The Protector of Wolves

Chapter 4: The Fire

Elijah's POV

“You are Alpha now, Elijah. You swore to protect the pack; you have to help them before me.” Alessia links me. As much as I know she is right, letting my sister get chased away by hunters is not how I imagined this fight going. Every fiber in my being is telling me not to let her go...but one member, my sister, above all the members?

As Alpha, I have a duty to protect my pack. They are all looking to me now for guidance, for protection. I have to think of the entire pack, not just my dear sister. But if anything were to happen to her, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. Maybe this is her way of protecting us, what she’s destined to do, even if it’s not what I want for her.

“Please, don’t do this,” I implore her, “We can find another way...”

“You know we have no other options.”

“But-”

“Protect the pack!” My sister commands me. It feels strange hearing this tone of voice come from her, but it sounds like the Alpha tone. Curiously, my wolf can do nothing but obey. I am Alpha of our pack now; I should be making the commands and not be on the receiving end of them. My only guess is this is part of Alessia's protector gifts.

My sister; 'The Protector of Wolves'. It has a nice ring to it, but I've always been worried for her safety since the day she told me about her gift. She couldn't tell me much about it, just that the Moon Goddess chose her to be the protector of werewolves and that my parents and I weren't allowed to tell anyone, as directed by the Moon Goddess. And after the meeting with Alpha Douglas and Travis, I can see why.

Thinking about Travis and his father makes my blood boil. Alpha Douglas has always been lusting after power, and it's obvious now his son is no different. They only wanted my sister for the power that she could bring them. I do have to wonder though how they, and the hunters, found out about my sister being the protector. It seems she will always be a target as long as someone knows about her gift.

In this moment, I want to do nothing but stop Alessia from running away from the pack, to protect her from the hunters trailing close behind her. As much as I want her to stay so the warriors and I could help her fight the hunters, I know she was right for running. And whether she commanded me to or not, I know that have to stay behind and protect my pack; I need to make sure everyone is safe before I can go help her.

Most of the hunters followed Alessia off the packlands, but some of them hung back and are using their wolfsbane-laced daggers to take down as many of us as they can.

I look all around me.

Chaos.

Death.

The metallic smell of blood mixed with human and wolf scent in the air.

My warriors are doing their best to keep the remaining hunters at bay. Those who have been afflicted by the wolfsbane are quickly being treated by our pack’s medical team. I am thankful that most of the bodies covering the ground are from the hunters, and not my warriors. Though my heart aches for our fallen members.

As we get closer to ridding our lands of the hunters, I become more anxious, ready to leave and help Alessia as soon as possible.

“Make sure all the hunters are dead, and then we need to go after the hunters who are trying to get to my sister.” I link my warriors.

While I’m distracted, a hunter uses the opportunity to lunge at me, dagger in hand. I quickly shift into my wolf form while just barely dodging his blade. The smallest scratch from these daggers can weaken our wolves and make it difficult to fight or shift. Worst case scenario, a deep wound could kill us. I will need my wolf in full health in order to help Alessia.

Before the hunter has a chance to attack again, I lunge for his throat, my teeth wrapping around it easily as I rip it away from his body. As he falls to the ground, more hunters emerge from the trees and gather around me, carefully coordinating their next attack. The warriors are acutely aware and are by my side in the blink of an eye. Eventually, one by one the hunters fall, and my warriors and I emerge victorious. I take a brief moment to look around at the fallen pack members and mourn the loss of life of each and every one of them.

After we ensure there are no more hunters, I link my warriors. "The hunters were here for Alessia. We need to go after them."

The fighting has gone on for so long, I worry that we will be too late to help Alessia. Moon Goddess, please protect my sister.

When the pack realized we were being attacked, most of the wolves who could not fight knew they needed to take shelter. Although all the hunters should be dead or off the packlands, I don't want anyone to go outside until we can get Alessia back. "The current threat to the pack has been neutralized. Please stay in your homes or the packhouse until we determine it is safe to leave." One of the perks of being Alpha is being able to communicate to everyone in my pack at the same time through the mind-link.

"Dad, I need you to watch over the pack while I'm gone." I link him.

"Where are you going?" He questions me apprehensively. My insides turn as I realize he did not see the hunters going after Alessia. Due to an old injury from a rogue attack, my dad is unable to fight. After helping me organize the warriors, he raced to my mom who was taking shelter with my mate, Lauren, in the packhouse.

"Alessia was chased out of the packlands by the hunters. We are going after them now." The phrase feels heavy in the air. My wolf wines, knowing how much danger Alessia is in. My dad does not immediately reply, but I can feel his anger and fear through the link.

“Go get her back, Elijah.” His voice is calm and unfaltering, yet the reply comes off more as a plea. My dad is very close with Alessia, as am I and my mother. I realize how devastated they would be if something were to happen to her, and a pang of guilt starts building in my abdomen.

“Alessia, we’re coming to help you. Please be careful.” I beg my sister through the link. The connection is there, albeit weak and I realize she must be getting pretty far away now.

“Alpha, we have scouted the lands and believe there are no more hunters,” one of my warriors tells me.

"Follow Alessia’s scent," I command my warriors. All of us are in wolf form now as we race to the northwestern boarder of the packlands.

After we've been running for about half an hour, see a plume of thick, dark smoke through the trees, overtaking the blue sky behind it.

"Alpha, there is a fire up ahead," one of my scouts confirms. "Looks like an old house. The hunters are surrounding it."

"And my sister?" My heart feels like it is about to burst right out of my chest, but my voice remains calm and even.

"No sign of her." His wolf gives me a sorrowful look. My stomach drops, but I remind myself how resourceful my sister can be; she can take care of herself; she is the protector after all. The Moon Goddess wouldn't let anything happen to her, surely.

When we get close enough to see the fire, I slow down and try to stay hidden from view of the hunters. I try to link my sister but can sense nothing from her, as if I've hit a wall. Panic starts to set in, and I fight hard for control. "Maybe she is too far away for us to link her," my wolf tries to console me, but sounds unconvinced himself.

"I cannot link Alessia." I tell my warriors. "Follow her scent, and when we get close to the fire, prepare to attack the hunters. We're outnumbered, but we can overtake them with our stealth and strength."

Alessia's scent leads right to the burning house, but by the time we get close to the fire, the house is completely engulfed and has entirely collapsed – there is no way in or out. My heart is racing again as I look around for any other place Alessia could be besides the house. All around me I hear my warriors and the hunters all fighting for their lives. Once again the air begins to thicken with the scent of blood, except this time it’s mixed in with the acrid smell of smoke. Out of nowhere my nose is hit with another scent – familiar, yet not human and not wolf. I whip my head around towards the source.

"She's dead you know," an older woman with frazzled gray hair cackles while flashing me a wicked grin. "Your precious little protector is no more."

I lunge towards the witch, but before I can wrap my teeth around her throat, she is gone, nowhere to be seen. I shift back into my human form and I am visibly shaking now, watching my warriors finish off the last of the hunters who have not retreated back into the woods.

The warriors look to me for guidance. "Continue following Alessia's scent!" I command them. It's getting harder to keep the panic out of my voice. I watch as the warrior’s eyes shift to each other uncomfortably.

"Alpha..." my future beta, Daniel, begins to say, his voice quiet and pained. "Her scent goes to the house - to the fire- but after that..." he stops, unable to finish his sentence.

He doesn't have to. I realize what the witch told me was true. Judging by the looks on all my warrior's faces, we all know what my sister's fate was. My gut wrenches. I drop to my knees and my wolf lets out an ear-splitting howl. My sister is dead. Alessia is dead. Our protector is dead.