Feral Wolf

I stood in the shower with my eyes closed tightly as what happened earlier flashed through my mind. I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply as I willed my body to relax. The stench of Clara’s blood slipped down my arm and into the drain.

For a moment, I allowed the fear to consume me. She had told them everything. I needed to keep them safe. I needed to keep everyone safe.

The shower door slid open and Brontes’ scent wrapped around me. A moment later his hands were placed on my hips and his head was on the crook of my neck.

“Calliope.” He whispered.

I didn’t answer him. I was too afraid to show my fear.

“My female, how many times am I going to tell you that you can show me the other side of you that is not my merciless Alpha?” He chided gently before turning me in his arms to face him. I still didn’t open my eyes but my breathing was irregular. He moved to kiss me on my lips.

“I will protect you with my life. We will get through this together. It is not just you any longer. You now have me.” He spoke again. “Look at me, Calliope.”

My eyes fluttered open to look at his emerald green eyes. A sob escaped my lips and I threw myself into his arms. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and I held on tight. I was strong but I was also very afraid.

“We will do this together.” Brontes kissed the top of my head and held me until I relaxed again. He reached behind me and shut off the water. “C’mon out of the shower. You have been in here long enough.”

He wiped me down and sat me on the bed while he went rummaging through my clothes to find me something to wear. After he slipped on my shirt and a pair of sweats he knelt on the floor with his knees and placed his hand on mine.

“Look at me, Calliope.”

My eyes moved from the ground to his.

“Everything will be fine.”

I nodded as Brontes pulled us back into bed. I wrapped my arms around him and allowed sleep to take over. It didn’t. I stayed awake until I heard Brontes’ even breathing and then I removed myself from his embrace and walked to my office, where I opened a map of my territory. It was nearly midnight. My finger traced my territory boundaries. I took out my red marker and began crossing out places my trackers had gone to. The sweep my trackers were doing was sweeping from down south and up to my north border where the attack on the cattle was.

If I was following my gut, the hunters’ camp should be somewhere up north. I moved to touch my stomach and I also had a gut feeling that Brontes had successfully impregnated me today.

A knock on my door had my eyes moving to my door. “Who is it?”

“Mathias.”

“Come in.” I said and sat on my office chair in exhaustion. He walked in and I waved off the guard. “I need you to follow your end of the deal. Tell me what you know.”

He nodded before standing up to look at my map. He picked up his pen and marked two areas on the map up north.

“We have roamed around your territory tirelessly, Alpha. I know the outside of your territory like the back of my hand.” He marked an ‘X’ at the camp I destroyed. “You took out this one. What you didn’t realize was you there were two more. Alpha Brontes was kept as a prisoner there but he was more than likely tortured and I would assume sexually assaulted as well. No werewolves in these camps went without being sexually assaulted by the vile hunters that own those camps.”

My eyes shot up to look at Mathias. My grip on the chair tightened so badly that I broke the handles on my chair in half. I clenched my jaw and began counting to control the animal that was growling viciously inside of me, wanting blood and wanting it fast.

“Calm down, Alpha. In due time. We need to come up with a plan. If Clara was speaking the truth, you and I do not have much time. We need to keep a sane mind.”

Another knock on the door had us both looking up at the door. It opened, revealing my father who came in, closing the door behind him.

“I knew you wouldn’t sleep.” He murmured as he walked around to look at what we were doing. He pointed to the two circles that were close by to each other. “These are the two camps?”

“Yes, and they are the only ones that are left that are near you. They have worked on trying to enter into your territory but because your Alpha rule was famous and well-known enough for even hunters they did not want to approach until they could get someone inside or they were confident enough. That’s why they left your territory alone.”

“We have to attack them before they attack us. It is the only option left. They already know our territory.” I whispered to both of them.

“What do you want me to do, Callie?” My father asked, his face full of determination.

“Tomorrow, gather the warriors. We are going to use the element of surprise on our end and attack before they do it. They don’t know that their little mole has died and if they don’t hear from her soon they would start to suspect something is up. We need to act fast.” I said.

“You don’t have to worry. We will be at the fields waiting for you.” My father spoke. “Are you going to let Brontes know?”

“I will have to. He will be angry with me if I didn’t.” I said with a sigh.

“It is different when you have a mate that cares about you. He will protect you, my pup. You just need to learn to accept it.” My father said gently.

After our late night meeting I decided to go back to bed. Brontes was still sleeping when I returned and I crawled back into his arms, allowing sleep to take over me.

When I slept, I dreamt of war.