Woven Fates - The War

Warrior Rose

Jordan rolled over looking for Rose. She had been so pre-occupied lately that they had barely spent any time together. He was missing her.

As had become their habit, she was not there.

Jordan sighed, dragging himself out of bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face. He was tired, no, he was exhausted. He never seemed to sleep anymore. It was like the weight of everyone's disappointment in him was so heavy that he couldn’t breathe.

More and more lately, Heath and Nova had taken the reigns and run the village. Jordan was aware that faith in him and his ability to lead was at an all time low and the werewolves living in the village were becoming increasingly concerned.

And then, one day out of the blue, Rose had stepped in to his position. It was nothing they had planned, it happened organically and naturally. Rose had begun training with the warriors and had shown some real talent. This had empowered the she wolves to take a more active approach to their training and now they had trainers running sessions all day. This was it, they knew the war was coming and Rose was determined to fight alongside the warriors who had taken her in and made her one of their own.

Jordan dragged himself through a shower and got himself dressed. He would go out and train with the rest of the warriors. He was a strong wolf and a strong fighter. Neither of these were the issue for him. It was the feeling of overwhelming hopelessness he felt.

He was surprised to find Dr Michaels and Merridy talking to Rose on the training field. Funnily enough, he hadn’t remembered ever seeing them outside of the hospital before.

“Ok wolves, RUUNNNN!” The trainers roared as the training session began. He could see Rose had already done some laps and so he fell into pace with some of the other warriors.

Not for the first time he silently thanked the goddess for her choice in Rose. She was so strong, exactly what he needed in a Luna, though at the moment it only served to remind him that he was not so strong.

“SPRINT!” The trainers roared from the centre of the field. The warriors all fell into a sprint, trying to beat each other as they did. When they ran, they tried to just keep pace but as soon as the call to sprint came, it got super competitive. Jordan growled as some of the warriors over took him and he pushed himself harder. Jordan's long stride and natural strength from his Alpha blood put him at the front of the pack in no time.

“RUUUNNN!” The trainers called and they slowed their pace to catch their breath.

As Jordan came back around, he noticed a couple of cars pull up near the fields. He groaned when he noticed Paul and Shaun get out and start unloading some large bags. They could only be one thing. Guns.

Jordan jogged over to the trainers who were watching on from the middle of the field.

“What’s that?” He asked, pointing to Shaun and Paul.

“Weapons training.” The trainer shrugged, looking back to the group of warriors.

“SSPPPRRRIIIINNNNTTTT!” The trainer called as the werewolves picked up their pace.

“Who authorised this?” Jordan demanded.

The trainer turned and looked at Jordan, a hint of disgust on his face. “The Luna, the Beta and the Delta.”

“But not your Alpha!” Jordan roared in the trainers face.

“Step back.” The trainer began through clenched teeth, “Before I put you on you ass in front of the pack.

“You dare address your alpha this way?” Jordan seethed.

“You act like an Alpha, I treat you like one. Right now your Luna is showing more balls than you. Now I suggest you find yourself a place and start your training. Weapons training is voluntary.”

Jordans body stiffened at the slight and before he could restrain himself he brought his fist back and punched the trainer in the face.

“I am your Alpha and you will respect me.” Jordan snarled as he turned away.

The trainer jumped up and tackled him, effortlessly bringing him to the ground. Jordan tried to turn and fight but he wasn’t able to. He was left flailing helplessly on the ground, humiliated in front of his pack.

“Now, I’m going to let you up and I am going to smooth this over with the pack.” The trainer whispered. “I strongly suggest you get up and go along with it rather than embarrass yourself further. We good?”

Jordan grunted.

“Right, letting go now.” The trainer whispered as he let go of Jordan and they both stood up.

“Ok everyone, come in now!” The trainers called.

“Now, I know you all saw that. I’d like to thank Alpha Jordan here for playing along. I wanted to demonstrate to you how easily an opponent can take you by surprise. Next time maybe don’t hit so damn hard Alpha.” The trainer winked as the group laughed.

Jordan nodded.

“Right, we’re going to split you into two groups. As you are all aware, weapons training is voluntary only. Some of you would prefer to fight and four legs and you have my respect for that. Some of you want to be trained in both and you also have my respect. We all know one thing about this war and that is that we have no idea what it’s going to throw at us so to have people who can use weapons to back up those fighting on four legs can only be to our benefit. Thankyou Shaun and Paul for making yourselves available. We all know how hard you boys are working right now.”

Shaun stepped forward.

“As many of you know, we have been executing operations over the last five years to try to decrease the vampire population. If any of you would like to join our squads you are most welcome. The thing I need to make abundantly clear to you is we are not indiscriminately executing vampires. We are doing extensive research, we are choosing our targets, sticking to those targets only. The targets are those actively killing and recruiting, bosses, leaders. We do not now, nor will we ever, sanction the killing of kids who were turned against their will. We aim to recruit them because we strongly believe that when this war is done, we can all live in peace together. Does anyone have any questions?” Shaun asked.

One of the she wolves stepped forward. “If I may, I have a question for Luna Rose.”

Shaun nodded.

Rose looked over towards the group.

“Luna Rose, a question?” Shaun asked.

Rose nodded and walked over to the group.

“Luna Rose, the people who have been turned, are they like you? Like, we know you eat normal food, and we feel safe that you wont attack us. Are these other vampires that we will have to learn to live with in the future the same?” The She wolf asked.

Some of the other pack members nodded and mumbled their agreement to the question.

Rose smiled. “I understand your concerns, as many of you know I am what is known as a hybrid. I was never turned, both my parents were not turned either. My father you know is Magan the Magician. My mother was born a vampire. That means I have had my whole life to effectively decide how I choose to live it. Hundreds of years ago people were turned and they in turn fed but that isn’t what we’re seeing anymore. Would it surprise you to know we have vampires living amongst the pack?”

The werewolves all looked at each other.

“For six years now. You have literally had them on your doorstep, running security and keeping you all safe. Now before you get angry, hear me out. What we are seeing more and more is that the vampires are not fully turning. Yes, turned vampires need blood to feed, but they can survive just fine on animal blood which we collect from the abattoirs. Other than that, they love pizza and hamburgers. Well, except Macey who is predominantly vegetarian.” Rose smiled.

“Can we meet them?” The she wolf asked.

“Actually yes, you know the funky new shop going in in the town square? That is Maceys. It’s the reason it will only be open at night. They do not only sleep during the day, because they are underground they can be awake or asleep at any time. They run 24hour security and monitoring.” Rose smiled.

“Why were we never told this before?” One of the warriors asked.

Rose shrugged. “It’s probably actually not what you think. Because they are a major security operation we needed to protect them from the real danger – the vampires. They are effectively locked into their bunker for security reasons. However, Macey makes the most amazing Tshirts and jewellery and expressed an interest in opening a*****e which we have supported.”

“When does it open?” The she wolves asked.

“I believe next week but she is there nights if you would like to drop in and say hi. She is lovely and her partner Patrick is a hoot.” Rose smiled.

“Thankyou Luna.” The she wolf smiled.

“Absolutely any time. Really. If you have questions I am here.” Rose smiled.

Jordan walked up behind Rose and grabbed her arm angrily. Rose turned around, shocked that Jordan would put his hand on her.

“How could you do that to me?” He hissed angrily at her.

“Do what?” Rose asked stunned. Jordan had never showed any signs of violence before.

“How could you discuss the Young Vampires without my permission?” Jordan replied.

“I was asked a question and I answered it!” Rose replied angrily, yanking her arm away.

“You gave more detail than you needed to. Outing the Young Vampires was my decision to make.” Jordan snarled.

“I strongly suggest you check yourself, everyone is watching.” Rose fumed as she stepped back away from him. “It all would have been out next week anyway. I took the opportunity to introduce the idea of the Young Vampires to the pack to give them time to get used to it. Of course they are going to have questions, their Luna is a vampire.”

“You will not do that again. Do you hear me?” Jordan glared as he turned and walked away.

“You ok there Luna?” One of the trainers called out. Rose turned and smiled.

“I’m fine, thankyou.”

Once he had left Rose returned to Dr Michaels and Merridy.

“Do you see the problem now?” She asked.

Dr Michaels sighed. “And you think this all goes back to that night at the Vampire club?”

“It’s the only thing I can think of.” Rose shrugged, clearly upset.

“I think I might drive out and visit his father. I wonder if he is overwhelmed by everything. The job that used to be done by four in the Community is now being done by two and resources are stretched to the limit. Heath and Nova are stepping up a lot because they feel they need to be helping. There is no clear cut leadership from an Alpha here and it seems he is trying to wrestle that back.” Dr Michaels attempted to explain.

Merridy glared at him. “Child, he clearly needs help but let me tell you right now. If that man ever puts hands on you again you break his arm. Are we clear?”

Rose smiled. “The thought had already crossed my mind.” She winked. “Dr Michaels, do you think maybe the fact that we don’t have a family while everyone else does may be contributing to the problem?”

Dr Michaels nodded. “Possibly. Usually an Alpha and Luna would have their first child in the first year after mating, it is certainly unusual for them to wait this long.”

Rose nodded. “Do you have any idea why we haven’t been able to? Is it a species thing?”

“If it is, it doesn’t seem to be affecting any of the other couples.” Dr Michaels shrugged.

“You know who can answer those questions Rose.” Merridy smiled.

Rose nodded. “I will reach out to her tonight.”