The Cursed Shifters - Mateless

A Leader Not An Alpha

Kira was left at the hotel to keep her safe and away from anyone that might recognize her from the nest. She had told the group what the road into the forest that leads to the cabin looked like and that was all they had needed. Bex had spotted the road five minutes ago and Shiloh was looking for a good place to park for the team to pile out and begin their hike through the woods to locate the cabin and do some reconnaissance.

                                “What about there?” Bex pointed to an area between tree clusters that did indeed look wide enough for little red.

                                Shiloh guided little red into the tight space and parked, cutting the engine before turning to look at Dre. “You’re going to have to climb out of the trunk, you’re too big to get out the door. Michael, you might have to too.  She hopped out and went around, lifting the hatch for the men. “Remember we aren’t attacking today, just locating and scoping things out a little. So, we want to look like we are just out enjoying a hike.” She pulled the scent neutralizer from the back of the car and sprayed herself down before tossing it to Bex.

                                “If we happen to encounter one?” Dre asked hopefully.

                                “Only kill it if it identifies us as a threat or attacks. Any missing from their ranks will alert them.” Dre deflated before their eyes.  

                                Once everyone was sprayed down with their ‘hiking packs’ on Shiloh looked them all over once, “Cool let’s go.” She began walking in what she hoped was a fairly parallel path to the drive up to the cabin. Kira had said it cut up the mountain at a pretty sharp angle and they only used four wheel and utility vehicles to get to it. The hike would be steep and tiring, it could present an issue when it came to attack if it wore them out too much.

                                “Where is JT?” The rouge from last night had made it back to his ‘pack’ haggard with splatters of dried blood here and there from the fight. He stumbled into the camp exhausted from running on his human legs all night and yelled again. “Where is JT!” No one answered him, they just stared and asked about the other men, their mates or fathers. He pushed on headed for his leader’s tent intending to bust in, permission or no.

                                “I wouldn’ do tha’ if I were ye.” He knew the voice behind him, it belonged to their eldest member, a woman who had lived as a rogue longer than any of them ever hoped to survive it, the only council JT ever sought.

                                He turned to her incredulous. “And why the hell not? I need to speak to him!” A firm smack across his face reminded him who he spoke to.

                                “Our leader is, ahem, entertainin’ right now. Bes come back later if ye don’ wanna rile him up an’ keep ye head on ye shoulders.” JT slung open the flap of his tent right as she finished, cold and unamused. “Now ye’ve don it.” She said and scurried off.

                                “What exactly has yah so tore up you thought pestering me was a good idea?” Jacob had the good sense to look scared facing JT. It wasn’t his overall size that intimidated his group of rogues it was him. He was by blood an Alpha, it was in him, he was six foot three and about two hundred and thirty pounds, not huge for a male shifter but his black wolf was massive. JT didn’t hide his drawl and sometimes made up his own words, but he was sharp as a tac with plenty of horse sense and a violent streak none of them could match.

                                “We need to talk, alone.” JT c****d his brows in question and crossed his arms over his chest. “Leon, Billy, and Trey are dead.” That was enough to shift the annoyance of JT’s face, he headed into the tent, eyes full of fire and gestured for the girl to leave. She scurried out quickly, snatching up her shoes as she fled. Jacob began again as JT sat down at the small table and stared him down, a silent order to fill him in. “We were hunting last night, we hadn’t found much to bring back, just some rabbits, but I picked up the scent of a pack wolf in the woods. It was up wind of us, so it hadn’t scented us, and we followed it, it found a deer and took it down. I lead the group in to take it from him,” Panic set in as he went into the next part, knowing the blame rested on him. “The wolf, we thought it was just a male, maybe a beta by its size, and a taunted it a bit telling it there weren’t enough males for the pup to make us put it down.” A pause, JT c****d his eyebrows again. “It, it shifted back to human form. It was her JT.”

                                “Her who Jacob? Yah tellin’ me a female took ye four down after ye tried to take ‘er prey from ‘er?”

                                “HER! The female with red hair they say is killing every threat that pops up to the packs! I saw her JT! She was small, short, with red hair and blue eyes and her wolf is just a little smaller than an alpha!”

                                “And this red-haired woman took y’all down?” JT asked unbelieving. A single woman taking down his four best guards and hunters? No way.

                                “She had me bleeding in under thirty seconds, killed Trey. There was no one else in the woods the entire time we trailed her but out of no where two males showed up, almost as dangerous as her, a wolf can’t use a phone. How did she get them there? I’m tellin’ yah JT, that woman killed one of us and messed me up completely unarmed, she had jus shifted, she was naked!”

                                “I oughta string you up by yah toes for getting the boys killed, git outta here.” Jacob ran out of the tent to be met by more questions about where the other men were, leaving JT with his thoughts. She’s smart, she knew if she shifted it would distract them, still impressive that she took down Trey and injured Jacob so quickly. HE could hear his people outside his tent, they were angry, and some were crying, they had lost three good men, still years from the madness setting in. Rising from the table he decided he had to do something to settle his people, they wouldn’t survive a war with a pack, and he could hear Jacob attempting to hide the shame of being beaten by a girl in his explanation.  Everyone silenced as he exited the tent. “I will find the woman an’ ‘er friends. An eye for an eye.” His people cheered, relieved they would have justice for their fallen.

                                It was a long hike, the early fall weather made it bearable, but they were all ready to rest, the distance itself wasn’t that bad but the incline had been rough. In wolf form it would be easy and fast, but the vampires would smell them coming. There were decisions ahead. Perched in the trees each of them had taken a side to watch, noting covered windows, doors, chimneys, anywhere one could slip in. Listening as well as they could through the walls and distance to try and count the people inside. The few humans were easy to hear, their heartbeats loud and steady, they were not afraid, perhaps because vampires usually rested during the day since they were confined. They weren’t going to be able to get as clear intel on the cabin as they had the warehouse, blueprints were probably an impossibility and Kira’s information would only get them so far. They couldn’t watch the place at night for movement like they had the warehouse either, not enough cover and too many windows that were probably uncovered at night. “What do you think Fayrah?”

                                “I think this is a horrible place to attack and that is why he ran to it. If you hike up you’ll already be run down but if you shift to run up they’ll know you’re coming, even leaches can smell a wolf.”

                                “That’s what I was thinking, he’s playing safe and smart and no doubt preparing for us.”

                                “If he is preparing, he could put traps out on the ground for the wolves, vampires think shifters are just dumb animals, he probably thinks we will step right into them.” Shiloh could feel Fayrah’s disgust and insult through her entire body.

                                “Something else to consider, weaving through them could slow us down in wolf form and give them even more warning. We need to go over it all with the team.” She opened the link, “Come.” One word but enough to set her team moving for the ground and the path back to the car. They needed to get out of the area before nightfall and Shiloh preferred to be back on the road headed home before then.

                                The hike down was mostly quiet, talk of what information they had acquired on the building would wait until they knew without doubt no one would overhear. Down was also much faster then up, wearing them down less and getting them to the car quickly. Loaded back in Shiloh headed for the hotel thirty minutes away to pick up Kira. “We won’t be stopping tonight to sleep; we will swap drivers for rest, but I want to drive straight through to the pack house.” Grunts of agreement were the only sound, Shiloh realized her team had come to the same conclusion she and Fayrah had. This was going to be hard. Unable to take the silence any longer and needing to lighten the mood Shiloh turned on the radio and connected her phone, too far out for streaming she opened the music she had stored and selected song by Bowling for Soup. Everyone broke out singing the first line “Debbie just hit the wall” and the vibe in the SUV instantly relaxed. Shiloh decided to keep the loud horrible singing going after Kira got in, insisting that the girl needed to learn about music.

                                The long drive was no shorter than it had been on the way, and unlike most trips it didn’t even seem shorter thanks to Shiloh’s decree that they would not stop at another hotel. Once everyone in the car but Shiloh and Michael were asleep, he asked the question he had been pondering since she had made the announcement. “Why are we not stopping to rest? I know it’s more then rushing home or avoiding vampires finding us nearby. Is it the rogues?”

                                Shiloh sighed heavily. “Yes, they were different then most rogues, there seemed to be a chain of command.”

                                Michael looked her over inquisitively before speaking again. “You think they have a pack and will come after us.” He said.

                                “I do, with unknown numbers and skill, the man that led them might not actually be the leader and we do not have the time or energy to fight a band of rogues and the vampires at the same time.” She was right, the hike had worn them down and they lacked the weapons to make up for that. Michael didn’t doubt they could win, and he didn’t think Shiloh did either, but they would likely be injured in the process.

                                “This is why you are in charge.”

                                “And here I thought it was because of my exotic good looks.” Shiloh taunted, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Michael laughed and she smiled genuinely. “Get some rest Michael, you’ll have to take a turn driving too.