Cry for the Moon

Hunt for Apollo

ACCALIA ROGUES

Shit.

I spun on my paws and bound back through the forest, looking for my brother, following his scent. I quickly mind-linked our dad,

Dad! Rogues, western border. Apollo is there, I’m on my way.

I heard my dads howl from all the way back at the pack house. He was pissed, hell, he will beat me there if I don’t get a move on. I urged myself to run faster, sprinting and leaping through the trees. I tried to link Apollo again, desperate to know he was ok.

Bro, you ok? I’m coming for you.

No response. Complete silence filled my head and that was the last thing I wanted to hear. It was almost like the static you hear when awaiting a response over radio, it killed me, tore at my heart waiting for any little sound. Nothing but my own noises, the heavy panting of my wolf, my heart almost buzzing with the speed it was beating and the thud of my paws as a flew along the forest floor.

I slowed as I reached the river we had been resting at, no sign of him but his scent was stronger. I followed his trail, he had started to follow me and had been attacked from the left, launching him into a Yew tree. That would of hurt, a lot. The trunk was twisted and sturdy, he hadn’t even made an impact mark, just his scent flowed around it, leading to the barren floor. I sniffed the area around the tree. Blood. Not much but enough to suggest somebody was injured, but it wasn’t Apollo. This blood smelt dirty, tainted and burnt. A rogues blood. Good, I hope that dirty rogue smashed his face into the tree and that Apollo took him down! But that still doesn’t explain where Apollo is and there was no bodies in sight.

Accalia, report.

I spun round to find that father had caught me up, along with his beta and lead warrior.

Followed Apollo’s scent to here, traces of a rogues blood, no bodies.

Father hugged and let out a low growl.

Adrastos, get back to the pack and make sure everything is safe there. As beta, you will be the head whilst I’m on this hunt.

The Beta Adrastos bowed his head and ran back to the pack house.

Xerxes, call for your best warriors and get Theron to bring the hunters.

Yes Alpha.

After a moment, father turned to me and gave me the look I was dreading.

No dad, I am not going back. I will find my brother and nothing will stop me. Do not treat me differently because I am a female. Everyone knows I’m probably the best tracker we have!

Cronos huffed before turning back to Xerses.

Best send someone to guard Hera, she will go mad when she finds out I’m letting Accalia come with me.

Xerses nodded and I beamed my wolf teeth at him. With that I turned back to the tree and began sniffing once more, multiple scents seemed to cover this area, the ground was disturbed just a few meters from the tree. There must have been a struggle here, the dust was kicked up and indentations where evident in the dry dirt. I hope Apollo showed them who’s boss. I glanced back at dad, he must be happy to wait for his team but I sure as hell wasnt. Il find him by myself if I have to. Moving forward I noticed traces of fur caught on a juniper tree and a partial print in the earth below. Sniffing at both, I realised that Apollo had left a trail for me. He knew I’d come looking for him and decided to leave clues for his direction. I carried on, moving further into the forest, coming across more markers from Apollo. More fur, paw prints, broken branches and a spray mark (thanks for that bro, disgusting)! It wasn’t long until I reached a small clearing, with an old disheveled cabin in the centre. I stayed hidden in the tree line, crouching behind some juniper bushes and observing for any noise or movement. No guards? That’s a little odd. If you’re going to kidnap someone, wouldn’t you have guards? I picked up my ears, straining to hear for noise in the cabin. There didn’t seem to be much activity at all, I could hear muffled exchanges between a few people and a low whining from one of the rooms. Apollo, I’d know that girly whine anywhere! At least he is alive and probably absolutely fine, just moaning about the fact I had to come save him. I tried to mind link him.

Hey bro, stop moaning, il save your arse shortly.

Nothing. Hmm that’s odd. He wasn’t replying and going off his whines, he hadn’t heard me at all. I’d never experience that before and felt a little lost without our link, but brushing it off I decided to get closer to evaluate the situation. Staying low to the ground I shuffled out of my hiding spot and circled the cabin, keeping myself in the shadows of the surrounding trees. Going if the size, windows and doors of the hut, I guessed that it had maybe 3 rooms at most. The attackers seemed to all be in the central and biggest room, with Apollo in what I would assume was a bedroom. I could smell 4 scents, including Apollo’s. Pfft, this shouldn’t be too hard, three rogues is nothing. I decided to listen to what they were saying before initiating my plan of attack, so I crawled towards the rear of the cabin, praying they wouldn’t smell me.

“We need to deliver him to the boss soon, he will be pissed if we mess this up”

“Yeah, yeah I know, but we can’t exactly just carry him there in less than a day. I say we rest here and then he will miss the ceremony anyway. Problem solved!”

I stifled a growl and crept a little closer.

“He won’t like that plan! You know it! We gotta keep moving!”

Butthead 1 obviously was scared of whoever they were reporting too. Butthead 2 was an arrogant s**t, who didn’t seem to care and Butthead 3 was silent. I didn’t like that, was he on lookout? Best make my move soon.

“Fine! I’m going for a s***h and then we will move. God I’ve never had to work with such p*****s before!”

I heard Butthead 1 make his way to the bathroom and decided this was my time to shine. I moved towards the door and readied myself for the attack. In one swift movement, I pounced forward and smashed through the door, landing perfectly in front of Butthead 2 and 3. I growled at them in warning, Butthead 2 got the memo and lay on the floor exposing his neck to me. Good little Butthead, I might not have to kill you...yet. Butthead 3 however didn’t seem to have the same epiphany and instead allowed himself to shift. Before he had time to even blink, I lunged forward and sunk my teeth into his shoulder, tearing a large piece of flesh and muscle away. He howled in pain before turning his head to try and bite me. I don’t think so Mr Butthead 3, I’m Alpha blood and you’re not leaving alive now. I kicked his front paws from under him and watched as his head fell to the floor, I scratched and bit my way along his body, immobilising him with every wound. I stomped my back paw onto his wounded front leg and snapped it, causing him to growl a cry of pain out. He may be a werewolf and should heal quicker, but it will still take a while for all those wounds to heal.

I moved back admiring my work, one Butthead too scared to move, the other to broken to dare touching me. I chuckled internally before being launched across the room, breaking a table as I landed. s**t, Butthead 1, forgot about him whilst I was ripping the s**t out of Butthead 3. Raising myself up, I turned to Butthead 1 and let out a low earning growl. He better submit or I swear to goddess, there will be no mercy for this son of a b***h. I won’t even keep him alive for questioning. I saw the arrogance in his stance and the flicker of amusement in his eyes, he could smell I was a female and thought I’d be easy pickings. He obviously didn’t see the state I left his accomplice in or he just didn’t care enough to think. Stupid Butthead, guess you’ve been a rogue so long that you’ve forgotten the smell of an Alpha.

Butthead 1 leaned forward and let out a mocking growl at me, daring me to attack first. Oh I will attack first and it’ll be the last attack you ever see, little prick. I took a step forward and stood to my full height, towering over his puny wolf. Maybe my size will knock some sense into him, maybe he will realise what he is doing.

Nope. Butthead 1 is too arrogant and blind to actually see what’s in front of him, he lunged forward, jaw open wide. I simply stood and waited for him, raising my paw and bitchslapping him straight across his arrogant face. My claws scratched straight across from his eye to his nose, sending him flying into the wall. He smashed straight through the wall, landing on the grass outside. I smirked to myself as I saw him struggle to get back on his feet. I spotted my father and his back up approach through the foliage, surrounding Butthead 1. Silly wolf, he would of got worse if they hadn’t turned up. Satisfied that the three Butt-migos were dealt with, I shifted back to human form and moved towards the bedroom door, reaching for the handle.

“NO! Don’t touch it!”

Butthead 2 shouted out to me, my hand was inches from the handle.

“Why?”

“It’s a trap! Only I can open that door, you’ll get hurt!”

Pfft, did he not see the arsewhopping I just handed out? What could hurt me? Ignoring him, I turned and grabbed the handle. Immediately pain surged through my hand, burning my hand sending fire up my arm. I let go and dropped to the ground, clutching my wounded hand to my chest. Whimpering, I looked down at my hand and saw the imprint of the handle I had just touched, engraved into my hand. I snapped my head back to the one who had spoken.

“What the f**k was that!?”

He lowered his head, before whispering,

“Silver. The handle is pure silver and the room is practically encased in the stuff.”

Hmm, guess that’s why Apollo couldn’t mind-link, clever bastards.

“That’s disgusting! You’re telling me that my brother is in there surrounded by the stuff!?”

I was mad, hell I was more than mad, my wolf was ready to go supernova. But I couldn’t shift, the silver had weakened us immensely and my wolf was doing her best to heal our mangled hand. I again looked at Butthead 2.

“What makes you so special then? How can you open the door?”

He shrunk back, scared of my anger.

“Well, I.. I...”

“SPIT IT OUT BOY!”

“I..I don’t have a wolf...”

Wait, what? How could he not have a wolf? He didn’t smell human, he did smell like a rogue.

“How? You don’t smell human”

This time he glanced up at me, quickly looking back down.

“My wolf was... killed.”