Deep Wolves (8 page)

I opened my eyes to see where the voice had come from. The wolves were gone. All of them. In their places were men, shifted from the forms I had grown afraid of just moments ago. The man who spoke was standing directly in front of him.

He had light blond hair that was cut short and close to his head. His beard was thin along his chiseled face. He was built like the rest of the men. Hard muscles all over his body that were accentuated by the moonlight. Even though he was no longer growling, he seemed no less threatening. His brown eyes still burned with a fire that only an animal would possess.

“Please,” Vaughn said. “There is no need for bloodshed.”

“Are you lost?” the man asked.

“No. We come looking for The Doras.”

“Who is we?”

“I, Shadow of The Rucai—”

“I don’t care what clan you represent. You have no business here. This territory is ours.”

“There is a threat.”

“So you admit it?”

“Yes. But not from me. The Nakas.”

There was a silence I hadn’t heard since I’d stepped into the forest. I looked forward at the man as he crossed his arms, the look on his face resentful.

“The Nakas are no threat to us,” he scoffed.

“They are,” Vaughn said to him. “They’re murdering people in the city.”

“The concerns of humans are not concerns of ours. If they wish to spread their destruction in the city then so be it.”

“They will come for you next. They will come take your territory and spread out.”

“And what makes you so sure?”

“Because there is no rhyme or reason to their destruction,” Irvine joined in. “They will not spare you when they cross you.”

The man looked at Irvine and scoffed again, rolling his eyes at the suggestion.

“I do not listen to the words of a murderer,” the man said. “And you, Shadow of The Rucai. You bring this killer of your brothers and sisters into our territory and expect us to listen to your lies?”

“The Nakas are coming. They won’t stop with the city.”

Vaughn tried to reason with them but it didn’t look like it was doing any good. There was still a look of disdain on his face. I grew more fearful that Irvine and Vaughn would have to resort to violence. But with so many of them surrounding us, I wasn’t sure if even they could hold them off.

“I have no time for this,” the man sighed. “Leave now or I will kill you.”

“You will just let the Nakas have you then?” Vaughn said.

“What would you have us do?” the man asked. “There are thousands of Nakas. We are a clan of less than fifty.”

“So you will just roll over and die?”

“Don’t question my heart!”

The man stepped closer to Vaughn and put his face to his. The two men growled at each other. I released my grip from Vaughn’s arm and took a step back. Irvine stood in front of me and I leaned in close to him.

“Go back to where you came from, Shadow,” the man said. “Leave now before you hurt yourself.”

There was a woman standing next to the man. She was blonde and beautiful. She had no shame of her body, her breasts bared to the open wind. Her tall and slim physique was something to be proud of and there wasn’t any doubt that she was the man’s Alpha.

When I looked at her, she gave me a resentful look. Her eyebrows arched and her eyes narrowed, forcing me to look away. She moved closer to her mate and slowly started to pull him away.

“Do not waste your time, my love,” she said to him in a scornful voice. “A wolf who spends his time with such human filth is not worthy of your time.”

I looked back up at her and she was still eyeballing me in a way that would make any woman shudder. The pupils of her eyes were red. They were burning fire not like anything I’d ever seen before. I was standing so close to Irvine that I was practically knocking him over.

The tension was thick. Any second one of them could snap and I would find myself in the middle of a circle of violence.

Please… Let this end… I don’t want to be here any longer.

I was pleading with someone I didn’t know with but my heart felt like it could no longer take it. And as if my prayers had been answered, the man slowly started to back away as the blonde woman tugged on his arm.

“Go,” he said. “Run away before it’s too late.”

“If you are unwilling to fight for your territory then I will take it from you,” Vaughn said to him.

“Now you threaten me?”

The man pulled his arm free from the woman and got back into Vaughn’s face. The two growled at one another and I searched for Irvine to brace myself upon him.

“You are no Alpha,” Vaughn snarled at him. “I challenge you!”

“You are not Doras! You do not have the right to challenge for leadership!”

“I’m not challenging you for your leadership. This clan is yours. I challenge you for your obedience.”

“You come into my territory with
them
and spit on your brethren? Now you insult my honor. I should rip out your throat where you stand!”

“If you will not listen to reason, then I will make you!”

In the blink of an eye, the two men growled at one another and shifted into wolves. Vaughn pounced upon him and the two struggled with one another on the ground.

“Vaughn!”

I cried out and reached toward him but Irvine pulled me back. I looked at him and he shook his head, silently telling me that this was Vaughn’s fight and Vaughn’s alone. I turned around and looked at all of the men as they watched the two wolves struggle with one another. The blonde woman eyed the fight with anger in her eyes and her teeth clenched.

The brown wolf struggled underneath Vaughn, who snapped at his throat. Just as Vaughn was positioning himself on top of him, the other wolf kicked him off. Vaughn quickly worked his way back to his feet and snarled back. The brown wolf charged at him. The loud sound of their teeth snapping at each other made me cringe. Every time it happened, I worried that one of them would be ripped apart.

They clawed each other. Blood sprayed onto the ground. Streaks of red appeared on their fur but neither of them relented. After everything Vaughn had already been through, I worried that his previous injuries would begin to take a toll on him. He backed away from the brown wolf, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted heavily. Vaughn stood there as the other wolf charged at him. I swallowed and feared that Vaughn would be unable to defend himself.

Just as the brown wolf leapt into the air, Vaughn shifted.  Vaughn turned into a half-man, half-beast, rising up from his four feet onto two. He was now standing on his hind legs as a man. He quickly raised his arms and snatched the wolf from the sky. He grabbed him by the throat.

“You will listen to reason,” the werewolf Vaughn growled at him in a low voice.

The sound of the wolf struggling to breathe could be heard. I watched the claws beginning to pierce his skin, red starting to gush from the punctures.

“Vaughn! Let him go!”

I shouted and pleaded to him. I couldn’t take it any longer. I had already seen so much violence and I didn’t need to see anymore.

“Vaughn, please! You’ve already won! Leave him be…”

The clearing was silent except for the loud sound of Vaughn’s heavy breathing. My heart was racing as I wondered what was going through his mind. Then Vaughn turned slowly to me. I barely recognized the werewolf looking back at me, the blue emeralds in his eyes the only thing that looked familiar.

I looked at him and did my best to get him to stop. And he heard me. Vaughn released his grip from the wolf and stood back up straight. He shifted back to the human he was when he got here, his jeans and shirt now in pieces upon the ground. The wolf shifted back into the short-haired blond man. His mate helped him back up to his feet.

He was covered in wounds, lines of blood all over his body. His sweat glistened underneath the moonlight. I could see resentment in his eyes as he stared at Vaughn.

“You,” he grunted. “You disrespect our laws. You disrespect our peace and our territory. You… You are no wolf, Shadow. You do not have my respect…”

He and his mate were giving us a cold stare of death. But despite that, he sighed and continued.

“But you will have my ear. And I will listen to this rumor of the threat of the Nakas.”

“My love—”

“Silence, my queen,” he said, raising his hand to the woman standing next to him. “There is no need for further bloodshed. I promise you your appetite will be satiated.”

There was a look of scornful resentment on her face. She reluctantly bowed her head to him. She glared at me. I felt uneasy even though the worse had just passed. She then turned around and made her way back deep into the heart of the forest. The men who circled around us started to make their way through the trees and followed her.

“I am Cyrus, Alpha of The Doras. This is the territory of our pack.”

He turned around and followed the rest of his clan into the forest. I rushed up closer to Vaughn to make sure that he was all right. The wounds he had received were nothing compared to what happened last night but it still pained me to see more cuts being opened up on him.

I didn’t say anything to him. He knew how concerned I was. When I looked at him, he nodded and it was all the reassurance I needed to know that he would be all right.

“Come on,” Irvine said to us. “We’re just getting started.”

Chapter 9

I listened to the sound of the wolves shuffling in front of us. I wondered where they were taking us. Life out here might have been normal for someone like them but I was human. So was Irvine. But after apparently earning their trust, we had no choice but to follow Cyrus and the rest of the Doras into the forest.

I found something I wasn’t expecting. There was a building constructed solely out of wood. It wasn’t the most refined cabin I’d ever seen but the architecture was created by someone I assumed was comfortable underneath the trees. The makeshift wooden cabin was large and extended almost as high as the trees surrounding us. Next to it in the clearing was a body of water. The clear water of the lake reflected the stars above. It was an oasis in the middle of the forest.

As we made our way into the clearing, the members of the Doras started to occupy every spot of the camp they’d made for themselves. Some of them fought over food and other various scraps of meat. Others lied around lazily and passed the time away by simply doing nothing at all.

Irvine, Vaughn and I followed Cyrus through the camp.

“This is our home,” he said, holding his arms out. “It isn’t much but it’s more than enough. We are a small clan. We do not invade other territories. We have what we need to survive and prosper. You bring us news that threatens this livelihood. I will not allow you to simply put our lives at risk based on speculation.”

“The Nakas are spreading,” Vaughn said to him. “When they run out of room, they’ll come here.”

“Them,” Cyrus said as he pointed at me and Irvine. “Was it necessary to bring them along?”

“I have all of the information you need,” Irvine explained. “The Agency provided me with—”

“The Agency. Of course. Humans managing to stick their noses into our business.”

“The Nakas are killing humans. This
is
our business.”

“And what about the female? I suppose she’s someone hired from your precious Agency as well?”

He eyeballed me with a skeptical look in his eyes. The woman he was with did the same, except I could feel the disdain emanating from her. It was obvious she didn’t like me and I was doing everything I could to avoid looking back at her.

“She is with me,” Vaughn said. “She is my Alpha.”

“What?” Cyrus scoffed. “You’re joking.”

“Indeed,” the woman said. “For a wolf to be mating with a human… Such a shame. Such a waste. You have no place here, woman.”

“Enough,” Vaughn stopped her from continuing. “This has nothing to do with the issue at hand.”

“Still, she taints our camp,” the woman said. “This hunter you’ve brought with you has earned the respect of wolves because of his reputation. I can smell the death of our brethren upon the blade he carries. But her… She is vile.”

“I said enough!” Vaughn growled. “She is of no importance to you. Pay her no mind. If the members of your clan are intrigued by her, then they will have to go through me.”

“Yes, leave her be, Shiva,” Cyrus said to her. “She is not a problem. If Shadow wishes to lower himself, then that’s his business. Bring us something to eat while we discuss what must be done with the Nakas.”

The woman he called Shiva continued to glare at me before she disappeared into the cabin. Even though she was gone, the image of her cold glare was still in my mind. Red eyes burning and peering into my soul.

I wrapped my arms around myself to try and shield myself from the cold. When I did, Irvine noticed it and removed his jacket to put it around me.

“Come,” he said. “This business isn’t of your concern, Ms. Everhart. You will be safe here.”

I looked at Vaughn and he nodded to me. Irvine escorted me to the side of the camp where he started to gather twigs and sticks scattered across the ground. I looked at Vaughn in the distance as he began a discussion with the blonde Cyrus.

“Do you think they’ll listen?” I asked Irvine.

“Cyrus seems reasonable enough. If they can’t see that same reason, the Nakas will show it to them.”

Irvine built a fire next to me and I took a seat on the ground next to it. I watched as all of the Doras perked their heads up and turned in my direction.

“It must be weird for them,” I said. “Having someone like me out here.”

“They are intrigued, yes. But you are safe and that’s the most important thing. I will leave you here for the moment. I need to speak with them and—”

“I’ll be fine. Thank you, Irvine.”

He nodded to me and joined the discussion with Vaughn and Cyrus next to the entrance of the cabin. I looked at all three of them as they engaged one another. I didn’t know what they were saying. I tried to read Cyrus’s face for his reactions, hoping that he wouldn’t remain as skeptical as he was when we first ran into him.