First Shift

Ch. 18

I stared at the ceiling of my room unable to sleep. I was exhausted but I just couldn't fall asleep. I felt restless like my adrenaline was pumping. I threw off the blankets and left my room. 'Something wasn't right.' I walked right by Andrea's room I could tell she wasn't in there. The bond pulled me towards Raiza's office. I stopped briefly outsides as voice trailed out of the room. "We can't just let Azarias take Kye!" Corrigan said. "I don't like it any better than you do Corrigan, but we all know how dangerous Azarias is. It pains me to say this but agreeing with his request would be in the best interest of the pack." My dad said. "Kye is part of the pack it is our duty to protect her as well." Andrea said. I stepped away from the door. I shouldn't interrupt their conversation. I knew that if I went in there I would become a part of that conversation and I didn't want to, I had already made my choice and there was no turning back. They would eventually decide on the right path even without my input. I turned away from the door. I walked back to my room still jumpy, maybe the feeling was coming from Andrea. Bonds were slightly annoying when feelings came through them unconsciously because they felt like they belonged to you and not the other person. I collapsed on my bed and tried blocking out the emotions keeping me awake. It helped somewhat and I was able to fall into a light sleep.

Panic shoot through me and I jumped out of bed. My heart was racing and I was disoriented for a moment. I looked around the room blearily but nothing was wrong....here. I could feel the panic racing through the pack bond and My bond with Andrea. I didn't think about anything else once I realized that and tore out of my room. The shift came over me easily as I tore through the hallways of the meeting house. I broke through the doors and paused. I could feel where Andrea was and turned in that direction. Panic shoot through me again but this time it was my own. In the direction where Andrea was I could see smoke rising from the trees. Lots of smoke.

The forest was on fire and Andrea was in the middle of it.

The smoke grew thick as I made my way closer to the fire. Flames licked the trees and the smoke kissed the sky. My nose was useless as I made my way in deeper, it was a good thing I had the bond or I would never have been able to find Andrea's location in all the smoke. Before I reached her someone stumbled out of the trees I looked at who it was and my blood turned to ice in my veins. A pup no more than 8, covered in ash stumbled through the trees. This fire was set near he pups hideout. I raced towards the pup and when she saw me I felt her brief spark of relief. I stopped before her and lowered myself down so she could climb onto my back. Instead of finding Andrea I turned and race back to the compound clearing. I kept the bond wide open and searched for more pups as I made my way back to the clearing. I found another pup not far from where I found the first here had collapsed a ways behind the trail. I went over to him and stopped. The girl on my back quickly jumped off and grabbed him. She slung him over my back before she jumped back on. I could hear his faint heartbeat, glad he was still alive I took off once more heading for the infirmary. I didn't see another pup as I made my way through the forest and soon we reached fresher air. There was a group of older pups and older wolves by the infirmary. Someone grabbed the two pups from my back. I turned as soon as I knew they were safe and plunged back into the forest. As much as I wanted to I didn't look for Andrea once I was back in the forest. She could take care of herself I needed to find any pups still in the forest.

I made 5 more trips in and out of the forest each time I had two or three pups on my back. The fire was slowly dying. Closer to were it had started I knew wolves were there putting it out with our emergency water supply. By the time the fire station found out about the fire and could have made it here the fire would have already made it to the compound. Therefore we kept our own fire fighting equipment. Luckily we had a steady amount of water that we got from the rive and lake not far from the clearing. I went back into the trees a sixth time and this time I made it all the way to the center without finding and pups. The flames had all been put out now just the smoke hung in the a air blocking our sense of smell. A group of wolves were near the cave where the pups had made their den. On the trees lining the way to the mouth of the cave there was a five fold cross carved into each tree. Some of the trees were completely destroyed by the fire other were only half burned or scorched. Raiza stood in front of one tree that hadn't been touched at all by the fire, yet surrounding it all the other trees had been burnt to the ground. This tree held the same five fold cross but this carving was also painted with blood. Below the mark a note was nailed to the tree, how it stayed unharmed in the middle of a blazing fire I do not know. "Kye," Raiza called. I made my way over to her and bowed my head. "You are still injured. You could have died coming here." I stood up from the ground and shifted. "If you expected me to just roll over and go back to sleep than you have sorely misjudged me. All I knew when I woke up was panic not my own. That and Andrea was in trouble. Should I have sat idly by and done nothing?" I asked. Raiza turned to face me her eyes blazing. Her wolf was straining to break free of her human body. She wanted a fight, she needed to fight the one who endangered her pack and our pups. "Besides I might not know what that symbol means but I do know that this happened because of Azarais, and he is my responsibility." I told Raiza. A growl tore out of her throat and she advanced on me. "He is not your responsibility yet, Kye. Your only responsibility is Andrea. That was the choice you made." She told me. "But we all know what that choice means. It is even clearer now than before, or do you disagree? Was anyone killed who was an innocent?" I asked. Raiza backed away from me and tore the note on the tree free. She stuffed it into my hands and stalked away.