THE STOLEN PIECE

CHAPTER 18 - THE PLAN

GABRIEL 

As I reached the bottom I saw one wolf looking at me. He stood there without moving, just looking at me as I slid down. “Why is he looking at us?” “I’m not sure, his wolf isn’t answering me.” I got down and walked towards the wolf. 

    -Hi…

He then ran away. “That was strange, don’t you think so?” “Who knows this pack is so strange, I don’t know what to expect Zeus.” I started undressing and packed the clothes on the bag pack. “Now it’s time Zeus.” “Finally!” As I shifted I started looking around. “Now what?” “We wait for the rest to come down.” We walked near the cliff, the scent of many wolves was present, but that was expected since this is the path they all should take to the main house. “There are not many scents Gabe.” “I know, I knew this was a small pack, but this is ridiculous.” I heard a noise and looked up, Simon’s wolf was rolling down the cliff. “Zeus we need to catch him!” Zeus climbed a bit of the cliff and then Simon’s wolf collided with us. The impact was hard, but at least This time he was already on the floor and not in some tree branches.

    -” So you haven’t perfected the climb down part of the cliff.”

    -”At least I am good while climbing up.”

Simon started shaking his fur and getting all the dust-out. Zeus did the same, and just as he was finishing, Finn and Onyx arrived.

    -”So now that we are all down, we should start the patrol. Simon tracks some of the warriors so we can join them.”

    -”Yes, Gabe.”

His wolf started sniffing around and then he ran between the bushes. We all started following him. I looked around and I saw no one, we kept running for a while, and nothing, no one. Finally, I saw two wolves running. I ran close to them and when they saw me both trip and then fall. As I walked to help them they curled up and whimpers started to come out from their wolves.

    -”I’m not a threat…”

Zeus took a step forward and the wolves cried even more. Finn ran past me and started helping the wolves, they didn’t whimper as Finn approached. Zeus just stood there looking. “Why didn’t they let us help them?” Zeus was confused and so was I. We have just good intentions and no one here seems to understand it. “Let’s go, Zeus.” He stood up and we started walking. “Where exactly are we going?” “We are doing the patrol by ourselves.” I looked back and saw Sam, Harvey, and Simon following me.

    -”I will go alone, so stay with the pack warriors and try to get information.”

    -”I’m not really good at that… Talking to pack members isn’t my specialty brother.”

    -”Harvey and Simon can handle it.”

    -”Harvey can, I will stay with you.”

    -”Simon, I'm telling you that you are staying with them.”

    “I can’t let you alone, King’s order.”

King orders? again with that! Why does everyone just listen to my Dad, then who the hell I am! Just the son of the King? That's it?

    -”You know what I don’t care anymore, everyone does what they want to do, but we will meet before one o'clock in the spot they left us to go to the city.”

I kept walking and could hear Simon following me. I tried to ignore the sound he made while following me. “Zeus let's just see the territory and tried to identify the weak areas.” “Yes!” We kept running the perimeter and a big area was almost abandoned, I couldn’t smell any recent wolves ' scent. The area probably wasn't patrolled in a week. “This territory hasn't been patrolled.” “I know Zeus, I can smell it too.” “But to let this amount of land without patrol, it’s really strange.” We kept looking thru the pack land and many places where it was not patrolled. 

    -”Well it looks there is a huge space for improvement in this pack.”

    -”Well their patrol could improve without a doubt.”

The rest of the day was just us patrolling. We went to the meeting point and I shifted back, Simon had to climb up, because they didn’t bring down clothes to change into. So I just sat and waited for the car and Sam, and Harvey to arrive. I heard movement and saw Finn and Onyx, followed by another wolf. As soon as the other wolf looked at me, he stopped, turned, and walked away. Finn saw me and ran towards me with a wagging tail.

-”Hi brother you see we did it in time!”

-I see Sam.

Harvey and Sam started shifting back.

-And we are ready to go.

Sam said in his complete naked glory.

-And we all can see that.

I said as I averted my eyes.

    -We are not getting in the car naked right?

Harvey said with a worried look.

    -Of course not, Simon must be back with the…

We all turned to the noise of sliding rocks and there it was, Simon’s wolf sliding through the cliff. He almost made it until he fell down and rolled his way down.

    -Well this time he almost made it, right?

    -Yes Sam, he almost made it.

Harvey ran and helped Simon’s wolf that had the clothes between his jaws. Harvey brought the clothes to Sam, while Simon shifted back.

    -I’m not wearing that… It’s full of Simon’s saliva.

    -So you rather be naked?

    -Of course, many women have complimented my body.

    -Sam that’s gross so please dress up now, the car should be here in…

As I spoke a woman walked towards where we were, she didn’t look at us. Then she just stood near us.

    -Sam dress up. Hi I’m Gabriel Miller, do you need any help?

She didn’t answer or looked at us. The sound of the car filled the forest.

    -You are ready to go, right?

    -Yes.

I looked and they were all dressed up, well Sam was just putting his shoes on. The car stopped.

    -Everyone in that car.

As I spoke they stood up and started getting in the back, I opened the co-pilot door and the woman passed me and entered the car.

    -Excuse me, we are trying to go to the city?

The man that was driving looked at me.

    -Yes this car is going to the city.

    -Well my three companions are in the back, and my seat was stolen so when is the second car coming?

    -The second car is in the workshop.

    -What then how am I going to go into the city?

    -In this car?

He looked at me as if I was dumb.

    -You can sit on my lap, big brother.

    -I rather die.

    -Then I will sit on Simon’s lap.

    -I don’t think…

Before I was done speaking Sam was already in Simon’s lap.

    -Please get in the car Gabe, the sooner we are there the sooner I can take this thing off me. 

I got on, the trip was hell, Sam kept moving, my legs were pressed against the seat and the car scent was awful. The driver was doing a poor job so I got car sick and they made the trip feel longer and a whole new level of awfulness. The car stopped and I jumped out of it, literally ran into the nearest trash can, and started throwing up all my intestines out. “Are you okay Gabe? You don’t feel great, are we dying?” “No, we are just car sick.” “The car smelled that bad we got sick?” “No, yes, the tinny space, the scent, and the bad driving abilities are what give us this awful car sickness.”

    -Are you okay brother?

    -Yes, I just need some time to adjust myself.

    -Well we have one hour to do it all and come back.

    -What?

I looked at Sam.

    -The driver said he will pick us up in an hour.

    -How? Why? We aren't going to be done in an hour? Why would you choose just one hour?

    -I actually tried to get us more time, but the driver insisted that he was just waiting for the woman. Who is going to a doctor’s appointment and that then he was going back to the packhouse.

    -Thanks for trying Harvey.

I was dizzy and now I was trying to find a way to buy all that we needed in just one hour. What would mom do?

    -Okay everyone I got a plan, but we need to find the closest convenience store.

    -There.

I looked at where Simon pointed and he was right. Just two blocks away There was a convenience store.

    -Well walk with me.

I started walking and the three followed me.

    -I will handle the vegetables, Simon can join me and…

    -Actually, I have cooked with your mom and I’m pretty good at it, and I know how to pick stuff.

    -That changes my strategy… So Simon is alone on vegetable duty, I will handle the meat, and Sam and Harvey will buy the pasta, instant sauces, and chunk food.

    -And on what are we cooking? I didn’t see a single pan in that kitchen.

Simon was right, we need more than just the food.

    -I will choose the meat, you can take care of the other things and Harvey can choose the chips, cookies, and other stuff.

    -I’m not sure I can…

    -I have seen you eat a whole box of cookies Harvey, so don’t say you don’t like that food because you know what brands are good.

Sam was imitating Harvey.

    -Okay I will do that.

    -That’s it then. We will meet at the front so I could pay for everything. Remember we need food for all the pack.

    -Yes.

Just like that we entered and each one went his way, I took two shopping cards and started selecting plates, pans, cutlery, everything that a kitchen needs to work. Finally, I went to the meeting point and everyone was already there. I paid for all of the stuff and as we got out we noticed we couldn’t take the shopping cards past the parking lot and that we were actually five minutes late.

    -Stay here I’m asking the driver to pick us up here.

I ran as fast as I could and saw the car driving away. “Great now we are stuck.” I sighed and saw an interesting store, I went inside, selected a real car and bought it. Then I went and picked everyone else.

    -Where did you get the SUV?

Sam looked amazed.

    -I bought it, the pack needs a bigger car than the ones they have.

    -At least we can fit all the stuff inside this one.

They helped me get the stuff inside the SUV and Simon drove as I sat in the co-pilot seat. The forest drive was awful, the SUV was getting stock everywhere but the scent wasn't bad, the amount of space was better and we did fit everything inside.

    -I think this is the farthest I can take us, the path is getting more and more by the minute, the rest we will need to walk back.

As Simon spoke I was already leaving the SUV. I took the microwave and some bags and started walking. We left everything in the bottom of the cliff, when half of the stuff was already there I started to take things up the cliff. Being the only one with retractile claws was helping me because the extra stuff was dragging me down while I climbed up. Then we took the stuff back into the packhouse. Everyone was looking at us as if we were crazy, but I didn't care. Simon and Harvey started to clean the kitchen and Sam was helping me with the arrangements. We stayed in the kitchen for a long time, we couldn’t do what I hoped for, but we had some vegetables, corn and some meatballs with spaghetti, and for deserts, many lemon pays and chocolate cookies… the cookies were more cookie dough, the electric oven didn’t cook them properly but they were eatable and Sam already ate like ten and was still alive, and we didn’t have the amount of food I hoped for soo we were serving all the food we prepared ready or not. We didn’t find a place where we could eat so we just started bringing food into the living room.

    -That’s it, this is all the food that was in the kitchen that Sam hasn't already eaten.

I looked around and I wasn’t happy with the amount, but this should do. I saw someone passing by.

    -Hi, would you like to…

He saw me and just walked faster, and like him, he had at least twenty members running away from us.

    -I don’t think this will work.

I turned and saw Sam with his mouth full of spaghetti.

    -Stop eating we need the food!

    -No one else is eating it, why not me?

I turned and saw the luna walking towards us.

    -Good night, would you like to…

She passed Simon and almost knocked down the plate he had in his hands.

    -So you are the one responsible for the hideous smell and all the mess in the kitchen.

    -Hideous? 

    -Yes what is all this?

    -It’s food and it’s really good.

Sam said with his face covered in tomato sauce.

    -The pack doesn't need this stuff…

    -You are wrong, they do need it, and I also have equipped the kitchen and I can show some pack members so they learn how to do it, and I got a SUV for your pack, it’s way bigger than the cars.

The luna just glared at me.

    -Also I would like to speak with the Alpha, or the one in charge of patrolling, there are several areas that haven't been…

She then snarled at me.

    -SHUT UP BOY!

I was stunned.

    -To my office now!

I followed her, I saw Simon following us.

    -NO ONE SHOULD EAT THAT FOOD!

She screamed and the members in the room just lowered their heads and then walked away.

    -The food is tasty and it’s…

    -You don’t dare to say anything else until we are at my office.

I didn't say anything else just to evade the fight, but I was already pissed off. I was trying to help and they were so ungrateful! I closed the door and she sat on an armchair, in front was a small desk and two metallic chairs in front. The office was so small, probably just five or six people maximum could fit here.

    -What are you thinking?

Her voice was confused, but I could still feel the anger.

    -I wanted to improve their quality of life, I bought all that you need for the kitchen, well most of it, and got you a new SUV so the transportation is easier and…

    -We don’t need anything like that… How much did you spend on all of those things?

    -I don’t know but it’s not important, you should…

    -It is important! You can’t be this way! This pack doesn't need stuff like that!

    -You only have two cars and one is out of service.

    -Yes for two days but then it’s going to be alright! 

    -The SUV is much bigger!

    -But it consumes more gas and it's so big isn’t going to be able to come up as the cars do!

She had a point with that, we had to park way farther with the SUV than where the car left us.

    -But the food...

    -We don’t have the number of members to assign some to the kitchen, the last attacks really weaken our pack and we are trying to keep it running, but it’s hard, and losing people to put them in the kitchen is not an option. What am I going to do when they try the food, love it, and tell them that we can’t cook them, because we don't have enough members to patrol, train, and help the wounded. I would love to give everything to my pack, but we are saving so we could reconstruct pack houses and we are paying hospital bills and the doctors that come here. We can hunt and that keeps us healthy, it isn’t the tastiest food all the time, but we do what we need to do.

    -You could just ask my Dad for the money…

    -He would give us the money we know, but we aren’t as in need as other packs. We can take our pack out of this by ourselves, we just need time. We are proud and we would ask for help if we need it, but this problem we can solve.

    -I didn’t know…

    -You know nothing boy! You are not even a werewolf! 

    -Your Luna Queen is also not a werewolf!

    -But she is not our Alpha, it's okay, we get it. We don’t care if the Queen or the Beta are not werewolves, but our Alpha is! He understands the pride of a wolf and the need for them to provide for his pack. We talked with the King and asked to send both of his sons here. We know he would do the right thing and point Sam as the king, you should conform by getting the Beta position and be grateful, you are not even our own species so be grateful to have a place in this kingdom.

I was beyond mad, I could feel the heat in my body, my fangs against my lips, and my claws getting longer.

    -Just look at you, ears out? You are not part of us.

I stood up and left the office as fast as I could. This was awful. I had been disrespected and I wasn’t tolerating anything like this! I went to the room they gave us and grabbed my phone.

    -Helo Gabe is everything okay?

    -No Dad everything is not okay.