The Hunt

The Pack Part II

Erik

I gave Alina a small smile as she disappeared into the bathroom then turned and headed to the phone to call in some food plus a couple extra baggies of blood. I sighed heavily as I hung up the phone and sat against the chair, burying my head in my hands. How am I going to tell her everything? It’s going to crush her. Or anger her. I shivered at the thought of making her mad, I’ve seen her temper first hand and pity the being that has to face her wrath. I stood back up and started to pace back and forth, my teeth picking at my thumbnail. My mind started to drift back to the night that we had arrived to what is known as the Silver Night pack.

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I raced behind the wolf, hoping that they would actually help and not lead us into a trap. The minutes felt like years as we raced to the pack hospital, arriving at the front doors only minutes after asking the wolf for help. A woman met us at the door with a gurney, gesturing for me to place Alina down. I clutched her tighter to me and started to walk inside, not trusting the dogs for a single minute. The doctor rolled her eyes and glanced to the wolf that brought us here. “I cannot help if you don’t place her down so we can get her into a sterile room” she huffed. I stared at her, trying to read her emotions. The doctor was a short woman, not an inch over 5 feet and her dark hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail. I moved my eyes to her pure silver ones and found no hint of betrayal. After a few seconds, I heard someone clear their throat and my eyes darted toward the direction the bothersome noise came. A tall man stood in my line of view, my eyebrow arched as he stood there, naked, an air of authority followed his every move. His chocolate brown eyes met mine and I could sense his sympathy in them as he looked down at Alina. He gestured to the doctor before he spoke in a low, commanding voice.

“You came here for help. We cannot help your mate if you continue to mistrust us,” he spoke gently, “we opened our boarders to you, let you pass without question, I think we deserve some level of trust.” I felt myself nod as I placed Alina down and watched as the doctor rushed her off. I started to follow her but stopped in my tracks when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face the owner of the hand and was met once more with the man. I narrowed my eyes and hissed as he shook his head.

“I am sorry but I can’t let you back there. We have other things discuss first. I trust my doctors to help with your mate. They are very knowledgeable to the treatment of every creature, not just wolves.” I felt myself relax just a little bit as he spoke, choosing to believe him. I grasped his outstretched hand and shook it.

“I am Erik Flores of the Blood Moon coven and that..”

“..is Alina Flores. I have met with her more than a few times to discuss our treaty; she has become a very close friend to our pack.” he smiled softly as he spoke. I furrowed my brows in confusion at his words. As far as I knew, Alina only went to the neighboring packs once a month to make sure everyone was still happy about the treaties and to listen to complaints.

I mentally shook myself and stared back at the wolf, tucking away my emotions and plastering on a polite smile as he continued to speak. ”I’m Alpha Corbin James, but my friends call me CJ.”

His smile was warm and welcoming, it was no wonder as to why Alina tried to work this pack and keep them happy with the treaty, I just wished she was honest about her true relationship with these creatures. I suppose she may have kept the truth from me for a reason; my hatred for the dogs. But after meeting the Alpha, I was willing to at least be a little more open minded to the Silver Night pack. For Alina’s sake. I still don’t trust them.

I glanced back over my shoulder at where Alina had disappeared and sighed lightly

“I swear to you that she is good hands, Erik. But we need to discuss how many more are arriving. I have my men at the boarders and have sent my warriors out as well.

The Hunters haven’t found us yet and we need to make sure that you weren’t followed here. The doctors will contact me if anything goes wrong” I turned back to face the Alpha and noticed that CJ’s furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke, and saw that worry had filled his eyes. I nodded tightly and followed him to what they called their packhouse. I had never set foot on werewolf territory, especially after the wolf/vampire war. The battle was over a century ago but I will never forget the blood shed and I have never been able to look at a wolf without remembering what their kind started.

But CJ seemed nice enough, his pack was huge and well taken care of. Every wolf had their own house or the choice of living in the pack house. It seems that most wanted their own home and the packhouse only contained those that worked directly with the Alpha. Every house along the way was well kept and beautiful, the people would stop what they were doing and gawk in our direction and I would offer each of them a tight, polite smile.

After a few minutes, we had reached a huge mansion that reminded me of the old style Victorian houses that used to fill this land long before the modern era took over. It was beautiful shade of slate grey with pale yellow accents along the trimming and windows. While I was gawking at the house, I didn’t even notice that CJ had paused in his steps until I practically bumped right into him. He was in the process of opening the door when he glanced in my direction with a smirk on his face. I arched my eyebrow at him questioningly.

“Remind me,” he spoke, a playfully mischievous tone in his low voice, “do you guys need to be invited in?” He broke into laughter as I scowled at him and shook my head is disbelief. I instinctively flinched when his closed hand came toward me, a low snarl left my mouth before I realized that his gesture was friendly. Just a light shoulder tap, like we were best buds or something.

I relaxed myself and offered him a cool smile as I spoke, “I’m sorry. Most dogs that have crossed my path always had ill intent.” I shrugged and starting to walk inside when I was stopped by his firm grip on my shoulder as he turned my face him. I hit his hand off me and growled low in my throat. “Do not do that to me again.” I warned as I watched his face grow stern.

“Listen, Alina told me about your hand in the war. I should despise you as much as you seem to hate all our kind. You single-handedly wiped out packs, not a care in the world whether they fought in the war or stayed neutral.” He spat, anger started to fill his voice the more he spoke.

I couldn’t keep the shock from my face as I listened to him speak. “The only reason I allowed you to pass my boarders was because of Alina. She is the only thing keeping me from challenging you myself. So, you will not call us ‘dogs’ and you will be respectful to us while on our territory. Do you understand me?” His voice was a low growl as he spoke and I swore I saw a flash of hatred in his eyes.

I felt a smile start to creep along my lips. ‘Seems like I struck a nerve’. I balled my fist and repeated the same shoulder tap he gave me, “I will keep my comments to myself. I am sorry about your ancestors but war is war. They were just as guilty as me.” I shrugged, “but the past is over with. My wife has fought hard to keep the peace, hence why I don’t go with her to meetings. I don’t care about peace. But, it seems you have worked closely with her, so for her sake, I will be respectful.”

I watched as CJ relaxed and his grin returned to his lips as I spoke. It was clear to me that this pack was Alina’s favorite. She spoke of a favorite but never gave me the name, undoubtably because she thought I would do something to mess it up.

‘She doesn’t trust me..’ the thought drifted through my mind and I mentally shook it off. Of course she trusts me, she just knows that I can’t stand the dogs and didn’t want me to know that she’s been friends with them. I know I can be a bit much and would probably try to stop her from coming here. But she also knows what they did to me.

I stopped my internal babbling as I walked past CJ into the open door and scanned the inside of the building. It was amazing. Everything was perfectly polished and neat, the interior walls were a soft shade of blue with aged weapons hanging delicately for display. Off to my right was what I had assumed would be the dining room. A large mahogany table was placed in the middle with matching benches placed on either sides with 4 candles placed along the middle of the table. My attention was drawn to the big staircase that decorated the center of the room when I heard a light, melodic voice call for CJ

“CJ! Where have you been?! I just received a call from Dr. Kane saying that she had a vampire in her hospital! Why..” the woman’s voice trailed off as her eyes met mine.

“It’s okay, Bri. It’s Alina. And this is the famous Erik Flores that we’ve heard so much about.” CJ winked at me and I scowled again. ‘Why is she telling these dogs about my life?’

Bri smiled widely as she raced down the rest of the stairs and wrapped her arms tightly around me. I felt myself stiffen in response to her hug and out of sheer awkwardness, I started to pat her head. Bri and CJ simultaneously break out into laughter as I cleared my throat awkwardly and drop my hands to my side.

The she-wolf had let me go and took a small step back, her hand outstretched toward me. I grasped her hand in mine as I studied her, mesmerized by her slight violet eyes. She was tall in stature, only a few inches shorter than myself, her golden honey colored hair fell in long waves to her slim waist. Just from looking at her I knew she trained hard and could do serious damage to anyone who crossed her.

The sound of CJ clearing his throat made me realize that I had just been staring at his mate while just holding her hand. I felt my cheeks warm as I released her hand.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry. Yes, I’m Erik Knight. Thank you for welcoming me into you home” I mumbled as I took a step back and dropped my hand back to my side.

Both the wolves chuckled at my expense while motioning for me to follow them to what CJ called his office.

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The sound of the rooms door being opened snapped me back to reality as I watched a familiar head poke in.

“What are you doing here?!” I hissed as I raced to the door and yanked the intruder into the hallway and quietly closed the door.

“She’s going to kill you if she sees your here, Alana.” I growled at the twin. She was Alina’s perfect double aside from eye color, Alana’s eyes were a cloudy hazel compared to her sisters clear emeralds.

“Damian told me she was finally awake, I needed to see for myself.” She spoke softly, and I could see the hurt in her eyes. I felt a twinge of sympathy for her but that was quickly replaced by annoyance when she spoke again.

“Besides, she can’t still be mad at me. It was a decade ago and we were both different beings back then.” She laughed as she spoke and I raised my eyebrows at her.

“You don’t know your sister very well, then. Just the mention of you being in this pack sent her into anger. You hurt her deeply, Alana, and I don’t think she is going to want to see you.”

I watched as her usual haughty expression dropped and replaced by guilt and sadness. “You already explained to me and CJ why you did what you did and why you came here but she just woke up and I haven’t had a chance to explain to her that everything she built is gone. You know she’s going to blame you and has every right to.”

Alana’s expression hardened as I spoke, her slumped shoulders straightening out as she stood up straighter. “Then I’ll explain it to her myself,” she snapped at me, “I’m her twin, she’ll have to understand.” She said, determination heavy in her soft voice. She turned back through the door as I chuckled lightly and shook my head as I headed down the hall to see if I could find Alina’s requested items.

“She’s going to eat you alive.” I called over my shoulder right as the door shut.

*** ALINA ***

I stepped out from the bathroom to find my sister staring at me. I narrowed my eyes and let out a hiss as my sister had her hands up. “I’m only here to talk, Alina. You’ve been hurt and I don’t want a fight.” Her words fell on deaf ears as I lunged toward her, my fingers wrapped themselves around her throat. “You took everything from me! From us! Your own coven; your family!!” I spat as I gripped her throat harder, not caring that it had no effect on her, it made me feel better.

“And I’m here to explain why and to apologize! I never meant for any of that to happen! Erik understands, Damian forgave me, CJ even let me on pack grounds!” She pleaded, her eyes only showing remorse and sadness. Wait, did she say CJ?

“CJ? What the hell does he have to do with this?!” I asked as I unwrapped my fingers from her neck. I turned back toward my bed and felt my legs buckle beneath me. I felt Alana grab my arm to help but I rip my arm from her grip and stumbled my way back to my bed.

I glared at her from her across the room as she shuffled around, nervously picking at her nails as she sat on the couch. I rolled my eyes as I spoke, “well? Spit it out! You’ve got two minutes before I throw you out of here. Why does CJ have anything to do with you?”

“Erik wasn’t kidding, was he?” She asked, tilting her head to the side, I frown tugging her lips. I snarled at her and smirked when she raised her hands defensively and continued to speak.

“You are in the Silver Night Pack, you got shot with an arrow dipped in dead man’s blood, and you’ve been in a coma for 6 months.” Her words were blunt, but her tone was gentle and my anxiety grew with each new fact that she spoke.

“6 months..?”

“Yes, Erik unknowingly brought you to Silver Moon and CJ welcomed everyone.”

“The Hunters! Tell me he didn’t lead them here!” I felt my heart start to speed up, as I tried to get up again. We can’t be here, there’s too many of us, “they’ll find us.” I didn’t realize I had spoken out out loud until Alana had gently pushed me back into bed while shaking her head.

“CJ and Erik have already taken care of everything.”

“It’s not like we were a small coven! It’s not going to go unnoticed that his pack size increased!” I huffed. How was she not getting this? Our coven had 800 vampires while CJ had 500 wolves! The Hunters would find us all in no time with numbers that big.

I looked back at Alana and finally studied her. Her hazel eyes stared at the ground as she picked her nails and chewed her lip, a habit she formed when she was younger when she had something hard to say.

“Alina, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you or anyone else with my past actions. I know I was wrong in taking the The Eye, but it couldn’t be avoided. I had to take it. I just hope you can forgive me.” Her gaze finally met mine as tears lined her eyes. I pressed my lips in a tight line as I spoke.

“What aren’t you telling me, Alana.” I watched as she looked back to the ground and moved her lips. If it wasn’t for my enhanced hearing, I never would have heard what she said. I felt wetness on my cheeks as her words sank in. My heart shattering into pieces over my coven; my family.

“Blood Moon is gone. Erik, Damian, and yourself are all that came to Silver Night Pack.”