Chapter 6

It felt like my heart had dropped out of my arsehole and a bucket of ice water had been thrown over me. My fear had suddenly peaked, causing all of my wolf senses to go into overdrive. In the same second as I decided to run was there a sudden shift in the atmosphere; like whoever was out there was menacing and upon realising that I had noticed them, they had also instantly decided to make me the rabbit. To chase and leave my torn up remains on the floor of the woods just as Beaux had done moments ago.

I ran.

There was nothing that I wanted more in that instant than to run and live to see tomorrow. Beaux has always been a fast runner, one of the fastest even, but this was a new speed that even I did not realise that she could reach.

‘Turn around now Poppy! Get out of the woods and back to the pack, now!’ I mindlinked Poppy amidst my panic.

‘No! You are still out here. I'm coming to meet you; two wolves are better than one. They might leave us both alone if we’re together.’ I swear, Pops’ defiant streak was going to get her killed one day, providing that I did not kill her when we got back.

I was so frustrated with Poppy’s ignorance towards her safety, that a small growl slipped out as I dashed through the shrubbery and dirt in a blur.

‘Fine, do as you please, just don’t come haunting me if they catch your fucking arse though.’ I snapped at Poppy, something that I very rarely do. I am not usually one to lose my temper often, or say offensive things to people - unless it is Pops, but right now she is pushing me to the point of losing my shit completely and becoming the foul-mouthed bastard that she it.

As Beaux sprinted back to the Packhouse using our scent that we had previously left when hunting the rabbit, before becoming the hunted, we kept being alerted to the sounds of animals running all around us. Not the usual sounds of small animals darting from the disturbance of a predator in their vicinity. No, this was large and heavy animals, the irregular sounds of thudding as heavy paws pelted through the endless shadows the woods provided them as they followed and tried to keep up with Beaux.

There was a brief, faint and feminine voice, chanting something in another language that I have never heard before. It seemed to be moving with me all around in the thick darkness that my wolf vision failed to see what lurked.

I have never known fear like this.

I felt absolutely sick to my stomach with the worry of what could happen to both Poppy and I all the way out here, should no-one be able to come to our rescue.

‘Alpha Brock! Alpha! It's Olivia.’ Amongst my panic and sprint for life, I realised that I needed to alert the pack, to get the warriors here to find these fuckers and perhaps increase the chances of our survival. Mindlinking Alpha Brock was the best way for me to do that, even if I should have thought of doing it sooner than I did. Better late than never, I suppose.

‘What is it, Olivia? What’s wrong?’ A gravelly and surprised male voice burst through in response to my panic, comforting me ever so slightly with the possibility that there was someone out there somewhere for me to race to and be safe once again.

‘I’m in the woods, north side I think. I think that there are wolves chasing me out here but I can’t see them. I think that they have magic hiding them, I heard someone saying stuff in another language.

Help me, please. I can tell that they’re not here for a picnic.’

There was an extended pause in his response to me, making me panic even further. All the what-ifs started rushing through my head yet again, that possibly there were more of them within the pack and hurting those that I care about.

My mind was racing faster than Beaux’s paws were, all of my focus was on foreboding thoughts of others instead of my chase for life through the never-ending shadows of the woods and all of the forestry trying to slow me down, slow me down enough for the moving shadows to catch and kill me.

‘Alpha? Alpha please.’ I begged for anything from him, anything to know that he and everyone else was safe. An ache began in my heart for all those that I loved.

Eventually hearing his deep and gruff voice calmed the increasingly raging storm in my head and heart, but my stomach was still stuck in the waves that thrashed upon the shores.

‘Sorry Olivia, I'm here. I was checking with the warriors on patrol if there are any wolves from the visiting packs out there. We've only been letting them out for group runs with escorts from Moonlight so not to scare our usual pack members.’ His reluctance to properly reply did not reassure me in any way, shape or form. I could sense his worry through the mindlink, confirming what the warriors had said to him without him have to relay it to me. ‘Look, I'm on my way to you and so are others. Just keep heading for the Packhouse as fast as you can. We'll find you.’

‘But Alpha, Poppy’s out here somewhere too. She won’t listen and head back. She is adamant about getting to me.’

‘For fuck sakes, that she-wolf is gunna be the death of me. She gives me more shit than my boys and she’s not even my goddess damn kid.’

His reply made a weak smile appear on my face as I pushed myself to keep going. I am sure that any wolf that has had to be in charge of Poppy in the past would say the exact same thing.

‘Thank you, Alpha.’ I puffed back to him, starting to feel the burn in my muscles because of earliers frolicking, and now running for our life from the possible invisible invaders.

I just hoped that this was not my earlier paranoia reaching an all-new level, but with the scent that Beaux's impressively sensitive nose picked up and now the infrequent sounds of more than one ‘something’ running all around me, it was very doubtful.

‘Poppy, please go back. The Alpha is on his way with warriors. And I think that there is more than one wolf out here.’ I tried to warn Pops again, trying to get her to understand the dangers of this dire situation.

‘Ok Oli, I'll go back, but only because I know that you can’t be far from me now, plus Alpha Brock already gave me a bollocking. And fucking hell, you ran bloody fucking far. I'm pooped.’

I could hear the defeat in her voice as she panted, expressing exactly how tired she was, I just needed her to last long enough to return to safety. But I was glad that she was finally listening to me, even if it was probably just because she was under an Alpha order. If Alpha Brock had indeed ordered her in the way that I was thinking then she had no choice but to obey him. No-one can disobey a given Alpha order. Anyone of a high rank can command someone of a lower position than themselves and they would have no choice but to follow through with it, regardless of them agreeing with it and wanting to or not.

As I moved as fast as my paws could take me, I could see something in the corner of my eye to the right. Something was running alongside of me just a few metres away as I darted under the fallen branches and through small trickling streams that were thick with deep squelching mud that tried desperately to hold onto my paws. But when I looked to see who or what was following me, there was nothing there. I whimpered out loud in fear, tortured by the endless question of where the fuck was this person or persons.

Darting through the woods with my terror in full swing, I started to hear other distantly thudding paws. No sooner had I started to panic, that I realised the sound was of a singular running wolf and it was not running towards me. The volume was increasing but much too slowly to be running at me, it had to be running away and I was gaining on them.

‘Pops, is that you I’m catching up with? For the love of all things goddess and fucking holy, please say that it is.’ I could only beg Poppy, everyone, anyone that was listening that it was indeed her.

‘I hear someone coming up behind me and fast, I’m going to assume it’s you or I’m about to shit where I run.’ I could hear the panic seeping into her tired and strained voice.

I was running like chicken shit and I did not care. If it was a prank, let them tell anyone that would listen, I did not give a flying fuck.

I was trained to fight; anyone over the age of five was in some form or way in this pack, but when it came to fight or flight, I chose flight this time because there was no way I could take on whoever was out here on my own. They must have magic on their side somehow; to be able to get away with getting this far past the borders without it and not be noticed is impossible.

Normally, every morning before I start work, I attend training sessions that are held for all of the pack members. This morning though, I did not because of the earlier than usual start for work due to the preparations for the Mating Ball and right now, I am glad that I did not. I am already tired from chasing just a rabbit, but if I had trained as well, then I would be absolutely fucked and unable to run like I have a rocket up my arse, away from whatever freaks that are out here now following me.

The warrior wolves that are used on patrol are extremely well trained. They are trained better and harder than anyone else in the pack. They are strategically stationed throughout the territory to make sure that any invading wolves do not get any further than the pack boundaries, and with all of the extra present everywhere today, it should have been suicidal of someone to even try.

I started to see flickers of a light brown, lagging wolf weaving amongst all the barricades of the woods.

‘Poppy, I see you. You need to speed up though, seriously. I can still hear them.’ It was no longer just glimpses of her, but a constant sight of Nova trying her hardest to out-run whatever had found and followed me straight to her.

‘I’m trying Oli, but it’s hard, like really hard. Not all of us are alpha wolves.’ She panted back to me, obviously a lack of oxygen going to her brain but instead going to her muscles.

What she said had shocked me, making my blood run cold and temporarily freeze up as I ran, the impact of it all causing me forget how to function briefly. The fraction of a second that I took to dwell over what she had verbally spewed was enough to make me stumble and end up rolling across the dirty wooded floor in a tangle of limbs and fur. The speed I had been going was enough to projectile me about thirty feet, collecting many scrapes and cuts all over from the crap strewn across the ground.

‘Olivia!’ Poppy’s panicked voice burst out in my head.

‘I’m fine! Just keep going.’

It did not stop me though. I had barely stopped rolling before I was back up on my paws, kicking debris everywhere as I increased my speed again. You just gotta love wolf reflexes.

I soon caught up with Poppy. I ran at full speed until I was alongside her, choosing to stay running at her flank the remainder of the way, hoping that seeing two female wolves was more intimidating than just the one.

‘What the fuck did you mean by that anyway?’ I threw the question to Pops. I knew that this was not the right time but I needed answers, I had to ask.

‘Mean by what?’ Her struggle to speak was getting worse, her pants were getting deeper and more laboured.

‘About the alpha wolf thing?’

‘Oh, right, ummm yeh, that. Must have just been a slip of the tongue, or a mix up because you know, Alpha Brock is coming?’ She did not sound too sure on how to answer my question and not very confident in how she had responded.

‘We’ll talk about this later. And don’t you dare think that I will forget.’ I warned Pops, before I decided that it was best to keep quiet for now and not distract her as she pushed on.

I could see how hard she was forcing herself to keep going, but it was not enough. I could still hear the paws crashing on the ground, there seemed to be more following us now. The magic they were using must have been struggling to keep up somehow if I was able to hear more of what they were trying keep hidden from us.

Running alongside Nova made more sounds in the usually deafeningly silent woods, her paws and mine thudding on the filthy ground out of sync to the other, but it did not stop me from hearing a shift in the biting icy cold wind.

‘Duck!’ Beaux warned me to dodge something that we could not see, yet, she had sensed.

She must have warned Nova too, because as I lowered myself to go into a power-slide, a tired Nova lowered her head and shoulders, causing both of us to slow our speeds down drastically and suddenly.

A furious male voice burst from the shadows at the same time as Pops and I were supposed to avoid Goddess knows what, making me flinch at the sudden shout.

“No!”

And with that, more wind shifted around us, before a hammering of weight on the ground sounded out extremely close behind us.

As I rose back up to all four of my paws and proceeded running, I dared to have a quick look behind to see what it was that was causing such a disturbance. I could see the ground being pushed and thrown around, the sound of snarls and flesh tearing to pair with it.

I was petrified. If unfriendly wolves were past the border, then what was their intention? What things were they capable of if they had magic on their side? My mind was racing faster than Beaux's paws were carrying us. Then it occurred to me.

‘Can you hear them too?’ I wondered if Pops was hearing what I was, she had not mentioned anything of them. I whispered through the mindlink as if they would hear me if I spoke at a greater volume.

‘No, but I’m guessing whatever you’re hearing is not birthday wishes?’ Pops’ snarky answer had me laugh. I have no idea how my mind or my body was even capable of laughing at a time like this, but trust Poppy to manage getting it to.

The sound of the drums of death were still following us and getting louder, like they were closing in and counting down rapidly to strike.

I was absolutely horrified upon hearing a few snarls echo throughout the trees. My jaw locked and my throat suddenly tightened as if someone had wrapped their hands around it, constricting it and stopping air from getting to my lungs, making them burn and for me to realise that I had stopped breathing. My chest felt like it was being crushed in a vice and I swear that my heart had stopped beating as icy fear riddled its way through my veins, before it hammered at double the pace it had already been rushing at. All of my muscles screamed at me, but a new-found need to survive this was being fuelled by the snarls. My stomach lurched, inching me forward just a fraction more.