Maya's Promise

Part 9

They set out that evening into the darkness of the forest in their human forms. Maya was kept toward the back of the pack with a group of female werewolves "for safety" the Alpha wolf had said. The women were quiet and stern looking, so Maya just kept her gaze forward to watch where she was walking as well as to watch Alpha Onyx and Sebastien share heated words back and forth. With them walking into the wind, their words carried on the breeze directly into her ears as if she was standing directly behind them. 

"What happens when we show up and Lorenzo is still missing?" Sebastien let out a guttural hiss in his obvious irritation. 

"If that is to happen we kill his men and rescue the Princess's cub. They will need to be returned to the King and Queen before long. I have already alerted them of her return to the land of living Seb." It sounded as though in his own anger the Alpha could only speak through growls, Maya barely able to make out the words of his last sentence. He had alerted her parents that she was okay? With Beren her only worry and his safety her goal she hadn't even thought of them. 

Both men were quiet, contemplating, until Sebastien let out a roar and stormed off into the forest to their left. The Alpha watched him leave, but did not follow. The group remained relatively quiet over the next few hours until the Alpha signaled the group to stop and shift. He came and stopped beside her, reminding her to stay towards the back of the group and away from the action, to avoid getting hurt. She could only promise to try to remain unseen. Maya shifted into her leopard, still thin from her years of mistreatment but Maya already felt stronger in this form than she did the last time she was in it. 

The group still remained down wind as they approached the boarder line of the Vorici Pride, some of the scents she recognized, but most foreign to her. The female wolves were just ahead of her in varying shades of brown and gray, their heads low to the ground as the group surged forward into the leopards territory. Maya immediately tensed as she passed the boarder line, her anxieties creeping to the front of her mind, memories of her three year stay in the cabin and her almost failed escape. The thoughts just got worse the closer they got to the cabin which she could just make out in the distance with the rising sun a halo behind it. One of the female wolves broke off from the group to walk stand beside her as the pack before her kept walking, their plan to get as close as possible before alerting the Pride that anything was amiss in their lands. Maya was amazed that an alarm had not been raised yet. 

The wolf and Maya crouched low beside a large thicket, hoping to remain hidden from any curious eyes as Alpha Onyx in his beast of a red wolf howled his challenge to the Vorici and chaos ensued. About twenty or so leopards of varied color came barreling out of the smaller shack like buildings surrounding the main cabin in states of shock and anger. They released yowls to answer Alpha Onyx challenge and leopard and wolf met head to head. The leopards employed by Lorenzo were strong and nimble fighters, but Maya had never seen werewolves fight before. Werewolves were bigger than your average wild wolf and that seemed to give them an advantage in the weight category, and they fought with vigor and movements of trained warriors. 

Maya was so consumed in watching the fighting stance of specifically Alpha Onyx when the female wolf beside her let out a bark of outrage as a large tawny colored leopard fell onto her back from a overhead branch. He didn't seem to see Maya as the fighting pair went rolling away from her. She quickly climbed below the bramble she was hiding against, her pelt being pulled and scratched at by thorns. Once she felt safe enough in the shadows, and the fighting pair completely gone from view, Maya looked towards the cabin. She recognized the big bay window that was nestled nicely in the front of the house, and she could just make out the railing of the crib where she was sure her cub would be lying scared and waiting for her.