Alice and The Rogue Wolf

Chapter 30

"Why did you leave the patrol, Jones?" The leader of the guards asked. "I had warned you against going off."

I tried to cook up a reply but none came. How could I be so unlucky to inherit the uniform of a scout that had a record of derailing off track? I looked down at my feet as if doing so would somehow soften the commander's heart, but it did nothing of the sort.

"Did you suddenly get your mouth ripped off?" He growled again, this time walking closer.

I struggled to keep my calm but I couldn't help whining in fear. The drizzling rain had wetted my fur and I was shivering.

"I'm sorry sir, sorry, commander!" I bellowed, but instead of being forgiven, he pounced on me and smacked me on the back. I winced in pain.

"That's the punishment you will receive when you walk off again. Keep walking!" He scolded and continued the patrol.

As we marched along not minding the rain, I kept my head as low as possible to avoid the blasting lights and drones that filled the sky in fear of being spotted. I also shut myself off from all the calls I was getting in my telepathic link.

All the search teams went by every home in this pack, searching for me. If anyone ever tried to get in their way, they were roughly handled and overpowered. I had always thought the whole pack had this fear of Jonathan like he was some kind of god but it wasn't until now that I realized it was because of the way he wielded fire on them without caring if they burnt as long as it soothed him.

All he did was dish out orders from his seat and his subordinates were left to obey him, and, without complaint, do his dirty work or stood a chance to be considered to be "weak" and get eliminated.

With everyone on my tail, I worked extra hard to keep up my disguise. Every crevice and turn we were ordered to search, I did with diligence until we were ordered by Jonathan to search Mrs. Polly's house. He seemed to be targeting the houses of all those I ever visited or were close to.

I saw the way the guards pushed the helpless lady, and I felt for her. They all sent telepathic signals to me as I went about their search but I ignored all of them. We turned the house, uncovering every hatch, door, and closet but it was in vain.

While the search was being rounded up, I brushed my fur against Trisha's legs and communicated psychically with her, letting her know everything was okay. I also told her to tell her mother about me only when I had been announced to have escaped from the pack, before joining the others.

We toured around other houses and after completing our rounds, it was time to report at the main house, where Jonathan sat in front with my mother, Evans, and the rest of the council by his side, all in their human form and surrounded by guards.

Our team was the second to report back so we stood in line. Others rounded up their search and in a matter of time, all the patrol teams were assembled before Jonathan who was deeply annoyed that no one had been able to find me.

"She couldn't possibly have just vanished into thin air!" He roared, disturbing the night's silence. "She's not a witch and she doesn't possess such powers, at least not that I know of. "

Evans asked the watchman on duty if he had any visuals on me but the latter's answer was negative. Everyone was restless and whispered among themselves, wondering where I could have possibly hidden.

"Quiet!" Jonathan commanded. "I can't believe that I sent out all of you, my best troops, and yet none of them were capable of bringing to me, a simple young girl. What do you have to say about this, General?"

"We have searched far and wide but we haven't seen any sign of her. Perhaps she is hidden in some secret tunnel or has already escaped or something, but if she's around, we can't seem to spot her," The General replied, keeping a safe distance from Jonathan.

Despite the distance, Jonathan still purposely spilled the contents of his glass of gin on the poor general's face.

"There is no sort of secret tunnel, General, and she hasn't escaped. She is somewhere around, I can feel her around." He asked for a refill of his glass. "This is just a girl we are talking about. You all know what the scent her wolf emits smells like, don't you?"

They all howled in affirmation.

"So go and find her once more. I don't care if you have to raze down the houses or shoot someone in the head if they try to stop you. I need you to take whatever you have to find her and don't return except you have her.

Using this pandemonium as an opening, I retraced my steps and after letting go of the harness, I began creeping my way out of the rowdy group. With everyone distracted, there was no noticing my escape. I had almost made it through to the fence when a loud howl resounded in the air followed by the sound of racing footsteps coming from the path leading to the main house.

Everyone was silent in anticipation of what was coming. The guards almost immediately c****d their guns and more guards circled the Alpha male and his council. The commotion had subsided and like the archers on a tower, everyone waited for the intruder to come in sight.

This gave me a window of time to escape but I was curious to know what was approaching so I hesitated. I waited until, much to my surprise, the wolf which I had knocked out raced into the main house's front lawn. On seeing the speed and urgency of his movement, everyone cleared a path for him until he had gotten to where Jonathan stood, screaming that everyone should wait and that he had found me.

The commander of the search team I was, took another look at the intruder and almost immediately recognized him to be a member of his patrol team. He quickly turned around confused before heading to the back of the line where I was supposed to be stationed and just as he arrived all he met was Jones' harness I had left behind but I was nowhere to be found.

"She is gone!" He howled loudly, raising the harness in the air.

On this announcement, the guards tore out in all directions, trying to pick my scent. Even Jones, who was telling the story of how I had put him to sleep, rounded up quickly and left Jonathan to join the search.

I knew that running away would only attract unnecessary attention, so I kept my cool but increased my pace. I couldn't help but giggle at the look on most of their faces when they found out the person they were searching for was walking right beside them. Well, all thanks to the craft of disguise.

The guards were all distracted from the post. Everyone who bumped into me as they scurried past me was either too busy to notice I was without armor or just yelled at me to get out of the way before speeding off in the opposite direction.

Luckily for me, Jones had a bottle of perfume in one of the pouches of his harness, so I wore some of the fragrance and rolled about in the mud to camouflage my scent.

I was just about to find a way to convince a guard to let me through the fence when the wolf sighted me, alerted the rest of the pack, pointed in my direction, and roared; "There she is!"

Left with no choice I took to my heels. All the huge guards ran towards me and in seconds everyone was either setting traps to catch me or were after me.

The race got even fiercer when Jonathan announced a prize for whoever would bring me to him. The ground drummed and the wet sound rose from the commotion we were causing. As light as I was, I flew in and out of corners and streets, colliding with everything and everyone I met on the road.

I thought they would retreat but rather they employed an attack from overhead. Large drones, guided by my heat signatures, flooded the sky, some shooting out tranquilizers, others shooting sticky nets to trap me. Meanwhile, I ran with all I had, barely saying a second before lifting off.

The race gradually grew heated and soon they were squaring in on me from all corners, waiting at every turn to grab. I had to be alert to avoid them and soon enough everywhere was covered with snarling guards who were just waiting to pounce on me. Drenched to the marrow, I stood there wagging my tail while thinking of my next move.