Avoiding Alpha

Chapter Seventeen

“Wolves can bring down a hut, they can even bring down a house made of brick. Steel is harder, though they will still try to run at it and maybe dent it. But they can not get in half as easy. The windows are covered by shutters, but when it seems safe enough or when we are on the lookout, the shutters will come up. It extends underground to give a further escape point and the locks are slide bolts, someone on the inside has to let people in once the safe house is in use. No electrics, they tend to get jammed and the enemy has a tendency to try to cut power.”

                Daniels explained it all to her, pointing little things out and showing her the safest place she could imagine on earth. And situated right in the middle of dense forest it was quite a shock discovery. The house gained her attention for a few minutes but then she was back thinking about Tim. Ray led them up to the gates; they are at least eight foot high and spiked at the top. They looked as though Ray himself in wolf form would struggle to get over them.

“How will they know it’s us?” Tendra whispered.

“Listen.” Rupert nodded and it was only then that Tendra noticed that Rupert was also reaching for her. She let him take hold of her and slid her from Ray’s back. Her feet touched the floor and she looked down surprised to feel little stones and sand under her feet. There wasn’t as much grass here but then she looked to the grounds of the safe house - it had gravel all over it, no grass. They had dug up part of the forest for this.

“Gravel announces presence. It makes noise when someone steps on it. Grass is silent.” Daniels explained. Amidst the explanation though Tendra had only just noticed that Ray had started to stand to his tallest and was leaning his head back, taking a deep breath. He was going to call to them.

                Sure enough he let loose a howl; his signature howl. It was incredibly deep and loud and he threw into it his Alpha authority and power. Sending the call over to the mansion and making sure those inside the steel box could hear him. He ended his call and stared at the front doors. They did not open and for a few minute they held their breath thinking no one was in there and fearing that maybe, just maybe their pack had been decimated. But that was not the case.

                The front door opened slowly and out came warriors, bare chested but with weapons in their hands. With their knees bent and with wary eyes and stances they crept out and surveyed their surroundings. At last their eyes met Ray’s and he nodded to them, his eyes pierced theirs with anger. They paled at the thought that they would have to now answer to him for what had happened. They had been left in charge and children lay dead.

                He didn’t mind seeing his men afraid, for once he liked it. He liked feeling that little bit of control when everything else was up in the air. When he felt he had lost control of everything else around him and it was all his fault, seeing them afraid because of this authority made him feel like an Alpha again.

                They walked slowly over to him and he refused to change back. He would not stand naked in front of them and he would not give up his strong animal side over to his human side. Not yet. Tendra laid a hand on his shoulder, her fingers sinking into his thick fur and he felt himself calm at her touch. He felt better when she touched him. At least he hadn’t failed so bad that she was repulsed at his leadership skills, as he was. He risked a glance at her, cringing at the thought of blame she might hold in her eyes, but she didn’t hold blame in her eyes. They sparkled with an emotion he was too emotional himself right then to interpret.

                The two men that came to unlock the gates had to put their whole body strength into unlocking it, their hair grew longer to fall to their shoulders, showing that they were using wolf strength not human as they shifted the bolts across. The grating metal on metal was oddly reassuring and they were permitted on safe land.

                The minute all six were through the gates the bolts were being slid back into place and they were ushered to the steel house. No sooner had they been ushered onto the grounds when the youngest one was gushing with explanations.

“They began breaking into the huts, that’s why they scattered - the children and adults. We tried. We tried so hard but in the end we had to get the survivors out. We got most out and led them here. We ran, and they followed, we only just managed to get the bolts closed, they were still attacking and the gates and it took eight warriors to close them. They were lunging at the gates and stopping us closing them.”

“Calm yourself.” Turner barked at the young warrior who was so determined to prove they had done all they could.

                The young one bowed his head. Tendra looked at him and he couldn’t have been older than twenty one. An adult, but one with very little experience. He stared at the floor but just as they got to the front door and he went to open the door for his Alpha, he looked up with devastated eyes. “I tried. I swear I tried, but the children were running, scared and they didn’t all listen to me. We tried. We did everything we could. We still failed…”

                No one said a word, Turner pushed the man aside and opened the door gesturing for Ray to go in and Tendra to follow. He clapped  a hand on the man’s shoulder, “Shit happens, the trick is to fix the mistakes, not dwell on them until you go mad. Join us in our planning. Be there, their not all lost.” Leaving the young man with a glimmer of hope they made their way inside and the first thing that Tendra heard was a scream, “Tendra!” and then little arms flung themselves around her legs with such force she stumbled a little before Rupert put a hand out to stop her falling.

“Oh, Tim, I’m so glad you’re alright.” She picked him up and hugged him tightly, squeezing gently and taking comfort in feeling his chest rise and fall to his breathing.

“I’m alright Tendra, everyone was worried about you and Alpha, we didn’t know if they had got to you as well.”

                She was about to nod in agreement, to thank whoever might be listening that he was alright when she stopped. Froze in her place.

“What happened?” Ray was asking, oblivious to Tendra’s pause.

“It was them.” Nancy stepped forward, standing not too far away it was easy to see that she had waited for their arrival at the front of the building with Tim. Her face was dry now, void of tears and she looked composed once more. Her hair had been redone and Ray was sure she had put a light sheen of makeup on. “The Sanguis pack, it must have been. We were unprepared and the warriors only saw them once they had struck. There were so many of them.”

“Ray,” Getting back her voice, the urgency she put in it, captured the attention of not only Ray but everyone within hearing distance.

“What is it Tendra?”

“I didn’t smell them. It wasn’t the Sanguis pack who attacked.”