The White Wolf

Chapter Seven

~Payton~

I stretch as I wake up, Jake is beside me, I move out of his arms and climb into the shower. Once I get out, I dry off and brush my teeth, walk back into the room, and get dressed in leggings and a dress. I can’t shake the feeling I need to run, so I gently wake him up. I don’t want him to panic when he wakes and I’m not here.

“Jake” I gently poke him, “Jake, it’s 8 am. You need to wake up”. He turns over, “I just wanted to let you know that I am going to go for a run, and I didn’t want you to worry about me disappearing”

“No not alone” he mumbles at me,

“Jake, I am not waking people up to come with me. ill be back in an hour, I will see you soon”

“Nope, I am up now, I will come with you.” he groggily sits up rubs his eyes, gets up and walks out my door and into his room. He comes back two minutes later in dressed in a t-shirt and jogging bottoms. We wander downstairs and outside to the edge of the forest where he undresses quickly, and shifts, I then shift and follow him into the forest. We play and run around the forest. It was fun and carefree.

When we get back, Jake quickly get dressed then we walk into the kitchen

“You need to eat breakfast, then I wondered while I’m busy, do you want to go shopping with Steph, to get some more clothes if your planning on staying that is?” he half-smiles at me as we walk into the dining room.

“Hey guys, I hear we are going shopping today?”

“Yeah, we are, do you mind if Elizbeth comes too?”

“Oh of course not, that will be great to spend time with you guys.” I smile at her. Breakfast comes in as an assortment of full English items. There were toast and fried bread, eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns, and beans. Other people start trickling in for dinner it’s like they knew that breakfast was being served.

“So, once the family are back are you guys doing the mating ritual?”

“erm, yeah we haven’t discussed it Steph” Jake growls at her,

I chuckle “yeah probably the best thing to do though?” I look at him,

“Yeah that is a good plan, but honestly Steph this is between me and Payton.” He looks her like he wishes the world would just stop her from talking.

“So, shopping huh?” I smile at her, “when do you and Elizbeth want to go?”

“I just need to get ready then we can go.” She smiles back at me.

Everyone finishes eating breakfast and disappears to start the day, Steph goes to get ready and find Elizbeth.

“Jake, do you think we should do it once your family are back? I say I keep facing away from him to keep my voice even.

“I was going to talk to you about that, I want my mum to organise it, she does such an amazing job. I did think you should get a dress today? Maybe, if you want too that is?” he turns me around and kisses me, maybe so I don’t answer. He was so nervous.

Steph comes down with Elizbeth in tow. “Are we ready?” she smiles.

“Of course, I am” I hug and kiss Jake goodbye and follow Steph out the door.

“So, I have a favour to ask you?” I turn towards her so I can see her face.

“shoot?” she raised an eyebrow at me, dam I wish I could do that. Jake does it all the time, it’s so sexy.

“today while we get clothes, I would also like to look for a book for two. We also need to stop off at a wedding shop, to get a dress” I add at the end. I smile at her, Elizbeth is beaming in the back.

She squeals so loud and I jump. “I know the perfect place”.

We go shopping and I get a few books to read and a few more outfits, she said we can order more online or something. She also tells me there is a library at the house and to order them on my e-reader, she said Jake would probably pay. We head to this little boutique in town. We walk in and instantly, Steph talks to the lady in charge talks to her for two minutes then we are whisked off to a room. Dam they are connected, already we’ve spent 1000 of pounds. There are seats around the outside, with two changing rooms and a platform with steps to it and mirrors around it, and the lady comes with champagne, she hands me styles she thinks I’ll like, and I try them all on. None of them seems quite right, all beautiful but just not me.

I asked if I was allowed to look around myself and she hands me a robe to put on. It seems like they shut the shop to look after us. We look around for a bit, both the girls showing me random dresses. Then I find a light pink dress that would suit Steph, then I see a light blue dress that would suit Elizbeth. I call both the girls over and ask them if they can try these on.

“I know I don’t know anyone here, but I’d appreciate if Jake’s sisters could be bridesmaids and if Elizbeth could be the maid of honour. I know it’s weird but”

“We would love it too!” Elizbeth beamed. I carried on scanning the other dresses. Eventually, I found the dress. The girls take theirs into changing rooms, and the shop assistant helps me into this dress. The girls come out first and squeal when they see each other. That’s a good sign. The assistant helps me out of the changing room. The girls start crying when they see me. My dress is off the shoulder in a satin material. The body is well fitted, then flows out with pretty embroidery all over it. Their dresses are very similar, Elizbeth’s is a long maxi dress, while Steph’s comes to her calf. Both off the shoulder, but lacy, perfectly complementary to my dress. Steph asks the assistant to get her dress in her sisters sizes too. The assistant brings back too more dresses while we get changed. She boxes all the dresses up and we take them to the car. The car is full of bags and boxes now. The girls got a few bits too, Elizbeth used her own money whereas Steph used Jake’s card. She assured me Jake said she could. I believe her. As we pull into the drive something feels off, Steph pulls up and puts the car in park, just we do vampire start to descend on the car.

“You guys stay in the car until I tell you to get out, when you do, run to the house, and check the house over, you will be safe in there, they can’t enter. Do not leave the house until I tell you. Please you are not trained”

I push the door open knocking one over, their eyes are ringed red, telling me these are bad vampires.

I growl at them, a warning, they descend on me, knowing I am the strongest and need to be taken before they attack the others.

I crouch and wait for them to attack. “Now.” I jump at the nearest one, snapping his neck. The others recover quickly and start attacking. The girls stand at the door shaking their heads. So, no-one is in the house or can be seen out of the windows. So, they must be in the forest. Fighting. It's not good that these managed to get past. Either we are taking heavy casualties, or they had so many that these few managed to get past them or both. I shift and they freeze for a minute. Just enough that I can rip the throat out of the second nearest. The others turn around and runoff. What? They are running from me. I mean I’m crazy good, but still not enough for them to run away. I shift back, and motion for the girls to come to me.

“Right they must have attacked in the forest. So, I need to get there. Jake and Nick will want you guys safe, so I’m going to ask you nicely to go back to the house and contact nonfighting members to ensure they are safe. Tell them to get into their houses and not to come out?” They both nods, I watch them enter and shut the door. I shift and run following the pack scent. When I get there, everyone seems to be fighting at least 3 vampires. I howl, it causes all the vampires to stop, meaning the wolves manage to take out one of their three vampires. The others just stare at me, I was already covered in blood from my kill earlier, I wish I could magic that away, my eyes turning white. The spirit element surrounding me. They go back to attacking. See vampires are not like how they are in books or films they can tolerate sunlight, not in high doses. So, they can be out during the day, I see Jake fighting, he’s good. But they eventually get the better of him. He gets bitten on the neck. I tackle the vampire killing him on impact. I get so angry that I start to feel my body heating up. Jamie shifts and starts yelling at the other wolves to abandon the fight. They start to retreat, shifting and helping Jake move out of the way. Jamie runs to him and has a discussion that I can’t hear, the vampires are training their thoughts on me, the newcomer. They start to circle me. They all rush to attack me in one go, just as the heat becomes unbearable. I feel the sun’s rays come from me, shining upon the vampires that were trying to kill me, to kill my people. They all vaporise. I can’t believe my eyes. Neither could they, the faces of those I was facing will be forever etched on my brain.  

“Payton, Concentrate. You need to stop.” Jamie was shouting at me. He was trying to get close to me but the heat rolling off of me was just too much. “Jake, Payton needs you”

“I don’t know man, if you can’t get close what makes you say that I can.”

“Because you’re her mate, she needs you right now”

“Pay, Bambi, concentrate on the other elements, remember water” he prompts. I try. I try to conjure water, it didn’t work.

Jake starts to slowly make his way to me; the pack doctor had finished bandaging up.

“Payton, please calm down.” He was approaching me like he would a kid on their first change, what I needed was him to storm up to me and kiss me like the world was going to end.

“Jake, change your approach man, she’s not a newly changed pup.” Jamie rolls his eyes at him, with that Jake storms up to me, takes me in his arms and cuddles me. His whole body covering mine. It's like he’s covering me with his cooling touch. He must hold some kind of magic to be able to do that.

“I’m so sorry Jake, I didn’t mean too.”

“no-one was hurt by you you saved people. It’s ok” I didn’t bother to look up to him, instead, I allowed him to cuddle me, to calm me. Here, right here, was where I felt safe, my mind quietens, my heart rate slows, I felt at peace, here in his arms. This was my safe place.

“You guys need to let Steph and Elizbeth know your safe, they are probably really worried, I told them to stay at the house where they were safe”

“It's ok, Nick has already let them know”.

I don’t know how long we stay there for; I can sense the pack's anticipation and know they need a leader.

“Nick, how many did we lose?”

“Oh no, no-one was seriously hurt, you turned up in time to stop that some wolves are injured though, they are being seen by the pack doctors but there are too many for him to get through”

“Ok, I’ll see what I can do to help, Jake how badly are you hurt?” I turn to him,

“Not too bad, see here” he points to his neck, it had started to heal.

 “Jamie, as Jake helped me, he must hold some Magic, try to heal him as you do me, Nick you will help me triage these wolves ok? I’ll show you how to sort out wounds and we will work with the doc” Nick just nods and shows me to where he is working on one wolf. He doesn’t seem to be to badly hurt, “Hey Doc, I’ve had some field training, it is mandatory in my pack, I’m going to set up a triage centre in the clearing outside the forest. Hey Caleb, can you get stretchers, or if you have none of those a whole load of bed sheets so we can move those who cannot walk? Doc we will set you up.” I whistle so everyone is listening to me,

“Hey guys, I know some of you are seriously injured or at least partially, in the clearing we are going to set up a triage centre if you can walk please do, anyone who is unhurt buddy up with someone who is hurt, help them to the centre, I won't pack warriors with me, so I can hand out jobs. Those that buddy with someone can you put your hand in the air so that Nick can come and transport you. Nick can you take a team of able-bodied people to help Caleb.” A few hands went up, the rest started walking. “Thomas can you grab a whole load of people and set up area’s if you have marquees anywhere set them up, I need three. One for seriously injured, one for minor injuries and one for a nurse to look over anyone who is uninjured to clear them as ok”, he nods and gets to work. “Logan, I need you to grab the other warriors who aren’t injured and a few decent fighters and double-check the perimeter do not engage with anything, but mind link Jake and he can tell me ok? I will come and deal with anyone who thinks they can come onto our territory” He nods and grabs the others and starts about checking. I make sure no one is left in the forest and then head to the clearing, the doc has set up in one tent, a nurse although I don’t know where she came from was clearing people and then I went into the minor injuries tent, that has everything from bandages, to sewing kits to help treat people. The first people were already in there and I start treating people, cleaning wounds, sewing people up, Jamie comes in and starts helping me, so we start to get through helping people much quicker. I see Steph and Nick helping people and guiding people home, those that were cleared were reporting to them and helping people from my tent home. Those in the doc’s tent were being helped and then going to the pack hospital. Fortunately, there weren’t that many people who needed the hospital. Everyone I saw was mostly ok too, I told them that if they have any signs of infection to go to the doctor immediately for antibiotics. They all thanked me and Jamie as they left, and were in better shape after than before, thank the Goddess. Jake came in looking almost like new which made me smile a bit more.

“How you are feeling now?”

“That stuff is amazing, I wish everyone could heal like that,” he says almost sombre.

“yeah me too, but we tried, well on Jamie at least it doesn’t help at all. It is rather annoying. It looks like the whole pack is here helping.” Steph walks in as we get to the last patient.

“So, It looks like we need courses in training, fighting and in this too now, Are you going to be ok with that Payton?” I look up and smile at her, but its Jamie who answers, while I lean in to sew up a mans leg that is torn. He will have a nasty scar.

“Yeah, she doesn’t mind. She used to train others anyway, before being a white wolf. She also started training to be a doctor before shifting too, not like university or anything, but our pack doctor was teaching her before she turned”

“Wow, that’s young”

“yeah, I could make others feel at ease. The doctor started teaching me at 10, I was advanced for my age and it kept my mind sharp and helped me concentrate on schoolwork.” I shrug. “Tonight, we will go through the entire pack and start giving out responsibilities to people so that we can be better prepared in the future”. They all nod,

“Dinner will be ready soon, we will eat and then get on with it” Jake smiles, and walks in the direction of the house while others were dismantling the marques. I finished up with the last guy and someone helped him home. Steph waited with me. We chatted on the way back to the house, she wants fighting lessons, but Nick won’t let her.

“It’s ok, I’ve got your back” I smile and wink at her as we enter the house. Claire is busy cooking and dishing up food, the others are all in the dining room waiting for food.

“Claire would you like me to start taking these full plates out for you?”

“oh no, I’ve got it, it will be there in a minute”

“I’ll start running them out for you, I don’t mind and you're swamped in here.” I start taking plates out and handing them out, Steph does the same.

“Since when did the Luna serve up dishes?” Jake commands.

“Since you only employ one Chef, and she’s still dishing up food, I don’t want people to be eating cold dinner, so I took some of the plates that were already. Claire did not ask me, I offered.” I bring out the last plates she has ready and give one to Jake, who promptly starts eating. Claire comes out with the last ones. Once everyone is finished eating Elizbeth gets a list of everyone in the pack, and a note pad and writes their name, occupation and age at the top. Once we managed to get through everyone, and everyone has a job to do work on the base that some people will be injured or killed, we move onto training.

“Jake, everyone should be training.”

“No, not everyone, what if our cook or doctor gets hurt,” Nick interjects.

“Well, they are more likely to get hurt or dead if they can’t defend themselves enough for people to come to save them.” I counter Nick. “I’m not saying that everyone should be fighting, I agree we should never have our pack doctor in a position like that, but he should know how to protect himself if he needs too”

“That is very true. Just because people know how to fight doesn’t mean that they will fight but if he has another attack like that, it will be opportunistic on who is fighting; therefore, they need to protect themselves.” He smiles at me. “we will go to bed now and come up with a training schedule tomorrow. Payton my parents will be home tomorrow so you can meet the rest of my family” he smiles as everyone is leaving to go to bed. He leaves me temporarily to go and get changed in his room and then we go to bed. I am instantly out like a light.