Olivia’s Hunt - Ch 2
Copyright © 2025 Michelle Bolanger
The members of the pack crouched low, surprise making the hackles on their necks stand. Involuntarily, I glanced down the cliff pathway behind Lukas and my mother, catching another glimpse of yellow. I stiffened, but Lukas barked an order.
“Choose!”
Snapping my attention back to the row of shining talisman’s in his hands, I pushed the feeling of a third presence in my mind away, but my wolf protested. Confused, I prayed. I am listening, Father. Please show me which talisman she needs.
I raised my hand toward the choices in front of me.
Wait.
I froze, my fingers inches from a curling branchlike symbol. Lord?
Wait.
Terrified to move, I stared at the pieces before me as Lukas stood still as a stone. Minutes passed and I heard the female pack member to my left begin to growl. My pulse pounded in my ears as I continued to stare at the gleaming pieces of silver, listening for the voice of the wolf who had gone silent within me. Tears welled in my eyes as the minutes dragged on and I heard nothing.
To my right, my mother also began to growl. My vision was blurred with tears and I started to look away, unable to stomach the possibility I wouldn’t be able to choose.
Wait.
Hearing His voice a third time, I clenched my jaw and willed the tears to recede. I trust you, Father. Please. Speak to me! Though my fingers had continued to hover over the talisman I had originally felt was the right choice, I gasped when the one all the way to the right winked out of sight, followed by the one next to it, and the next until only the one under my hand remained visible.
Choose.
Without hesitating, I reached for it. The instant my fingers made contact, the cliff shuddered. Lukas still hadn’t moved and the growls beside and behind me increased. Quickly lifting my choice from the leather, I dropped the loop of white leather over my head and looked up. The metal of the talisman instantly warmed against my skin and the breath seized in my chest as the yellow I had seen earlier came into focus as the intense stare of an enormous jet black wolf. Instinctively I dropped my gaze to his broad chest, looking for the Creator’s mark on him, but there was none.
A rogue? I thought.
I am not a rogue. I could hear the wolf’s voice in my head. Low, as though unsure of himself.
Who are you then?
He didn’t respond, but my wolf did. A shiver raced across Her fur, and She did something I’ve never felt Her do before. She bared her neck toward him and whined. I stared into his strange eyes as my wolf chuffed at me, seemingly encouraging me to go to him.
Trusting Her, I took a hesitant step forward, but the huge black head of the wolf lowered, making me hesitate.
Who are you? I asked again, and this time visions crashed into my mind. I was suddenly in a dark hallway, following the scent of a man who smelled of canine and gunpowder. I shook my head, trying to regain my bearings, but the images shifted to a bedroom. The room was full of light and in front of me was a low bed, draped from ceiling to the four corners with gauzy white curtains and covered by a grey and white patterned comforter. Warm arms wrapped around me and I shuddered in arousal. Blinking in embarrassment, I watched that scene fade into a star filled sky, the sensation of grass under my paws, and another wolf running beside me as we darted playfully though a stretch of unfamiliar woods.
I was jolted back to the present by a high pitched snarl and the snapping of teeth. Whirling toward the sound I screamed as the edge of the cliff gave way and my mother went with it. The clawing of her nails against stone and her yips of panic sent me into action. Black wolf forgotten, I lunged forward, catching hold of her paw. Her weight dragged me forward and I felt myself grow weightless as I slipped over the edge with her.
“Mother, no!” The world tumbled upside down and a shower of rocks, branches, and dirt followed us down the cliff. I heard my screams mixed with my mother’s and two other wolves’s cries of pain until I landed face first into a dense bush. The roar and scrape of a large stone was right behind me. The branches of the bush scratched my face and arms, but I scrambled backwards to get out of the way of the rock slide bearing down behind me. I looked around frantically, searching for where my mother had landed.
“Mom!” I twisted and hit my backside as a large bolder tumbled to a stop feet from me.
Dust and debris filled the air and I coughed, unable to see or breathe. Suddenly hands were on my waist, lifting and cradling me against a strong chest. The sounds of falling rock continued as I was carried a few yards away.
Finally able to draw a breath, I wiped my eyes as the man carrying me set me on my feet.
“Are you all right?” His deep voice might have been familiar but I ignored him.
My eyes landed on the huge pile of rubble, and I followed the path of destruction back up to the collapsed cliff face nearly fifty feet above. It looked as though a giant scoop had carved out a wide swath of earth, trees, and rocks, only to dump them in a tangled pile in front of me. The pathway we had originally taken to the top was gone, and there was no one in sight. Other than the residual cracking of branches and the muffled settling of stone on stone, there were no sounds. No movement.
“Mom!” I shouted and rushed toward the pile, but a strong hand gripped my arm and pulled me back.
“Olivia, wait. It’s too dangerous.” I whirled toward the voice and yanked to free my arm, but his grip was like a vice.
“Let me go!” I yanked again, then froze. The desperation to get to my mother faded for a second as my gaze connected with a luminous pair of yellow eyes. The same eyes of the wolf that had talked to me, and shown me the visions. For a moment my mind registered how handsome the man was before the sound of sliding feet and faint voices from above startled me back to reality.
With a tone I hadn’t known I possessed, I snarled at him. “I said, let go.”
The yellow of his stare dimmed to a warm green and his grip fell away. Without looking for further reaction from him, I spun and scrambled back toward the pile of rubble.
'Olivia’s Hunt' is unpublished and unedited. These stories may or may not be complete and may end on a cliffhanger. All works are the sole property of Michelle Bolanger and published through Risen Fiction. Copyright 2025 Michelle Bolanger. All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be copied or reproduced without written consent from the author.