Feral Northern Shifters 2

of someone who knew exactly who he was and what he felt. It was a sensation he’d not before felt or was likely to feel again.
“I…” His voice cracked but he pushed the words out his thick throat. “Ethan.” The word shook with intensity and Bram worked to get a grip on himself. “I’ve made a hole. Fence. In the fence, for you.” Christ, he had to make sense. He literally shook himself, trying to keep his head together, and Ethan crouched there unmoving, except for shoulders bunching and eyes blinking very slowly.
Bram cleared his throat and this time the words came out with some coherency. “Doug’s unconscious. I drugged him. I’ve cut a hole in the fence for you to get through. You can get out. You need to get out. Now . They’re coming to get you tomorrow, and I don’t know how long Doug will be down.”
Maybe it was Bram’s imagination but understanding lit Ethan’s eyes. Bram continued, “Once we leave the room and this building, we have to move fast. The wolves—the pack is outside here, we’re in the Winter pack’s compound—they’ll smell you.” Ethan rose from his crouch. “We have very little time. Do you understand?”
The cougar walked right up to Bram who couldn’t move, who felt like he was stretched tight like a rubber band before it snapped. Ethan rubbed his large head against Bram’s hip, and purred. It sounded like an affirmation and Bram remained stock-still, unsure what to do. Ethan rubbed his head against Bram a second time, almost butting him as if he was asking for a response, and Bram couldn’t resist replying. He let out a long shaky breath and sank to his knees to wrap his arms around Ethan for a brief, hard moment, pressing his face into that amazing fur. He absorbed the vibration of Ethan’s chest, determined to remember the feel of that purr.
“We have no time, Ethan.” Bram pushed up, wiped his face. “Follow me. Once you’re out, don’t look back, because they’re going to hunt you again if they can. They’re wolves, and they want you for something. I don’t know what that is, but there are powerful people who would like to keep you captive.”
Ethan chirped. Bram regarded him and the cougar actually moved his head in an uncatlike and awkward nod. Bram nodded back. It was time.
He took off and the next few moments passed in a blur. Later Bram had a hard time remembering the exact sequence of events, but he must have led Ethan directly to the escape hole. At its threshold, Ethan hesitated, and it felt like they had more to say to each other. But really, there was nothing to say, even if they could have communicated.
“Please go,” Bram whispered fiercely, angry that he was wiping his face again. “Don’t look back.”
Ethan tilted his beautiful head, blinked once and moved through the ragged hole to disappear into the black. His tawny coat turned to shadow and melted like snow into night.
Bram was left standing there, hands hanging loose, mind emptying out. He was supposed to run too. It’s why he wasn’t wearing a jacket. He would shift soon, but not quite yet. First he wanted to cause some confusion before Doug woke up though Bram needed to be gone by the time Doug was again coherent. If Doug got his hands on Bram, he feared he would admit to everything he had done tonight.
Bram wandered, pacing between the hole in the fence and the holding cabin. At some point, minutes not hours later, a wolf caught the cat’s scent. So began the hue and cry. A few wolves surrounded him, more than once, demanding to know what had transpired, and Bram managed to convey his utter bafflement. Given his very real confusion, it wasn’t a stretch. Bram still couldn’t wrap his mind around what he had done. There was talk of Doug and finding him and the cougar escaping.
The second-in-command grabbed Bram’s shoulders, fingers pressing into flesh, and forced his gaze on Bram’s. “You stink of cat. Why?”
Bram blinked. He’d embraced Ethan and it showed. “I don’t know.”
“Did he attack you?”
“No. No, he didn’t.”
“Then what happened?” The wolf glared at Bram like he was a blank wall that needed to be torn down, before he pushed the omega away in disgust. Bram stumbled back, alone again. Ignored. He slipped away when a shout went up that Doug had been found—definitely Bram’s signal to leave.
It was over, his sojourn here at Winter pack. He had a small window of time before Doug woke, perhaps only an hour.
In human form, Bram ducked