Chapter 54
I’m running fast through the forest easily dodging the tree roots and low hanging branches. My solid black wolf slips in and out of the shadows easily with only his bright gold eyes giving away his very presence. The moon is full and high in the sky giving me the best lighting for such a venture before my late night dinner with my beta, his son, my two sons, my luna and Alpha Dominic and his new luna, Dasha.
I had Lilly take our daughters, twins Madisyn and Madilyn to the pack’s banquet hall for dinner while I had my phone conference with Xavier, the lead liaison with the council for abused and tortured wolves.
My meeting didn’t give me the answers I was looking for, thus the reason for my run right now. I’m angry and frustrated with the condition Cole is in. He’s in no condition for his strength and endurance to be tested. All I can do right now is challenge his character, to figure out his personality and core values. Although, I do have an uneasy feeling that if he hadn’t had that asthma attack last night he’d be pushing himself to keep up with the rest of the warriors, much to his own detriment.
I scheduled my dinner for eight, giving me enough time to give Jamie a short visit with Cole before returning him to the prospects dormitories about ten minutes ago. That’s where my run started. I needed to clear my head, make a plan. Not only am I dealing with trying to pull Cole from his pack but the probable relocation of Jamison Williams and his family. He and his father, Jonathan Jenkins, know too much to consider leaving them at Red Fang should I find a way to make a move on Cole.
I stop at the far south western edge of my territory. I take my time smelling the air as I slowly cross the line into a clearing just beyond the tree line. The faint smell of rotting meat and wet dog alerts me to rogues having been in the area but the faintness of it reassures me that it’s been days since they were last here. It’s been a while since I’ve crossed my own border as a wolf.
I’m on high alert as I explore the area. It looks as if it was cleared and being prepared for housing but was abandoned before anything else happened. I continue my cautious walk for about a mile before coming across a stream. I stop briefly for a drink. This land is providing me a decent distraction for the moment and I’m deep in thought as to the uses this land could provide my pack.
I know I have the Blue Ridge territory that borders mine on the southeast corner but I haven’t heard of any land deals going on since Alpha Hunter and Luna Melissa Blue had attempted to expand their territory. Unfortunately a rogue attack decimated the pack and killed both of them causing the contract to be canceled. Alpha Hunter’s beta, Alrik Anderson then took over the pack since the Blue’s twin daughters, Savannah and Samantha, couldn’t be found. They were only a year, maybe two when the attack happened fourteen years ago. It was about two years ago that I met with an extremely stubborn delta he-wolf. If my son hadn’t picked up on Delta Jacob’s refusal to fight he would have killed him the night he crossed our border.
It’s the stirring of the leaves that brings me from my thoughts, alerting me to the presence of another. I lift my head just enough from the water to smell the air. I can just barely catch her scent but it tells me everything I need to know. It’s obviously another werewolf. She’s not a lost member of Crimson Dawn but she doesn’t smell like a rogue either. It’s a young she-wolf that is terrified by my very presence even though I’ve yet to even spot her.
I lift my head slowly, scanning the other side of the stream, straining against the darkness of the tree line looking for who I know I smell. It takes me a minute to finally spot her. Standing on the edge of the forest is a light colored she-wolf. She’s too small to be an adult and she’s obviously malnourished which likely forced her to shift before she turned sixteen. She’s frozen where she stands with several dead hares hanging from her mouth.
Just as I start to shift I’m stopped by a quiet, submissive voice in my head.
‘Please don’t shift. I know what you are and I can channel with you’
‘You’re not a member of my pack. How are you able to link with me?’ I’m taken aback by this wolf’s special ability.
‘I can channel with any alpha as long as I can see them. I lost my linking ability many years ago.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was a difference. You look to be in rough shape and you sound too young to be a rouge. Can I help you in any way?’
‘Please don’t hurt me. Don’t tell alpha I was out here. The pups are hungry and this is the only place I can hunt’
Even through the channel I can hear the fear and panic in her young voice.
‘I don’t know who you are, how can I report anything back to your alpha?’
‘I don’t know. Somehow he always finds out and I end up in the basement for days.’
I cock my head as I lay down. I won’t go so far as submitting to this unknown she-wolf, but considering we are on neutral territory, I can make myself less threatening and intimidating. She seems to relax a little with my efforts.
‘The only thing I can tell you is I’m the oldest orphan living in the Blue Ridge pack house. Families have been disappearing from the territory. Alpha goes mad every time the link is severed and takes his anger out on us. Delta Jacob tells me he’s the one doing it, the one taking the families from the territory. He wants the pups, the orphans living in the house that Alpha created. I don’t trust him. I can’t when I don’t know where the families have gone.’
‘I can assure you the families that have left Blue Ridge have done so willingly. I am Alpha Demetri Black, I am the alpha of Crimson Dawn and the alpha working with Delta Jacobs to get these families out of harm's way. My understanding is Alpha Anderson may be killing wolves with pups in order to create orphans to be used as slaves. Is that true?’
‘I’m sorry alpha, I’ve said too much. I’ve got to go.’
‘Wait sweetheart.’
She’s completely stiff as she freezes in place. She’s shaking hard but in the chill of the late January night it’s hard to tell where the fear ends and the cold begins.
‘There’s two reasons I agreed to help Delta Jacobs. I had to agree to the first in order to achieve the second. The only reason I’m taking the families first is to prevent more pups from becoming orphans when Delta Jacobs starts bringing me those who already are. According to Jacobs, every pup living in that house is neglected and abused and to keep that from happening to any more pups I’ve got to get all the pups with their families out of the territory. I understand that you don’t trust him and you have little reason to trust me but once all the families are out it is critical for everyone’s survival to get the orphans out of that hell house. I do everything by the book and once you’re here as well, I can show you where every family and every orphaned pup has gone. My goal is to remove every pup, including you, from his abusive reign. I promise you, every family that Delta Jacobs has brought me has been provided medical care, clothing, food, water and shelter until they could be relocated to another pack equipped to meet their needs. Please think about it. We both know that the orphans can’t stay.’
I can feel her in my head, I know I haven't lost her and I’m patiently waiting for her to respond.
‘What is your plan for the orphans? What will you do to them?’
‘The orphaned pups will be more complicated than the families so it will take more time to get them into proper foster families in packs that can raise them properly but in general they are treated the same. They will initially be brought to my medical wing. Considering the late hour that the families come to me, I’m going to assume that the kids will come late at night as well. So they will be made comfortable. A brief physical after they’ve had a bath to verify that they don’t have any immediate medical needs before they are given clean clothes, and something to eat and drink. If there are no emergency needs, then I will set them up in one of the guest rooms I have on the ground floor so they can get some sleep before a complete physical is done. Children with emergency needs will be admitted to my hospital wing and given appropriate medical care. Those children will not be moved out of the hospital until they are stable and able to meet the majority of their basic needs appropriate for their age. How quickly things move in either case will depend on the age of the child, severity of abuse and neglect, and foster to adopt family availability. Unfortunately, due to the size of my pack the council will only allow me to keep the highest ranked pups, mostly alphas and betas, based on birth rank. All others, within six months to a year after they come to me, will go to other packs four to six hours away. Families have more choice in the matter but the majority choose to take the first pack they are offered.’
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
