One Fateful Night

The run through the forest was extremely peaceful, even though we were all on alert. We ran ourselves at full speed tiring out our wolves until the Blood Moon pack house came in sight. Upon arrival, we shifted back dressed and decided to take a break. We didn’t bother making a fire; instead, we relax under the setting sun and ate some sandwiches that Richard brought.

Finally, with the sun almost fully set, I jump to my feet. “We should be going it is getting darker.”

I wait for the group to get ready and start heading toward the clearing where I found Josh. Once we reach the clearing both Josh and my eyes got bigger.

“Where are the dead Rogues?” I ask him as I look around at the empty clearing.

He shrugs his arms and we enter the clearing. Uneasiness fills me as we follow the path that was shown to me by the Wolf in my dream. A short while later it was almost as if some sort of invisible force was pulling me, so I stop and turned to the group.

“Let’s go up.” As I point to the treetops, “Something is telling me we will find what we are looking for.”

Josh and I begin to climb a nearby tree while Richard, Uncle John, and Roberto found shadows to help them keep out of sight on the ground. Once I found a sturdy branch to stand on I looked around the surrounding area. With the wind blowing on us, I noticed a very faint smell difference, but I couldn’t determine what the source of the change was. I am broken from my thoughts by Josh who points at a small cave to the right of us.

“I don’t remember ever seeing that, but it’s too small to house a large army. Maybe we need to keep going?” He looks at me and waits for an answer.

“Let’s go cave exploring, if anything it may be a good place for us to take a break.”

We climb down the tree and explain to the group where we are going. We quietly creep in the direction of the cave, as we were getting closer the overwhelming smell of Rogue was hitting all of our noses. Once I got even closer, that Rogue smell was combined with the smell of vanilla, cherry, and blood.

“Matthew is in this cave” I whisper.

“Are you sure?” Josh asked.

“I smell my mate and I’m having a horrible time keeping Garnet from coming to the surface, she wants her mate.”

“The Alpha,” Roberto whispered.

“We need to take a step back and figure this out, they potentially have hostages. If we go running in there swords drawn, they may kill them.” Richard pointed out.

I came up with a plan, but it would take some time to put into action. “Roberto, can you go look around for a second entrance? It’s a long shot but we may come up with something.” I looked at Josh. “Can you try to slip back to my house and grab my bow and arrows? I left mine there grabbing dads.”

They both nodded and began to head in the direction of their tasks. I looked at Richard and Uncle John with a half-smile. “Anyone have anything that can disguise a scent? I’m going in to see how many there are.”

“You are not going in there!” Uncle John looked at me sternly. “I understand what you are trying to do, but if your mate is in there, you may be in more danger than he is if your wolf takes control. I will go and get a number count, you two wait here.”

I plop to the ground in defeat as my uncle creeps toward the cave entrance.

Mate needs our help. Mate is hurt.

Garnet kept projecting her worry into my head and I start to get impatient. Richard sat next to me and placed my head on his shoulder.

“You need to relax; you will be no help to anyone dead. If you don’t calm down that could happen.”

“I’m sorry, I am just worried. I know he is injured and the waiting is killing me.”

We sat there in silence as Roberto made his way back to us. “Sorry Luna, I found no other entrance to the cave.”

I nodded my head in appreciation. As we continued to sit there and wait, we heard someone approaching us from behind. Josh came through the trees and placed the bow and quiver on the ground next to me. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Uncle John crept out of the cave.

“There look to be about 13 Rogues and at least 14 hostages. How good are you with that bow?” He asks as he pointed to the tree. “We are going to draw them out which will hopefully limit our fighting and keep the hostages safe. I hope you are a good shot.”

I smirk and climb a nearby tree. Roberto crosses behind us to the right of the cave entrance while Josh took the left.

Richard stays close to the tree I was sitting in, while Uncle John took a few steps forward and brought out a pistol. Firing three shots in the air, we wait until we could hear the footsteps of incoming Rogues. The first four come through the cave entrance and look at Uncle John, I notch my silver-tipped arrow and send it flying, killing the one closest to him. Uncle John fires a bullet at the Rogue to his left taking him out. However, the Rogue to his right heads straight for Uncle John as I shoot an arrow at the final one, connecting with his shoulder. Damn, I missed I think to myself. As I begin to notch another arrow, five more come out of the cave and shift. Wasting no time Roberto and Josh shift and grab the two closest ones. I fire my arrow at one of the wolves who joined the fray killing him instantly, while Richard grabbed the one I injured.

I looked at Uncle John who was struggling with another Rogue. The Rogue had him by the throat and he was having issues trying to gain the upper hand. Noticing my arrow amount slowly deteriorating, I grab a dagger and throw it hitting the Rogue in the head. I then grab my bow and fire a shot at the wolf running for Uncle John as he is going to catch his breath. Five down, eight to go. I look at Josh who has the upper hand with his Rogue, and I look over to Roberto, who has killed the wolf by ripping out his throat and has moved on to another. Checking on Richard I see him startled over the Rogue pounding his shoulder. He then takes a rock and knocks him out. I then hear a yelp as Josh takes out his Rogue, eight down, five to go.

I jump out of the tree and drop my bow; I remove my dagger from the Rogue. Checking out the carnage I throw a look at Uncle John, he smiles at me to signify he is ok and I start heading to the cave. As Josh and Roberto take out the final Rogue, Richard states he is going to stay out here to watch his prisoner. Josh and Roberto quickly grab a pair of shorts and join me as we walk to the cave. Knowing there are still four Rogues in there, we have to be extremely careful since we don’t want the hostages to be harmed.

Sticking in the shadows, we continue into the cave until we were met with two tunnels. Smelling Matthew to the right, I sent Josh and Roberto to the left as they began to walk down the tunnel, I heard footsteps behind me.

“I’m here, where do you need me?” My uncle asked.

“Stay with me.” I plead as he smiles at me.

“Of course.”

We began following the tunnel to the right when the next opening of the cave revealed at least 30 cages. Most of the cages were empty, at least 10 contained dead werewolves, and finally, we saw five containing living prisoners. I start to walk toward them and my uncle grabs my arm and points in the direction of Matthew and the two Rogues guarding him.

“We know you are in here, we could smell you since you entered.” They yelled at us. “You may as well come out into the open so we can put you in a cage with the rest of em.”

Grabbing my dagger I point to the one on the left, as Uncle John grabs his gun and nods. I step out in the open and look at the Rogue. I smirk at him, send him a wink, and release my dagger hitting him right between the eyes. Hearing a loud shot, Uncle John took out the other one.

“We got to get these guys out of here,” I said as we began trying to break the locks.

After what seems like forever I finally get into Matthew’s cage. He was unconscious and barely breathing; he had been tortured and starved. Josh and Roberto come into the room with another 8 prisoners’ and gasp at their Alphas condition.

“Josh, get him to Midnight Rain immediately. I will go with you, Roberto, and the rest will get these wolves back as well and don’t forget our prisoner. ”

Josh shifts into his wolf as Uncle John and Roberto put Matthew on his back. I quickly strip off my tracking uniform and shift into Garnet. We speed home as fast as we can in hopes that we can save my mate’s life.