CHAPTER 4: A FATEFUL ENCOUNTER

I love being on quiet, open roads. It’s so peaceful, about the only peaceful moments I get anymore.

I had been on the road for a little over 4 hours, and I was driving through a beautiful forest. The air was fresh, crisp, and clean, pure, mixed with the smell of the sea. There was an obvious difference from the city with all the emissions put out by vehicles.

You can see the Black Sea on the left side of the road through some trees. On the other side is a thick, beautiful green forest. The trees on both sides grow up and over the road, overlapping at the top, making it look like you are going through a tree tunnel. The sun is shining through the trees, and there is a perfect mix of light and shadows. Pictures or words do not do it justice.

I don’t know the different types of trees, but this view made me want to learn all of them so I can replicate it if I decide to settle down. It is a picture of beauty that I could never grow tired of.

There is a sharp turn in the road, and just as I rounded the curve, out in the middle of the road were three wolves. Like actual real-life wolves.

There was an all-brown wolf, a brown wolf with a white diamond on his chest, and a deep red and white wolf. I hit the brakes and managed to stop just in time before I hit them. I would have been upset with myself if I had killed any of these beautiful creatures.

They suddenly turned around and ran back to two other wolves standing in the tree line by the road on the left. One was a light shade of red, and the other a smoky gray wolf with white on its paws. The gray one reminded me of a cat I used to have growing up that we named Smoky. He had the exact same colors.

“This has got to be the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while,” I said, completely in awe.

I had never seen wolves before, but they were beautiful and massive. I would say they are the same height as a Great Dane, if not taller.

Right as I was about to take off again, I saw there was a turtle crossing the road. I turned off my bike and got off to help the little guy cross while keeping an eye on the wild wolves.

Just as I got back to my motorcycle, I swung my leg over the seat but stopped when the brown wolf started to slowly walk closer to the road with its head in the air, sniffing.

Curious as to what he was smelling, I watched. When, all of a sudden, it stopped. He lifted his head and howled.

Three more wolves hiding in the woods joined the five as they charged out of the forest to attack me.

I realized quickly that I wouldn’t be quick enough to start my bike to get away, so I slipped the backpack off my shoulders so that I could move more easily.

Just as I was pulling two knives out of a holster, one in each hand, the first wolf jumped to knock me off the bike. Still straddling the motorcycle, I drove a knife into the wolf's gaping mouth and used its momentum to fling it up and over the handlebars to land on the other side of my bike.

Before I could turn back around, another wolf bit my shoulder. I immediately felt immense pain while being pulled backward to the ground. I landed on my back as the breath was knocked out of me, and my right leg was pinned under the bike.

Just as I hit the ground, he came back in for another attack. I stabbed the fucker under his jaw and up into his brain.

I pulled the knife out just in time to swipe at another who tried to bite me. With the element of surprise gone, the remaining wolves took a step back to regroup.

I quickly got my leg out from under the bike and stood up slowly. While taking out another knife, making sure to keep one in each hand, I was ready to fight, and if I went down, I'm taking as many of these fuckers down with me.

Little did these wolves know, I am a damn good fighter, and I'd bet my left tit that my inner monster could rival their monster.

When fighting, paying attention to your opponent’s body language and muscles can give you clues when they are about to attack. So, I watched closely as two wolves circled me, the red wolf and the brown wolf with the white spot on its chest. Sure enough, right when the brown one was about to attack, it rocked back slightly as it prepared to launch itself forward and up.

Two things happened simultaneously. I threw a knife, hitting the red one in the middle of its head between the eyes. He was a foot from me when it dropped dead. Meanwhile, as the brown wolf would have reached my forearm to bite, I took a small step back and turned to the left with the knife out and pointing upwards. Using his forward momentum against him, I positioned the knife just under his jaw so that as he was moving past me, my blade effectively sliced down the length of his neck.

Fuck, these wolves are fast and intelligent, but not a problem with just four more to go.

I took a second to look around for the others, and I wanted to smack myself in stupidity for putting that thought out in the universe. There were now nine wolves circling around me. That means there were more than just eight to begin with.

Which makes me wonder, is this it, or are there more? Were there others holding themselves back? To see what goes down. Why did they even attack me in the first place?

I did notice the new wolves had a rotting smell to them, as if they were diseased.

Note to self, don’t let the new wolves touch me. I don’t want to see if they are contagious or not.

I tightened my hold on the knives as I prepared for the next round of attacks.

Another dark red wolf with white feet made a slight nod as if coordinating with a friend. He dipped his shoulders down, then launched up, jumping like it was going for my head, while, another went for my lower half. I threw a knife into the lower wolf's head, dead center in between their eyes, while squatting down. Using my right hand, I lifted the red wolf's head to keep it from biting me, while directing it to the left, so it didn’t land on me. Meanwhile, I raised my left hand to cut the underside of his belly. His insides started to fall out as his lifeless body fell to the ground.

Just as I let go, another wolf bit the side of my leg. I let my right hand go from the red wolf's neck, twisted and stabbed my knife down through the top of the gray wolf’s head. My leg stung from the bite as I got up. I pushed the pain from my mind because it is a distraction I cannot afford.

6 more to go. They were starting to slow again, rethinking their approach. I doubt they expected me to know how to defend myself and fight. I used that window to reach for my twin blades attached to my motorcycle that was still beside me.

Now this is what I am talking about. Yes, I love some good old-fashioned swords, sue me. I like the extra reach they give me.

“Bring it on, fuckers,” I said, challenging them.

Just as I finished my challenge, three wolves attacked at once from the left, right, and front. The front wolf attacked before the others and had its mouth open to bite me, so I threw a knife straight into their mouth.

Stupid move, idiot, I thought.

As I released the knife, I quickly rolled forward, then spun around to face the other two wolves as the right and left wolves ran into each other headfirst, knocking each other out. I could not help but let out a laugh.

Quickly taking a step forward, I stabbed down with my blades and killed them both. Cowardly, I know, but I can’t afford another attack from behind, if I can prevent it.

Three more to go. Please let this be all, I prayed.

These last three are even more massive. They waited and let the others die first in hopes they did not have to fight.

Fucking cowards acting like all the other wolves were replaceable. Something is not right here. For the second time, I realized they seem too intelligent for wild wolves. Which is not good for me, but what does that mean?

They all attacked, and I quickly noticed they are much, much stronger and quicker than the others. If they were human, I would say they have had extensive training. This is not going to be easy.

I slashed, twirled, and stabbed with my swords while each of the wolves made quick in-and-out attacks with no rhyme or reason. I was making them bleed just as much as they were making me bleed.

I had to sustain some more shallower bites and scratches so I could prevent myself from getting more serious, life-threatening injuries. However, the smaller injuries were enough that I started to feel the blood loss. After what felt like hours of fighting, I finally managed to take down one of the wolves.

Two more to go. I was starting to sway and get dizzy from too much blood loss. I keep trying to tell myself two more, I just need to beat two more.

There was a sharp pain in my right leg, but it was different from the others. I looked down, and there was a tranquilizer round sticking out of my leg.

What the fuck, is there someone working with these beasts?

I need to act quickly before the effects kick in, whatever they are. However, during the distraction, I didn’t notice that one of the wolves had circled around me until they bit me on my right calf, causing my leg to give out and I fell to the ground.

As I lay there, an angry, growling, dark brown wolf slowly walked towards me to deliver the final death blow. I tried to protect myself by lifting my hand to stab them, but my arms were like weights.

I thought, this is it. This is the end.

Out of all the enemies I have made as an assassin, a fucking wolf will be the death of me. My head hit the ground as it got too heavy to lift. All I could do was turn it to the side and watch as death came for me.

Right before darkness overtook me, I saw four black wolves running towards us. They were bigger than the last three wolves.

I was surprised when they started attacking the last two wolves of death. Granted, it is possible that I am hallucinating.

As darkness came over me, the last thing I saw were glowing blue eyes walking towards me.

Luke’s POV

My brothers and I, the four alphas of The Dark Wing Pack, are an unusual set of alphas. We call ourselves brothers, but we are not biological brothers. It is unheard of to have more than one alpha run a pack. I would say we are the first in a very long time, if not the first in history.

We had a couple of rogues attack the border a few days ago, and we have been sending scouts out to find them. Last night we sent out three, and only one came back.

That is why we are hunting them ourselves today. We can’t lose any more to these disgusting rogues.

Rogues haven’t been a problem for decades, so why now? I asked Artemus, my wolf.

“I don’t know, this is very unusual,” Artemus replied.

Some wolves were banished from their packs for bad reasons, and we call those wolves rogue wolves. You can recognize them by their foul, decaying odor.

While some choose a solitary lifestyle because they either like the quiet life, lost their mate and want to suffer alone, or they escaped from an abusive pack. We call these solitary wolves, and they smell normal. That is how you can tell the difference. All other wolves smell like their individual packs.

We were heading north when we heard some growling and sounds of fighting.

I’d bet those are the rogues we are hunting. Be careful, we don’t know how many there are. Zane linked us, and we headed in that direction instead of continuing north.

When we got to the fight, we all froze as a delicious flower and cinnamon scent hit us. All at once, we said “Mate” through the link. We all found our mate, and, honestly, it didn’t surprise us that we shared a mate.

What had us surging forward was the wolf that was about to deal the death blow. Zane rushed forward and took out the bastard, while Jason took out the other as it tried to run away. Dean went after the last one that smelled like a human who was hiding behind a tree.

I went to our mate, who had passed out from all the bites and scratches, and picked her up. I first noticed that she was beyond beautiful. She has the sexiest bright red hair that’s braided to her waist, a small nose perfectly proportioned to her face, and full, delicious lips that I can’t wait to taste. She passed out before I could see her eyes, and I couldn’t wait to see what color they were.

I was surprised when I picked her up. Her body was pure muscle, she has the body of a fighter.

I looked around and saw wolves scattered all over the road and the grass. She must be a talented warrior to have held out as long as she did to take out all of these wolves by herself.

“Fuck, I am so glad we arrived when we did,” I said as the rest of my brothers came back. We all looked down at our mate.

“We finally found her,” said Dean in a whisper, never taking his eyes off her face.

“We did,” I replied, “come on, let’s get her back home and get her settled before our Alpha meeting.”

“Agreed, we don’t know if there are any more coming. The damn things are like cockroaches,” said Zane.

“For once, I am not looking forward to going. If only we could take her with us,” said Jason. He actually enjoys these meetings. He says it gives him insight into other packs.

With our mate tucked in my arms, we took off running towards home.

“Did you guys see the surrounding carnage?” asked Jason.

“Yeah, she is a warrior, but to what extent, I wonder. I guess we will find out when she wakes up,” said Zane.

Out of all of us, he had the hardest life before we found each other. We don’t know all of it since he doesn’t talk about any of it, but I do know he had a really fucked up childhood.