Blackshadow (Kingdom of Wolves #2)

Packing the latest batch of lotion into a cardboard box, I fasten the top and place it in a corner of the shack. I know I’ll need it before anything else that I make. Soap is low and I will have to consider making more. My last experiment was chamomile shampoo with a touch of cumin, so it leaves the hair feeling softer, a type of conditioner.

The door opens and Swift rushes in, giving me a broad smile. “Hope, I know you are packing some of your things, but I came over to see if you need help. My shit of a shack is done and I’m ready to leave.”

I know why she’s calling her place a shit of a shack because it is pieces of wood placed against a tree, so if we are being picky you’d just call it a lean to. Last winter Swift spent more time here with me than in her own shack, but I loved the company and we kept each other warm while sleeping on the bed of straw.

“You know we are not guaranteed to be leaving yet, don’t you?” I ask, because Swift is acting like it’s a forgone conclusion. “I want this to work for us too, Swift, but we cannot say what it is going to be like until we’ve had this visit.”

“I hope our mates are in this pack. It would be good to find our mate and have the support one would bring. It would be nice to be loved and protected, although we can protect ourselves.” Throwing herself down on the bed, Swift looks lost in her thoughts. But me, I’m not sure I even want a mate, not after what happened with my mother and her mate.

“Have you seen Baildon?” I ask, and Swift’s head shoots at me and frowns before answering. “Last week I saw him, and he was coming out of Suella’s shack.”

“Oh, no, I hope she hasn’t got her claws in him because we all know she’s the go to when any of the males need to find a release, with no strings attached.” I rub my eyes and can’t help feeling somewhat disappointed that he would go to her, rather than look for his mate.

“I know she’s only trying to get by the same as the rest of us, but she’s just making herself into something her mate will reject. No decent male will want a she-wolf that has been with as many males as she has.” Swift stands and walks over to the small table and starts to pack things into the small box I have open and waiting.

“I heard her mate already rejected her.”

Swift looks at me with shock on her face. “That’s not nice. Why did he reject her?”

“Well, it seems her mom was lazy and wouldn’t do anything to provide for them, so she would ‘hire’ Suella out to anyone to get things. It turned out that it was usually to men, so she grew up not knowing any different. By the time her mom died, Suella was pretty much cast in her ways and no-one was there to show her any different. She’d been brought up as a rogue so had no pack to guide her or correct her. When her mate found her, he was so disgusted he rejected her immediately. I suppose it’s not entirely her fault but you can’t help thinking that she should have enough respect for herself to see that what she’s doing isn’t right.”

“She can see how other females behave, she’s not blind. Stupid, yes, but not blind. She must like the way she lives.” Swift has her nose scrunched up and her eyes squinted as she speaks, and I somehow stop myself from laughing at her.

I’m going to have to look for Baildon if he doesn’t come to see me soon. He’s not acting like the brother I always saw him as. Maybe he has stepped away from me as a family member, and if that’s true, then he should have the nerve to tell me.

We pack most of what I own and step outside to continue packing the cauldron, pans, and other equipment I use for my lotions. Carrying the boxes near to the shack, we make sure they are safely tucked as far out of view as possible.

“Done. I’ll go hunt for something to eat. Do you want to see what you have to go with it?” Swift asks and I give her a nod of agreement and walk over to where I know I can pick Ramps, which are wild onions. Hunting around, I find chickweed and borage flowers. I walk back into the shack, then rinse the food before tossing together with a few sunflower seeds.

Swift returns with two rabbits and quickly cleans them before skewering them to place over the fire pit. “Come on, let’s get the fire started and eat. My stomach is talking to me and it’s not thrilled.”

“I’m hungry myself. Are you staying with me tonight?” I ask but think I know the answer after she’s already told me her shack is packed.

“Yeah, I’ll stay with you and we can walk together. Do you think we should go in our wolf’s form because it’s a long way?”

“I don’t know. How long do you think it’s going to take us?”

“We are starting tomorrow and it’ll take us around twenty hours, I think from what Brian said. He is getting permission for us to cross the territory of the Blood Pearl Pack, and the Wolfsfoot Pack, which is the town where we can stop and eat something, I’m sure. Do you have any money at all?” Swift asks and takes out a small pouch from her back pants pocket, shaking out a small amount of change.

“I have a little put on one side, but not much. It’ll be enough to get us a meal on each journey, to and from the Blackshadow Pack.”

“We cannot carry all our things that far, Hope. What the heck are we going to do about all your herbal stuff?” Swift looks at me with worry.

Stop worrying about everything. Briar cuts into my thoughts.

‘It has taken a long time to get what we have Briar, I don’t want to lose it all and have to start all over again.’

Sometimes it is what has to happen before we get better things than we have at the moment.

‘We will see what happens, but I don’t want to lose everything that we have.’ I can feel Briar’s irritation at my response, but she’s going to have to put up with how I feel.

Looking at Swift, she has the fire started and the rabbits hanging over the top. I sit cross-legged on the ground and close my eyes, allowing the sounds of the forest to wrap around me.

After we have eaten, I excuse myself from Swift and walk around looking for Baildon. I aim for Suella’s shack and, hearing the disgusting grunting and huffing noises, I know she has some male-wolf inside her shack with her.

“Oh, just there, that’s it… ohhhh… Ga..m..zi..n. Give it to me.”

Oh dear me, I’m going to have to clean my ears out with something after hearing this. But a giggle bursts out when I hear Gamzin snarl. “Will you shut up, you’re putting me off my stroke.”