~Ellie's Point of View~
I desperately wanted to ask where he was sending them, but I didn’t think he would tell me anyhow. He said it could be anywhere from a few hours to three days before they could send a response. I shuddered at that, hoping that I was wrong, hoping that I was just being dramatic.
However, the look on Beta Hank’s face told me he not only believed me, but he believed it was likely.
I was also curious what exactly a “response” was, who it was. Would we have vampires here, witches? What would they do exactly? The obvious answer was that they would kill everyone, but that only made me terrified that innocents could be slaughtered.
The Alpha and Beta immediately began barking orders to every single pack member, directing them where to hide the rations and how to board up their homes. One of the biggest fears with any invasion … is fire. It is the easiest thing for the enemy to do … burn down everyone’s homes. And well, Gunner was known for leaving nothing in his wake. Taking what he wanted and to hell with the rest.
We frantically gathered a large cache of water and put it outside every home, hoping it didn’t freeze. All valuables, keepsakes, women and pups were to go into the shelter by dusk.
The bunker had two ways to get out, just in case one exit somehow became blocked. I was extremely impressed with the way it was built and the thought that went into it. I really hoped we were just being overly careful, taking more precautions than necessary, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something awful was about to happen.
The entire night went by, and nothing happened, much to everyone’s surprise and delight. When morning came, the Alpha let certain people come out, but he still wanted the majority to stay sheltered for now. There was still no sign of the missing guards, and every hour that went by it became less likely we would find them alive.
A few people were gathered by a large fire, near my home on the outskirts of the main area of the pack. They were cooking up a huge dinner for everyone that would also have to be enough for breakfast. I had left the shelter to help gather more water to keep outside the houses.
I heard it before I saw it, a horse … hooves beating and crunching into the bit of snow that fell the other day. Some of it had melted, but a bit remained. I could swear I felt my heartbeat in my ears and it began to race. I felt sweaty, nervous and my body moved on its own, just trying to keep working.
I heard a commotion and then a howl. I ran to the source, not far from the large fire and saw a white horse covered in blood, with the body of one of the missing guards strapped to its back. Howling to the horse’s side was a large black wolf, which was the boy’s father, Bruce.
My knees gave out, and I fell to the ground. I immediately knew what this meant. My worst nightmare came true, Gunner and Tyson were coming.
I felt someone elbowing me on my arm, and it was Valerie. She had her arms full of some food to take back in the bunker. Her eyes were huge and she was panicked.
“Come on Ellie, there’s not a second to waste, we have to hide!!”
I couldn’t move, I was stuck, staring at the lifeless body before me. Any sadness I had left me, and it was replaced with rage. I couldn’t leave, I wouldn’t leave. This might be it … it might be my last night on this earth, but I wouldn’t just hide. This was my fight to have.
“You go down, I’m fighting,” I said, jumping to my feet.
She moved in front of me, not able to touch me without dropping something, but trying to get my full attention. Her eyes pleaded with me.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you haven’t shifted yet! You’re basically a human, you can’t fight!!”
“I have to Valerie, I have to! This is my pack and I will defend it, you took me in when I had absolutely nothing, no one. I would rather die than be forced to mate, forced to be a breeder for the rest of my life, you have no idea what they are, I would be their slave!”
She looked at me with pity, and I hated it. But she knew she wasn’t changing my mind.
Just then we heard it, the humming of engines, likely snow mobiles and trucks. They were probably only a minute away. I gave Valerie a desperate look, begging her to go, and as the Alpha began barking commands, she fled.
It would be fully dark in just an hour, and now there was a feast almost cooked, just in time for the Blood Claw warriors to eat. Perfect … timing. Several men immediately put out the fire as best they could and ran to take their positions.
The freshly cooked food was the last thing on everyone’s mind, but it pissed me off to think they would get it. I ran into a shed and found some gasoline, and immediately poured it over all the food.
The guards had laid spikes around all of the doors and windows to the cabins and they were covered from the fresh snow we got this morning so I made sure to be careful while running around.
Everyone was positioned as best they could be, and I hid in the shed a little ways away from the tables of food, but I had a good view. I was grateful I decided to wear two layers of clothes and a heavy jacket as it was starting to snow again. I also had on a heavy hat Valerie had made me. I had several knives and I had no clue what I was going to do with them, but I would put up whatever fight I possibly could.
Within a minute there were numerous vehicles and snowmobiles converging onto the pack grounds. My heart was racing, somewhat regretting my choice not to shelter. What did I know about fighting, especially trained wolves!? I began to panic.
I prayed to the goddess for help, I begged her to intervene and spare this pack, spare my new family. Spare me, if even possible.
A few seconds later they were everywhere. There were so many of them!
I watched several men regard the food, and one of them took a piece of chicken off the table and immediately noticed the smell on it, throwing it in disgust.
“They were JUST here, fan out!”
Our pack as a whole had less than ten guns to its name, and every one of them was in the hands of someone either perched on a roof or in a tree.
Werewolves typically didn’t use guns, but most kept some as an evil necessity. Before I could hold another thought in my head, gunshots rang out from every corner, and several Blood Claw returned fire. Oh no! They came ready to fight dirty!
After a couple minutes, the firing ceased, with several down on both sides. I peeked through a hole in the shed, fearful they would hear my heartbeat racing.
“Now, that’s no way to greet your neighbor! We’re just here to share in your bountiful harvest, awful shame you had to ruin dinner,” I heard a man yell out.
I recognized him as Alpha Gunner’s Beta, the second in command. I didn’t know him very well, but I knew he was the head warrior and his son led all training operations. He was every bit as terrifying as Gunner.
I desperately wished I could mindlink Alpha Nelson but since I hadn’t yet shifted I couldn’t. I was so anxious for all the new gifts and abilities I would soon have once I got my wolf.
Then a stark realization hit me, what if I didn’t live long enough to ever meet her? I felt tears pricking my eyes at the thought.
The Blood Claw Beta growled that no one came forward and swiftly leapt into the air, shifting into a massive brown wolf and shredding his clothes in the snow. Several of his pack followed and within seconds there were well over two dozen wolves!
Okay, now was the time to panic! I was sure they would be able to hear my heart racing, be able to smell my fear.
A man came forward and threw a pile of clothes in the air, and all the wolves quickly sniffed them and howled out, leaving puffs of their breath in the air. My heart stopped as I recognized one of my old coats, and it hit me … they were my clothes!!
As I tried to calm my panic attack, I focused on the man and he turned so I could see the side of his face … it was Tyson!!
No, no, no!! Were they looking for me?! Yes, you idiot, of course they were! They probably just used taking the food as an excuse. Or as a bonus. I bit the inside of my lip but quickly let it go, afraid I’d draw blood and even more expose myself.
“If you’re here my darling Ellie, we’ll find you, I miss you terribly, my sweet mate. You belong with me, you belong to me, and you will come home with me. We'll be mating very soon baby,” he said, in a low voice that I could barely register.
Goddess help me.
What do you think so far?
~Ellie's Point of View~ I silently cursed myself for a second and now I was afraid I would pee my pants. The wolves started spreading out but thankfully none were coming anywhere near me … for now. I worked on steadying my heartbeat, but I didn’t know if that was even possible given the insane situation I would myself in. I cursed Tyson, I cursed all of them. But really, I knew this was my fault. I led them here, surely I did. Now this peaceful pack would suffer, all because they were kind enough to take me in. I had to fight, if I even took one of them out, at least I tried. Hopefully no one would expect me to have a knife, and maybe I could slit their throat. A couple wolves shrieked and howled as they stepped on the silver spikes trying to go into houses, and I suppressed a snicker. None of our pack made a move, and I was dying to know why, or what their strategy was supposed to be. Then I suddenly heard a couple wolves cry out, and I saw arrows being shot out of trees, surel
~Hunter’s Point of View~ I was enjoying my nice, quiet day off soaking in my huge tub. It had been a long week and my brothers and I rotated being on active duty and on call. I was aching for my week off. They were few and far between anymore since it seemed like everyday someone else was being a menace, being difficult. My brothers and I were Shadow Warriors, a coalition of various supernatural beings that keep the peace between each other and between our own kind. It’s a damn hard job, but someone has to do it. I had the little apartment at headquarters to myself since Skyler was out on patrol and it was River’s week to be on assignment. We all traveled constantly, but since our work took us to all corners of the world, usually a vampire would either fly us there, or a witch would teleport us. Getting along and having all these crazy egos around was a constant battle, but we were all dedicated to the big picture and had to remember that. I finished off a nice cold beer, crawled
~Hunter’s Point of View~ My wolf immediately began howling, jumping up and down in my subconscious. He wanted to take over, and started demanding to shift. Our scouts said there were no she-wolves out here, did they miss her? How could you miss that scent?! It was what I had been waiting my entire life for, and I wasted no time following it. My wolf was not able to communicate with any she-wolf nearby, confusing me even more. Even though I wouldn’t be able to mind-link her, they would sense each other, feel the other’s presence. I came to an old shed that was caved in, and I heard it … a faint heartbeat that almost sounded human. There’s no way there is a human out here, that can’t be right! I frantically began ripping away pieces of wood and metal, tossing them behind me. It took a few seconds, but I saw her hand sticking out from the rubble and I cleared it swiftly. It finally dawned on me, this was a pup, and she hadn’t yet shifted. I yelled for help and in seconds Raul, one
~Hunter’s Point of View~ He raised his eyebrow and I knew that he knew. I shifted my gaze back to my mate. “Pat and Angel, please leave us,” he said, calmly. Pat opened her mouth to protest, but no one outranked Godfrey in this house. She looked at my mate one more time and dropped her hands to her side, then turned and hooked arms with Angel, leaving the room. “It’s very hard to tell her age, she’s very small, maybe 14, 15? I don’t really know, it’s not like I see human children … well really I haven’t seen an actual child in centuries…” He said that because there were vampires and other creatures that looked like children, kind of frozen in time. I estimated that Godfrey was about forty in human years when he was turned. Godfrey looked at her, curiously. It is very hard for a vampire to control themselves in the presence of a child, especially a virgin with pure blood. I knew if he tried to do anything, there would be no way I could fight him. My wolf didn't think rationally
~Ellie’s Point of View~ My eyes flickered open and I sat up with a shudder, and immediately regretted it. I reached instinctively for the pain in my head expecting a gash to be there, but I felt something soft. Maybe a bandage? I looked down at my arm and saw a large bandage. I was in a small but quaint bedroom, and it was night time. There was a small lamp in the corner that illuminated the room. I threw the blanket off me and much to my shock I was only dressed in a large shirt, with literally nothing else on. Who took my clothes off?! There were scrapes and cuts all over my legs that looked freshly cleaned. They looked like they were already healing, and I gaped at that. Was my wolf helping me? There was a bit of pain from my left leg and it had some ugly bruising. I knew I likely didn’t have the strength to stand, but I tried to lift myself enough to see out the window, to gauge where I was at least. I couldn’t make out anything but darkness. I didn’t feel like I was back
~Hunter’s Point of View~ Skyler and I sat in the hallway outside Ellie’s room, listening to her story and getting increasingly restless, desperate to be by her side, to comfort her. Godfrey insisted we wait outside while they gathered information, convinced we would be a distraction. He made Angel put a quick spell on us to temporarily block our scents, much to my chagrin. Ellie … my mate was Ellie. Everyone in my family mostly had some type of nature related name, so I always assumed our mate would. But … that just seemed so insignificant now. Ellie ... her name was Ellie, and she was ours. We had no idea if she knew I was her mate, we did share a brief moment before she passed out, and I just felt she had to know. She hadn’t yet had her first shift, and it was quite possible she didn’t know. Blocking your scent was pretty common for Shadows, especially when we would be in battle. The last thing you wanted was for an enemy to know your scent and remember it if they lived. I list
~River’s Point of View~ My feet immediately moved to follow the sweetest smell imaginable and Godfrey suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking the door. “Move!” I growled at him and my brothers instantly grabbed one of my arms and pulled me to a chair. “What the fuck, where is she?!” I did everything to try and get up. They were NOT going to keep me from her! “You can see her, but there are some things you need to know first,” Godfrey said. Hunter began to ramble on with what happened. I absolutely hated listening to Hunter tell a story, he was pokey and always added details that didn’t matter. He was keeping me from my mate and I was about to throw his ass out the window. I had waited my whole life for this moment. “So, she can’t stay at headquarters, this is no place for a pup, I’m not running a daycare and of course I would never trust all the unmated mutts running about,” Godfrey said, with a snort. Skyler growled at that insult, and Godfrey smiled, his devilish grin.
~Ellie’s Point of View~ I was having the most amazing dream, it was about my maple syrup heart throb. I couldn’t understand where he went, why didn’t he come back to check up on me? It seemed like we really shared a moment when he found me, but maybe I was just woozy. I dreamed that he was with me, caressing my hair, stroking my arm. I knew I had been given his shirt, I just knew it was his, it had to be! Why would he do that and then just never show himself to me again? I definitely felt like there was something everyone was keeping from me, but they were all so nice and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. I was up quite late thinking about everything and worrying about what would come next. What were they going to do with me? It seemed like they didn’t even know. I put that aside. I felt so relaxed, so at ease. My bed felt exceptionally warm and snuggly. I sighed and stretched, and heard a thud! I jumped at the sound and flicked my eyes open. There was a man sitting in the chair b