Wolf Creek

Chapter 1-2

* * * *

Josh tried to ignore the newly forming bruises. There wasn’t an inch of his body that hadn’t seen its fair share of black and blues, but the physical pain was minor compared with the gnawing despair he felt. He had failed, again. It only made it worse knowing his mother could have talked Elaine into doing what she wanted.

Jessica didn’t want Josh following in her footsteps. She liked to tell him he was destined for more, and refused to teach him even the most basic skills of manipulation. Words were her weapon of choice, even before using her body. She could diffuse just about any argument with the right tone of voice or phrase. Any time Josh tried it, he usually only made things worse.

When the car pulled off to the side of the road again, Josh peered into the pitch black forest that was as empty as his future. Elaine cut the engine and got out.

“Stay close, unless you want to make things worse for yourself.” She waited for him to acknowledge her threat before heading to the woods.

There was no question of trying to escape now. He wouldn’t get far if he tried. Elaine could best anyone in the pack for speed or strength. Sometimes he wondered if she was even stronger than Silverbane, but respected him far too much to show him up. Josh had no choice except to follow, but if he happened to get lost along the way, it wouldn’t be like he’d planned it.

He stumbled through the woods. Every other step, the forest fought his intrusion. A mouthful of dirt when he fell, or a slap from a tree branch if he walked too close behind Elaine. While she moved through the forest like she was a part of it, never missing a step or losing her footing, Josh wasn’t so adept. He’d never been fond of the outdoors; yet another reason why he needed to get out of Wolf Creek and into a city.

“Keep up,” Elaine growled from the shadows.

The further they went, the greater the likelihood that he’d get lost. Josh had no business being at the Shaye farm with the pack confronting a bunch of rogues. He wasn’t a fighter. Unlike the rest of the pack, he couldn’t even take wolf form without Silverbane commanding him to.

The only time he was ever involved in family business was to make a show of numbers. After Jessica died, the request came under the pretense of including Josh as the pack’s new omega, even though he had none of his mother’s skills. A request from Silverbane was as good as a command, and obedience was the default response. So Josh went where he was told and kept his mouth shut. One look at Josh and the rogues would focus their attack on him as the weakest pack member. That was the way it worked with werewolves, even within the pack. Silverbane might as well have dangled him from a hook.

“This way.” Elaine’s hand closed around Josh’s wrist before he had a chance to fall far enough behind to get lost. “We’re late because of your foolishness.”

The dense forest broke suddenly on an overgrown farmyard Josh hadn’t seen in years. He couldn’t ever remember anyone living there. The fields had long since gone back to thorny shrubs and tall grasses, and the crumpled out-buildings were probably death traps. The only structures that looked habitable were the skeletal remains of the barn and the boarded up farm house. In the darkness of a nearly moonless night, Josh could barely make out the buildings let alone anyone prowling about. Elaine placed her arm in front of him to keep him from breaking cover, her eyes shifting to the right.

“The barn’s cleared.” Tyrone leaned against a tall maple tree. His skin was as dark as the night that surrounded him. If he hadn’t chosen to reveal himself, Josh doubted even Elaine would have spotted him. “And I checked for any secondary burrows. Lots of rotting kills but no guards. Six rogues are holed up in the house. Everyone else is waiting at the edge of the clearing twenty yards west. The sss queen is briefing Silverbane.”

Josh didn’t wonder why Tyrone wasn’t with everyone else. Ten years ago Tyrone gave up being a lone wolf to avoid death at the hands of the pack, but he still preferred to work alone. The blood oath to Silverbane meant that he had surrendered his freedom for the good of the pack. Short of death or banishment, the pack had Tyrone’s loyalties. But that didn’t change Tyrone’s nature. The instincts that kept a rogue alive died hardest of all old habits.

Even Josh’s mother never lost her rogue survival instinct. She never talked about why, but she always kept a bag packed for herself and Josh in the front closet. Just in case they needed to make a quick getaway, he supposed.

Tyrone, on the other hand, survived by being the smartest fighter around. He was never without at least one nasty looking blade strapped to his belt. The only time he ever drew it was to shed blood. Yet another reason Josh always watched his back, especially around the males who were always looking for a way to show off in front of the others.

“What is his pansy-ass doing here?” Bryce said as soon as Josh and Elaine joined the pack’s core group of fighters. Flanked by Edward and Will, the trio acted like they owned the night and Josh should be asking permission to breathe.

Josh was used to hearing much worse from Bryce and it still made him want to shrink into nothingness. He focused on an interesting stone not far from his feet and took stock of the situation. While half a dozen more fighters waited impatiently for action, Silverbane talked to a tall woman away from the group.

The safest way to avoid conflict was to avoid direct eye contact, especially when it came to Bryce. The man’s purpose in life seemed to be to make Josh’s existence as unbearable as possible. With the promise of a fight tempting the beast within, Josh wasn’t going to do anything to piss Bryce off.

“I want him here.” Eric Silverbane’s gravelly voice carried the weight of decades of leadership.

The pack turned to face him, then promptly lowered their gaze in respect. With graying hair and beard, Silverbane had the look of a distinguished gentleman, but the scars on his forearms spoke of a strength that he wasn’t afraid to use. Beside him stood a formidable woman dressed in a short leather tunic. Green and gray vine tattoos coiled the length of her muscular arms and legs, their leaves rippling and twisting like living plants caught in a magical wind.

A low growl of recognition passed through the gathered werewolves. Josh felt the ripple of fear mixed with awe. Amazons were dangerous creatures, especially for any tainted lineages, as they called the werewolves and others that had once preyed on humans.

* * * *

Even though the pack had never hunted humans to Josh’s knowledge, the Amazons regarded them as predators. In general, they each kept out of each other’s way whenever possible. Josh hadn’t heard of any werewolf in the pack facing an sss in battle, and no trace was ever found of the rogues the Amazons dealt with themselves.

From the time Josh could remember until he was too old for bedtime stories, his mother would send him to sleep with lessons about the dark cousins of humanity. Her stories were more gruesome than any Grimm’s tale, but her favorite subject was the Amazons. When she spoke of them, her voice was filled with dread but her eyes lit with wonder and admiration. The glaive—a long staff ending in a curved blade—that Regina held indicated that she was not only an sss but the queen of this region.

“These rogues are responsible for killing the moose and bear in the western forests. Not to mention the thinning of the deer population.” Regina spoke to Silverbane without even acknowledging the rest of the pack. “You will have only one chance to make them aware of their place in this world. Otherwise we will make sure they do not have the chance to spill another drop of blood, human or other.”

“How gracious,” Bryce mumbled before Elaine cuffed the back of his head. Even as her son, Bryce didn’t receive any slack from her.

“This won’t be a massacre.” Silverbane spoke with confidence, despite Regina’s implied threat. “These rogues will be shown the error of their ways, but they will be given a choice. They haven’t shed human blood.

They can still be reasoned with.”

“If they had spilled human blood—” Regina spun her glaive so that it followed the line of her arm like an extension of herself “—they would have already been sent beyond the Gates.”

She walked past Silverbane toward the forest. “Do not think that our truce will protect your pack if they endanger the lives that we safeguard. Amazons are protectors of light and life. Do not forget that.”

“My family,” Silverbane put extra emphasis on the word, then took a deep breath as if to control his impatience, “knows full well the responsibilities of our treaty. Human life is as precious to us as it is to you.”

Josh felt the entire pack shift nervously as Regina disappeared into the forest. No doubt there were a dozen more of her kind concealed among the trees, watching and waiting for the werewolves to fail. If anything went wrong, Josh wondered if the Amazons would stop at destroying the rogues.

“Who does she think she is?” Bryce said, once the sss queen was no longer within sight. He pulled a dagger with a wolf’s head hilt from its sheath and started waving it around. As tough as Bryce talked, he never pulled off as much menace as Tyrone did without saying a word. “This is our territory. We shouldn’t be taking orders from those fairy-loving freaks.” He punctuated his words with the point of the dagger.

“Put that away,” Elaine said. “Or do you want to find out what their blessed blades will do to werewolf flesh? A mere touch can eat through flesh and bone. And if that doesn’t kill you, then the poison on their blades will, slowly and painfully.”

“The Amazons have been our allies since my great-great-grandfather chose Wolf Creek as his home.” Silverbane turned his attention toward the farmhouse as he spoke. “We must give these rogues a chance to make a better life for themselves. If they’d have settled in any other sss-protected territory, they would have been killed on the spot. Never forget how lucky we are to have this peace.”

The reprimand was enough for most of the fighters, who bowed their heads. Josh could almost feel the air alive with their desire to fight, but Silverbane’s words held more weight than just their meaning. The alpha’s personality and actions set the tone of the entire pack. As blood-thirsty as they might be, no one would dare act counter to Silverbane’s wishes. Not even Bryce, who looked like a sullen child chewing on a nasty comment he didn’t dare say.

Silverbane began to remove his clothes and the rest of the warriors, including Elaine, followed suit until he stopped her. “Elaine, I need you to stay behind with Josh.”

“Yes, Silverbane.” Elaine’s terse response was laced with displeasure at her continued babysitter role.

“Josh.” Silverbane turned toward him.

His voice commanded Josh to meet his gaze even though it felt like licking a nine volt battery. Few in the pack could stand to meet the gaze of their leader for long. To do so was an insult from all but those that were close, though never equal, to their leader. Silverbane put a hand on Josh’s shoulder.