Gypsy Moon

Chapter Fifty-five: Dei

. . . . . . (early November)

I sat bolt upright and focused on my hearing. There! Someone screamed in the distance. I launched out of my house, shifting and joining with Inage.

A single deep breath answered every question I had, the wind brought me a thick curl of stench, and I raced towards the foul smell coming from the kinfolk's village.

/:Inage! Contact Mir, the smell is too strong for one rogue!:/

I felt his consciousness fade from me as I ran, I could hear wood breaking and I leapt a fence to tackle a mange-ridden wolf clawing at a door.

/:Help inbound.:/

I latched my teeth onto the back of its neck and sunk my fangs in as far as I could while it howled in pain. Setting my hind claws into his shoulders, I yanked my head back hard while kicking its body away from me violently. The resulting gore fountain was beautiful, if you ignored the fact that I had just neatly decapitated the rogue while severing its spine.

I spat the foul, coppery blood out of my mouth and glanced at the terrified kin looking through the damaged door. She shook as she opened the door and called to me.

"I called Ms. Roth! She said help is coming!" I nodded and turned away. I could hear another wolf crashing through the brush, and I snarled as I rammed into him. We skidded to face each other, and I hissed at him, showing off my eight-inch canines. Two others slid to a stop near him and added their voices. I smirked.

Fun fact: Cougars cannot roar like a lion can. Instead, they scream.

I arched my back and lowered my head as I let out a bloodcurdling shriek. The kind of scream that would make a 'final girl' proud. I poured as much energy as I could into my aura as I screamed, my fur bristling dramatically.

All three wolves froze at the sight of the demonic fire cat, howling bloody death at them, terror rooting them in place from my aura. Not sure I can take all three before the effect wears off, so I aim for the largest, a filthy creature that probably would have red fur if it were clean.

I shot forward and snapped my teeth around his throat, using my momentum to flip him so I could rake my hind claws across his soft underbelly. He lurched grotesquely several steps before he died, his offal slithering out of the gouges I made, blood pouring from his mouth and throat.

I managed to get onto the back of a dingy, grayish wolf with a wound on its shoulder that smelled infected before the third one snapped out of his trance and snarled. I dragged my claws furiously across the gray one's side before the muddy brownish one launched towards me. I flipped away, kicking the gray one into the brown one, knocking them both over.

A dark wolf with patchy black fur launched out from the shrubs and slammed me into a tree. I wheezed from the impact and lay stunned. The three wolves advanced slowly, the gray one limping as blood ran freely from the fresh cuts on his side. I could hear more just out of sight.

Aiden's furious snarl caused the advancing wolves to pause. He flew over me as he leapt towards the black wolf, grabbing it by the back of the neck. He drove his hindlegs into the dirt to halt his momentum and yanked his entire body around, flinging the wolf into the tree I had hit. The sickening snap of his spine was clear, and the wolf dropped to the ground, howling in agony.

I silenced his noise with a swipe, tearing his jaw from his skull. He gurgled weakly as the light left his eyes. Aiden slammed the brown rogue to the ground, and I jumped at the gray one again.

Several howls sounded in the distance, followed shortly by the clear sound of wolves fighting around us. I clung to the back of the gray wolf as he twisted wildly to snap his teeth at me. I managed to hook my claws into the skin on his ribs and I curled my claws in tightly. The crazed animal screamed horribly as I ripped his hide off his ribcage in a bloody sheet. I dropped to the ground and twisted to kick my hind leg into his exposed lung tissue, my claws slicing through the delicate tissue and silencing its death scream with a wet gasp.

Aiden turned to look at the dead wolves around us as I groaned softly and lay down. He moved to a defensive position above me as I waited for my healing to fuse my cracked rib. A mottled gray wolf stepped through the brush and growled at Aiden. He lifted his head indignantly and roared a submission command. The rogue's tail drooped along with his head, and he whined submissively.

Aiden barked at him angrily and he obediently shifted and knelt on the ground, his hands behind his head in surrender. I nodded to Aiden after a moment, and he towered over the beaten wolf as I sat up. Several wolves stepped through the brush, two of them leading defeated wolves in front of them. The surrendered wolves looked at the corpses strewn about and one of them collapsed as he vomited.

Gyam padded towards Aiden and I, looking around with a curious expression. Aiden nodded towards me. Gyam looked at the wolves I had killed and made an impressed noise. The other six wolves formed an uneven circle around us as Aiden shifted and stepped towards the trio kneeling before him.

"Why are you rogue? ]Answer.[" His Alpha command left no room for disobedience, and they stammered in panic to answer.

"B-banished." "F-f-fled." "Born, Alpha." Aiden looked at the last speaker, the one he had stopped with his Alpha command. He was fairly small, dirty brown hair hid most of his face, and he looked not much older than Gyam.

]"Explain."[

"Wolf r***d my mom. Didn't know I was a wolf until my first shift. I almost killed my mom by accident. Ran away." Aiden nodded and looked at the wolf that had said 'fled'.

]"Explain."[ The man shivered.

"Lost control of my wolf and harmed a human. Hunters would have found my pack if I stayed." Aiden nodded again and looked at the banished wolf.

]"Explain."[

"Defied my Alpha's command. He was weak." Aiden stared at him levelly while he shook, fighting Aiden's command before shaking his head. "I will submit to you." The man shifted abruptly, and his dull brown wolf lay prone in front of Aiden. Gyam's eyebrows raised as he and Aiden shared a look. They both considered the prone wolf for a long moment, their eyes clouded as they shared a mind link.

Aiden shifted and loomed over the surrendered wolf before lowering his head and sinking his teeth into the back of the wolf's neck. A disturbing calm settled over the wolf as Aiden growled a command directly into his body. He shifted back to human as soon as Aiden removed his teeth from his flesh, and I examined the submission mark on the back of the man's neck. Very similar to the Gypsy Moon pack mark, but a distinct void where the heart shape should be.

Aiden growled and the pack warriors barked their attention. Four herded the two surrendered men away, back towards their packhouse. Gyam trotted off ahead. Two of the warriors and the submitted wolf began gathering the corpses around us. I shifted and waved at the kinfolk waiting inside the house.

She trembled slightly as she came out of her home and handed me a pair of shorts.

"Thank you, Dei." I nodded and she bowed to Aiden's giant wolf. "Thank you, Alpha Aiden. Thanks to your warriors as well." Aiden looked at her for an uncomfortably long time. She just stood quietly and smiled. I chuckled softly.

"She's used to my aura, Aiden. A werewolf is a pleasant change." The kin chided me gently and pointed out a few more of my tribe stepping out of their homes to help with the clean-up. Aiden shifted back to human and took the shorts one of the tribesmen handed him.

"I think now might be a good time for me to talk with your tribe's leaders."

. . . . . .