What's Beyond the Trees?

Chapter 4 Setting Up

Coleson's POV

Easton, myself and 4 other men are walking with us off of our property and to the vehicles, that are ready to go. "Why did you have to rat me out to Mama?" I ask Easton as he chuckles and replies. "I knew you needed her comfort that she always gives.. and because I wanted to make sure you would go and I knew she was the only one who could convince you because you have always been a mama's boy." He spats at me as I scoff but don't deny his accusation because he is right.

I just send him a fake glare as he chuckles more at me. "You're just as much of a mama's boy as I am." I spat back sounding stupid with my childish remark. This makes him laugh louder as he states.. "You're right I am.. Now let's go get you a new mama to adore." I hit his arm as he laughs louder, getting into the SUV that holding all of us big men together like a can of sardines.. and to say I hate this is a complete understatement.

I feel the anxiety hitting me as the vehicle leaves the pack property, making this much harder than it has to be on my mind. "How far away is she?" I ask Easton who is driving, as he quickly replies. "Not far, about an hour and a half.. They are meeting us in neutral territory just in case.. for their safety and ours." he explained before he quickly adds. "Her name is Jade.. by the way."

I nod in understanding as I just look out the window, or as much of it as I can see.. They are making me sit in the back between the two biggest wolves they have, to make sure I have as much protection as possible. I appreciate it, but it's annoying all the same. We drive for a while or at least it seems like a while.. But by this point, the sun is up and showing all the beautiful details of this amazing autumn day.. The leaves are falling and the colors are showing more with the natural morning light.. Making each bright leaf illuminate as if the whole mountainside is on fire with the bright yellows, oranges and reds covering every last inch, even though I know it's not.. It's a stunning sight to see either way.

I feel the vehicle slowing down, making my heart beat out of my chest as if a man is beating on the drums of my heart at full speed. I can hear the thumping in my ears, with the air thinning as it tries to get to my closed off lungs.. They feel as if they are burning at the lack of air because I'm so nervous. The car pulls off to the side of the road and it leads us away from the main highway.. We are lead to a pull off area for restrooms and such, since there is not much out here at all. I feel my eyes bouncing from object to object just wondering everything about her.. What will she look like? I hope she is nice. I hope she likes wolves because I want to live with the Onyx Pine Pack forever if I can, they are my family.. I have so many questions and probably not enough time.

I just hope she likes me too because what if I like her but she doesn't like me? What will that mean for us? I will never force anyone to be with me, but if she doesn't like me, then would that mean I would be alone forever? I can calm my rapidly beating heart, which I feel as if it should be popping out of my chest at any moment.

The vehicle comes to a complete stop.. I can see another black vehicle in the distance. Easton parks the SUV and turns back to look at me before he asks, "You ready for this Cole?" I let out the breath I never even knew I was holding in, before nervously nodding. The door opens besides us as we all get out as quickly as we can. I get to Easton's side in front of our vehicle as we wait with the other men behind us. The light is getting brighter because it's now coming over the mountain and shining in our faces making this harder than what it has to be to see.

I notice that the vehicles doors are opening as men get out but surrounded around a small woman.. I can see blonde hair, but not much else because they are hiding her so well. The group of men inch closer, making my heart palpitate in my chest the closer they get to us. I can't take my eyes off of the glowing blonde hair that I can see, just aching to see more of her.. I just want to know what she looks like.. I'm not a man who would just go for looks by any means, but the physical attractiveness has to be in the love equation.. because I would see her for a very long time and would hopefully build a happy family with her, so I have to find her attractive at some point.

I can't help but instinctively inch closer as I instantly feel Easton grab my arm and holding me back. So I start to sniff to see if I can smell.. but nothing.

I can smell the wolves that surround her, but I cannot smell her.. I can't smell bear at all.. Maybe it's because there are so many men surrounding her that it's messing with my senses. The men inch apart leaving just one man standing in front of this small woman. Easton steps forward and shaking the mans hand before stating. "Thank you so much Charles for meeting with us.. I know my brother is very excited to meet your daughter."

The man shakes his hand but doesn't say much else. I keep sniffing as I watch him step to the side to show this gorgeous blue eyed blonde that stands five foot tall at the most.. She doesn't look remotely scared, just a little shy. She is everything I could have hoped for, but.. something just doesn't feel right.

Easton see's this too as he pulls me aside and giving the man an apologetic look before whispering.. "What's wrong Cole? She is gorgeous." He states as I nod at him before saying back.. "Yes she is, but have you not noticed the most important part of this?" I ask him as his eyebrows furrow not understanding, so I explain. "She is not a bear.. I can't smell a bear here at all.. only wolf." He gets a shocked and confused look on his face before nodding and slowly turning around.

"Sir.. She is as gorgeous as you described but.. I can't help but notice that she is not a bear.. what's going on here?" He tries to ask as calmly as he can, with our men preparing themselves for anything that could happen. We don't know what's going on, let alone what could happen next.

I look at the men talking not even noticing the woman inching closer to me until her hand is gently placed on my chest. "Do you not like me bear?" She asks with big innocent eyes that are alluring but distracting. "It's not that.. it's just.." I'm not able to finish my sentence before I see the man my brother Easton is talking to, throwing him to the side like a rag doll, as the other men attack our guards. I instinctively pull the damsel into my side to protect her, but I guess that was my biggest mistake as I feel a pain in my side. I look down and she is walking backwards, away from me with a malicious smirk upon her face, and a bloodied knife in her hands.

"Take the bear alive.. we need him as healthy as possible to sell.. get him!" the man yells as I touch the wound at my side, seeing my hand covered in blood. I look around trying to find Easton, but he is nowhere to be found. "East?!" I yell as I feel my booming voice reverberate through the ground but still nothing.. "East?! Brother?!" I yell again, not knowing where he was thrown to or if he is ok.

I do the only thing I can think of and shifting into my bear form, to help me heal faster and hopefully get away from this. I shift without a moment to lose and burst through the wall of men that's trying to surround me.. The men keep coming from all around in the wooded areas, as if they planned this ambush and just anticipated this taking many men to restrain me.. Sadly for all the men that are going to get hurt in this, because believe me that's exactly what it will take.

I run away from the scene with too many wolves to count, following right behind and to the sides of me.. I don't know where I am.. let alone where I am going.. but I won't stop running until I'm sure I'm safe or dead. I get tackled to the ground from the side, just rolling over multiple wolves as others attack and try to hold me down.. they stack on top of me thinking this would help them.. but if you know anything about bears they are much bigger than wolves. So I use my strength to burst out of this cloaked tower of wolves, throwing them in all directions before I continue running. I trip a wolf that tries to take me out again, before swiping my claw at the two wolves to my right, hitting both of them in the throat. I swipe out to the left now, taking out two more throats like it's nothing.. The limp bodies of dead weight take out the two, maybe three wolves behind them, luckily for me.

I keep going until I feel another wolf jump onto my back and engraving his nails into my back as if he is trying to carve right through a turkey.. So I stop without hesitation and throw him off my back and into the tree besides us. This releases a squeal from his moth that sends a chill down my spine, while it knocks him out like a light.. but I still have about a half dozen wolves to take care of before I can try to survive this. One jumps at my throat before I swipe him away, slashing his stomach open and sending his entrails across the ground steaming out like a hot meal from the oven.

Another attacks from behind so I reach back, snatching the scruff of his fur before throwing him down to the ground in front of me as I latch my fangs around his neck, just to snap it so easily in my grip.. As his limp body hangs from my jaws of death, I use this moment to look deep into the last enemy wolves' eyes.. The other wolves look absolutely terrified while I let out a spine chilling, deep call from deep within my throat.. Deeper than I have ever created from my chest, terrifying them as they cower and run off with their tails between their legs. I huff and pant trying to figure out where to go from here. I'm bleeding, but I need to take a moment to breathe.. but of course before I can I hear a gun shot into the air as the man yells loudly.. "I don't care what he did! I want that King bear! Get him!"

Before I can even comprehend what's happening to me, my body takes over like instinct and starts running in the opposite direction of the vehicles and enemies.. I have to hide, to try to give myself time to heal and hopefully when I'm feeling better I can try to find my brother.. But that's easier said then done with a wall of wolves trying to stop me and take me hostage.

I keep running until I get to fencing.. There is a big wall of fencing looking at least 10 feet high, in this random area for whatever reason. I turn to try to go around, but I hear the howls of the wolves coming. I frantically look around looking for anything I can use to help me out, so I do the only thing I can think of in that moment. I jump onto the tree, climbing as high as I can until I'm able to jump over to the other side of the fence. I roll as I land but groan out in pain from my open wounds. That's when I hear the growling and howling directly behind me.

"There he is.. get him." The woman states with her still more malicious than ever smirk upon her face, as she slowly walks forward never taking her gaze from mine. The wolves try to jump up but they can't get high enough to climb over the fencing.. They can't climb the tree like I did either, making me internally smirk as I inch away backwards from this scene and hopefully, this will give me enough time to hide and heal.

"You can run bear.. but you cannot hide.. I will find you soon enough." The woman states as I turn around and start running away in the deep camouflage that is these woods.