Wolf's Creek (Book 1 of the Wolf's Creek Trilogy)

Chapter 18: Bringing it to an End

Chapter 18:

Bringing it to an End

            The two weeks leading up to the day of the attack were ones filled with stress and little sleep for A.J. During the school day she worked on the piece for the competition with Mr. Gorga as well as her other school work then after school she talked strategy with Darren and the other boys before practicing her control over her powers. She was careful when she practiced, not wanting to repeat her mistake the night she’d rescued Heather. Surprisingly to her invisibility was a skill that was easy to hone and control when she was her normal self. Joan had volunteered to help her practice it, smiling gleefully when she was invisible and immediately went to work tormenting her brother who would yell and curse at both his younger sister and his mate who’d release ghostly laughs before running away.

            While she was doing this the alpha and beta were talking strategy with some of their top fighters and picking who would stay with the pack to protect it should something go wrong and who would go with them to the hunter’s base in the woods. It was during these talks that A.J noticed the alpha and his son talk more than she’d ever seen them do before which warmed her heart. True when they talked it was about battle strategies and when they were training how to take one another down, but she always caught the twinkle of happiness in each of their eyes and the small grins on their faces when they thought no one was looking.

            By the time the night before the planned attack came around A.J felt they were ready. She’d trained and worked her fingers to the bone along with her boys and knew that Charles had trained his wolves till they were unable to stand. If there was a good time for them to attack it was now, they could do it. But even though she knew they were ready, there was a part of her that felt nervous and uneasy. She worried about the safety of the wolves who would be risking their lives tomorrow, she worried about her four boys who she was leading into the belly of the beast; she worried about her family and friends if they weren’t successful tomorrow. So much was riding on the outcome of tomorrow that it made her feel physically ill. She took in a deep breath and released it slowly as she ran her hands over her fair face and then allowing them to rest in her lap as she stared out her window with Marrok lying at her side.

Her concerns for tomorrow were robbing her of sleep but she didn’t really care as her silver eyes moved towards the nearly full moon in the sky above. It was still so strange. How could a rock that borrowed the light from the sun cause her to feel so calm, so energized, as she sat there with her wolf by her side? She leaned her head against the glass of her window and sighed, her breath fogging up the glass. The desire to run through the trees under the watchful eye of the moon was never stronger than right then for A.J. Ever since the hunters came it wasn’t safe for her to go for her walks among the trees that she’d been doing for years. It made her feel trapped, confined to her home like a caged animal that desired nothing but for the iron bars to shatter so they could roam free once more.

“Soon,” She muttered as she wrapped her arms around her sweat pant covered legs. “When it’s over ya can run till your heart’s content.”

            “Art?” her head snapped up from the glass and she moved for her bow on the floor beside her. “Whoa easy it’s just us!”

            She squinted and sighed when she saw her two brothers in the door way of her room. She returned her bow to the floor and stood from her seat at the window. “What’re yins doin’? Ya wanna get yourselves killed sneakin’ up on me like that?”

            “We just wanted to talk to you before tomorrow,” Paul stated as he and Albert came into the room, shutting the door behind them as they took a seat on the bed along with their sister.