The Pack (42 page)

    
Alec heard her scream
,
knew he had to get to her
,
so she w
ould not face the shift
alone. He had blocked her from remembering the last shift,
but now she would
recall it all
. Every instinct told him h
e ha
d to get to her before anyone
else found her
while she was so vulnerable
and he picked up his speed.
She screamed once more as
he pounced through an opening in the woods to a clearing where she
laid
on the ground
her bod
y reforming into her
wol
f.

    
Her breathing was ragged
,
her
eyes filled with terror
as he approached
. H
is wolf
was
protective of its mate
,
wanting
to care for her and help make the change easier
. Mentally he called to her
,
but fear
blocked her fro
m responding
. H
e
knew he had
to take control
,
to
make her understand he was
the dominate
one
,
but he didn’t want to anger or scare her more than necessary
.

    
She
f
inished the shift
and lay still on the ground watching him warily as
he walked to her side,
growling
as he
sho
ved his massive
nose into her belly forcing her to stand. She snarled and tried to fight
flashing him her sharp canines
,
but he nipped her
non-to
gently
in the rear
and she let out a surprised cry
hurt clouding her eyes
. It was not
the time for sympathy
,
so he ignored his own
self-loathing
and began
shoving her toward
s the woods forcing her
to safety. After a few
attempts to flee
in the other direction he nipped her again sharply making his intent clear and
s
he gave in allowing
him to di
rect her
.

*****

    
Lucan and Gregory ran thr
ough the woods following the scent of their young charges
,
but the overwhelming scent of others in the area were a concern and they kept vigilante for attack
.

    
The
first group of wolves they encountered
were Mather’
s,
the confrontation could have been deadly if the older
Alpha
hadn’
t burst through the forest
and took contro
l ordering his pack to strand do
wn and let them pass.

    
They were not so lucky with th
e next group
, t
heir scents
were
untraceable,
so they came upon them unaware of their presence
. The largest wolf did not hesitate to attack
Gregory
,
his mass
ive body slammed
into his
with enough force to roll him
,
but Gregory was no weakling
. H
e bounced back tumb
ling the other wolf
,
going
directly
for his jugular
,
a deadly and efficient
attack
that left him the victor
.

    
Two others circled Lucan both flashing their teeth menacingly as he waited
calmly
for their attack. They moved
together,
one tearing into the flesh
of his side as the other lunged
for his throat.
A
huge mass of fur
i
nterceded tackling the lunging
wolf to
the ground giving him time to tear the other off and roll him underneath his own body.

    
He looked to where the other
wolf
lay motionless under his father
and knew Mather had finished him
off
. He
wasted no time following
suite ignoring the howls of agony
as his teeth tore
into the wolf’s
neck ripping the
arteries there
. The wolf
would die
,
there was no way for him to recover
from so much blood loss
,
but the need for revenge
,
to make him pay for his pa
rt in harming Mercy was strong
and he bent his head again prepar
ed to inflict more injury
.

    
T
he ba
ying of his
Alpha
stopped his attack and h
e lifted his head to look at Gregory who gave a shake of his h
ead before taking off,
never questioning that he would follow.
It was the reason he had bowed to Gregory
,
letting him rule over him
,
he had such leadership
skills
that one was simply compelled to do as he ask without question
. He leapt
from the near dead wolf and ran after him with Mather in hot pursuit.

*****

    
Alec ran behind Mercy pushing her to her limits
,
trying to keep ahead of the other wolves
that
followed
,
stopping only to fight with any who caught up them. Rage made him stronger and he easily defeated those who stood in their way
,
but
as they made it back to the
last,
stretch of woods before her home Mercy stopped so quickly
he almost ran her over
.

    
He moved in front of her meeting the eyes of a lanky bedraggled wolf who howled loudly calling out to his pack. Alec heard them
respond,
as they closed in on their prey
and within moments, they circled blocking any chance of their escape
. Mercy let out a little whimper and he brushed along side of her offering co
mfort despite his own fears they would never escape
.

     The other wolves
sat
on the
ir haunches keeping them corralled
,
ma
king no approach as the
scraggly
wolf leapt closer
. 
Alec’s wolf moved into its path
to protect its mate and t
he
wolf snarled looking for another way to g
et to her
,
but Alec kept his calm stopping
him at every turn
.

    
H
e knew
the wolf
had to be Blade
.
I
f his thin straggly
form did not give him away
,
then the
greasy scent that permeated his fur
did
. 
It put him at a disadvantage
having to protect
Mercy
and fight
off another wolf
,
but
as long as
he
was able to keep her safe
,
there was
the chance that his father and Lucan would arrive to save h
er
.

     Blade gave him no
time
to plan
,
he jumped quickly
,
his teeth bared ready for
the kill and Alec
leapt towards him
wanting him as far away from Mercy as
possible. They
meet mid air and tore into each
other their teeth gnashing,
their sharp claws tearing into each other’s flesh li
ke freshly sharpened swords. Despite his smaller size, it was clear Blade was used
to fighting
and he went for places on Alec’s body that would cause the most damage.

    
Mercy let out a howl
as anot
her wolf moved in on her and Alec immediately looked her way distracting him from the fight
.
Blades claws ripped into his side
leaving deep gashes behind.  B
lood
that matted in his fur
and crippling pa
in that threatened to down him, but h
e managed to turn and get in a good shot of his own before jumping next to Mercy
just in time to deter the other wolf
.

    
W
ith the amount of blood he was
losing
,
he knew
it was only a mater of time before
he could no longer protect her
. I
f he was going to save her
,
he had to place a disabling blow
and somehow he found the strength
to
attack
. His ma
ssive paw tore into Blades hind leg slicing deeply into the tendons and muscles.

    
Blade
let out a cry of
dist
ress and stum
bled to the ground
,
but
managed to rise again
dragging the leg behind him. His pack closed
in
distracting Alec
,
so he did not see him
coming at him
until his teeth sank into his neck ripping
away
fur and skin
as he tried to pin him to the ground
.

    
Alec fought with everything he had
and got away,
but his wounds were
severe and blood loss made
him dizzy and weak
. H
e stood before Mercy praying for the strength to protect her until someone came to help
, but was doubtful anyone would find them
.

    
Mercy watched the fighting aware
she was the reason Alec was losing so
badly. His focus was on
saving
her,
not the wolf
that attacked him
. He staggered close to her anticipating another attack and she saw the large area of fur and skin that had been torn away. Blood pumped
from the wound
,
its red tint an eerie compliment to the
fall colors of the leaves on
the forest
floor
. Only on
adrenaline
kept him upright, s
he felt his pain
and
knew he was
trying to hold on
long enough
to save her. H
e loved her enough to sacrifice himself
to k
eep her alive and
she realized
she had to
do the same for him.

    
Alec
backed up
resting
his head
on Mercy’s
back
,
using her to keep
himself upright
until he
attacked again
. Blade
bayed loudly, his pack following
his
lead all of them c
onfi
dent they had won the day. The wolf
stared
at them
a
nticipating Alec’s death
, a
lmost grinning
when he stumbled next to Mercy
fighting to keep himself upright.

    
Mercy stare
d at the wolf, its
soulless black eyes reminding her of the past. Impossibly
,
sh
e knew that this wolf was the one who
tried to kill her and who had succeeded in killing her parents. Now he was trying to kill Alec and she knew she could never live if he died.