Home -- Wolv book 3

Chapter 15 - Not your territory

Nadie raced along the creek, leaping across its narrow length and skidding to a halt next to Hutch. He was standing just in front of his den, holding his tail straight out dangerously and keeping his ears erect and on guard.

"Where are they?" Nadie hissed. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching the narrow shore along either side of the creek.

Hutch twitched his nose and blinked. "Everywhere."

What?  Nadie tested the air with her nose and wilted. The scents of nearly two dozen Timberwolves were floating around in the atmosphere, coming from behind them as well as from in front of them.

She felt a paw gently pull her back away from Hutch. Sarah brushed past her, taking Nadie's spot, and suddenly Nadie realized that it wasn't her place to be standing next to Hutch. The Alphas were supposed to defend the Omegas; and, although she'd refused to stay behind Hutch when they'd been snooping around Gyles Lake, her gusto was now forgotten. The prospect of going muzzle-to-muzzle with a pack of Timberwolves wasn't exactly enticing. She was more than happy to fall in line next to Tara, sandwiched in between Sarah, Daanis, and Hutch.

In front of Hutch, a handful of Timberwolves emerged from the trees, flanking the creek on either side. All of them stood tall and muscular; Nadie couldn't find a single Omega amongst them. Of course there's no Omegas. Why send weaker wolves when you have Alphas to spare?

"So much for having an advantage here," Nadie whispered into Tara's ear. While they did, in fact, know the lay of the land around their den, they were still very much surrounded, with nowhere left to run to.

Tara only grunted in reply. The little red Direwolf leaned against Nadie, blinking her bleary eyes rapidly. Tara's body, still not entirely sure how to deal with the after-effects of her heat and her false morning sickness, was betraying the little wolv. Her ears were standing tall and her hackles were raised, but her legs were shaking down to her toes. She even smelled of vomit and sickness.

Great. We're really screwed now, aren't we? We've got, what...two Alphas, a Timberwolf, and one and a half Omegas up against two dozen Timberwolf Alphas.

We're gonna die.

A quick glance over her shoulder revealed more Timberwolves, waiting only a dozen or so meters away. Nadie could feel her ears slowly lowering, until they were pressed against her skull in fear. It was all she could do to keep herself from submitting to the primal canine fear response and urinating. That's another round of humiliation that we don't need.

A towering, black-furred Timberwolf slipped out from the trees ahead, and purposefully padded in front of the others. Streaks of grey fur highlighted its coat, and it licked its chops eagerly.

Hutch barred his teeth warningly, but the black wolv ignored him, plopping its rump down almost directly in front of him. Sarah had blanched beneath her fur, and stooped her head low, flipping her ears back and lowering her tail in submission.

"Nokohm," she sputtered quietly. The black wolv thumped its tail once, and nodded down at Sarah.

"Granddaughter. I see you've made yourself quite at home with your friends here."

"I had nowhere else to go," Sarah mumbled, not daring to meet Elizabeth's piercing brown eyes. "You let Matthew throw me out into the snow, remember?"

Elizabeth raised her brow, and casually turned around, glancing at a curiously three-legged, brown Timberwolf.

Matthew.

Matthew averted his eyes from his Alpha's, choosing to quietly glare at Sarah instead.

"I supposed I can understand why you would think that," Elizabeth cooed. "You did betray your own kind, Sarah. Your own species, at that! You know what the ma'iingan  once did to our kind. They are dangerous, and yet you still helped them. Matthew did was was right for the pack! We cannot have somebody who thinks as you so clearly do running around within our midst!"