The Wolves of the Gems

Chapter 9

28 miles from territory border: Mountain Pack Territory: Mountain Pass: Late Spring

The full moon shone above the land. The mountains rose from the earth, reaching into the sky, like predatory teeth. A thin path from the sumit of the highest mountain ran right to the top. Four wolves followed the path up the mountain. The Rogue Pack beta, Scars, led the group, with the brown delta, Danger, behind him and two designated hunters followed behind him.

"I told you attacking the nomad would be useless," Danger insisted, glaring at the scarred wolf. Scars snapped his head towards the younger male, his teeth bared.

"Watch your tone, pup," he snarled, stalking closer to the brown wolf. But the younger male stood his ground.

Since there was not much room to manourver, Danger knew that it would be reckless for Scars to attack him. The brown male glared directly into Scars' narrowed, yellow eyes, as if he was challenging him. Scars rose his tail, baring his teeth as he turned around and continued to walk up the path.

Scars hated the wolf, but he knew he would most likely never get the chance to kill him. When in a fight, Danger would purposely get himself trapped, before he would launch his attack. The brown wolf would become aggressive in a high stress situation like that, but he could somehow master it and be a force to reckon with.

As the group walked into the den site, Scars glanced towards his sister, Victoria. Scars had always believed he would be his father's predessor, being the oldest, but Victoria had always been his father's favourite.

Scars paused in his tracks as a gun-metal grey wolf with rusty brown and black markings crossed his path. The two only shared a glance of narrowed eyes before Ghost followed the same path down the mountain the four had come up.

"That wolf scares me," Danger thought a loud, watching the scout leave the densite. Scars nodded his head once, silently argeeing with the delta. The beta flicked his torn, right ear, turning to face his sister and alphess.

The grey wolf with red stained wolf approached her larger brother. "Let me guess, you found no sign of them," Victoria spoke in a sickly sweet voice. Scars lowered his black head, nodding once. Victoria bared her teeth slightly, annoyed at her beta's failure. "You're rate of failure has risen, Brother, but to keep this hidden from the rest of the Rogues, I have sent Ghost out to find any sign of them, once she finds them, you and your group are to be sent out to finish them, understood?"

"Understood, Alpha," Scars kept his head lowered until Victoria walked past them.

"Wow, you're getting replaced by a scout," Danger smirked, his head raised high as he walked passed the beta.

"Shut up, Runt," Scars growled, snapping his head towards Danger.

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At the summit of the mounatin, the air was eerie, it was the darkest part of the Mountain Pack Territory. Most wolves would avoid it if they had the chance. But Ghost was not most wolves. Ghost feared almost nothing and the dark was something she thrived in. Except there was another reason she wasn't afraid. Unlike other wolves, Ghost could see the spirits of the dead. That's why many also feared her.

Ghost wandered through the forest at the bottom of the mountain. Her yellow eyes taking in every detail, every tree, every branch, every leaf as she walked. They were filled with nothing but determination to finish the task at hand. Ghost paused in her tracks when she spotted something that had become all too familiar over the past few weeks. It was a red fox spirit that would continually disappear and reappear when the grey female was alone.

"What do you want?" Ghost inquired, baring her fangs and snarled, flattening her ears. The fox simply raised its transparent head and ran off into the darkness of the forest. "Hey, wait!" Ghost ordered, running after it. While Ghost had to jump over logs and run under branches, the fox simply ran through them.

Ghost rounded a corner to see the fox stand at a group of rocks before disappearing. The scout flattened her ears, annoyed and turned around. But a glint from the rocks caught her eye. She narrowed her eyes and turned back around, cautiously walking to the rocks. Ghost had seen many glints, but they were metallic, usually bear traps or wire, but this, this was different. As she neared, Ghost noticed it was smooth, like marble.

Ghost stood over the rocks, looking down on what had caused the glint. It was a small object, black in colour. It shimmered once she laid eyes in it. Black material formed from the gem as Ghost lowered her head. Ghost recognised the gem from the stories. It belonged to the Mountain Lion Guardian, Dea, the Guardian of the Death Gem.