Runt's Revenge

Alpha's Office

The moon was bright, so Nea had no trouble seeing the trail. She carried Fun-Size, piggy-back style for a about a ½ mile before setting her down to walk on her own. She had to stay alert so that they didn’t run into anyone unexpectedly, but she mind-linked West briefly to let him know what was happening.

                “West, I found a child in the woods surrounded by rogues. I… I killed the rogues, but they indicated that one of our pack members is their leader, of sorts. I am bringing the child in. Taking the game trail to avoid others,” she linked.

                “We were aware that a child had gone missing from a neighboring pack. Go straight to the Alpha’s office, enter through your room, not front door. I will let him know that you are on your way with the child.” West did not elaborate; he must have surmised that she needed to be concentrating.

                Athena glanced at the little girl next to her. They had been jogging, not too fast, but certainly not walking either. She seemed to be disciplined and, also, to understand the seriousness of their situation. She asked questions occasionally, but not frivolous ones. Once they were on their way, she had stopped crying and was maintaining control of herself. She was a smart cookie and very brave.

                “Can you see anything, even though it’s dark? Are we lost?” the little girl whispered.

                “No, Fun-Size, we aren’t lost,” Athena replied quietly. “My wolf helps me see better in the dark. In fact, my dad taught me a secret when I was your age… do you want to hear it?”

Fun-Size looked up at her, nodding her head.

“I know that your wolf can’t talk to you yet… but she is still a part of you, in here” Nea told her tapping on the girls chest. “You can ask you wolf to help you see better in the dark. Try it!”

Cassie stopped for a moment on the trail and scrunched up her nose, closing her eyes tight as she whispered, “Wolfie, please help me see in the dark.” When she opened her eyes again, they went wide and she looked around her in wonder. “It worked, Nea! My Wolfie helped me!”

“Shhhh,” Athena reminded her, with a finger to her lips. And with a wink, she softly told her, “Good, now you can help me keep a look out!” We are getting close.”

About 10 minutes later, the girls could see the lights streaming out of the pack house. They went around to the back, by the kitchen and snuck in through Athena’s room. Athena grabbed a sweatshirt as they walked as she preferred to wear her baggy clothes in the packhouse. She didn’t slow down though, throwing it on as they walked. Nea carefully opened the door from her room to the kitchen, peeking through to see if anyone was there. It was close to midnight now and the light were dim and everything was quiet.

A minute later she was tapping gently on the Alpha’s door. The door opened so swiftly, that Nea almost fell forward into the room.

“Athena,” greeted Alpha Eric with a nod as he peered beyond her. “And you must be Cassie from River’s Edge,” he continued gently, “Is that right?”

Cassie gave him a brave nod and answered politely, “Yes Alpha.”

He ushered the girls into the room, “Your father has been very worried about you, young lady. I would like to hear your story, but first let’s give him a call and give him some peace of mind. Nea, why don’t you get Cassie and yourself something to drink. There should be some snacks in there too,” he said absently waving in the direction of the mini-fridge in his office.

Nea and Cassie were rummaging through the fridge and listening to the Alpha as he placed the call, insisting on speaking to Alpha Zayden despite the time of night.

“Yes, tell him it is about his daughter…” then he waited as the woman who answered the phone went to find her Alpha. Just then, Damien burst through the door, without knocking with his Rebecca, Athena’s mother, right behind him.

“What is happening, Alpha,” growled Damien lowly, prowling toward the Alpha in a menacing manner.

“Nothing you need to worry about, Beta,” Alpha Eric said warily. “Athena found the girl that we were talking about earlier, that’s all.”

“Oh my, the poor thing,” said Rebecca as she walked up behind Alpha Eric. “Eric, who are you calling at this time of night,” she asked breathily.

“The girl’s father, of course,” he said.

“It’s really to late to be waking people, don’t you think you should call in the morning,” she said in a sickly-sweet voice?

“Too late,” he grumped back.

But while he had been talking to Rebecca, Damien had been approaching him. Athena was just starting to be uncomfortable when a flash of silver caught her attention. “ALPHA…” she began to warn him, but it was too late.

Damien stabbed Alpha Eric with the silver blade in his hand. Rebecca grabbed at the phone, prying it from his hands, disconnecting the call. Athena didn’t know if anyone had come back on the other end or not. The door was ripped off it’s hinges as West looked wildly around the room for his mate. With a viscous growl he ran straight at Damien who threw his wife in West’s path. West punched her so hard that she fell to the ground, unconscious. He shifted into his wolf and prowled toward Damien. Damien shifted too.

Athena kept Cassie behind her as she worked her way around the edges of the room to her Alpha, who lay bleeding on the floor by his desk. She dropped to her knees in front of her, very aware of the two dangerous wolves circling each other in the center of the office. Alpha Eric was looking at her weakly. He grabbed a handful of her sweatshirt.

“Nea, take the girl. Run. Get her to her pack. Wait… Wait…” he coughed.

Athena could hear things breaking as the two wolves behind her began fighting in earnest… the growls were shaking the glass windows. She was trying to put pressure on his wound to stop the bleeding.

“Nea, listen carefully. Take the thumb drive out of my computer. You will need that. There is very important information on there for you. You have to let me go. Run, while West is keeping him busy.” She began following his instructions as he was talking. “Go NOW!”

Athena was torn. She wanted to help West, but her little wolf would just get in the way if he tried to protect her.

“Come on!” Said Cassie urgently, pulling at her hand. The little girl had been listening intently.

The urging of the little girl was enough to get her moving. With the thumb drive grasped in one hand, Athena allowed herself to be pulled out of the room, hearing the crashing of glass behind her. The ran straight to the kitchen and out the back door. Nea ran instinctively to West’s cabin. Once inside she took the time to shove the thumb drive into the top pocket of Cassie’s backpack, which the little girl had been wearing.

She spent a lot of time at the cabin and was familiar with where West kept everything. Athena grabbed a canvas bag from the basket by the door and, running to the kitchen, began throwing food in it; fruit, bread, cans of whatever. The cookie jar was where he kept some spare cash and she grabbed a handful of bills, mentally apologizing to West as she did so. It was not in her nature to take things with out asking. She also went into West’s room and dug through his dirty clothes, pulling out socks for both her and Cassie.

“Here,” she thrust a pair of stinky socks into Cassie’s hands, “put these on over your shoes.” Athena did the same for herself. Once that was done, she grabbed Cassie’s hand once again and tool her out the back door of the cabin. “Okay, Fun-Size, which way is it to your packland?”

Cassie focused for a moment, feeling the pull of home and she pointed to the right.

“Okay, do you trust me?” asked Nea.

The blonde head nodded seriously, and Athena led them off in the opposite direction.