Meka knew that she should have been more careful about her surroundings. She didn't need her father to know that she had screwed up. But she could also do without that helpless and weak feeling that seemed intent on following her until she felt like a big pile of dung. And at the moment, as she hung suspended from a small fishing net in the trees, she felt as if a horse had literally just crapped her out.
The nearby Hunters weren't visible, but their human scents and angry vibes were hard to miss. Meka had been forced into human form since there wasn't even enough room for her to wag her fluffy tail, and her skin prickled at the feeling of hateful gazes landing on her like bothersome gnats. She wondered what was taking them so long to make an appearance. Obviously she knew they were there, and it's not like she could do actual harm to them. She had already tried tearing through the net with her wolf nails, which looked like nothing but flimsy string, but the material was deceiving and she ended up breaking a claw.
Movement caught her eye, and she could see forms sneaking closer through the dark blue air of nighttime. Meka kept her body taut and ready to react to any attack they may have in plan for her, though the net would only grant her so much movement in its constricting tightness. There were five bodies, but absolutely no faces visible to Meka, and it took her a moment to realize that they were all wearing black masks that blended in with the night's shade. Fortunately for Meka, the masks did nothing to conceal their musk. This was even better.
The Hunters wasted no time getting down to business. "Tag and bag her. I wanna be gone in ten." A deep, male voice spoke up from Meka's left. Nothing else was spoken as each form knew their place and job. She couldn't help the growl that escaped her throat as three of the faceless bodies approached her, two with long, sharp objects and one with a small, thinner but equally sharp looking one. The small one was a syringe, and the guy holding it had his other hand held up, palms facing her as if he brought her no harm. When Meka snapped at him through the net, a knife jabbed her bare back from behind, and she yelped and jumped away from the two men with the spear-looking things. Consequently, the man with the syringe was granted access to her arm and was able to insert the foreign liquid into her veins.
The results were almost immediate.
Slowly, as if corn starch was flowing through her veins instead of blood, the liquid started from the inside of her elbow where it was injected and spread out in both direction, numbing her nerves and skin as it passed through. She looked from down at her arm, where her veins seemed to swell and darken, up to the man who had done it to her, before slowly sinking down to the bottom of the net. She was so incapacitated that her vision started to wane, and she couldn't even lift her limbs for all of the feeling had departed from her body in a rush. Vulnerable didn't even begin to describe how Meka felt, and somehow, she figured this wasn't the end of it.
Consciousness was also fleeing from her, but she willed herself to stay awake for as long as she could. She couldn't bare the idea of what they would do once she fell under. Meka refused to go down this way.
Off in the distance, there was movement. Meka was having trouble keeping her head up. Her vision was blurring as if she were looking through water, and no matter how many times she blinked, it would not get any clearer. But her hearing stayed intact, even if a high-ringing was going off in her head at the moment. The movement got closer, and then there were screams. Meka was blind now, her eyes closed and her mind buzzing-out. She couldn't do it. The darkness engulfed her as the new party moved in.
# # # # #
Mary broke through the clearing, Anister and Mikey hot on her tail. Her family fell on the Hunter's like dogs to a steak, and through the hot flashes of light and heat blazing from their magic, she could clearly see Meka in the net.
Shit, she thought, were they too late?
It was too apparent that the Hunters weren't prepared for a fight against Witches and Warlocks. They didn't even stand a chance. This was the second time in a row that they had been caught off-guard. No way could such a high-maintenance group such as this one be so low on their equipment and training. But it didn't matter, that was their problem.
Across the clearing, she and Mikey shared a look. Already, every inch of his skin was bloody, hopefully not his own. His eyes were glowing, his teeth bared and hands clawed out. Mikey, a Dormant wolf, wasn't holding back. He could no longer phase after he begged Anister to take that from him, but still his wolf lay inside of him, was still a part of him. And it showed very clearly.
His eyes drifted to Meka, limp in the net, and he let out a vicious snarl before going for it. There were two Hunters standing by it, both of them holding spears and standing back to back. One of them saw Mikey and raised his weapon, but Mikey wasn't deterred by the sharp, silver edge. He grabbed for it, the silver not lighting into him since he wasn't an Alpha wolf, and pulled it out of the Hunter's arms before socking him so hard in the face that he fell to the ground and never got back up. The other Hunter, the smaller of the two, spun around to face Mikey, but a sharp current of green electricity was conducted into him and he fell to the ground, screaming and twitching as the neon green currents pulsed throughout his body. He was dead upon impact.
Mikey reached for the net, hooking his fingers in the holes and yanking hard. His strength was stronger than humans, yet not strong enough to battle another full-on werewolf. He threw that away for me? Mary thought, as he pulled Meka from the now ripped apart net and carried her to Mary's side.
Mary wasn't a fighter. She wasn't a Witch Knight like Anister and his friends were. She didn't go to places to fight enemies and willingly put herself in harm's way. But when Meka hasn't come home yet – even if it's none of her business anyways – she got worried. So she and Mikey went to go find a scent trail of her, and after a while of searching, Mikey recognized the familiar Hunter's smell mingling with the girl's. So she suggested rather innocently that Jalyn go out with some of his friends without giving away that she was troubled. Mary was only out here because it was Meka who was in trouble, and while she was pensive to begin with about keeping the werewolf in her home with her family as the girl worked over her own problems, she wasn't anymore. Not since she's seen the almost instant connection between her son and the wolf.
Mary hadn't thought that Jalyn would be affected by his father's werewolf background. She had figured that they had put that behind them when they got Anister to mark him as a Dormant. Jalyn hadn't showed any signs of phasing, even if he was a little rougher than normal at his younger ages. Mary had held her breath when he reached six, but when he hasn't phased, she figured that she didn't have to worry any longer. But the marks on his back since birth made sure that when Meka had come, Mary had wanted nothing more than to let her go on her own. But Jalyn wouldn't allow it, and when Meka risked her life to save the family, Mary knew instantly.
Her son was mates with a wolf.
An Alpha wolf no less.
And that was why Mary was here. To protect her future family.
"Anister!" She called. He looked up, his eyes shifting from a bright, animalistic orange to a bottomless black. He always had strange eyes, it was symbol. He was strong, even for a Warlock. He was well-known for a reason. For his crafts, his will. He was always better at witchcrafts than Mary was, the actual Witch. But she never hated him for it, in fact, at some point in time, she had loved him.
He nodded, motioning to his helpful friends that they were moving out. They had all received what they had come for, and it was time to go home. Meka needed to heal.