EMPIRE

6: Realizations

Image is Roman

A sharp gasp threatens to escape from the confines of my throat but I refrain from allowing the noise to escape. Fear is not an acceptable emotion to be showing in a tense soaked situation like this. Fear can set the enemy off, give them a reason to pull the so called trigger.It's almost impossible to refuse the temptation of slipping into pure animal instinct, if it's afraid of you, it's prey.

Something that I had, fortunately for me, learnt the easy way.

A low growl resounds through the air and the baritone noise shakes my core. On the inside I'm losing my cool at an alarming rate and I'm resisting the urge to scream like a lunatic and run in the other direction. On the outside I simply let out a smooth, silent breath.

There is Blood Rite staring me down.

A Blood Rite member is currently staring me down in wolf form. That's literally trying to out-glare death. I drown out all the unnerving bed time stories my parents had told me as a child of the Blood Rite pack and focus solely on the eyes in the bushes.

I clench my jaw and square my shoulders, eyes narrowing in on the target. "Show yourself, wolf." I cry internally with relief as my voice comes out strong and smooth. The wolf's eyes harden and a grey paw pushes through the shrubbery and soon the rest of the figure steps into the light.

I inhale sharply as I scan over my potential opponent, the scars on his body are significantly noticeable as well as the sinewy muscles building his broad frame.

He would definitely be difficult to take out if it came to that.

"You have entered the River Ash's pack territory, you are trespassing. State your pack and your business immediately or I will be forced to take defensive action," I say lowly, reciting the lines that must be spoken to any trespasser onto our lands. The wolf simply tilts his head curiously in response and moves in to get, what I assume to be,a closer look at the enemy. A small hiss seeps into the air from the back of my throat, a warning. Back off or you will die.

The wolf doesn't take notice to my alert and continues to saunter towards me, slowly, as to not give me immediate cause to pull the trigger that my finger's been resting on quite tightly.

Once he is within a few feet of me I pull the gun up into a firing position and take three steps back, "Do. Not. Make. Me. Pull this trigger."

As funny as it may seem, I don't find joy in taking any life. I'm not heartless and I don't thirst for blood. However, although I'm not entertained by killing it doesn't mean I'm not capable of doing it without hesitation if needed. When it comes to the protection of my pack I will kill to defend as I have done before. The only difference is that if I kill a member of the Blood Rite pack it may go on to cause a war between our packs and the chances are that we will not win.

The wolf before me halts his movements as I cock my gun and he leans back onto his haunches. I want to frown at his odd behavior. What on earth is he doing? There's no defensive positioning, no attack signals, there isn't even any signs of aggression. Just simple curiosity and wariness.

Then it hits me like a three ton truck.

I realise why he hadn't simply come out straight away and go in for the kill. I realise why he hadn't shown any signs of feeling threatened by the weapon at his face. I realise that he had been waiting for back up.

We are surrounded.

My senses go into hyper-drive and I'm able to pick up on the stealthily approaching wolves. I blink hard for a few moments trying to think of a plan.