Chapter 25
I curled my fingers up into a fist and let loose on the tree in front of me. Every single punch made splinters fly as I punched further and further into the wood.
One, two, three....
Faris growled and I started to go faster.
...eleven, twelve, thirteen...
I stopped training with the boys almost two weeks ago. After the fiasco that happened at the training grounds, I had elders and doctors up my ass for a week after that. They all came to the conclusion that I was fine, something both Rose and I knew but the entire pack now wondered if I was on my death bed.
...thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five...
I still could barely eat but I did make an effort to eat more than I had been. It wasn't helping though. Now, Leo was starting to hound me and wouldn't let me alone. Even when Rose told him off, he would come back minutes later as soon as she walked away. The only time I ever got some peace and quiet was when I snuck away for my own personal training.
'Alpha, we need you at the pack house.'
I growled and swung my foot, hitting the same spot and the tree cracked in half. The trunk slammed to the ground and I took a deep breath. 'Leo, I swear to the goddess this better be a legit reason your calling me.'
'We've got a band of fucking riffraff here.'
My eyes narrowed and I rolled my shoulder. Throwing on my shirt and pulling my hair back into a pony tail, I replied. 'I'll be there in a minute.'
I jogged from the forest since I wasn't too far from the pack house. Coming out of the woods, I saw an old military Humvee parked out front of the pack house. There were a few people leaning against the car itself whereas Leo and Cory were standing in front of three others. As soon as Leo caught my eye, he nodded to them and jogged over to me.
"They fucking sent the bottom of the barrel for us." He was livid.
"What are you talking about?"
He turned but leaned into my ear. “There is a blind wolfless woman, a vampire, two old wolves, three young ones. This is the group the fucking High Council sent us. It's a fucking joke."
I took a deep breath. My anger started to rise as I felt like all the time I had said be patient, hoping the High Council would send an army to help us and protect our pack, was not a waste. I looked over the group that was standing outside of the vehicle. This was the best they could send us? We were basically on our own. Holding back my anger as much as I could, I walked up to the three that were still speaking with Cory.
"Alpha Ezekiel, I presume." One of the older wolves held out his hand. His hair was peppered grey and braided down the back. He was built much like Owen was, though bulkier. "My name is Hector Mendez. This is Bryan Steele and Auri Meadows. We are here on behalf of the High Council."
"Is this a joke?"
All three of them looked at me, both confused and slightly shocked. I, however, was not in the mood. My eyes fell on the woman between them. She was just as old as they were and she was about 5ft 6in. Her grey eyes looked at me and I felt the anger overflow.
“Excuse me?” The wolf, Hector, took a moment to recover but when I looked back at him, he was glaring at me.
"I asked if this was a joke. I told the High Council that I had a real problem. I told them people in my pack were getting attacked and abducted." I waved over their little group. "This is the best they could come up with after nearly three months?"
I started to ready myself as Hector shook his head and moved forward but was the woman, Auri who was exactly as Leo described, wolfless and blind, held him back. He stopped immediately and stepped back, turning to walk back to their vehicle. Bryan looked down at her and nodded.
"As much as you may think we are a joke, Alpha, I assure you we are not. We would like to post up at the northern part of your territory, at the boundary, if that is alright with you. We want to be out of your way as much as possible."
Snorting, I shook my head. "Why should I allow this? You want me to just report your deaths to the High Council now or when we confirm it in a week?"
There was a growl from behind and I saw two younger male wolves holding back Hector. Bryan cleared his throat.
"You can do whatever you wish, Alpha. However, we are here to do a job. If you don't want us on the territory, we will go further north but we would prefer to be able to still protect your borders while we set up."
"Do whatever you want. I just don't want that vampire near the town. Is that understood?"
Bryan nodded and turned back to the group, signaling for them to pile back into the Humvee. Auri though stood in front of me and didn't move to go back with her group.
"Woman, you better fucking go. We need to make plans for getting your bodies to the High Council." Leo growled out.
A small chuckle came out of her mouth before she shook her head. Turning, she went back to the group and got in the passenger seat. They pulled out and down the road, heading north.
"What a fucking joke." Leo yelled as he turned back into the pack house.
Cory had a frown on his face. "I don't know."
I looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"They may seem like a rag tag group of rogues but there is something about them. I can't put my finger on it."
"Did you see that wolf Bryan's leg? It looked like he would have a better time if you amputated it with that scar! He probably has a cane!"
Cory and I walked back into the pack house while Leo yelled. He was pacing in the living room, yelling as he threw up his hands. Rose came dawdling in, her hand on her belly. Her due date was in twelve days and she was feeling it.
"What is all the yelling about?"
"Goddess, Rose. The fucking circus came to town and apparently they are going to fight the Darkry pack for us." Leo growled. Rose turned to me. "What is he talking about?"
I sighed and rubbed my face. "There are a group of seven that came in a Humvee supposedly at the behest of the High Council." "So they are here! That's a good thing?"
Leo laughed manically. "Oh yeah. Real fucking good."
“Let's just say we are hoping the cover of the book doesn't reflect the contents of it." Cory said it nicely and Leo shook his head.
"This is a fucking disaster." He sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands.
I let my hands relax from the fists that were balled up. "At this point, just tell the patrol and Owen that they are up there. Let them do whatever the fuck they are doing. From our side, we need to start planning on how we are going to fix this. It's obvious we aren't going to get any other help.” Cory and Leo nodded, both of the now headed out of the room. I ran my hands through my hair.
"It can't be that bad." Rose looked at me, tears in her eyes.
"I wish I could tell you otherwise. I really do."
'Alpha, we have a problem.'
I growled and slammed the papers in my hand on the desk. I had been trying to get through this paperwork for an hour. Between the illegible handwriting and what exactly they were requesting, I was getting frustrated. Now, I was being interrupted.
'What Leo?'
'Owen, he got a little mad...'
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. 'I'm not in the mood now, Leo. Give me the whole damn thing.'
'Owen was patrolling north and apparently he got into it with one of the kids in the circus.'
'Do we need to send the pack doctor for the kid?'
He was quiet for a moment. 'No Alpha. It's...the blind woman slapped him before he could do anything to the kid.'
I snorted. 'She slapped him?'
'So he issued an official pack challenge to her and she accepted.'
'WHAT?' I roared over the mind link.
Getting up, I threw open the door to my office and stomped down the stairs. Throwing the front door open, I shifted and headed up north. I let Faris take over until we got close. I could smell the group of my warriors as well as Leo. Turning a little east, I shifted when I found a tree with some clothes in it. Throwing on the shirt and sweats, I strode over to my group.
"Uncle...I..."
As I walked, I threw a punch at his face. He stumbled back as my fist connected and I growled. "You fucking idiot. I don't care if they are from the fucking circus you can't just fight someone and then issue a challenge to them!"
"She slapped me!"
"Why didn't you dodge?"This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.
He looked down, his face flushed. "I didn't see it."
“Goddess, Owen, she fucking blind!"
"I don't care! She accepted it!"
Growling, I grabbed his shoulder. "I, Alpha Ezekiel Silver, take over the challenge for Head Warrior Owen Silver."
A feeling of needing to finish this fight washed over me and I rolled my shoulders, trying to take a breath.
"Uncle! This is my fight!"
"Not anymore, Owen."
Turning back to the rag tag group, the woman, Auri was knocking one of the guys upside the head. The others were laughing and shaking their heads. I wondered if they even felt a little worried for their smallest and most handicapped of the group going against a werewolf in his prime.
I broke from our group and walked halfway to their group. "I've taken over the challenge for my nephew. He wouldn't know how to hold back." Hector crossed his arms over his chest, smirking. "Oh, we might actually be able to see someone hold up more than three minutes then. This should be fun."
The two young male wolves laughed. "As long as it's not our ass getting kicked, I'm fine."
Auri, though pointed to the both of them and then punched their stomachs. They doubled over in pain but my eyes widened. There was no time between when she moved and when they doubled over. I didn't even see her movement. Thinking back to what Owen said, that he didn't see it coming, I realized maybe Cory was right. Maybe there was more to this group than met the eye.