THE STOLEN PIECE

CHAPTER 33 - THE SAME WOLF

GABRIEL

“What? How? Why are we going to fight him?” “He isn’t respecting our position and he needs to be thrown back in place, that’s it.” “Can’t we do it in a different way… like talking?” “We don’t… Lions need a strong leader. It is normal that his lion wants to try new waters and if Guy feels he is stronger than us… He isn’t going to stop.” “Let’s just try to control the situation without a fight… Wolf code doesn't let us start fights with pack members just because…” “We are not wolves.” “But we are going to be…” “We would never be a wolf… And Gur, Fang, Taz… They are also never going to be wolves.” “Well, mom, Anri, and Maria… well they never had a problem with the wolves…” “They are females, it’s different.” “No, it’s not.” “Yes, it is… Taz has a strong personality and likes to run his family as his… That’s why he always takes his mate and used to take his cubs with him every time he could. Call it to check on other packs or whatever he says every time he gets away from Dad… It’s hard to have a male ruling you all the time.” “I don’t think that’s true…” “I don’t want to argue with you about this Gabe.”  As we talked I felt the heat leaving my body. “I’m just trying to understand… Zeus?” I didn’t sense him anymore.

    -Finally.

I looked at Daniel who was looking directly at me.

    -Your ears are gone.

I touched my ears and they were still there.

    -Not those, Zeus ones, for a moment they were out, so I tried to distract the girl from seeing them… But it's dark out here and your hair is long so I don’t think she notices them.

I completely forgot that could happen… The last time it happened was so long ago… Daniel grabbed the pizza’s box and started walking.

    -We should probably go back to our place.

    -Yes.

I turned around and I could no longer see Crystal. I followed Daniel, I could somehow feel Zeus, but it’s different… I started walking faster and got on the same level as Daniel. I open the door and enter first. I saw Maria sitting on the couch talking with Lucas… I let out a low growl. I saw Maria looking at me and I felt how Daniel took a step back, but Lucas kept talking. Then he looked at us. Maria stood up and placed herself between Lucas and me.

    -It’s okay Gabe, I’m fine…

She walked towards me and I hugged her. I was scared...I knew how hard it was for Maria to adapt to the serum and how affected she was when she learned Lucas was her mate… What if she decides this is enough and leaves… or worse takes more of that serum and just turns off like when she started drinking it… I already lost one of my siblings on my watch… Maria was not going to be uncomfortable or feel threatened if I could avoid it. 

    -Lucas we brought pizza. Do you want some?

I could hear Daniel’s voice but my eyes were on Lucas. I saw him looking at me, when he stood up I let out a low growl. This time I knew he could hear me.

    -Yes… I would like some, could you bring plates, we can eat here instead.

Daniel passed near me and Maria with some plates.

    -Do you want to go on a walk?

Maria said as she pulled me towards the door. We walked just a block away from the door of the building. 

    -You don’t need to worry for me, Gabe…

    -I don’t…

    -You do, and it’s fine… Right now I feel more comfortable in my skin and I think I am stronger than before, so trust me…

    -I trust you… But I can’t afford to lose you…

She looked at me as if I was crazy.

    -Why would you lose me?

I just rolled my eyes.

    -Gabriel Miller stop rolling your eyes at me!

I turned around and for a second I saw Mom… Maria looked a lot like her, but she was way taller than Mom. I miss Mom. I felt tears rolling through my face and I just started laughing. I always wanted to do things on my own and lead my life, lead the pack… And here I am crying because I miss, my Mom.

    -Gabriel what is so funny? Wait, you are crying?

    -No… 

I was laughing so much that even breathing was troublesome.

    -I just… For a minute… you sounded just like… Mom.

She gave me a strange look… I start to calm my breathing and control my laughter

-Well I think I know now how she felt dealing with you… You are a handful.

-I’m the whole package.

I winked at her. She rolled her eyes at me. 

    -Look it’s a family thing!

    -Stop it, Gabe, you deserved that eye roll.

Then her phone started ringing. I could see the name… Dr. Taylor…

    -Hi? Yes, I arrived at home… Yes sorry I was talking to my brother and distracted myself… Yes I’m fine… See you tomorrow. 

    -What was all that about?

    -People don’t know that Lucas is like my personal bodyguard, they just think he is a guard at the hospital, so of course,e someone is going to call and check on me… I am an amazing nurse, they care about my well-being.

That…

    -Come let’s go upstairs, I want a piece of pizza.

She started walking back to the building… Something was off. I looked around and sniffed the air. Everything seems and smells normal, I brushed the feeling away and followed Maria back. The night went smoothly, I told them I had talked with Zeus, and Maria was relieved that we were both okay and out of the serum. Eva came and joined us… but she didn’t say a word. I excused myself first, I wanted to sleep so that I could be more helpful tomorrow at the coffee shop. I woke up and I was the only one in the room. I took a quick shower and spared some lotion before leaving. I arrived too early, the sun was still not up so I decided to just wait until Crystal carried. I was about to sit when I felt David on the link… It was not a strong presence… he must be far away…

    -” GABE! COME WE JUST GOT  SIGHT OF THE WOLVES! THEY ARE NEAR THE CATNIP FIELDS!”

    -”On my way!”

I ran and stopped a taxi. I gave him extra cash so he could drive as fast as he could. When we were out of the city,  I jumped off the car and as I rolled down I let Zeus take control. He was desperate, I could feel him breaking my bones even before I was ready. The pain was draining my energy but Zeus ignored it and started running. He had the scent of Gur and Fang and ran at full speed to join them. We were closer by each step, the scent was now lingering on the air instead of in the ground. When a brown wolf jumped towards us and made us crash into a tree. “Zeus look up front!” I picked up the scent of two wolves. A grey wolf was about to bite our head but Zeus threw a hit at him making the wolf back off with his face covered in blood and 3 deep scratches. Then when the brown wolf tried to attack us Zeus captured him and bit his neck. He didn’t let it go until the wolf was no longer moving. 

    -”David is injured!”

Daniel’s voice was full of anguish. Zeus threw the wolf and started running. The scent of David was mixing with the scent of blood. We finally saw them near a clearing. They were both back to back and fighting 5 wolves. David’s face had a deep cut on the left side. Daniel was limping from one of his back paws. “Zeus we…” Before I finished speaking Zeus let out a loud roar. Making all of the wolves turn their head towards us and with that Gur and Fang attacked the closer wolves. Before the other 3 could process what was happening Zeus launched at them and threw one of them with his head and scratched the back of the second one. The third one was about to bite David when Daniel claw him and bit his back. The battle was looking good, we were winning and I could see two injured wolves that were no longer able to run away. “We can integrate those wolves so they can tell us where they have our brother!” “I know that’s why I didn’t kill them!” Zeus said with a proud voice while walking towards the now crawling wolves. Zeus was about to step on one of the wolf’s legs when We heard a howl… He turned around and I saw the cream wolf with the black fur around his eyes. “THAT’S HIM! THAT’S THE WOLF WE SAW!” I recognized him immediately, Zeus was right… The night Sam went missing that wolf was there. We were ready to chase him but he launched at us. He barely doge it, he was fast. He was growling at us.

    -”Let me help you!” 

Daniel’s voice had something of… doubt? I turned and saw Gur limping and Finn was trying to clean his face that was full of blood.

    -”No need, stay with your brother until he gets his sight back.”

We weren’t fast enough and the fangs of the wolf bit one of our back paws. it was just a scratch but I really thought that I had evaded him… He was fast… One of the fastest ones I have ever met. “We need to be on high alert Zeus.” His speed was increasing at the second, we were no longer attacking but highly concentrated in dogging the fierce wolf that was in front of us. I saw some wolves entering the clearing… I wanted to help but I barely turned to see them and with those seconds the cream wolf charged at me and made me crash into a rock. I was lost for a moment… “Zeus I can’t see properly” “We need time!” “How are we gaining it…” Zeus roared and for a moment we could just try to adjust our sight and clear our heads. “Ready!” Zeus charged at the wolf but before we could scratch him or bite him, he used his paws and ´pushed us off him. “We were close! Zeus, we can do it!” Zeus started to charge at him and slowly we were making his attacks slower, by charging at him we prevented him from gaining more speed. “We need to keep doing this Zeus! It's working!” We hear the wolf whimpering a bit. Then we saw it… his left front leg had a big scar… some fur was missing. “Zeus…” “I saw it!” Zeus launched at the wolf and lowered his head to bite the leg that was injured. As we sank our fangs a heat got into me… We quickly opened our jaws and tried to find something to cool down our tongue… Then a roar made us look up… I swear I could feel the earth vibrating towards it. 

    -”The injured wolves are being carried away!”

I turned around and saw the wolves being carried out by other wolves and Daniel and David fighting other wolves. Then a scent of ashes appeared… I looked towards it and flames and smoke appeared through the forest… “Just like that time…” Zeus said. “We must be close to Sam.” I felt Zeus' fur bristle.