Everything was going great that day until some young men got ahold of fireworks. No one knew they had them. Xael and the pups were with Grams and a few ladies at the fry bread area when the first round of firecrackers went off.
Xael suddenly crouched on the ground, her hands over her ears. The pups immediately sprang into action. Moose was standing against her chest, her elbows resting on him as he supported her. Gunner was at her side. Her grams saw her but couldn't get close to her due to the pups. Another round went off, Xael screamed, drawing attention. She was shaking now as more fire crackers sounded along with more screaming. Xael was having a panic attack but none of the ladies knew what was going on, not even her Grams.
Xael managed to link Gunner to find Deputy Shado. The pup stood at attention, scanning the area and picked up his scent. Off he went, running across the grounds towards him. People jumping out of his way. Shado was busy with some of the guys when the worse of the fireworks went off that he didn't hear Xael scream.
One of the young men set off a mortar and Xael lost it. She was screaming and this time everyone heard her. Shado was suddenly triggered and so were her pups. The surrounding scene was about to get even more chaotic. Moose and Gunner began howling.
By now Xael had latched onto Moose, her face buried in his fur. Shado was making his way towards Gunner when it happened.
Out of the treeline, 7 large wild wolves came tearing out of the woods and towards the pow wow. No one saw them yet.
Gunner ran towards Shado who realized he was trying to get his attention. The two ran towards the screaming, when more screaming started. People started running, the Sheriff ran towards the announcer booth and grabbed the mic telling everyone to stop running.
More fire crackers went off. Xael was now in a full PTSD attack. All she could do was scream, 'make it stop!' And it did. The wolves had reached the edge of the pow wow. Two went to where the fireworks were coming from, the rest towards the screaming woman.
People ran to get out of their way as they scooped up small children. When the wolves made it to Xael, those that were trying to get to her backed off, the wolves formed a protective circle around her. The other two wolves went to the young men with the fireworks.
Sheriff finally put two and two together. He began yelling for them to stop with the fireworks. The young men saw the wolves and stopped, but started screaming for help. Others rushed to where they were, but we're stopped but the wolves.
Shado and Gunner made it to Xael, but Shado froze, seeing the wild wolves around her. Gunner joined the circle of wolves, Moose still had his mom latched onto him. Her grandmother and everyone else around her, stood there in shock.
Sheriff yelled for everyone to be quiet as the chaotic scene died down. Shado desperately needed to get to the woman wrapped around the large dog. Xael was still shaking, struggling to breathe, ears ringing, blocking out all sound.
"Xael?" Her Grams tried to get her attention and move towards her but the wolves growled. Seeing that the men had moved away from the fireworks, the two wolves intimidating them, ran to join the others.
Now all attention was focused on the woman surrounded by wolves. The Sheriff finally made it over to her.
"My God..." He tried to approach but again the wolves all growled a warning at him to stay back. Xael was now sobbing and visibly shaking. Gunner broke from the circle and approached Deputy Shado.
The Deputy looked at Grams and the Sheriff. Gunner grabbed his pants leg, careful not to get ahold of his flesh and started dragging him towards his momma. Gunner walked back to his mom, who was still shaking. She was whispering now, 'make it stop'; the wolves moved to the side to let him approach her. Once he knelt beside her, they ran off back into the forest. No one could believe what had just happened.
Shado returned his focus quickly to the woman on the ground. He gently touched her shoulder. " Xael? Xael?"
She glanced up and was suddenly against him, her arms around his neck, she was shaking terribly. "Please get me out of here." Her voice broken and full of fear. He picked her up and moved towards her Grandmother and Skylar.
"Let's get her home fast!" Skylar was leading him towards her jeep as it was the closest. Grams was following him along with the sheriff. Shado reached the vehicle. As he went to place her in, Skylar stopped him.
"No, you stay with her!" They helped Shado get her into the back. He got in the back seat to hold her. The pups were right there next to her as well. Sheriff jumped in Xael's jeep with her Grams and the four rushed off towards the cabin.
After an hour, things returned to normal at the pow wow.
Reaching the cabin, Sheriff and Grams helped get Xael out of the back seat. By now she had passed out. Shado carried her into the house, Ms. Emma leading him to the bedroom, the pups both jumped on the couch and waited.
Laying her on the bed, the elder woman made the men get out. The two men looked at each other, trying to understand what had happened. Sheriff caught sight of one of the pups service vest as it laid down on the couch. He saw the brightly colored patch. PTSD. He was right.
Now both men understood what was going on. Shado approached Gunner and Moose slowly. Xael's pups allowed him to take off their vests. Just then Beau and Vivi showed up to the cabin. Beau had driven Shado's Bronco as all their stuff was in it. Vivi and Beau made it into the cabin.
"How's Xael?" Vivi was worried.
Ms. Emma came out of the bedroom. She looked at them and smiled as she held the door open for the pups. They trotted into the bedroom and hopped up on the bed, sandwiching their momma between them, facing the door. Shado also got up and went towards the bedroom, but the Sheriff stopped him.
Ms. Emma could see the worry on everyone's face. "Let's all go to the kitchen, I need some coffee." As they all followed the Elder into the kitchen, Shado glanced at the ball under the blankets. Ms. Emma walked over to him. "She'll be fine, her boys will let us know if something's wrong."
Finally reaching the table, the men plopped into chairs and relaxed.
"I've never seen anything like that in my entire life!" Sheriff was rubbing his temples. Vivi had Ms. Emma sit while she went to put on the coffee.
"I've never seen wild wolves do that. It's like they were protecting one of their own." Sheriff was still at a loss. Deputy Shado wasn't saying much.
"I have." Ms. Emma was fairly calm. Vivi returned to the table with empty mugs and the coffeepot. After filling everyone's cup she sat down, the hot cup cradled in her hands. Ms. Emma saw Shado glancing towards the bedroom. "Adam, she'll be fine hun, relax."
"I want to know what happened to her?" Ms. Emma had never seen her granddaughter act like that before.
"She has PTSD." Shado finally spoke.
"What!? She's never said anything about having PTSD! Just that she sometimes couldn't deal with things."
Shado got up from the table to grab one of the dog's vest from the couch. He placed it on the kitchen table. None of them had paid attention to the vest previously as the pups had been laying down when they had them on.
"Shit! Those guys and the damned fireworks must have triggered her." Beau put the events together just as the other two men had.
They sat and finished up the coffee. Vivi needed to get back so Beau left to take her. He let Skylar and Shado know he would be right back.
"Ms. Emma, you said you'd seen the thing with the wolves before?" Shado curiosity was eating at him.
She sat her cup down and went to the fridge. She came back with beers and handed them to them. "What I tell you, does not leave this cabin understand?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Xael is special, very special."
"Yeah, she's a tough ass alpha!". Shado was quick to add that. Ms Emma looked over at him and smiled.
"Remember when Xael was little and got lost deep in the woods Wes? I mean deep deep into the woods. Wolfen don't even go that deep. "
"Yeah, you found her and walked her out to us." Sheriff was giving her his full attention.
"No, that's not what happened. I was searching the following morning with the rest of you when two large female wolves were suddenly in front of me. They looked at me to follow them so I did, that's when I found her. She was curled up and sleeping against the largest Alpha I've ever seen. They had kept her from freezing as the temperature had dropped the previous night. The other wolves were surrounding them, they finally moved away and let me approach. I'll never forget looking into the eyes of that Alpha as I bent down to pick her up. He let me take her and walked me to the edge of their pack territory, I turned to look at him but he was gone."
"Holy shit..."
"Xael's always been safe around them. One day when she was 7 she'd wandered off into the woods like she had a habit of doing. She never went far, so I wasn't too worried about it, young Wolfen pups around here always hung out in the woods, they needed to get accustomed to nature. I found her playing with some wild pups. Their mom was just laying there watching them play, like Xael was one of her own. When she was born is when the most interesting thing happened."
"What?" both men were listening intently.
"Xael was born here at home, right in the room she's in. It was her parent's room. The moment she took her first breath, all the wolves howled. They had gathered at the front of the house, like they were waiting for her to be born like the rest of us. Instead of crying, she made the cutest little sound, like she was trying to howl back at them."
"That's...none of what you're saying is natural Em."
"I know! You see, I'm not sure what Xael's mom was. I just know she was a rogue and her dad..." Ms. Emma stood up to shake off her nerves. "Tanis, Tanis wasn't my natural son."
"Wait...I saw you when you were pregnant Em!" Sheriff had always thought Tanis was her son.
"I was, but I lost the child, that big pine tree, that's where he's buried. Chrissin, my mate brought him home one night, he said he was driving up the Pass when he came upon something lying in the road, he said he thought someone hit a wolf, so he got out to see if it was still alive. That's when he saw it was a Wolfen, but it had only shifted part way. It was holding something that moved. They were holding a baby, Tanis. Chrissin called Sheriff Mayhough, that was before you Wes. Mayhough called an ambulance for the Wolfen. He didn't know it but Chrissin had hidden the baby in his vehicle. That's how we got our son."
"Whoa... Emma this is...I don't even know what this is."
The three just sat for a moment trying to digest what she had told them. She needed to calm from having told a secret she had kept to herself for years.
Suddenly Gunner appeared at the doorway.