Nikita nodded and the two stood up. Hugging briefly, they vowed to do whatever it took to save their Alpha and their best friend. Minutes later they were again in the harness and headed for home. Despite their hopes of a quick trip it was four days before they neared their village. Stopping well short the two wolves lifted their noses to the air and shuddered. Moments later two men stood in their place. Faces raw with emotion they took in the scent of death and the acrid smell of smoldering wood. Looking down at the two men in the sled one last time they eased their way toward the village, careful to stay concealed as they approached. The sight that met their eyes devastated them. The homes lay in smoldering piles as faint tendrils of smoke rose from the ashes. Here and there they spied a body. Holding on to each other for support they made their way around the rubble. They found no sign of life and the scent of strange humans was almost overpowered by the scent of death. But once they identified the strange smells, they widened their search and found where the humans had begun their attack. They spent time between caring for the two men on the sled and searching the village for any signs of life or evidence anyone had escaped.
They found nothing and no one to indicate anyone made it out alive. They searched most of the day and into the next looking for the team that had brought the herd back. They tallied their lost and realized the only unmated males were themselves, their six sled pullers they had yet to see and two sled pullers with Mikhail’s team. There was no evidence those sled pullers had made it back either. Twenty men had gone on the hunt and no one had yet made it back. If the other mated men had reacted the same, then somewhere out there they lay vulnerable and alone unless Mikhail’s team was able to save him and his partner as Nikita and Dimitri had done for their friend and their Alpha.
They worked tirelessly gathering the dead, building a shelter and scavenging for anything they could use to cook food for the two men and carry water. On their third day back, with the hint of rain in the air Dimitri took off to track the scent of the humans back to their homes. He returned on the fourth day just as eight young wolves with two sleds eased into the village. His wolf was enraged at the intrusion as was Nikita’s wolf and it took time to calm their wolves down. The men recognized the young males, the sled pullers, but the wolves, no longer pack, fought for control to defend their territory from the intruders.
The young males who should have been with them that morning had encountered a Siberian Tiger and one of the young men had been mauled before the others could join the fight. They had been prepared to carry him as he healed but the abrupt cessation of being part of a pack had taken a toll on their ability to work together. They had struggled to stay together and work their way back by tracking their path. When they reached the sleds, and found only one, they had fought about what to do. They had missed the new trail the men had taken to get back and had relied on using the trail the sled had taken originally. They had fought on who would pull the sled. They had fought about who would lead them. They had fought often and daily before one of the males came out on top in all the fights. Their wolves had bowed to their new Alpha and the team finally had a workable situation to return home but without a pack bond they still had communication issues. The temporary Alpha didn’t have whatever it took to make them pack again.
The two from Mikhail’s team had a more horror filled story. They had been with Mikhail and Yakov when everything went to hell. The other sled team had already hooked up, both mated males, both a little older but ranked low in the pack. The men with the sled had taken off wildly, with the sled attached, while Mikhail and Yakov had likewise taken off. The two couldn’t follow everyone but they tried chasing the sled first. When they finally were able to run the two pulling the sled down, they were too late. The two had tangled the sled and fought each other to the death. They had backtracked to search for Yakov and Mikhail but those two had split so they followed Mikhail’s trail first. The two had no idea why they couldn’t speak to each other anymore through the pack and this caused them some difficulty also. But, like Adrik, Nikita and Dimitri the two had been friends since birth so they forged ahead together. They hadn’t found Mikhail; the trail had ended at the river. They had then retraced their trail and gone in search of Yakov. They found him late the next day, his knife buried deep in his chest, his eyes staring sightlessly at the sky.
Having spent two days trying to track down the others they returned to their sled, rested, ate and talked. Neither one old enough to confidently return to the village through an unbroken path they made the decision to back track to where everyone split and use their scent trail to get home. Like the others they found being in wolf form while pulling a sled and unable to communicate an almost impossible task, but their bond of friendship had helped them. The two teams had met up only an hour before stumbling into the village. Not time enough to have a fight for dominance which the two thought was probably a good thing for them.
Now the young men, none older than twenty-five, none younger than fifteen, were desperate for answers but Nikita and Dimitri had none to give. They were not Alphas and couldn’t bond the pack back together. The two men who could, weren’t mentally available and might never be again. The only thing Dimitri could tell the younger ones for certain was as soon as they had the dead buried and had scoured for anything salvageable, they would be heading to the human village to scout the area. When they were done, the human village would go the way their village had gone. They vowed to leave not one human alive.
***
The eight sled pullers pitched in to help clean the village and bury the dead after everyone worked to process the meat for easier storage. The days were cold enough to keep the meat and the ground not yet frozen to prevent the burials. The work was exhausting and heart-breaking. They wanted nothing to do with keeping Jutoh and Adrik alive. Not because they wanted them dead, but they couldn’t deal with keeping the weak alive for no reason. And no one had any reason to believe they would ever recover. That didn’t matter to Dimitri and Nikita, they vowed to keep trying and they had no intention of stopping.
Ten days after Dimitri and Nikita walked back into their village, they called a halt to the work. All the bodies they could find had been buried. Everything they could salvage had been salvaged. Some of the root cellars still held food, and the men thought it possible they could make it through the winter after they raided the human village for more stores of food. The needed to make a decision, the weather was turning colder, and the first snow would soon fall. The shelter they had wouldn’t last through the winter and sharing it with so many wolves who weren’t pack would be infinitely more difficult.
In the end the decision was made slightly easier when the sled pullers drew together and decided, after they wiped out the human village, they would head south to another pack and petition to join. They requested the right to take half the kill from the sleds as a bargaining chip for entry to the pack. Nikita and Dimitri, after talking it over, agreed with the decision. The only difficulty they foresaw was whether the pack would believe the youngsters. When it came out that one of the young men’s father was originally from the pack and he had family in the pack they agreed the young males should take both the sleds they had brought back and most of the meat.
On the eleventh day, just after daylight, the ten males left the village. Dimitri and Nikita took turns pulling the sled though the rains had made the way slightly more difficult they refused to leave their friends behind. Nikita said since the humans were the reason his Alpha and his best friend were in the shape they were in it would be fitting the two were there when the human village fell. Even with the sled Dimitri had determined they could reach the village just after nightfall. In the darkness of the night they would take their revenge.
***
By the time the first scream pierced the night air half the village had been killed. The scream, terror filled and full of pain, reverberated through one male. His eyes, closed for fifteen days, sprung open. Shifting as he rose, confused, from the sled, h
e sprang into action. The scent of his friends heavy in the air the wolf followed the trail. He wasn’t pack. He didn’t know he should be. But he knew he had friends, how he knew he couldn’t have said. His friends needed him. How he knew that he likewise couldn’t have said. It took little time for the monstrous beast of a wolf to figure out they were in a human village and the wolves were slaughtering the humans. He couldn’t reason out why this might be so, and he didn’t try. He joined the fight. Striking out with fang and claw, slicing though flesh he made his way through the village using his bulk to batter doors down. He lashed out in rage and pain; loss heavy on his heart.
When dawn broke the sky hours later the village lay in ruins. The huge wolf, filled with confusion, stared at the two men in front of him. Bleeding and in pain both inside and out he tried to focus on the two men. His thoughts were chaotic and jumbled. Every time he had taken a step toward the young wolves milling around, the two in front of him and moved with him, keeping their bodies between him and the others. The others were important to the two, that much was obvious, but he didn’t know why. Their scent was familiar, but he didn’t understand how he knew that. The two in front of him, he knew them, family, but he couldn’t remember why they were family. Eventually, the eight strange young males left the village, leaving the two in front of him behind.
He growled at them. Every time he tried to leave, they blocked him. They seemed to be trying to herd him one direction. His snout lifted into the air, more family. He turned, looking for the source of the scent. Following his nose, he found the sled and the male. Sniffing he tried to figure out what was wrong. He knew this one also. Father. Mate. His thoughts skittered from one thought to another before shattering. He howled in anguish. He hurt. Humans hurt him. He had to kill them. He had to kill them all.
***
Dimitri stared at Nikita, frustration and worry carving deep lines on his boyish face. “If we can’t get him to shift to human, I swear I will brain him with a tree limb.”
Nikita heaved a deep sigh before pointing out the obvious. “You couldn’t get close enough to touch him, much less knock some sense in him.”
“Yes, well, at least he let us feed Jutoh without a fight this time. If we have to fight him every time we need to feed our Alpha, we will all be dead by spring.”
Nikita stared at his arm as it healed, the blood a mere trickle as the newest wound closed. “Yes, without a fight.”
“I think he was trying to help us.”
“We could do with a little less of his help. Did you see which way he went this time?” Nikita asked.
“Toward the human village again. Not sure why he keeps returning there.” Dimitri looked down at Jutoh before returning his attention to the wall he was rebuilding. “What we need is for him to shift into his wolf. I think the wolf would be easier to feed plus the fur would help him survive this winter.”
“We have tried. If we could get Adrik’s wolf to call to him maybe he would shift. Everything would be easier if we could get him up and moving even if he weren’t all there in his mind. I thought Adrik would have killed him by now. Do you think he remembers anything?”
“Maybe? He avoids the section of the village where he and Natasha had their home, and he gives his parent’s home a wide berth. It doesn’t seem to bother him too much using this place.” Dimitri shrugged.
“Yeah, it bothers me though. It isn’t that I had so much in here but being here, in the home I built, is more of a reminder, I think, of how destructive the humans were.”
“Well, why don’t you give me a hand. You built it once, we can build it again. I think a few more hours should see it strong enough to get us through this winter.”
Nikita worked his arm around to test it. “Still a bit sore, but nothing seems broken. At least the fireplace I built didn’t fall. I think my home came through this better than I would have thought. It probably helped that it was, probably, the first one they hit. Finding it empty would have made them move on quicker to the next one.”
“You should have worked on a root cellar.”
“Yes, well, if I had known the village would be destroyed, I would have worked on a lot more than a root cellar.” Nikita braced his shoulder against the log Dimitri was working into place. “The next time we build, or rebuild, or whatever we decide to do, I will have a root cellar with a hidden door to another root cellar with a hidden door to a safe space. One with a hidden fireplace and room for survivors.”
With a grunt the two men managed to get the log in place and stepped back. Nikita tilted his head to the side as he eyed the wall. “It will do. We have maybe an hour of daylight left, do we go after Adrik or finish the roof?”
“The roof. I smell snow.” Dimitri twisted to look at the pile of wood beside the fireplace before heading outside with Nikita close on his heels. “If we work fast, we can have that last hole patched before dark.”
The two men had been working tirelessly for days getting Nikita’s home ready for winter. Between trying to care for Jutoh and chasing after Adrik they were behind in their work. With no way to communicate with Adrik, and Jutoh still unresponsive each day bled into the next with no time to rest and mourn for their losses. They had made several trips to the human village with the sled to gather food and building materials. Unlike the humans, who had burned everything in sight, the shifters had considered their needs and hadn’t set fire to the village. When night fell, they lit lamps and continued working inside trying to prepare for winter.
As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon and the stillness of night fell the two men took a break. The roof had been a bit more difficult than expected. Nikita closed the door and rubbed his hands together as Dimitri built up the fire. The amount of food the two men were going through was greater than they expected but the amount of work they had done to get the place ready was less than they thought it would need. Dimitri stirred the soup they kept going near the fire as the howl of a wolf broke the silence.
“I got it.” Nikita told him as he walked over and opened the door. The huge wolf snarled at him before walking inside. Once inside the wolf walked over to the mat where Jutoh lay and curled up next to him, watching the two men as they ate. As the two finished and placed their wooden bowls in the basin of water the wolf yipped and barked.
Dimitri started on the new shelves they were building to hold some of the food they had raided. Nikita tried to join him but Adrik’s wolf padded over to him and started herding him back to the fire.
“Now what the hell has gotten into him?” Nikita asked in exasperation.
“I don’t know, but he doesn’t look happy with you and he damn sure doesn’t sound happy. Maybe he wants you to put more wood on the fire?”
As Nikita reached for another piece of wood the wolf snapped at him. He drew his hand back and tried to step away but Adrik pushed him toward the fire. Before he could react, the wolf grabbed his arm in his mouth gently but firmly moved it toward the soup.
“Why in the hell would you want soup? Shift back and fix your own soup. Your wolf won’t eat it. Not unless you let it cool.”
“Fix him a bowl.” Dimitri said.
“Alright. Alright.” Nikita gestured to his arm, still in the wolf’s grip. “You have to let my arm go before I can fix you a bowl.”
Moments later, bowl full of soup, he placed it on the floor near the wolf. Snapping and snarling the wolf lunged at him and again grabbed his arm, this time pulling him toward where Jutoh lay.
“Damn. Damn. Let go, you stupid idiot. Jutoh doesn’t need food again yet.”
“I don’t think he cares. It can’t hurt to give him more food. Are we going to have to hide to eat I wonder? Let me get this in place and I will give you a hand. We need to figure out something to do about Jutoh. By spring, if we can’t get him awake soon, this place will be unbearable with the stench of his body refuse.” He walked over and lifted Jutoh to a sitting position as Adrik’s wolf released Nikita’s arm. Blood flowed from the new wounds.
Four weeks later
“Alright, I will stay with Jutoh and you see if you can find him. He hasn’t stayed gone this long before. If nothing else, he always comes back to check on our Alpha.”
“I know where he is, same place as always. The twice damned human village.” Dimitri snarled as he headed for the door. “I will be back when I get back.”
Once outside Dimitri shifted and raced toward the decimated human village. Hours later, he met Adrik’s wolf limping toward him. He smelled the dried blood and noticed the fresh scars on the wolf’s coat as slid to a halt in the snow. He shifted and waited for the wolf to reach him. Adrik stood still as he ran his hand down the leg the wolf was favoring. Stoking upward his hand brushed something hard. He ignored the snarls of the wolf when he found the sliver of wood. He barely flinched when the wolf snapped at him as he removed the sliver and studied it.
“How in the hell did you get part of an arrow in your shoulder? Never mind. Were you heading home? You have been gone for days. We were worried. Still no change in Jutoh. It would help if you would shift back.”
The wolf whimpered before taking off leaving Dimitri behind. He stared after the wolf before turning his attention toward the direction the wolf had come from. “Why do you keep heading toward the human village? What are you finding there that draws you back time after time and who shot an arrow at you, I wonder?”
He stood staring a moment longer before making a decision. Shifting back, he took off. After he reached the village, he let his nose lead him to the path Adrik had left. Circling until he was certain he had the strongest path, the path that hinted at the blood of his friend, he took off. Back-tracking Adrik took the remainder of the day, all night, and into the next day but toward noon the stench of death was strong. Slowing, he eased his way toward the smell.
Dimitri shifted and stood at the edge of the tree-line. He stared in dismay at the scene in front of him. The village wasn’t as large as the one they had destroyed but what lay before him had been, at one time, a small human village. The bodies he could see had been torn apart. This then was where Adrik had disappeared to days ago. What Dimitri couldn’t figure out was why. What led Adrik here and why would he destroy the people of this village? To his knowledge, and he was the one who back-tracked the murders of their pack, this village had nothing to do with the massacre.
Blood of the Wolf (Safe Haven Wolves Short Stories Book 1) Page 4
