Feral Northern Shifters 2

wolves vaporized? Bram moved forward and found their scents, proof of their existence. The wolves had been there, all four of them, and they’d fled upon Ethan’s arrival.
Bram started shaking, feeling like he was in some kind of shock, and this time Ethan approached him more slowly, chirping once, that weird cat greeting of his. Again he rubbed his head against Bram and while Bram wasn’t exactly conversant in cat speak, it became evident that Ethan was glad to see him. The how and why of it—and the wolves—left Bram feeling utterly dumbfounded. Ethan pressed Bram down to the ground once more, grooming him affectionately, and Bram allowed himself to whine, both a greeting and a question, allowed himself to bask in the heat of the cat’s body and the rumble of Ethan’s purr.
Eventually Bram’s heart rate returned to normal, though God knows it took a while. It had been a scare and a shock. Only then did Ethan stop with his attentions. He moved off, just a little, and Bram watched those hazel eyes blink at him as if Ethan had a purpose.
Then Ethan lay down and began to shift.
Bram, too, wanted to shift, to join Ethan as human and talk —it had been months without speaking. But Bram resisted. In fact, if he’d realized sooner—his brain was not working all that quickly, overcome by all these events after three months of close to nothing happening—he would have tried to dissuade Ethan from changing into his more vulnerable form. But it was too late. Ethan’s body was already in limbo. During the cat’s shift, Bram could only stand guard in case the wolves returned.
    Ethan woke. No, not waking exactly, for he hadn’t slept, he’d shifted—in a field, which was a poor choice. One shifted in safe, sheltered places, not open areas where you could be easily attacked. What had his cat been thinking?
    As his vision swam into focus, he saw a dark wolf watching over him, which made the scenario even odder. To top it off, a wolf should have alarmed the shit out of him, but this one was familiar and…
Bram . It was Bram.
Relief flushed through Ethan like a drug. After months of worry and guilt, they’d found the wolf whole, in one piece, not a mauled, disjointed, rotting carcass. Lila had deserved a better fate.
But it wasn’t Bram’s fate. Ethan shook his head, trying to reorder his most recent memories, and the pieces fell into place—Trey and company out searching, Bram being found, Ethan running towards the wolves to find Bram was alive and not even crazy-feral, though admittedly a little on edge and surprisingly aggressive given what Ethan knew about him. Ethan had tackled him before he could attempt a misguided attack on Trey or Liam.
Even now, Bram was alert to danger, watching over Ethan and guarding him while he’d shifted, guarding him while he was human.
Ethan rolled from his side onto his stomach and pushed up on his knees. “Bram?”
The response was an impatient bark. Ethan knew something about wolf communication, having been with Lila for those years, and he recognized that Bram was displeased. By what specifically, he could only guess.
“Shift. We can talk.”
Bram glared, then blew out air through his nostrils as if Ethan was a fool.
“It’s safe—”
Here, Bram emphatically shook his head, a very non-wolf-like gesture.
Ethan smiled. “You must think I’m a complete fool to shift when it’s unsafe. I wouldn’t do that.”
Bram watched him warily, so Ethan rose and walked the few steps over to his friend. He ran fingers through the fur on Bram’s head and neck, and Bram trembled.
“Shift,” Ethan coaxed. “You know you want to. The moon is setting.”
Bram barked in negation and pulled away.
“Okay,” said Ethan, shifting gears. “Wait and shift when you’re comfortable doing so, that works too. Talking is a luxury anyway. That said, I need to get home. Can you come with me?”
After a pause, Bram gave what sounded like an affirmative bark, so Ethan started walking. When he glanced back Bram was following him, admittedly at a distance, ears facing forward, all senses on alert.
No doubt about it, Bram intended to guard Ethan.
It was about a half-an-hour walk to the parking lot in the conservation area. A little chilled, Ethan retrieved his clothes and pulled them on.
The wolves and their car were already gone, but by Bram’s growling and snarling, he’d evidently picked up that they’d been here. He looked at Ethan as if trying to communicate telepathically: danger