“Let me past!” She yelled, pulling on her arms and fighting to be free to go to her mate. “Let me go to him! Let me see!” Not only was she terrified of the sight she would see but the emotional pain of her mate was biting deep within her and she wanted to get to him. “Move!” She yelled but they still did not let her.
She herself was unprepared for her own reaction but her clothes ripped and when her hair touched the bottom of her back she knew she was changing. She hadn’t changed for a while and the welcome stretch of her bones and muscles was, for a second, a relief. Like stretching after strenuous exercise, changing was like the ‘cool down’ after an aerobics sessions.
The men let go of her when she changed, they couldn’t risk her cutting them into pieces by mistake. She had no control over her limbs as they distorted and reshaped themselves and her claws were long and sharp, like blades themselves. They watched her warily as her clothes ended up ripped and shredded on the floor and she was eyeing up the gap in the trees.
Without even thinking she lunged past them, knocking them over as her body brushed by at speed. The scene in front of her though made her glad she had changed. Had she been human she would have puked. There in front of her were bodies. Bodies of a few children but mostly adults, men and women. A few warriors were lying on the floor, some in human form, their bare and toned chest bloodied. Some were in wolf form and that made her own wolf howl at the sight of their fur matted with blood and the massive animal, the epitome of power and loyalty and family, dead.
She walked around them all, her heart in her throat as she searched the bodies for Tim. When she didn’t spot him amongst the dead the worry faded a tiny bit and she started assessing each and every one of the children. Their chests did not move. Had she been human she would be crying by now. As it was she went over to Ray who as a large black wolf, twice her size, he was frozen in his place. Unmoving. Guilt raked his body, just as it did Tendra but for a different reason. He had left his pack and now they were dead.
“Ray?” Turner entered the clearing. “They are not all here. Breathe deeply, count the dead and think logically - your pack are not all gone. They are in hiding. Let us go to them. Let us speak to them and ask what happened. Regain your senses Ray, what has happened has happened. Now let us deal with the consequences.”
Turner has a single tear on his cheeks. His only weakness. His face was hard and stern and deadly, he spoke of logic and reasoning and appropriate action but the sight in front of him got him deep down as well. It upset him to see the dead but he spoke right. They couldn’t stare forever at the dead.
“They need burying.” Joshua spoke up. Crouched on the floor by one of the children he reached out to touch the little lad’s hair. It was a sandy blonde colour and the little boys face was dirty, probably from falling onto the ground.
“We’ll bury them Joshua. But let us first get Tendra to safety and check on the pack. Then we can bring supplies and bodies to take care of them. They will be sent off properly. We’ll howl tonight.”
Logic won out, but only after another ten minutes of staring at the terrible sight in front of them was over. They could not just simply leave. They checked every single body, making sure they were dead and not just wounded. But all were gone. Never to be brought back. Tendra felt her front paws give out and she crashed to the floor as grief and guilt overpowered her.
“Tendra!” Rupert shouted as Ray, in wolf form, whined.
She couldn’t support herself, she was shaking too much. She couldn’t think and she was sure she was shouldering some of Ray’s own emotions as well her own. Overwhelmed by sadness she lost her wolf form. Her legs slowly reappeared smooth, flesh coloured and human. Her body followed and her human form returned fully.
She lay on the floor naked, shaking and looking at the dead. “I should not have come here.” She whispered.
“Of course you should have, come on.” Rupert pulled off his shirt and placed it around her shoulders where she then pulled it around to cover herself. The men had averted their eyes out of politeness and also so as to keep their necks attached. Ray wasn’t impressed at seeing her vulnerable and naked on the floor. He whined again when she was covered up.
“Come on Tendra, you can ride on Ray’s back.”
She was going to protest but she didn’t have the time or the strength. Rupert simply lifted her from the floor and placed her on the wolf’s back.
“Where are we going?
“Pack house. Not far from here. We have a safe house in case of emergencies, we can fit everyone in and it’s locked with shutters and titanium bolts. No one gets in who isn’t one of our pack.”
With a last glance at the bodies on the floor she turned to watch the way that Ray took her. The circle still surrounded her but the calm had vanished. Replaced was a hard exterior on every single one of the males around her. The sight had not only shocked them but had hurt them deeply. They would not get over this any time soon and Tendra was a little afraid of the consequences this would bring. She couldn’t help but think that there would be a war and wolf wars were deadly. They lasted until the enemy were either completely wiped out, killed in other words, or until one side surrendered. And wolves never surrendered.
To think that she had pushed Ray away, she had tried to tell him he did not matter to her and now at the thought of him partaking in a wolf war she was worried sick at the thought of losing him. She felt a gut wrenching, sickening motion in the pit of her stomach as she thought of seeing him lying dead on the ground. In his wolf form he was a majestic and powerful Alpha, to see him lying dead, she didn’t want to imagine it. She Hated herself for seeing it in her mind. But she was also afraid. Terribly afraid of seeing that image played out for real.
Tim came to her mind and she clutched harder at Ray’s fur. She started to chant under her breath, “Let him be alright, let him be alright.” She had not seen his body strewn on the floor and for that she would be eternally grateful, but right now she wanted him in her arms; she wanted to feel his hair and his little arms wrap around her. She needed to. The journey to this safe house was one that took forever to Tendra, though it probably didn’t take the hours that it felt. She held her breath as they got to it.
It looked like a mansion made of steel. It wasn’t the prettiest thing she had ever seen and yet strangely she liked it. Three stories high and so wide she didn’t try to measure it, the shiny metal exterior looked clean - weird - but safe. It looked like getting into it would be incredibly difficult.
“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.”