Runt's Revenge

Enemies Everywhere

Cassie heard the door click as it closed. She wanted to ignore it, but now that she was awake, she realized that she needed to go to the bathroom. She quietly snuck out of bed so that she didn’t wake up Nea. On her way to the bathroom, she saw her own picture sitting on the table and then she heard Gwen out on the porch. Cassie heard her name being mentioned. She snuck closer to hear what else she was saying.

“They’re here,” he heard her whisper on the phone. “Cassie, the Alpha’s girl, and the other one,” she continued.

Cassie’s eyes got wide, she needed to tell Nea! She walked quietly back to the room so that Gwen wouldn’t hear her.

Nathan, on the other end of the phone call, instantly sat up at attention. “What is the address?” He asked Gwen.

“I am at the Whispering Bird BNB. The address is 424 Finch street,” she replied.

“Are you certain it’s them?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, I have the picture of the girl that was sent to all of the BNB’s and hotels in the area. I checked it after they went to bed, just to be sure. It is the Alpha’s daughter. I don’t know the other girl. A redhead, very nice. They are both sleeping.”

“Do whatever it takes to keep them there and you will be rewarded. I have people on the way.” Nathan told the old woman.

_______________________________________________________________________

Nathan linked the information to Zayden and also sent a squad of warriors from the pack house. Both parties were about 45 minutes away by car. Whoever got there first would surround the property and wait for the others.

Zayden was gripping the steering wheel tightly as he pushed the car to its limits. He had ordered Nathan to stay behind at the pack house to continue to monitor all of the pieces and protect the pack. He briefly explained what was happening to his team in the car and was annoyed to see Lydia typing away on her phone.

“Lydia, are you not paying attention?! I said that we have a location on Cassie. How can you be playing a game on your phone?”

“Sorry Alpha, bad habit,” she said, her cheeks getting red. “I am listening!”

“Nick and his crew are on their way to the BNB. We will meet them there. Dave, see if you can find building plans for the BNB and houses in the neighborhood. Everyone else, take a quick nap so that you can be fresh when we arrive.”

“Alpha, would you like me to drive so that you can rest?” Asked Lydia.

Zayden glared at her in the rearview mirror. “I’m fine, Gamma.”

 _____________________________________________________________________

Damien smiled as he read the text that came through on his phone. The girls had been found and he had an address. He looked at the tactical map that he had posted on the wall. He had a small team of rogues to the Southeast that should be able to intercept them before they crossed the border into River’s Edge Territory. He started typing a text to the leader of that faction. His only instruction was to, “kill the runt and capture the child. If the girl proves difficult, kill her as well. Little effort, big reward,” he promised.

“Roger that, heading East to intercept” was the reply.

 ______________________________________________________________________

“Mibayda?” Cassie shook Nea’s shoulder, but she didn’t move. “Mibayda… Nea… wake up!”

“Mmmmm, what is it kiddo,” said Nea as she rolled over to look at the girl.

“I woke up ‘cause I had to pee.”

“Okaaaaay… and?” said Nea

“And I heard the lady talking about us on the phone.”

And just like that, Nea was wide awake.

Nea and Cassie grabbed their bags. They snuck into the bathroom, locked the door and turned on the shower to cover the noise of their escape. Then helped Cassie climb out the small bathroom window before jumping out herself.

“Fun-Size, we are getting close to your territory. Can you feel or hear your dad yet,” Nea asked the girl as they ran through the backyards of the neighborhood on their way to the nearby woods.

“No… not yet, Mibayda. But once we cross the border, he’ll hear me.”

Nea had a bad feeling about this. They had a solid hour or two of running to get across the border to her home pack. They were leaving a strong scent trail at this point, and Nea didn’t know the area well. At this point, they were just heading due South. Nea was counting on the fact that Cassie would feel it when they crossed the border. Hopefully, that would be close enough to get through to her father. There was no way they could outrun anyone from the Glacier Valley pack if they were nearby… well, Cassie couldn’t outrun them and Nea couldn’t do it if she was carrying the girl.

_________________________________________________________________ 

Zayden and his troop had discovered the exact bus that the girls had taken by questioning the lady who sold them the ticket… to a girl and her “emotional support animal?” WTF! They obtained a schedule for the bus and checked every stop… most of which had a dead-end scent trail leading straight out to the edge of the woods. Timewasters! Then he finally had heard from Nathan with a solid lead and the address where Cassie was right now!

It took them 40 minutes to reach the BNB. They pulled over across the street from the charming little inn. He texted the owner to let her know that they had arrived and wanted to enter as quietly as possible. He had the twins run the perimeter of the house, leaving Dave by the car to survey the neighborhood and get tactical information in case it was needed, as he and Lydia went in the front door.

The old woman was wringing her hands as she opened the door quickly, “They’re gone!” she breathed nervously. She started blathering on about the shower, but Zayden was already getting an urgent link from Kelly.

“There are fresh tracks leading from a back window of the house and going due South. They are fairly fresh and very strong.”

“Kelly and Kyle,” the Alpha ordered. ”Follow those tracks on foot. Try to overtake them.” Zayden signaled Lydia to follow him back to the car. “We will try to get ahead of them by road! Let me know if they change direction at all.”

“Nathan, they seem to be heading toward you, be ready… send warriors to the border,” Zayden linked.

The promised “B team,” Nick, Lewis, Henry, and Jana, were just pulling up. Zayden peeled out and linked Nick to send Lewis and Janna on foot behind Kelly and Kyle, and then turn his car around and follow him. Lewis was one of the fastest wolves in the pack and Janna was a good warrior, but also a skilled medic.

 __________________________________________________________________

“Mibayda, stop for a moment,” said Cassie after about an hour of running.

Cassie was red faced from the sustained effort, but holding her own. She was a tough cookie, though Nea proudly.

Cassie looked around very carefully and then pointed ahead of them, “I recognize the field there,” she pointed. “We drive by it whenever we go on and off our property.”

They ran through the field, but just before entering the woods on the other side, Nea smelled it. “Rogues,” she linked to Cassie, “Stay close.”

They came running out of the woods straight for them, five rogues… FIVE! And on her other side, there was a car stopping on the side of the road. Nea said a little prayer to the Moon Goddess that the car held Cassie’s pack members, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Fun-Size, run for the woods and all the way home! Fast as you can!”

Cassie start off in that direction, clearly thinking that Nea was right behind her. But Nea knew that the rogues would be faster, so she turned and ran straight at them. She could tell that they were surprised. She was surrounded before she could put any kind of plan together. They all started to grab at her while she ducked under an arm, rolled under a set of legs and jabbed out trying to draw blood whenever she could. She just wanted to keep them busy long enough for Cassie to get away.

She felt a jolt in her shoulder as one of them made contact, but worse than that, was the gasp she heard from Cassie, standing not too far away. Nea looked up to see that Cassie had stopped and was watching in horror as the rogues attacked her friend. Beyond the little girl, Nea could see that the car had stopped and there were now three more wolves running in their direction at top speed.

One of rogues had notice Cassie standing there and had shifted, dashing directly toward Cassie! A big rogue, blocking Nea from Cassie, tried to give her a solid punch and s***h. She grabbed his arm and used his forward momentum to pull him toward her, flipping him into the rogues behind her. Nea dashed after the rogue that was running at Cassie, who seemed frozen in place. Nea shifted while running and threw herself at the back of his leg, clawing down and through his hamstring making him collapse, unable to run in human or wolf form.

Her attention was totally on Cassie, so she missed the rogue that had followed right behind her. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, so she shifted back and elbowed him hard in the gut. He still had a hold of her by her braid, but suddenly let go when Cassie hit him on the kneecap with a large branch, “Let go of Mibayda you filthy rogue,” she screamed.

The rogue backhanded Cassie across her face. Nea screamed as the girl dropped to the ground. Incensed, she leapt onto the shoulders of the large man. Wrapping her legs, criss-cross across his neck and then threw the rest of her weight backward, pulling him off balance. As he fell, she yanked her legs to the right, breaking his neck.

The other three standing rogue were almost upon her now. She did a backhand spring over the first, grabbing his shirt with her left hand on her way to pull him off balance, landing solid in front of the surprised man behind him. Her claws grew out of her right fist as she plunged her hand into his gut and turning immediately back to the man whose shirt she was holding. The last rogue was coming at her with a silver knife, so she shifted right as he stabbed as her, missing her little wolf entirely and stabbing his friend instead. Now working as Angel, she threw her body on the man’s face, clawing out his eyes.

Running over to Cassie, Nea shifted back. There were four wolves running out of the woods in the direction that she and Cassie had come from and three that had gotten out of the car, she thought, that were running straight to Cassie. They weren’t rogues and they weren’t Rivers Edge Pack wolves either. But Nea couldn’t be sure who they were. She reached linked Cassie “Are they friends or enemies, Cassie, friend or foe!?”

Cassie turned and looked at all of the new wolves running in their direction. She started crying in relief. Nea saw the girl crying and thought that she was frightened again. The biggest wolf was almost on top of them. Nea made a snap decision and ran for it leaping over Cassie’s head, shifting once again into her little wolf. Before she could make contact, Cassie shouted out loud, “Mibayda, NO!”

Nea, as Angel, froze midair at her Alpha’s command, unable to complete her maneuver. She landed in a ball at the big wolfs feet as the other six wolves closed in on them.