Between Beasts

Chapter 11. Un-noticed

Up in Jodie’s flat, Mary was startled awake and into near sobriety by Teo’s howl, every fibre of her being reacting to an instinctual drive to go to the aid of her Alpha. Mary had been instructed to stay with Jodie and she desperately wanted to, to guard her and keep her safe, but she couldn’t resist the pull of that howl.

Jodie barely stirred as Mary climbed off of her and the sofa, she hadn’t slept the night before and didn’t have the advantage of Mary’s wolf metabolism to break down the alcohol. Mary quickly tucked a blanket over Jodie, grabbed Jodie’s keys and moved swiftly for the door, giving a momentary glance back at her sleeping friend before closing the door and sprinting down the stairs.

As Mary reached the ground floor, she burst out into the cold night air, quickly stripped off, throwing her clothes into the bushes, and tried to shift. Teo had made her practice controlling her inner self relentlessly, but after almost five years she still sometimes struggled to change at will.

“Not now, not now! Come on!” Mary scolded herself. Her Alpha had been hurt and she was just stood there, useless. They might need her!

“Calm… inner peace and all that stuff… breathe… Focus!” Mary closed her eyes and went through one of the practices Teo had taught her. She took several long, deep breaths, tried to still her mind and focus on the sensations of her body. She felt the cold wetness of the grass underneath her feet, the chill of the breeze as it washed over her naked body, across her face and through her hair. She remembered the sensation of shifting, the way it felt, and imagined that feeling being let loose across every inch of her skin.

Once Mary had a hold of that feeling, it was easy from there. She just needed to imagine the feeling growing stronger now. Finally, Mary began to slowly shift, and the moment she had, she began searching for Teo and the pack.

Mary wanted to howl to call to her brothers and sisters. If they were still fighting she would have easily heard them, it was too quiet and she had no idea if there were dangers around, so she stalked quickly, but quietly round the building to where she thought the howl had come from.

As Mary rounded the building, she instantly saw the pack moving in the moonlight, some still as wolves, clearly guarding the perimeter, some back in human form, clustered around a brighter patch of the garden by one of the walls. Whatever had happened the fight was over, for now.

Mary passed one of the scouts, pausing only briefly for him to recognise her and nod her onwards, then continued silently bounding towards the cluster by the wall. She could see several shapes laying on the ground with others bent over them, but she couldn’t see Teo yet, until she noticed one of the prone shapes that looked much larger than the others. Like all wolves, Mary could generally see in the dark, but as with everything else, Teo had repeatedly told her that she was still very young, and that her abilities would grow in strength with time and practice.

“What are you doing here, Mary? You are supposed to be safely upstairs, watching your friend.” The larger shape on the ground said as Mary approached. A wave of relief passed through her; Teo was alive. Teo sat up out of the shadows and into the moonlight to give Mary a stern look, which also swept across two of the scouts who had left their posts and were now tending to one of the other shapes on the ground. They bowed their heads but kept working, applying numerous bandages to the man they were bent over.

“Could you please stop giving orders and lay still long enough for me to stop you bleeding to death.” Asked Aqila, gently pushing Teo back to the ground. Mary looked down at his side, there were five large puncture wounds, blood pouring from each.

“Don’t look so worried, I’ll be fine, just as soon as this one stops pestering me.” Teo glared at Aqila, who unlike the others did not seem to be feeling any guilt about helping him. Teo knew how strong the urge would be for his pack to protect him, so he begrudgingly allowed his glare to subside and settled for wordlessly grumbling as he allowed Aqila to tend to his wound. It had been a very long time since Teo had been wounded badly enough to actually cause any concern, and certainly in his mind his pride currently felt worse than the gaping wounds in his side.

“Your wrist’s broken, but it’ll at least be partially usable again in a few hours. If it wasn’t for you being such a thick hided ox with more muscle than anyone has any business having, then you would be dead though. That wound in your side would have torn through any of the rest of us.” Aqila said, sounding clearly worried and slightly angry. “But you’re right, you’ll be fine in a day or so.”

Mary shifted back into her human form. It was a simple fact that you couldn’t stay clothed when shifting but it had taken Mary quite some time to grow used to seeing her pack mates naked and being seen by them naked. After almost five years though it just felt natural to her, although she could still rarely help but imagine Teo taking her when she saw his powerful, naked body.

Mary knew Teo wouldn’t have even noticed her in that way. She was so boyish and stocky, whereas Aqila was everyone’s ideal image of sexy; with long, smooth legs, a sleek and toned, but curvy body, a beautiful, slightly pouty face, gorgeous eyes and large, perfect breasts which were currently gently bouncing over Teo’s waist as she tended his wound.

If Teo didn’t bat an eye as Aqila knelt over him naked he certainly wouldn’t be looking at her. Even Mary had often looked at Aqila longingly, she knew Aqila and Teo occasionally sought pleasure together, and seeing them both naked, so close together, Mary couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to join them.

Mary cleared her mind and focused “What about the others?” She asked, feeling very guilty her mind had wandered before thinking of them.

“Layna and Ovin will have a couple more scars but are fine. Darrow would have bled out if I hadn’t brought this.” Aqila gestured to the medical supplies bag she had started taking with her any time they were expecting to hunt. “We may heal quickly, but we’re not immortal”. Teo gave a sharp grunt as Aqila made sure the gauze and bandages now covering the holes in Teo’s side were secure.

“It’s Ardene I’m worried about though, she has four cracked ribs and a punctured lung, she’ll take some time to heal and we dare not move her for now, but we can’t stay here more than a few hours.” Aqila noticed Mary looking around the nearby darkness.

“It got away. But not all of it…” Aqila said, nodding towards the ruined remains of most of an arm laying on the ground nearby. Mary reached out and picked it up out of curiosity. The flesh that wasn’t torn to scraps was dark and firm with extremely lean muscle, but it was already starting to decay now that it had been severed from the demon. Mary pulled something free from one of the long, clawed fingers.

“What have you found there?” Teo asked, ignoring Aqila’s protests and raising to his feet to walk across to Mary. She held it up into the moonlight for him to see.

“A signet ring. Keep that safe, it might give us a clue about what that thing was.” Teo said, using his still working hand to close Mary’s hands around the ring and smiling at her. “Well done. Now, you return to guarding your friend. If it’s still alive, I doubt the demon will be back again tonight, but I need you with her just in case.” Teo was clutching his broken wrist to his body, by the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around him, but he still seemed to be giving off his usual, unbreakable and commanding aura.

Mary nodded and started jogging back to the building as the rest of the pack either continued tending to the wounded or patrolled around them. They would wait as long as they could then make their way back to the cafe. No one other than Teo actually lived at the cafe permanently but some of the pack was always there, and they would return to its safety after a hunt to feast and rest in the safety of numbers it provided.

Mary gathered her clothes from the bushes, made her way back up into the flat and quietly locked the door. Aside from Jodie’s gentle breathing everything was quiet and still, it seemed such a contrast to what must have happened outside. Mary crossed the room and sat down on the sofa by Jodie, moving some of her hair from her face. She was still sound asleep, still safe. She noticed the faintest smell of blood though, and saw that Jodie had a small cut on her finger, she must have cut herself when they were cooking.

“I supposed I should probably put some of these back on.” Mary said to herself, looking at the bundle of clothes in her hands. She quietly padded through to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of juice and looked out the window, down towards the gardens. She could just make out the shapes of the scouts still silently patrolling.

Mary pulled her underwear and t-shirt back on then went back through, quietly curled back up onto Jodie and settled down to sleep.

What Mary had failed to notice however, was the window in Jodie’s bedroom, slowly closing in utter silence.