Dom
The sickness was passing. It had only been a few hours at this point, and I was more than glad to see Lady Thea's powers had worked. When I stopped having headaches and nausea completely, I knew the others would be on their way too. Maybe they already were, since they had shifted into their wolf skins.
"How are you holding up, Jack?" I asked.
The wolf nearest to me gave an exhausted whimper but nodded. I looked at the others. "If you're not already coming down off of it, you will be soon. Get ready to shift back and we can go get something to eat. I'm starving."
What I didn't mention was the pretty persistent craving for a hit of lunaria's dream. But they'd figure it out on their own. Nothing to do about it now except distract ourselves. There was no way I wanted a hit of that ever again, and I'll do everything in my power to stop Amelia from taking us down that road again.
Not that it was her choice to start it in the first place. Apollo was a tricky bastard, that's for sure.
My eyes drifted to Amelia and Jerod. Amelia was still next to me, clearly exhausted but holding stubborn and not making a sound. She also hadn't met my eyes since I last mentioned the old pack. She was either pissed at me, mulling over what I said, or both. Probably both.
Jerod was a little further away. He had been digging things out of his pocket for a while now. A little red Hello Kitty pouch. A candle. A knife. A bright green string. I didn't know shit about dark magic but I knew enough to keep a close eye on him.
I grunted as I got up. I walked over to where I had left my shorts before deciding to stay with Amelia and pulled them back on. I made my way to Jerod and nudged him with my foot.
"Hey, warlock," I said. "It's been more than nine hours. When is this going to end?"
"Finding out," he grunted.
A low growl of frustration crept into my throat but I put it out. If he had a way to find out, I wish he had done it sooner. I just backed up and crossed my arms over my chest. If I wasn't going to be a part of it I was at least going to watch. I was still pretty pissed that this accident happened in the first place, and as soon as Jerod could form whole sentences again I was going to beat the truth out of him until I had an explanation of what was going on.
Jerod was slow going, pausing a lot to hold his stomach or gag. He spits up a little blood at one point, but nothing too worrisome. When he finally had his string, knife, some kind of powder, and a crumpled up flower, he pricked his thumb and smeared blood down the string.
Then, he spoke a bunch of warlock gibberish, and the string began emitting vivid purple smoke. I'll admit, that was a pretty curious sight and I was nearly tempted to take another step back from it but my pride didn't let me in the end.
Jerod finished his string of magic words, and at almost the instant he stopped, an ugly as sin green demon stepped through. Its eyes bulged, its teeth protruded, and its skin sagged. The thing took a good look at Jerod and chuckled.
Okay, that made me smile a little.
But when it started speaking in that same gibberish Jerod had used to summon it, I was lost. It was pretty obvious they were having a conversation, but about what I had no idea. There was a lot of back and forth, Jerod's answers were pained and short, which only seemed to amuse the demon further.
"For the last... time! My liver... is... spoken for!" Jerod snapped.
"You need me to step in and kill this thing?" I asked.
Jerod's eyes slid to me for a moment before going back to the demon. "No, I've got it."
Then they went back to their weird demon language and I was out of the loop again.
I sighed and watched, letting my hunger distract me from my craving for lunaria's dream. My mind wandered back to the campsite. June. Hopefully, she was still there when we got back. An ugly sight, your first couple shifts. I wouldn't wish to go through that alone on anyone. If she was smart, she'd stay and take the help we offered. Besides, the wolf community as a whole would come after us if we let a rogue biting get away.
A crackling and a pop snapped me back to what I was doing. I looked up Jerod, only to find the demon gone in a puff of smoke.
Jerod struggled up to his knees, holding his stomach and waiting for something. When the ugly demon popped back into our world, I growled low. I didn't like this kind of being. It wasn't natural for it to be here, and everything I was made of, the wolf in me, didn't like it.
The demon ignored my growls and said something to Jerod in that demonic tongue. Then, it cackled and disappeared again. The string used to summon it lit in a burst of flame and fell to pieces in an instant. The tie to the demon was gone.
"Shit," Jerod hissed. He dropped from his kneeling position and slumped onto the ground.
I walked over to him, crouching down to see his face better. "Well?"
"Nine... days," he grunted.
"Shit," I echoed his earlier sentiment and stood, staring off toward Amelia. "What happened to nine hours?"
"Amelia... interfered," Jerod snapped at me.
Well, there wasn't anything I could do about it now. Looks like I was in charge for a little longer, and that meant I'd have us to the village before Amelia could take over and turn us back around.
"Shit. Okay, okay, let's just get back on the road." I sighed and ran my hands over my head, clenching my jaw. "Aaron, Jack, Carson, get your asses out of your wolf skins and come here. We've got new info."
I turned to start walking toward the nearest wolf, who happened to be Carson when I heard the growl from farther away. It was Aaron, and he was upset about something.
My fingers itched to shift into claws, I was suddenly on edge. I spun, locking eyes on Aaron's wolfish shape as he held an aggressive posture. That's when the scent hit me. Wolves, at least three of them. Wolves I didn't know.
This was bad. The Blight Fang, or at least that's what we had been called when we were still working with Apollo, didn't have a good reputation among other wolves. Or anyone, really. And now, we were as good as a few weakened rogues caught in the open.
"Jack, Carson, shift your asses now and take Amelia and the warlock back to the van!" I snapped. "Aaron, hold your ground."
"What if there's a fight?" Jack protested.
"Then take your asses down the highway and keep going to Canada," I answered.
"But-"
"You heard me!" I snarled. "If there's a fight, go. Amelia is our priority. She's down, I'm in charge, and if you don't move your ass right now I'll tear into it and it won't be pretty."
They left, and I looked back to Aaron.
I trotted over to his side, keeping it casual and non-aggressive unless it had to come to that. Of the other wolves, he was the one you wanted at your back, apart from Amelia. He was brutally fierce in a fight, and he could read his team's body language like a baby's first book. He knew where I was about to strike and where I wasn't. And more importantly, he had no problems with disobedience. I was unquestionably the strongest wolf here right now, and he had no problems following my lead.
I stayed in my human skin, though I itched to shift and attack first. But I waited, and the wolves slowed down.
I saw them walk slowly through the trees. Three big gray beasts, padding slowly in our direction. The one in the middle was obviously their leader. A warrior at least, maybe even their beta. The other two were pretty simple scouts. Trackers, sniffers, border patrol sort of wolves. But that big one, he was one to watch.
They walked up slowly enough, a good indication they were prepared to speak first. When they stopped a comfortable distance away, the front wolf scraped a back paw on the ground four times. The universal 'shift and we can talk' motion.
I didn't take my eyes off of the wolves, but I spoke low for Aaron. "Shift."
He huffed. He didn't like it. Neither did I, but we could deal with it. If we had come across someone else's territory, they were within their rights to investigate us. I'll be damned if I risk the safety of the wolves I was with by starting a fight. Just because I could kick their asses didn't mean a fight wouldn't risk the sick and injured wolves I had with me.
Aaron shifted, and then the three new wolves started shifting too. Once they were in their human skins, I assessed our situation. I wasn't feeling my best right now but I could take the big one in the middle. If Aaron could take the two little ones we would be fine, and there is always the chance Jack and Carson would get back if a fight broke out.
The middle one recovered first and met my gaze with intense scrutiny. I met his gaze back, neither of us willing to look away first.
"Do you two know you're on Wind Fang land? What pack are you from?" The big one sneered, eyeing me and Aaron up and down. "If you're even with a pack."
A small growl started in Aaron's throat, but I gave him a look that stopped him. I narrowed my eyes at the one who spoke. He was bringing some uncalled for hostility to the situation already, but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same if I were watching my own pack's borders.
"We're not with anyone but ourselves," I answered calmly. "We're just passing through."
One of the scouts laughed. "Rogues, then."
I slid my eyes to the one that laughed and growled. The moment he met my gaze his expression changed. His eyes snapped downward as I let my strength flare up. I was, by far, the dominant wolf here. He wasn't going to laugh again.
"Knock it off, Robbie," The middle one said, somewhat amused as he watched the exchange. "You two, move along. And don't think I can't smell that there were others here. Get out of the area now and I'll let it slide. If I see you again I'll bring my Alpha in on this, and it won't be pretty."
I smirked. There was only one reason to grandstand and admit you'd have to call your Alpha in on a problem, and that's because you don't know that you can win the fight on your own.
"Dom," Aaron next to me was getting pissed.
"Wait, Dom?" The other tracker spoke up, elbowing his Beta. "There's only one wolf with this kind of aura that goes by Dom around here."
"Blightfang," the Beta snarled.
I sighed, flexing my hands. The itch to shift, or at least grow some teeth and claws, was growing stronger.
Normally Amelia would make sure it was well known who we were right away. She had become drunk on her own reputation while we worked with Apollo. She thirsted for strength, it was her virtue and her vice all in one. But with her methods and the things Apollo convinced us to do, it tanked our popularity to rock bottom. Wolves that associated with vampires were never popular. Wolves that dropped their pack and took up bounty hunting were even worse. Voluntary rogues.
"Stop, who are you?" The Beta snapped his head over my shoulder. I tilted my head up enough to scent the wind, but it was going the wrong way. I swear if this was Jack's dumbass attempt to disobey me it would be the last time he ever did anything again.
"How about who are you?" Demanded a woman's voice. Not just any woman either, June.
I groaned. I knew she was going to be trouble when I met her.
"You wanna tell me why you have a fresh bite with you?" the Beta snarled, turning to me. "Did you assholes do this to her?"
"Hey!" June snapped. "I'm not done talking to you! Is this how you talk to your mother too? You ignore a lady when she's talking to you?"
For the love of the moon, Juniper you need to shut up.
"You see this? It's my Secure Walk app. I press this button and it sends a distress call to the cops with my GPS location. You get to tell me why a bunch of naked dudes are about to fight the guys taking me somewhere safe or I get the cops here."
"Is she serious?" Beta asked.
"We're taking her to our old pack for assistance," I said calmly. "Like I said, we were just passing through until you stopped us. I didn't even know pack territory could be this close to a major human highway. Times have sure fucking changed since I was last in the loop."
Beta's jaw clenched as I managed to piss him off a little more.
"Robbie, John, secure the girl, we're handling her in our pack. I don't trust these assholes." Beta flexed his arms a little. "You, Dom, you need to leave right now."
"Or what?" I stood my full height, pushing right up into the Beta's face. "You'll call your Alpha on me?"
"Hey!" June yelled. "Back off!"
I stepped way back, letting myself glance back at June for a second but still keeping my senses on the Beta in case he attacked. The trackers were almost to her but Aaron had stepped back to get between her and them.
"We're going to take you to safety, Miss," one of the trackers said. "These wolves aren't safe, they're probably the ones who bit you, right?"
"Fuck off!" June snapped, then her phone began emitting the most heinous alarm I had ever heard. To a wolf's ears, it was painful and blocked out a lot of other pitches.
"Step back," the Beta ordered his wolves. "You're going to regret going with these thugs, lady. And you, Blight Fang, you have until I come back with a whole team of warriors and our Alpha to get out of here!"
"My pleasure," I answered as the Beta and his trackers retreated. "Send my regards for your outstanding hospitality."
The moment I thought they were far enough out, I whirled on June. "Turn that thing off."
She touched the screen again, and the alarm stopped.
"If you called the police we need to move," I growled out in frustration.
"I didn't," she said.
My eyebrows snapped together. "Explain."
She held the screen up again. It was a youtube video.
"Well damn," Aaron said.
"I do have that app I mentioned though if there's any funny business," she said.
I leaned forward and plucked the phone from her hands before she could make a move, then began walking back to camp.
"Hey!" June squealed.
"You were stupid to follow us when I specifically told you not to." I sighed. "And aside from the fact that you took your phone back from my clothes and risked making the fight ten times worse while I had to protect you... thank you. That was brave of you."
"But I can't have my phone back?" she asked, crossing her arms and following me and Aaron back.
"Don't push it." I laughed. "I didn't actually need you when Aaron and I could have handed them their asses anyway."
"Yeah, but if they do bring their Alpha and a crew of warriors we might be in for some trouble," Aaron added.
I shot him a look, and he shut up.
"Let's go," I said. "We can drive through the night and cross the border in the dark anyway. Come on, back to the van while I chew out Jack and Carson for not stopping you."
We walked back, me and Aaron grabbing our clothes on the way and putting our shorts back on at least. As frustrated as I was not kicking that Beta's ass, I had to give it to June. She was a clever one, if not stupid for walking in on a werewolf fight.
"Hey, Dom?" June spoke up softly.
I stopped walking a moment to turn back to her. "Yeah?"
"What is a Blight Fang, and why did they say you aren't safe wolves?"
I sighed, running a hand down my face. "Aaron, go on ahead."
"Yes, Dom," he answered and left.
When his footsteps had disappeared, I looked down into June's stubborn face. "I can't say we haven't done some bad stuff in the past, but I can swear to you right now that I'll keep you safe. I'm not a great guy but at least I can take you to a pack that is. Fair?"
She studied my eyes a moment before deciding to answer. "Fair."
I nodded. "Let's get out of here."
And we finished walking back to the van in silence.