Running with Wolves Ch. 06

A huge thank you to everyone who has voted and commented on the previous chapter. I can tell you they really make my week. I am always open to suggestions, good critics, and bad ones. This story is evolving with every chapter so if there is something you all would like to see or don't like it won't hurt my feeling to adapt it into my story. As always, a huge thank you to both my editors MarieFlower and mordbrand. Please enjoy this next chapter I made it a bit longer to make up for last week's short one.

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"This place is ridiculous. Reminds me of when we lived with my parents." Ben grumbled, sitting on the couch in the same room Sol had left them in a few hours before. It was mid morning now, and the woman who had been put in charge of watching over them had just dropped off a trolley of food for them.

It reminded Dominic of what they had done when he was in the clinic. There was an assortment of foods, but this time they were far more domestic. Mostly meats, like chicken, ribs, steak, and pork, cooked in all kinds of different ways. The abundance of sides were anything from salads, to potatoes done any number of ways, to any variety of chip one could possibly think of. There was even a cooler with drinks and different flavors of ice cream inside.

"You have no idea. You should have seen what they brought me when they had me the first time. I didn't even know lobster could be cooked that many ways." Dominic was sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard. Jarod was next to him sharing a plate of home made steak fries and a tub of the coffee ice cream. Garrett was laying on his back at their feet, a large spoon sticking out of his mouth and a carton of vanilla bean balanced on his chest. Samantha was sitting at Ben's feet on the other end of the couch opposite the bed, gnawing on a rib while Penny fed from her breast. When she was done she tossed the bone on the plate she and Ben were sharing and licked her fingers clean.

"Here." Ben dunked a napkin in his water and handed it to her. "Use this."

"Oh, thank you Ben. I never knew these could be so messy." Samantha giggled and scrubbed the wet paper over her face.

"Well then don't try the BBQ wings. Those thing are nothing but mess, and I don't think Penny likes being your bib."

"What?-Oh!" Samantha looked down at her baby and used the napkin to gently dab a spot of sauce from her cheek. Penny cooed happily as Samantha gave her an apology in baby talk.

Dominic relaxed farther against the headboard, smiling lightly at the scene before him. They were not there willingly, and they might be trapped in a den surrounded by werewolves, but at least they were full and relatively safe for the time being. It had been a long time since food like this had been accessible to them, and it was a nice feeling to see everyone eating something other than cheap pasta and canned goods they heated up on the camper stove they found in a dumpster. Usually ice cream was saved for the most special of occasions, and not even all of those times got the sweet treat.

Jarod shoved his spoon into the frozen dessert and sighed. He ran his hand over his short hair and crossed his legs so he could lean forward slightly and grab a chip from Garrett's stash. "I don't know about this place."

Ben held up a finger. He rose up and walked over to the door, opening it and checking the hall. When he was sure no one was standing outside he closed the door again. "Break it down for us. What did you see?"

Jarod bit his lip, eyes jumping around from face to face. His voice was quiet when he started to speak. "Well, first off their security is nothing to sneeze at. They have cameras everywhere, and they aren't that easy to spot if you aren't looking for them. You saw that they have someone verifying people coming in and out with that security box at the entrance gate, but there are at least three more cameras watching both the entrance and exit gate, and that doesn't include the others on the road leading in and out of this place. They know exactly who is coming and going and when. Same for that first gate we came through. I would put down money that if we were to go down any other road we would see the same thing. There is no easy way in or out without getting spotted on their surveillance system.

"Not only that, but there were all kinds of trails in the woods crossing over the main road that I could see while they were driving us here. Knowing what we do about these people, they most likely have patrols in the forest, plus the dozen cameras I spotted on the drive here alone. Not surprising, considering they keep talking about a war ending just yesterday. Our driver was talking to his buddy about it. They weren't pleased at all that Dominic put it in jeopardy."

Dominic could guess how he had done that. "Is there anything else you saw?"

Jarod nodded. "This building is an entirely different beast. It's old, maybe just over a couple hundred years, but it has all the latest in surveillance tech. All of the doors have a camera on them, and on top of that, they are also extra thick. I'm betting its because they have a sheet of metal in the center that adds strength, in case someone tries to breach them. All the entrances and exits are heavily monitored, but from the looks of it the living area we are in isn't nearly as closely watched as the rest of this place. I think those are only really used for defense if they are ever over run and need to locate who is where.

"The layout is another defensive measure. The first portion of the building is the oldest section, and a pretty easy layout. Most likely because it wasn't built with holding off attacking forces in mind, instead its probably used for guests and company. But this entire back area is a rat's nest of a maze. It had to have been done so that if anyone did manage to get in, they would have a hard time navigating."

"This place is a damn fortress." Garrett shoved another spoon full of ice cream into his mouth, staring at the ceiling in thought.

Ben growled under his breath. "Yeah, or just a really nice prison." His hand started rubbing up and down his leg. Dominic could see his pained distant look from across the room.

Jarod bit the inside of his cheek. "That isn't all though. They are organized and they are disciplined. I think these guys are more like wolves than humans when it comes to social order. They have an obvious hierarchy and Sol is on top for sure. Orion is right there with her, but she is most defiantly the leader. What she says goes and no one argues. After that wolf opened Samantha's door, and that all went down, Sol immediately began giving orders and they all fell in line without any pushback. Plus, it took them less than five minutes to clear everyone out of our path and get their people moved out of the rooms in this area so that we could be isolated up here. We are up against a powerful, well funded, organized force, with its own social rules and way of life. There is no way we get out of here unless we get to the city first and even then we would be hard pressed to do anything but run like hell. I don't think we can get out of here."

"Then that's it then? We are stuck for sure?" Samantha whispered.

Dominic's shoulders slouched. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault that you are in this mess. I should have never come back-"

"We told you to come back." Garrett put down his tub of ice cream and propped himself on his elbows. "There was no way any of us were going to let you leave without us. This isn't your fault."

"I should have been more careful though. Taken my time to be sure no one was following me."

Ben shook his head. "You heard what Jarod said, they have all kinds of patrols around here. One of them probably spotted you and told the others where you were. Don't beat yourself up."

Dominic wanted to argue, but he knew it was pointless. They wouldn't let him feel bad for bringing this down on them, so for now he would let it drop. He knew the truth though.

"What I don't get," Jarod picked up another bite of pasta salad. "is their infatuation with us. Why chase you down in the first place? We hadn't been bothered before and we weren't a liability to them. If they had just left us alone, we would have stayed none the wiser to all of this."

"They are convinced we are some sort of Destined Mates for their people. I don't totally get it, but apparently Misty and I are some kind of preordained couple." Dominic picked up a fry and scooped up a chunk of ice cream with it, popping it in his mouth. "Something about our souls being twins and it being destiny or something."

Jarod gave him a quizzical look. "I don't get it."

Dominic snorted. "Neither do I. What I'm worried about is that Sol told me it was the same for Ben and Samantha."

Samantha looked unsettled. "What do they mean by 'mates'? Are they going to make us marry them or something?"

Dominic could sense her fear and apprehension. That was a line she would not cross willingly. "I won't let them do anything to you Samantha. I made that promise to you a long time ago and I'm not going to let them brake it. If they want something from me so badly they did all of this, then I have some kind of leverage against them. Next time we see Sol or Orion, I'll get some answers. They owe us that at least."

*

"You shouldn't be fighting this so hard. You're just making it worse for yourself." Amethyst, the youngest of Flint's older siblings, taunted in a sing-song voice to Misty, who had yet to stop pacing in front of them.

"Oh shut up, you would be too, if you were in my position." Misty uncrossed her arms and flopped onto the couch, groaning in dismay. "How can this be happening?"

Flint laid farther back in his chair, contemplating his oldest sister's situation.

After arriving back home and following the incident outside, all members of the pack were ordered back to their sections of the Den until told otherwise. At the moment, all the Alphas' children were congregated in the Alpha Wing of the Den, lounging around in one of the sitting rooms until their parents released everyone from their orders.

Misty was agitated because her wolf wanted to leave and find her mate, but her human side and the Alphas' orders kept her from doing that. Misty may have been forced to accept her mate was in fact human, but that didn't mean she was at all happy with it. She was still trying to fight the draw her wolf had to him.

Amethyst scoffed. "No, I wouldn't. Mom and Dad are pissed at you for what you did. You know damn well that if he creates enough bias against you, what little instinct he has to mate with you will be overridden by his human mindset, which will make the mating that much harder on the both of you. And you didn't just jeopardize your own mating; you threatened the mating of Augustine and the twins. No, I would never be in your position, because I would never put myself in that kind of situation."

Misty rolled her eyes at her youngest sister. "You are only saying that because you don't want to lead the pack. I do. But I can't do that unless I have a mate that can become Alpha with me, and there is no way a human can do that. There have been, what, two turned wolves that have ever been strong enough to lead? And one of them buckled under the pressure and backed out. So there has only ever been one human, in our entire history, that had a strong enough wolf to become Alpha of a pack. What am I supposed to do now that I can't become Madam Alpha?"

Cole, who was standing by the fireplace, rolled his eyes. "Have you ever thought that maybe you just weren't meant to become Madam Alpha? Hale has already found his mate, and she is capable of becoming Madam Alpha, so it might just be that you are meant become his Second. It's still a high ranking position and you don't need to have an equal mate to do that. Either way, you aren't helping the situation by distancing yourself from your mate. The sooner you make a bond and turn him, the sooner you can figure out his place in the pack, and your own."

At that moment, Hale came walking into their room, April, his mate, close behind. The air grew slightly icy as he made his way over to his siblings. Everyone noticed how Hale purposefully ignored Misty as he walked straight to Flint, kneeling by his youngest sibling's chair.

"How you doing, Flint? I heard you had a rough night." Hale started looked him over.

Flint shook his head and tried to move away from his brother's smothering presence. "I'm fine, Hale. Doc Rivers already looked me over after we got here, you can stop now." When the inspection didn't stop Flint swatted his brother's hands away. "I said I'm fine!"

Hale huffed, standing. "I can't believe what that bastard did to you. Next time I see that punk-"

"Leave him alone, Hale." Flint cut his brother off. "He didn't know I was in that van, and he was letting me go when I had my episode. The reason he took me with him was so that his people could look me over. Dominic had no reason to take me with him and I would have died if he had left me on that road, so you need to back off him."

"That doesn't excuse what he did. First he points a gun at you, then he kidnaps you and bounces you around like a wet towel in a drier in our van, which he stole, then he stresses your body to the point that you have an episode you almost died from. I'll do what I see fit next time I see him." Hale's eyes flashed gold, his bone structure starting to reconfigure itself.

Before he could lose complete control, April placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hale." He turned to his mate. "Calm down. You can't do anything either way right now so just sit and be with your brother. He doesn't need the extra stress right now."

Hale glared at her for a moment. Flint knew his brother never liked to back down, it wasn't in his nature. April was his grounding wire, the one who could calm him and guide his anger into more productive endeavors. They would make a good Alpha Pair.

'That is if he ever stops fussing over me like I'm a four-year-old.' Flint snarked in his head as his brother once again turned his attention back to him.

"As soon as Mom gets those humans settled we will head down to Doc Rivers and talk about upping your doses. It was working before, maybe if she combines it with some of the others-"

"No."

Everyone in the room snapped their attention to Flint. Cole's eyes grew wide. "Wait, what?"

Flint curled up into his chair tighter, pulling a blanket up off the floor to wrap around himself. "I'm not taking anything else, I'm done."

"Flint," Misty stood up, "I know this has been hard on you, but we can't just, give up. This last one was working."

"No, it wasn't." He wrapped the blanket tighter around his legs. "I was just taking it to hold it off, and now that isn't working anymore."

Hale knelt back down, putting a hand on Flint's arm, which he shoved off. "Look, I know this feels like it's impossible to keep going, and I know you are in a lot of pain, but if we just keep with it a little longer I know you can-"

"Nothing is going to change, Hale!" Flint began unbuttoning his shirt. "Look at me."

Once all the buttons from his dress shirt were open, everyone could see the twisted, deformed muscles underneath. All Flint's siblings looked down and away from his deformed chest and abdomen. His limbs weren't much better.

"I already talked to Doc Rivers. We talked months ago. Nothing is going to give me any more time to figure out how to join my wolf instinct with my physical body. These last few medications were just, just, putting off the inevitable." Flint slouched back, feeling tired.

Hale got to his feet and began flitting around his brother. His hands were shaking as they darted with his thoughts. "No. No, you can't say that. All you need is a little more time and with the wars ending we can reach out to other packs and there has to be at least one that will have found a way to fix this."

"Hale." April tried to get her mate's attention.

"And when you finally figure it out, you will shift and become one of us and-"

"Hale." She moved into his line of sight this time. "Hale, that's enough." Her hands came up to grasp his face.

Hale focused on her for a moment, took one last look at his brother, then with a determined look in his eyes he pulled away and headed for the door leading out of the wing. "I'm going to go have a word with Doc Rivers."

Flint wasn't used to seeing his brother so distraught, but he knew that no matter what they did, it would only give him a month, maybe two. It was time everyone accepted that soon, he would be gone. There was nothing any of them could do about it. What else was there left to even try?

*

It was only a little while later when Sol and Orion lifted the order.

Most everyone that had been with Flint had rushed out as soon as they were able, stopping briefly to give Flint a kind word. The pain in their eyes made Flint feel guilty for telling them what he had decided, but it was time they all knew. His mother and father had been the only other people besides Doc Rivers that had known the medicines and therapies were just to give him a little more time. He didn't want his demise to come out of nowhere, it was better they knew so that they could prepare, as their mother was doing.

As he sat in his chair, he began to feel some of his strength come back. The wolf instinct was dying down for a time. With the extra boost, Flint decided he had sat around enough for the morning. Most all the pack would be in the dining hall, but he never liked eating in there, so he decided to just wander around in the halls.

True to wolf nature, it was only his closest relatives that felt any sympathy for his condition. The others of the pack would not tolerate his weakness. He was shunned by most everyone, especially those in his age group and the elders. The only reason he hadn't died already was because it was his parents who were the Alphas and therefore the pack just kept their distance. Had he been anyone else's son, the other wolves around his age would have targeted him and killed him by now.

As Flint wandered through the Den, he wasn't paying attention to where he was until he heard arguing close by. He realized he was close to one of the Beta Housing Wings. Not wanting to run into other wolves, he began to backtrack, when a figure suddenly appeared from one of the halls.

"Look, I'm telling you- Oof!"

Flint went tumbling to the floor, Garrett landing tangled on the floor with him.

"Oh crap!" Dominic came running over to the downed men from the same hallway Garrett had appeared from. He first helped Garrett up, then both human men extended their hands down to help Flint off the floor. They paused, waiting for him to respond to their offer of help.

"Um, Flint? You want some help up?" Flint realized he had just been lying there, staring at Garrett like an idiot. Again. There was something about the way his calm green eyes brought on a feeling of peace in him that hadn't been there in a long time. He shook his thoughts away and grasped the two offered hands, groaning as his body registered the pain of getting knocked over.

"What are you guys doing out here? You are supposed to be locked in the Omega Wing." Each wing could be locked down individually if need be. That was why, among other reasons, everyone had been cleared from that hallway.

'How did they get out?' Flint wondered.

"Dude, I picked a lock with a couple of busted up forks, in the dark. You left five street-savvy vagrants alone with office supplies and expected that door to hold us? Not your best idea."

Flint just stared at the two to of them in disbelief, before sighing. His pack really needed to stop underestimating this group. "Well, that doesn't explain why you wandered all the way out here. How did you even get all the way over here?" They were a long way from their rooms.