over to my kitchenette.

“Hot chocolate is in the cupboard over the stove,” I called without looking around.

“I know. I stocked your kitchen.”

The water in the kettle was still hot so it wasn’t long before he was back, flopping into the sofa’s companion armchair. He nodded at the footstool. “Move.”

I obediently shifted my feet over, and Kel thunked his size fourteens next to my size nines.

Kel cleared his throat. “So, let’s discuss some rules.”

“Sure.” I could discuss as much as he wanted.

“If you have to go outside for walks, you do it with an escort.”

“Okay,” I said agreeably. It wasn’t as if I could stop wolves from following me.

“You carry your phone with you at all times.”

“Nope. Not doing that.”

“Jo.”

“Kel.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Why this resistance? It’s a simple precaution to keep you safe.”

I finished my hot chocolate before answering and looked around for a place to put the cup down. Kel took it from me and put it on the floor. I took a moment to organize my thoughts. “I don’t want to be tied to it, the way I see people are now. If I can’t get out of trouble with my own wits and dryad abilities, I can’t see how calling for help is going to make a difference.”

“A big shifter would make a difference.”

“Is that what you call yourself? Evan told me you used the term Arcadians.”

He finished his hot chocolate and put his cup next to mine. I had better remember to pick them up and wash them or I’d have a mouse problem. “When did you talk to Evan?”

“The first day I got here. Why? Is it not allowed?”

Kel shrugged. “If Evan wanted to talk to you, nothing wrong with that. But he was pulling your leg about us calling ourselves Arcadians. Only the stuffiest on the Conclave’s ruling council use that term. What’s that you wear around your neck?”

I went with his obvious change of subject. “My tree or part of it. It lets me leave my Grove.”

He leaned forward to touch it, and I clasped my hand around it. “Please don’t. That’s very intimate thing to do, and you were not invited.” He sat back in his chair hands outspread in mock apology.

“What happens if you lose it, or it’s taken away from you?”

It was my turn to shrug, not really wanting to answer but very aware that I needed to establish a rapport with this man. “I live for a while. If I can get back to my Grove and my tree, I will survive. If not, I wither and die. Then my tree does the same in the Grove. No trace of me left. Bye, bye Jo,”

He cocked his head at me. Perhaps I had slipped up, let something show in my tone.

“It sounds like you don’t think that’s an entirely bad thing. Have you been alive for so many centuries that you tire of life now?”

“Not at all. I’m young for a dryad, born in 1910 but my tree was planted in 1870.” I saw his puzzlement and continued. “When dryads want to add to their numbers, there’s a ceremony and a branch is taken from an existing tree. It’s placed in the ground and grows for several years before a dryad forms inside and finally emerges. That’s how dryads came to North America. A small group of Greek dryads brought branches donated from the Grove on Mykonos. They planted them and watched over them until their daughters emerged. Then they went home to Greece, leaving my sisters to make their own way in the New World.”

“How long ago was that?” Kel had forgotten that I had never answered his question about being tired of life.

“They sailed with Ponce de León on his second visit to Florida. They were hidden in the planks and masts. He never knew they were there.”

“Can you do that? Hide in the walls?”

I frowned at him, wondering why he was asking. “Yes, but I’m out of practice.”

“Do me a favor?”

“If I can.” What on earth was he going to ask? I hadn’t reached out empathically to him because he deserved his privacy, but it was all I could do not to scan him now.

“Practice.”

“Practice what? Hiding in the walls?”

“Yes.” He heaved himself out of the chair. “You might need to someday, and it would be comforting to know you were safe.”

I blinked up at him, confused. Min had mentioned that Kel was keeping the teenagers safe, but there had been no indication of immediate danger. “Am I in danger here?”

“Not from us. But there are factions who would like to see the residents of Camp Dyre dealt with in a more permanent fashion. I wouldn’t want you to be a casualty in that war.”

“Me neither,” I murmured. “But I won’t hide in walls while you and the kids fight for your lives. That’s not who I am.”

Kel didn’t answer me as he put his coat and boots back on. He paused with his hand on the doorknob. “I think I’m interested in finding out who you are, Jo Kourakis.”

I almost laughed aloud. He said it so grudgingly, as if it was one the worst ideas he had had all year. And I couldn’t ignore the little frisson of excitement his interest gave me. I turned the laugh into a smile. “I’m here for a while.”

He frowned but not at me. “I just remembered. Your sister Agape called me this morning. She says she didn’t give you a phone just to ignore it. She wants you to read your texts and emails. Also, she wants you to pick up when she calls. I’d rather she not call me anymore so throw her a bone, would you? Because she is not a pleasant person.”

“I really have no clue how to use that thing. She’ll have to write me a letter.”

“A letter.”

“You know, with pen and paper. And an envelope?”

He flashed me a smile that was all teeth. “I know what a letter is, but I bet none of the kids at this camp do. One of them can show you how to use your phone, Monday, at dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Mondays are spaghetti and meatballs night at the lodge. Be there at six or there won’t be any left for you. And bring your phone.”

After delivering his orders, Kel left, and I shuddered at the blast of cold air that came from that quick opening and closing of the door. I snuggled deeper into the sofa. Tomorrow was Sunday and I was going to laze around, writing up my grocery list. If I was invited to a dinner, I should bring a dessert. It was three weeks until Christmas, and my thoughts kept going back to happier times in Armand’s bakery. Madame Chenier always gave me the almond macarons to make because she knew they were my favorite. I could start with those. Just the anticipation of baking made me feel as if I was exercising a muscle that was long atrophied. Painful at first but once you got going, it felt good. The other thing that felt good was the heat in Kel’s amber eyes when he said he would like to know me better. I just wasn’t sure that was a muscle I wanted to stretch.

****

I had slept well my first night at the camp. Maybe it was the cold Canadian air. But tonight, my past all came back with a vengeance. While my healing sleep in the tree had been dreamless, in the two years I had been back in the world, I spent a lot of nights dreaming what I called the fire dream.

It had been so quiet that night. The ten of us crept along the embankment that supported the railway track. Before we got to the holes we had dug in the slope for our explosives, a shot rang out in the dark accompanied with a curse in German. One of the ambushers had jumped the gun, but it didn’t matter. The bullet hit the explosives Raoul was carrying, and we all went up like a string of roman candles. Armand turned to me, just before he died, his narrow, handsome face mirroring his despair. I hadn’t died outright because I was at the end of the line and had time to throw my bundle of dynamite away from me. I was knocked unconscious and slept through my incarceration in a Gestapo jail, my rescue by the French dryads, and being slipped into a French Grove tree lent by a sister. It hadn’t been ideal, but it kept me alive until they could arrange for my return to Florida after the war.

But in my repeating dream, I was awake and wading into the flames looking for Armand. I called and called but I knew he was gone, leaving me alone. I usually woke up desperately searching the bed for his body, and this was the case this time as well. Through my window, I could see it was still dark with the moon just setting. Sitting up, I scrubbed my hands up and down my face. My throat was sore from yelling, and I took a swig of the ever-present glass of water on my nightstand. A howl echoed through the night, as lonely as I had been in my dream.

“Please don’t come and check on me,” I whispered to the distant singer. I didn’t want to have to explain anything to anyone. My Grove sisters had grown tired of my issues, so I needed to keep them to myself here. I was getting better, incrementally. I just needed more time.

I couldn’t get to sleep after that, so it was with bleary eyes that I walked down the hill to the lodge to deliver my grocery list, an hour after dawn. I had hoped to be able to leave it on the office counter but as soon as the bell above the door rang, Kel was out of the back room. He held his hand out for the list, and I plunked it on his palm.

He scanned it and frowned more deeply than his default position frown. “You want to bake?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“No one here is a big fan of sweets. Apex predators, you know.”

I rolled my eyes. “Says the guy who stole my hot chocolate. All the more for me, then.”

He folded the list and put it in his shirt pocket. He was wearing a different color of plaid flannel shirt today with black jeans. He snatched some keys from the counter. “You were just in time. I was about to drive up to your cabin to get your list.”

“Can I come with you? I’d like to see what the grocery store carries.” I wanted to get a sense of the community we lived near. Nicky had blasted through it, and I had to warn him about police and tickets.

“No. I’m the only one who goes into town.”

It was my turn to frown. “That’s a bit dictatorial. Are we prisoners here?”

Kel had come out from behind the counter, and I was reminded of the difference in our heights. The top of my head barely reached his collarbone. “It’s safer. I don’t want observers getting our measure. And I definitely don’t want them scoping out our pretty little dryad. I’m the face of Camp Dyre to the public.”

I ignored the throw away compliment. “I’m confused now. Are these observers from the anti-Dyre shifter factions or are you talking about the public as in humans?”

“Both. The shifters have been quiet, but there’re a few humans agitating in town about the wolf pack. Looking for trouble where none exists. It’s safer to assume we’re always being watched. The priority is to keep the kids safe.” Kel shouldered past me but paused before pushing the door open.

“The oven in your cabin is crap. Come down to the lodge kitchen to bake your cookies.”

I didn’t bother answering—he was already gone. Did this mean I was trapped here at the camp? I wasn’t fond of the twenty-first century society but I also wasn’t a total hermit. I’d always enjoyed associating with humans even before Armand and his family. The not-aging issue aside, there was very little about me to tip them off that I was not human. I was willing to take precautions but not leaving the camp at all was going to wear on me.

Since I was already in the office, I decided to poke around. What lay behind the door behind the desk and the double doors at the far end of the office?

I chose the double doors first and, as I suspected, they led into a dining hall and kitchen facilities. The kitchen was open to the hall with a half wall separating the two areas. The appliances looked new, the silver chrome kind that attracted handprints. There were two ovens, one the standard type I was familiar with, and the other one of those convection ovens that I stayed well away from. I remembered Agape sneering at me, saying if it hadn’t existed in 1943, it still didn’t exist for me now. I snarled at the memory. I did not want to talk to her at all, but if she was going to bother Kel, I’d best capitulate and learn to use my phone. I could set the boundaries about how often I had to talk to her.

I opened doors and cupboards, noting the location of things I would need for the cookies. The four fridges contained meat, wild game by the looks of it, and leftover Chinese takeout. There was nothing to drink, and I was glad I had put milk on my list for my baking.

I went back through the office and tried the door behind the front desk. It was open so I slipped in. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

I stepped into a large reception room. There was a sizable screen on one wall that I recognized as a modern television. The rest of the walls were adorned with shelves containing books and board games. A corner table had a smaller screen which might be a computer. Still, this was all public fare, maintaining the seasonal camp illusion. Where did the private Kel spend his time? It was terribly nosy, I knew, but I couldn’t resist the chance to learn more about him. A hallway led to a small kitchen, a full bathroom, and several bedrooms. Only one showed occupation. Kel’s inner sanctum. I stayed at the doorway and looked my fill. I was aware that Kel would be able to tell by scent that I respected his privacy by not going into his bedroom.

The room was tidy, no clothes lying on the floor. An open door on the other side of the room indicated another bathroom. There was nothing to personalize the room: no pictures on the walls or dresser top. Kel could have been using the room for five minutes or five years.

I returned to the lounge and looked for interesting reading material. There were magazines dating back to the fifties. Leafing through them would be a good way to catch up on what I had missed in a more enjoyable way than all those documentaries Agape had tried to make me watch. I sorted them out by decade and had gone through the fifties and sixties when I heard a vehicle pulling up to the office. It was a truck, but it didn’t sound like Kel’s. I hurried out to the office.

From the owner side of the counter, I could see our visitors through the office window. Four men in camouflage outfits climbed out of a truck that had seen better days. According to their green-brown auras, they were human. I relaxed a bit. Not lykáns, thank goddess, but Kel had told me humans weren’t allowed on the property. In lieu of Kel, I was in charge and I would have to do my best to turn them away.

They saw me peering out at them and had a short consultation. Then all four shouldered their way into the office. Three split off in different directions and started fingering the brochures or reading the fake notice board. The fourth who had been the driver stepped up so close to the counter, the edge of it made a dent in his belly.

“Hello, pretty lady.” His eyes raked me up and down.

“This is private property. You’re trespassing. Please leave or I will have to call the authorities.” How, I didn’t know. There was no conventional telephone in the office. I needed my cell phone. I could just hear I told you so from Kel.

The leader licked his lips. It reminded me of the lizards in the south of France. “No need to be unfriendly, pretty lady. We’re looking for permission to do some hunting on your land. Got our licenses and everything. I can show you.” He flipped a tag on the counter, but I didn’t take my eyes from his.

“This is private property. No hunting allowed.” If this got bad, I could flee through the door behind me. I didn’t know if it locked, but one of the bathroom doors should.

“You’re overrun with wolves, Miss. Your neighbors with cattle and sheep been complaining about what you got going on here. We’re offering to thin the pack out a bit. Then they’d be more likely to stay in their own territory. Our licenses let us shoot two each. We’ll be in and out before you know it.”

I sent out my awareness. There were lykáns in the woods behind the office. I hoped they stayed where they were. I couldn’t feel Kel coming back yet. How long did it take to pick up groceries?

“No hunting is allowed on the property. You are not welcome here. Leave. Now.” Time to up the pressure. I had made scarier men than this character back down.

The leader of the hunt did not look very intimidated. He sucked his teeth and pivoted on his heel to take in the whole office. “Looks like you don’t have much spare change to fix things up nicely. My buds and I would like to make a contribution to the camp. Get yourself a nice couch or one of those expresso machines. Give the place a bit of class.”

I crossed my arms. “We don’t want your money. I’m calling the police now.” I turned and headed for Kel’s private quarters. There had to be a phone somewhere. I hoped 9-1-1 worked here in Canada the way it did in Florida.

“Not so fast, Miss Priss.” A meaty hand snagged my upper arm. I spun, bent his thumb back, and pushed his hand down until it touched the countertop.

“No touching.”

His friends crowded around him. “You want me to take care of her, Matt?” asked one.

“You ‘take care’ of me, that’s assault. I will press charges.” I heard a truck pull up in a hurry, gravel slewing. I reached out mentally and touched red fury. Kel was back. “Plus Mr. Hawthorne doesn’t like when people harass his staff.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass…” Matt was interrupted by a large hand grabbing the back of his coat. I let go of his thumb quickly because Matt was travelling. Holding the screen door open with one hand, Kel threw him into the parking lot and then turned to his friends.

“Who’s next?”

The one who offered to take care of me swung at Kel’s head. Kel caught the flying fist in his own and used the man’s momentum to throw him out the door. The remaining two made to run and were helped out of the office with a shove to the back and a boot to the rear.

Kel gave me a dark look and stomped out onto the porch. The hunters were regrouping, picking themselves off the ground and turning to face Kel. I saw one look longingly at the back of the truck, where the guns were, no doubt. Kel just stood there, hands on hips.

“What are you waiting for, Hawthorne? Let’s finish this.” Matt took off his coat and dropped it on the ground.

“I’m waiting for this,” Kel answered and jerked his chin toward the black and white vehicle making its way up to the lodge. It had “O.P.P. Police” written across its hood and on its doors. I ventured out on the porch beside Kel. I could sense the flames of his wrath still simmering. He didn’t take his eyes off the men crowding around the policeman as he got out of his cruiser, telling a tale of woe, no doubt. Then I felt his hand touch mine briefly.

“Are you okay? Did any of them hurt you?’

“No. One grabbed my arm, but I took his hand off me.”

A low chuckle rumbled through his chest. There was no humor in it. “Yeah, I saw.”

The policeman ordered the hunters to go sit in their truck and meandered up to the porch steps. He put one booted foot on the first step as a pose rather than an attempt to join us.

“Kel.”

“Dan.”

“So, same old, same old?” The policeman flipped a page over in his little notebook and waited with pen poised.

“I’m assuming so. I was in town getting groceries. Found the bunch of them in my office looming over Jo here. She had one in a finger lock on the counter. I removed him from the office and then did the same to his buddies.”

The policeman, Dan, turned his eyes to me. “May I have your name, Ma’am?”

I glanced at Kel, and he nodded. “Joanna Kourakis.”

“And your position here?”

Should I say empathic dryad healer? No, not today. “Camp counselor.”

Policeman Dan wrote that down. “What did the four stooges want from you?”

I didn’t understand his reference but answered the general intent of the question. “They wanted permission to hunt wolves on the property. They tried to show me their licenses and said the neighbors with sheep and cattle weren’t happy with us.”

Kel broke in. “Any complaints that you’ve heard of, Dan?”

The policeman kept scribbling in his notebook but answered. “None. Wouldn’t even know there’s a pack up here except for the occasional howling. Most people in town like it. If a cat or small dog goes missing, it’s usually a coyote or owl. Never saw any wolf tracks near town.”

I relaxed a bit. The lykáns would be crazy to kill livestock or pets around town but they were teenager wolves, and I didn’t know how much control Kel had over them. I mentally scanned the forest but the wolves I had sensed there earlier were gone. Policeman Dan interrupted my concentration.

“So, what happened after that, Miz Kourakis?”

“I told them numerous times to leave, that there was no hunting on our private property and threatened to call the police. They didn’t take me very seriously. When I tried to go to the safety of Kel’s quarters, the one named Matt held my arm so that I couldn’t leave. The one with the bad beard asked if Matt wanted him to take care of me.”

The policeman muttered something under his breath then looked at Kel. “So, charges of trespassing. You want assault added to that?”

“Trespassing should be good enough. There’s no camera in the office to confirm the assault, and it will end up a big argument in court. Oh, and damage to property. They jammed the gate open. Must have been hiding in the bush, waiting for me to leave and then ran out to stick a pry bar in the hinge. That’s a couple of thousand right there to fix.”

Policeman Dan snapped his notebook shut. “I’ll charge these yahoos and escort them off the property. You know they have hunting blinds set up all along the border of the Carsen property and yours? If the wolves step off your land, they’re fair game.”

Kel scratched his beard stubble. “Nothing I can do about that, but I think the wolves will smell the pot reek and stay away.”

“Yeah. There’s that. Have a nice day, you two.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled. It was alarming to hear that the humans were just waiting to blast a wolf that stepped out of line. If it were spring, I could make a line of vines and thorns grow around their hiding places. No matter how much they chopped, they would always come back. But it was winter, and everything was sleeping.

“Come help me unload,” Kel ordered, and I obediently trotted behind him to the truck. He handed me a couple of plastic bags. Then he took the rest up, at least ten bags per hand. A casual display of lykán strength. I’m sure it was for the benefit of the hunters who were still talking to the policeman from their truck.

“I thought you’d never get back,” I told him as I held the office door open for him.

“I was longer because I couldn’t find your damn blanched almonds at the first store. I had to go to the next town with the bigger store.”

I jumped ahead of him to open the double doors to the hall and kitchen. We made swift work of putting the groceries away. I only had to ask him twice where things went, and he pointed rather than speaking. It began to dawn on me that Kel was angry at me. Once the last box was away, except for the things I was taking to my cabin, I dared to put a hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry if you’re mad at me but I can’t think of anything else I could have done.”

He spun on me and backed me up against a counter. He held up his hand with the back of it facing me. He started ticking off things on his fingers.

“One, run. Two, run. Three…”

I pulled his hand down. “I get the idea, but I was still in the office, and I wouldn’t have been able to get past them without immediate violence. I was trying to talk my way out of the situation.”

“Why were you still in the office?”

I sighed. “I was snooping around after you left. Checking out this hall and the private lounge. Plus, your quarters.” I waited for a blast as to why I had invaded his privacy, but it didn’t come. I realized I was still holding his hand and let go of it quickly. “I will confess to regretting my stance about portable phones. Had I had mine on me and known how to use it, I would have called you and the police. I’ll remedy that tonight.”

Kel backed away from me and picked up the bags containing my groceries. “Okay.”

“Okay? That’s it?”

“Sure. You were honest about why you were still in the office when they came. You admitted a cell phone would have helped, and you’re going to fix that. You didn’t know they were trouble and now you do. So next time…?”

“Run.”

“Yes, or…?

I thought about it for a moment. “Oh. Vanish into the walls.”

“Bingo. Let’s get these up to your cabin.”

I was glad to see both hunters’ truck and police vehicle gone from the parking lot, so we didn’t have to walk by them again. “Why are they so insistent on shooting wolves? If I hadn’t been here, would they have tried to shoot a wolf before you got back?”

“No, I think they were just getting the lay of the land. No time for a hunt before I got back. They’re cautious of me as I’ve already told them to keep off the property. They didn’t expect you. Technically this is a summer camp for at risk kids. Only the caretaker should be around and that’s me.”

I opened my cabin door for him. “What would they gain by intimidating me?”

“Maybe get you to say yes. Then they would have come later, probably through the property from the Carsen land. Try and bag some wolves fast and get out. Then claim you told them they could.”

“What happens when a lykán is killed in wolf form?”

Kel was making quick work of stowing my groceries. “Stays a wolf. Our secret would be protected.” He put my milk in the refrigerator and jammed the plastic shopping bags into his pocket. “I have to see about getting someone in to fix the gate. Don’t forget to bring your cookies down to the lodge to cook them. I don’t trust this oven.”

“Okay. Thanks for helping me, Kel.”

He snorted. “Although I would prefer you had run, you were doing fine on your own. These guys must be nothing after the Gestapo. See you at dinner.”

He left, closing the door gently behind him. I stood frozen in place. He knew about my past. Min must have been talking. I felt a wave of disappointment pass through me. I thought I could start anew here but it would be all “poor Jo” and her tragic past. I kicked a little plastic garbage can and sent it rolling. I also said a few bad words in French.

****

At precisely five o’clock I lugged all my cookie-making materials down to the lodge. Kel wasn’t in the office, so I went right on through to the dining hall. There were five teens in human form in hoodies and sweatpants playing a card game at one of the dining tables. Evan was one of them. I nodded a greeting as I made my way to the kitchen. There was a large pot on top of the stove that smelled delicious. The sauce for the spaghetti, no doubt.

I preheated the oven and prepared my little section of counter. I combined the almonds, sugar, egg whites, and vanilla extract in a food processor. That was one invention that I wished I’d had in 1943. I pulsed it to do the initial mixing and then ran it for two minutes. All the teens stopped playing their game and stared at me until I had finished. Too bad, mes petites, interruptions must be tolerated for the sake of cookies. I had forgotten to ask Kel to get me a pastry bag with a wide tip nozzle, so I cut a hole in the corner of a freezer bag and squeezed the batter out into one-inch mounds. The freezer bag technique lacked finesse, and I could hear Madame Chenier’s chiding. I mentally promised her I would do a big stock up of proper baking equipment if I could persuade Kel to break his nobody-leaves rule and take me shopping.

The batter had to sit fifteen minutes. The kids were ignoring me, so I went back to the office and through to the private lounge. I grabbed some of the magazines I had been reading and brought them back to the kitchen.

The cookies were ready for the oven, and I popped them in. I leaned against the counter and leafed through the magazine. The almond smell of the cookies filled the room, and I saw the teens’ noses twitching. My timer went off, and I pulled the cooked macarons out. Perfect. Crisp on the outside and they would be chewy on the inside. As I transferred them to racks to cool, Kel sauntered into the dining hall. He came to a dramatic halt and sniffed the air heavily.

“What’s that smell?”

“Are you being rude? It’s my cookies.”

He was in the kitchen, crowding me, trying to reach around me for a cookie. I slapped his hand.

“After dinner or you’ll ruin your appetite. Also, I have to dust them with confectioner’s sugar.” My mouth fell open in a gasp as he picked me up and set me down several feet away. He was back at the cookies before I could gather further protest, shoving one into his mouth.

“And?” I asked. “Good enough for apex predators?”

“Hell, yes. But you didn’t make enough.” Crumbs showered down the front of his flannel shirt as he spoke.

I frowned at the racks. “I made three dozen. How many kids are you expecting?”

Kel nodded at the teens playing cards. “These stay in skin for dinner and card games. We might see the eight who will change only to eat. Don’t expect them to talk to you. There may be some who come in fur, but don’t let them eat any human food. They have to change first.”

I wondered how I was going to stop a wolf if he or she wanted a cookie. “And three dozen aren’t enough cookies for thirteen kids and two adults?”

“It’s enough for me. If you won’t make more, the kids can fend for themselves.”

“Hey!” Evan said. “Sharing is caring, Uncle Kel.”

I sighed. “I’ll make some more after dinner. It’s almost six, and you have to make the main meal.”

Kel nudged me out of the kitchen. “Go play cards. I just have to put a pot of hot water on for the spaghetti and dump pre-cooked meatballs into the sauce. Ten minutes.”

I walked with more confidence than I felt over to the kids. “Deal me in?”

There was a cringeful pause, then Evan moved aside on the bench so I could sit down. “Do you know how to play euchre, Anna-Jo?”

“I think I know. Refresh me on the rules.”

****

It had been a good dinner. I made more cookies until I ran out of ingredients. Four who would change but not talk came, and I made sure a plate was in reach. A beautiful red wolf begged me for a cookie, and I almost broke down. But then Kel interjected firmly.

“Only if you change, Beth. People food is for those in skin.”

I was disappointed that she would rather do without the cookie than change but there would be other spaghetti nights. I decided to try and remember the other Christmas cookie recipes from the bakery. The kids said they would help me search on the internet for the ones I couldn’t recall. They charged my phone and made me look at my messages. They walked me through calling Agape, and we all rolled our eyes together as she yelled at me. I saw Kel bristling out of the corner of my eye and put a halt to her tirade. We bartered one call, once a week, and I hung up well-pleased with myself. Then the kids loaded a strange game on my phone with irate birds and supercilious pigs.

The kids were still playing cards when I decided to call it a night. Kel walked me up to my cabin, and I decided to call him on his comment about the Gestapo.

“So, how much do you know about my past?”

“Min told me what happened.” He had a habit of scrubbing his stubble when he didn’t want to participate in a conversation. I persisted.

“Everything?”

“I’m not sure what ‘everything’ entails. I’m sorry you lost your boyfriend. And I’m sorry you’ve had a hard time of it since you’ve woken up.”

There was more sympathy than pity in his tone. “Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ve changed my mind about letting you go to town. You’ve already been seen by the biggest mouths around here. We can get you used to modern civilization by way of small Northern Ontario towns. And you did good with the kids tonight.”

I fanned myself with my hand. “All these compliments. Have you had too much sugar, Kel?”

“Must be it. Here you are, safely home. Pleasant dreams.”

I smiled without answering. I could hope to skip my nightmares but after the confrontation with the hunters, I would probably be trapped in them all night. I gave him a little salute and went into my cabin. The day had ended well. I could hold on to that.

****

I was having the dream again, but it was different this time. I was creeping along the embankment with my explosives but now it was wolves who were with me, not humans. I stopped and tried to shoo them off, but we were already at the hole. Gunfire erupted all around us, and the wolves went down. A bullet hit the explosives I was carrying, and then all was fire.

I woke up to a wet rasping on my face. I raised my hand to stop the annoyance, and the sensation transferred to my hand. I blinked my eyes to clear them. There was a huge gray wolf in bed with me.

“Kel! You were not invited.”

Kel did not seem perturbed. Instead, he turned his back to me and snuggled backwards until the whole length of him lay against me. He was too big to shove out of bed, and I did not want to sleep on the couch when I had a comfortable bed. And I was just too tired. I pulled my pillow down under my head and fell asleep.

****

When I woke up, the sun was long risen. I had learned to use my phone as a clock and saw it was eight thirty, a whole hour later than I usually awoke. Someone was banging around in my kitchen, and I could smell bacon. I threw on some clothes and went to talk to my intruder.

Kel was at my stove, dressed in his usual uniform of flannel shirt and jeans. He glanced over his shoulder as I approached.

“Eggs and bacon suit you? It’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

I sat down at the little two-seater table which I hadn’t used yet. I stared at Kel’s back, trying to bore two holes with my eyes alone, but he was oblivious. A large helping of the aforementioned eggs and bacon was plunked down in front of me.

“I can’t eat all this,” I told him.

He sat opposite me with an even larger helping. “What you can’t eat, Evan and the others will be happy to take care of for you.”

I ate a mouthful. It was delicious. “So,” I said once I had swallowed. “Do you make a habit of rescuing small woodland creatures?”

“Sure. The ones that I don’t intend on eating.”

“I don’t need to be babysat. That’s what drove me crazy in the Grove.”

“It’s not babysitting. You have bad dreams. A lot of the kids have that so they sleep in a pile of wolves who can wake them up and comfort them if that happens. I’m just doing the same for you.” His plate was almost clean. The man ate like a machine.

“Kel.”

“Jo.”

“How did you get in? I’m sure I locked the door.”

He pulled a key from his jean’s pocket. “Master key.”

“Ah.” Of course. “I guess there’s no way to stop you then, even if you weren’t invited.”

“No. But in your bed, I stay in fur.” He raised intense amber eyes to mine. “Skin when I’m invited.”

Oh. Right. I hadn’t been sure how to interpret those glances but now I knew.

“Not sure I’m ready for that yet.” My body was, but my mind still remembered Armand.

“Take your time. I’m in no rush. Can you eat anymore?” I shook my head, and he picked up both our plates. Scraping the rest of the skillet’s contents onto my plate, he went to the front door and set it on the porch. “Come and get it!” There was a flurry of clicking toenails.

After twenty seconds, Kel picked up a spotless plate and brought it to the sink to wash along with the other dishes. I was being lazy.

“Hey, let me finish that. You must have things you need to get done today.”

“Just the gate.” He cleaned the skillet and stacked it in a rack to dry. “You want to go for a walk, go ahead. The kids will keep you company.”

“Now it’s okay to go for a walk in the woods?”

He made a show of looking out the kitchen window. “You might have figured out by now that I like keep things under control. I’ve now decided that you can be safe charging all over the woods, provided the kids are with you.”

Kel certainly had trouble admitting he was wrong. “That’s very kind of you,” I said straight-faced. I liked the idea of Kel looking out for me as long as he didn’t hold too tightly. I must have drifted off thinking about being held tightly because Kel called my name.

I snapped out it. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you were okay.”

“Yeah.” I smiled at him. “Got a lot to think about.” Like how a strange combination of dryad and lykán could possibly work.

His reciprocating smile took my breath away. “You do that. See you later.”

I sat at that little table for quite a while.

****

The countdown to Christmas went quickly. Every Monday night I made the almond macarons plus another traditional French cookie. There were more kids each time, and Beth even changed for a few minutes to eat her human food cookie. Each night there was a wolf in my bed. A few nights each week Kel was busy, but he sent Evan and Amy in his stead. They ignored my protests that I was perfectly fine and curled up at the foot of my bed, noses under tails. They did not, however, make me breakfast. And I stopped having bad dreams.

I asked Kel what the camp normally did for Christmas. As preternatural creatures, we, or our lineages predated Christ, but when in Rome… Kel rubbed his stubble and, for the first time since I had known him, looked embarrassed.

“I cook a couple of turkeys, with stuffing, do some veggies. Buy pies from the supermarket. I throw up some lights. I didn’t think you’d like a real tree so I’m buying a fake one tomorrow.”

Oh my. Santa Kel. “I’ll take care of the pies for you. And yes, you’re right about not having the amputated corpse of a tree in the lodge. What about presents?”

‘Erm,” said Kel, clearing his throat. “Don’t really deal with that.”

“You could get clothes for the ones who wear skin and hit the pet stores for chewies for all. I can make a list for you.”

“No, you’re coming with me. I’m not enduring this agony alone.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to hide a triumphant grin.

“I know I was manipulated into that.”

I was eager to go make my lists and danced to the lodge’s door. “Hey, I’m just a timid forest creature. No way could I make an alpha like you do anything you didn’t want to.”

“Nothing is without a price,” he said ominously.

“I’ll gladly pay it,” I shouted over my shoulder.

****

Shopping was amazing. We went to the next closest town because it had a big box store, and I went crazy with Kel’s credit card. I was shocked at the prices of things, but Kel told me they were less than other stores. A woman accosted us, but it turned out she was on the town council and wanted something from Kel as a local businessman. I let my attention wander and thought I caught sight of someone familiar, but then my focus was jerked back to the woman who was reaching for the disc around my neck.

“Oh, how lovely. Where did you get it?” She laid a fingertip on it, and I shuddered at the shocking intimacy. I made some sort of squeak, and then Kel was pulling me to his side in a naturally affectionate gesture.

“Family heirloom,” he told her, showing a bit too much tooth. The woman quickly excused herself, frightened but not knowing why.

Eager to dismiss the incident, I turned to leave the aisle, and my eyes met those of Matt Holloway. He had a smirk on his face, and I wondered what he had seen that pleased him so much.

“Kel, possible trouble,” I murmured.

Again, he stood close to me, putting his body between me and Holloway. The hunter gave a snippy little wave and disappeared into the hunting and fishing section.

We finished our shopping, each of us pushing a full cart, and I didn’t see Holloway again. We were bound to run into him in the small communities, but I was glad I had been with Kel. I wasn’t going to ask to go into town by myself anytime soon. Not that Kel would let me.

We headed back to the lodge, through the newly fixed gate, and unloaded the most food I had ever seen in one place. We hid the presents in one of the lodge’s spare bedrooms after Kel assured me that the kids didn’t use them. They preferred to sleep in one of the cabins, if they weren’t in the pack dens. Or at the foot of my bed.

I was in a good mood when I retired to my cabin. It had been spaghetti and meatballs night and Kel and I had put up the fake tree, decorated it and hung some Christmas lights on the wall of the dining hall. The kids had rolled their eyes at it all but tolerated it. I noticed that two more of the change-only-to-eat-people-food group stayed in skin to play some cards. Beth got her macaron and a madeleine for changing, but I knew it would be a long road before she was one of the card-playing teens.

I made some proper hot chocolate, stirring milk over the stove. It suddenly struck me that I hadn’t thought about Armand for a while. Or, if I thought of him in the context of the bakery, those memories didn’t bring me pain. I didn’t dwell on his death anymore, either. Goddess bless Aunt Min. She knew this would be good for me.

There was a scratching at the door, and I let Kel in. He sniffed regretfully at the hot chocolate aroma. He had come in fur and wasn’t going to change into skin. Unless…

“You get into bed. I’ll bring you a mug of hot chocolate.”

Kel snorted. He didn’t break his own rule about eating people food in fur.

I knelt and took his heavy snout in my hands. “You’re invited.”

He froze, his amber eyes staring into mine.

“Yes, I mean it. Get going.”

He vanished into the bedroom with a flick of his tail, even as it was morphing into a bare, furless butt.

He never got to drink his hot chocolate.

****

It was strange waking up with a person rather than a wolf. I felt a moment of panic. I had changed the rules, the dynamics of our relationship. What if it didn’t work out? He’d make me go, and I didn’t want to leave. This was home.

“Stop thinking so hard, Jo. There’s smoke coming out of your ears.”

“No there isn’t.” I rolled toward him. His eyes were intent on my face, and I saw worry there. I couldn’t bear his uncertainty, so I kissed it out of him. That led to other things that could have gone on all morning but for a sharp bark outside our window.

“That’s Evan. He’s reminding us that it’s Christmas Eve and there’s work to be done.”

“When did Evan the slacker become Evan the taskmaster?” I groaned and stretched luxuriously. I whined like a complaining puppy when Kel slid out of bed, taking his warmth with him.

He smiled down at me. “You’ve almost got that right. Just a little yip at the end.”

“Stay,” I coaxed.

“I can see why all those ancient Greeks and their gods liked the dryads so much. I didn’t know what I was missing.”

“Not even with Min?” I had wondered about that. Min had quite the libido.

“Never went there. Never wanted to. She went to town if she had the itch.” He bent down and kissed me to stop my protest. “Yeah, I know. Different rules for her, but who could stop Minerva from doing what she wanted?”

“Nobody,” I agreed.

“Not jealous then?”

“No. Unless there’s a hidden lykán mate you haven’t been telling me about, Mr. Rochester.”

“Nope, Miss Eyre. I really got to get going. You’ll be okay?”

I stretched again. “Fine and dandy. I’ll be down to start the pies to get a leg up on things. See you then.”

Kel shimmered and shifted into a wolf. I remembered he had come that way and would not have any clothes to wear. He could work the door latch with his teeth, so I stayed in bed a bit longer. I felt good. The nagging feeling that I had rushed into something was gone. I released a long breath. I was finally leaving the past behind.

****

Because it was Christmas Eve, the kids gathered in the lodge as if it were a Monday night. If Kel and I wanted to hide our new relationship status, we were doomed from the start. Maybe it was the way we studiously avoided looking at each other or touching. Or, most likely, they could smell us on each other. I saw Amy whispering in Evan’s ear, and he nodded.

“Kel-meister and Anna-Jo, you are excused early tonight. I’ll see to turning out the lights and locking up.”

“Really, Evan that’s not necessary” My protest was interrupted by Kel grabbing my hand and handing me my coat.

We were halfway out the door when Kel paused us for a moment. “Thanks, Evan. We’ll see you guys tomorrow for Christmas dinner. Don’t eat any wild game. There’ll be plenty of food, so I want you hungry. And hands off the pies. They’re for tomorrow.”

“Night,” I called but Kel had already pulled me out the door.

“Kel.”

“Jo.”

“This is a bit unseemly.” It seemed I wasn’t going fast enough for him because he picked me up and strode up the road to my cabin.

“Unseemly is my middle name.”

****

I lay on Kel’s warm chest and watched the fire burn down. We hadn’t made it to the bedroom this time, but Kel had made a nest of pillows and blankets in front of the fire that did perfectly fine for us.

“You okay?” Kel’s question woke me out of a doze.

“Sure.” After our love making, how could I be anything else?

“No, I mean are you okay here.”

I leaned up on one elbow to look at his face. “Here as in Camp Dyre?”

“Yeah.”

I smiled. “I love it here.”

He didn’t smile back. “There’s a lot going on here that you haven’t seen yet. Clan politics, what to do with the kids who reach their majority and can’t integrate back into Clan society, how to fend off my own clan who think I am wasting my time here. A whole lot going on.”

I stroked his cheek. “I want to help. The kids are great, and they deserve everything that we can do for them.”

“What about me?” He asked, rolling on top of me. “Do you think I’m great, too?”

“Well…” He silenced me with a kiss. I ran my fingers up through his hair and returned the kiss enthusiastically. Then a shot rang out. Very close.

“Kel!”

He was up and then pulling me up as well. “Stay in the cabin. Lock the door. Please. I’ll handle this. If necessary, hide in the walls. We’ve planned for something like this. We’ll be all right.”

“But…”

“Please. I can’t concentrate if you’re not safe.” At my reluctant nod, he shimmered into the wolf.

I put one hand on his shoulder. “Wait a second. Let me see who’s out there.” I sent my mind out into the dark and touched greed and vile excitement. “Holloway and his three friends. Be careful. They don’t care what damage they do. They’re too worked up.”

Kel licked my hand, and I opened the door for him. He was gone in a flash, and I obediently locked the door behind him. More shots rang out, and I yelped. They were shooting at the kids or Kel. I could kill them if I had to, but then we’d have to explain how Matt Holloway got halfway inside a tree. I ran to the bedroom and put on some warm clothes. I still might have to go outside, and I wanted to be ready.

I was pulling on my boots when the window in the living room smashed. I screamed as a bottle with flame coming out of the neck was flung into the room. It smashed on the floor and blue flames licked out across the wood planks. The wood caught fire, and the cabin filled with black smoke. I cursed. My phone was in the bedroom, but I might not survive retrieving it. Sorry, Kel, but it’s leave or get cooked, I thought and ran out the front door.

It was chaos outside. Two other cabins were on fire, but the lodge seemed intact. The flickering shapes of wolves darting through the trees were caught in the uncertain light of the fire that was consuming my cabin.

The best thing for me to do would be to get over to a big old white pine. I could hide inside and keep my promise to Kel to stay safe. I ran from tree to tree, trying to not to be out in the open for too long. If the hunters shot an apparent human, they’d be in prison for a long time but that would be no consolation to me. I could see the pine of choice and sent out a quick mental search to locate the hunters.

Two were over by cabin two. One was out in the woods. He was finally becoming worried. Things weren’t going as planned. Wolves weren’t supposed to fight back like this. The fourth…was behind me.

“Gotcha,” Holloway said as his beefy forearm went across my neck. “Wouldn’t want you to get in the way of our wolf hunt. You know where Hawthorne is?”

I couldn’t answer, he was choking me. He must have realized it because the pressure on my throat eased.

“Get out now,” I told him “and they might let you live.” Hopefully, that would start putting doubt in his mind, cut through the blood lust.

“It’ll be them who die.” He switched his chokehold to a brutal grip on my hair. “I got some plastic ties in the truck. Gonna put you where you can’t cause trouble.”

I hardened my nails to bark and reached up, slashing at the wrist of the hand that held my hair. Holloway cursed but, to my dismay, did not let go of me. A punch to the face brought me to my knees and left me stunned. I felt his hand fumbling at my neck. I screamed as I felt my disc and its leather thong lift from around my neck.

“Yeah, thought this meant something to you. How about you cooperate, or I’ll throw this on the fire right now.”

I couldn’t become a hostage to this man. It would cripple Kel’s fight against the hunters. I thought about the cyanide capsules we carried as Resistance fighters. Well, there were different ways of committing suicide.

“Stick it up your ass for all I care,” I snarled and lunged upwards to claw at his eyes. He jerked his head back, and I missed my target. His backhand was more panicked this time, but it did its job. I stumbled backward and went flying over a pile of stacked wood.

“Have it your way, bitch,” he told me and threw my disc on the flaming ruin of my cabin. I shrieked in agony. The Gestapo had taken my disc when I was captured but they hadn’t destroyed it. The French dryads had recovered it when they rescued me. Its temporary absence had weakened me and slowed my healing, but this was a thousand times worse.

Something big flew out of the woods and hit Holloway with a solid thump. He went down without a sound. I saw the wolf shaking him by the throat and heard the crack of his neck breaking. I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn’t support me. My vision was failing as well, but my mind touched Kel’s. Of course, he’d come to my rescue.

I must have blacked out for a moment. There was warm wolf breath on my face, and I looked into Kel’s amber eyes. “He burnt my disc,” I whispered. “I don’t know why but I’m fading fast. I should have had plenty of time to get back to my tree.”

I didn’t hear his answer because everything went dark again. After that, I woke up a few times. The first, I was being carried, my cheek against a bare chest, and then laid in the back seat of Kel’s truck, my head in someone’s lap. I touched Evan’s mind and then Kel’s.

“What are you doing,” I mumbled.

Evan bent over me. “Taking you to your tree, Anna-Jo.”

“Too far,” I told him. It was. Three days to Florida was too long. I would be gone before then.

“We’ll get there. We called Agape for help. She said once we get below the snow line, the trees will be awake, and we can get an old one to lend you some energy. Now go to sleep and save your strength.”

“Was anyone hurt?” I asked.

“We lost Beth and Kyle.” I gave a whimper when I heard that. “Kel killed Holloway but made it look like a fall and a broken neck. The rest of Holloway’s buddies ran off, but we know who they are. If they don’t get charged with arson and trespassing, we’ll sue them into the ground. One way or another, there will be hell to pay for Beth and Kyle.”

“Hell to pay.” I echoed.

“Go to sleep, Anna-Jo. You’re out of it.”

So, I did.

****

I woke when someone splashed cold water in my face. I blearily opened my eyes and saw Kel and Evan squatting in front of me. My back was against rough bark.

Kel touched my face to get my attention. “Jo, there’s an old oak behind you. You need to take some strength from it.”

“Too tired,” I told him. I was. It was time to let things go.

Kel gave me a sharp shake, making my head bob. My eyes flew open.

“Jo, do what you’re told for once. I’m not losing you.”

“Let me go, Kel.” I was so tired.

“Nope.” He kissed me. I hummed against his lips. I was so lucky to have known him.

“Yuck. You guys.” Evan interrupted us. “Please Anna-Jo. I want you to live. Taste that big old oak.”

“Okay.” I couldn’t bear the pain in his voice. I reached out and found the oak’s mellow strength flowing all around me. It was trying to help and was waiting for me to notice. I carefully drew some power into me and immediately felt better. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Take some more,” Kel urged.

“Not too much more or I’ll hurt the tree.” A few more sips, and I could hold up my head on my own. “Where are we?”

“North Carolina.” Kel reached behind and brought out a brown bag with a logo on it. “Can you eat something?”

I thought about it and my stomach roiled. “No.”

“Do you have to relieve yourself? No? Then, let’s get going.” He handed the bag to Evan who started rooting around in it. Gathering me in his arms, he lifted me effortlessly and deposited me in the back of the truck. The floor was covered with wrappers and cups.

I wanted to comment on their housekeeping, but my eyes were easing shut again. I heard Kel call to Evan to hurry up, and then I was gone.

****

“Jo, wake up.”

I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. I felt bad again, not quite as bad as before the oak tree. Someone took my hand and pressed it against the smooth trunk of a tree. Oh! My tree.

“We’re here?”

“Yeah, open your eyes.”

I obeyed but it took a few moments to focus. I was in Kel’s arms. His stubble had grown alarmingly into a beard. Evan stood just beyond him, his eyes red and sunken. None of us smelled that great. There were people around us, and I blearily recognized Agape and the other Grove sisters.

“Joanna, you need to get into your tree.” Agape was bossy as ever.

“No, just stay here. Touching. Don’t need to go in.”

“Yes, you do, Grove sister. Your disc being burned affected you more severely than it should have. You obviously weren’t fully recovered. I blame myself for not realizing this and sending you out into danger that you were not able to handle.” Agape was on a roll.

“Oh, for the sake of the goddess.” I buried my face in Kel’s neck to hide from her. Maybe if I couldn’t see her, she didn’t exist.

Kel turned his head to speak to Agape. “I appreciate all your assistance in getting Jo back home alive but you’re not helping right now. So back off, lady.”

I gave a little laugh that was more of a wheeze when I heard Agape’s gasp of insult.

“Now, sweetheart, you’re going in.” He shifted me higher in his grip and pushed me closer to my tree. “You need to get better.”

“No,” I protested.

“Why not?”

I was silent but a familiar voice spoke up. “The last time she went in a tree, she was there for seventy years, and the world she knew was gone.” Aunt Min was there.

Agape harrumphed. “She won’t need to be in that long. Weeks only. Maybe months.”

“I don’t care. I’m not going in. I’m not losing everything.” They couldn’t force me in. Only I could make my tree open for me.

“Jo.” Kel stroked my cheek, and I looked at him. “I’ll be here when you get out.”

“No, you can’t do that. You have responsibilities at the camp. The kids need you.”

He kissed my cheekbone. “The clans have stepped up, especially ones who have a kid at Dyre. There’re several volunteers looking after the place until I can get back. The Conclave lawyers are handling the issue of the Holloway and his buddies. Now get in that tree.”

Aunt Min leaned over his shoulder. “Trust him, darling girl. He won’t let you down.”

I wanted to live so I had to believe Kel would be there when I emerged. “Okay.” I sighed.

Kel propped me against my tree, and I slid into its depths, feeling the joyful pulse of recognition from my beautiful poplar. I fought another stab of fear that made me want to fling myself back into Kel’s arms and let myself sink in the depths of sleep.

****

It was like a birth. I slid from the warmth of my tree, but instead of flopping onto the ground at the base of my tree, I was caught up in strong arms and a soft robe was wrapped around me. Something was slipped over my head to rest on my throat. I reached up and touched a wooden disc.

“Kel?” I felt so much better but still wobbly.

“Right here, Jo.”

“How long?” Had he been waiting by my tree all this time?

“Three weeks and a few days. And no, I wasn’t sleeping under your tree the whole time.” Had I said that out loud? “Your sisters gave me some space in the Grove Hall. They said they could tell when you were ready to come out. Can you stand?” He let my feet touch the ground, and I was able to hold myself upright.

“You waited for me.” I couldn’t get over that.

“Of course, I did. I’ll always be here for you.”

I kissed him with all my heart.

“Guys? Yuck. Get a room.”

Kel broke off the kiss but put his lips to my temple. “I asked for privacy, Evan.”

“And we gave it to you. But now there are phone calls to make to our pack, road trips to plan, and cookies to bake.”

“Mmm, cookies,” I whispered in his ear. “That’s how I got you to fall in love with me.”

He gave me a quelling glance. “I fell in love with you the day you got out of that ridiculously expensive SUV, driven by that ridiculously horny satyr, told me you didn’t want the Wi-Fi password and threatened to keep us all in line with a rolled-up newspaper.”

“That would do it, too.”

“But the cookies didn’t hurt.”

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him soundly, Evan’s gagging noises only a dim noise in the background, like the buzzing of a fly.