The Alpha's Oracle (SAMPLE, IronMoon #1)

Flesh

No orders were given for any of the males around me to keep an eye on me. I fell back off Gabel's shoulder into the greater pack, because I wasn't stupid.

The scout led us down a twisting hillside. The wind carried the scent of wolves, more and more wolves. Just as they wolves came into view below us, Gabel howled a war-cry.

It grabbed my spine and twisted it with fear.

The rest of the wolves echoed it, and even I threw my head back and joined the cry of the pack, but Gabel's howl was something out of my nightmares.

Ahead of us were half a dozen RedWater males. They broke off their track and their cry sent the birds out of the trees. I fell back even farther into the sea of IronMoon warriors as Gabel's raw-boned form plowed forward.

The tide of wolves pulled me forward into the fray.

One of the RedWater lunged at me. I flung myself left, hit one of my own wolves, another warrior surged forward and grabbed the RedWater. I tried to find Gabel, and saw him several deep wrestling with two RedWater wolves.

A wolf impacted me. I don't know who it was. I got sent rolling in the leaves. I scrambled to my paws and squirmed my way to the left. We were supposed to be herding the RedWater back up towards Hix, so I figured swinging behind Gabel's position was the smart thing to do.

Another RedWater lunged at me. I yipped and scrambled past him towards Gabel, he chomped down on my tail, I yipped again and pulled.

Goddess, I was a Seer, not a warrior! Panic knocked on my brain. I couldn't panic. I'd die if I panicked. I'd panic later. The sea of bodies and claws and howls and barks felt like the Tides, churning and tossing me everywhere as I tried to ride the waves. Gabel's form seemed to loom huge, and then the scent of blood hit me.

Then blood hit me.

Hot and coppery and alive it sprayed me and several wolves around me. I don't know where it came from or who it belonged to. The Iron Moon warrior next to me wrestled with a RedWater, and I instinctively snapped at the RedWater's foreleg. The RedWater struck at me, I bounced back, shot back in for another try.

The courage came from somewhere. Instinct, or perhaps Gabel's bloodlust. I probably was more in the way than I was helping. I bit down on the RedWater's flailing foreleg and heard a shriek of pain, and the taste of blood ran over my tongue.

Beta Hix's team crested the hillside and coursed across the leaves to us. His eyes burned amber even from a distance. He saw me, and barked as he lept over a log. Two wolves seperated from the pack and charged towards me.

They wrestled me off the dying RedWater wolf and one grabbed my ruff in his teeth and hauled me back up the hillside while the other pushed with his much larger body. They pushed me a safe distance away from the fray, and stood guard over me while the Iron Moon broke RedWater.

It did not last much longer. And very suddenly, it became still, as all the surviving RedWater pressed together and realized they had been beaten.

Combat is strange that way. It seems like at the same time everyone realizes it is over, and all motion stills and the world stops to watch how the outcome of these events will conclude.

The Iron Moon milled around, tails wagging, yipping and barking. One threw his head back in a victory howl. Hix barked for him to be silent.

Eight of the RedWater had survived. The rest lay in the leaves and dirt. None of the Iron Moon had been killed, or even seriously injured. Gabel stood in front of the survivors, tail up and spine taunt, reeking of power and glory and cruelty.