Shadow of The Wolf Ch. 07

To Rance's thinking, it did not really matter whether they were after his mate or not. It became personal when they targeted her. He would not stop until he had rooted them out. More was at stake now; He would not let his mate and the mother of his pups be harmed in any way. Finally, after weeks of scouring for the rogues, one of the wolves on the team got a whiff of spoor in one of the small towns that bordered the city. The beta immediately called Damian, his Prime, who was with his Alpha. Damian and Rance raced to the site and joined the team. It was fortuitous that they were at the far side of the town when the Beta called. This could be the break they were looking for.

The scent trail they followed meandered around the small university town. As far as they could tell, they were tracking three male shifters of indeterminate breed, but unquestionably, one of whom was involved in the thrashing of Alex's house. Based on the strength of the rogue's scent, it was probably two or three hours old. Still, they hoped that it could lead the team to the rogues' hidden den. They followed and shifted into wolves once they deemed the cover of the trees was thick enough to make it safe to do so. It lessened the chance of humans seeing them by accident, and better their chances at tracking the rogues.

As wolf-Rance filtered the scent, it struck him as quite peculiar. There was something off about the scent. Something....unnatural.

Damian, tell me I'm not the only one who think there's something odd about the scent we're following.

I know what you're saying. It's definitely lupine with a faint tinge of feline and ursine intermingled in their scent, Damian responded.

They exchanged a grim look. If rogues of the different shifter species banded together it could spell a bloody war. Rance's hackles rose as the scent of their quarry grew stronger. The oddness of the scent niggled at the back of his mind, a teasing scent memory.

All betas fall back and circle around. I want to have them surrounded. Damian and I will approach upwind.

Proceeding cautiously so as not to alert the rogues of their approach, Rance led. Once everyone was in position, he gradually advanced, making sure there was no way out for the rogues. He saw that the rogues were standing in a clearing, in human form talking quietly amongst themselves. The three rogues were slightly shorter compared to most shifters. They all looked scruffy and unkempt.

"...you think? I found another promising one, didn't I? It was easy enough to snatch her last week when she came home," one of the rogues eagerly reminded the other two.

"Good. I'm sure we'll still need another one soon. You sure no one missed her?" One of them asked.

"I'd observed her for a couple of weeks, and she keeps to herself. No boyfriend or close friends to speak of. She worked part time in a fast food chain and goes to school here at the community college. But think about it, the best thing is that she lives in one of those trailers in the woods. It was no trouble snatching her with no one the wiser. Even if she had screamed, no one would have heard her." He paused and leered at his companions. "We also had fun with her before turning her over to be brought before the Alpha, didn't we?" He chuckled as the other two slapped him on the back.

The taller of the three pivoted around, frowning as he started to pace. "I sure as hell could do with some distraction. The Alpha's pushing his experiments more. If we're not careful we might get caught. We need to go farther now to look for new girls, otherwise the cops might be able to connect all the abductions. If only he'd accept the druggies and prostitutes. They're easily overlooked by human society."

Rance was stunned hearing them talk casually about abducting human women. His wolf wanted to charge ahead and tear them limb-from-limb, but his human reasoning prevailed to soothe the feral need to annihilate the rogues. They needed information, and as satisfying it might be to kill them, he needed them alive more. Not only did the rogues pick on shifters to terrorize and kill, but it seemed that their so-called alpha had some nefarious plans for the human women they abducted as well.

Signaling his Betas to stay put, he shifted to human form and walked into the clearing. Letting his awareness spread out, he listened as their heartbeats speed up at the sight of him. Alex kept his eyes on the three who stopped talking as soon as he stepped into their midst. Spreading his arms out to show he was unarmed, he approached and stopped a yard from them.

"What the hell?" The tall one stepped forward, as his eyes rounded when he recognized Rance.

"I've come to give you a chance to surrender yourselves. You choose. Submit to me now or prepare to fight." Rance slowly stalked forward and shifted his hands to claws until he was only a foot from the tallest rogue.

"We're not afraid of you," the rogue spat on the ground in front of Rance. Swaggering, he circled Rance and snidely looked him up and down. Signaling his cohorts, they surrounded Rance.

"The high and mighty Alpha of the North American pack," the spokesman of the three hissed hatefully. "You think so highly of yourself that you believe you could subdue all three of us." He smirked.

One by one, Damian and the Betas silently came out of the woods. Encircling the clearing, they stood awaiting further instructions from their Alpha. Seeing they were outnumbered, the rogues paled, each poised to flee. Still, the outspoken one taunted Rance.

"Alpha Rex could not fight battle himself without his lackeys around, huh? And here we thought you were tough enough to take the three of us."

Shaking his head at Damian, he urged him to stand down. His wolf was itching to do battle and spill blood, and he was of the mind to give it satisfaction. He would put these three in their place without the help of his Betas.

Smiling with anticipation, Rance faced the rogues, "Bring it on." Crooking his clawed finger at them, he partially shifted instantly. The rogues stumbled back as Rance's seven and a half foot tall massive hybrid form towered over them. The rogues' bravado left them in the face of the intimidating Alpha. Nevertheless, they circled him again, and as one shifted and charged.

Waiting for them, he closely watched the rogues. He could not put his finger on it, but there was something unnatural about these weres. The energy they were emitting was wrong somehow and the scent they were giving off in shifted form was confusing. It was when he took the time to take their features one at a time that he noticed the anomaly. His eyes rounded in disbelief. One rogue actually had rounded tufted ears and a rounded short snout common to cat shifters, the other one's paws was not that of a wolf's hybrid form but that of a bear's, and the last rogue's lower body was spotted like a leopard but his upper body was that of a wolf.

"Great Luna!" Rance stared in astonishment at the abominations.

Momentarily putting aside surprise to focus on the fight, Rance put his weight on the balls of his feet and prepared for the onslaught he knew would come. Pivoting, he jumped up in the air causing the rogues to crash into each other where he'd been a moment before. Landing in a crouch, he watched them dispassionately as they struggled to right themselves and searched for him.

"You want to give up now, or are you aching for more?" he rumbled. Inwardly, he hoped that they would prove more of a challenge, but it was evident in their bumbling ways that these weres were untrained and undisciplined.

As one, the rogues faced off once again with Rance. This time Rance did not wait for them but took the offensive and attacked the nearest one. He jumped up from his crouch and delivered a solid kick at the head of the rogue. Turning in midair, he blocked the coming blow from his far right, grabbed the rogue by the back of neck and hit him with his elbow in the face. The crunch of broken bones sounded, as the painful howl of the rogue echoed. The other rogue jumped on Rance's back and wrapped his arms around his neck. He dangled as he tried to pull Rance backward in an attempt to break his neck. The other two staggered up and approached the combatants looking for an opening to aid the rogue. The two started raining blows on Rance.

"Shouldn't we assist the Alpha, Prime?" The young Beta standing next to Damian asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

Raising his brows, he regarded the Beta then looked back to the center of the clearing. "Nah! Give the Alpha some time. He's just playing with them."

"But..." the Beta tried to reason with Damian, but the Prime lifted his hand and pointed at the center of the clearing. The thud of bodies hitting the ground resounded as the three rogues were thrown off Rance's body. One by one they charged him, only to be met by a kick or a punch whenever they did. In point of fact, the Alpha looked a little bored as he kept on evading their attacks and countering with vicious punches. At one point, Rance picked one up over his head and threw him on his charging companions. Rance stood over the rogues with his massive arms crossed on his chest, who groaned as they tried to pick themselves up again.

"Had enough yet?" he asked coolly of them.

The leader of the three shook his bloodied head and attempted to get up, only to fall on his knees. Once all three were down, panting and bleeding from all the hits they received, Rance signalled for Damian to have them restrained with cuffs made especially for shifters. As the betas converged on the fallen rogues, he finally turned his back on the three.

"I take it you had fun beating the shit out of them?" Damian asked as he approached.

"Not much of a challenge," Rance snorted derisively. "Did not even make me break a sweat. Alex gives me more of a work out than those three." Rance nodded towards the trio.

Damian smirked at his friend and Alpha. "I bet she does."

Rance looked at Damian at the tone of his voice and noticed his smirk. "Not that kind of work out, jackass," he shook his head at his Prime, "so better erase that smirk off your face. Watch out that Alex doesn't catch you doing that or you'd be in big trouble."

"I know, I know. Your mate is one scary shifter. And she's still young, so her powers are still emerging. No way would I want to be on her shit list."

"Remember that, my friend." Rance patted Damian on his shoulder. He saw the three rogues were trying to give the Betas trouble. With his Alpha voice he focused on the three, "shift...NOW!" Instantly the three shifted back to their human forms. Their faces and bodies still bore the marks of the fight.

"Take them to the estate and have them put in separate secure rooms. Inform no one that they have been apprehended. Tonight is the formal presentation of your Alpha Regina and I don't want to have it tainted with politics or bad news. Tomorrow is soon enough to deal with them."

He shifted as he turned his back on them. Rance looked as immaculate as he'd been at the start of the day. No signs of the fight marred his face or body; a good thing too, since he was on his way to see his mate.

******

The agonized scream woke her from unconsciousness. Panic and terror momentarily paralyzed her as the memory of her rape and brutal beating came to bear. Sluggishly, she tried to move her leaden limbs as agony shot through her muscles and pain buffeted her bruised and battered body. Blinking in an attempt to fully open swollen eyes, she managed to open one to a slit while the other remained shut closed, encrusted in blood and grime. Shivering in cold and shock, she excruciatingly pulled herself to a sitting position on the damp earthen floor.

Fear had been her constant companion for God knows how long. She was locked in a nightmare from which she could not escape. The dull slap of flesh against flesh could be heard, as the shrieks that dragged her to consciousness continued to echo in the murky darkness of her prison slowly tapered to pitiful whimpers.

The smell of blood and death overlaying the dank smell of decay and neglect assaulted her nostrils. She had no idea where she was or how long she'd been there. She was on her way home from her night class at the community college when two men grabbed her and hauled her in a waiting van. She was petrified, but more so when they brought her here and showed her to that creature!

She remembered in clear details the monster to whom those men took her; There was no doubt in her mind that he was not human. He was hideously grotesque! Although his face was shadowed by the cowled robe he wore, his eyes burned red in the deep pits of his eye sockets. A smell so nauseating emanated from him. And he radiates an almost tangible air of evil.

She recalled screaming in horror when he stepped close and roughly grabbed her face. Seeing his face then -- a face eternally frozen in a horrific rictus, he was beyond frightening. Sharp, yellowed teeth filled his mouth, and strange striations of veins stood and crisscrossed his bulging forehead. His brows were ridged and his nose was strangely misshapen - short and flattened. When he leaned nearer, she stood frozen and terrified. His fetid breath that smelled like rotting meat washed over her and made her gag and heave.

Strangely, after looking closely at her for several moments, he sniffed her neck from left to right then abruptly pushed her away. In a grating guttural voice he said, "She's not the one. The usual tests only." Turning, he walked away. That's when she noticed that although he stood on two feet, his limbs were strangely formed and bent. His body was tall and bony; hunched with a hump on the top of his back, and almost cadaverous in appearance. Even though he spoke with intelligence and seemed to lead the rest of them, insanity and death shone in his eyes.

Shaking herself back to the present, she listened as everything became eerily quiet around her. Quietly, she mused at her dire predicament. If she wanted to live, she needed to get away from here, that much was clear to her. Practically from the moment she was abducted, in the van, she was passed around by her abductors and repeatedly raped. Her abductors took turns in violating and beating her. Pleading and crying did not move them.

After her abuse, they dumped her in this cell. That was when she noticed she shared this prison with other women who had been taken like her. She witnessed others being debased, raped, and beaten. What's more, each woman was subjected daily to their leader's experimentation. They would be taken to his makeshift lab and strapped on a table. He would then inject them with some strange concoction that left them writhing in agony. Fire coursed through their bodies as they shuddered and shook in excruciating pain.

Her turn on the table was utter agony -- she prayed for death as her flesh seemed to burn from the inside out. Blisters appeared and burst all over her body. She felt her bones crack and move as she screamed futilely for mercy and oblivion.

Last night, the nightmare became more vivid when she saw them rape one of the girls from the other cell to death. The girl looked so pitiful and frail. Her emaciated body flopped like a rag doll between two of their captors as they violated her simultaneously, one drilling her vagina, while the other hammered her mercilessly in her anus. Her lifeless eyes stared vacantly in space. Spending themselves inside her, they got tired of not getting any reaction from her. They lifted her up between them by her arms, one pulled back her head by her hair and slapped her face repeatedly.

Getting no reaction, one of them spat on the ground and said, "This one's as good as dead. Might as well get rid of her." He grabbed her face and kissed her brutally then slit her throat cleanly, deeply. The woman's blood spurted everywhere and her head lolled back, barely attached, as they dropped her body like so much refuse. At first she did not see what they used to kill her, but when the man turned, she saw that his hand no longer resembled that of a human. It was now tipped with sharp looking claws that dripped blood that shone blackly in the meager light. Horrified, she blinked to see if she was just imagining things. But no. Her eyes did not lie. They were all monsters! They tipped their heads and howled evilly, then rolled in her blood like animals! She closed her eyes and covered her ears as the scraping and wet sound of tearing flesh reached her cell.

She did not know what kind of creatures her abductors were, but they are incapable of being reasoned with, much less pity. All of them were pure evil as they laughed and reveled in each pain inflicted on their victims. Their eyes particularly glittered with insanity when their prey screamed and begged for mercy.

No. She refused to end like that. She'd never give her captors that satisfaction. She'd escape or die trying. She would not remain a victim or a fodder for their amusement. Once she found her chance, she would take it. She had to... Closing her eyes, she bided her time, praying to God to give her a chance.

******

The downpour of water sluicing on her body was so refreshing. Taking a shower had become Alex's favorite pastime since she moved in the mansion. Taking a sponge and pouring her favorite shower gel on it, she started lathering the stress and grime of the day away. Tonight would be difficult for her. Alex was not used to being the center of attention. She'd rather be left out of the limelight. If she had to step out of her comfort zone though, then by damn she'd do her best to shine. She grinned in thought. She'd make Rance proud of her. She'd try to appear cool, serene, and collected.

Absentmindedly rubbing her arms and torso, she did not notice Rance enter the bathroom. He closed his thoughts; he wanted to surprise her, after enjoying her obliviousness for a few more voyeuristic moments, and didn't want her to 'hear' the lascivious thoughts in his head. Rance hurriedly shucked off his clothes to join her. Watching as Alex languidly ran the sponge across her beauteous breasts, he noticed that her nipples were erect. They looked succulent and begged for his mouth. Rubbing his growing arousal with his palm, he stepped near the stall. Admiring as his mate sensually kept on her ablutions, he quietly opened the shower door.

Alex felt Rance's presence when he started getting aroused. He could not even try to mask his scent as it slowly permeated the air. Hmmm, musky and wild just the way she loved it. Ignoring her mate, she bent down from her waist to reach her calves. Wiggling her hips purposely and widening her stance, she smothered her giggles as Rance's pained groan rang amid the sound of the cascading water. She knew that her labia gaped open and her mate could see her red inner lips as her vulva continued to engorge in arousal. Letting go of the sponge, she sensuously ran her hands up her legs until she reached the apex of her thighs. Moving both hands behind her, she temptingly cupped her buttocks and squeezed and separated the globes, exposing everything for his delectation.

"Like what you see?" she huskily asked Rance, looking behind her and locking gazes with emerald eyes burning with passionate heat.

Stepping forward, Rance grab ahold of her hips and pulled her tight to his groin. "My hard cock is a testament to how much I was enjoying your show, babe." Rubbing his huge erection on her slit, he deliberately bumped her clitoris with the mushroomed head. Alex caught her breath on a moan as his shaft dug a furrow in her slit and caressed inner lips and aching clit. Pulling his hands from her hips, she placed both on her breasts.