Jaded Anchor: The Hunter

Chapter Two - Theo

Theo Bryant was sitting in the back of the truck along with several other hunters on their way to ambush a known pack of wolves. He had been sent to the small town of Silverport, Alabama around eleven months ago. The first group of hunters never returned from their expedition but one got word to his dad that there were indeed hundreds of wolves inhabiting the southern beach town. When the group never returned his dad sent more scouts, who reported back that all the hunters were dead but so were a lot of wolves.

It took a while, months of planning and watching but eventually, the entire group of hunters moved just outside the city lines in another backwoods town on the Gulf Coast. His father had built a sort of center base for the hunters to live while they planned their attack. Each family had their own apartment and they took turns watching and scouting the packs.

It looked like there were two to four packs left. With one pack being rather large. After some blending in and poking around Theo’s group learned a little more about the remaining packs. It appeared that the two biggest groups belonged to the Blakesley family. The father and son were the alphas. His dad wanted to wait until the perfect opportunity to attack; he wanted to wait to attack again when the wolves’ guards were down. That’s why this moment had been a little over a year in the making.

Theo gripped his rifle with one hand while his eyes scanned the woods surrounding them. He knew how dangerous wolves would be. It was a fact that had been drilled in his brain since he had been old enough to walk. His father leads one of the biggest groups of hunters in the U.S. and Theo had been groomed since an early age on his role in the group. He was supposed to be as ruthless as his old man, he wasn’t supposed to show any compassion for these creatures (no matter the age), and he was supposed to always shoot to kill. Theo hated his dad. He hated what they did, but he wouldn’t dare defy him. Richard Bryant had definitely earned the nickname associated with his name. He was a major d**k. Always had been, especially to Theo. In a perfect world, Theo would have left. He would have just went off to college and never returned, but that didn’t happen. Somehow his dad had roped him into the life he hated.

“The entire Blakesley pack are gathered together tonight. We won’t get a chance like this again. We move now. We get in there, wipe out the alphas and the rest will be easy to pick off.” Richard had said before picking up the stack of pictures he had been given by a man last year.

“Pass these around, so you know who we are looking for. The older man is Dean Blakesley. The woman at his side is his wife, Nora. The man and the red-haired female are Rowen and Alexandra Blakesley. They run the other large pack. They have a kid or two so just look for the little snot buckets holding onto them. Then you have Coen Blakesley. He recently got married and has a couple of kids as well. Wolves must reproduce like rabbits. Finally, there is Adira Blakesley, the youngest. Kill them all. Spare none.” Richard passed the pictures to his only son, Theo, to distribute.

“What if it’s a trap? Why would they want to get together when they aren’t in the same pack?” Theo had questioned. He usually didn’t question but these wolves were obviously smart. They had wiped out all their hunters the first time. He didn’t bother looking at the pictures. He had studied them for months. They looked so normal. Human even. Especially Adira. She was young. Probably around his age if he had to guess. He remembered thinking that she was too beautiful to be a wolf the first time he saw her picture.

“You questioning me boy?” His dad had accused stepping forward until his nose was almost touching Theo’s.

“No sir. Just making a statement. We know Dean isn’t involved in his sons' lives. It just doesn’t feel right.” Theo didn’t back down. He knew that would be worse on him than standing his ground. If there was anything his dad hated more than someone questioning his judgment it was someone being a coward.

“I have a person on the inside. I know for a fact that tonight the Blakeley’s are having a 'family dinner’. Now is our chance to wipe out two packs by killing their entire alpha bloodline.” Richard stepped back and looked at the other hunters. “We do this tonight! Any other objections?”

“No sir!” His father’s loyal hunters shouted in unison.

“Enough talking then, to the trucks.” Richard ordered and shouts and cheers erupted around him.  

So there Theo was in the back of the truck on his way to slay an entire family of wolves, including women and children. What a way to spend his twenty-first birthday.

…

They parked the truck just out of sight and continued the rest of the way on foot knowing the truck would draw in unwanted attention. It seemed like his dad had been right, the wolves had let their guards down. On their track, though the woods they had only seen one wolf. He had been easily taken down, and thankfully the gun used had been one with a silencer. The wolf hadn’t seen them coming, and probably didn’t even realize what happened before he died. The worst part about killing wolves, for Theo, was watching them turn back into their human form as they died. It was easier to think of them as monsters than humans.

Theo was feeling really good about their mission until they crossed over into the pack territory. That’s when things started to change. They were spotted by a group of wolves who then sent out a warning signal to all the others. Within minutes the hunters were surrounded by snarling wolves. f**k.

Absolute chaos erupted around him. Shouting from his men and howls from the wolves. The sound was deafening. Theo looked to his right awaiting orders from his father.

“Attack. Kill as many as you can!” His orders had been clear. They weren’t retreating, they were pressing forward. Theo raised his gun and started shooting. This was a do or die situation. He had no choice. It was either kill or be eaten alive. Call him selfish but he wasn’t ready to die. Still, he made sure his bullets missed most of the wolves. He wasn’t aiming to kill, despite his raising.

The hunters pressed forward making their way into the camp. Theo saw some of his fellow hunters getting ripped to shreds, but he also saw several naked bodies that belonged to the wolf pack scattered around the ground also. This was a bloody m******e. He didn’t know how any of them would survive. He pressed forward, managing to spare a few lives in the process. The size of the wolves told him they were young. It seemed everyone was out fighting.

He heard his father tell the group to split up. Theo instantly thought it was a bad idea. He knew the reasoning behind it. His father wanted to kill as many wolves as he could. The only way to do that was to cover more ground. He watched as the hunters obeyed his dad’s orders a group of them went right, while he and another group went left.

His group had come up to the house that had to belong to the Alpha. It was the biggest house in the camp. Theo looked inside; it was empty. He wasn’t surprised. If there was a fight in the camp the Alphas would without a doubt be out fighting too. He stepped inside, his curiosity getting the better of him. He had spent months study the Blakesley’s he wanted to know more.  He hadn’t noticed that no one in his group had followed him inside. Which turned out to be his biggest mistake. Theo moved further into the house, unable to turn back now.

Once he realized he was alone, he knew he was screwed. A sound from behind him caused him to turn. He half expected it to be of the hunter's hell bent on chewing him out for not keeping up, but instead, he found a wolf. The wolf was smaller than some that he had seen, but clearly, it’s size didn’t hold it back. This wolf exuded power. He watched as the wolf snarled at him, its black lips curled back exposing razor-sharp teeth.

Theo knew he was dead the instant the wolf knocked his gun from his hands. He thought the whole thing was ironic. His dad had sent him into battle with orders to kill the alpha and his offspring and now Richard’s own son was about to be killed. Poetic justice Theo thought as he stared into the pissed off yellow eyes of the wolf.

Theo backed up until his back was pressed against the wall. The wolf inched closer, stalking him. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time this wolf had been in battle. It moved with such grace that Theo knew it was a she. He held his hands up in surrender. He had no other cards in his pocket, this was it.

“Please…” He muttered one simple word. The only word he could think of. He asked the wolf to spare his life. He wasn’t ready to die.