King of Beasts

Chapter 14

As king of the beasts, there were few things that made Gabe chaotic.  Several things made him nervous, other things worried him, but there was little to nothing that could make all of his thoughts jumble up and drown.

Charlotte happened to be responsible for about ninety percent of those little to no things.

When he got word that the perimeter was breached by the rogues, his first thought had been of Charlotte.  He’d left her at his house to do his walk through town.  It was important to not lose contact with his pack, no matter how much he wanted to lock him and Charlotte away and create a world for just the two of them.

Charlotte still being on crutches, but nearly healed, of course stayed back.  She was still struggling with most of the truths Gabe had showed her, and as such he was giving her space.  Not that he wanted to.  At all.

When his warriors told him of the breached south perimeter, one of the only weak points in their boundary, Gabe had barked out an order to track the rogues down before taking off to his house.  His beast clawed at the surface, begged to be let free.  But not until he knew he had to.  If Charlotte saw him as a beast, it could set them back.

About a street away from his house, though, her scream cut straight to his long buried soul and threatened to tear him in half.  His beast took control without a blink of an eye and Gabe didn’t fight it.  His beast was stronger, quicker.  Charlotte needed stronger and quicker if her scream told him anything.

There were four wolves, he could smell them instantly.  A rogue had a rot to their smell, a slowly diminishing scent.  Without an official pack link, they slowly grew mad.  Beasts were naturally a pack animal.  They thrived off of the Alpha’s leadership and the pack mate’s support.  Without it, even if they traveled in small groups, they slowly died.

His Charlotte was on the front lawn, limping over the green grass with sweat lining her brow.  He was three houses down and Gabe could see every little detail about her.  Her head snapped up at the sound of his approach and she froze, another scream bubbling in the back of her throat before she stopped.

“Gabe?” she asked, more to herself than to him.  “Gabe!  Gabe they got in the house—“

Just on cue, two of them came barreling out the front door, snarling after his Charlotte.  He couldn’t remember running so fast in his entire life.  In the space of a few seconds he was there, knocking into one of the wolves as it launched for his mate.

His pack mates would arrive soon, they’d figure out the commotion eventually.  He just had to hope it’d be sooner rather than later as the remaining two wolves came from around the side of the house.  Already his neighbors had left, receiving the warning of the rogues as moving towards the center of town.  If Gabe had been with Charlotte, he would have taken her to safety too.

Charlotte ran again, and Gabe thanked her silently.  If she stayed close, she’d get caught in the cross fire.  He needed her to be safe to think rationally.  Gabe killed the first wolf quickly.  There wasn’t much of a challenge, but then again he shouldn’t be Alpha if a mere rogue presented a challenge.  The other three circled him, snarling, and Gabe baited them, just buying his time.

The wolf on his left launched at him, distracting him while the one on his right came at him also.  He felt canines sink into his flank, the third wolf making an appearance, while the other two tried to bring him down.  “Gabe!” Charlotte cried, sharpening his senses better than they had ever been.  He felt the canines leave his flank, heard the wolf moving away and a panic settled into his chest.

He threw the wolf off from his right side and caught the other wolf in the side with his clauses, quickly killing him a second later.  He nearly stumbled over himself when Charlotte cried out once more.