When Northern Packs started arriving at Sea Claw Packhouse, Krey was surprised by the warm presence of others. Two Northern Alpha's shook his hand as they entered. The Delta's and Omega's of other packs lowered their heads at him. So far, nobody had given him dirty looks like he expected. Krey had their respect for the first time.
"So the Bedlam Pack have taken your home, Krey Graymer?" asked the Alpha of the Eastly Howl Pack. Her Beta had tried to kill her that morning. She was lucky to still be standing after narrowly missing a knife to the throat.
"Yes. I want it back."
"We want you to get it back. This will be one satisfying win." She turned away from Krey and spoke frank with another Alpha.
All Alpha's were territorial of even the space around them. Connecting with something common was strange. Alpha's usually met to discuss security or pack numbers, or money. Now they were meeting to fight the Bedlam Pack, who planted traitor Beta's in almost every Northern Pack. Beta's were wolves Alpha's trusted the most in a pack. Betrayal was thick in the air.
Krey looked around at each Alpha. Their mates stood close. Krey was missing Pip's encouraging smile and round curious eyes. Please be somewhere safe and warm, he thought.
Krey stood with his mother when he found her looking at all the mates and biting down her sorrow. Krey felt bad for her, so he pulled on a chain around his neck and dangled a key in front of her.
Makena inspected the key with growing eyes. "Your dad's office Key!" she gasped. "Why do you have it here?"
Krey looked around to see if anyone was paying them any attention. Only Francis connected their gaze, but Krey didn't mind her overhearing. "I wanted it close until I was ready to look inside the office."
Makena touched her own necklace that held a ring to her chest, her mates wedding ring. "When we're settled, and if they haven't broken into the office already, we'll look together one day soon."
Krey nodded, liking the idea of a more positive future. He just had to survive the fighting, and Pip had to not get caught.
Over the course of an hour, almost six northern packs arrived at Sea Claw Packhouse. Two arrived with dead Alpha's and dead traitor Beta's. The Delta wolves in charge were like deer's in headlights, way out of their depth.
Francis did all she could to welcome them in, and talk to them all about their circumstances, then offer some words of encouragement. She was the only Beta wolf in the building, so wolves were rather suspicious of her until Krey yelled at them about how Francis had only just been assigned his Beta wolf.
The main theme of the room was deep sadness. Many had lost those important to them. Krey had seen many tears from mates who had lost their Alphas.
When wolves had spoken, expressed their anger, their sadness, and reassured the deaths would be avenged, they all turned to Krey for the plan.
"May I suggest we charge full force, so they don't see what's coming?" asked an Alpha, best known for his ability to look like he stepped out of the early twentieth century. His Packhouse looked untouched from 100 years ago. Krey remembered all the candles lighting the rooms when he last visited.
"I like that idea," Viktor's mate said from the doorway. Her sunken eyes were red raw from crying. Her mouth still trembled like the sadness embedded into her muscles. "Kill them all before they have a chance to take a breath."
A few wolves agreed aloud, then they all looked back to Krey.
"You don't mind blood split all over your house, do you?" the Alpha of the Eastly Howl Pack asked.
"Last time I was there, I noticed the peeling wallpaper. It could do with a makeover," laughed the old-fashioned Alpha, trying to humour the situation.
Krey knew that if they didn't laugh, most would cry, so he let quiet chuckles ripple through the room before attention was pointing back to him.
"As much as I want to charge into my home and take back my walls, I see that as chaotic." Krey's deep voice didn't need to be loud to be heard. "I say we dedicate one hundred wolves to going in and fighting, and the rest to surround the Packhouse, so nobody can escape alive." A few wolves nodded and quietly discussed Krey's idea. "Twenty of my pack are either dead or held hostage inside. The quicker we get to them, the better."
"Agreed, but what if there are more than one hundred wolves inside?" asked a Delta who had recently lost their Alpha, the Alpha's human mate, and the traitor Beta. He was rightfully very anxious.
"I doubt the Bedlam pack is that big."
"But if they had so many Beta wolves, they could have hundreds of pack members."
"We can send in more if that's what you want."
"I think that would be best. We don't want to turn your home into a slaughterhouse."
"No," Krey said, staring at the faces with his intimidating dark brown eyes. "But people will die, and it won't just be southern wolves." The room silenced. "We will lose many wolves today."
"Well, we could have lost all the Alpha's if your Beta wolf didn't phone to warn us. Yes, some Beta's already got to their Alpha's, but you also saved some. You certainly saved me. We doubted if you'd want any allies Krey Graymer. We see now that if this was any of us to have our homes taken, you would help win it back. Your father would be proud," the old-fashioned Alpha praised.
The last sentence was like a punch in the gut. Krey broke his stare and looked to the floor. Krey would like to think that his actions were what his father would have done, but Krey didn't know for sure because his father wasn't here, all due to a cunning and greedy southern pack. "My father's death will be avenged in this fight."
"Yes, it will," Makena said behind him. Krey turned as she stepped closer. "Roden, Viktor, Jorlina, and Jonathon will be avenged in this fight." Makena looked at the two Delta's who had lost their Alphas. "After the fighting is done, we will be glad to offer any support to Delta's, and help you find new Alphas and trusting Beta wolves. We are all disgusted by the traitor's actions, but we need to show the Bedlam Pack that they have not shaken us and cannot do this to us ever again."
Wolves around the room stood tall and ready. Krey felt their pride, and he felt his own adrenaline rising. "My mate is currently on the run with my Delta. Viktor's traitor Beta fought to get a hold of my mate. We have to get my home back and quickly, so my mate has somewhere safe to return."
"Then let's stop wasting time!" an Alpha said. "My pack is strong and will do well in the fight."
"And mine!" another Alpha said.
"Mine too."
Krey looked to his pack. His omegas were determined. They were tired and some injured, and Krey knew that most of them just wanted to crawl into their own beds. He did too, but first, they had to fight for it.
They talked for fifteen minutes more, deciding who would enter Krey's Packhouse and who would wait outside to catch any of those who escaped.
Then, the werewolves all turned into their wolf forms. Krey was among the largest wolves there. His mother climbed on his back while Viktor's poor mate had to travel on her Delta wolf.
Krey dug his claws into mud and sniffed the earthy smells of the woods around him, thankful to have his wolf, and hoping he would have it forever. If Krey had his wolf forever, then that meant his mate was still in the world, and to Krey, that was a world worth living in.
Together, hundreds of wolves set off through the woods. The cold weather meant that not many humans were around. The distance from Sea Claw Packhouse to Crescent Packhouse was almost thirty miles. At full sprint, the wolves had a few hours to travel.
Krey hoped the run wouldn't make too many wolves too tired.
He felt his mother gripping his fur and ran slower at first, but as the minutes went by, Krey soon found himself leading the army of wolves through the woods, grinding faster and faster with each paw pounding the earth.
Krey loved to run, especially in his wolf form. He felt free, and his true self when all he had to do was run and run, feeling the cold air on his tongue, in his lungs, running through his fur. All the smells whizzed him by, A few deer dived out of their way, rabbits scurried into their burrows, and squirrels clambered to the highest point of their trees.
Everything caught Krey's attention, the birds, snow falling from branches, the scents of nearby animals. He couldn't let them distract him. He had a destination, and little time to get there.
So Krey pressed on, and so did the hundreds of allies behind him.
On their journey to Crescent Packhouse, no humans had seen the werewolves, thankfully. Krey didn't want to have to explain to humans' higher authorities that they exposed hundreds of themselves to travel quicker between Packhouses.
Krey was first to spot Crescent Packhouse through the trees. His heart thumped harder at the sight of his home. At least it's not burnt to the ground, he thought, slowing down until he came to a stop at the peak of a hill, so they could observe the building from afar.
Krey sat, so his mother could stand and watched Omega after Omega go in front of him, ready to charge at the building. Two packs positioned themselves to his left. Ready to run to the back of the building and defend the perimeters.
When every wolf was in place, some looked to Krey to give the signal.
So Krey closed his eyes, tilted his head back and howled into the sky, making the eeriest warning howl any wolf had ever heard.