Chapter 3

• Jesse had to fight the whole way to stay on two legs, the scents around him had his cat stirring and wanting nothing more than to explore the area. Pausing he looked around, how long had he been walking? He hadn’t checked the time when he started, but it was beginning to feel like forever. He wasn’t out of shape, but normally covering this kind of terrain was done in his cat form. Inhaling again, he checked for any scent that would let him know he was going in the right direction.
• If he found another empty, deserted clan space, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. This one felt different, maybe he was feeling torn because this clan was the same as his own, he couldn’t be sure. Frowning, he lifted his chin and inhaled again—there was a hint of something that was not made by nature. A metallic taste hit his tongue. Definitely not natural. Blowing out a quick breath, he followed the direction he was facing to see if he could ferret out the source of the processed metal he was picking up. It took him some time to be able to narrow down the smell and keep going in the right direction. He blamed the energy drink, it messed with most of his senses, but he needed the extra boost. If he’d been near a populated area, he wouldn’t have bothered, but up here, metal had no place.
• Stopping, he looked to his left, then right. Metal? Inhaling slowly, he took a few steps to his right and then looked down as he processed to make sure it was getting stronger. There were groves in the ground. Tilting his head, he followed them slowly. He was almost right on top of it before he saw it through the very well-built shelter. Going closer, he looked it over, the branches looked like they were still trees. Moving along the side of it, he pulled one of the larger limbs and the wall of leaves moved. He stood there with his mouth hanging open. Behind it was an old pickup truck. Moving in between the wall and truck, he looked inside it. Judging by the amount of dust in it and on it, this thing hadn’t moved in a few years, at least.
• Going back out, he pushed the wall back in place. That was an encouraging sign, sort of. The fact there was a truck up here—he looked back down the trail he’d walked up—-however insane anyone would have to be to drive that, it was the first sign he’d had that someone might still live up here. His stomach churning was because it hadn’t been moved in a long time.
• Jesse’s cat rubbed against him again, he wanted out. “Soon, if we don’t find something, we’ll speed up the search.” He couldn’t take the chance of crossing onto another clan’s territory and being unable to speak.
• Listening he looked around, there was a slight noise that was familiar, but not enough to pinpoint where it was. It sounded like paws hitting the earth. Some sort of metal again was nearby as well, not the same as an automobile, but man-made for certain. He checked the ground often and hadn’t found any more signs of old tracks from the truck. Turning, he decided it was because he’d headed into the thicker treed area and there was no car made that could fit through here.
• The sound echoed in his sensitive ears again, he picked up the pace, determined he was getting some answers this time.
• He cleared the thick vine growth, and almost walked into it as he examined the scratch along his arm. Stopping abruptly, his face was inches from a tall chain-link fence. Leaning back, he checked to his left, then did the same in the other direction. It went on as far as he could see.
• As signs went, this was a damn good one that people had been living up here. It wasn’t new fencing by any means, but it was a fence. His muscles tensed, was it to keep people in or out, that was the question. After what they’d found at Shaelan’s, his worst nightmare was to find more clans that were living under that sort of condition.
• Shaking it off, he started following the fence, leading back in the direction where he’d gone off the old trail. Maybe the fence was to keep people outside the shifter world out of their area. He shrugged; hunters could be an issue. It wouldn’t be the first time a clan had that problem. He’d know, his own had to install camera systems to warn them of hunters in the area.
• Stopping, he squatted down to give his legs a break and opened his pack to check his phone. Jesse’s cat jolted inside of him, alerting him to the fact they weren’t alone. Crouching down lower, he checked behind him and scented the air. There was nothing out of place there. Moving closer to the fence, into the vegetation so it would hide him. Inhaling, he checked the odors around him. His cat was right, he was picking up two different signatures that weren’t the metal fence or plant life. They were the scents of animals.
• Slowing his breathing, he listened. The sound registered at the same time two cats came into sight. Two leopards. He smiled, but it was short-lived when he noticed they were nothing alike. Shades and the blend of rosettes varied, he knew this, no two in his clan were the same, but the body types were always the same. The one was so dark; it was closer to orange than the golden color he knew leopard shifters to be. Its eyes, the glance he got of them were more yellow than grey as well. He frowned and watched as they came up beside each other. The tail was much longer, body smaller—had two clans joined together to further their numbers? It wasn’t common, but it had happened before. The paler cat stopped and looked right to where he was. He held his breath. The cat gave a low grunt, and both took off back into the thick of the trees.
• Standing up, he blew out a breath. Well, at least there were leopards here, that was encouraging. Touching the fence, he frowned again. Why they were fenced in he still didn’t know. Closing his pack, he got up and started jogging along the fence line. There had to be a gate somewhere along here. Hopefully, when he found it, he would be able to see people, talk to them, and let them know that the Alliance was here to help.
• A short while later he found the gate. It wasn’t bolted shut as he’d imagined it would be. He looked in between the wire links; it also wasn’t guarded. Searching the area he could see, he frowned, he didn’t see any sign of life.
• Rolling his shoulders, he opened the gate slowly and winced as it creaked a high-pitched noise that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. That would work for announcing his presence as nothing else could. A sound at that pitch would be heard by any shifter in the area. Maybe it was like that on purpose.
• As he closed the gate, another thought came to mind, maybe the gate was to keep younger shifters from getting lost. This area was very overgrown, it wouldn’t be hard to get turned around. He stood there looking around, listening, he didn’t hear a sound that wasn’t part of nature. His cat was tense, to say the least as he coiled inside him waiting. Inhaling slowly, Jesse felt a small amount of relief when he picked up the scents of something that had recently been cooked. There was no mistaking that smoky smell from a wood stove.
• With slow, silent steps, he moved in the direction of the five buildings he could see. They weren’t run down or abandoned from the look of them, also a good sign. Maybe the clan was out on a run or a hunt. Fall was here, so preparing for the winter made sense. Stopping, he looked over to the far side, it was a large garden. Again, another good sign. The scent of freshly turned soil was reassuring, it had been worked in recently.