Hear Their Thoughts, Be Their Terror [COMPLETED][UNEDITED]

Chapter 20

Jake was ecstatic that we had some alone time. He tried not to show it, but his mind was infected with those thoughts. Every time I even glanced at him, he expected the worse and muttered a pathetic, "Sorry," before dropping behind me and into the Beta's running position. I rolled my eyes and explained to him over and over that I really didn't care, and that I was happy not to have three obnoxious boys bickering behind me. He didn't take that joke well, and eventually I just let him be his multi-emotional self all alone. For all I cared, he could be joyous and pouty all at the same time.

Nix, he said to me suddenly. Not breaking my stride, I dipped my head to show him I was listening. I really am sorry to keep bothering you-

Jake, I sighed to him. I'm not bothered. Just shut up and stop bullying yourself. I let a playful tone enter my words. Be as ecstatic as you want; I don't mind.

He no longer directed his words at me, but his thoughts sighed in relief with whispers of Thank god, thank god. I chuckled and ran on, the world, as always, a fuzzy mess to me as I ran too fast for the human eye to track.

After a while longer, I quietly told him, I'm probably more excited than you, and then kept my voice to myself. He stuttered a few steps, and then barked in surprise and loped to catch up with me. I laughed the strange wolf laugh and sped on. We both ran for quite a while, simply enjoying each other's company and scenting around.

I growled suddenly as a new were's thoughts entered my head. I quickly scanned over their history, which didn't take long, and then led Jake towards the wolf. As we neared, though, my suspicions rose. The wolf's history kept changing. Like they knew I was listening in and they decided to keep tweaking their life story. I slowed to a trot and told Jake this. He whined and we stopped, ears swiveling around as we listened.

Just as I was about to give the 'all clear', and just as we passed over the Panama border to Columbia, we were jumped. Maybe a dozen wolves leapt out of the thick jungle and pinned us. I thrashed and snapped, teeth connecting with several limbs and the occasional neck, drawing blood. They snarled and more wolves were on me. Eventually, once there were about five wolves on each of us, more came and shifted to human form. A few stayed in wolf. The wolves here had extremely thin, coarse coats that looked appropriate for the humid jungle. The humans had browned skin and piercings all over their bodies. The men had long hair, the woman wore shawls. I snapped at a leg as it passed across my maw. The wolf yipped.

How did you hide from my search? I demanded to the obvious leader of the pack, with many piercings and an air of authority.

Child, tell your comrade to calm and shift. You should do the same. He had an accent, and his English was not very practiced, but I understood.

Phase, I told Jake with a sigh. He shot me a look that said I was crazy, but I calmed enough to phase. The wolves backed off of me as I became a more fragile human, and they all studied me, as I was wearing a ragged t-shirt, ripped Jean-shorts, and mud-stained Converse. Plus I had long, silky black hair unlike their womens' short coarse hair. Jake huffed and phased, the short-furred wolves backing off of him. He came to stand by my side, lacing his fingers in mine. I gave him a small smile and looked at the leader.

"I am--"

"Tochoco, yes. Chief of the Colombian tribe. And you somehow manage to already know that I am Nixie Furth, future Alpha Female of the Alaskan pack. I assume that you know my 'comrade', yes?" I lifted a brow.

He seemed unperturbed by my interruption. "Yes, I am Tochoco of the Columbian tribe. I know both you and your comrade's past, as I have a similar gift to yours. The only difference is that I cannot read the thoughts you have thought in the past twenty four hours. Before that I can read."

Jake squeezed my hand. There were two werewolves we had met now that had gifts like mine. "And you know if someone is reading your thoughts? How?"

He smiled, and he was missing several teeth and the rest were yellowed. "Patience, child. All answers will come--"

"With time." I inwardly smirked. "But how did you speak to me in my mind?"

"That gift comes with ease. The same way you do, but you must directly speak to me for me to hear it. Now, enough talk. Bring them," he addressed the wolves. They trotted forward and nudged our backs. I sighed and realized we had no choice but to obey, and so Jake and I followed Tochoco.

He spoke to his tribe in a language I didn't recognize. Then again, I only recognized English, confined to Canada and Alaska my whole life. I gripped Jake's hand and smiled up at him, attempting to reassure him. We're okay.

He didn't directly respond, but I picked through his thoughts anyways. In a nutshell, he was worried. About his family. His friends. The pack. Dylan and Kyle. Me. I sighed and adjusted my grip on his hand.

"Wait here," Tochoco suddenly said, and wolves made a circle around us. I watched as the chief kept on, speaking in the unfamiliar language, until all of a sudden I was no longer looking at more jungle, but an extremely well-hidden village. People came out of doors that I would never have noticed if not searching for scents or thoughts. Women and children stared at us in awe. Tochoco beckoned, and we followed him into a hut, the moss door falling closed behind us. We sat on the floor in front of him, and he leaned towards us.

"Children, you have come a long way. Your journey has been easy so far, and yet you have had no success." I squirmed, not used to others knowing my life. "But it will become harder, as tribes, or, as you say, packs are not as understanding in the South. You will be brought in and questioned in almost every country, and unless you tell them exactly what I say you must tell them, you will not be let go."

"Tochoco, our friends went ahead of us. They do not know this," Jake said, voice husky from disuse. I scooted closer to him, his almost six-foot form unsurprisingly comforting to me. He wrapped his hand around my waist, and I knew he was as wary of this place as me.

He grinned. "Yes, yes. Dylan and Kyle." He waved his hand, and suddenly the two burst through the moss door, grinning.

"Dylan, Kyle?" I shrieked, amazed.

"When they came and I saw you two in their minds, I thought we should have them wait up for you!" Tochoco clapped his hands, delighted.

"Hey there princess," Dylan said. "You sure we have to go? They have got some pretty amazing stew on this side of the world!"

Jake raised a brow and let out a laugh. I grinned also and nodded. "I'm not a princess," I told him, and went into blur mode. I stood, punched him in the gut, and had his arms stretching painfully behind him in a fraction of a second.

"Okay, okay," he groaned. I let him go and high-fived Kyle, then heading back to Jake.

"Weird to have three mind-readers in the same room," always-ecstatic Kyle commented, breaking the silence. I laughed and nodded.

"Sit, children." We did as told, leaning towards him eagerly now. Our spirits had risen. "Now, as I was saying. You will not be let go by any tribe in South America unless you tell the chief this," he looked at all of us expectantly. I nodded for him to continue, and in my mind told the other three to remember this as well. Tochoco cleared his throat and suddenly his voice was not his, but rather deeper, scratchier voice. "'Chieftain in the Southern regions, we quest for a legend. Let us pass.'" His voice returned to normal and he fixed his eyes on us. "Be sure to remember it."

I blinked. I hadn't thought it would be so simple. The others were equally surprised. Then a few tribespeople came in, gently pulled us away, and led us to a hut.

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I couldn't wait for the quests to be fulfilled. I needed to update.

Giving up the requirement idea 😝😂