Anger of the Devil

14. Get out!

It was hard to tell how much time had passed. They had been given water and some stale bread at one point, but it had been delivered through a small hole in the door that could be unlocked from the outside. No one had come in and no one had spoken to them since his dad had been there, which seemed like an eternity ago. However, neither Nathan nor Jake had felt the desperate need for sleep, so Nathan figured that they had passed into the evening. 

They hadn’t spoken to each other either, they simply hadn’t dared. Nathan knew that anyone could be listening, so he kept silent. Jake had seemed to understand this since he too kept silent. And so they just waited. Nathan could feel the wolf inside of him stirring. It was getting restless, and the twitching in his bones were starting to get uncomfortable to the point where he couldn’t sit still much longer. He wanted, he needed, to release some energy soon. How the hell has Logan been able to sit still for so many days? The thought made his mind go further as he closed his eyes and travelled to the Lake Maroon Pack. He hadn’t given the place much thought since he knew that it would feed his restlessness even more. The thought of Nadia would normally make him relax, but it didn’t this time. He couldn’t totally place his discomfort, but something was off as if something was about to happen. Alas, the wolf in him was fighting so hard at the moment that Nathan let himself indulge, and the vision of Nadia appeared in his mind. Her turquoise eyes were soft as she smiled. The flow in her blonde hair when the wind grabbed onto it sent the remembrance of her scent to his nostrils. He could feel the animalistic side of him relax slightly, but a shiver of something horrible made the hairs on his arms rise. He hastily opened his eyes as he started to breath excessively to calm his beating heart. He could feel Jake’s eyes on him as he tried to calm down. After having gained control over his body once more, he looked at the other man in the cell. Jake didn’t give away his thoughts, but it was as if Nathan could see that Jake felt the same thing that he did; something was definitely wrong. 

A sudden sound of keys going into the door made Nathan tense up. With a loud bang the door burst open as a bulgy man came in. Nathan didn’t recognize him which meant that the man must have been one of Fenris’ men. 

    “Move.”

Nathan couldn’t help growling as he was staring the man down, but the man didn’t budge as he reciprocated the low growl. 

    “Nathan, it’s not worth it.”

Jake gave Nathan a pointed look, and Nathan could almost hear the 'for now' that oozed out of Jake’s gaze. Jake then proceeded to walk past the man as he gave him a cordial nod. Nathan followed, but although he decided to listen to Jake, he still squinted and kept eye contact as he moved past the man. Though Nathan was smaller, he could tell that his aura affected the bulgy man as he twitched ever so slightly.

Nathan soon caught up to Jake. More men were waiting outside to escort them, and soon they were outside. As the fresh air started to fill Nathan’s lungs, he could feel his powers starting to get back to him. The cells had been covered in something that had weakened them, but it didn’t take many seconds before Nathan’s head became clear from both oxygen and adrenaline. Nathan looked down and made sure that his face was almost hidden from their escorts as he channeled his powers.

    “Can you hear me?”

Nathan wasn’t sure whether or not Jake had regained his powers yet, thus was able to hear him through mind link. However, Jake soon tilted his head as well before Nathan heard him clear in his head. 

    “Yes.”

    “Good. Look, I know that you are a man of diplomacy. I know that Ben was a man of diplomacy. I admire and respect that. However, I don’t think diplomacy will do the job tonight. You’ll need to fight.”

Nathan couldn’t see Jake as they continued walking. It was silent for a while before Jake answered. 

    “No, it probably won’t. So let’s hope that Fenris underestimates my fighting abilities as much as you do.”

Nathan could sense that Jake raised his head and soon understood why; they had stepped closer to a clearing where several people were gathered. The smell of wolves, both familiar and unfamiliar, filled his nostrils, but a faint smell of something else caught his attention as well. He jerked his neck around to look at the perimeter, but he couldn’t place where the weird smell came from. 

They were guided through the mass of people, and soon Nathan spotted two men standing on a plateau. Nathan took in a deep breath as he watched his father standing near Fenris, the latter looking back at him with a smirk. They were soon standing at the edge of the plateau, and Fenris stepped forward. 

    “Nathan, what a pleasure seeing you. Have you finally seen the light? Have you come to join us?”

Nathan used all of his strength not to let his discontempt shine through as he held his eye contact with Joshua Fenris. Fenris smirked viciously, and Nathan had to swallow the anger before he answered. 

    “I’ve come to aid my Alpha. I’ve come to be there for my father. I’ve come to do what is best for my pack.”

Fenris grinned as he got even closer. 

    “Well that is good news. Your father and I have become strong allies in a very short time, so I’m just as pleased as he must be. Now that that is settled, I just have one more question; what about him?”

Fenris didn’t break his eye contact with Nathan as he nudged towards Jake. His grin disappeared as a fury grew in his eyes. Nathan started to tense up as he saw the evil dance on Fenris’ face, but he still managed to restrain himself as not to give his discomfort away. 

    “Everyone at Lake Maroon is getting distrustful of each other. Lena wouldn’t let me leave without her trusty sidekick.”

Fenris huffed a laugh.

    “Her fault then. Grab him.”

Two men immediately grabbed Jake and twisted his arms. Nathan could hear Jake bite away the pain as he tried to struggle against them but to no avail. Desperation started to flow in Nathan’s veins as he turned his head to look at his father. The great Dom Dugrey looked cold as always as he stared at the scene, and Nathan began to fear that he had been played. He was about to rush forward when he heard his father’s deep voice speak. 

    “Let the man go, Alpha Joshua.”

Fenris turned with a menacing look. Nathan could almost feel the dominating and angry aura slow from Fenris as he regarded his father. 

    “Let him go? Why, Alpha Dominique?”

The words sounded venomous as they left Fenris’ lips. Dom, however, didn’t flinch. Suddenly, an array of howls filled the night and Nathan couldn’t help smiling. He knew those howls, he had heard them many times before. The pack was howling for a fight. The feeling of pride in Nathan was immense, but it was short lived as he noticed the smirk on Fenris’ face. Something’s wrong. He had barely thought it when he started to hear the gut wrenching sounds of whines fill the air, and the odd smell he had sensed earlier had become stronger and familiar. He had smelled it once before; he had smelled it during the eclipse. Nathan could feel his senses kick in to overdrive as he turned to his wolf in a split second. He charged towards the man holding Jake and managed to free him before the mass started to change as well. Some of them were from his pack, but most of them were from Fenris’ pack. However, Nathan didn’t think as he started to fight while chaos ensued. Blood splattered all around him as he tore his way out of the mass. He could see the edge of the group when two shapes leaped over him. Nathan looked up to see a cream coloured wolf break the neck of one of the Black Pines Pack members. The cream coloured wolf then proceeded to break the legs of three more wolves in such a fast pace that Nathan barely saw it. When the cream coloured wolf made eye contact with him, he recognized the brown eyes as Jake’s, and Nathan could have sworn that he saw the hint of an ‘I told you so’-smirk cross his face before Jake turned and started fighting again. 

    “Get to the other side of the creaks up north!”

Nathan recognized the booming sound of his father calling through mind link to all in his pack. Nathan then called out to Jake and gave him the message as well as they both continued to fight their way through their attackers. The smell of blood filled the air and the sounds of dying wolves was excruciating, yet Nathan kept on pushing forward. He had almost broken free from his attackers when a loud roar of pain drowned out everything else. A cold shiver formed in his body as Nathan turned to see his father getting pinned down by massive shapes. The shapes looked like the wolf-like creatures that he had seen at the Lake Maroon Pack, only these were even bigger and more frightening. Nathan froze as he watched his father getting stabbed by massive claws, blood and meat splashing from his body as they clawed their way through him. Their eyes suddenly met, and for the first time in over ten years, Nathan saw fear in his fathers eyes.

    “Get out!”

But Nathan couldn’t make himself move. He was about to turn around to help his father when he saw a wolf-like creature s***h towards his dad, and horror spread through him as he watched the head of his dad’s massive wolf getting ripped off his body. He couldn’t feel his body as sorrow and shock filled his body, and Nathan felt like he was about to collapse when someone knocked into him.

    “Nathan, we need to go! You need to think of your pack!”

Nathan blinked as flashes moved through his mind. He saw how he and Alex had played. He saw how his mom smiled at him everytime he got sad. He remembered the first time his father had instructed him to fight. And he saw her. Nadia. Nadia. As if her name woke him up, Nathan got up and howled. They needed to get to those creaks and they needed to get there five minutes ago. 

    “Grey Pines Pack, get to the creaks, now!”

He then started to sprint. He could sense Jake right behind him followed by other members of his pack, but he could also feel, smell, and hear the unusual wolf-like creatures accompanied by Fenris’ pack members. He didn’t know why he was running, it seemed futile, but he wasn’t going to give up until there was absolutely no escape. I will fight for you, Nadia. Her name fueled him once more as he sped up even more, and soon he saw the creaks. They were covered in blinking lights, something that Nathan had never seen before, but he didn’t give it much thought as he kept on running. The light grew stronger and stronger and he soon leaped over it as he crossed the creaks. He turned to look as many followed him. They were at the creaks, they had managed to reach their target, but Nathan didn’t know what was next. As the adrenaline pumped through his veins he growled. Okay you bastards, come get us then.He was standing in a fighting stance, waiting for the horde of wolf-like creatures to attack him, Jake, and the few remaining Grey Pines Pack members, when they stopped just before they reached the creaks. The wolf-like creatures suddenly started to scream in a high pitched manor as they grabbed their ears. What the hell? The members of the Black Pines Pack that had pursued them as well looked taken aback as they watched their main shield fall to the ground. Then the wolf-like creatures got up and ran back where they came from. Seeing this, the Black Pines wolves started to back away before they followed. A few seconds passed as they all just looked at the forest where the pursuers had now vanished into. Nathan then looked at Jake who looked almost as confused as he Nathan felt. 

What the hell just happened?