The Last Shewolf Ch. 52-62

The world had changed a lot since I started this, I thought as we left the Pack lands heading east. If I had to guess, we'd lost all the female wolves, and eighty percent of the males. That meant our species was only ten percent of what we had two decades ago. In terms of Packs, hundreds had become thirty. Of the thirty, ten were the kind Luna would approve of. They had leadership that respected traditional ways, that honored Her. These Packs, including Targhee, were the ones I visited on a regular basis, to renew our ties and to recruit.

My own pack had doubled in size in the last eighteen years. The losses had hit me hard at the time; I blamed myself for the ambulance being attacked, for my men and Viper's being lost. Finding out the losses were due to my own man? That hurt. I know it was his sister, but I'd warned them all, mates would do anything for each other, even if the mating was forced.

Alpha Travis Connors was a good man, he was in his early thirties, having taken over after the last shewolf in their Pack died. He purged the Pack of any who had taken forced mates and set them on a new path with messianic zeal. Zeal I was proud to have put into him when his own mate, who he was waiting to be of age, was forcibly mated by his Beta and subsequently lost in childbirth. He was the first man I had thought of when the idea of an Alpha Summit came to mind, and he had agreed to host it.

In a few months, Eve would be of age and the Prophecy would be fulfilled. I would make sure she found her true mate, they would have many children, and those children would find their true mates.

If we were lucky, our numbers could recover in a century or two. I smiled as we made it to the main road to Jackson Hole. It was all coming together.

Eve's POV

It had been a two-hour ride east into Wisconsin to our running space. Gabriel had purchased five hundred acres of rolling forest on the north side of Fort McCoy, a mostly shut-down Army base along I-94. We had been coming here a few times a month since I first shifted at age two; Gabriel said it was important that my wolf have her own time, so I would have balance. I loved these runs, we usually did them on clear nights with a moon out. We also did them during the week, before the campers and mountain bike and ATV riders took over the woods on the weekend. I'd asked for a special run since my wolf was feeling antsy, so Gabriel had agreed to send eight men with me as escorts. The rest were either maintaining patrols around their Pack House and our Club or were with Gabriel and Dr. Meghan somewhere out west.

The guys I was with were intimidating as hell until you got to know them. All of them looked like fitness models, all six-pack abs and killer arms below perfect faces. Women were constantly flirting with them, and they were constantly turning them down. All of them had taken a sacred vow, forsaking all other women, and all to protect me. It was a lot to take in as a young girl, hearing that the future of your whole species depended on you. I didn't want it, I never asked for it, but they wouldn't be here protecting me if it wasn't true.

The pressure of it all got to me sometimes. I wished I could be like other girls, like the daughters of the Club members who got to go to school and do things on their own. I was homeschooled, Kelly and others helping me through until I could use the Digital Campus learning. I was officially graduating next month, although most of my senior year I had been taking college-level classes in art and literature. Art was my way of escaping the cocoon that had been carefully weaved around me by so many well-meaning people.

I just wanted to go to the mall and hang out without a ten-person escort and a backup detail.

We pulled off the road, down the trail that led to the parking area we had set up. The area had a shack, a place to store dry wood, food, water and extra clothes. We turned our bikes, parking them in a line facing back towards the road, then shut them down. We all got off the bikes, stretching, taking our jackets and helmets off and placing them over the bikes. I went into the shack, turning on the LED light and closing the door to shift in private.

I pulled off my clothes, placing them on the shelf, then called my wolf forward. The change was magical, almost instantaneous, and I was standing on all fours, looking in the small mirror on the back of the door. I loved my wolf form; she wasn't half the size of the men outside, but she was fast and flexible. My eyes shined in the dim light, the light blue striking against the silver-colored fur. I was a solid color except on top of my head, where a crescent moon-shaped spot of black went from between my eyes up to the top of my head. I shook my fur out, waiting for the signal the men had all shifted. There was a scratch on the door, and I pushed it open.

I rubbed my face against Michael's as I moved to greet the others. Michael was still the Vice President and in charge of my security with Gabriel gone. After we all had a good sniff and rub, I gave a quick yip. Michael answered, that was my cue to go play my favorite game- chase.

I took off running, knowing I had a five-minute head start. I was perfectly safe on our land as four other men had left hours earlier and did a complete patrol of the territory before we arrived. My wolf loved to run free, and it was good training for the men to have to track and find me. I wasn't going to make it easy for them.

I ran hard, trying to put some distance between us before I started to do evasive maneuvers. There was a stream that ran across the land, it would be a good spot for my first tricks. I reached it, turning right I ran in the shallow water for a few hundred yards before I reached a large oak tree with branches reaching over. Shifting to human form, I climbed up into the tree, moving all the way to the other side before dropping back to the ground in wolf form again. I ran as quietly as I could back the way I came, keeping a few hundred yards away from my track and downwind.

I grinned in my mind as I heard the group thundering towards the creek, they were making so much noise they'd never pick up mine. When they were past, I ran hard until I was closer to the road that ran along the south border of the territory. I turned left when I got close enough, running at an even pace. My goal was to loop around the outside of the territory, then after I had won the bet on how long I could evade them, make a run back for the bikes.

Everything was going perfectly, I thought as I crossed a small ravine.

I should never think that again. As soon as I reached the bottom, I was knocked off my feet and rolled. I got up, not recognizing the male werewolf who was staring at me with crazed red eyes. Before he could recover from the shock of me being female, I took off the way I came. "Michael, rogue wolf, I'm at the southeast corner of the territory, running west. Send help!"

"On the way," he said. I heard a bone-chilling howl in the distance, and a loud growl behind me. I poured on the speed, hoping I could evade him long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

Ch. 54

I ignored the pain in my shoulders as I raced through the dark woods. I could hear and smell the rogue behind me, and I was scared. I had been taught about what happens when a wolf loses its humanity, when it goes feral from loss of mate or Pack. The balance becomes unstable and the wolf takes over, and that wolf is the most dangerous thing we can face.

I pull on all the practice and training I've had in my eighteen years as I dodge trees and shrubs. I can feel the blood coming down my front legs and under my neck, the damage from his bite is slowing me down. He's gaining on me.

I feel a sharp pain in my back hip, his teeth have found purchase, but a quick burst frees me from them. I dart right, losing some speed but getting back on track. My muscles scream in agony as I continue to work them, pulling the wounds apart, the blood continuing to spill.

"Duck down in three, two, one DUCK!" I drop to the ground, skidding along on the leaf litter and dirt, as a huge grey and black wolf flies over my head. There is a loud thud as he crashes into my pursuer, but I don't stop. I get up and start to run again, painfully, trusting Kushiel to take care of the rogue. I hear the sounds of the fight, then a loud snap as a neck is broken.

I slow down as I see the others closing in on me fast. They surround me as Michael's wolf checks me, licking at my bleeding wounds. "Can you make it to the shed?"

I moved my body, I was stiffening up, but I could do it. "Yes if we don't run fast."

Michael licked my face as I got up, and the rest of the group formed a protective perimeter as we made our way back. I was glad I had worked my way back towards the start, it wasn't a long run and soon I was inside the shed. I shifted, and immediately I screamed at the pain. "Do you need help?"

I held the door shut with one hand while I fought back the urge to scream again. "Not yet." I pulled on my panties and carefully worked shorts up over the gashes in my left leg. My neck and right shoulder was more of a problem, I put on my bra very carefully, and held a T-shirt to my front. "I need help now," I said.

Michael opened the door, his body filling the frame, clad only in shorts and a T-shirt. "Can I look?" I nodded, and he grabbed a flashlight from the shelf, checking the wounds carefully. I flinched as he touched the wounds, the gentle pulls sending sharp pains. "You'll live, but you're not going to like what I need to do to patch these up," he said.

"I didn't expect this to be fun. What the hell happened out there, Michael? How did a feral wolf get inside our land without us knowing about it?"

His shoulders slumped. "I don't know, but I'm already setting a few guys onto finding out. Meanwhile, let's get you patched up as best we can until your Dad gets here."

Oh shit. Dad was going to flip his shit when he heard about this. "Do you have to call him? It's four in the morning, we could tell him when he wakes up."

"Too late," he said. "He's bringing the Expedition, and he's bringing Hammer and Teri too. They should be here in a couple hours, so let's go out to the table so I can clean these wounds." He grabbed the first aid kit we kept here, and I walked out dreading what was to come. The kit included a bottle of rubbing alcohol, gauze pads and bandages, and it would sting like hell as he was cleaning and disinfecting the wounds.

They had laid a fleece blanket over the picnic table, and I had a rolled-up shirt for a pillow as I carefully laid myself face down. Michael gave me a couple of the pills from the kit and some water; the pills were werewolf strength painkillers that Doc Meghan had supplied. The guys brought in powerful flashlights, so Michael could see what he was doing. Over the next half hour, I must have screamed a dozen times as the deeper wounds were patched up; the pills were only so effective. He couldn't do stitches, but there were butterfly bandages in there he used to hold the gashes closed. My wolf healing would take over, and in a day or two I'd be good as new.

I had no choice but to wait for my Dad to arrive, I couldn't ride my motorcycle like this. I laid on my stomach as the sun started to rise. Michael covered me with another blanket and handed me a bottle of water. "I sent a couple guys had left to get some breakfast takeout from the nearest town," he said, "But knowing your Dad, he'll be here before they get back." It was just after six when I heard the big SUV working its way up the driveway towards us. It had barely stopped before the doors flew open, Snake leaping down from the passenger seat and Teri from behind the driver. Michael barely stopped Dad as he was about to pull me into a hug. "Wait, she's injured," he said as he stood in front of me.

Snake went around him, carefully folding back the blanket. I hear his quick intake of breath as he saw my shoulder, I could hear his heart rate pick up as well. He lifted it up enough to see the bandages and the blood stains. "Are you all right, Eve?"

"I'll be fine, Dad. I got away, Kushiel saved me."

He just nodded, his jaw was tight, I could see he wanted to yell or beat someone up, but he was pushing it back. "I think we need to get you back home so you can heal up," he said. "We'll get Doctor Meghan to look at you when she gets back, it should be late today. Can you stand?"

I tried to move, but everything had stiffened up and I didn't want to pull the scabs apart. I relaxed again, breathing through the pain. "Probably best I don't," I whispered. He organized the men, they rolled the edged of the blanket I had underneath me and used it to lift me off the table. Teri had the doors to the SUV open and they laid me across the seat. "Teri, can you drive my Harley back?" The bike was a little small for a guy like Hammer.

"Sure, honey. I'll take good care of it." She went and got my jacket, putting it on the floor. "Your phone is in the pocket if you want to play games or something," she said.

"I don't think I'm going to move to use it," I said with a little smile. My arms were at my side, and it hurt to move them around, so I wasn't going to. They closed up my doors and Dad got in, Hammer riding shotgun, four Harleys running with us as escorts. The rest of the group including Michael was going to stay here and figure out what had gone wrong and how to fix it. I hadn't missed the rather choice words he'd had with Michael, and I knew he would have a hell of a lot more to say when Gabriel returned.

"Go ahead and sleep, baby, we'll be home soon," he said.

"Okay, Dad." I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep. As I let myself relax, I knew one thing was for sure.

My days of running alone through the woods were over.

Snake's POV

I stayed quiet as I watched my injured and exhausted daughter fall asleep in the back seat. My hands were gripping the steering wheel tight enough to make them white, and Hammer noticed it. "There's nothing you can do about it except get her home safely," he said. "She was attacked, she will need your support."

"I know." I looked up at the two riders in front, then in the mirrors where Teri was riding with two more Knights. "I just can't understand how this could happen. For years we've been using that area for her runs, we've never had a hint of a problem before. Gabriel sent eight guys with her, and four more were waiting. How can she be attacked on her own land with twelve warriors around her?"

"Nothing is totally without risk, Snake. You know that. If not here, it could be out on a ride, or at the store. She's the last one, any male wolf who randomly crosses her path could be a threat to her." I tried to relax as he talked me down, but this part wasn't helping. "Look, I talked to the guys when we got there. They were doing some training, Eve was practicing how to evade and escape and they were practicing tracking her. They've done it a lot before, and it's one of Eve's favorite things to do in wolf form. She loves to run, she needs it to maintain balance. You know that."

Yes, I did.

Flashback, 18 years ago

"Come for me, Vivian." I held onto her hips as she slammed down on top of me, taking my length as deep as she could. Her fingers were splayed on my chest, her eyes closed as she approached her peak. I had been holding back, but I couldn't much longer. She arched her back as she slammed down one last time, a scream coming from her throat as she peaked. Her inner walls clenched at me, and I thrust up into her, sending my seed deep inside her. We didn't move for a few seconds, I was pulsing into her and she was squeezing my length as the feelings crashed over her like a wave. When it was over, she dropped her chest down to mine as we both tried to catch our breath. "I love you," I whispered in her ear.

"I love you, Snake, and I love this too." She giggled a little as she tightened her core around me. We stayed that way, her in my arms, our naked bodies sliding against each other from the sweat of the hot island air. We were in the think jungle area near the center of the island, far from any trails or people. I could hear Carson and Vivian going at it in their tent, the sound of his hips smacking into hers and her moans of pleasure. We loved these trips, them more than me; they got the freedom to run as wolves, and I hiked around and waited for them to return. When their run was over, Vivian's wolf was always horny as hell, and we had incredible sex when she changed back to human form.

"These runs, what happens if you go too long without letting your wolf out?"

She looked up at me, pulling off my shrunken member as the fluids rushed out. I grabbed a towel and cleaned us up while she thought about it. "From a mental health standpoint, werewolves need to shift and spend time in wolf form. Go too long, and the wolf gets restless. The longer you go, the greater the chance the wolf takes over instead of it being a voluntary change. That is why the Packs insist on running together, on shifting often. It protects us from the wolf showing up when humans may see us, and it helps bind the Pack together."

I thought about it, but she only had two other wolves here. "Don't wolves need a Pack as well?"

"Yes, wolves are social animals, we need the time together, again so the wolf is stable. Wolves in the wild don't last long if they are alone, they quickly join or form other Packs instead. With werewolves, it is worse because if you don't have a Pack, the wolf becomes more and more desperate and unstable. Eventually, and this might take years, it could take over and the human side is pushed aside altogether. Very dangerous that way."

We'd been here for years already. "So why are you guys all right without a Pack?"

"We are a pack, silly. It's not a classic one, but we are bound together, I'm their Alpha. It's enough. When their child is born, it will be part of our Pack unless we find a larger one to join. Never keep a wolf away from a Pack, Snake." She snuggled into my side and we quickly fell asleep.

End Flashback

Eve had been a part of the Knights of the Moon since her birth, and Gabriel was her Alpha. It was a weird arrangement we had. She had three father figures in her life. Me, because she was my daughter by adoption; Viper, because she was raised with Andrew as a sibling, and Gabriel because he was Alpha to her wolf. I accepted the arrangement back when she was born because I knew I couldn't protect her from other werewolves, and I had my own issues to work through.

Vivian's attack at the bar on our Florida trip was evidence of that. I didn't have the nose to sniff out who was human and who was werewolf, so I wouldn't know when she was in danger. Having Gabriel's pack close by, using our Clubhouse, patrolling the area and escorting her constantly, that was the price I had to pay to keep her safe.

In a few months she would turn eighteen, and then the real danger began. Gabriel and I had been talking for years about this time coming up. She needed to fulfill her destiny, find and mate with her true mate and start the recovery of her species.

As a father, I hated the idea of her almost instantly becoming more than married, not to mention being pregnant the next spring. I knew it was their way, but a part of me wanted to see her fall in love, take her time, start a family without all the pressure that had been on her since birth. She never got to date, never attended a dance, she didn't get the experiences her teen friends had. She had to remain pure, remaining ready to take her place alongside her fated mate.

It hadn't been easy, either. There had been dozens of fights along the way, little rebellions as she pushed back against the box we had placed her in. Gabriel had taught her everything he could about mates, but with no examples she could see, it was difficult for her to accept. Most shewolves grew up in the Packs, they saw their families, their sisters, their friends being mated and they understood. Eve wasn't happy with the whole thing, and she was vocal at times about how they wanted to "auction her off like a brood mare" when they pushed.