When Garrick opened his eyes the first thing he saw were the animal toys carved out of pure Mahogany woods hanging from the roof sparsely and dancing along the wind. He looked sideways and was surprised to see an open window which threw light all over the room. His body ached all over and betrayed him when he tried to sit up. His treacherous mind was making his movements numb. With much courage and determination he gathered his strength and landed his feet on the ground. Soon his veins throbbed with a dull pain and he moaned.
"You need to rest."
Garrick's pain was subdued when a beautiful girl sat besides him with a bowl in her hands.
"The effects of the medication will go away soon and you would be able to walk in no time."
All Garrick could do was to stare at the girl trying to understand the situation and what she was saying. He remembered that he was in a market; he felt sick and his wolf wanted out. Then nothing.
Thinking about his wolf he realized that he could not feel the animal within him.
He ran his hands through his chest and squeezed his eyes. "I cant feel anything. I cant feel my wolf!" He whispered in horror.
The lady kept the bowl on a nearby table "Your wolf is weak. For now." Garrick raised his brows but sighed with relief that his wolf was still alive. "Don't worry. By evening everything will be back to normal; but till then you need to rest."
"Thank god you are awake mutt. I thought we have to arrange a funeral for you." Callan shoved Archer for his hurtful comment.
"How are you feeling?" Callan asked worriedly.
Garrick avoided Callan and looked sideways "Better. Lets do our job and leave this place as soon as possible."
Fayette did not liked the tone in which Garrick was talking to Callan but she kept it to herself. She sighed and stood up to face him. "You wont be able to walk for a few more hours. You have to take rest."
Garrick scrunched his nose but reluctantly agreed knowing that there was no way out of this misery. "If you say so; but the moment I am able to stand we leave this place at once." he pointed to Callan.
With that Garrick closed his eyes and let sleep takeover.
Callan was seemingly worried for his companion as he thought it was his responsibility to keep him safe. Callan was aware of how the human world works but he never had the time to explain any of it to Garrick. And how could he? Garrick always kept to himself and was distant whenever Callan approached him.
Callan decided to reach the mountains without Garrick as the latter was of no help while the medication would take time to wear off. He along with Archer left the human village and marched to their next destination.
After long tiring hours of tedious journey Callan reached the chief of bears and respectfully invited them over to the pack for the coronation ceremony.
On their way back, both men halted near the foot of the mountain and relaxed under the shadow of a huge tree. They decided to take a quick nap before heading for Fayette's place.
About an hour or so, Callan woke up hearing sound of some rustling of bushes which were later followed by loud growls. He tilted his head left and saw that Archer was still in his dreamland with his mouth open and loud snoring. Against his better judgement he decided to look over what was transpiring behind the bushes.
He travelled along the path of the audible noise which was growing stronger with every closing distance. His eyes widened when he saw what was happening in front of him.
Five large wolves had surrounded a comparatively petite wolf and seemed ready to pounce on it at any moment. One of the hind leg of the wolf was badly hurt and he was limping. The wolf was barely managing to stand on all its fours. Then he saw the eyes of the other wolves.
They were ferals!
Callan blew his darts to the direction of the wolves and gaining advantage of the distraction he was on the petite wolfs side the next instant. The darts however did not do much damage as Callan expected, instead it made them even more angry. They marched ahead with clear sights of thier victims. A human and one injured wolf.
One of them blindsided the limping wolf and attacked its injured leg one more time, sinking its teeth deep into the mass of the wolf. The wolf cried with all its might and fell to the ground. Callan tried to help save him but he was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the ferals. One of the wolves crossed his paws across Callan's body and tore his shoulder. The ferals then growled and gathered around the man ready to devour its flesh. They were determined to approach the victim with bloody red eyes, ready to kill him.
They were stopped in their tracks when an earth shattering growl reached their ears catching their attention. It was a signal for danger, for what was next to come. As if the growl was not enough, the earth vibrated with incoming footsteps of an unknown creature. The ferals gathered on one side and faced the direction from where the possible danger was supposed to come.
They were ready to attack the creature but all air left their lungs when they saw a massive black bear thumping its paw, growling and then thumping its paw to the ground again.
The ferals realised that the party was over for them. Fear evident in their once red eyes, two of them even tried to leave the scene but were halted when Callan boomeranged his metal ropes across the legs of the ferals. Seeing the injury of Callan the big bad bear became angry even more.
He marched ahead and with one swift movement of his paws, he smashed the head of one of the ferals to the ground. The other wolves tried to attack the bear, bite him, scratch him, do anything in their power to subdue the beast but they failed every time they attacked. Not only was Archer swift in his movements but his skin had thick layers which made it difficult for the wolves to tear it with their bare teeth.
All it took was one fatal blow from the bear and the wolves were left unconscious one by one on the ground.
Archer then transformed in his human and approached his injured friend.
"You know I was handling the situation quite well." Callan joked.
"I can definitely see that." Archer scoffed while looking around the lying human bodies which once were the deadly creatures. "I was having these wonderful dream about catching some large fish in the lake and we both were enjoying the meal to our fullest. I woke up to tell you I was hungry but of course you were absent from the said spot. Care to explain why?" Archer raised a brow.
"I was just helping this wolf in need."
"Which wolf?" Archer questioned looking around.
"This one right.... where is HE?" Callan frantically scanned his surroundings but could not see the injured wolf. "I swear it was right there. It could not have gone far, we must find him. Try to..."
"SShhh... you need to take care of yourself, besides the wolf left and certainly it does not want to be found or else it would have told you something or perhaps waited here."
Callan sighed and comprehended Archers reasons.
"Let us go to the human village, Garrick could be awake and we need to be with him. It is a strange place for him."
"I cant believe you are still thinking about that stupid mutt. You mean nothing to him. Stop worrying, he would be fine by himself. Besides what do you want to do with these wolves. They are still alive you know."
For a moment there Callan just forgot about the unconscious wolves lying around him. These wolves were found near the boundary of the farthest village of the blue moon pack; this cant be a coincidence. There is every possibility that these wolves could have malicious intentions towards the pack and hence they must be taken to the pack warriors for further interrogation.
"I need you to pick up Garrick from the human village and I will take these ferals to the pack council."
"What! Me and that mutt.. NEVER!" Archer huffed his disagreement.
"Please Archer.. I have to take these wolves to the pack before they regain themselves. You know as well that I don't have a mind link or else I would have called someone for help."
"But your shoulder needs treatment. It is bleeding."
"I promise to get treatment once I reach the pack house. I'll handle these beings and head straight to Aurora."
Archer sighed and groaned but reluctantly agreed. "I'll leave the mutt to your boundaries. No further."
Callan nodded.
Archer helped Callan load all the bodies to a cart which they rented from a nearby settlement and then the two friends bid farewell for their respective journeys.
After about an hour Callan reached the main village after crossing many pack villages. He made sure that the ferals were still unconscious and jumped to the ground. Now the first thing he needed was to contact any of the council members and inform them about what transpired. He saw a girl passing by and sought to ask her help.
"Hello Sivena." Callan said with a smile "I just wanted a favor to ask."
The poor girl could not believe that Callan was talking to her. She was completely mesmerised by his beauty.
"Y-yes. Ah.. A-Anything." she batted her eyelashes and laughed nervously.
"Thank you; could you please link my father and tell him that I want to meet him and the council. Say its urgent and must be looked upon with utmost priority."
The girl stood there dumbfounded staring unashamed to the sheer beauty standing in front of her. She was so much in her own world that she did not pay heed to what Callan had said.
Callan waved his hands to gain the girls attention when she was not responding. "Sivena, you there?"
The girl got out of her trance as she fidgeted and laughed nervously. "C-Could you repeat what you want me to say to your father."
Callan reiterated his words and waited for the girls response.
"They are on their way." She playfully smirked as she rotated the fine strands on her forehead with her fingers ever so slowly "Anything else you want me to do."
"That would be all." Callan smiled awkwardly at her "Thank you for your help." The girl reluctantly left the spot. Now all Callan was left to do was wait.
His shoulder though was alarming him to find solace urgently.
Unknown to him, one of the ferals woke up and freed himself of the chains which were binding them. He slowly stepped down and looked at his tormentor who was busy nursing his wound. They were in the open fields and very few people were roaming around at this time. The feral thought about his escape and the only hurdle standing in his way was this man who he knew was not a wolf which made the task even easier.
In a matter of seconds the feral transformed into his wolf and charged towards Callan.
Callan was off guard by this sudden attack while the feral took advantage and bit his injured arm. Callan moaned in pain which was difficult for him to bear. The teeth had sunk to the depths of his bones. The pain was excruciating and insufferable.
Callan released his pocket belt to get to his knife with his other hand. He then breathed and with all his energy, he stabbed the leg of the feral.
The feral retreated in pain but was back up shaking his head to attack once more. Callan caught hold of the nearest thing he could use as a weapon. He reached for the cart and retrieved the whip; but to his horror the entire group of ferals had joined him by then. They were awake and they were hungry for Callans blood.
Callan was firm and bravely stood in front of them. His wounded arm glued to his torso and the other hand was whip cracking, indicating that he was ready for the fight.
"Who wants to go first?" He snarled with blood dripping from his other arm.
The wolves charged towards Callan but were halted in their tracks when a loud thunderous deafening growl tore their ears. Standing behind Callan was a big black wolf who gritted his teeth; snarling and growling with all his might.
His eyes were bloody red and he was angry as hell..
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