Chapter 7-
“Carmen! Carmen! Wake up! Please, Sis, you gotta wake up! I can’t lose you too, Carmen.” I used the sound of his voice to track where his face was, then let loose with one of the hardest right hooks I could throw. I felt my fist connect with flesh, then opened my eyes in time to see James’s face as he suddenly flew a good thirty five feet towards the ocean. I pushed my body into a sitting position as that moron got up and walked towards me. Then I noticed that Kael was still watching me, and I knew right then that I needed to be back on my feet ASAP. I gathered my feet under me and mentally braced myself for the next step. I pushed up and barley managed to stay on my feet. I was milliseconds from cursing James for his Royal Idiocy as he came back to my side when Kael once again began to talk. “I am-” He never got to finish his sentence. A peircing scream came from the direction of the woods, and I once again acted without stopping to think. A gigantic Midnight Black Dingo was closing in on a three year old girl. I slammed head on into the Dingo’s right flank, providing the best protection I could for the young girl. I made myself be the biggest threat possible. Many people would flinch if they saw a horse sized pure white timber wolf bearing down on them, and this Dingo was no exception. He turned his full attention on me, which was a mistake, seeing as it allowed both James and Kael to circle in close for kill strikes. Then what sounded like Kael’s voice sounded inside my skull. ‘Get his attention. force him towards us, but do NOT get yourself killed.’ ‘I thought you don’t care about wether or not I lived or died.’ ‘I don’t, but I can’t take him alone. You two are the only help on this side of the island.’ I didn’t waste anymore brainpower on him. I fluffed up my hackles, gave a menacing snarl, and began pacing forward, growling all the while. As I expected, he backed up a few feet. Kael and James lunged in for the kill. Seconds later, the bad guy was in bits. I phased back. “Now, what was that about? and don’t you dare lie to me!” For his part, Kael looked impressed, and slightly annoyed. “That was the reason you shouldn’t be here. That, my friend, is a WereDingo, and they are none too happy about us being here.” He paused to pick up the girl. “Kayla, what has Nadine told you about roaming the woods alone? You very well could have been killed!” “Sorry. I just wanted to see the new people. Mommy told me about them, but nothing ever changes around here. I wanted to make new friends.” “Never leave camp without an adult, Kayla.” Sudden motion drew my attention to the bushes. I registered a few things in about half a millisecond. Big Dingo, brown fur, pissed off. About to spring at Kael. No way was that loser getting away with it. I took one leap forward, flashed into wolf form, and took the impact myself. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now. I fought to stay on my feet and make an impressive show of myself. My apparent rage had the Dingo backing up instantly. When I sprang and made to give chase, it bolted with it’s tail between it’s legs. I stayed wolf and cast out my senses. I heard a lot of howling, then... a fog horn? Yep. I definitley heard a Foghorn from the coast. The Navy! But I couldn’t just abandon Kayla and the rest to the Dingo pack, so I flashed back to human form. “Kael, would you and your pack agree to come back to the mainland with us?” “I doubt they would agree. Kayla will be going with you, if I can help it however.” “What about mommy, will she be going too?” Kayla asked. then a silver wolf emerged from the woods. I assumed this was Nadine, since she went to human form again and said “I will be remaining here Kayla, but I promise we will see each other again, in this life or the next my dear.” With that, we left. I phased and had James put Kayla on my back. We got to within a hundred yards of the tree line and I went back to human form. The suprise of my men at the sight of the child was nearly palpable. “Our story is that we found her and her father on the Island, her father died, and his last request was that we took her with us, and we’re sticking to it.” “Got it.” Ramirez said. Smitty and Sanchez nodded in agreement. Perdictably, the rest of team 1 (a.k.a my team) was waiting for me on the deck of the ship, and James’s Delta boys were there too. Navy Seals and D-Boys have one thing in common. We’d go to the ends of the earth to find our missing team members. Foolish but Noble, in a way. I got more looks of shock than there were pebbles in a river as I climbed the rope ladder to the deck of the ship. I guess this was a bit of a suprise, even coming from me. Normally, I both suprise and amaze them with my many grand entrances and theatrical exits, and this was no exception. “Damon, close your mouth before you start catching flies with it! I know this is different, even for me, but honestly! Would any of you have abandoned the girl on the island? Get over it!” “N...n...nnn..no.” they chorused. That was so hilarious that I wasn’t able to stop my self from doubling over in laughter. That laughter quickly turned into a cough. I covered my mouth with my hand. My hand came away red. I got into my cabin and started pushing the ribs back into place.
