Chapter 4

Willow’s POV

It didn’t take long to unpack what little bit of clothes I had. The closet was huge and what little I had to fill it looked pitiful but of course I wondered if anyone had enough clothes to fill it. I picked out my best pair of yoga pants and sports bra and put them on to get ready to go to training and pulled my long black hair up into a high ponytail.

When I looked into the mirror to make sure that I looked okay I realized that I had lost a lot of weight recently and that you could see my ribs, but my arms and legs were lean muscle. I debated about putting a shirt on over the sports bra but decided against it due to the fact that I felt restricted in it when I trained.

Looking at the clock I noticed that I had an hour before training started and I decided to go out for a quick run to loosen my muscles before training began. I remember some of the trails that were around the packhouse from the last time I was here and decided to stick to them until I got more familiar with the land.

As I began my run on the trails that surrounded the packhouse I could feel the eyes of some of the patrol watching me and I figured they were just curious about the new girl. I was sure that Alpha Chance had informed his pack that I was joining them and that I was a hybrid which I knew would draw some unwanted attention my way, but I had decided to keep to myself for a little while until everyone gets used to me being here.

Following the path, I moved deeper into the woods and about a half mile in I could hear the sound of water and children’s laughter as I ran towards the sound but stopped running just before the clearing where the children were playing in a pool of water that was fed by a small water fall and a stream. There must have been a dozen children all around the age of eight to ten swimming and playing in the water as two she wolves sat on the shoreline next to the water enjoying the beautiful summer day.

Neither she wolf noticed my presence which I thought was odd but then I was also told that they are not trained in combat that the males warriors protect them so I decided that’s why they didn’t notice me. I stayed for a few minutes watching the children have fun as they splashed each other with the clear water wishing I too was in the water with them cooling off.

Just when I was about to leave the summer breeze shifted and the scent of rotten egg hit my nose and I stopped. My wolf went on high alert. Beta Ethan back home had warned us of this scent and told us if we ever encountered it that rogues were near and that we needed to get to safety and warn the pack.

Scanning the area, I stopped when something moving on the other side of the pool caught my eye in the tree line. Red glowing eyes appeared in the darkness of the covering and I began to count the number of them. Six sets of eyes and they were moving in slowly towards the pool trying to stay undetected.

Slowly I began to move myself through the forest covering trying to put myself at a better angle to put myself between the rogues and the children. They were now almost to the edge of the tree line and I knew that I had to step out now and warn the she wolves and the children to run.

I knew I was outnumbered by the rogues, but I had to do something to protect the children and the she wolves who had no combat experience. As I stepped out of the forest covering, I heard a low growl come from one of the rogues and I yelled to the she wolves and the children to run as I ran straight towards the rogues trying to put myself between them and the children.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the children frantically trying to get out of the water and to the she wolves that were screaming for them to get out and come to them as I kept my eyes on the rogues that were now emerging from the tree line. The rogue wolves’ red eyes glowed and were focused on the children and the she wolves ahead of them and not me which gave me an advantage of attack on them.

The larger black wolf of the group went to leap forward towards one of the little boys who was running towards the one she wolf and I reached my hand out towards him and blasted him with a bolt of lightning, knocking him to the ground and allowing the boy to get safely to the she wolf. This then drew all the attention to me of both the rogues and the she wolves.

“Run!” I yelled at the she wolves and the children as I quickly moved between them and the rogues. The she wolves and the children began to run back to the path I had just come from as the rogues then began to circle me and I knew I had to get to higher ground if I wanted to avoid fighting them all at once.

Looking to my left I saw a path that led up to the side of the waterfall. It was narrow and I knew that the rogues would have a hard squeeze. Quickly I began to run up the path as I turned and shot bolts of lightning towards the rogues trying to keep them off my heels until I reached the top. Two of the smaller rogues were able to fit up the path and I was happy to see it was only going to be two on one instead of them all at once knowing that my plan had worked.

My wolf began to claw at my insides wanting to get out and I tried to hold her back just a little bit longer so that we had the right moment of surprise to attack the two on my heels. I was sure they had no clue that they were chasing a hybrid and I wanted to keep my identity as long as I could from them as I lured them away from their pack.

Once at the top of the cliff I turned and waited for them to approach me as I looked down to see the others trying to find another way up the side of the cliff. Saliva seeped from their mouths as they became frustrated, and growls roared in my direction. Just then the two that followed me showed themselves and I stepped back away from them giving myself some room to shift.

Eyeing the two wolves in front of me, I looked for the stronger of the two. My plan was to take down the stronger one first so that he couldn’t attack while I was fighting the weaker one. The one that was black and brown looked just a bit bigger and had more definition and I knew he had to be the one I was looking to pounce on first.

Eyeing him I kept the smaller one in sight, not wanting him to pounce from a different angle. I had the cliff on my side and I knew if I angled the attack just right, I could push him over the edge when I pounced leaving just the smaller one to deal with. Slowly I moved to my right and the rogues did exactly what I wanted him to do and moved with me, placing himself right where I wanted him to be.

The rogue snapped his jaws at me as saliva spilled from them and then he went to jump forward towards me and I hit him with a huge bolt of lightning and he flew back off the cliff but there wasn’t any time to check to see where he had landed because the smaller of the two came charging towards me and I quickly shifted into my wolf allowing her to join the action as we braced for the impact.

My wolf held her ground and she began to sink her teeth into the rogue’s flesh as her claws began to pierce through the rogue’s under belly as rich red blood began to stain the ground around us. The rogue began to yelp in pain as my wolf became relentless striking blow after blow until the wolf became lifeless and fell to the crimson colored ground.

Just then I heard the sound of a howl coming from the packhouse direction and I knew that the she wolves had made their way back to the packhouse and that warriors were informed of the attack. In wolf form the warriors would be here in a matter of five minutes and I just needed to keep the rest of the rogues from attacking all at once. I had two down and four more to go.

Looking down the cliff I noticed that the big black one was missing as the other three looked like they were waiting for my backup to arrive. Turning around I began to listen for the tiniest noise to alert me that the wolf was coming my way. That’s when I heard a branch break to my left and I turned in that direction waiting for the wolf to emerge from the tree covering as I stepped away from the edge of the cliff not wanting to meet the same death as the first wolf.

Red eyes began to glow within the covering and I knew he was about to come into the clearing but to my surprise the wolf shifted back to human form as he walked out of the clearing eyeing me and said, “What are you?”

It didn’t surprise me that the rogues didn’t know of the hybrids’ existence and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to make them aware of it. Quickly I shifted back and said to the rogue, “Haven’t you ever seen a she wolf warrior?”

The rogue let out a growl before he said, “No but that’s not what you, are now is it.”

“I have no clue what you are talking about.” I tell him, trying to buy myself a little more time, hoping that the warriors get here soon, and I don’t have to fight this wolf on my own. The man had a presence about him that made me believe that he was an Alpha, but I have never heard of a rogue Alpha, but I was also new to all of this.

Another growl rumble from him and I could see that I was beginning to irritate the man in front of me. “Tell me what you are little wolf or I will find out for myself.” The man now said and I had to admit I was a bit nervous that he could possibly do it. In wolf form his wolf had to of been twice my size and there was no way my wolf stood a chance against him. If I was to win a fight against him, it would have to be in my human form using my magic.

The sound of the warriors’ feet hitting the earth filled my ears and I knew they were close, and I knew that I had stalled him long enough. “Why don’t you try and see what happens.” I told the man and he let out another growl and step towards me and I held up my hands charging the electrical current that surged within me. Sparks began to fly from my fingertips as I anticipated his attack.

Just then the warriors from Red Moon pack busted into the opening charging the three rogues that were waiting for them. The man in front of me began then to charge towards me and I let a bolt of lightning fly towards him, but he sidestepped, and the lightning hit a tree behind him making a loud boom as the ground beneath us began to shake as the tree fell to the ground.

Snapping my wrist, I sent out another bolt of lightning in his direction but this time it hit the ground as the earth exploded right in front of him, making him change his route towards me. He was getting closer and I was running out of ideas on how to stop him. He let out a growl and began to shift and it was at that moment that I realized I was running out of options and when he was only a few feet in front of me, I decided to do my last option that I had, and I took off running towards the edge of the cliff and I jumped off hoping that the pool of water was deep enough to break my fall.

As my body hit the water beneath me, I felt my breath being taken away from me as I hit the water hard and my body submerged. That is when I felt the darkness take me as my body continued to sink to the bottom of the pool.