Not A Love Story

Out of the Blue

  Leona's POV

  I can hear someone calling to me in the back of my mind. The voice gets louder and louder.

  "Leona! Leona! Get up!! Hurry!"

  My eyes fly open. "What, what's going on?!"

  "They're attacking!" Sara cries. "Everyone's in the forest! You have to hurry!"

   "The Eclipse pack?" I say, shocked.

   "Yes!" sobs Sara, "We need to go right now!"

  "Alright, I'm coming!"

I throw on a jacket and sneakers and run along with Sara throught the woods. "Where are they?" I ask her.

"I don't know!" She replies.

Together, we wander aimlessly throughout the woods, trying to find them. I'm just starting to think we'll never find anyone and we'll be in the woods forever when a snarl cuts the air like a knife cutting butter.

We look at each other and race through the trees. We come to a small clearing. Standing there are wolves, of all sizes in color. Each wolf looks like any other wolf I've seen. I can't tell which is which. That is, until I see Jake. He's standing by the biggest sandy-tan colored wolf I've ever seen, including the ones that attacked me in... in...

I gasp. "What's wrong?" Sara looks concerned.

"I've been here before," I say, more to myself than Sara. This is really close our home, the same clearing I was attacked in.

While I'm strolling down a dark sideroad off Memory Lane, Sara's looking at me as if I've lost my mind. "You couldn't have been here," She whispers, "This isn't even our territory. See the different sides? We're standing on our territory, and the Eclipses' on theirs."

"Why are you whispering?" I say in my normal voice. 

"Shh!" She hisses. Sara points to the wolves, the Eclipse pack hasn't noticed us yet but a small-well large really but small for a giant werewolf-  wolf with a multicolored pelt is giving us the stink-eye.( look over there! ->) With a shock, I realize it's my mother.

She gestures with her tail towards a clump of bracken. Her meaning is clear. You can watch, but remain hidden. While that's happening, I'm standing there like a idiot with my mouth open trying to get over the fact my mom is a giant canine.

Sara has to drag me over.

We watch through the leafy tendrils of the plant. It's boring. It rather looks like Jake's father and the Eclipse's Alpha are having a staring contest. 

"What are they doing?" Sara whispers.

"I don-wait! I think they're talking with their minds," I say, remebering something Kate had told me. "Like telepathy or something."

We sit in silence for a while. Then Sara breaks it again. "Where's Dad?"

"What?!" I hiss, shocked.

"You said he was in the Eclipse pack," Sara says calmly, "So who do you think he is?"

"Not sure." I reply. Lots of them I could possibly see as a father, but not my father. There are so many of the Eclipse pack we're outnumbered 3 to 1. "Where are the others?" I ask, panicked.

"What do you mean?" Sara replies.

Panic was rising in my chest. "There's we're way outnumbered! This can't be it!"

"I thinks it is," Sara says quietly.

After that, we're silent. Minutes pass. I feels like hours.

Then, the Eclipse's Alpha gives a howl. A command. All the wolves surge forward in wave after wave of fur. A large dark brown wolf comes bounding our way.

I grab Sara's arm. "Run!" I yell.

You know those jokes about how when a bear is chasing you, you don't have to be faster than the bear, only faster than the guy next to you? I feel like it's the opposite. If It came down to me or Sara, I'll have to make sure it's me.

I know there's no way either of us is going to outrun the wolf. Even with our headstart, we have to face the facts. Sara, fast as she may be, is just eight. I'm older, but I have my leg to worry about. Even though it's healed, I still can't run on it yet, at least not as fast as I used to.

The wolf has almost caught up to us when a sound that's a combination like someone dropping a bunch of textbooks on a marbe floor, and a tree branch breaking. I risk a glance over my shoulder to see the dark brown wolf lying on the forest floor with another dark-colored wolf on top of it. The two wolves tussle for a while until the new wolf, the bigger one, barks in the smaller one's face. Then they get up and race towards the clearing like nothing happened.

We don't stop running until we get to the Pack House.

We sit in silence on the porch eyeing the forest warily. We keep waiting for something to jump out at us. "Look!" Sara suddenly shouts. Some shapes walk out of the woods. People shapes. When Mom walks up, I ask, "What happened?"

She has a grim look on her face. All she does it nod her head behind her where Jake, still in wolf form, is carrying something out of the trees, obviously trying not to bump it on the ground.

It's his father. He's dead.

"How did that happen?" I ask, choked up. All I can think of is how nice Max was to everyone. How he helped train the kids.

Mom shook her head. "We're not quite sure. We know he was fighting the Alpha when we last saw him, but then we went into a different section of the woods, and the next thing we know, the Alpha's packmates are retreating. We just found Max, lying there."

Kate walks up to Jake. We're close enough so we could here their conversation. "Jake," She says, "You know your fathers plan for if we lost. We need to follow through with it."

Jake growled and turned away. "I know you don't like it," She said, "but what choice do we have? The Eclipse pack will come here by tomorrow morning, and you know better than anyone that we can't win."

Jake says nothing.

"You're our Alpha now!" Kate shrieks, her voice rising in pitch and loudness. "Your father left you his pack! You're our leader! So get some backbone and LEAD!"

Sullivan comes up to Jake. "She's right," He says. "I was your fathers' Beta, and I don't know if I'll still be now that he's gone, but let me tell you this: your father wasn't a dumb man. He knew what he was doing. He knew we couldn't win with our current numbers. So all I'm saying is: This is our last chance. We can either try this, or be forced to leave or worse. Think about the good of the pack."

Jake's wolf remains still then gives a nod. Sullivan walks away to start talking to other pack members. Kate walks up to me. "Pack up," She says, "We're leaving."

"Where?" I ask, bemused.

"The only place left," Kate sighs. "The mountains. They're our last chance."