I Am Worthy

Chapter 4: What A Sight

My eyes snapped open, I could see everything clearly, even though it is now dark out, yet I couldn’t see anything or anyone. Quietly, I lift myself from the shrubbery I was sleeping in and crept around the twigs so as not to make noise and draw attention. I then hear a slight whisper, “Come on, we need to stay quiet. I just hope that the wind isn’t blowing our scent towards whoever it is before we find them.”

“This is ridiculous Xander, we are only here for a few more days to help this pack, for all we know it could be a trick!” Said a second voice.

“I can’t believe that Gio, I have to have hope that it is my mate. Shafer is going crazy because the scent is so close and we still can’t f*****g find it!” the one I now believe to be Xander, stated in a hushed yell. His voice was deep and gruff, it gave me butterflies in my stomach, but I ignored the feeling and walked in the opposite direction. “I can’t let them find me, they could be the ones that took my family.” I thought to myself as the voices became more distant.

I walked into the morning and found myself at the edge of the forest, yet it wasn’t open space, instead there are houses, both large and small, they are beautiful. Carefully, I walk into the village, glad to see that whoever lives around here is not awake yet, giving me a chance to explore. People will probably be waking soon so I can’t stay long. I can smell the strange mix of human and wolf again. The wolf scent smells musky and like the forest but the human smell is just the natural scent of different people. The birds are beginning to chirp in the trees and the whole forest is awakening with them. I jog through the village and come out the other side to find more trees. Just as well as I can hear the people in a few of the houses getting up and moving around now.

Upon entering the forest I find a woodland path, making it clear that whoever lives in this area uses this part of the forest often. I make the decision to follow the path to the left, but keep off of it and hide in the bushes so as not to draw attention to myself. I am pretty sure I have been walking for about 20 minutes but the path I was following leaves the forest and leads up to a massive, modern design house, or rather mansion. I am in awe of the building and can see a group of teenagers walking out the front door. “What is this place?” I think to myself. One of the teenagers raises their nose to the air and sniffs, then starts whispering to their friends but I can’t hear them as they are too far away. Then they all do the same and start looking around. I am currently lying in a bush at the edge of the forest so I can’t be seen but I also sniff the air to see if I can see what has them freaking out, yet the only thing I can smell is the forest and the animals in it. I am reminded of my heartache once more as all the kids standing by the mansion look close, they remind me of what I no longer have.

Just as I begin to get lost in my sorrow I hear a distant banging of doors, the kids are no longer standing there, instead there is a group of large men, all dressed like they are ready for a fight. One of them seems to be yelling orders whilst the others either nod or speak their response. Then one of the men lifts his nose and sniffs, much like the teens I saw before, but this time his head snaps around to my direction and as he does so do the rest of the men who are standing there. I would be lying if I didn’t say it creeped me out. Then I realised, “If they are like me… Then they can smell something being carried to them by the wind…”, it was at this thought I realised the wind was blowing my scent towards them. I quickly shot up from the bush and ran back into the forest, away from the path and towards a more shaded section, “I need to find a river or lake to mask my scent, please, please have one near here!” I thought. Just as I thought I was out of luck due to the pounding numerous feet getting closer to me I saw a pond, I ran to it quickly and as quietly as I could, got in, my fur began feeling heavy from the water but I needed to hide my scent.

Rain, thank god for rain, I feel like my prayers are being answered. I climb out of the pond and try to find some shrubbery to hide in, as I don't feel safe yet. I can hear the footsteps still getting closer, but then I see them, a group of 6 men are running through the area with 2 massive wolves, and when I say massive, I mean they were larger than any breed of wolf to walk the earth, standing at around 5ft7 and 5ft9 whilst on all fours and with large menacing teeth. I feel so small, I was only a foot larger than an average Alaskan timber wolf, making me about 3ft6 in wolf form, but I didn’t think that was much, these wolves were a little over 2ft bigger than me and all I can feel is fear towards them. I make myself as small as I can and pray that I am not spotted as these men and wolves pass me by with a caution to each of their steps. Thankfully though, they carry on walking past.

It has been about 15 minutes since the guys and their wolves disappeared into the trees and all I can hear now is the heavy rainfall on the forest floor. I leave my hiding space and sniff the air for any sign of them coming back but the rain has nearly diminished all smells, coating them in a way. I walked in the opposite direction of them, aiming to head back to where I was before I found the village, but I can find no sign of where that was. I suddenly feel a strange sensation, like I have been pricked with a needle, so I turned my head to see what it is and to my surprise there is a tranquiliser dart sticking out of my fur on my rear-end with 2 people approaching me quickly. I can't make them out because my vision is going blurry and I am struggling to stay awake, “Shit.” I thought to myself before the darkness took over.

When I awoke I was locked in a dark grimy room with a large steel door, it smells of old blood and has the stains of who knows what everywhere. Luckily for me I am still in my wolf shape, otherwise I don’t know how many people would have seen me naked. I can feel something highly uncomfortable around my neck and lift a paw to scratch at it, my claws on the surface of it let me know that it is metal, I can see something glint in the evening light from the corner of my eye so I turn to see what it is. It is a chain that seems to run right over to me and attach at my neck, “Well, this is f*****g great.” I thought to myself feeling more than agitated by now. I wonder, if I shift back can I lift the collar over my head? I mean it’s either that and try to escape or whoever brought me here comes to finish me off. Neither of those ideas seem bad to me. On one hand, I will be able to join the rest of my family, on the other I can try and find out who wants me alive. And they may be able to answer my questions on why I am like this.

I made the decision to shift, it would be selfish of me to waste my life instead of living it to its fullest, I know my family would want me to be happy and alive, rather than the more morbid option. I sit for a minute to make sure no one is coming in this direction and shift.I find it to be less painful now that I have done it a few times. I lift the collar up gently and as quietly as I can so no one can hear it clink and manage to wriggle my head from it, “thank god I have such a wide neck in my other shape!” I thought to myself. I walk over to the door and try to open it and to my surprise it does, so I shift once more and leave the room. I look left and right and focus my senses to see if I can find what direction the people who brought me here are, but I hear nothing. To my right I see a staircase leading up, to my left there are more doors. From the smell of down here I definitely do not want to find out what is behind those doors so I head towards the staircase.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs I can hear distant voices, “Why did she not shift back like she should have?” asked one voice, “We aren’t sure Alpha.” “But she radiates power.” said a second and third voice. I don't recognise the voices so I know that these are not the same people I heard in my safe haven. “Man, these people all speak super weird.” I thought, like who says, mate, who calls someone else their alpha? My brain hurts from trying to work it out. Taking a quick look around I can see more doors, but up here smells much fresher and cleaner than that dungeon I just left. I am about to start walking when I hear something that I did not want, “If she can resist a shift unconscious we need to have someone watch her at all times, she might be waking up now if she really is that powerful.” said the voice of the one called Alpha. “Hopefully you aren’t talking about me, cause I am out of here.” I thought as I quickly made my way to where I could smell the outside stronger.

Upon rounding a corner I see a partially opened window, I put my paws onto the edge and use my snout to push it open far enough for me to slip out, but as I am about to jump out I hear someone shouting behind me, “Don’t f*****g move!” He said loudly, I turned my head and saw 3 large men, one of which I recognised from my earlier escape, slowly walking towards me. I began to growl at them and they half stopped, unsure of what to do, I quickly leap out the window and run for the trees. I hear the thundering of feet behind me and turn my head to catch a look. To my surprise I am met with another giant wolf, he is around 6ft tall and has grey eyes with dark brown patches on his grey fur. “Oh hell no!” I picked up my pace and dodged everything in my path, making quick turns so I can try and lose this monster.

Eventually he caught up to me but he was joined by 2 more wolves that were ever so slightly smaller than him, they had me cornered. I recognised their scents as the 3 men I saw before jumping out of the window. I began to snarl as they tried to approach me, but it did nothing, my snarling is turning into a loud growl, trying to warn them off, but I know I will not be making it out of this alive, they are twice my size and clearly have more experience in this sort of situation than I do. The large brown wolf on my left of, who I assume is the Alpha, begins to stalk towards me but I hold my ground, he lunges at me and my instinct kicks in, I move to the side and clamp my jaws onto his leg to which he growls in pain and snaps towards me but I move and do the same thing to his shoulder. I then move further away, growling more with my fur standing up. “Get away from me!” I yelled internally, but to my surprise they all stopped dead in their tracks. They glanced at each other, as if having a conversation, then the alpha wolf walked off behind a tree, and back came the same man from before, only now he was wearing basketball shorts. “Who are you?” He asked, with authority made clear in his tone. “Please, let me leave.” I thought, with desperation clear on my face, even in my wolf form. “Tell me who you are and why you are on my territory then I will decide if you can leave.” he replied.

I am bewildered. “Can you hear my thoughts?” I asked, giving him a questionable look. “What are you talking about?” he responded in disbelief. “s**t, get out of my head!” I yelled internally. “Are you f*****g with me? Is this some sort of joke? Because it isn't funny.” He stated. Okay , what to do? What to do? “If you bring me clothes I will talk with you, but I am not going back in that building.” I stated whilst nodding my head towards the direction we all just came from. He sighed and then told the wolf I managed to injure to go and grab a top and shorts, the wolf's eyes glossed over ever so slightly then the Alpha spoke again, “Just do it.” with aggravation obvious in his voice. The wolf gave me a disapproving look and walked off.

Soon a man returned with clothes in his hands. He placed them in front of me and walked back to beside the Alpha. They all stared at, all with a look of impatience on their face. I lifted the clothes in my mouth and went to walk off but was stopped by the only remaining wolf. I looked at the alpha and thought, “Seriously? I just want to change, can I not have some privacy?” to which he grunted in frustration and turned his back with the other 2 doing the same, i quickly shifted and dressed in the hoodie and basketball shorts given to me, although I had to pull the ties on the shorts quite tight as they were massive, the hoodie is too but at least it is comfortable. “I’m done…” I said out loud this time and they all turned to look but shock quickly covered their faces. “What?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable under their gaze, and playing with the sleeve of the hoodie to distract myself from it. “Who are you?” The Alpha asked, to which I responded, “I don’t really know anymore. Where did the other 2 wolves go?”. He looked at the wolf on his right and the man on his left, they all looked confused but continued, “Are you serious?”

“I feel like the answer here should be yes, but now I’m not so sure.” I replied in a duh tone.