The Wolf's Huntress

by Alessa Langley

  The Wolf’s Huntress

  THE ORDER BOOK 1

  Written by Alessa Langley

  Copyright © 2019 by Alessa Langley

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Prologue

  It had been one hell of a fight. Staring down at the body before her, Clara tried to get her breath back. Pain racked her body, yet her head stayed steady as she waited for any sign of life from the unnaturally large wolf. She lowered her gun as the fur receded on the wolf’s body. Slowly the body morphed back into the six-foot-tall skinny form of the man she had lured into the woods. Brandon Cox was nothing more than a mutt with a record for stalking human women. Although he had never harmed anyone, he was a constant thorn in The Order’s side, and she had been assigned to despatch him.

  She hadn’t quite understood why she had to do the job. He was nothing more than a runt. Any recruit could have taken the mission and be back for dinner, even those in training. It had been obvious to her during her observations that Brandon didn’t take good care of himself. He still ate like a human, no extra calories to rebuild the energy he wasted by shifting. His body was skinny compared to other Lycans she had taken down. He didn’t have much reserve energy to use if he got attacked. Which is why she was shocked that she was tired from fighting him. He had to have known that she was a hunter and he was her mark, otherwise all it would have taken was a swift shot to the head. Instead it had been a scrabble, as soon as she got deep enough into the woodland not to be seen by passers-by Brandon had jumped up into the trees using the canopy as a cover.

  Sighing Clara slumped down on the ground. Her eyes fell to the man’s chest. It wasn’t moving, and there was no sound coming from him. He was dead. But he hadn’t gone quietly as she expected. Clara assessed the scratches along her bare arms. The wolf had pinned her and knocked her gun away. If it hadn’t been for her now-in-tatters leather jacket her wrists would have been slashed, and she would have bled out. Lowering her head, she took in her chest. Blood darkened her dark grey t-shirt along her right side. The fabric had torn ever so slightly. It looked nothing more than another scratch. Ignoring the wound Clara pulled her mobile from her pocket and speed-dialled the number. “Clara, where are you?” asked a friendly male voice that could only belong to James.

  “I’m still in Ash Forest. Target has been dispatched. Is there anyone nearby to help?” Clara informed and asked. She could hear James tapping away trying to pinpoint her exact location within Ash Forest.

  “I’m having trouble pinpointing your GPS, how far are you from your car?” he asked in monotone.

  Clara looked around for any indication of where she was. The only thing she knew is that she hadn’t walked that far into the woods. “I’m probably only a mile east of the car, in the forest” she replied guessing the details. Once again tapping echoed down the phone as James tried to narrow down the search. He hummed to himself for a moment.

  “It seems, Howard took a recruit into Ash Forest just two hours before you started your mission,” he mused, “I’ll phone him and send them in your direction, just stay where you are”. At that he hung up.

  In the sudden silence, Clara shoved her phone in her pocket and went back to checking herself out. The wound on her right side wasn’t hurting as much as the rest, but instead it itched as if she had rolled in nettles. Sighing she rolled up her t-shirt and looked down at the wound. Dread instantly filled her. It wasn’t a scratch. She had been bitten. Thinking very slowly, Clara tried to think of what to do next. But the only thought that kept coming back to her is that other Hunters were their way to her. Quickly she zipped up her jacket hiding the blood-stained top. The only thought in her mind now was keeping her wounds hidden for as long as possible. Until she could get the body dumped and into her own car, she wasn’t going to be safe. She knew The Order’s procedures, not that she followed them to a ‘T’, but she knew the other hunters did. Of course, if she decided to run The Order would find her at some point. They always found their targets. But Clara’s instincts always pushed her survive at any cost, even if there was a threat in the future.

  Taking deep breathes Clara tried to get her mind to focus on a get-away plan. Just because she was bitten didn’t mean she was going to become a Lycan, but The Order wouldn’t take that risk. Instead they would kill her on the spot when they found out. If she could get away for a month, they would merely think she fell off the grid for a while. Within that month she would find out if she was going to change. If she did, then she would try to track down a Pack, and if she didn’t, she would return to The Order. Seemed easy enough in her mind, but it was putting it into practice which was going to be the hard part.

  “Clara?” called a voice from deeper in the forest. Howard Jones, the blonde Adonis was The Order’s top Hunter and Clara’s on-and-off lover.

  “I’m over here,” she called out in return. She didn’t give any clues as to where she was, as he was extremely good at tracking. About five minutes later, he stood just a few metres away from her with his new prodigy, Natalie McKenzie, following behind him. As he reached Clara he looked down at the naked body of Brandon Cox. “I see, you’ve been busy” he stated with a smile. Clara smiled and stood up.

  “I see you didn’t get off unscathed,” taunted Natalie. Her eyes instantly searched for weakness in Clara.

  “I’m sure you would have come off worse, rookie,” Clara said dryly. Her eyes instantly revealed her boredom of Natalie. The youngster had been trying to point out Clara’s flaws ever since she entered The Order. Natalie was nothing more than a power grabber who believed she could gain prestige by winning Howard over.

  “I thought we were meant to shoot from a distance,” Natalie mentioned pointing out yet another failure of Clara’s.

  Clara merely glared at the girl as she stepped closer to Howard. On a job, Howard enforced the fact that they couldn’t show any indication that they were in a relationship. Clara, however, was never one to follow rules, but she liked the distance as it helped her feel independent. Although, it didn’t stop her wanting Howard to turn around, put the girl in her place and show some sort of affection towards herself. Instead he platonically eyed her up, “Are you okay?” he asked assessing her appearance.

  “I’m fine, just a few scratches,” she lied with a bright smile. Howard just nodded and took her word for it. Natalie, however, narrowed her eyes at Clara but stayed quiet.

  Howard instantly began to take command. It didn’t matter that it had been Clara’s mission to dispatch the Lycan Mutt. All that mattered was that he was the commanding officer and therefore that put him in charge. “We need to make the body unidentifiable and then get rid of it” he stated looking down at the man. His face was already banged up from having the butt of her gun slammed in his face several times. But that wasn’t enough. “Clara, get the legs. Natalie you need to look out for witnesses while we carry him to the car” he ordered as he moved to the Brandon’s head.

  They picked up the body and slowly made their way out of the forest. Sunlight hit them as they stepped out on to the country road. Clara’s black Land Rover looked inviting enough for her to run to, if she hadn’t been with Howard and Natalie. Several times on the walk Natalie had spied Clara favouring one side and now they had dumped the body in Howard’s car, she wasn’t about to let it go.

  “Did
he get you on your right?” Natalie asked sounding sincere, although her eyes betrayed her.

  “Clara?” Howard turned around and took in how Clara was standing, “Are you sure you are okay?”

  “I’m fine, I told you” she replied with a fake warm smile. She wasn’t fine. The bite was starting to burn, and the itchiness was unbearable.

  “We’re meant to assess all wounds before heading back to Headquarters,” Natalie spoke up. Her eyes narrowed on Clara.

  Swallowing hard, Clara stared up at Howard. She mentally prayed he wouldn’t ask her to show him the wound. It was a mere bite. She was fine. She wasn’t bleeding enough to gain medical attention. She had helped carry the body back to the car, that alone showed it hadn’t gone too deep. Howard shouldn’t be suspicious. “Okay,” Howard said, rubbing his forehead as if he had dealt with corrections from Natalie all day, “Clara take off your jacket so I can see your wounds”.

  Clara complied with huff knowing her t-shirt hid the worst one. Howard pulled her arms out and looked at the scratches running along them. They were still bleeding slightly but they weren’t overly deep, due to her jacket acting like a buffer. “They just need disinfecting and a bit of wrapping, nothing to go see the medical officers about,” Clara commented pulling her arms away. He let her arms fall and then his eyes landed on her top.

  “Did he get you there?” he asked.

  “No, it’s merely damage when he got my arms,” she replied lying again. Natalie tapped her foot and looking impatient about what she had enforced.

  “I need to check, anyway” sighed Howard, who had been more forceful about checking wounds before he had gotten to know Clara. Before he had met her Howard had followed every rule in the book, but Clara had shown him how to bend the rules. Now it seemed he was as tired of them as she was.

  “Why don’t we check when we get back to our place?” she smiled stepping closer to him. She rested her hands against his chest and smiled up at him. “I have three days off now, so we can relax. I’m merely scratched” she smiled as she leaned into him.

  “Clara?” his voice was laced with surprise and suspicion, “Just let me see” he pushed.

  “Why?” she argued back. Her mind instantly reprimanded her. If she kept playing along with the flirtatious girlfriend, Howard would have given in. Yet, when pushed she always came out on the defensive. Her instincts seemed to always let her down.

  “Let me see” he ordered; his voice become darker as he glared down at her. He knew something was up.

  Clara took a few steps back and eyed both. In training she was faster than most. She wasn’t stronger but she could fight better than the majority of the hunters in The Order. The only one who surpassed her was Howard, who had been her mentor before becoming her lover. She could run and hide in the forest, but he would find her. She settled on a hope; the hope that he loved her enough to make her the exception to the most enforced rule in The Order. The bitten must die.

  Her hands trembled as she lifted her top. In a split second everything changed. Howard’s eyes turned cold. Clara watched in disbelief as Howard pulled his gun out and aimed it right her head. “Howard?” she whispered. Her heart lurched and her stomach dropped. She was going to die, and by the hands of someone she thought loved her, or at least cared for her deeply. “Howard, please” she whimpered. Her lips trembled as she slowly knelt on the ground.

  “You must take me for a fool, Clara” he said. His tears betrayed him. He hated this as much as she did.

  “No, not at all.” She replied, “I might not even change. Females don’t change”.

  “We can’t take that risk, you know that” he replied. Howard stayed still. His finger rested on the trigger. His hand held the slightest of tremors. “How could you let him bite you?”

  “Just kill her,” ordered Natalie, “It’s protocol”.

  Clara closed her eyes. “Just do it,” Clara whimpered. Tears fell down her face. A shot fired and pain echoed through her. Her head thudded on the ground. Darkness took over the bright sunny sky.

  Chapter 1

  Caleb Daevers watched as Peter, the only doctor he trusted, work away at the woman he had found. It was completely unlike him to help any outsiders, but this one was different. Not only was she a slim attractive blonde, but she also had the scent of a Lycanthrope about her. A quality in a woman that had been non-existent for fifty years. However, if she was treated properly and proved that she was a full Lycan, she would be the key to regaining the female half of their race.

  The sound of metal upon metal rang through the room as Peter dropped another bullet into his surgery tray.

  “She was shot with a silver bullet,” said Peter, pointing to the bullet he just pulled out, “She was in one hell of a fight before being shot though. There are scratches covering her arms which have already started to heal.” He pointed out each wound. It wasn’t long before he lifted the ripped hem of her t-shirt to reveal the bite that had sped up the healing process. “She was bitten before being shot, there’s a small allergic reaction around the bullet which show the toxins in the bite had already started to take effect,” stated Peter.

  “Is there anything else?” Caleb asked, having only really noticed the full extent of her injuries.

  “She has a tattoo similar to The Order’s branding on her forearm,” he stated turning the woman’s wrist round to show a sequence of numbers tattooed vertically along it, 4673829. Caleb memorised the numbers and then looked back up at the woman’s face. She had barely been breathing when he had found her. The silver had been killing her slowly where the bullet alone hadn’t.

  “Get a picture of her when you’ve bandaged her up. I need to see if anyone recognises her,” Caleb said before leaving the room.

  Hurriedly he jogged up the stairs to the ground floor and headed to his study. The number on the woman’s forearm needed to be researched. He walked in and sat down at his desk. He booted up his computer and instantly started trying to gain access to The Order’s database. The database was becoming increasingly hackable into nowadays since they were continually updating their records, sometimes leaving the files open to public access. He typed in the number into the search and suddenly the woman’s face popped up on the screen. Agent Clara Richards, Deceased.

  He opened the file and read though the data. According to the file, she was twenty-four years old, with six years of experience after training working as a Hunter in The Order. The file didn’t state what had happened in the most recent mission, only listed her abilities and personal information. Quickly he copied the data and worked about blocking The Order from tracking his usage. Once off their network, he printed off the information then just sat staring up at the ceiling as he wondered about the woman downstairs.

  His mind tried to get around the fact he had brought an outsider to Pack Territory and the fact he didn’t feel the urge to attack her for the fact she was a hunter. The mere fact should have thrown him into a rage, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the female for death to take her. He knew he had brought trouble into his den, but he wasn’t completely sure it came in the form of the women he had saved.

  As he put his head in his hands, Michael walked into his study. “I didn’t think you were the type to go saving damsels in distress,” he joked leaning about the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “She was bitten, I had no other option,” Caleb answered back as he looked up at Michael.

  “Well, there had to be something special about her to gain your attention,” Michael joked walking into the room and perching on the arm of the sofa by Caleb’s chair. “So, who is she?” he asked.

  “Clara Richards,” Caleb said handing Michael the file he had printed off. Michael carefully took in the details, his jaw tensing repeatedly.

  “A hunter turned Lycan?” he mused to himself. After a few minutes his head lifted, “Don’t they kill their own when they get bitten?”

  “Peter found a silver bullet in her chest,” Caleb mentio
ned.

  “Shit,” was the only thing Michael could say. Caleb had saved a hunter that had been shot by The Order. Plus, that said hunter could be a female Lycan.

  After a few minutes of silence Michael looked towards the doorway. “The only question left is to find out what happened on her last mission I guess,” said Michael. He paused for a moment before adding, “and whether she wants to stay a Lycan”.

  “Get a few people together and get them to scan Ash Forest for any clues,” ordered Caleb.

  “Ash Forest?”

  “That’s where I found her, shoved into a thicket” Caleb practically spat. He was shocked at the fact The Order would treat their own so poorly.

  “Maybe you should stay down there with her, in case she wakes up confused and frightened,” Michael suggested with a shrug before leaving to round up a search party. Once he had left, Caleb went back to delving into his own thoughts. He leaned back in his chair, but this time closed his eyes.

  After an hour of sitting down added with spurts of pacing his study, Caleb headed back to the basement. Down the hidden staircase he walked into a well-lit room that had been the foundations of the house. On one side he had walls filled with files on every Mutt and Pack Lycan in the region, as well as Agents and Hunters they had come across. Round to the right of the staircase hidden directly from view was a silver lined room, the cage. The cage itself was big enough to comfortably sit eight people, and definitely strong enough to withstand the strength of a Lycan in the pits of feral rage. Directly in front of him, as few steps ahead, stood a pair of thick double doors that led to where the Huntress Clara Richards was lying unconscious. The medical room.

  The medical room was not a high-tech makeshift lab, but nor was it a hovel. Peter Louvell had kept it clean and hygienic. He had set it up with minimal equipment, but enough to help several pack members at once if needs be. He had made sure that there were three metal frame beds inside the room. The rest of the room was bare apart from the wall to the left to the door, which was lined with wall cabinets and counter tops, where Peter kept his medical supplies.