Winter's Howl

The beta tightened his grip and sped up. He was almost there, the first release of what would probably be many. But when his orgasm ran its course, he suddenly lost all of that sudden vitality. Maybe they should rest together before going in for a second round.

Ike hugged Shiloh and whispered in his ear.

"I love you."

The omega nuzzled his neck and whispered back.

"I love you, too."

The beta had put him down and was in the process of standing up when he suddenly heard a whistling noise. Then, without warning, his thigh exploded in pain.

Ike hissed and crumpled to the ground. In his agony, he could see an arrow sticking out of his leg. He vaguely heard Shiloh gasp.

"Oh my gosh! Ike, what's going on?"

He forced out a reply through gritted teeth.

"I don't know, but you have to get out of here. It's not safe, run away!"

He looked back at the arrow impaling him. Pulling it out was unwise, maybe he could break off most of the shaft?

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," a deep voice said.

Ike looked up and saw a female lycanthrope unlike any other he'd ever seen.

She was gigantic, even taller than that human man visiting the pack. Most of her skin was covered in gray combat fatigues, but the exposed skin Ike could see was dewy and nearly as white as the snow she stood on. She had short silver hair and eyes that seemed to radiate danger.

"That arrow has a barbed tip. You really don't want any to break off inside your body." He noticed that the she-wolf was holding a crossbow.

He heard more rustling from the forest and saw several other wolves walking out into the clearing, but before he could see much more, his vision started turning black. It was a familiar sensation. That arrow had to have some kind of tranquilizer on it.

All Ike could do was hope and pray that Shiloh got away safely as he fell unconscious.

*****

Kayleigh was starting to panic a little. The sun was going to set in less than an hour and Ike still wasn't back yet.

Every month, there would be injuries during the full moon, accidents during the runnings, fights breaking out, things they never predicted. That was why it was so helpful to have a medic who was able to patch everyone up when the night was over. He hadn't told anybody where he was going or why, and it was too late to send out a search party.

As much as she didn't want to believe it, it wasn't impossible that Ike left to do something nefarious, especially considering how Shiloh was nowhere to be found, either.

Then, as if thinking his name summoned him, she heard Shiloh's voice.

"Kayleigh? K-Kayleigh!?"

She opened her tent's door and saw the boy in question, fully nude and bawling his eyes out. The only thing he was holding was a deerskin with a dark stain on it.

"Shiloh? What happened to you?"

The omega wolf looked like an absolute wreck. He was dirty, scratched up in a few places, and had red marks on his face and neck that Tim sometimes got when he spent a long time crying. He threw himself into her arms, wailing.

She tried her best to calm him down, and it occurred to her that even though they were both twenty years old, she felt like a mother consoling a helpless child.

Once his tears slowed to a trickle, Kayleigh held his shoulders and looked him square in the face.

"What happened? You have to tell me or I can't help."

The blond boy sniffled.

"It's Ike. He's b-been captured."

The beta woman felt like her heart stopped for a moment.

"Captured? What are you talking about?"

The boy said that he and Ike were mates and had gone somewhere private to have sex when they got ambushed.

"They got both of us, and I know who they are! They're my old pack!"

"You finally remembered something?"

Shiloh nodded.

"I tried to run away a few days ago, but they hunted me down, that's why I was injured when you guys found me in the woods."

"Shiloh, do you know what happened to Ike?"

"N-no, they separated us and I was only barely able to escape myself. But I did hear them say they would invade this pack at sunset."

Kayleigh looked at the deerskin the omega was holding so tightly.

"Is that Ike's?"

He nodded again.

"Yeah, it's the one h-he gave to me! And now it's...it's..." He cried some more.

"Listen, Shiloh. I know it's hard, but right now we have to work quickly. We don't have much time. We're getting Ike back, I promise, but before that we need to focus on protecting Romulus. Hurry, go to Samuel and tell him everything you told me!"

The omega ran off, leaving the co-leader of the pack alone and horrified about what was to come.

*****

Paine was helping out with chopping firewood, something he already had plenty of experience with over the years. He and a few alphas and betas had been at it for a while, splitting a giant pile of logs, and it was quite a workout. He had just taken off his jacket when he heard something from the center of camp.

It was a horn. Not the horn that signaled things like wake-ups or meals, a deep, guttural horn that made everybody go silent. From the context it could only mean one thing: something horrible was about to happen.

He dropped what he was holding and ran to the beta encampment as fast as he could, not even stopping for his jacket. Getting to Tim was the only thing that mattered.

Thankfully, Tim was in their tent. Paine grabbed his hand and they both followed all the other lycans to the leaders' area.

Up in front was Samuel, Kayleigh, and an omega wolf with blond hair Paine didn't know. Samuel was able to silence the whole pack, almost fifty wolves, just by raising his hand.

"Listen up, we don't have much time! Two in our pack were ambushed and captured today by another pack called Legion, which we've been sheltering a refugee from named Shiloh for the past few days." he gestured to the omega. "He was taken again, but escaped and ran back to warn us about what they have planned."

Paine heard Tim gasp a little.

"They intend to attack at nightfall and raze this place to the ground. They'll be coming from the east. The sun will set any minute now, so we need to work quickly! All alphas and betas willing to fight stay behind, everybody else evacuate on your designated paths!"

Paine could hear a lot of hushed whispers in the crowd, but Samuel silenced them all again with his voice.

"We will not go down so easily! This is our home and we're not going to let them take it away! ROMULUS, MOVE OUT!!"

After a split second the crowd scattered, everybody running in different directions.

Paine turned to Tim.

"You need to get out of here. I'll stay behind and help with the fight."

"No, you can't!"

"I can and I will. I want to join Romulus one day, so I have to be willing to fight for it."

"Paine, I won't let you get killed over this!"

The giant man got on his knees and looked into his husband's eyes.

"I can take care of myself, and so can you. We'll be okay. We're both going to make it through the night and we'll be together again. I love you, baby. Now go!"

Tim swallowed a few tears and nodded.

"I love you, too. Be careful."

Then, just a moment later, the sun set completely. Every beta and omega was forced into a different form, including Tim.

Paine hugged the wolf who seconds before had been his husband and let him run off to evacuate with the other omegas.

When he looked around he saw most of the alphas and a good chunk of the betas gathered together. That must be where the fighters met up. Without hesitation Paine ran over to join them.

*****

Tim went to the evacuation site and saw all the other omegas waiting there. Protocol was to not leave until either five minutes passed or all the omegas were in the group. Tim looked around and saw what looked like everyone, but then realized Shiloh was missing.

He went to the omega that was assigned to lead the evacuation and stopped her.

We can't leave yet, we're still missing one.

She narrowed her eyes.

I know every omega in Romulus and they're all here.

No, there's still Shiloh. He was the omega with Samuel and Kayleigh earlier.

Suddenly Tim heard a yelp and turned to see a tiny wolf with gold hair running up. He looked back at the omega he was talking to and nodded.

She let out a quick bark and the group of wolves began running.

As Tim tried to keep up with the others, he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling inside telling him that something about this all seemed wrong, like there was something important everyone was missing.

He couldn't say where that feeling came from, there was nothing specific that made him think that, but it only kept getting worse.

Throughout his entire life, Tim had hated his instincts. All they did was inhibit him, make him doubt himself and submit to everything around him. In those months living with Paine in their cabin Tim was able to ignore them and grow into himself. But this instinct was one of the strongest he'd ever felt. The same way he knew that Paine was his mate, he knew that things weren't how they seemed and this was going to end in tragedy because of that.

Maybe this time he was the one who needed to step up.

Tim did something he didn't think he was capable of doing. He stopped running, turned around, and ran back to the most dangerous place in the forest.

He needed to find Paine.

*****

Paine used to get in a lot of fights, but this was a different kind of intensity.

Samuel really did come off like a general, putting the fighters in different spots and forming a strategy on the fly. There would be a group in the main part of camp and a few scattered around to alert the others of any surprises. Paine was assigned towards the south. On his way to his post he passed the area where he chopped wood earlier and he grabbed his jacket. He wouldn't want to be impeded by the night getting colder.

He stood waiting for what felt like quite a while. What was going on?

Then, he got a faint whiff of a very familiar smell: smoke.

Gradually he could smell, hear, and finally see a forest fire raging from the east. This must be the first stage of Legion's plan.

But then he started hearing noises, and what really caught him off guard was that they were coming from the west, and the sounds only got more intense. He was torn between keeping at his post or going over to help, but then he heard the sound of someone running.

Sounds that kept getting louder.

Suddenly a female lycanthrope in army fatigues, one taller than even Paine, ran up and charged directly at him. The human was able to dodge, but just barely.

Paine tried to take stock of the situation. She was in human form, so she had to be an alpha. The she-wolf was obviously athletic and powerful, though not exceptionally fast. He felt like he could win a fight against her, if only narrowly.

The human saw his opponent take a few deep breaths and mutter two words.

"This one."

In an instant she began an all-out attack.

She shifted into hybrid form and extended her claws, ready to tear him to shreds. The lycan made a swipe, and once again Paine was able to dodge, but he could have sworn the scratch just barely grazed him.

Experimentally he threw a punch and she moved out of the way quicker than the human could react. Not only did she dodge, she counterattacked with a sweeping kick that crashed into Paine's torso, almost knocking him down.

The fight continued in the same way. With some patience Paine could get in a few decent hits but he was running out of steam.

He wouldn't be able to win this fight.

He reached for the whistle Samuel had given him, the one he was supposed to use if he needed help, but the alpha female dashed forward and ripped it off his neck, throwing it aside.

"You're not getting away from me."

She reached behind her back, and in the moonlight and fire Paine could see the glint of two knife blades.

The lycanthrope charged, ready to kill.

*****

Tim ran through the woods like his life depended on it, and was heartbroken when he saw what was happening at Romulus.

Not only was a battle in full force, some of the surrounding forest was burning. He didn't know for sure, but from what he could see it looked like Legion had the upper hand. How did this happen? How could everything fall apart so quickly?

He followed his nose to his husband's scent, which was quite strong. It wasn't until he found Paine that he saw why.

His giant, the love of his life, was laying on the ground covered in blood.

Tim cried out and ran up to the injured human, whimpering.

Paine opened his eyes slowly.

"Tim? What are you doing here?"

The omega wolf could see several slash marks on his husband's body. It was so gruesome it almost made him want to run away, but he could never run from his mate.

"I'm so sorry, baby," the human whispered. "I couldn't keep my promise. She was too strong."

The lycan whined, lost in despair, but with some effort Paine grabbed his face and made the wolf look at him.

"I need you to listen. I've lost so much blood already. I don't think I can make it, at least not the way I am now. But I might survive this if you transform me."

Tim's eyes widened. They knew what would happen if Tim did the transformation, the way it would change Paine's body. They both had already decided against it.

"I love you, Tim, and I'll be there for you as long as my heart is still beating. It doesn't matter if I'm a human, an alpha, or an omega. If I have to change to live on, so be it. I'm ready."

With a heavy heart, Tim nodded his head.

The timid omega wolf found some exposed skin and bit down on it as hard as he could, every fiber of his being hoping and praying that Paine could live. For a few crushing, miserable seconds, nothing happened, but then the giant human began to change.

His eyes drifted closed and his whole body shrunk, growing fur and changing form. There were several disturbing sounds of bones shifting position as Paine's body changed forever. After a minute he had shrunk down completely, now burrowed deep in the clothes he had been wearing.

Tim carefully pulled off the huge coat and saw his husband, now a wolf not much bigger than he was. Thankfully, by some miracle his wounds had stopped bleeding, fueled by the power of the full moon.

Paine was going to survive.

Emotionally shattered, Tim collapsed on the jacket, wanting to howl but knowing he shouldn't draw attention to them. All he could do was lay there and whimper. The omega tried to bask in his husband's scent, something that normally relaxed him, but the circumstances made that impossible.

As he cried, something slowly formed in his mind. The jacket smelled like Paine, obviously, but for some reason there was another scent as well. One Tim recognized, but couldn't quite place. Curious, he sniffed it some more, trying to recall when he'd smelled this other scent before.

Suddenly it clicked and he figured out whose scent it was. But how? And why?

Then all the puzzle pieces gradually fell into place. He started to put together what had happened.

Due to his nature, Tim wasn't the type to get angry. As an omega, he was more likely to cry or run away in heated moments. In fact, he couldn't even remember a time when he got furious.

Until now.

The fur on his back stood straight up. The little wolf felt himself growl and bare his teeth. This was no accident, not some bad luck on Paine's part. Someone tried to get his husband killed and Tim knew who it was. He had to act.

Tim put the jacket over Paine again and ran off, fire in his eyes.

*****

Samuel was worried they'd bit off more than they could chew with this.

The alphas and betas of Romulus fought valiantly, but Legion had some powerhouses, big hulking alphas and other lycans that were incredibly fast.

He was particularly worried about the gargantuan alpha female, likely the commander of Legion, who ignored everyone else and made a beeline for the south. There were a few people stationed in that area, including Paine. He wanted to go there and see how he could help, but the alpha he was fighting wouldn't let him escape.

Eventually he knocked out his opponent and started to head south when a silver wolf the size of a bear came from that direction. Given the size, it was likely the female wearing combat fatigues from earlier. He knew that as the head of Romulus it was his duty to subdue this threat.

He changed into his own wolf form and approached the beast. She glowered at him.

This little pup thinks he can take me?

Samuel was used to that insult. He was among the smallest male alphas he knew about, but throughout his life trained to use his size as a strength. It was how he defeated Tanner and gained this position last summer.

The two alphas battled and Samuel was astonished at how powerful his adversary was. Not only was she gigantic, she was faster than she appeared and like him made use of all three of her forms. Her human form was sturdy and agile, her wolf form was a tank resistant to all kinds of damage, and her hybrid form fought like a demon. It was hard for him to keep up.

It made him wonder what she was doing in the south earlier. Was it possible she'd defeated everyone stationed there, Paine included?

She was without question the most powerful enemy Samuel had ever faced, and he was beginning to question if this was a fight he could win.

While he was in thought, she used the long legs of her human form to kick Samuel in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying.

As he crashed to the ground he knew the cold, hard fact of this matter.

He would not be able to defeat her.

Not on his own.

He needed help or else he was going to die.

Desperately he changed into his wolf form and ran to the north.

Thankfully, Morgan was still at her post, fighting an alpha male from Legion. Since he was distracted, Samuel was able to sucker-punch him and knock him down with a few more blows. It wasn't an honorable strategy, but he didn't have time to fight fair.

Morgan looked surprised.

"Samuel? Why are you here?"

He changed to human form.

"I need your help. This pack has a--"

Before he could finish his sentence the towering alpha female caught up with them. But as expected, Morgan didn't miss a beat, turning to face this new challenge.

"Is this who we're fighting now?"

"Yes, we need to buy some time and think of a plan."

"Got it."

The resulting two-on-one fight was not much easier, but there was enough room to breathe that Samuel was able to analyze the she-wolf's fighting style. He hoped he could come up with an idea before she killed them both.

She definitely used her size to her advantage, making use of the longer reach she had in attacks using her limbs. She also had two knives with her while in her human form, which both had clearly been used earlier that night. It seemed logical that Morgan might have the upper hand, considering that she was fighting with a spear, but the she-wolf from Legion took care to keep her from getting too close.

What was worse was that as the fight progressed she seemed to adapt more and more to the fighting styles of her two opponents. She was able to poke through their weaknesses and land hits she couldn't a few minutes ago.

Whatever their plan was, it had to be something she wouldn't be able to predict.

Samuel was currently in his wolf form and was able to communicate to Morgan, who the she-beast was facing.

Throw me the spear when the time is right.

Morgan gave a very slight nod before she dodged another attack.

Eventually the alpha female's attention was shifted back to Samuel. He knew he was going to have to take some damage if there was any possibility of his plan working, so he threw out a claw swipe, one he had stopped using a few minutes before because his opponent had figured out how to counter it.