The Fate of the Triplet Betas

Chapter Six - The Attack

Ayla’s POV

I am pushed to the back of my mind while Zara stands at the front. Our eyes are locked on the red eyed wolf who seems to be creeping out of the woods. I don’t have time to see what Zara looks like because she leaps over the backyard landing in front of the red eyed wolf. She snaps her teeth at him, but he jumps at her. We are knocked to the ground with the red eyed wolf pinning us on our side with his teeth hovering above my neck. Zara tries to kick him off us, but it only results into us rolling around until he pins us down again. I want to do something, but I haven’t done wolf training yet, so Zara must fight on her own. The wolf bites down onto my neck and I start to get dizzy. Zara thrashes about trying to shake him off us, but it only results in him ripping a chunk of our fur off. He goes in for another bite when he is yanked off us. Zara gets to her feet on shaky legs so we could look at our rescuer.

She whines as spots dance across our vision. I don’t feel the dizzy effects like she is feeling right now, and it worries me. Shouldn’t I feel what she is feeling?

‘Ayla. I don’t feel so good’

‘What do I do Zara? I can’t feel you’

I was scared and terrified. I felt like a spectator in my own mind.

‘I am a red wolf sweetie. You don’t feel anything because I don’t want you feeling this pain right now. The only thing you should do right now is sleep as shall I’

A red wolf? I read about them in history class. Aren’t they thousands of years old though? If I’m a red wolf, then that must mean Jenna and I are a couple of badass wolves. I smirk at my own comment.

Zara collapses to the floor with a whimper and starts shifting back.

I scream at the pain I am feeling. It's awful. My bones are snapping back into place and the place where the red eyed wolf bit me is burning so bad.

I am back into my human form, and I am feeling all the pain that Zara was feeling. There is blood pooling from the gaping wound in my neck.

‘Darlin', I am doing my best to heal, but it's going slower than normal because that wolf’s bite is poison’

Zara whimpers one more time then goes silent. My body is shaking and tears pool in my eyes. I don’t want to die.

“Stay with us Ayla. The Pack Doctor is almost here.”

I blink my eyes and I look at my brothers who are hovering over me. They must have shifted back as well and found some basketball shorts to wear while I am lying in the dirt n***d and bleeding out.

I try to smile at them, but another wave to burning pain sweeps through my body causing me to scream.

Someone covers me with a blanket and takes my hand. The warm tingling sensation I feel crawling up my arm tells me its Jack.

“You need to stay still baby. The doctor is almost here, and she has told us to make sure the poison doesn’t spread, but that can’t happen if you keep rolling back and forth,” Jack assured me. I look into his pleading green eyes, and I try to nod my head, but it’s too painful. Zara was right about that wolf’s bite, it is poison.

“Oh…kay,” I stuttered. I want to close my eyes and fall in a dark pit of sleep, but Zara is making me stay awake while she sleeps.

Lucky for her, I thought to myself.

“That’s my girl,” Jack smiled down at me. He uses his other hand to stroke my hair and I relax at the feel of him. The pain starts to cease and my head lolls to the side.

The face of the pack doctor suddenly appears above me and her voice sounds far away. There’s a small pinch in my neck above the wound and warm liquid starts pouring though my body.

Mmmmm. Wolfsbane. The good kind that helps wolves heal, not the bad kind that is laced with silver. Hunters use wolfsbane laced with silver to t*****e and kill us even though we have done nothing to the humans, they just genuinely hate us.

I’ve never had to use the good kind of wolfsbane to heal, but most of us would take it to get high like humans do with w**d. I only did it once when Jenna dared me to do it. We were messing around and were bored. I almost blew it when I couldn’t stop calling my dad. I smile at the memory of me, and Jenna.

I close my eyes and I am plunged into darkness as I pass out.

. . . . . .

My head hurts and it feels fuzzy like static.

I wake up to the smell of chemicals which means I am in the Pack hospital. I try to open my eyes, but they won’t budge. I can’t feel or move any part of my body. I can hear everything as well as smell, but that’s all that I seem to do. It’s like I am awake but I’m not at the same time.

“She is a red wolf! That is the rarest of wolves around. I do not want her leaving with you to your Pack. I need to protect her here because there will be rogues wanting to kidnap her,” my dad whisper yelled. He is fighting to keep me here with him, but I want to be with my Mate. I want to sit up and yell at him to let me go with Jack, but my body won’t budge.

“I am aware of how rare her wolf is David, but she is my Mate, and I can protect her just as well as you can. My Pack happens to be the safest out there anyway, so your argument is invalid,” Jack’s soothingly calm voice made me feel fuzzy and the smell of his scent made me sleepy.

I think I made a squeak sound because they quieted down, and someone grabbed my hand. The tingles from the bond with Jack that traveled up my arm was the only thing I felt, but it was faint.

“Jack….”

I was pushed into darkness again.

. . . . . .

My head pushes out of the darkness, but the faint feeling from Jack holding my hand is gone.

How long was I out?

The smell of my brothers comes in full swing, and I thought I heard them sigh.

“I still can’t believe she took on a rogue wolf all by herself.” Brad said.

“I still can’t believe we didn’t help her Brad,” Kyle replied.

Kyle grunted. Brad probably punched him in the arm. I want to laugh at their brotherly banter, but I still can’t move my body.

“What were we supposed to do? We find out our baby sister is a red wolf after we unexpectedly shift, then a red eyed wolf appears out of nowhere. We were shocked by everything happening. Just be glad Jack pulled the wolf off her before he bit her again.”

The sound of a chair screeching along the floor to the right of my bed tells me Kyle sat down.

So that was Jack who saved me from the red eyed wolf.

The room goes silent for a bit before Kyle speaks again.

“At least our baby sister is safe now, but I just wish she would wake up already,” Kyle said. I heard another chair screeches along the floor on the opposite side of my bed, so Brad probably sat down.

I groaned, then the room goes silent again. Brad and Kyle each grab my hands gently.

“I’m not a baby….”

Instead of being pushed into darkness, it felt like I fell.

. . . . . .

I fought hard to claw my way back to the surface of my mind.

If this wasn’t in my mind and I was climbing a real cliff then my fingernails would be caked with mud and torn apart.

I am exhausted, but I can finally smell my brothers again, but their scents are slightly different. This might be a different day. I really wish I knew how long I’ve been immobile.

The door opens then closes.

“How is she?”

I think that sounds like Judy, or it could be Julie. I can smell two scents so they both could be here, but I haven’t recognized their voices so I don’t know who could be speaking.

“Still no change. The doctor says the wolfsbane has healed all the poison out, but her wolf doesn’t seem to be healing her personally, so we don’t know if she’ll even wake up,” Brad sighed. He is leaning on my bed because it feels like I’m falling. Maybe that’s what made me feel exhausted after the last time the darkness dragged me under.

“I’m sorry baby. Just give it some time. She will wake up soon.”

That must be Julie because she sounds closer, and her voice is a little high. Brad removes his arms from the bed and I heard a kissing sounds. Ew, gross, now I have strange images in my head of Julie sitting on my brother’s lap.

“I hope so.” he sighs.

I want to yell at Zara for not allowing me to heal because I can’t stand to lie here immobile listening to how upset my brothers are, but she is still dormant.

“So, Julie and I have discussed things with our brother, and we’ve decided that the two of us will stay here with you guys while Ayla will go with Jack back home.”

There was silence, but thankfully I wasn’t plunged into darkness.

“We don’t feel comfortable being separated from our sister,” Kyle said.

“We understand, but our Pack is the safest and we don’t want to take you two away from becoming the future Betas,” Judy explained. “Besides, it won’t be official until Ayla wakes up.”

“We’ll just wait and see,” Brad sighed.

I don’t feel comfortable leaving my brothers, but my Mate is an Alpha and its always the female to go to the males Pack after they Mate. I would miss my brothers terribly.

The darkness starts to tug me back but not before I mumble something that even I don’t understand.

“Mine. Brothers. Stay. No….”

. . . . . .

When I reach the surface of my mind again it’s not as exhausting and my eyes flicker open. The lights are bright, so I blink my eyes a couple of times to get them to adjust.

“Hey, your awake sweetheart,” my dad said softly.

I turn my head to see my dad sitting in the chair next to the bed.

“Hi daddy,” I rasped. My throat is so dry, I need a drink of water.

My dad smiled at me and grabs a small cup off the side table like he read my mind. He offers it to me, but when he notices my slow arm movements, he helps me to take a sip from the cup.

“Thank you.” I muttered.

My dad sets the cup back down and grabs my hand.

“You gave us quite a scare sweet pea,” my dad sighed.

“I know I’m sorry, but Zara, my wolf was in control. I couldn’t do anything about it.”

My dad's face shows concern, but he clears his throat, and he takes a deep breath before speaking again.

“Honey, you are a red wolf. No one has seen or heard of a red wolf in thousands of years. I am afraid that your wolf has more control than your human half can master,” he explained.

“I know, but Zara had explained that she was protecting me because she knew that the red eyed wolfs bite was poisonous.”

“That’s good, but there’s more to being a red wolf and you will be hunted down because of your power. Jack suggested you go with him to his Pack immediately,” my dad said through clenched teeth on the last part.

“What about Kyle and Brad? I don’t want to leave them alone,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip. I have never been away from my brothers for longer than a few days and I don’t know how they’d function without me. They may be annoying as heck, but they are my lifeline. I always thought we’d be as thick as thieves. The three musketeers as my dad called us. Now being separated just makes us not so special.

“They feel the same way you are feeling right now. I’ll go get them and tell them your awake.” My dad snorted.

He gets up and leaves out the door. The silence is deafening, and I hate it.