The Journey

Chapter 3

Rosa's POV:

The smells of the forest brought in comforting memories as I jogged through bushes and past trees, sniffing for my alpha who had hidden himself quite well. The howls of the hunt reached my ears as my feet pushed forwards, leading me to a small river going downstream.

I paused by the water, noticing Richard's scent disappearing with the water and mixing with the mud and gunk. I smirked in my head and took a small drink from the stream, moving down the side and following the obvious tracks Richard had accidentally left behind. His scent had picked up again after half an hour of jogging and I followed the scent towards a large tree.

Shifting into human form, my instincts told me to move as alpha Richard dropped down from the tree and smiled at me, before he sprinted off in the opposite direction. Startled, I chased after him, leaping off a fallen log and shifting back into wolf form mid-air. My wolf was smaller and faster than his, meaning I could catch up eventually but it was going to require patience and skill. I also had to make sure none of the other wolves caught our scent as I chased him.

Alpha Richard turned his head to look at me, but as he was distracted, his paw caught a loose rock in the ground which caused him to stumble. I immediately caught up to him and pounced onto his back, pushing my claws in gently to give me a good grip as he ran back to the pack house. I growled lowly and placed my teeth softly around his neck to symbolise the hunt being completed. His wolf howled and I threw my head back with my own howl of victory.

I heard the pack's response as they howled congratulations or cheered, my heart swelling with pride as I jumped off of Richard's back when we arrived at the pack house. Anthony, Tim and Will came rushing out of the forest, huffing and growling playfully at each other as they moved towards me and bowed their heads as a submission to my defeat. I nodded back at them then looked up at the shifted Richard feeling my pride grow at the knowledge that I had managed to catch him.

"Rosa is the first winner! But, this is not the end of the festival and there is still more to come. For tonight, we shall feast and allow our competitors to rest in preparation for tomorrow's challenge." Richard said loudly, as the pack nodded and cheered at the mention of a feast. I gleamed at Anthony as he shifted and gave me a bright smile. "Great job Rosa! it's good that luck proceeds you, tomorrow you may not be so fortunate." He winked then headed inside with the rest of the pack, ready for the feast.

I huffed at his silly comment but shifted back, putting on my black leggings and oversized shirt. I was ready for bed, being exhausted from all of the running throughout the day, but I also knew I had to join Richard and Tony for our feast. Grumbling softly, i headed towards the back porch, but stopped as I heard a rustle in the bush. "Huh, weird. No one else is out here." I whispered before sniffing the air. Shrugging as all I could smell were the scents of my pack, I turned around and continued to walk into the house.

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After the long feast, I dragged myself up to my room and plopped onto my bed, sighing as relief tugged at my muscles, lulling me into a sleepy trance. I decided to get ready for bed and took a long and hot shower, then brushed my teeth and undressed. I preferred sleeping in wolf form, which was common for bitten wolves, but strange for my pack members. I shifted and jumped up onto my bed, pulling my blankets around me into a small donut shape that surrounded me without covering me. I huffed and wrapped my tail around my side, pulling it in front of my eyes and falling asleep slowly.

Jolting awake to the sound of a soft growl, I sat up on my bed and looked out of my large window. Curious about the wolf standing outside the house, I pushed open the doors to my balcony and walked out, sniffing the air tensely. I growled angrily at the scent. Rogues. A lot of them. I howled out a warning to the pack and then turned my attention back to the rogues that had begun to circle around the large house. They looked up to alpha Richard's window and I growled in warning, this caused their attention to fall to me as they finally noticed me in wolf form standing tall and tense. One large wolf growled at me then charged into the back door of the house, at the same time I heard another wolf bash against the front door.

I realised we were surrounded and whined softly at the idea of losing my family and friends. I rushed back into my room and out into the hallways, looking around at all of the young wolves around me before making a choice. I shifted and spoke quickly and loud enough for all of them to hear. "Pups, we are surrounded. It is imperative that all of you are kept safe as our warriors fight against the threat. I will take you to the safe house then return to help alpha Richard. Please, come with me!" The older teenagers nodded slightly and the younger pups looked terrified as they shook their heads yes. I gestured to the second oldest wolf there and told him to take a section of the pups with him, it was best to stay in groups when going to the safe house as it was quite far from the main pack house.

The oldest teen and myself took the rest of the pups down the large hallway towards the steps into the foyer. I looked to the front door and saw it shake as the wolf barged into it again. I told the pups to hold onto each other and run to the safe house, they nodded and did as I told them to. The door shook again as the weight of the wolf strained against the hinges. I prepared myself for the fight to come and shifted into war form. My war form was large, with a mostly honey-brown pelt and white patches along my paws and chest. My paws had razor sharp, pearly-white claws that broke some of the marble beneath them, but I stood my ground as the door smashed open.

Warriors rushed in from the front door and I gave a chilling growl, causing them to pause slightly before continuing to rush in. I leapt towards the biggest wolf, clamping my jaws onto its front leg and tumbling down with it, growling as it tried to bite me back. Moving its paw away from my face, I pushed my head into its neck, biting down harshly and tasting the blood pour into my mouth. I growled and ripped out a chunk of its neck, moving away from it and towards another one as the warriors from my pack rushed into the room.

The battle raged on and once the front foyer was cleared, I rushed to the back of the house but stopped dead in my tracks. All across the backyard there was chaos, with bodies strewn everywhere and the whole clearing covered in blood and guts. It smelt rotten and I gagged at the horrible stench but pushed into the fight, tearing apart a few wolves on my way to Anthony and Richard. They were surrounded by a large group of about twenty wolves but seemed confident. I sat back a bit and watched them, worried but also confident. I ripped apart any wolves that came close to them or myself, but still kept back from their fight.

As three wolves attacked Anthony and three attacked Richard from the front, two wolves inched up behind them and pounced onto their backs. The men yelped in surprise and tried to buck them off whilst I sprinted towards the large group of wolves. The wolves growled and blocked me off as the two on Anthony and Richard each leant down to their necks and ripped multiple chunks out, growling happily as the life faded from their eyes. I froze in anger, my wolf crying at the loss of her alpha and beta whilst I just stood still. Everything seemed to stop, a wolf came running towards me and I growled before realising it was the third in command, William. He gave me a sad look before yelling out, "Rosa, you need to run! Go, get out of here, please get to the safe house and ensure the women and pups are safe. They need you!" I looked back to Anthony and Richard, letting a few tears fall before nodding at William and sprinting off to the safe house.

By the time I arrived twenty minutes later, the safe house had been destroyed, most of the women and pups' corpses burnt to a crisp just outside the door as the fire raged throughout the small safe house. I howled in pain and tried to mindlink anyone from the pack. Hello? Is anyone still here with me? I can't lose anyone else!  I got no response...

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AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!!
So, this book is crappy, I know. But for reference, the wolf at the beginning is Rosa's wolf (AKA Kieera) when she is in war form. Also, a war form is kind of like the form wolves use when they are in very violent combat. Combat shifting is the ability to shift faster than average, basically, Richard's pack, the ShadowPaws all had to be able to do it. This meant that they could shift mid-air and not have to take five minutes at least. I might be explaining a lot of stuff about this book in my notes but if you don't want to read them it's cool.
Thanks for reading my book :)