Chapter 217
Saturday, May 26th
Sleep was fitful at best last night, in part because of my lack of eating. I haven’t had anything since breakfast yesterday and I know it’s going to take some time to retrain my body back to the one meal a day that I manage to steal back home. My mind is swarming even worse than yesterday and I find myself wandering over to the med wing in the hopes of catching Jessa’s scent. I know she’s not physically here as the med wing only opens for emergencies on the weekends but she spends enough time here that her scent lingers for a while. I’m hoping that her scent will help clear my head considering I never did get hit with the physical pain of rejection. I guess she’s still thinking that one over.
Despite my hunger, I head out of the pack house instead of the kitchen. Once I finally fell asleep I slept past my usual wake up time and it’s too close to lunch to raid the fridge for breakfast. My past experience has taught me that leftovers are usually gone within an hour of them getting put up. I head west, away from the house. I notice quickly that the ground is quite saturated with water from the storm yesterday and it’s reeking havoc on my very worn out shoes.
I stop in my tracks as the wind picks up some of the grass leftover from being cut before the storm. It’s easy to tell that another bad storm is brewing between the wind and the very dark sky above me. I make my way to the playground between the pack house and the prospect’s dorms. It’s been a while since I’ve stopped out here. Despite the ominous clouds there’s a ton of littles playing on the large assortment of equipment.
My attention gets called towards the southern forest sitting 100 feet behind the playground. I can see people moving between the trees and muffled sounds that I don’t like.
I work my way slowly through the playground, carefully avoiding the pups that have come out to play before emerging on the other side. I hear a shriek pierce through the dense trees. At first I thought I was hearing things but the deathly quiet and utter stillness of the pups behind me tell me that this was no joke. They all heard it and they all recognize what it means.
My heart is in my throat and my breathing, tense. I’ve got an ominous feeling that always means trouble is brewing. A second shriek is cut short but not because of the thunder that rumbles in the distance. While the storm is close enough to hear it, it’s not over top of the territory causing earth shaking booms.
I can hear several of the parents behind me start gathering their pups and start heading for the safety of their homes. Several of them mention linking with Alpha Black but I have no way of knowing if they did or not. A third muffled yell catches my attention as I slowly move towards the woods.
While it still remains unclear it sounds a lot like a woman or child that’s being kept from screaming for help. Unfortunately for me, the muffled cries are moving southwest, deeper into the wooded area that I have never explored.
Patrick’s group of prospects always worked just outside the tree line but never within it, at least not during the lessons I was present for.
I stay outside the tree line but travel at a good clip until I start struggling to hear the muffled cries. Once the cries stop moving west I carefully start navigating south through the trees. I’m grateful when the sounds stop moving, giving me better accuracy in pinpointing exactly where they are at.
I continue picking my way carefully through the dense brush for at least ten minutes before entering a clearing. While the thinning out of the trees doesn’t appear purposeful the multiple man made wooden shacks located within the thousand square foot area were definitely built there for a reason. The river roaring thirty feet away from the furthest shack makes it difficult to hear as I stand frozen at the edge of the clearing.
‘Jamie?’ I call out using the link I seldom use.
‘What’s wrong?’ I can just about hear him yawning through the link.
‘Something is going on that I don’t like. I need you up, sleepy head. I need alpha.’
‘What do you mean something is going on?’
I can tell that I’ve gotten his attention even if he is still half asleep.
‘I’m in a clearing in the woods. It’s southwest of the playground. There’s a river to the west and about a dozen man made, one room shacks are in the clearing. I heard muffled screams and it led me here. I need alpha.’
I try to emphasize my need in the hopes to get him moving.
‘I’ve got his number. I’ll call him.’ He finally reassures me.
‘Thank you.’
I remain silent but still in the link waiting to see if Jamie needs any more information to relay to the alpha. It’s only after he closes the link that I get back to what’s in front of me.
I close my eyes as I enter into a partial shift, yet another thing they made assumptions on. The only reason I refused to open my eyes when I went into a partial while holding Madilyn was mostly because of the severe concussion that I had going on. The way my eyes look like the devil’s doesn’t give me much confidence when I’m around others which is the other reason I hesitated so badly but Beta Patrick, unlike alpha, was completely wrong. I have to partially shift in order to mark the girls so I’ve gotten used to the way my eyes work in a partial as I’ve only fully shifted twice after that very traumatic first time.
I have found the partial shift quite useful in a variety of situations. Right now, I need his heightened sense of sight and hearing, while his claws are beneficial in any potential battle.
I creep silently into the clearing, freezing as soon as I hear the slightest sound. I turn my head slowly waiting for my ears to pick up where the sound came from, a major downfall towards staying mostly human.
I hear the sound again. This time it sounds like feet rubbing against something soft like a blanket or mattress. I freeze again not wanting to lose the sound as muffled cries can now be heard but nothing else. No instructions, no hitting, stumbling or anything else to indicate a struggle outside of her muffled cries. This makes me wonder if there’s multiple wolves involved and if they’re from the same pack. Unfortunately for both of us, the swollen river from last night’s rains has put me at a disadvantage. I may be able to hear her faint cries but I can’t pinpoint which shack they’re hiding in. So I do the only thing I feel I can in this situation. Slowly, I make my way to the shack closest to me not knowing who or what lies inside.
While I creep my way forward I try to come up with a plan. Do I want to just burst in? But what if it’s some misunderstanding? I’d look like a fool. But I know deep down exactly what’s going on. You don’t grow up in a pack where this is taught to be a normal thing and not know the tale tell signs that a she-wolf is being assaulted.
As I get closer to the first shack in the semi circle around the clearing, I can tell that there’s no sounds coming from the inside. Still, I approach the door with caution. Just because there’s no sound doesn’t mean there’s no one in there. I can only really think of the worst possible situation that these have been created for but I try to push that away. I’m not home. This isn’t that kind of pack.
I turn the knob slowly to find the knob doesn’t budge. Uncertain as to why it would be locked, I make my way to the next one, about ten feet away. I turn the knob and this door slowly creaks open under my weight. It’s an impressively heavy door for the size of the shack. To my relief there’s no one inside giving me an opportunity to get a general idea of what’s inside. I know that I need to hurry but part of me wants to stall until alpha gets here with back up. If this is indeed a gang rape I don’t think think I can take multiple wolves on at once, especially if they are all delta or beta level wolves. It’s uncommon to come across more than one alpha prospect in a run but it’s not impossible for me not to be the only one.