Running with Wolves Ch. 03

Flint blushed again. "I was not checking him out." His voice got quiet. "I wasn't."

*

It was five in the morning when everyone was gathered together inside going over the last of what needed to be packed. Jarod had checked all the rooms, his OCD not letting anyone else do it, and Ben was finishing shoving old damp clothes into a duffle bag. Lucky for them, the water from the flood yesterday morning had receded rather quickly, but everything it touched had to be washed. With an overcast day like it had been, the items they had managed to clean were not dry, but wet clothes could still be packed.

The only money they had was everyone's personal hidden savings, money that during a good month, after they had each pitched in their fair share of rent money and food, had been stored away to buy something they wanted in the future. Collectively they all had about 80 dollars. Not enough to go far, but it would get them started.

"Alright, Samantha, can you go check the ties for the stuff up top? I don't want anything to fall off on the road when we head out of here." She chirped an "aye aye captain" and headed out the door. Jarod was holding Penny so he would have something other than the packing of the van on his mind. He was fighting the impulse to go out and repack it all to suit his OCD requirements. He was getting better, before now Dominic would have had to hold him back or have someone else keep him sequestered in a room somewhere.

Then they all heard Samantha scream. All the men were up on their feet in a second, but she was already flying back in through the door, slamming it shut behind her and locking it. She was mumbling under her breath, scared out of her mind.

"What the hell is it?" Ben went to grab her before she passed out while Garrett went to the door to look out the tiny window. Dominic followed Ben.

"What is it Samantha? Hey- hey look at me. Just focus on me. That's it, OK, take a deep breath with me. All right, in" They breathed in together. "Out- in- out." They continued like that for a moment, stopping Samantha from beginning to hyperventilating. When her breathing was steady once more, Ben let her go. "Tell us what happened. Was it Flint? Did he do something?" He was asleep out in the van, but he could have woken up and gained enough strength to try to and stop them from leaving.

Samantha shook her head. She tried to speak, but her mouth was dry. She licked her lips and tried again. "No, not Flint, it, it was-"

"Wolves." Dominic spun around, facing Garrett who was staring stunned out the tiny door window. "There are wolves out there."

Dominic couldn't believe it. He sprinted over, shoving Garrett out of the way so he could see for himself.

Sure enough, outside in the light of the lamps and headlights of the van, were six wolves all bigger than any normal wolf could be. They were sniffing at the van and pawing at the door where Flint sat inside. He opened the door without hesitation; sliding out while one of the beasts sniffed him from toes to chest. He looked to be talking to it. Another wolf walked into the light, only he wasn't on all fours. He was standing on his back legs, at least 8 feet tall, and more wolf than man with clawed hands, a slightly elongated face, fur covering his entire naked body except his genitals, and wolf ears in place of his human ones

"Holy shit he was telling the truth."

"What?" Garrett snapped from behind Dominic. "Who told you the truth?"

"Flint. Flint told me on the ride here that his family were werewolves. I didn't believe him but-"

Ben came walking up to the door. "He's full of shit, no way are werewolves re-" He looked out the window. "Holy shit."

Without warning, another set of headlights lit up the night, then another. Soon there were six cars pulling up, all black and all massive. Out of one car came Orion and a blond Dominic didn't recognize, but assumed was Sol, his wife. Behind her another door opened, revealing the current bane of Dominic's existence, Misty. She was still wearing her red dress from before, but her hair had been let down. Everyone else was wearing what looked to be nice sweats and T-shirts, much the same as what Dominic was given.

More people exited the cars, and more giant wolves showed up. Dominic and his group were trapped and they knew it. Whether or not they would survive, none of them could answer that question. The only one with a chance of getting out of this was Dominic, and he wasn't going to allow his family to die tonight. So they erred on the side of caution.

Ben was the first to react, cursing under his breath and bolting for the stairs. "I'm getting Becky! You guys get the doors!"

Garrett sprung into action at the order, as did Jarod. Both ran to check the warehouse doors and lock them, pushing heavy crates left behind from the days the warehouse was in use in front of them. Samantha took Penny from Jarod as he ran by and moved to follow Ben up the stairs. She needed to keep her daughter safe and away from any fighting. Penny started crying from all the sudden excitement.

'Becky' was actually a short barreled shotgun that had been a birthday present for Ben when he was young. They had brought it with them when they left. It was one of the few things they would never and could never get rid of. Unfortunately, they had put the Ruger in a backpack, which was now outside in the van.

Ben came running down the stairs just as the other two were finishing checking the doors. Dominic listened with half an ear to their strategic planning, instead staring at Misty who was in turn watching him, when he heard a thumping sound. It was dull, but it grabbed his attention because it didn't come from out front.

"Guys! Quiet... listen." The thumping was loud footsteps. On the roof.

They had climbed to the roof!

"Shit!" Ben ran over and pointed his gun at the door at the top of the second staircase leading to the roof. "I FUCKING DARE YOU TO COME IN HERE YOU HAIRY MYTH BASTARDS!" He let off a shot when the handle of the door moved, then racked in another shell. There was a yelp and the door didn't move again. Penny started crying louder in the background. "Dominic what do we do?!"

Dominic just stood by the door, overwhelmed by the situation.

"What?"

"What the fuck do we do?!"

There was a slam coming from a back room. They were breaking down the door.

Dominic took another look outside, taking in the cars, men, and wolves outside, then turned to look at his friends. Ben was at the bottom of the roof stairs, Jarod was praying while running from door to door to make sure they were locked, and Garrett stood with a knife he had pulled from the kitchen area. All of them were yelling at him for guidance, and Dominic could feel the room get smaller, the walls closing in and his vision start to blur.

He heard Penny crying in the background.

Dominic made his decision, steeling his resolve. He would NOT let his family die tonight. He turned to the door again.

"All of you, upstairs."

Garrett was the only one to hear. "What?"

"I said all of you upstairs." Dominic turned to look at their shocked and confused faces. "NOW!"

Ben looked like he was going to argue with him, but there was another SLAM. The door wouldn't hold much longer.

Ben cursed. "Don't you do anything stupid!" He lowered his gun and ran to the office stairs. Jarod gave Dominic one last hard look before following suit.

Garret was the last to go. "Here," He placed a knife in Dom's hand. Not a kitchen knife, but a well-kept Military Warrior knife. It was as black as Dominic's hair and shined in the light of the lamps they had set up inside. It was Garrett's prized possession.

"Don't do anything stupid, but if you are forced to, you use this."

Dominic shook his head. "You need it for upstairs."

When he tried to hand it back, Garrett just took a step back and left for the stairs. "Keep it and stay safe. We need you." He took one last look at his friend, then turned around and ran up the stairs, closing the door and locking it. Dominic could hear the scraping of the beds being pushed up against the door as a barrier.

Taking a deep breath, Dominic walked over to the bottom of the stairs leading to the people he cared about most in this world and waited, listening to the SLAM and following BANG of the back door being busted open. They were in.

Dominic slipped his fingers into the grip of the knife and watched as one by one, wolves and men slid in through the door of the back room and moved to surround him.

If they were going to go after his family, they were going to have to kill him first.

*

Kate was running as fast as she could through the trees of her pack's land, her unit of six Beta wolves close on her heels.

They had gotten a call from the Den. Dominic and Flint had been spotted on the eastern edge of the pack's land, heading northeast in the direction of what seemed to be the abandoned airstrip. A patrolling unit had apparently heard Flint scream and arrived at the location it came from just in time to watch as the van sped off. Years ago, a man had set up a charter business at the airstrip, but in reality he was using it as a cover for a distribution center for a drug smuggling ring. With it being so close to pack lands, Sol and Orion had to shut it down. It had been abandoned ever since. Why would they be heading there?

Cliff was driving one of the vehicles on the road next to her. Inside were the Pine Glen Alpha, Ash Pine Glen, and his mate Lily. Behind them was a car holding Storm and Thunder, with Kate's Alphas and Misty inside. Everyone was on edge with two Alpha pairs present, but she had to focus. They needed to find the runaway Destined and get Flint back soon.

No one knew how Dominic was able to acquire the things he had in order to escape. Well, they had an idea, but no one could figure out how he had used them to take down yet another wolf, set off the fire alarms as a distraction, steal a car, kidnap the Alpha's son, and drive off into the night after destroying the security gate to the Mayfield Estate. Kate could still clearly see the look on everyone's faces when he crashed through the gate, at any other time it would have been priceless.

What followed after Dominic's escape was a monumental mess.

The Pine Glen pack had shot, of course unknowingly, at a human Destined. Misty had flipped her lid and almost shifted, a big no-no according to the rules set before the gathering. Pine Glen had freaked, almost attacking her, which caused Five Rivers to come to her defense. They were two seconds from restarting the wars when Sol had stepped forward and snarled for everyone to back down, Misty especially. Ash Pine Glen had also come forward, backing down his pack and demanding answers. Sol had explained the situation to him, how Dominic was a Destined that had gotten hurt during a fight, how he had been brought to the Clinic for treatment, and how they had believed him to be incapacitated. She apologized for the gate, though it came out a bit forced. She was livid that they had shot at Dominic.

Ash had also been slightly appalled they had shot at Dominic. Human Destined were seen as gift from Luna, and cherished. Killing one before they were mated and turned was seen as deplorable. Wolves in the past had been put to death over it.

He had asked why he was not with his wolf mate, and everyone had looked at Misty. Her actions had been the chief cause of all of this, so Sol had no issue putting her on the spot and making her take responsibility. Misty hadn't said anything.

Kate didn't understand Misty's behavior. When Cliff had found her 15 years ago, he hadn't been able to leave her side. Kate had just lost her mother and had quit her job as a manager for an expensive luxury hotel to travel and rediscover herself. She had a lot of guilt when it came to her mother.

Cliff had found her during one of her 'rough it out' camping trips she was on. When he had found her, he tackled and pinned her down, smelling her and licking at her entire body. He had been in his wolf form, and Kate had been terrified. She fought him for a while, but he never left her. Not like Misty had left hers.

Misty had just LEFT him, claiming that he couldn't be her one true mate, that her wolf was mistaken, and had gone on to the Mayfield Estate with June. Kate and Dagwood were the ones who tracked him down, not her. It was incredible the amount of denial it must have taken to push down the kind of instinct that comes when finding your Destined.

'She wants to lead, Kate. Having a human mate pretty much takes away that possibility. She doesn't know what to do in this situation.' Cliff must have heard her through their bond.

Kate snorted lightly, jumping over a fallen log and continuing to dodge trees. 'I didn't turn out so bad.' She thought about the wolves under her command.

'Yes you have become a strong member of this pack, sweet.' Cliff sounded proud. 'But as you know that is rare. Most human mates, no matter how strong they are when they are human, turn out to be weak wolves. Their animal instincts just aren't that developed so they don't have the strength like born wolves do.'

'Doesn't excuse what she did.' Kate landed hard after jumping off a pile of boulders in her way, a pair of raccoons screeched at her as they ran off.

'No it does not.'

There was a thinning of the trees, the air still had a slight smell of jet fuel and there was a subtle scent of humans nearby. They were getting close.

The cars slowed while everyone in wolf form kept their pace.

They would scout the area and discover what they could before allowing them to come forward.

In total there were five units of wolves. Three were Five Rivers, all in wolf form. Kate had six wolves in hers, Cole, the Alpha's second son, had eight, and Clay, Kate's mentor and biggest pain in the ass friend a girl could have, had nine wolves following his orders. Clay, being the third highest ranking Beta in the pack, was going to take point when they arrived at wherever Dominic had stopped.

Including everyone in the van that wasn't shifted, there were a total of 38 Five River pack members and their Alphas present for this hunt. Pine Glen had brought their own two units, both holding seven wolves, both in human form and in the vehicles. Adding their 14 Beta wolves and their own Alpha pair, that made a grand total of 56 wolves hunting down one human Destined. This was ridiculous. If he got away again, Kate would kill herself in shame.

They arrived at the tree line surrounding the airstrip. Clay and his unit took point, Cole on his right, Kate on his left. Opening their minds, they reached out and formed temporary connections with each other. The bond was similar to a mating bond, but without the physical mark to anchor them together.

When Kate had first been taught how it worked by Clay, he had described it like navigation a huge city with a complicated map. Looking at it the first time is overwhelming and doesn't make any sense, and its easy to take a wrong turn or miss a connection. The more you travel the city and get to know its patters and shortcuts the easier it is to get to where you are going in a timely manner. The mating bond is like having google maps on your phone, showing you exact routs with times and traffic reports and verbal instructions.

Forming a Pack Mind was tricky when you started adding more than five or six wolves. Kate and the other two lead Betas had to first find each other, then add their groups of wolves into the mix one at a time. It was shaky at the start, wolves coming in and out of focus in Kate's mind, but when Orion, still back in one of the vehicles, joined them everyone stabilized and they were able to become one cohesive unit. He was the only wolf Kate had ever heard of that could create such large, stable Pack Minds while still in his human form.

Together they evaluated the area. There were four buildings; an empty hangar for the planes, a large office type building, a burned housing structure that use to belong to the owner and the semi-permanent hired hands used to reside in, and a warehouse. Everything was overgrown and dilapidated. Moss had overtaken the ground and started to creep up the sides of the buildings. A man made drainage creek was on the other side of the warehouse reeking of bad water and filth.

The warehouse seemed to have the most activity. The stolen van was standing out front, with the headlights on and reflecting off the warehouse's roll up door. Surrounding it were about half a dozen lamps. The back loading door was open, and they could see packs and other large bundles of items inside and as well as on the roof. Flint was sitting in the passenger seat, not moving but Kate could just pick up his heartbeat if she really concentrated. She only managed because the sound was familiar to her.

'Hear anything else?' Clay addressed Kate specifically, but every one of the wolves in their Pack Mind and Orion could hear it.

Kate focused further on her hearing, catching faint sounds but nothing discernable. 'He is inside the warehouse, but I can't tell what he is doing. I'm too far away. It doesn't sound like he is alone though. What do you think he is he doing here?'

Cole sniffed the air. 'His scent is here. Perhaps he discovered this place and is using it to hide something? I can smell others with him but I am in the same position as Kate. I need to be closer to be able to tell anything more than that.'

Clay began playing out scenarios in his mind. They all could hear and see him in their mind's eye evaluating the area, searching for weak points, assessing risks, trying to see possible escape routes for those inside and for them if they needed it, and trying to find the easiest and quickest way to get everyone in and out safely, while still accomplishing their objective. It was always fascinating to Kate the things he saw that no one else would think to look for. 'Why thank you Kate, I'm flattered.' He had heard her think that. She grumbled at him, making him chuckle in amusement. Then he went serious. 'We need more information. Cole, head north and make your way around to the other side of the warehouse, make sure no one else is here. I will go south and meet you there. Kate stay here.'

Both huffed in acknowledgement. Kate watched as Cole and Clay moved out, seeing what they did in her mind's eye. It wasn't a big facility. It looked as if the warehouse was the only thing in use, the other three buildings were relatively untouched. Cole could see his brother in the van and he whined. Flint looked pale and was sleeping in an uncomfortable looking position. Cole almost went to him, but he felt his father reach out and sooth him.

'Your brother is fine, follow your orders.' Cole whined again, but did as told. His father was right.

Once they reached the other side, they had a better picture of what they were up against. There were the scents of six individuals that Cole could sniff out, but the smell of the fuel prevented him from distinguishing anything specific in them.

Knowing that all the unknown humans were in one central location, Clay gave Kate the go ahead to approach the van and make contact with Flint. They needed to make sure he was ok.

Kate and her wolves were silent as they moved forward. Getting closer, she could make out that Cole was right. There were six heartbeats, but only five people moving around. One must be sitting down. They were talking about places to stop on the way to the east coast. 'So Dominic is packing up and bolting from the state. I don't blame him. After the night he's had I would have run too.' Kate felt a spark from Clay. He might agree, but now was not the time. She refocused herself.

Kate stepped up to the halo of light made by the battery-operated lanterns. They skirted it, trying to catch a decent scent, but everything was masked by the smell of the drainage water. The ground was saturated in it, and the items inside the van had a diluted undertone of it beneath the smell of dish soap.