Running with Wolves Ch. 01

When he came to again, he was on his back on the ground. Blurry tires of what looked like a large delivery van were pulling up between him and a pair of what seemed to be a pair of woman's black leather boots. Dominic whimpered in fear and pain and tried to get up, but before he could hands slid under his arms and calves, lifting him into the air and carrying his limp body towards the unknown van.

Panic set in again, but this time Dominic didn't have the control to keep it down. It filled his head with images of what that van could lead him to and plugged his ears with a dull ringing noise. Without much conscious thought, his legs began to kick out and he began to scream, both in rejection to being taken into the van and pain from his many wounds. "You MOTHER FUCKERS let me- AHHHHH- GO! No! LET me GO LET ME GO-!"

The person at his feet must have already been in the back of the van, because when Dominic began kicking and their hands lost their grip, his feet found purchase against the door. In a last ditch effort to keep from being put in the van, Dominic used the door to shove back. This resulted in the person holding his shoulders losing their balance and dropping Dominic onto the unforgiving pavement. He managed to roll over and lift himself to his knees when another body slammed on top of his and pinned him. He continued to scream and curse for them to get off and let him go. They could have the truck; he was now more interested in keeping his life than cash he wouldn't be able to take back to his make shift family if he were killed by these lunatics.

People were yelling around and at him, grabbing his limbs, which were flailing and doing everything they could to get him free. In the end, more people showed up, and with the extra help Dominic was unable to resist their efforts any longer.

Feeling the stick of a needle going into his arm, Dominic felt as the gang of strangers once again lifted him off the ground and into the van, laying him on what felt like a pile of blankets and coats. The drug began to take effect not long after and he fell into a longer bout of unconsciousness. He prayed for the first time in a long time that he would get out of this and make it back to the others.

*

This whole situation was a mess. How had a simple recon mission turned into a battle royal that ended with two broken limbs, one unconscious werewolf, and a battered Destined? There was going to be hell to pay when the Alphas found out.

Kate sat in the Mayfield Estate infirmary, watching as a male Omega nurse set her mate's broken arm and dislocated elbow with a Velcro elbow brace and sticky gauze. She glanced over to see another Theta nurse checking over Hale, who had just woken up from his pipe-induced nap. There were five others milling about, keeping watch or just fidgeting in anticipation of the Alpha's arrival. She couldn't see Doc Rivers in the examination room, but knew she was working on the man that had evaded them for an hour and a half that night.

This guy was something else.

When Misty had run into him on the corner by that coffee shop, no one had thought much of it. He was human, and it was an accident, so they hadn't interfered. No one had realized until it was too late that the male, this human man, was her Destined Mate.

When she had finally snapped out of her shock and told Cliff and Kate what she knew, it was too late to stop him. He was already around the corner and gone in the crowds of the city. But they would find him again, it was only a matter of time.

And they had soon after. One of Misty's cousins, Augustine, had spotted him coming out of a thrift store a few blocks over. She had marked him with her scent so they could better track him. It was somewhat taboo to purposefully mark an unattached Destined that wasn't meant to be yours, but they understood why she did it; it was easier to follow a familiar scent through the dense city than try and imprint a new one to memory on the fly, and allowed it so they could follow and collect him faster.

However, that plan had been thrown out the window! Somehow, he realized he was being followed, and he must have known it was a pack of wolves because he did a damn good job of throwing them off his trail. Weaving in and out of large groups, confusing the trail and covering himself in other scents to mask the one they had placed on him. Even going so far as to dodge into a nasty bar to climb out the bathroom window and land in a dumpster on the other side. That was when they had finally lost him.

He couldn't be completely human, maybe he was a witch? That would be something, a wolf and a witch. HA! But they would have scented that. So what was he then?

It was an hour later when her mate, Cliff, had called in a panic. The guy that was supposed to already be in their safekeeping 'And why wouldn't he be? One human against a pack of highly trained werewolves? He shouldn't have stood a chance', was back at his truck and had a gun on the Alphas' youngest son, Flint. She had sent them to follow the man's old scent trail and see where it led. They apparently were rummaging through the truck when they were distracted and separated. That was all the information she had gotten before there had been a loud shout and the line went dead. Everyone began panicking then.

It had only taken Kate two minutes to follow her mating bond to find her partner. Right as she was about to turn down the street to get to him, a shock wave of intense pain shot through her mating mark and lanced all the way from her left shoulder to her wrist. The panic from realizing her mate was hurt had caused her wolf to surge to the surface. She had jumped out of the moving car and started running down the street before she fully realized what was happening. When she had turned the corner of the store, Kate watched as the human male swung a pipe to Hale's head, rendering him unconscious and bolted for the driver's seat of an old Chevy. Without thought she had lunged like a wolf onto its prey and slammed him into the side of the truck. Not her brightest decision she had made as a Beta of the pack. She had busted his already battered body pretty good with that move.

Now she was going to have to answer to all of this in front of the Alphas. Today was really starting to suck.

Not a moment later, a black Escalade pulled up behind the Estate into the emergency entrance between the travel van and the piece of crap truck. The infirmary was located in the very back of the Estate, and was structured much like a human emergency room with a private drive, automatic sliding doors, and a 24-7 medical staff. Since wolves can't get medical treatment at a human hospital because of their aggression and tendency to shift, the Estate doubled as a hospital for wolves that are hurt within the city borders.

The front doors of the giant shiny car opened wide, revealing the massive forms of Storm and Thunder. They were the twin sons of the Alpha's Second in Commands, and were currently the highest ranking Betas in the pack. It was no wonder when you looked at their tall muscular builds, not disguised at all by the expensive suits they wore, and ever-vigilant intelligent eyes. They looked like mobster bodyguards with the slicked back dirty blond hair and fancy clothes.

Once both were satisfied that the area was safe by both sight and smell, they moved back to their respective rear doors and opened them, allowing the occupants to exit into the damp night air.

Alpha Orion Five Rivers was the first to exit the car. He was a tall man, towering over everyone else at 6'8 and covered in thick but not bulky muscle, like that of a hockey player. His strong, almost military looking features went nicely with his short dark brown hair, and his bright eyes, which like the rest of them were a shining golden hazel. Similar to his guards, Orion wore a tailored suit, though his was navy blue with a vest and gold tie tucked underneath while theirs were simply black on black.

Alpha Orion stepped around to the other side of the massive car and held out his hand. From inside came his mate and the Madam Alpha, Sol Five Rivers.

She was a stunning picture in her red silk evening gown. The halter top, which plunged down to show all of her cleavage and a decent amount of the sides of her breasts, was being held up by thin gold chains that started at the points of the halter just behind her shoulders and hung down to meet at her mid back, joining as one and twisting down till they met the edge of the gown just above her rounded ass. The right side had a slit all the way up to her hip and when she moved, the floor length fabric would split and show a glimpse of a garter-topped stocking and gold velvet fuck me heels. Kate knew in a dress like that, you didn't wear panties. With her long, wavy silver blonde hair draped over one shoulder and slut red lipstick, she looked like a modern version of a 1940's movie star.

Offering his arm to his agitated and worried mate, most likely because of the scent of nervousness and the fact they had been asked to come here immediately with little explanation, Orion guided them through the automatic doors and into the sterile hospital setting. Everyone able came forward and stood to bow to their leaders, but left a path open for the two to travel. When they moved around the corner and spotted Hale, Sol lost what little composure she had.

"What in Luna's name happened?!" She released her mate and went to her eldest son's side, her hand hovering over the nasty gash on his temple and eyes roaming his body for any other injuries. "What happened to you? Who did this? Why aren't you standing-"

"MOM- Mom, take a breath. I'm fine, okay? Just a bit banged up. Nothing that won't heal in a day or two." Hale grabbed one of his mother's fluttering hands and pulled it towards his chest to try and calm her. "By the way, did I tell you before we left that you look gorgeous in that dress?"

"Oh hush, flattery isn't going to help you now. How did you get so hurt?" She spun around, her dress fluttering, to look at Cliff. He slid off the hospital bed despite the nurse's protests, his shoulders slouched and eyes turned down.

"It is my fault, Madam Alpha. I was lax in my vigil and two of your sons were put in danger because of it. I beg your forgiveness and will accept any and all punishment you deem fit." He tilted his head to the side in submission.

"You weren't lax, Cliff. None of us that guy coming." Hale grabbed the handle of his bed and pulled himself to a sitting position. The nurse had to lift the bed so he could still lean back; he was a bit dizzy after the knock on the head.

"What guy?" Orion, ever calm in a crisis, looked around at the scene before him; his eldest son was bloody, still in his nice dress clothes on a hospital bed, his oldest and most trusted friend stood slumped against the end of his bed wearing a brace, and his youngest son- "Where is your brother? He was supposed to be with you."

"In here." The Alpha heard his son's voice from one of the private examination rooms. He walked over to open the door, revealing his youngest child sitting down next to a human male lying unconscious while Doc Rivers tended to his many visible wounds. His son looked sheepish. "Hey, Dad." Orion just stared.

"What is it?" Sol moved to see what had her mate so stunned. When she laid eyes on the scene in the room, her instincts as Madam Alpha took over. "Explain this Cliff, Kate. I want a full report."

Kate shuddered at her Madam's tone but moved to stand beside her mate without hesitation. She would be lucky to get out of this with all of her limbs, but at least Doc wouldn't let her die. "Earlier this evening, after you were sequestered in the neutral Gathering Hall, some of the pack who had never been to the city wanted to check out the local nightlife. We split up into two separate groups; the first timers heading deeper into the city and the rest of us were heading to the Mayfield Estate for the evening.

"On our way here, Misty broke off without warning. Dagwood and I followed her, but by the time we had caught up there had already been an incident. While she was running, she had run into a man and spilled his coffee onto his chest. He was angry and yelling. At the time, we believed Misty had been angry with him for yelling at her and was attempting to keep her wolf in check, so we didn't question her silence and kept our distance so as not to agitate her further.

"Once he left, we approached. She continued to be silent, staring after him, but after some encouragement we discovered that the reason she had broken off was because she had caught a scent and that this man," Kate gestured to the unconscious human in the bed, "was her Destined." Sol gasped, whirling to take a better look at their captive. Orion looked shocked too. "I immediately sent out word of what he looked like and his general direction to the Roaming Guard, and had Dagwood contact Cliff and Hale in the other group to go to the original point of contact and follow the old scent trail, just to see what they could find. While they began their search, I received a call from Augustine that she had spotted the Destined not two block from our location. Misty continued on with June to the house. She was," Kate glanced at Dominic, "understandably shook up. When we were able to meet up with Augustine, she informed us that she had marked him with her scent, so it was easier to follow him.

"I'm not sure how, but he must have realized wolves were following, and he took measures to shake us loose. We lost him not long after we found him, and we didn't get a lead on him again until Cliff contacted me." Kate hung her head in shame, wanting nothing more than to lie on the ground, show her belly in submission, and beg forgiveness for allowing this all to happen.

"That doesn't explain how one human man was able to take down two full grown wolves and a boy." Orion didn't notice Flint's pained look at not being included as one of the wolves.

Cliff straightened and began to share his side. "We got the call, as Kate mentioned, to do a scouting mission on an alleged Destined. Hale and I were going to go on our own, but Flint wanted to tag along. I hadn't seen the harm; it was supposed to be a simple scouting trip on one lone human.

"The trail had led us all over the city. The first place we came to was a motel in the downtown area. From there we had to do a bit of guesswork. He had taken the bus, but by taking in how old the scents were we were able to guess the time he got off and deduced which buses he could have ridden. We followed the public transportation route to each stop to sniff out where he got on. It took some time, but we discovered three other locations he had spent some time at before finding his vehicle over there." Cliff motioned to the truck, which had been parked in front of the entrance. "I wrongly assumed he would be within the hunting party's care by then, so we began to search the contents of the cab and the backpack we found inside. While we were examining his things, we heard a woman screaming just down the block. Hale and I went to investigate. Fearing for Flint's safety, we had him stay behind with the vehicle.

"There was a homeless woman down the road whom we thought was being attacked, but when we arrived there was no one confronting her. She was just standing on the corner screaming. Hale went back to watch over Flint while I tried to talk with the woman. I didn't realize at the time, but I believe the Destined paid her off somehow to cause a distraction, because she immediately stopped screaming and ran off when she saw me. I was going to follow her when I heard Hale scream-" Cliff flinched back as he was cut off by Sol's growl. A mother wolf was a mother wolf, no matter how old or how strong her pups were.

"Its not his fault Mom, I was an idiot and wasn't paying attention." Hale came to the defense of his guardian and friend. "When I got back to the truck I saw a guy with a gun pointed at Flint. I didn't think about whom it could be, I just assumed it was someone trying to jump Flint and bashed him with a pipe. I underestimated him and when he fought back, I got hurt. Cliff came back and tackled him before he could get the gun. The guy managed to break Cliff's arm, then knocked me out. I remember coming to once. I was on the ground and Kate and her Unit were trying to shove the Destined into the van. He was still trying to fight them off, but he was in too much pain and drugged up to win. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have approached the situation the way I did, it's what set this whole fight into motion. I beg your forgiveness, Father, Mother." Hale tipped his head back in surrender to whatever punishment his parents were going to dole out on him.

Orion was about to respond when Flint began yelling and what sounded like a scuffle ensued. Everyone turned to see Dominic was awake, and was once again fighting to get away from them. Kate would give him one thing; he really was something else.