The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 94

Chapter 94

+25 Points

Nika pulled up the hood of her coat and stayed on watch, with Rex. The wind cut through us.

At first, Andre didn’t say anything, but then it became very obvious that he was hungry: his stomach started to growl. In the end, it was his father who dared to ask him:

“Is that little tummy empty?” he said, with a kind of smile that brightened his wolfish face.

“Yes, well… a little,” the boy answered, his cheeks flushed. “But we don’t have anything.”

That was SO true. Andre wasn’t the only one hungry-I was missing something in my stomach too. And I was thirsty. But you can’t ask for everything in life; I think if I’d only had something to put on makeup with, I would’ve been happy.’

Nika spoke then:

“Rex, the one you have there-is that my brother’s backpack?”

“It smells like him, so I assume it’s his,” Agent Aguilera agreed.

“Give it to me,” the German woman asked, and Rex took the bag off his shoulders and tossed it to his partner. She caught it with one hand, came over to us, and crouched beside Alexander. She didn’t let go of the rifle for a single instant while rummaging one-handed through the crowd of pockets in the backpack, jumping from one to another.

“Where the hell did he put it? Ah, here it is.”

When she found it, she pulled out a Ziploc bag containing pieces of something very dark brown and handed it to Andre.

“My brother likes Swiss chocolate. He always carries some. It’s sugar-good for any werewolf child’s metabolism. Here.”

Alexander took the bag from his partner’s hands and kindly passed it to Andre.

“What do you say?”

“Thank you,” the boy replied with a bit of enthusiasm, grabbing the bag quickly.

“You’re welcome, little one.”

For a moment, the woman’s blue-green gaze seemed to soften, but then she recomposed herself and turned back to her superior.

“Lai, why doesn’t the boy change fur? He’ll be more protected that way.”

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<Chapter 94

+25 Points

Andre began slowly eating a chocolate bar and offered me a piece. I would have liked it, but I declined out of respect for Nika-I didn’t want to touch her things. Something told me she had pulled out the chocolate to ingratiate herself with her leader.

Alexander gently stroked his firstborn’s blond hair with his hand, then crouched beside him to speak to him in Russian, in whispers. I suppose the boy accepted the proposal, because he ate a few more bites of chocolate and finally handed the bag back to Nika, looking satisfied. She proceeded to store the rest of the scarce supply in the backpack.

Alexander lifted his son back into his arms, and they moved a few steps away from the

group.

Instinctively, I wanted to go with the two of them (my safety was with him, with Alexander, and nobody was going to convince me otherwise), but Nika grabbed my arm to stop me and forced me to turn my back on them rather unkindly.

“It’s not something pretty to see,” she explained patiently. “And for someone who isn’t used to it, it could hurt you.”

1. Chapter 94

Rex’s activity distracted me from the overwhelming urge I had to turn around and see if I could glimpse something of the mysterious way the werewolves transformed. Agent Aguilera seemed satisfied with a mound, the rocks around it, and the surrounding logs, and

commented:

“We’ll have to wait a bit for the storm to pass, keeping warm. I’m going to make a shelter.”

“A shelter? Don’t think I’m going to curl up on the ground, Rex,” Nika complained irritably. ”

We’re not animals.”

“Look-even if Lai tries to believe otherwise, deep down… more than being animals or people, this is about surviving. We can’t go anywhere; we’re trapped in God knows how many miles of forest, with two mangy cats on our tail-or possibly ahead of us.” Rex replied solemnly. “This is part of the manual, remember? Your father taught us very well that when you’re outdoors in a hostile place like this, the best way to ride out a snowfall or storm is to dig a hole, change fur, and curl up in it, because the earth is your friend and will keep you warm.”

Nika glared at him and lowered the rifle until the barrel pointed straight at the ground.

“Rex, my father is dead,” she told him, tears in her eyes. “One of those cats put a bullet in his head. Right now, thinking that I’m a person and not a wild animal is the only thing stopping me from running into the forest to skin those monsters alive-and maybe dying too in the

attempt.”

I looked away, because it deeply shocked me to see Nika crying; I had considered her an unshakeable woman, incapable of emotions like that. My perception of her changed again-l began to respect her even more.

The German woman allowed her teammate to approach and wrap his large furry arms around her, offering some comfort with that simple gesture. Rex couldn’t speak either; he was just as stunned as she was.

Alexander and Andre returned at that moment. And by the look on both their faces, they had heard everything.

Although the leader also offered comfort to his subordinate and friend, the whole process was silent and not another word was spoken about it.