Chapter 47
-Pax-
I lay on Farley's legs for what felt like no time at all. I had my eyes closed and was enjoying the sensation of his fingers running through my fur. It tickled and sent shivers down my spine. The voices from inside reached my ears, and was the only thing stopping me from completely relaxing.
"What happened?" Aiden asked.
"We don't really know," Caspian replied. "We just found him like this. He had been talking about getting revenge, apparently, so we assume that had something to do with it."
"Ah, he does seem ambitious," Ralph responded. "I think he's alright, though, this does look very familiar."
"It does?" Clementine asked.
"Yes, it looks similar to what happened to our mother," Aiden explained.
"But this is worse," Harlow added.
"I think it would be because of the werewolf gene," Karim explained. "Some wolves are more susceptible to the poison. Rowan's only young, so it hasn't affected him majorly."
"Poison?" Iris asked with a squeak. "I'm getting mixed messages. Will he be okay or not?"
She had a good point. I didn't know what poison Karim was talking about, but the word in itself brings a raincloud of dread.
Karim sighed. "I think he'll be alright, but it will take some time to recover."
Howls came from the forest, causing me to jump to my paws and growl. Something was wrong. Farley wasn't far behind me, turning into his wolf and nudging me to say he was there.
Steps came from all directions, from inside the house and the surrounding forest. There was a wooden gate around the back of the garden, which had been opened by Ralph and Aiden, so there was a barrier between us and the tens of wolves on the other side.
Farley growled and launched forward. There wasn't a wolf within thirty feet of us which wasn't on our side, so he must have seen something.
I followed him out of the gate and into the forest. The vibration of the forest floor felt like waves of water rushing down the stream. There was a wave behind us, and two in front.
I didn't know which wave in front was the enemy, but they were approaching quickly.
I ducked out of the way of a wolf which launched at me. Their breath hit my face and their steps stopped near me, a sure sign that they leaped.
There was around twenty wolves all together, which wasn't much considering the size of Ralph's pack. Though, one thing did concern me, and that was the fact that there were very young wolves involved. I was sure that there were at least four teenagers in the group. I couldn't concentrate on that as I leaped out of the way of another wolf.
Any wolf who attacks me is an enemy, that was a motto I had used whenever I was in a fight. Those who were allied with me, knew not to go near me or direct the fight towards me.
We had over a month to work this out, it was far easier then working out a strategy which would be effective. Leaping out of the way was the best option.
I was quick, one of my best qualities. I was able to dive out of the way at the smallest invasion of personal space.
I didn't recognise any of the wolves' scents. So, they weren't a part of Kian's pack. They must be one of the packs who were just after the black wolf. I seemed to be getting a lot more traffic than what I was used to.
Though, Farley did stay next to me and helped immensely. Whenever I ducked, I felt his pawsteps behind me, attacking whoever it was who lunged towards me.
"Stop," a feminine voice yelled over the growls and snarls. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Whimpers surrounded me. The noise of wolves being reprimanded. I didn't know who this person was, but she seemed to have power.
That didn't make sense. If she was their alpha, then they most likely wouldn't have gone against her wishes. The fact that she was in her human form was also confusing, unless she was too injured to transform.
"Everyone stop," she commanded. "Shift."
I didn't know who she was talking to. I backed up towards Farley and he nudged me with his head. He hadn't shifted, that was a good sign.
"Carme?" Ralph asked, from somewhere to the left of me. "You planned the attack?"
"No," said the woman, now known as Carme. "I didn't know anything about this, clearly."
Someone gasped. "Who did that to you?" Elowen asked. "You look-"
"-like hell, I'm aware." A few steps came from her directions and more growls and snarls erupted from the sea of wolves. "Turns out that if you have enough wolves, alphas can be overpowered quite easily."
More growls and snarls came from the wolves, pawsteps raced in her direction and they were met by others and it got nosier.
"Your pack rebelled?" Ralph asked after the noise quietened. "I'm assuming half of these are yours?"
"Yes," Carme replied, her voice was weaker. "They thought that I was just going to sit by, which I fully intended to do."
"Yeah, you were going to miss the opportunity to kill a black wolf," a male voice yelled.
I shrunk into Farley. I felt eyes on me, but I wasn't sure if anyone was actually looking in my direction.
"Because people shouldn't be killed for the wealth of others," Carme answered. "It was Dillion, he's the one who orchestrated this."
"fBecause he knows how to act," the same person retaliated. "He gave us support and taught us how to fight. He didn't let us sit around and watch plants grow or build things."
"A matter of personal preference," Ralph commented. "Was this desire voiced before?"
A moment of silence passed between the three of them.
"Yes," Carme responded meekly. "I had said in the beginning that my pack wasn't one who fought in conflicts. We prefer to heal and live peacefully. Though, we would stand up for those who were wronged."
"Kian was wronged, Alora was wronged," the same person argued. "You cannot claim that the black wolves are innocent."
"Yam, you cannot prove that they are guilty either," Carme replied, her voice coming to a yell. "How did you find out about the black wolves, anyway?"
"Dillion told us," Yam replied. "He told us about what the Cmmaikoh family did."
I shuddered at the use of my surname. What did they do? I didn't recall any negative rumours about my family, just that they were hunted down.
"We all know what they did," Carme said. "That doesn't mean that you have to kill one of the only remaining black wolves."
"He was easy enough to lure out," another voice commented. "Does he deserve to live after this?"
"What exactly did the family do?" Ralph asked. "I'm a little lost here."
Yam snorted. "You're an alpha, how do you not know?"
Ralph's voice hardened. "I became alpha rather suddenly." The air became stiff, as though a forbidden topic had been brought up. "Please, explain."
"They were the reason wolves were separated from human society in the first place," Yan snarled. "It's family-"
"His family," Ralph interrupted.
"His family is the reason why we are all doomed to live sheltered lives. They were the ones who separated us from society."
My head was beginning to feel heavy. Words were processing, but they didn't make a complete story. I didn't understand why that meant we had to be hunted down.
"Okay, you're telling me a result. I asked for the story." Ralph took a few steps forward, soon being joined by two other sets from in front of me.
"They attacked the humans," Carme explained. "Well, they killed many humans."
"Which meant we had to go into hiding," Yam continued. "Hiding which has lasted centuries."
"Wait, when was this?" Ralph asked. "Because it sounds like you're hunting Pax down for something which happened int he sixteen-hundreds."
"We are," a different voice answered. "It's all the same. If the last of the black wolves die, then we'll prove to the humans we can live amongst them."
Farley gave a breathy laugh.
"What makes you think that? Don't you think that enough wolves integrate into human society as is?" Ralph continued to ask. "There are hundreds of wolves living amongst humans. I doubt that the humans remember us."
"There's the occasional human," Yam said. "Not many remember us, that's the issue." His voice got louder and louder. "We shouldn't have to hide away from an entire species of people."
Snarls and growls resumed, but they were quiet, almost inaudible. I nudged Farley and tried to push him backwards and away fromw here the noise originated.
"So, you'd rather be killed by them?" Ralph asked.
"We'll prove to them that we mean no harm, we have had nothing to do with the black wolves, like him, who killed their people."
Harsh footsteps bolted towards me, causing me to turn around and sprint in the opposite direction.
"He's a runner!" Yam exclaimed.
I paid no mind to his words. There were at least three wolves hot on my tail, literally. I could feel their teeth snapping at me every now and again, but they got further behind the further I ran. I could only stay within the trees, I wouldn't be able to cross the gravel still, I wouldn't be confident doing it in my wolf form without causing a scene.
I didn't know if there were any allies following me either. I'd like to think that Farley would follow me, if he could. Though I couldn't picture what it was like only a few moments ago. I didn't know how many wolves were there, or where they were. I just kept running.
I passed the fallen tree and the discarded swing. I ducked under the low branches and leaped over tocks which I knew would trip me up.
The footsteps which followed me were light and quick. THey knew what they were doing, but they didn't know the forest as well as I did. They missed the branches and tripped. They eventually fell behind me, so far I couldn't hear them any longer.
But that didn't mean that I stopped.
I rounded back on myself a few times in hopes of confusing them, then I shifted into my human form. I hoped that the change in footprints would confuse the others, but I was doubtful.
I just had to keep running.
Hello! I hope that you're all doing well :D
The question of the chapter is; what's your favourite flower?
I really like lavender and poppies :D Mainly because they're associated with sleep and Hypnos...and I'm pretty sure I've already asked this...whoops