“Who just leaves their front door open,” Michelle asked with a shrug.

  Keva snorted, “Look around Michelle, does it look like this guy has to deal with kids wanting to steal his stereo?”

  Michelle blushed and smiled at the retort, taking her Alpha’s statement as the joke that it had intended to be and simply followed behind the rest of her pack into the cozy well-lit little space.

  There was a thick rug underneath their feet, covering a large portion of the main floor. The one room space was sectioned off, the main space was a sort of sitting room with an end table and easy chair, the kitchen area had a small pot belly stove and table and benches to prepare food, as well as some well taken care of cutlery. There was a large bed in the back corner of the cabin next to the rather large fireplace, which held the meager embers of a dying fire.

  Michelle rushed forward and threw more wood into the fire. She was holding herself and shivering a bit. Their time spent outside hadn’t been long but neither she, nor Keva had any of their heavy winter clothes. So even the short trip had chilled the small blonde woman significantly. She blew on the embers and coaxed a flame out of the freshly added wood.

  Hysminai closed the door and went to the kitchen. He rummaged around opened the few small cabinets. The only thing he found was some very neatly stacked pots and pans and dishes.

  Soter sniffed around the room and searched around the bed and sitting room. He was looking for the weapon that had broken his and Hysminai’s legs, and the axe that killed Erato.

  Keva, on the other hand went to the back corner opposite of the large bed and found a cellar door. She swung it open quickly and looked down into the gloom. Not being able to see much she turned around and motioned to Hysminai. “May you please hand me that lamp over there.”

  The Healer moved quickly and handed her the lit lamp, which she held in front of her. Warding off the darkness with the lamp she walked down into this new subterranean space, slowly walking down the solid wooden steps below her.

  The other three eventually congregated in front of the fire place. Michelle was feeling much better and her shivering had stopped. She had a small smile on her face as the flames steadily took over the dry wood she had fed to it. The warm orange and red light from the fire licked over her pale face, giving her appearance a very warm orange hue.

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  Hysminai knew that even though the young woman was warm, both she and Keva needed to eat. So did he and Soter for that matter. If they didn’t find food then they may be trapped here anyway, whether they were free from their steel bonds or not. They wouldn’t make the long journey to Javier as they were.

  “GUYS! GET DOWN HERE!” Keva’s voice shot up from the cellar and rang out clear as a warning bell through the cabin.

  Without thought, Soter and Hysminai jumped to their feet and dove into the cellar entrance. Michelle forced herself to leave the warm presence of the fire and hurried down the stairs as well. She prepared herself as best she could for whatever awaited her down the stairs. She flexed her leg muscles and clenched her jaw as she hit the earthen floor of the cellar and turned.

  Keva was smiling widely and Soter and Hysminai had already grabbed long strips of dried meat hanging in the ceiling. Michelle dropped her hands and stared. This must be where Paley had kept most of his food stores and what she had found in her cellar must have been for emergencies, or something else.

  Along with the strips of dried venison that hung from the ceiling, there was long strings of dried sausage and other forms of meat. There were some jars filled with what looked like fruit, with some potatoes and what looked like radishes. Michelle didn’t care, she grabbed a string of sausage off the wall and hungrily started eating it.

  The pack smiled and followed her example. Keva felt her strength return to her tired body. She closed her eyes and let the food fill her stomach and ease her mind. She knew that it was dangerous to eat too much too fast, but since she had an appetite, she wasn’t going to hold herself back too much.

  “Hey Michelle,” Keva called out to their petite Sage.

  The short blonde woman turned to look at her Alpha as she pushed a bit of dried venison into her mouth, working her jaw furiously to eat the bit of food. She swallowed a bit painfully, “What’s up, Keva?”

  “I found something you might really like, and it’s a lot better than that jerky you’re having such a hard time with,” The red-haired woman replied as her lip curled just a touch at the corners.

  Michelle asked suddenly curious, “what is it?

  Keva smiled and held out a jar of pickled herring. The wet jarred fish stared out of the smoky glass at the Sage as Keva held it up for her to see.

  Michelle immediately went a little green and turned away, breathing deeply.

  The other three erupted in laughter at Michelle’s expense. The Sage’s face grew red with embarrassment. “Yeah, thanks Keva but no thanks. I’ll stick with the sausage and jerky. You can have it.”

  Keva smiled and shifted into her werewolf form. In her claws she gripped the jar and broke it, sending the pickling juice and fish all over the earthen floor. “Michelle, after what you did for all of us, and forcing yourself to do what you did. I’ll personally see to it that you never have to even look at another fish again.”

  Michelle smiled and finishing a piece of jerky, she swallowed the meat. She nodded in gratitude to her Alpha and feeling that her strength had returned as well, she took a deep breath and shifted.

  The four Shape shifters ate some more but not so much that they became over full. They grabbed some strips of dried meat and the remaining strings of sausage and exited the cellar.