Gypsy Wolf Ch. 03

"The challenge has been answered and met," Natalie said and with that the crowd immediately began to disperse. No one even spared the bloody pulp in the circle a second glance. "Elizabeth, Rasp and I need to talk to you first thing in the morning," Natalie said once we were in the house, "We planned on doing it tonight, but as you can imagine neither of us are in the mood. Find us right after breakfast if you would." Not waiting for a response, we all watched as the Alphas, hand in hand, made their way up the stairs towards their room.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes if you want to get cleaned up," Holly said, "I can introduce you to everyone if you want. I promise every day isn't as hectic as today."

"Sounds good," I said heading up the stairs, "I'll grab a quick shower then be back down."

"See you in a few," Holly said.

Reaching my room I took a couple of minutes to check on Bubbles before stepping into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, I went to get undressed, but had to laugh when I realized I had been naked for at least the last half hour and never even noticed. My stomach started to growl so I only took a few minutes in the shower to wash my body and hair. As I stood wrapped up in a towel, I found myself drawn to a picture on my nightstand. It was my sister Mercy and I sitting on our four wheelers, both completely covered in mud, and grinning like a couple of idiots. The picture was taken just over a week before she disappeared. Throwing on a pair of jeans with a black tank top, I pulled my hair into a pony tail and headed down.

The dining room was set up like a family style restaurant with several rows of long tables, and at one end a raised platform with a separate table and much nicer chairs. It was pretty obvious that is where Rasp and Natalie would be sitting. Spotting Holly and Mike I grabbed a tray and loaded up a plate before heading over to sit with them. "You're very brave," the dark haired guy next to Mike said.

"What makes you say that?"

"The jello cup," he said, pointing to the blue and green dish on my tray, "No one is ever really sure what Valerie is going to put in there, so most of us avoid it. I'm Max by the way. You know Holly and Mike already, Sara is the redhead, Tim's the guy with the shaved head, and his mate Amber is around here somewhere. The others probably went back out into the woods to play although it's possible they had patrol tonight."

"It's nice to meet you all," I said as I sat down, "What are they patrolling?" Digging into my food I quickly realized I should have gotten more than one plate.

"The woods surrounding the compound," Tim said, "The pack owns several thousand acres and we back up to the national park, which gives us fairly plentiful game, so occasionally we'll catch a hunter trying for an easy kill."

"We're also looking out for rogues like Ramirez," Sara said, "From time to time they will group up and attack a pack house. Hasn't happened here in decades, but better to be safe."

"Is it all woods?" Despite living in a densely forested area, including today I can count on one hand the number of times I have been in the woods since I was eighteen. I've lived here all of my life, hell, I was a fucking cheerleader in high school, but since that day I've avoided the woods like the plague. I probably should have left town long ago, but I'm just too damn stubborn.

"Pretty much, yeah." Max said. It took everything in my power to not roll my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Not a fan of the woods are you?" he asked.

"Am I that easy to read?" I asked. I'd have to be careful around here if I was.

"Even though you tried to hide it, your reaction was pretty obvious," Mike said, "Any particular reason for not liking the woods?"

"Yes." They seemed a bit surprised when I didn't choose to elaborate.

"You're part of the pack now and this pack is your family," Holly said, "We support and look out for each other."

"Dimitri is part of the pack," I said, "and it was clear that I was only the final straw. How many incidents were there before me?" I hoped a quick change of subjects would stop any further questions.

"He was, was part of the pack," a cute blonde I assumed was Amber said as she slipped in next to Tim, "I just talked to Damien and when Dimitri didn't show up in Medical he went to check on him. There was a blood trail heading north from the circle to the woods and his room was empty. I'm impressed that he was able to drag himself away from the circle but I guess Rasp couldn't bring himself to kill his son."

"I noticed a white wolf out in the woods earlier," I said pushing my spoon into the blue jello, "maybe they helped Dimitri." Sliding the spoon into my mouth, I glanced up and was about to comment on the jello when I realized everyone was staring at me.

"Elizabeth, how big was this white wolf that you saw?" Sara asked, breaking the almost eerie silence that had descended over the table.

Slowly swallowing the jello, I set the spoon down on my tray. "Well, I was almost to the house and he was in the tree line," I said wondering what was going on, "but even over that distance I'd say gigantic is a good word." Thinking back on it I realized I was talking about maybe three or four hundred yards, and even still I could tell this was a massive wolf.

"Define gigantic," Mike said .

"Twice the size of Rasp, maybe bigger," I said, "I didn't get a second look at him as I had to deal with Dimitri at the time, but that white fur was hard to miss. As soon as I set my eyes on him, he seemed to just vanish into the woods. The blue jello is lime by the way." Seeing the way they were exchanging glances was extremely unnerving.

"The jello is always lime," Holly said her voice almost flat, "It's Rasp's favorite flavor so it's all Valerie makes. I would prefer to wait until the morning, but the Alphas need to be told as well as informing the patrols. He'll have them chasing ghosts all night."

"How long has it been since anyone has seen him?" Mike said, "I don't think there have been any confirmed sightings since, hell I don't know when."

"Nineteen thirty nine just outside the Black Forest in Germany," Damien said having walked up during my description, "A few days before the change, he eviscerated a pack of rogues helping the Nazis. After that particular demonstration no wolf interested in their own continued existence dared to help the Axis." Did he actually say eviscerated?

"What's going on?" I asked, not particularly happy with how freaked out everyone was getting, "Who is this guy that has you so worked up? Wait a second, he destroyed a pack? By himself?" Who the fuck was this guy, some kind of werewolf bogeyman?

"His name is Watcher and he is the oldest known werewolf, period. Some think he might be the first," Sara said, "I've researched him for years, pulling together pieces of the puzzle from around the world, and the facts are almost impossible to differentiate from the legends. What I can tell you for certain is; he is the only known example of a saber tooth wolf and he has been alive for all of recorded history."

"All of recorded history?" I asked, "How is that even possible?"

"No one knows," Sara and, "If you want to hear some of the better legends come find me later."

"The bigger questions are; why has he chosen to reappear now and why here?" Mike said.

"It doesn't matter, but we need to tell Rasp," Holly said, "Mike, Elizabeth you ready? Might as well get this over with. Max can you contact the patrols and let them know what is going on?"

"Sure thing Holly," Max said.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said getting up. It made sense for me to go since I was the one who spotted him. Looking around, I noticed everyone was leaving their trays on the table, and the omegas were coming around and cleaning up so I did the same.

I don't know if it was the looks on our faces, or if we were giving off some kind of aura, but as we made our way through the house everyone just seemed to clear out of our way. Even the little kids, who are usually oblivious to what is going on, seemed to realize not to get in our way. Reaching the door to the Alpha's room Mike took a deep breath before giving it a hard knock. I'm fairly certain as the last knock on the wood faded into silence, I received a master class in Russian swear words. They were crystal clear through the thick wood, I just didn't understand any of them but there was no doubting the tone. Considering the force Rasp used to yank it open, I don't know how the door managed to stay on the hinges. Dressed in ragged jean shorts he was covered in sweat, his knuckles bloody, and looked ready to rip our heads off, but seeing the seriousness of our faces he took a deep breath before speaking. "Oh fuck, what is it now?" he said his voice weary and ragged.

"Elizabeth saw a massive white wolf in the woods earlier," Mike said, "From the description it could only be Watcher." I'm not sure if the look on his face was from shock or pure exasperation at everything that had happened today.

"Of course," Rasp said before stepping back and waving us in. For some reason I had expected the room to be trashed but everything seemed to be in pristine condition. The entire pack house seemed to be decorated with wood furniture and their bed was easily the largest I had ever seen. The scent of fresh blood tickled my nose and it wasn't until my eyes spotted a large wooden column wrapped in red tinged rope that it made sense.

"What's going on babe?" Natalie said walking in from the bathroom with her hair wrapped in a towel and nothing else. My initial assessment of her as the blonde cheerleader type was only reinforced by her tight body, but there was no questioning the aura of authority she gave off. It would be easy for someone to underestimate her if they went purely by appearance. As I watched her stalk across the room, there wasn't a single blemish or stretch mark I could see, and neither her nor Rasp appeared to be old enough to be Dimitri's parents.

"We may have a larger issue than Dimitri or the Gypsy pact," Rasp said, "Watcher was spotted in the woods earlier." Gypsy pact? I'll be adding that to the growing list of questions I have.

"Well, when it rains it pours. If he was spotted, it's because he wanted to be seen," Natalie said, "Who saw him?"

"I did."

"Really? When was this?" Natalie asked.

"Right before Dimitri introduced himself," I said. I could see the mental flinch at the mention of their son's name, but nothing was said.

"I would ask why you didn't mention this before, but you had no way of knowing it might be important," Natalie said

"Max is notifying the patrols as we speak," Mike said.

"In that case there really isn't anything else to be done," Rasp said, "We haven't done anything to bring his wrath down on us, so unless he makes contact all we can do is wait. Mike, just in case, ask Jean to ready one of the VIP quarters. I seriously doubt we'll need it, but with they way this week has been, it seems pointless not to consider the possibility."

"Alright you three, get out," Natalie said herding us towards the door, "I'm taking my mate to bed and am not in a sharing mood tonight. Elizabeth don't forget we need to talk after breakfast and Holly do me a favor. Teach her how to push."

"Will do," Holly said as the door clicked shut.

"Well that went better than I thought," Mike said, "Honestly, I was expecting to find him in a rage."

"Things with Dimitri have been rough for so many years, I guess they already made peace with it," Holly said, "Between that and Rasp trying to kill his punching tree it's the only thing I can think of. His knuckles weren't busted open after the challenge."

"Has Dimitri always been like this?" I asked, "Thinking he could just take whoever he wanted?"

"No, he wasn't," Mike said, "We were friends growing up and one day he just changed. It was like someone flipped a switch, and he decided that since he was probably going to be the Alpha one day he could do anything he wanted. There were rumors about him and some of the younger women, but no one would ever come forward so we had no facts. Now it makes sense, they were afraid of being on his bad side when he ran the pack. Rasp and Natalie knew about the rumors of course, but we're hesitant to act without proof even though his actions flew in the face of everything they believe. I don't think anyone knew that he had been threatened to be expelled."

"We need to find out who these women are," I said, "They are more than likely blaming themselves for what happened, and now that he's gone they might be open to talking about it. I want to talk with them."

"Word has probably already gotten around that he's gone," Mike said, "We need to let people know there won't be any repercussions for coming forward."

"So what did Natalie mean by, teaching me how to push?"

"Pushing the bond," Holly said, "It's part of how you use the bond to communicate. You're already doing it to some extent, you just need to learn how to do it with someone you don't know. I'll get someone to help us and meet you in your room in a few minutes."

"Alright, I'll meet you there," I said heading down the hallway. Stepping into my room, I was amazed at how comfortable I felt. For years I'd lived in my old apartment and it never felt like anywhere other than a place to sleep and fuck, but here, in this room I felt at home. I strolled around the room, running my fingers over the well polished wood, enjoying the rich, earthy tones. I suspect my wolf had something to do with my new appreciation for these colors, as my old place had been decorated in a more severe black and white. I spent a few minutes sitting with Bubbles, who was resting near the heater vent, before there was a knock at my door.

Opening my door I let Holly in. "I've got someone coming in just a minute to help us out," Holly said, "Since you're learning how to push I'm not going to tell you her name but the two of you have a lot in common. She managed to survived a rogue attack eight years ago, and has been with us ever since."

"You wanted to see me Holly?" a hauntingly familiar voice said as it's owner swept into the room. I felt my heart stop as my eyes fell upon a face I had not seen in almost a decade. The last time I laid eyes on my sister we were both bloody and beaten, our clothes ripped off as we were raped. It was the last day I enjoyed being in the forest. She had been fifteen on the day we were attacked, and as my eyes flooded with tears, I couldn't help but see how much she looked like our mother.

My heart was absolutely bursting with joy and I couldn't help but throw my arms around her. "MERCY," I cried, "OH MY GOD, MERCY. I thought you were dead. There was so much blood and they never found a body. How did you survive?" I couldn't remember a time I had ever felt so happy.

"Who's Mercy?" my sister asked.