by J. E. Cluney
We were truly in the mountains now.
I wondered how far Firestone Ridge was. Not that crossing the border was going to suddenly save me.
The howls and roars had died down now, but I dare not believe he’d given up.
I’d tried to kill him. There was no way he would just accept that and let me live.
I needed to escape.
Or I’d die.
10
Nathan.
The drive to the Williamson territory was tense and quiet, all of us fuming and seething uncomfortably.
Richard would die tonight. Our Alpha would make sure of that.
I worried how Lawrence would fair in the Alpha fight if his mind was clouded with emotion, but a part of me believed it would only make him more powerful.
That he’d not stop till he took that monster down.
Frank and Neema drove behind us in Neema’s faded green truck. Lawrence’s Jag was silent as it traversed the winding country roads. Mountains rose up to our right, and we’d been driving for almost two hours, and I knew we had to be getting close.
Frank had organized to meet Reggie at a lookout away from the territory, he’d then smuggle us all in.
My heart pounded in anticipation and distress. I couldn’t shake the thought of Richard hurting Tay, of him having his way with her while she struggled.
We wouldn’t allow this. She was our family, our woman. She needed to come home.
I stared out at the night sky, the moon dousing the road in a shimmery white glow. The agitation and fury radiating from the other passengers made the very air choking, and I wound down a window to let some cool night air in. It was heating up in the backseat with two other fuming ‘wolves, but we had to control ourselves.
We were nearly there.
Lawrence pulled off onto a side road, and he followed it to the small lookout over a river.
An elderly man, older than even Frank, stood outside his van, hunched over and waiting patiently. His snow white hair and beard shone in the moonlight, and he looked up with relief when we rumbled into the parking lot.
Lawrence shut the engine off just as Neema’s old truck pulled up beside us.
We all climbed out, and Frank introduced Lawrence to Reggie as we all joined the frail old man by his van.
“I was the elder asked to unify the pair in ceremony,” Reggie rasped, his voice weak and his skin weathered with age. “I’d hoped Richard would never take another mate. He is no good.”
I wanted to howl and yell at the man for unifying them, for allowing that monster to have her. But I kept my mouth shut, knowing full well that he hated what he’d done. It was evident in his sad, broken face, those blue eyes dull and dismayed.
“You’ll get us across the borders to challenge his rule?” Lawrence asked, his greying brown hair catching the moon’s glow and making the silver hairs more prominent. It made my stomach twist. No, he could do this. He may be older now, but he was still an Alpha, with all the Alpha strength and power.
“Yes. Richard’s reign has brought only pain and anguish to the Pack. It is time for a new Alpha,” Reggie nodded firmly.
“What’s that smell?” Jaye grimaced as he sniffed the air, his nose scrunching at the distasteful scent. I could smell it too, I’d smelt it as soon as we stepped out of the Jag, but I knew there were more important matters than the assault to my nose.
“I will need to pass through some gates to cross into the territory, all roads in have manned gates. In order to mask your scents, I’ve brought a special spray, and an old trick of my family. I’ve also got a dead deer in the van, she’s been there for the past few hours, so her scent will be what you can smell,” Reggie cracked a grin.
I clenched my jaw at the insight. So we were going to be traveling with a dead deer that was already beginning to smell. Great.
I focused on the thought of Tay, and it overrode any pretenses about the ride in the van.
“You’ll all need to put this on,” Reggie said as he opened the passenger door of his van and pulled out a spray bottle. His spotted old hand shook as he offered it to the Alpha, and the act of aid and equality made Lawrence smile and nod to Reggie. He just dipped his head in return as the Alpha began spraying himself. It was an intriguing scent, like a mix of herbs and flowers, but it was making it impossible to catch Lawrence’s scent.
We all followed suite, even Neema, who was remaining quite silent. Frank voiced his aggravation about Richard, and Reggie agreed. They both believed the rival Alpha to be a brute whose time was long since gone.
And then we were shuffling into the back of the van, avoiding the deer carcass as we all knelt down around it. Once all seven of us had clambered in, Reggie closed the doors.
The deer was beginning to smell, and not in a good way, which was obvious when Scott gagged softly. Frank muttered in annoyance but shut up when Lawrence shot him a dark look.
Having us all cramped around the deer was not ideal, but it was all we could do.
I rested one knee on the floor of the van, dodging the coagulated blood from the deer’s neck. Neema was to my right, and Jaye was on my left. Lawrence, Scott and Frank were on the other side of the deer, pressed against the van wall as they stayed low. And Chris sat poised and ready at the back door.
The van rumbled to life, and I took the chance to draw in a deep breath. I couldn’t smell the ‘wolves around me, only the overwhelming scent of deer and the faint herbs. I couldn’t even scent the silver Neema was carrying, something we were all easily aware of considering it was a deadly thing to us. To be honest, stabbing us with a normal knife hurt too, but silver needed treatment, otherwise we could develop poisoning from the silver.
“We all stay silent, no movement. No one goes rushing off, I know we’re all worried about Tay, but we need to stay vigilant and on guard. This is enemy territory, and there is a death warrant on our heads right now. We just have to hope that once we’re in, others will obey the challenge rules and step aside.” Lawrence’s voice was low and deadly serious, and not even Frank made a smart comment back.
Reggie called back to us when we were getting close to the borders, informing us it was time to shut up and not move a muscle.
Only a few minutes passed before Reggie slowed down, and I was grateful the back of the van was divided by a metal grate. It did make me wonder what Reggie transported back here.
But it only helped obscure the view of us, and Reggie had taken the time to even throw up a canvas to cover most of the grate. The only way I knew that we’d come to one of the gates with a small building was because the extra light shone through the top of the grate where the canvas didn’t cover.
“Bit late for you to be out,” a young, rough voice said.
“Richard and the boys went hunting. One of the youngin’s took down a deer, asked me to fetch it and bring it back to carve up if it was still good. It’s been out there a while, I’ll have to see what Petey thinks,” Reggie’s voice was casual and held no sign of distress.
I did question if we should be putting so much trust and faith into an enemy ‘wolf though. For all we knew, he was signaling for them to round the back of the van.
My heart pounded as my eyes darted between Scott and Lawrence. I waited for someone to rip the back of the van open and hail down bullets on us.
“Who took down the deer?” the man asked.
“Think it was Brett, it was Charles, Ray’s old man that told me to fetch it,” Reggie said.
“Good guy, must’ve got lucky,” the man chuckled. “Well, we’re just keeping an eye out, my Pa said even us boys have to help watch the borders now. The Alpha has us on a tight watch ever since he got that Ashwood she-wolf. Worried that Alpha Ashwood might show up, wants us to shoot him on sight. Although, rumor has it, that Mr Ashwood challenged Mr Williamson. Isn’t it that we’re meant to butt out of an Alpha challenge?” the man asked.
From the way he spoke, I guessed him to only be young, maybe sixteen or seventeen. Why they were charg
ing such a young one to man the gates was beyond me. Maybe there were others there too, there was no way to tell.
“Well, yes, our rules and laws say that, but because he’s Alpha, he believes he can force us to look the other way. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that, but he is our Alpha,” Reggie sighed.
“I dunno, me and the boys have been talking. The way he treated that new she-wolf last night, my Pa said that’s wrong. That we should respect and cherish the women of our Pack. I think it’s unfair that he got his hands on her,” the man sighed. “But some of the older man, those who’ve been by his side for so long, they don’t see it as wrong. It makes it hard, we can’t say anything, and I don’t want to be like that.”
“Then don’t. It’s a choice you can make, Brayden,” Reggie said firmly.
“I hope so, I feel that the Alpha doesn’t always give us a choice,” Brayden sighed.
“That is quite true, son,” Reggie let out an exasperated sigh.
“Well, I best let you go, don’t want that deer getting any worse. I can smell it from here, you’ll be lucky to get much good meat from it now.”
“Yes, we’ll see. Have a good night.”
The van lurched forward once more, but yellow eyes glistened all around me in the back of the van. Once we’d rumbled on for a few moments, the soft growls were released.
“That fucker hurt Tay, God knows how bad it was,” Jaye snarled.
Lawrence didn’t say a word, but I could see he was seething, barely managing to keep it all under control. This was his daughter we were talking about. I could only imagine the horror and heartache he was feeling at his only daughter being raped and abused.
I was seeing red as I clenched my teeth together, the pressure in my jaw becoming painful.
“He’s not going to survive tonight. I’m sorry Dad, but if he defeats you, I’m still going to fuck him up. I don’t care what it costs, I will not let that piece of shit get our Pack. To think of what he’ll do to our family, to our children,” he growled, the muscles in his neck twitching as his eyes glowed.
“Good. For what he’s done to your sister, you can all kill him,” Lawrence finally growled, his voice lethal.
A chill ran down my spine as Neema shot him a look, but Lawrence just challenged it, his yellow eyes daring her to go against him.
She kept her mouth shut, but I could feel her tension and uneasiness beside me. It was her duty to obey all laws and make sure they were abided by. Lawrence was declaring he’d break them right before her.
I didn’t know how to feel about that. I could see why he wanted to, but I also knew that as Alpha, he was meant to lead us and remind us of our ways and laws, of the rules we followed to keep our kind safe and out of the human eye. He’d even said that, and now he was contradicting himself. We followed strict rules when it came to the Pack, otherwise we could become ruthless, wild animals, more ‘wolf than human. Then we’d endanger all our kind.
“We’ll head up to the main lodge where Richard lives. He has Taylor there,” Reggie informed us.
I clenched my hands together, praying that Tay was okay, that we’d get there and defeat the Alpha. I didn’t even know what we’d do about the Pack itself, since Lawrence would become their new Alpha, or whoever killed Richard. They’d claim his title and power of the Pack.
“What’s the plan, Lawrence?” Neema demanded as she shot us all looks. Looks that screamed don’t break the laws, for then she’d have to deal with us.
To be honest, I’d never seen Neema fight, only the time she took down Kate, Lawrence’s mate, when she’d gotten sick with the wolf disease.
“I challenge him before a witness of his own Pack and see if he accepts. He’ll be forced to. But if he chooses to use his Pack to fight his battle, then we all take him down,” Lawrence’s voice resounded throughout the back of the van.
“You really think he’ll use his Pack?” Chris asked.
“He hid behind the Council, he only accepted Taylor’s challenge because she is a young she-wolf, someone he deemed easily beaten. I don’t doubt he’ll save his own hide if he can,” Lawrence smirked, a dark look in his eyes.
“She almost had him too,” Jaye scoffed. “He can’t be that great of an Alpha.”
“Taylor is very well-trained as a Huntress, she still has much to learn, but her fighting skills are more than any average ‘wolf,” Neema said.
“What are you saying?” I asked, not liking her tone.
“I’m saying, don’t underestimate him. Taylor may have had the upper hand for a moment, but you can thank her intense training for that. She’s an assassin, not a Pack warrior. She stood a better chance. That goes for you too, brother. Don’t overestimate yourself. Be careful. You were an incredible fighter when we were younger, but you’ve never had an Alpha fight before,” Neema reminded him.
“I’m the Area Enforcer, I’ve had to muscle my way through some situations,” Lawrence argued.
“I’m not saying you’re not capable. What I’m saying, is that you can’t afford to lose this fight. And your emotions may cloud your mind. Don’t get cocky and don’t let him goad you. Be smart, and win,” Neema said slowly but firmly, her words carrying more power and strength than they would if anyone else said them. She was the one who knew Lawrence the most, she’d grown up with him. And she was his equal in their titles.
Lawrence’s lip pulled back in a snarl at his sister, but he didn’t say a word. I could tell he was pissed that she’d spoken such words before his betas and son, but he was taking them in.
She was right.
An uncomfortable silence settled over us, and my legs ached from crouching down, huddled with the others.
The only sound was the deep, ragged breathing of Jaye, who was clenching his eyes shut as he battled his Feral wolf, and the sound of the tires on the old dirt tracks.
It seemed like forever before Reggie called back to us, informing us that we were nearing the lodge.
We took the chance to ready ourselves, some of us standing, which wasn’t easy and we had to bend over oddly. We were hot and flustered, not much airflow coming in from Reggie’s open window, and too many hot-blooded werewolves in such a confined space.
When we rolled to an abrupt stop, Reggie swore and leaped out of the van without any explanation.
“Everyone out, now,” Lawrence ordered after a few moments waiting. We had no inclination as to what had happened, so we all prepared ourselves for the worst.
Chris shoved the door open and snarled as he launched out, tossing his head as he searched our surroundings for the issue.
We all shot out after him, our glowing eyes flicking everywhere.
There was no danger, just the soft sobs of a woman.
I turned back, spying the woman sitting out the front of the lodge whom Reggie was comforting.
Lawrence was the first to stride over, and she stared up at him with confused, tear-filled eyes.
We all followed, and then we stiffened.
Blood.
And Tay’s scent.
“What happened?” Lawrence asked as he stood over the woman.
“This is Lawrence Ashwood,” Reggie murmured as he wrapped an arm around the woman’s shoulders. Her dirty blonde hair was falling from a loose ponytail, and her green eyes were filled with dismay.
“I’m here to challenge the Alpha,” Lawrence stated.
“He’s not here,” the woman sobbed.
“May, where is he, what happened?” Reggie coaxed her, his voice soft and tender.
“I came over when I heard him roaring. I’ve been tending to Taylor, and I was worried. When I got here, I found a knife with his blood on it. I think she attacked him. Her scent came out here, and so does his. I think he’s gone after her, he’s going to kill her,” she whimpered as more tears spilled forth.
“May!”
We all snapped our heads as a man came sprinting out of the forest.
“Charles!” May sobbed as she stood up with Reggie’s
help.
We all tensed, unsure how to treat this newcomer as we all shifted and watched him carefully.
He glanced around at us, but he seemed more concerned with something else.
“Please tell me Ray’s here,” Charles begged, his face strained.
“No, he’s not,” May whispered, drawing in a shaky breath as she glanced around at us.
“Fuck,” Charles cursed as he held his hands up behind his head. “He’s taken a liking to the girl. I accidentally told him what I overheard Richard saying, he seemed worried. I told him to stay in his room, but when I checked on him, he was gone. He must’ve come here…” Charles’ voice trailed off as he looked around in horror.
“What did you overhear?” Lawrence growled.
Frank was standing awkwardly beside him and Reggie, while me and the other boys stood facing Charles.
Neema was hanging back, watching everything play out.
“He intended to have her again, even though we all told him to let her recover after the mating ceremony,” Charles blubbered, lines of worry marring his face.
“That fucking piece of shit,” Lawrence spat.
“Do you really think Ray would’ve come here?” May whimpered.
“I don’t know,” Charles said, his voice shaking and broken.
“Come, we’ve got her scent, we’ll track her,” Lawrence barked as he began stripping down.
We didn’t argue as we too tore our clothes off.
We all froze as a horrendous roar rose up in the distance, up in the mountains.
Reggie and May instantly shuddered and cowered, and I knew immediately that it was Richard.
“I’m coming with you,” Charles stated.
Lawrence looked ready to order him off, but instead he caught himself and shook his head.
Charles took this as a sign that he could come, not that I thought we could stop him anyway. He was beyond stressed about who I assumed was his son.
The next thing I knew, we were all racing through the forest in wolf form, our senses locked onto Taylor’s trail.
