Wolf Creek

Chapter 1-3

“I can’t fight.” Josh resisted the urge to lower his gaze back to the ground.

Silverbane’s gray eyes sparkled with that eerie light that came from calling on the cloaked power of the moon to bring on the transformation of not only himself but also his pack, even with barely a trace of moonlight in the sky. Josh was the only one of his kind that couldn’t transform on a full moon. Only an alpha could call on his pack to transform anytime there was a sliver of moon visible.

“I have enough fighters.” Silverbane’s proud smile revealed the enlarged tips of his canines. “Enough to destroy dozens of rogues. But blood will only bring on more blood and feed the beast within. Rogues are becoming more common than ever. Some are even forming groups resembling primitive packs. We can’t just kill them all, especially the ones that have not killed a human or werewolf. Then we would be no better than the murdering beasts our forefathers once were.

“If they have an alpha, maybe they can be reasoned with. I will need your help to convince them to surrender. It is the only way to prevent more bloodshed.”

Josh stared at Silverbane in stunned confusion. He was used to letting people down, but what Silverbane was proposing would be nearly impossible, even for Josh’s mother, who had been an expert negotiator. Even if she could manipulate just about anyone to do what needed to be done for the good of the pack, Jessica’s influence only went so far on an alpha like Silverbane. Alphas never backed down and seldom listened to reason, if Silverbane’s behavior was any indication. Josh couldn’t imagine why the man thought he had that kind of power.

“I can’t.”

“You will.” Silverbane squeezed Josh’s shoulder and then took a step back. “Now stay back until I give the signal. I won’t take the chance of them singling you out for an attack. They don’t know your value and will only see your weakness.”

Without losing hold of Josh’s gaze, Silverbane removed the last of his clothes. His confidence was unwavering. Josh wanted to disappear. He was convinced that he would only let Silverbane down.

The hair on Silverbane’s sun-darkened skin began to thicken. Already-powerful muscles bulged and warped as his skeletal structure took on a new form: half-man, half-wolf. His gray-eyed stare stayed locked on Josh. Beneath it, Josh felt like all of his weaknesses were on display for the entire pack to judge. He might as well have asked Josh to say out loud just how worthless the rest of the pack knew him to be. Within a few seconds, the man was gone and all that remained was a beast twice the size of a timber wolf and all the more fearsome for those knowing eyes. A silver blaze of fur ran from the crown of his head to the tip of his tail.

Around them the other fighters, except Elaine, transformed. Silverbane’s wolf call was irresistible. Even Josh felt it, though he hadn’t transformed in years.

It was the power of the alpha that flowed through Silverbane’s blood and linked the rest of the pack to him. In silence and shadow, the wolf pack split in two and moved in to flank the farm house.

Josh peered out into the darkness, but could only make out the rusted remains of what once might have been a truck or some kind of farm equipment. He could see Elaine’s gaze traveling across the same scene with far more recognition than he could muster, the tension in her shoulders speaking volumes about her desire to be in the thick of the action. Josh had never known her to sit on the sidelines unless Silverbane commanded it.

“You don’t have to wait with me,” Josh said. “I’ll stay here until Silverbane calls for me.”

“Quiet.”

Whether Elaine didn’t trust him or whether she thought Silverbane’s instruction was clear enough, Josh couldn’t tell. He shifted from one foot to the other and waited for something to happen.

Suddenly, the stillness of the night was broken by a series of sharp cries punctuated with yelps and snarls. There was a flash of movement behind the obscured farmhouse windows, but Josh couldn’t make out exactly what was happening. Within minutes the eerie quiet returned.

“This way.” Elaine walked toward the farmhouse, and Josh followed a step behind.

Inside the farmhouse, the walls were covered in trails of black that could have been mold or long dried blood. The whole place reeked of death. It was beyond Josh why anyone, rogue or not, would choose to live in such a rotten place. The odor was enough to make Josh retch, and his sense of smell wasn’t nearly as keen as that of most werewolves. This was one time he didn’t envy Elaine. The stench of decay was everywhere. Several times his footstep broke the floor boards, but Elaine barely slowed her pace, barking only an occasional hurry up or be careful.

They made their way through the kitchen and into the back rooms. Most of the windows had been boarded up, barricaded with old furniture, or simply covered with discolored sheets. It was like walking into a den. The narrow hallway opened up on a large room with piles of blankets and old mattresses littering the decaying hardwood floor. The distinct musk of life that had been absent from the rest of the farm was in full force here. It was strong enough to make Josh’s eyes water and he almost choked on the fetid air. However decrepit, this was their den.

Within the room, Silverbane and his fighters had cornered half a dozen rogues: two females and four males grouped defensively with the furthest wall at their backs. They all looked wild-eyed and ready to fight to the death.

“This is our territory now.” One of the larger males with shaggy brown hair took an offensive position in front of the two females. “Leave, or you will die.”

Silverbane transformed back into his human form, no less formidable when naked and without his wolf defenses. Elaine shoved Josh forward beyond the defensive arc that the other fighters had formed around Silverbane.

“Wolf Creek has always been Silverbane territory since it was settled in 1824.” Silverbane’s voice was a low growl; a warning, but a gentle one. “You are trespassing on our territory. You are killing in violation of our treaty with the Amazons, and you have put us all in danger of being discovered by the humans.”

“We only kill what we need to survive,” the skinny female with shoulder length brown hair offered in a trembling voice.

The rogue males took up defensive positions around the females, who stood defiant in the face of the Silverbane pack. Without the full moon or an alpha, they shouldn’t be able to transform unless on the brink of death. By then it would be too late, given the number of fighters Silverbane had with him. The rogues would be as helpless as Josh was in the face of the pack. In the seconds that it would take them to transform, the pack would rip them to shreds. It was probably the only reason Silverbane was willing to afford them a face to face meeting rather than simply exterminating them wholesale.

Josh could remember how upset his mother had been each time Silverbane had ordered the summary execution of a rogue she believed could be reasoned with. Maybe she knew she could talk the rogue into joining the pack, or maybe she remembered her own roots. The rogues that were allowed into the pack were either abandoned children pre-transformation or the exceptional few that could demonstrate their benefit to the pack, like Tyrone or Josh’s mother. This was the first time Josh had ever heard of Silverbane talking with a rogue instead of letting his fighters handle it. Then again, he couldn’t remember the last time so many rogues had denned together. Half a dozen was pack-size if they had an alpha.

An alpha meant organization and coordination. It also meant that the rogues could transform without the full moon, and now Josh understood why Silverbane wanted to talk instead of fight. The pack fighters pawed at the ground, as ready as the rogues for a fight. Only Silverbane’s command over them held them in check.

“I offer you a choice,” Silverbane said, looking from one rogue to the next. “Leave our lands or join us and respect our treaty with the Amazons.”

“What if we don’t want to do either?” another muscular male with cropped blonde hair asked.

“Then you die,” Elaine said.

Josh was surprised that Silverbane was offering the rogues a chance to leave and avoid bloodshed. Unfortunately, they seemed to have no intention of backing down. With their backs against the wall, Josh saw how they might think they had no other choice. They didn’t know Silverbane could be trusted with their lives.

“We aren’t as helpless as you think,” said the blonde female who was partially obscured by the two larger males.

Each of the larger males in turn gave out a series of loud howls, then ripped at their clothes as they began to transform.

“I’ll deal with them. Everyone stay back.” Silverbane took the lead. “Stand down.”

Anticipating his fighters’ eagerness to join him in battle, his command held the pack at bay. No one would dare disobey him. Silverbane returned to his wolf form and faced off against the rogues.

“Josh, which one is the alpha?” Elaine shouted as the three wolves began to circle.

“I don’t know.”