Logan's Mountain

Logan's Mountain: Chapter 2

The next few weeks had gone just as Michael had predicted.  Alpha Brett had been absolutely furious about the mission's failure, enough so that he had slashed Michael's face deeply- but not enough to keep Michael from working.  And work he did...

The Beta had contacted every strong Alpha within the region, but none of them had a clue who Logan might be-- or so they claimed.  Michael was pretty sure that he'd detected more than a hint of dishonesty in some of their voices.  He was dubious about their claims, but he couldn't press any of these men on his suspicions.  They were Alphas and he was a mere Beta asking for a bit of help.

The various Alpha's and their quavering voices greatly worried Michael, but one thing did reassure him.  Whatever it was that was up that mountain, it was Brett's problem now, and the Alpha didn't actually seem to be afraid to deal with it.  Alhough it was also true that Michael wasn't entirely sure that Alpha Brett wasn't merely assuming that his Beta was incompetent and that the severity of the problem had been overstated.

Brett had been assembling an attack team while leaving the day to day operations of the Pack (and everything else) to his Beta.  He'd gathered a group of about a dozen men and he had been drilling them himself.  Michael and the two Deltas had been left completely out of the operation and none of the men involved with Brett would give Michael any information about what was coming.  So he was left to speculate.

"These guys are our worst men, Red.  Not one of them show any discipline whatsoever.   All of them are very weak wolves."

"Some of them fight extremely well, Beta."

"Oh sure... in the challenge ring or in a bar-fight, but as a cohesive unit, under real combat conditions, not a single one of these guys will even hear their commander's orders during a conflict, much less be able to instantly follow them.  They'll let their battle rage consume them and without a host of officers to calm them when things go wrong, they'll go berserk."

"They won't all break," Radley said defensively.

"No, but once the weaker ones give themselves over to their wolves, then the next weaker one will be more likely to follow the first ones into madness.  I'm betting that Brett will lose control of half his men at first blood."

"Alpha Brett thinks that you are wrong."

"I know he does," Michael said regretfully, "and when I told him my opinion, he gave me this," he said, pointing to the new scar across his face.  "But men are going to pay for his certainty with their lives if he takes these guys up that mountain."

"But Mike, they are all honoured to go with him on a secret mission, while we are stuck here and directed to keep the lights on and a welcome mat waiting for their return."

"Then these men are involved for the wrong reasons.  They are seeking excitement and looking after their own promotion rather than to serve and protect the pack."

Redmond thought about this for a bit and then replied, "Mike, if you are right about them, then truly, they are weak wolves."

"I'm not wrong Red, but I sure hope that I'll be proven so in the long run."

Radley shook his head and said, "I'm pretty sure that I heard one of the guys say that they are going to leave for the mountain at dusk tonight."

"That's even worse then... that means that they are going to attack at night- on ground they are not familiar with and against an enemy who undoubtedly knows his land like the back of his hand.  Brett may be a stern leader, but if he thinks these are smart tactics, he's never been involved in a border skirmish."

"Can we stop them," Redmond asked, with alarm in his voice.

"I wish we could, but he gave me a direct order not to speak with any of them about this until they return."