The Wolf of the Woods

Chapter 5

Blood, that was the first thing the she-wolf smelt when she came to. The scent of it hung in the air so thickly it was hard for her to breathe the air in. The lingering smell of fear gripped onto her like a snake on its prey.

She finally opened her eyes and whined pitifully at the sight. Wolves dead, with their throats torn out. Blood mixed with the white snow and her fur. She was laying on her side in the middle of the m******e. The sun was shining on her fur making her uncomfortably hot. With a groan, she tried to lift her head up only for a burning pain to force it back down.

She whined in pain with every breath, everything felt like it was in pain. The cold snow she laid on was numbing half of her body from the pain. Her fur was matted thickly with the blood of the wolves as well as her own. She tried forcing herself to stand only for her limbs to remain still. It was like any energy she had was sucked out of her, even her instincts were dulled.

She wished she could be back home, back where her brothers would torment her and steal their mother's cookies from the top shelves. Where her father would wake her every morning before training to watch the sunrise and have breakfast, where her mother would sing and dance with her in the kitchen while they prepared dinner, where the Beta would help her prank her father in his office, where the pack members would gladly play with her even though she was 15 at the time.

She longed for the time before she turned into a murderer before she left her pack. Before those foolish males stole her away from her den. Before this pain, she felt now. Whimpering again she lifted her head up trying to summon the energy to stand, she had to leave, she had to get away from the smell of death.

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The Lycan watched his pack as they gathered around the edges of the clearing to see what looked like a m******e. The afternoon sun shined brightly against the dead bodies and blood. His nose twitched at the smell of death in the air. The heavy scent was thick in the air and set his pack on edge. Such a large killing near our borders...He said to himself.

"What do you want us to do Alpha?" His Beta and trusted friend, Cam, asked as he walked up behind him. "Find any survivors and find out what did this" He ordered stepping out of the treeline. He stepped through the deep snow and made his way past the many bodies that littered the ground. He stopped in front of a particular body, completely torn apart and unrecognizable. Parts of this wolf were strewn out through the clearing and bits of its fur were even in the trees.

"Alpha we have a live wolf!" An urgent voice called him through the mind-link. "Get the healer! Where are you?" He asked kicking the head of the wolf over. The tongue rolled out of its mouth along with blood causing the Lycan to scrunch his nose in disgust. "Near the south edge Alpha, please hurry we can't get near the wolf!" The pack member called urgently.

He quickly stepped away from the severed head and ran towards the South part of the clearing. Soon enough he found a gathering of his Lycans all surrounding a growling, pissed wolf. "Back away." He commanded as the crowd parted for him. The scent of fresh blood assaulted his nose as he eyed the wolf in front of him.

It was backed up against a tree, snarling and snapping its deadly jaws in the air at the Lycans that surrounded it. Its thick coat was matted down with blood, parts of it ripped out and littered with nasty wounds. It's back right leg was bent at an odd angle and swelling painfully. Its head snapped to him and it let out a loud warning bark trying to get to its feet.

"Easy wolf, we will not harm you. We only wish to help." He spoke softly, trying to ease its aggression. It snapped at him and slumped to the ground. It was in pain, that was no doubt. Something happened to make this wolf loose trust and he had a feeling it wasn't whatever attacked this camp of rouges. "Alpha." The healer called bowing her head respectfully. "Can you...calm it Healer Dena?" He asked watching the wolf carefully. "I may be able to ease its aggression Alpha." She said pulling some very fragrant oil out of her sack.

"Young one I am here to help." Healer Dena cooed softly at the pained wolf. She felt sympathy for the poor wolf that was mangled and beaten. The poor thing had obviously been defending itself for a long time from the wild look in its eyes. She took a step closer, ignoring the harsh growling and barking of the wolf and kneeled a few feet from it.

Humming a soothing tune she opened the vial and poured it onto a cloth, careful not to breathe any in. Quickly she pressed it on the wolf's nose and scrambled back before the wolf's deadly teeth could tear her head off. It whined and pulled the cloth from its face and sneezed a few times before the fragrant oil did it's work and started to make it drowsy.

"It is safe to move it now Alpha, the wolf will remain drowsy for the rest of the day and possibly the night. Long enough to transport it back to the pack so I may heal it properly." She explained as she started wrapping the wolf in tight bandages. "Any other survivors?" He asked the Healer as he knelt next to the large wolf's head, for some reason his instincts were pushing him to do anything to ease the wolf's pain. She paused her work briefly before answering. "No Alpha, not a single soul other than this wolf. I've never seen anything like it. It's like they all just stayed in place as something killed them. Never fighting back."

"One fought." He mumbled catching her attention. "Found its body near the center of the camp. Torn to shreds. Looks to be the first one dead."

"Do you think this wolf fought whatever killed these rouges Healer Dena?" A Lycan asked. "No Stefan. These wounds are older and I have a feeling they are from the wolves that are now dead." She said grimly as she pushed a flap of skin back together on the wolf. The wolf let out a pained whine and tried picking its head up. "Easy young wolf. We will heal you and find your pack." The Alpha Lycan said trying to soothe the wolf's pain.

Healer Dena watched as her Alpha comforted the wolf with a knowing look. She had a feeling once this wolf was felt safe that they were in for a big surprise. "Stefan, Ryder, you two can carry the gurney with the wolf. I need to get her to my house as soon as possible. I can already smell the infection setting in." She said as she finished trying the last temporary bandage on.

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The journey back with the wolf was hard, Healer Dena often stopping to adjust the bandages or give the wolf something to ease its pain. It took nearly 3 hours to return to the pack and take the nearly dead wolf to Healer Dena's home to heal the young wolf.

"Shh it's alright young one, we will take away your pain." She cooed softly at the wolf's pitiful crying. "You don't need to stay Alpha, I can handle the wolf from here."

"I feel as if I need to Healer Dena, a wolf in pain is unpredictable." He said as he watched the Healer shave away the fur around the wounds. She smiled knowingly as she poured water into a bowl with some bitter herbs. "It's also a drugged wolf. I would be surprised if it could even lift its head to bite me."

She dipped a cloth in the water and started cleaning the wolf's wounds. It whined and cried every so often, trying to jerk away from her but the Alpha helped settle the wolf, speaking soothingly in it's ear and petting it's graceful head.

As Healer Dena continued cleaning the wolf she noticed it's fur color was a beautiful dark silver, not a single speck of white was on it. As she cleaned the wolf's inner legs her breath hitched in shock. "Oh, you poor child." She whispered brokenly. "Healer Dena?" The Alpha questioned noticing her shocked face.

"It's a female Alpha, I couldn't even smell it due to the amount of blood that coated her. Who could do this to a female?" She asked rinsing the bloody cloth off. The Alpha's instincts roared at the outrage of a female being tortured like this, it was against both Werewolf and Lycan law to harm a female like this. They carry great importance to both races, not only do they carry on the bloodline but they are some of the most formidable warriors. Three females in his own pack are top warriors who earned their place as much as the men did.

He kept caressing the female's head as he tried to calm his raging anger at the female's pain. Even with her many wounds, he could tell she was a beautiful creature, the poor thing probably won't be able to shift back to skin for a long while. Her instincts are probably forcing her to stay in the stronger form to avoid any more injuries.

He was brought back from his thoughts as the she-wolf yelped loudly. "Easy female, I am only going to give you something to help you sleep as I stitch your wounds closed." Healer Dena said as she mixed some oils and herbs together.

The she-wolf whined in pain, everything felt like it was on fire yet numb at the same time. Whatever the female gave her before was wearing off quickly, she barely registered the hand petting her head in her haze of pain.

She felt something cold touch her nose and a strong, bitter scent filled her nose. She groaned and tried to move away from the smell only for a hand to hold her still.

A deep voice whispered in her ear soothing words, trying to distract her from the pain as the drug kicked in.

"Hush pup, the pain will stop soon. I am so sorry this happened to you" The voice whispered.

She gave a weak groan in response as she felt herself slipping into darkness.

Slowly her muscles relaxed as she no longer felt pain, her instincts calmed and her mind drifted off. Then she was gone.

"Is this what death feels like?" She thought to herself. She liked this feeling. No pain, no fighting to survive, no more struggling to live in a world that doesn't want her. No more.

A memory flashed before the she-wolf, an old one from when she was only 7 years old. A happy memory.

The little girl walked down the hallway as quiet as a mouse.

It was early morning and her brothers were still asleep, but her father was getting ready to train with the Beta.

She climbed down the stairs, careful to avoid the loud spots on them and swiftly hid behind a door as her father walked out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

Grinning to herself she tiptoed behind him, following him as he opened the door. "Little warrior, what are you doing?" Her father asked turning around to look at his daughter.

She stood there frozen, one foot up in the air and a look of surprise of her face that quickly morphed to one of mischief. "Nothing papa. I thought I heard mama up." She smiled clasping her hands behind her back.

"Oh?" He questioned raising an eyebrow at her. "Yes papa. Instead of mama, I saw a big monster leaving the kitchen." She said seriously as she opened her arms to show the size of the monster.

"Bigger than your papa?" He asked. She nodded frantically and he smiled. "What would you have done to this 'monster'?"

"I would've beaten him up like you showed me papa." She said holding her fists in front of her. "When did I show you how to beat up monsters?" He questioned as she suddenly went quiet.

"Like this!" She yelled as she leapt at her father. He laughed as he fell back onto the grass, allowing his daughter to tackle him. "What if the monster did this?" He said standing up and holding her upside down.

She shrieked with happiness and grabbed his leg and pulled. When he didn't budge she whined "Papa you are supposed to fall." She whispered. "Oh right." He fell back again and closed his eyes faking death.

"Oh no." She cried sitting on his chest as she poked his face. "Papa? *poke* are you dead? *poke* Papa do I have to get mama?" She asked suddenly worried when he wouldn't open his eyes again.

He smiled and pulled her down and whispered in her ear, she got up and ran inside the house. "Mama! Ezra! Ren! Darin!" She screamed running up the stairs. "I hurt papa he won't wake up!" She cried.

Her mother and three eldest brothers all woke with a start hearing her scream. "Armina! What's wrong?" Her brother Ren asked grabbing her as she ran towards him. "I hurt papa and he won't wake up!" She panicked pointing outside.

"Where is he Armina?" Her mother asked as she tied her robe on. "Outside on the lawn mama." She answered hugging her brother tightly.

The group made it outside where her father was sitting on the ground laughing at the looks he got.

"Mathis, what on Earth were you thinking scaring her like that?" Her mother yelled as she stormed over to her mate.

"That it was the only way to wake all of you up for training." He laughed again. "And don't go thinking Armina is innocent. She helped me."

As he finished Armina wriggled out of her brother's arms and ran straight for her father. "Papa said if I woke you up I get ice cream for breakfast!" She grinned excitedly climbing into her father's shoulders.

"Oh really? Papa said that?" Her mother asked giving her mate a look he knew all too well. He was in trouble.

"I was coerced into this! Look at her face, you can't say no to this!" He defended reaching behind him to squish his daughter's face. Her giggles caused her brothers to join in, laughing at her as she got down and ran from her father who was trying to use her as a shield from his angry mate.

"Armina! Run here we'll save you!" Ezra called opening his arms. He caught the little ball of energy as she launched herself into his arms laughing and shrieking as her father tried to grab her.

The morning was spent playing with her father and brothers until her mother picked her up, despite her protests of wanting to go with her brothers to training. "You need to sleep my little wolf. When you are a little bigger you can train with them. For now, you get to help mama with a nap." She said holding the tired girl in her arms. "Can we go to training after the nap mama?" Armina asked rubbing her eyes. "Of course sweetie." She smiled.

Oh, how the once sweet and innocent Armina has changed now. She could never go home again after what she caused, yet, she found herself wishing she could.

AN

5th chapter done.

Now the she-wolf has a name! Armina, it means warrior maiden in German. I love names like that and I think it fits our she-wolf perfectly .