Life Straight Up (reposted - feedback wanted)

Chapter Eight

     Cwen took over and raced after Carwyn, Cole's white wolf. For some reason, she was being quite obedient, which is a first and trying to stick close to him. She could see him a little ahead of her, but she just couldn't pick up enough speed to catch up. Every second I ran, I felt the energy and strength drain from me rapidly. So much so that within minutes Cwen had stopped, panting heavily and struggling to hold up her own weight. She went to howl out to Carwyn when the sound of a twig breaking nearby caught her attention. She was instantly on alert, crouching down into a defensive stance, even though our muscles were burning. The sound of leaves rustling from behind us made us turn around quickly. I couldn't help but panic knowing there was obviously more than one wolf, person or whatever it was. There was no way I could take on a group by myself, especially when I wasn't quite at my best. Cwen lifted her nose to the air, searching for any scents but there was nothing. This only made me start panicking even more, what the hell was I going to do?

"Calm down Raynie-Fay, panicking isn't going to do us any good," Cwen said, her voice filling my mind.

"What do you mean don't panic what the hell am I supposed to do?" I asked.

"Just calm down I promise I will take care of this, I swear we will all get out of this unharmed," she replied, concentrating on every sound and smell around us.

"What did you just say?" I asked her words catching me off guard.

"Forget about that for now, just calm down and shut up, I'm trying to concentrate," she snapped at me.

Doing as I was told I stayed quiet and just let her do what she did best and protect me. I was just so confused, I knew that we all ran off in different directions but surely with all the Alpha's and Luna's there has to be someone nearby, I couldn't really be here by myself. Could I? Surely if there was someone out here the guards would have found them, with everyone here and the recent rogue attack everyone was on high alert. Surely no one would have managed to sneak past our borders. My mind spun as the sound of movement came from beside me. It was becoming more and more clear that I was surrounded. I could even feel Cwen starting to panic a little, which only made me feel that much more afraid. Knowing that we really didn't have a chance, she did the one thing that could save us. She lifted her head to the sky and howled loudly calling out to Carwyn, knowing that he would come to our rescue immediately. As she howled for a second time we were hit in the side and sent flying across the small clearing, hitting a large tree. The loud cracking sound that filled the air confirmed my worse fear that something was broken, the burning pain in my ribs seconded that theory. I knew in wolf form it wouldn't take too long to heal but that didn't make it hurt any less. Looking up hoping to see my attacker, I came face to face with a small white wolf, with black and grey patches around its face and legs. It was clearly a small female but she was strong for her size. Behind her there was about four other wolves, possibly more but my vision was starting to blur as I think I had hit my head. Judging by their size there was a mixture of males and females. What surprised me was how clean and groomed most of them were, a couple seemed quite shaggy and dirty, but the others appeared looked after. Something here wasn't right. I would have said they were rogues, well at least some of them were, but the others they were pack wolves. What were pack wolves doing working with rogues? What were they doing on our land, what were they after, why now? I was ripped from my thoughts as the small wolf in front of me growled fiercely, saliva dripping from her sharp teeth. Her eyes were wild and full of hate, I gulped knowing this wolf wanted to kill me. She slowly edged towards me growling all the while, snapping her jaws at me as she got closer. The others just waited patiently baring their teeth at me, obviously waiting for the order to attack. Not liking the fact that she was being threatened, Cwen pulled us up to our feet and growled back at the wolf, pain shooting up our side all the while. She stayed strong and stood her ground not showing any sign of weakness. The wolf crouched down ready to pounce, growling louder than before. Suddenly there was a blur of black and grey, a large wolf, obviously an Alpha, stood between me and the wolves. He growled loudly forcing them back, all except the small leader. She stood her ground, not seeming the least bit intimidated. He snapped at her fiercely and she snapped back, obviously sensing she was fighting a losing battle she growled before taking off, the others following her. She stopped once and looked back at the male in front of me before disappearing into the night. My heart was pounding and Cwen was panting, the pain in our side wasn't getting any better for some reason. The male turned towards me whining slightly, making me look up at him. He took a step towards me, but stopped as Cole's white wolf came charging out from the trees. The black and grey wolf stepped a little closer to me letting me lean against him, as my legs nearly gave way. As his fur touched mine a familiar cold uneasy feeling filled me. My saviour was Jude. I tried to move away from him, but I just didn't have the strength. As Cole grew closer he let out a small warning growl to Jude, telling him to step away. As he did Cole took his place and somehow managed to drape me over his back. I yelped out in pain as his back pressed into my ribs, he whined before taking off back towards the house. He tried to make it as pain free for me as he could but soon enough the pain became too much and my world became black.