Gypsy Wolf Ch. 06

This story is a work of fiction solely from the twisted mind of Chromex. Any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental. All characters are of at least 18 years of age unless otherwise specifically mentioned. Please do not copy/redistribute the story, in part or total, without the author's permission.

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It's funny sometimes how life works. You get so wrapped up in what's going on around you that you can forget the rest of the world even exists. Days, weeks, and even months can fly by in the blink of an eye and before you know it you're looking out at a blanket of white snow when it seems only moments ago it was summer. Winter solstice was just around the corner and while always a cause for celebration; this year would even more so due to the full moon falling on the same night. The energy of the pack was palpable and everyone was looking forward to the midwinter run.

The last few months had been stressful, to say the least. Word of the Shadow Reavers having an unmated female alpha flew around the world and suitors started contacting Rasp almost as soon as Logan and the Iron Mountain pack had left our territory. A couple of them even tried the same tactics and found equal amounts of success. Eventually, it was Watcher who brought it all to an end when he met the delegation from Italy at the front gate. It's well known that the Italians venerate Watcher as the founder of their pack and the father of Romulus and Remus. He never spoke a word and never shifted from his saberwolf but the Italians stared at him intently before nodding and driving away. Since then not a single suitor has even asked permission to enter pack territory. I still find the whole thing rather strange and whenever I mention it to Sara she tends to chuckle like I'm missing the punchline to a joke.

There's been no sign of either Riley or his lightning throwing girlfriend since they tried to kill me and the general feeling is they've left the area. Natalie made contact with the Witches Council to see if they would know who she is but didn't make much headway. All she could get out of them was that they had no authorized members working in our area. As much as I would like to believe they're gone, I just can't get over the feeling that we've not seen the last of those two.

I've been slowly rebuilding my relationship with Angel, although it's difficult at times for me to call her that. As far as she and everyone in the pack are concerned she's always been Angel and after finally getting her back I'd rather not cause any friction over something like that so I've tried hard to move away from calling her Mercy. I still slip up from time to time. We've spent many a night just talking well into the morning or going over old photo albums. It's still difficult for me to believe that I finally found her after all of these years and in a pack of werewolves of all things and I've decidedly softened my opinion when it comes to her mate Derek. It's easy to tell how much they love each other and from time to time I see her mimicking things that our mom used to do. While I do wish her memories would return, perhaps it's for the best if only one of us can remember the attack as it returns in my dreams nearly every night.

It's strange now, to be having the dream again after all these years. My wolf was smart enough to recognize it for the dream that it is and helps me control my unconscious fear so I no longer awaken screaming. However I can tell that I'm upsetting her, there is something she wants me to see, some important detail I need to remember that I simply cannot.

"Is he still out there?" Holly asked as she walked into my room.

"No," I said staring out into the treeline, "I'm pretty sure he left a few days ago."

"What makes you say that?" She and Sara always get the same halfway grin when discussing Watcher.

"I don't know. A feeling I guess. I just know he's left." I'd wondered that very same question countless times since the day he came into the compound. I had a feeling I might already know the answer, but as long as I didn't ask the question out loud I was safe from the implications that it brought. One thing I did know for certain; I would never forget the feeling of absolute despair and loss I felt emanating from him that day. I would never forget it because I'd felt that way every day after Mercy was taken.

"Natalie asked me to come to get you," Holly said, "They're still in the library."

"Thanks, Holly, I'll be there in just a minute." From my window, I could see the two dark green SUVs that arrived just after three this morning. Their presence had everyone on edge as the rumor flying around the compound was that the seven bedraggled wolves who climbed out the trucks were the only survivors of the Glades Meadow pack. Glades Meadow was a small pack from the other side of the mountains that we got along pretty well with. A couple of our people found their mates during a gathering this summer and had gone off to live with them. Three of the wolves were currently with Damien and Angel in the medical clinic while the rest had been in with Rasp and Natalie.

Reaching the library I let myself in and took stock of the four wolves. It was clear they'd been through hell and back before reaching us. The two adult females sat with Natalie and Rasp while a young girl who couldn't have been more than seven or eight was curled up next to her teenage brother on the couch. Making my way to the couch I knelt and held the small stuffed pokemon I'd felt the need to double back and get. "Hi, little one. What's your name?"

"Hallie," the little blonde-haired girl said.

"Hi, Hallie, I'm Elizabeth and is this your brother?" The family resemblance was unmistakable.

"That's Davey." Davey may have only been a teenager but his eyes were those of someone who'd seen far more than they should. I knew those eyes because they were the same as mine.

"Davey it's good that you're looking out for Hallie," I told them. "I lost my sister when I wasn't much older than you and only got her back a few months ago when I became a wolf. Hallie, do you think you could do something for me? Could you hold onto my Charmander? I don't have the time to cuddle with him like he needs and was thinking you could help me." Watching her small hand reach out and pull the pokemon to her I know I'd be hearing from Natalie about my Alpha instincts kicking in.

The two of them watched me with wary eyes as I settled into the open seat next to Rasp. "Elizabeth, thank you for joining us," Natalie said, "Lisa, Cindy, this is Elizabeth Grey, our resident bonus Alpha. Lisa can you tell her what you told us about what happened right before the attack."

It was easy to see the fatigue on her face so I decided to try and relax things before making her start again. "Lisa, Lisa Simmons right?" Reaching over I set my hand on top of hers and squeezed it. "I think we met at the gathering over the summer. If I remember you gave Holly a run for her money in the circle during the Beta challenges."

"Not enough of one," Lisa smiled, "I thought I had her until she caught me with that damn headbutt right at the end there. I heard later that you taught her that."

"Sort of. She learned it the hard way the same as you did during my rank challenge." A knowing chuckle from the Alphas said they remembered Holly getting knocked for a loop before I choked her out.

"I'd liked to have seen that," she said.

"Why don't we take a few minutes?" Natalie said as she stood up and stretched. "Valerie's bringing in fresh coffee and some breakfast."

"Rasp, Natalie, why don't you let me take Lisa and Cindy around to stretch their legs? I'm sure the kids could use a shower and some sleep after they eat."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Rasp agreed, "It's already been a long morning for everyone." Listening to the pops as Rasp stretched his back made me grateful I was called in at the end. The smell of coffee wafted through the air as Valerie brought in the breakfast tray.

"Uhm if it's okay I'd like to stay with the kids and mak," Cindy said. Cindy was an omega in her pack and likely had helped to take care of the kids.

"What if we, oof." Looking down I could see that Hallie had decided to latch onto my leg. "Yes, Hallie?"

"Can I stay with you?" she asked. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't that. Looking at the other adults in the room I'm sure I had a panic-stricken look on my face, even her brother seemed shocked. I doubted the realization of losing her parents had set in just yet.

Kneeling, she let go of my leg as I came down to face her. "Hallie, wouldn't you rather stay with your brother or Cindy?" I felt myself falling further down the rabbit hole when she just shook her head.

"I have a suggestion," Valerie said, kneeling next to me. "If your brother is okay with it I can put you and Cindy in the room right across the hall from Elizabeth? That way you can visit her all the time. How does that sound?"

Rasp had come over and rested his large hand on Davey's shoulder. "Dave, what do you think? You're her family so it's up to you. " From the shocked look on his face, the teen hadn't been expecting Rasp to address him like an adult. "If you're okay with it we can place you with the other bachelors."

"Is that what you want, Snaps?" It wasn't hard to figure out how a young werewolf would earn that nickname.

"Yes, Davey," Hallie said.

"Okay then. Alpha Sir I'm okay with it if she is."

"I'll get everything set up then," Valerie said, "Elizabeth, is it okay if they use your shower while I get that room prepped? Cindy, I'll scrounge up some clothes for you both."

"Sure Val, Bubbles will leave them alone," I said, "Lisa let's walk for a bit." Taking a minute to grab some coffee I led Lisa downstairs and out into the brisk December air. One definite plus to being a wolf is since our bodies run hotter than humans the cold doesn't affect us nearly as much. We walked for a while, the snow crunching under our boots.

Taking a seat on a tree stump not far from the challenge circle Lisa ran her fingers through her hair before taking a deep breath. "The power just died, that was the first indication that anything was happening," Lisa stated, "There was just this overwhelming smell of ozone followed by a couple of bright flashes and then all hell broke loose. Our Alpha Kyle and his mate Angela did their best to try and organize some kind of defense but there were just too many of them. In the end, he ordered me to load up as many as I could and make a break for it while he and a few others bought time for us to get away. I almost drove into a tree from the pain when our pack bonds shattered. They'd paid for that time with their lives." I'd grown used to feeling the presence of the pack in the back of my mind even though I rarely if ever made use of it to contact them.

"Is there anything you can tell me about the attackers themselves?" I asked, "Anything you might have noticed?"

"Not really. Everything was just too hectic," Lisa said, "My first thoughts were that we were being attacked by rogues but I've never heard of them working together in such a large group." I wasn't surprised. Given how few managed to get away the odds must have been really stacked against them.

"I'm going to talk with Rasp about going to your compound and sniff around. Maybe there's something that can give us an idea of who this was so we can burn them to the ground."

"I'd like to go with you when you do," she said, "Hopefully, we'll find some more survivors."

"Of course. What about the kid's parents?" I asked, "Do you think they might have survived?" I knew the odds weren't great but a little hope can be a good thing.

"Their mother and little brother died in childbirth. Even as a wolf she'd never been particularly strong and well, it just happens sometimes. We tried our best to keep their father sane but the loss of both his mate and child was just more than he could bear. Davey was only about twelve, thirteen when he found his father on their mother's grave. Hallie couldn't have been more than five at the time."

"That must have been rough. I know it was for me when I lost my sister."

"To say the least," she said, "We found them a foster family in the pack of course but they've never let anyone get too close. I couldn't believe it when Hallie said she wanted to stay with you."

"Do I look anything like her mom?" I asked, "Maybe that's it."

"No, you're not even close but it could be that you're a strong Alpha," she said "Her wolf is telling her that you'll keep her safe and giving her that stuffed pokemon you probably made her human side feel protected as well. Plus the fact you didn't immediately reject the idea earned you points with Davey as well. Guess I should get used to calling him Dave now."

"Yeah, it wasn't hard to see how much he grew up in that moment when Rasp let him make the decision," I said, "Why don't we go inside and I'll talk to Rasp while you get some rest? We probably won't head to your territory until tomorrow at the soonest." Getting back inside we ran into Valerie with a basket full of clothes and she let us know what room Lisa was going to have so I showed her where to find it before tracking down Rasp. He agreed that everyone needed to be better rested before heading to investigate the Glades Meadow territory but honestly if Jill hadn't asked to go I'd probably already be on my way there.

Natalie and Rasp had begun including Mercy and me in more and more of the decision-making process over the last few months and it was mid-afternoon by the time we finished planning the expedition to the Glades Meadow territory. With some other pack business to take care of Angel and I found ourselves alone in the library. "Mer... Angel, it'll be fine. All we're doing is driving up, checking the place for survivors, and hopefully figuring out who did this. If Rasp was expecting there to be a problem he'd be letting Holly bring half the Betas like she wanted to."

"I suppose you're right," Angel said, "I guess I'd feel a little bit better about this if my latent Alpha abilities were just a little less latent."

"I've been talking with Sara about that and she's going to do some research for us to see about unlocking them," I said and we both rolled our eyes knowing exactly what that meant.

"Anything for an excuse to get a new book." Standing up Angel took a moment to stretch before gathering up her notes. "I'm going to go check with Damien and make sure the trauma kits are ready to go. Who knows what kind of shape any of the survivors might be in. Do you think there's going to be any?"

"Honestly, no but it's smarter to be prepared," I said as I grabbed my notes. Heading back to my room, I found Bubbles in his usual spot near the heater vent and Hallie and Cindy crashed out in my bed in a couple of my sleeping shirts. Seeing Cindy cleaned up and relaxed made me realize she was younger than I thought. I decided to let them sleep until dinner before grabbing one of the slightly less boring books Rasp had given me to read and stretched out on my couch.

"Holly I'm not looking for an answer right now," Angel finished as I picked my jaw up off the floor of the Yukon. We'd been on the road since six and were still about two hours from reaching Glades Meadow territory. "Derek's birthday isn't until next month and I'd been thinking it would be a fun little surprise." I knew that lots of unmated pairs hooked up and even some of the mated pairs, Rasp and Natalie especially but to hear my sister asking about it was a bit shocking.

"Okay, just a second. Someone explain something to me," I said, "How does the whole "mate for life thing" work since it looks like people just keep hooking up?" I'd tried finding an explanation in the books I was given but came up empty.

"You've been reading too much werewolf fanfiction on the internet," Angel said drawing laughs from everyone in the vehicle, "It's really hard to describe exactly what finding your mate feels like but when I realized Derek was mine it was like finding home. Growing up in the pack I'd always felt welcome but with Derek, it was a connection far, far deeper. I knew that I would always be safe with him and he would never do anything to hurt me and nothing is going to change that but that's the werewolf part of me. Wolves mate for life but humans typically don't and while wolves are monogamous, humans don't even try. Too many people have it in their heads that just because you have a wolf and a mate then that part overrides everything you do. It absolutely doesn't. If that was true then none of us would enjoy sucking cock or eating pussy or having anal sex because wolves sure as hell don't do any of those."

"That's true," I said over murmurs of agreement.

"Being a werewolf and having a wolf doesn't make you less human, it makes you something different, something more and the human part of you still really enjoys sex," Angel finished, "Probably more so now that your heightened senses make everything feel just that much better. I know that most humans once they get married never have another sexual partner but doesn't that just seem kind of boring?"

My head was spinning, not because of what she was saying because the more I thought about it the more sense it made. No, my head was spinning because it was my sister telling me this. I mean I wasn't so naive to think she didn't have sex since one of the first things I did when I learned how to push was interrupt her and her mate mid-coitus. From there the conversation devolved into discussing the various males in the pack we'd bedded with a couple of the Betas chiming in as well. It made the last part of the drive fly by and Jill appeared to be taking notes.

"Okay let's go. The scouts are saying it's clear," Holly said. We'd stopped a few hundred yards from the remains of the packhouse, the scent of smoke heavy in the winter's air, to allow some of the Betas to scout ahead. They'd shifted and headed off into the woods on both sides of the narrow road leading to the compound. Everyone was understandably on edge as we waited and all heads were on a swivel as we slowly pulled into the compound.

The compound had about a dozen large timber frame buildings designed to house the seventy-five some odd members of the pack plus all their needed supplies. It was all just a smoking ruin now. This hadn't been an attempt to take over the territory, it was just an all-out slaughter. The bodies had just been left where they had fallen and I found myself thankful for the cold as the smell would have been overwhelming. "Jill if you want to stay in the truck everyone will understand," I told her.

"No, I have to do this. The power station is over this way," Jill said as she climbed out of the truck. Following her lead, she took us down a narrow trail towards a small collection of buildings. "There's a couple of hot springs in this area that we converted into geothermal power and during the summer we were set up for hydroelectric power from the streams. Battery storage and the main transformer were in that building over there." Following her gaze, it wasn't hard to determine which one she was referring to as there wasn't much left of it.

Walking around the remnants of the building I found that the cables from the different power sources merged at a single pole before running into the transformer building and for some reason, that pole was scorched right below where the cables met. "Hey Jill, was this always like this?" I asked.

"No, it wasn't," Jill said as she investigated the pole, "and notice how it's only on the backside of the pole." An idea started to form in my head but I wanted to find more evidence first.

"If anyone sees what looks like a localized burn mark let me know," I yelled out to everyone.