I walked downstairs to find Taes' door open and her standing in front of an open draw. She was preparing, putting knives into slits all over her clothes. She had changed into a different pair of pants, they were tighter than her usual ones with many places to hang or tug weapons. The usual tight pockets around her legs and waist were open and she was putting all sorts of things inside. Her upper body was clothed in a sturdy looking long sleeve in dark grey, just like her pants. She ended her preparation with a pair of gloves which she slipped on, just then she seemed to see me. Her vibrant eyes shot up to mine and a weird feeling arose in my stomach. My breath got caught in my throat and images of me walking up to her, sliding my hands along her waist holding her, were crossing my mind. My heart started to speed up as she continued looking at me, capturing me with the golden honey. Her tan skin was glowing in the light of the slowly descending sun, her hair as dull as ever.
"Is there something you need?" she asked, waking me out of my trance. "N...No" I replied, failing to find my voice at the first try "I just" I stopped, not knowing if it was appropriate to speak my mind "just wanted wish you good luck" I said, trying to express something less odd. "It has nothing to do with luck" she replied, her lips moving under her usual fabric "I guess" one of my hands had risen to scratch the back of my head, a habit I had when feeling insecure "just wanted to tell you" I then started again, somehow feeling the need to tell her something else "we kinda need you for training, so you better get back safe". I tried to not move my face, to not show her how awful I felt about voicing this. She nodded "I will", it was only a whisper, but reassuring me enough to nod myself and turn to leave.
"Alpha" she called after me, making me stop and turn quickly, relieved she was continuing our interaction. I hadn't noticed her moving and was surprised to find her standing close. I tilted my head down to face her and she seemed to shudder as my breath hit her face. Her eyes looked into mine again and I saw me holding her. The image was so vivid in my mind, so vibrant and demanding. I couldn't help but follow the impulse. Without another thought I had laced my arms around her small frame and pulled her into me, the whole movement quick and stiff. My mind exploded in shock, expecting her to instantly kick my butt for it, but her arms snaked around me quickly, holding my midsection with a small amount of pressure. "Please come back to me" I whispered, not knowing what was going on, but enjoying the feeling of her.
It felt perfect, it felt complete and if I were to die now, I would be contempt. I wasn't entirely sure, her voice was just a breeze in the wind, but I thought to have heard her say "always" before freeing herself quickly, turning to the staircase and walking off, not glancing at me in the process. What did just happen? I wondered, staring after her. My skin was burning in the places I had been holding her, my mind turning in an unsettling speed, making me feel wobbly on my legs. "So perfect" I whispered subconsciously.
Every household with empty neighbouring houses is to report to the pack house, they will receive keys and will spend the night to prepare the houses for possible guests. Our neighbour pack to the left will be taken care of tonight and we will give any refugees the opportunity to stay with us as far as they are no threat. Every fit warrior is to report at four in the morning at the pack house having fully covered up every patch of skin, protected those skin patches exposed with a thick layer of moisturizer. Wear gloves! We will be confronted with the after match of a Wolfs Bain paralysation. Keep your windows and doors hidden and sealed over the night. Not important what noises come from the outside, everyone is to stay inside. No children are to leave the houses in the morning until midday if not informed from ME otherwise. We will be free of the struggle with that pack after this odyssey of fights and I must voice my pride in how well this pack has done during those hard times. Tomorrow will be the final day before days of freedom and joy again.
My father's voice had boomed through my head, just like it had been with everyone else in the pack. I took an intake of air before walking into my room to shower and change and then get something to eat. My stomach was rumbling again.
I saw Robert talking to Phillip, my dad's Beta in the kitchen as I entered, they looked up, but continued to speak. "I didn't know moisturizer helped" Robert told Phillip in a low voice "not like clothes, but it is supposed to hold off the small particles in the air and prevent burning" Phillip said "supposed?" Robert questioned. Phillip nodded "I didn't know either, the second in command told us, she said it won't hold it off forever, but will help us with the rest of the Wolfs Bain that could still be in the air after the three hours of resting time" "resting time?" Robert asked again, intrigued by all the new information "yeah, she said Wolfs Bain takes about three hours to be either mixed with dirt or have been blown away if there is no strong wind".
I took the plate out of the fridge which I had placed there before and started eating, watching them and listening. "I wonder how she knows all this, do all the Star Warriors learn this stuff?" Robert said and scratched his short beard. "I guess, I mean she trains them and I would think she lets them know. She seems like an instructor to always aim for the best result in her teams" Phillip replied, taking a glass from the cupboard and filling it with tap water. "Yeah, the training sessions we had have greatly increased our strength even after just these one and a half weeks" Robert confirmed "it's crazy" he added, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I mean, I heard stories before of how the Star Warrior troops are trained and what unbelievable things they can achieve and I saw them back in the days when this pack changed, but she..." he paused "I have a feeling she is just another level, those men back then were just men, trained and knowledgeable, but still just men, shifting and running like us, but she is..." he stopped, searching for the right word "I don't know, she fights off Wolves in her human form, outruns us with two legs, doesn't miss a single thing and how did she manage to know of the change in the other pack?" he wondered. "She kept staring in the woods yesterday" I offered "she was really absent and her ears would twitch, I guess she somehow heard it, maybe seeing something during the night" I suggested. "Yeah, she did have every second night to spy I guess" "Yeah, spy and protect the whole territory" Phillip said "I still don't know how she does it, I'm just grateful she does" he looked at his watch "speaking of which, I better get home to my wife, she is way too happy about me spending more time there, can't let her down now" he gave a wave before leaving.
"Oh right" Robert said, staring at his watch too "time flies" she mumbled before leaving as well. I finished eating and set the dishes into the sink "time for bed I guess" I told myself aloud and went upstairs, brushing my teeth and falling onto my bed. My thoughts went to Tae and what she might be doing now. Had she already entered their territory? Was she feeling tired? Had she eaten enough? What if someone caught her? An unreasonable amount of worry washed through me and made me turn from one side to the other on my bed. She's a strong warrior, stronger than anyone I know of, she'll be fine I thought, trying to convince myself She'll come back, she promised! That thought gave me peace of mind and I closed my droopy eyes she'll come back.
I woke up from horrific noises, cries of anger quickly grew into those of pain. I felt strong emotions of fear creep into the mind-link of the pack. Tae! The thought of her hit me hard. She was in all of that mess, in the middle of those cries. Did one of the cries belong to her? No, no, I couldn't think like that! What happened in the other pack? Their centre was almost twenty miles away... how could they be screaming this loud? I listened more carefully, only hearing men voices. Why were there only men screaming? I looked at my alarm clock, it was one a.m., the exact time Tae had planned to attack with the Wolfs Bain.
I tried to ignore the awful sounds, tried to forget my thoughts about Tae and her safety, but I couldn't. Her face was stuck in my mind, her body close to mine, hugging me back. My heart sped up just by the thought of her. What would it be like to touch her skin? To feel her warmth under my fingertips, to brush against her tan skin, to have a hand on either side of her waist. Would I feel her hipbones or was there muscle covering that? What would it be like to brush against her cheek, pull down that fabric of hers, see her lips from up close, taste them, taste her skin.
I gulped violently. My thoughts had taken me down a road and I was not sure how to return. My heart was racing and throbbing in my ears, muffling the sounds from outside. I wanted to stop thinking about her like that, my mate was somewhere and... MY MATE! What if she was in our neighbour pack? Tae wouldn't know and she would be harmed as well! We must save her! Rumulus came to the surface again, shocking me with his voice in my mind we can't, we would just be paralyzed like everyone else. Reasoning worked with him this time, he understood that getting myself in there would not do her any good.
But when we go in I will find her! I promised him and myself, deciding to get up and move instead of staying in bed awake. I was somehow pumped with adrenaline, my muscles tense as if in use, my stomach turned around and I was hungry once again. Deciding to use the time I walked downstairs to find Clemens sitting on a sofa, staring through a large window into the darkness. "Hey man" I said, making him look up "can't sleep?" I wondered, walking into the kitchen, coming back with two bananas and some peanut butter. "Not with all those screams" he said, accepting a banana from me. We handed the jar back and forth while spreading it onto our bananas, listening to the gruesome night.
Others started to come downstairs also unable to speak. It didn't take long for the whole house to be awake and downstairs, maybe they didn't want to be alone with all that horror outside. I was surprised to see my father enter the room, everyone had been silent for some time, afraid to raise their voices. "I guess it won't be an issue for everyone to be awake by four" he tried to lighten the mood and started to walk into the kitchen.
Two young females stood up and followed, asking if they could help in hushed voices. "I think some hot tea, coffee or chocolate would do us all good" he said. How can you make hot chocolate when she is out there?! I mind-linked him, shocking myself with the statement. It doesn't do her any good if this pack is scared to the bone by sunrise. Tae said to take care of the mood, she said it's important to not have it unsettle the young adults. Parents have been instructed as well. It is my job as Alpha to act when demanded, but we can't do anything now so we might as well get comfortable. He replied, being surprisingly understanding while explaining the job to me.
I used to hate it when he explained stuff, but was grateful now. He was right and I had to learn to think his way to grow into the role of being Alpha. I got up from my spot on the sofa and decided to follow in my father's steps. "We can't exactly do anything, not by listening to what's going on anyways, so why not get a movie started? We haven't had a proper movie night here in a long time" I said, Clemens nodded "something light-hearted" a girl chirped in, liking my idea.
We ended up watching some funny cartoon, drinking hot drinks to get rid of the cold feeling we all had from the sounds. I couldn't follow what was going on due to my thoughts. I kept thinking about Tae, about the way she had looked at me, starting with the time she had stared at me while lifting my shirt. I shivered a little thinking about her, my stomach turning again and my heart picking up its pace. I felt eyes on me and looked up to see dad watch me with somehow knowing eyes What?! I demanded, you're thinking about her, aren't you? He asked, looking at me intensely. Who? I tried to play dumb, but he rose an eyebrow, I sighed. I can't help it I admitted. Don't be ashamed son, it's normal, just be careful around her, she doesn't fancy being fussed over. He probably knew what he was talking about and I nodded, shutting our mind-link quickly to hide the images popping into my head. She didn't seem to have minded me caring about her, she kind of enjoyed it. Why else would she return my hug and be that close? Why had she been that close?
Hours passed and the screams had subdued at around three. Those who didn't need to be ready at four went back to bed, the others started to get ready, carefully choosing long clothes. I came downstairs twenty minutes early and found dad with a large jar of Vaseline. "Did you moisturize the exposed skin?" he asked, pointing at the skin around my eyes which I could not cover up with my buff "yeah" I said and sat down on the sofa again. It was still pitch dark outside though now a dead silence was covering the whole forest.
One after the other man came down, dressed similar to what I wore, using Vaseline and passing it along. They didn't really talk much, looking grim. All my men had arrived too and I got up to stand with them, be the leader they needed. "Don't look so timid, it's going to be a walk on the beach" I joked and gave Erik a shove, "of course" he mumbled.
Four o'clock came around and dad told us to cover up. Buffs were pulled over mouth and nose and I couldn't help but think about Tae who always covered up like this. Was she scared to breathe something in? Always prepared for a Wolfs Bain attack?
"Let's get going" dad said and opened the door to find Phillip with the other men, they had waited outside. "Seven of your men are to stay here, protect the territory just in case" dad ordered him, he nodded and started listing names.
Some men were already starting cars and driving off, every car only half loaded to allow us to transport more people back than entered. I jumped into a car with Clemens, letting Robert drive us, leaving two seats empty. "Awful night, wasn't it" he said and we only nodded, I wasn't feeling like chit-chat.
I didn't know how long it took to drive to the border. It was dark, but the car was shedding light and our eyes allowed us to look into the forest. Nothing seemed changed as we made our way to the border. The long line of cars did not stop or decrease the speed when crossing the border. The atmosphere had changed, the air smelled different, this was not our territory and it felt weird to just intrude like this. "Almost there" Robert stated as the first cars started to leave the forest into the open. The sun was starting to rise and we would see it fully as soon as we were over the hill. Robert parked the car next to the others and we jumped out, staring at the scene.
The sun was rising with the sky coloured in pink, orange and flaming red, but what we saw was everything but beautiful. My breath caught in my throat as we stared down on the small village, waiting for everyone to arrive.
How did this happen?