Well those mongrels were surrounded by humans with guns and I didn’t feel like dying. It would take about thirty bullets to kill a werewolf my size but there were enough men to get the job done.“All you do is run. Run, run, run, run, run,” the angry man prattled. “I want results. Now!”“We’re giving you all we have,” a voice I didn’t recognize nearly shouted back at the man with restrained annoyance but also with a hint of fear. “My pack is more important.”“Well, you very well know your entire packs' lives are at stake.” The first man chuckled maniacally. My ears flattened in horror. That was the scariest laugh I’d ever heard.A sudden thumping distracted the first man. Then there was a roar of rage. “What?!?!”“Outside,” a new, younger voice spoke up. That boy on the porch! The little snitch!“You better not have called back up.” The gruff man seemed to be speaking to the pack’s alpha.“Who could I have called? All forms of communication with anyone outside your agency and my pack h
“Our territory isn’t going to be a fairy tale home anymore, whether or not he believes us,” I sighed solemnly.“Us?” Draugluin looked surprised.“Yes, us. You asked me to join you and showed me all of your research. We’re in this together, right?” I didn’t wait for his response before returning the child. As I walked away Draugluin made an announcement.“As Alpha Son of my pack, I am placing all of you under house arrest until further notice. This could be raised tomorrow or three weeks from now depending on your alpha’s cooperation. I suggest you all get comfortable because you are sleeping right here tonight.“And you, Alpha, what is your name,” Draugluin directed this question to the pack leader who still stood above his pack.“Jay. Alpha Jay of the Tundra Pack.”I stood guard outside the room Draugluin and Jay were in. I could clearly hear what they were saying but listening made it harder to keep an eye out for trouble.“Tell me Alpha Son, why have you come to harass my pack?” Jay
“First,” Draugluin turned his body completely towards Twinkle-Eyes to address him head on, everyone around them stood or sat in absolute stillness and silence, “pack is family and is the most important thing second to one’s mate. Your pack is not ours and your alpha was not our alpha. Second, your alpha led all of you and Imperium Sicariorum into our territory clearly knowing it belonged to other wolves since we mark our territory quite plainly-which is especially infuriating since he was under direct orders of humans who don’t want a single werewolf on the planet-and didn’t even think to protect his own kind from this evil organization that follows this pack like a plague. Why should I feel sorry for a cowardly wolf who doesn’t want to save the lives of other wolves himself? His actions are a disgrace to our kind."“You make him sound selfish!” Twinkle-Eyes countered. “He was doing what he could to protect our pack!”“Really? If he was doing all he could, why did he slit his own throa
We parted ways to get in a couple hours of sleep before we had to get up and start a new day. Poor Draugluin had to give a full report to his father before he could even thinking of his head hitting the pillow. That boy could sleep like the dead, I'd tried to wake him before in the past. I could be college or he's just a deep sleeper.When I got to my room, the sky had already brightened slightly to a grey-blue color. Uncle Benny was sound asleep with Lupe and Freki laying against him. The small lamp above Uncle Benny’s head illuminated an opened fairy tale book on the table. I gave a small grin as I saw a bit of drool pooling at the corner of Freki’s mouth. It must have been a hard night for them. Freki may have found a way to get Uncle Benny to tell her where I was and what I was doing as she could be a master manipulator. I don't know where she learned it from or if she figured out how to do it on her own but it was fun to watch unless she was trying to manipulate me. I sluggishly
“I can’t trust these two alone together,” Alpha growled while staring daggers at his son and then probably at me; my head was still lowered. “Send a Gamma or Epsilon or both here to watch them.” Alpha then stormed off without another word.“Go get some others,” Draugluin ordered Lyall, “I’ll handle this.” I hated how he pointed down at me but there was nothing I could do with Lyall there. My friend ran off before Draugluin approached me.“I have to agree with my father,” he gave a hesitant smile while putting his hand on my shoulder. “Why is it always you?”“Am I a bad luck charm,” I asked sarcastically, though I put no real effort into the remark.“Well, in all fairness, facts are facts. I do apologize for Father’s treatment of you. That wasn’t right. He has been under a lot of stress lately with little sleep. Adding a mysterious car to his plate is just riling him up. I fear that he might go overboard and really hurt himself.”“But,” I looked up with a scared expression, “if anyone k
Lyall stood frozen in pure shock of what was before him. The Gamma’s headpiece had fallen out in the chase and Lyall decided to go personally to let his father know about the status of the car. He never imagined to see his tough, hardened brother to be crying while practically cradling Lucian. Lyall didn’t know what happened to her but whatever she’d done had damaged the BMW enough that it lost control.While taking in the scene, he looked more closely at his friend and noticed her severe wounds but that couldn’t amount to the emotional pain that stabbed him like a knife in the gut. His brother was in love with his best friend who he also had strong feelings towards. They weren’t romantic feelings but he didn’t want his friendship with Lucian to be severed because of his brother.Lyall slowly walked backwards deciding to go through the front door of the house instead of returning through the back entrance. When he finally turned around, all he could see was his brother and Lucian in hi
“Lyall,” Eliseo was at the door, “Let her rest. It is not yet time for her to receive visitors.”I almost smiled behind my bandages if it didn’t hurt so much. Eliseo was ready to let Freki and Lupe see me but not Lyall? Maybe because he was slightly emotionally unstable.“But Draugluin gets to,” Lyall glared daggers at the doctor as if to challenge him but Eliseo did not avert his gaze. What was with that childish response anyway? It took a lot of energy not to giggle knowing it would be really painful.“He is not recovering from an injury and is the one person besides myself and Amelia who is to report her condition to Alpha. Alpha wants Lucian to be healthy so he can speak with her.”‘Yeah, right,’ I wanted to snarl. What he meant to say was that Alpha wanted to scream his head off at me for doing something so reckless.Without a word, Lyall stood. The way he was slumped over made him look like a zombie. That sent a shiver down my spine. Good thing zombies weren’t real. I watched Lya
It was too bad I couldn’t learn my new duties because my plane ticket to Paris was in three days. It was a nonstop flight to Charles De Gaulle airport which was the largest airport in Paris, was twenty two miles from the catacombs; a 47 minute drive if traffic was generous after being dropped off at our hotel, the Solar Hotel, which was roughly $81 per night. By the time we got there it would 9:53 pm as Paris was about eight hours ahead of my home. At least that’s what I assumed, I wasn’t quite sure. Maybe seven hours.“For ticket prices for both ways, food, hotel room expenses and transportation, your entire trip will cost about eighteen thousand easy,” Ermengarde counted on her fingers as she, Rusty and I sat at the island in the kitchen sipping hot cocoa. “Perhaps twenty thousand depending on the type of restaurants you go to or if you’ll eat at the hotel. You might want a room with a refrigerator in it so you can just buy food from the grocery store and eat that instead.” Leave it
Draugluin strapped my clothes tightly around me. We'd have to go the speed of sound in order to get back on track. The two of us stretched some before charging at full speed. The ground rose and dipped. While running, I got a to see a flash of police car lights. Two nice looking cars had had a head on collision. Out of three police officers, two were separating the two angry drivers who were shouting violently at one another. One gentleman was in a suit while the other was in casual clothing. The man in the suit looked up but I doubted he saw anything but the dim outline of wolves darting away.Soon, the landscape changed drastically. The forest turned into fields. We kept moving at a fast pace but made sure no one would see us. Draugluin and I reached the edge of Paris by sunset. We quickly morphed and dressed before trying to casually walk through the mass of bodies. The traffic wasn't too busy but the sidewalks were congested. Young couples smiled and chatted, a mother and daughte
We both dug in, yanking away the outer skin to tear into the meaty flesh. I barely chewed. All the energy I had exerted in running and the adrenaline pumping through me to keep me going had slowly made me hungry. Though I could have made it to America without eating, I was glad that this small feast allowed some rejuvenation."We'll have to bury this as discreetly as we can," Draugluin paused after getting a drink from the stream. "It will be evidence for Alpha Jon about our location if he passes through this area.""Won't he see a giant mound of dirt with poorly placed grass lumps covering it?""Not if we bury it in the slope. That's where I caught it. There's actually a little outcropping not too far from here. I was above the deer and dropped on him before he saw. It was an easy kill. We can dig into the dirt towards the bottom of the slope which will look more natural.""We'll drag blood through the grass." I felt like Miss Negative."It's the best we can do for right now. Our onl
"But-""Keep watch," Draugluin interjected. He poked his head into the dandelion-yellow lit sidewalk. I watched the back of his head swivel side to side, his muzzle peeking out from behind the thick furs of his side. Though it was spring, Draugluin still had his winter coat and it was thick and bushy like a beard but soft as bunny's fur. I wanted to snuggle my face into it. If only my fur was the same.When Draugluin crossed the street, I leaned my head out and sniffed the air while glaring intensely in every direction. My fur wasn't beautiful. At least I didn't think so. It was rough and striped with a bright, neon rainbow that didn't lay even on me at all. My green stripe was usually thicker than my pink and purple while the blue looked like a fading hair coloring. They red and yellow strips were the only consistent colors that weren't too thick or thin or too bright. I never outwardly complained because I had it easy. My curse was so tame compared to others' like Freki. My eyes dr
I walked up and pressed my body against his. Touch was very important for wolves and I felt that, despite our rank difference, Draugluin needed some sort of comforting. I could feel Mozzy's muscles tense then relax before tensing again. "It's okay," I reassured him. "Let's go but using our heads.""Alright." He stepped onto the road for a couple seconds. "We go straight for half a mile then turn right, continuing on for another two miles."After he returned to the cover of the trees, we took off. Now that I had calmed Mozzy, I mulled over what he said to me. What was bugging me wasn't the deadly poison that could be released on us. Draugluin had been taking poison over the years for immunity? Did Jun and Maengun also do it? Did Alpha Mother? What were the effects of starting to take poisons over time as children into adults?'I don't know anything about Alpha or his mate and sons. What's really going on within the pack?' I peeked at Draugluin before dodging a tree that I nearly kissed
“What do we do,” I whispered to Mozzy. With him practically covering me, I couldn’t see what was going on behind me. I almost whined in fear.Why was I acting like a frightened pup? Perhaps I didn’t want all the hard work Draugluin and I had done in Paris ruined in an instant. Maybe I didn’t want to lose the taste of freedom.There was a crunch of boots against gravel and dragging steps. One pair was getting closer to us. I trembled. I couldn’t move! The steps were coming closer!“Je peux les sentir,” it was Bayard and I hoped he wouldn’t call Alpha Jon over. The steps slowed then stopped. There was a shuffling of denim before I heard the pant of a wolf. I felt the urge to see what Bayard looked like as a wolf but I couldn’t turn. “Alpha Jon, avez-vous trouvé quelque chose?”“Non,” the alpha called back.“Merde!” Bayard snarled and...stepped down into the bushes!I shut my eyes and focused on taking deep, slow breathes. In. Out. I tried to swallow but the book was pressed against my th
than expected, Alpha had to bribe the few construction workers and carpenters of the pack that, if they could create a new, large extension of the house in the back left side before the pups were six months old, the workers wouldn't have to pay their monthly pack contribution for an entire year. The men were already planning what they would do with the extra money they'd have left over. One said he'd take his mate on a long needed vacation for the both of them. If only an alpha could take a vacation every once in a while.Alpha Mother came in with Alpha's hot mug of coffee accompanied with a side of cheese, crackers and sliced salami. Her quick barefoot steps were silent on the red, velvet carpet. After setting the tray down, she sighed. "Have you heard anything from Alpha Jon?""Not yet," Alpha took a swig of the coffee while his mate sat in one of the chairs before his desk, fiddling with the tray she'd brought all the goods on. The tapping against the bronze made Alpha's ears itch
I didn't retaliate. Now wasn't the time to squabble, playfully or no. When we reached the first level, there were two, very familiar faces standing in our path: Julias and Bayard. "Hi," Bayard sneered and tried to jump me, but Draugluin was already in his wolf form, sending the boy flying against a wall. Bayard rubbed his head but was ready to fight once more. Julias was already leaping at Mozzy, trying to tear into him but he wasn't big enough to take Draugluin down. Bayard was about to go into wolf form when I punched him down again. "Aw, did the wittle baby get a booboo? Poor baby." I taunted him to keep him distracted. Draugluin needed to take down battle experienced Julias. "You American rat. Why don't you go rot in sewers where not even the scavengers will feed on your flesh?!""What's that reference," I ducked a punch, readying my arms to block a knee. I winced as I blocked, but not from the impact. The corner of the book dug into my stomach when I ducked so low."Out of sha
It was no longer common for new wolves to integrate into the Grey pack, but so many wolves had entered in the past that mating within the pack was safe. Most of the wolves weren’t related by blood. But if Lyall’s parents met and married for love, why were they pushing him to be with Marigold?Lyall slowed and laughed, enjoying the rain that slithered down his body. How had his mind changed from Lucian to his parents trying to force him into an arranged marriage? Could it have been a distraction his mind set up?“You might get sick.”Lyall peered upwards to see Marigold holding a striped black, blue and white umbrella. She looked irritated.“I’m sorry. Did Alpha send you out here? How'd you get in this school with the gate closed?” Lyall shook his hair, hands on his hips. Why hadn't he heard her coming? He would have at least heard the rain bouncing off the umbrella.“I was looking for you and peeked out the window. I thought to myself that you were an idiot, running in the rain, but
Draugluin was shaking his head. I couldn’t tell if it was disapproval or disbelief. Whichever it was, he didn’t hesitate to break up the conversation by stepping on the treadmill and changing the setting. Julianna quickly restarted her stopwatch as Draugluin started running.The show-off didn’t follow my plan at all. Instead he ran at a steady jog for fifteen minutes. Then he ran fast for ten minutes before slowing and stopping.“Twenty-five minutes and fifty-nine seconds,” Julianna lifted the watch to Alpha Jon’s eye level. He didn’t look happy at the results but didn't complain like he did with me. Hopefully he did consider the possibility that we were slightly out of shape; or doubting the Grey pack's ability.Draugluin sent me a grin. He was looking down on my tactic! His didn't seem to be much better. I balled my fists, feeling my nails dig impressions into my skin but I wouldn’t squeeze so hard as to draw blood. That would be annoying to explain and take care of. Draugluin gentl