Breaking the chains that bind

Unexpected house guests

The rest of their workout passed without incident, although Elise was a bit subdued, watching Sarah closely. Sarah's facade didn't drop for a second, she flirted and teased Ryan and joked at Elise. Once they finished up the three of them walked towards the house, Ryan and Sarah stopping just before the gate to see Elise back inside before heading back to Sarah's .

Elise was alone and could have slipped back out once they left, but for once she didn't want to. Her mind wracked itself trying to make sense of what was going on. The library may hold more clues and she wanted more than anything to understand what was going on.

She went straight to the books, picking out anything relating to old Clan history. She read for hours, reading tales of the Blackfoots trying to take over the Lone Gray terrorities, of big battles leaving both sides wounded. There were rumours the Lone Gray wolves worked with witches, of them having combat skills that were more disciplined than the other packs.

The Blackfoot's were more brutal, dominating smaller packs and forcing them to submit to their rule, but unable to get a foothold in the rural mountainous territories of the Lone Grays, it was like they had eyes everywhere.

The Lionesses generally considered themselves above the territory squabbles, occasionally joining alliances to fight with either tribe against the vampires. They had the numbers over either tribe and their women were strong and tough, tolerating no nonsense.

She read about a smaller clan, one that would not submit to any of the older clans. The Dagota tribe. Purity was important to them, only pure wolf bloodlines throughout, with the unusual pattern of Chosen mates rather than fated. The Dagota tribe favoured discipline, believing that rejecting their fated mates in favour of mates chosen for their bloodlines strengthened the tribe. They lived rigid lives, up early, worked hard and didn't rest until sundown. They ran profitable businesses in casinos, but didn't drink much or indulge themselves. They believed that the Moon goddess had designated them to a life of sacrifice, and a future of power. Their relentless training and rigid formation made them hard to defeat. They worked well together, no internal conflicts within the packs.

Elise could see possibilities for any of the Clan's with the story Alex had told her.

She thought about texting Sarah, but was worried that Ryan would see the text. She would have to hold off until he was back.

She was about to give up when she found a battered notebook at the top. It was old and faded, and filled with looped elegant scrawls covering page to page. Sometimes it was doodles and sketches, a handsome man's head in profile, a stunning waning moon with a wolf howling in front of a cliff top. Other times it was recipes, a delicious sounding cake recipe with cherry brandy and pecans. There were some Polaroids amongst the pages.

She gasped, her mother looked just like her, same curls and intense gaze. She looked more relaxed than Elise though, no worry lines and sported a tattoo on her throat matching the sketch of the waning moon. She looked like she was looking and laughing at someone and the next Polaroid showed why. The same handsome man had his arm round her, presumably Elise's father. He wasn't smiling, but his arm seemed wrapped tight around her mother and she was looking at him with an expression of pure adoration. Elise slipped both photos into her bag, it was nice to finally have some connection to her parents.

She couldn't remember them still, but it felt comforting to see their faces. There was another photo of her mother in there, but she wasn't laughing there. She was standing seriously alongside an older man and woman, maybe Elise's grandparents? There were two boys about her age next to her, again neither smiling and all looking forced and stilted towards the camera and a third that looked insolently and relaxed unlike the rest of them. Elise wondered, were they family? Did she have Uncles out there.

Her musings were interrupted by a large smash from the lounge and Alex's voice pounding into her mind 'Push the bookcase to the right then lean on the wall, slide the bookcase back in front of you, stay silent and don't come out whatever you hear'. His urgency was new, for once he sounded scared. She glanced out the window and saw men running towards the house.

Elise obeyed Alex for once without question and pushed the bookcase, it slid stiffly to the left and curiously she put her hand to the wall and pushed, it swung back to reveal a large closet size space. She stepped in and pulled the bookcase back in front of her, barely a moment later 2 men bursting through the door. She held her breath, able to see them through what she had thought to be knots of wood in the bookcase, but from this side she realised were small one way mirrors allowing her to view the room, but not be seen.

The men looked around the room quickly and went to the window. 'She's not here' one of them started to say when a large tawny wolf crashed through the door. Elise instantly recognised Max and mind linked to tell him where she was. The wolf's eyes flickered towards the bookcase before pouncing on the nearest man just as he started to shift into a wolf with the most luxurious black coat she had ever seen.

'Blackfoots' Aura's voice murmered in awe, Elise instantly glad she was there. Aura may be different to Elise in many ways, but Aura would rip anyone to shreds who came too close.

'How do you know? We haven't seen them before' Elise couldn't help wonder, despite her eyes being fixed on the fight in front of her. Max had pinned the first one by the throat and was clearly trying to break the man's neck, but the man's friend was shifting too and about to jump into the fight.

Elise was about to push the bookcase to help when Maxs voice urgently told her to stay put and John's dark speckled coat appeared with a snarl that arrived before him. John and Max may not get on, but family loyalty was embedded in them all and no one was going to hurt his little brother. 'I just know, how do you know that the sun is the sun? It just is' Aura answered simply for once.

The pinned Blackfoot managed to twist and use his back feet to kick Max upward, dislodging Max's grip on his throat but ripping open a wide flesh wound in the process. Max growled and snapped again but was a second to late and again the Blackfoot evaded further damage. The second Blackfoot was slightly lighter than the first, but again his coat was thick and plush. He seemed more tactical than the first and John and him circled, each looking for an angle to overpower the other.

With a howl Alex's black wolf was upon them, snapping furiously, uncaring as to what damage he took as long as he inflicted more. His jaws were powerful even against the Blackfoots. He lept at the Blackfoot tussling with Max and broke the wolf's neck easily. The other Blackfoot instantly recognised he was outnumbered and crashed through the window to flee outside.

However he wasn't in luck, a grey timber wolf Elise hadn't seen caught him mid leap and the older brothers followed the chase leaving Max alone to protect his sister. She could sense Ryan's panic as his voice sounded in her head 'I'm nearly here, are you okay? Stay hidden, I'm-' his voice cut out just as a shrill whine of pain came from the front of the house. Elise's heart skipped a beat.

'Ryan?! Ryan?!' She projected loudly to them all.