Silent Walk, Book 1 of the Vigilance Series

Chapter 7

I must have ended up falling asleep because my head snapped up sharply when the metal door creaked open and I groaned. I had a pounding headache and my eyes felt... fuzzy... Kyr peeked his head out from the door and said quietly "Are you still drunk?" I shook my head and stood up-which made it all worse. I looked around to see nobody and Kyr assured me "Everyone's asleep Enai. It's 4 in the morning and I'm the only one who cared enough to stay awake. Well, almost everyone..." his voice trailed off as I stumbled into the main room to see Kinteera watching a grandfather clock, eyes glazed over. "He refused to go to sleep, so I left him on the couch." I nodded and sat down beside him. He immediately woke up. He wrapped his arms around me in a tired hug, and I had no idea what to do. i looked over at Kyr to see a burning anger in his eyes, but he quickly shielded that away with something else. He nudged Kinteera and he let go of me.

Both of the packs went hunting again, so Kyr and I took the lead of a large group of wolves. Soon, we came across a dead deer carcass. I looked down and sniffed it. It smelled of humans. I snarled and swept my tail back and forth when i caught glance of a human encampment. They were known as "tents" and not too soon I saw young humans running around. I bared my teeth at them. I ran at the tents aggressively growling and snarling. The rest of my pack did the same. I attacked on of the male humans, and a piercing shot hit my foreleg. I tore the arm of a human, but then collapsed in pain. My left leg burned in agony, and I almost blacked out from pain. Soon I scented Kyr and Kinteera over me, fighting off humans. I ended up blacking out from the wound. I woke up on a bed, with Kinteera lying on the end of it as a wolf. I never really noticed how muscular he was, with his defined features of a hunter. I twitched a little and he jumped up, barking and bouncing like a playful dog. Kyr was leaning on the wall, that of which I didn't notice until he moved. I went to speak "What happened?" "You attacked a human, got shot in the arm luckily, and while the other humans were running away, Kinteera and I stood over your body hoping you weren't dead." Kyr snarled. I apologized for my ignorance, but Kyr wasn't too mad at me. Kinteera acted like it never happened, he was just glad I was alright. My arm was in a cast, too. The bullet pierced almost through my arm, so Osiris had to use a bit of surgery to remove the bullet fragments. She told me that I was lucky that I could even barely move my arm.

It was years before I could hunt again, but Osiris helped me to where I could hunt a different way. I had to use my strength over my speed, because my swiftness was far too impaired. But still, Osiris and I brought in as much food as the rest of the pack did. Kyr's pack lived with us and Kyr personally helped me get back up on my feet academically and physically as well. Kinteera watched from the shadows, but to them it seemed to be a competition of my time. When I'm not around Kyr, I'm around Kinteera, and vice versa. Soon, as i quickly excelled through high school, I was called to the High Monarch. It was odd, considering I had never met them. I approached their meeting place with Kinteera by my side. Kyr was watching my pack while I was gone. Their was only one wolf on the rocks, and somehow I knew his name: Kalik. The master of Stealth and Shadow, right here stood before me. I dipped my wolf head to him, and he climbed from his rocks and did the same. We both shifted to humans so we could communicate faster. "You're almost 16 Enai. You need to be looking for a mate. If you don't find one by the time you're 18, I will have to arrange one with a willing male that you may or may not prefer." I dipped my head to the great wolf "I understand." He continued "I have seen many small wolf packs in the territory you occupy fall because they couldn't support each other as well as a mate. They had too much on their hands because I thought them to be leaders, but they ended up dying under a Hunter's crossbow." I cocked my head to the side "Hunters?" He nodded "This is just the beginning, Enai. On your 18th birthday, we hold you to a higher standard and to a higher respect with your mate. Hunters wait near the patch of ground to kill as many as possible. As of right now, they don't know of your existence, but when we announce you properly, then Hunters will know of your territory and they will hunt you down to kill you. It saddens me of the deaths caused by our sacred rituals." I nodded once more not daring to say anything. Kalik dipped his head to us "You are dismissed now." and we took off, darting through our forest to go to our pack.

When we told the packs of the news, Lonus was the first to speak "What!? Hunters!? We were supposed to be hidden from the human world, we were supposed to have the upper hand on them!" I growled at him and he shut up. I calmly said "After my 18th birthday, we will no longer be hidden. We will learn to fight better, stronger." Piun chimed in "But you're still wounded. You are not fit to fight." I darted my eyes to him "You do not know that Piun. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He nodded. i beckoned for Kinteera to follow me to speak privately.

"We should go to the orphanage, Kinteera. We need new life in this pack." He dipped his head "It's your call Enai, I would gladly follow you anywhere." I nodded towards him "I need more pack members like you." "Then you need to be stricter towards them!" we both turned our heads to see Kyr stalking up to us. "That's how I am with my pack. Enai you need to treat them like they're lower than you, not like they're your friends. They are your soldiers, your followers. They need to start acting that way." Kinteera spoke up "He's right you know." I nodded and went back to the commons area. Piun walked up to me and I growled "What right do you have to even approach me, sit back down" he looked at me, afraid, and backed down. I glanced at Kyr and he nodded approvingly. Kinteera and I set off to the orphanage to find new younglings, and surprisingly, there were several Irids in our room. I knew what Kyr meant now when he wanted fighters. I made them line up and i inspected each of them. Out of the 20 that were there, I picked 4 of the leanest and the eldest. Once we got to the cabin, I instructed Jacobin to teach them and show them around sternly. i was building this pack up strong, but would it be strong enough to fend off groups and hordes of humans over the seasons? Would they recover from a bullet or a crossbow bolt or would they just give up and die? We needed to live-we deserved to survive.