An Alpha without a Pack

Chapter 23

The cave went silent.

I stood there frozen, my fingers wrapped around the Catcher tightly and my eyes squeezed shut. The teeth and claws that I was expecting from the attack never came.

Forcing my body to relax, except for my grasp on the still glowing artifact, I slowly turned around and was confused by what I found. An empty cave. I let out a breath that I was unknowingly holding and looked at the Catcher. The glow seemed to be pulsating now.

Did I just use the Catcher, or did it just work on its own? I asked myself.

After a moment of debating on if I should keep the Catcher or not, I carefully placed it back on its hook on the stone wall.

With my senses on high alert, I gingerly made my way out of the cave. As soon as I walked through the stone doorway, the stone slab slid back up, sealing the Catcher and it's mysterious, pulsating glow away. Little did I know that the key had secretly appeared around my neck, no longer tugging towards the boulder, nor was it glowing anymore.

I quickly pushed the ancient artifact from my mind and began making my way back to the battlefield. My body was too tired or else I would have run back.

This resulted in taking a full ten minutes. By the time I got there, I realized that the fighting had ceased. In fact, everyone was helping each other. The Ruby wolves were helping as well. I carefully made my way through the injured towards space where my old home once stood. Katie looked up from a wounded black and grey wolf and noticed me making my way towards her. She got someone else to take care of the wolf and ran in my direction. When she reached me, she wrapped me in a tight hug.

"Thank the moon that you are alright," She said holding me tightly. "There was nothing I could do but watch in horror as Jake had managed to elude the fighting and go after you. I had managed to send wolves after him, but it was too late, and he was much too quick."

"I'm okay, dear sister," I mumbled into her shoulder. Someone walked by us, passing me a white sheet so I could cover myself up. "Are you okay? What happened while I was gone?"

"I'm okay. Nothing more than a few bumps and scrapes. The fighting continued after you and Jake had gone after the Catcher.

But after a while, half of the Ruby pack just vanished."

"What do you mean they just vanished?"

"Just that. They went, poof! Gone into thin air. The remaining wolves halted the fighting and surrendered."

Half of the Ruby pack just vanished, just like Jake did in the cave. "I didn't realize that the Catcher would make all of them disappear as well," I whispered, lost in thought.

"What about the Catcher, Sophie?" The concern and confusion were evident in Katie's voice.

"I found the Catcher and when I grasped it, scared for my life, Jake disappeared. I was unaware that it would make half his pack disappear as well. I just wanted the threat to go away."

"You didn't specify the threat you wanted to go away," someone said behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Martha, bloodied, standing tall just a few feet away. Her beautiful fiery hair was now clumped with dirt and blood. "I assume the Catcher made everything that was a threat to you or to your pack disappear. Just like you wanted."

Shoving the crawling thoughts of me making a lot of people disappear out my mind, I looked around at everything that was going on around me. Wolves from three different packs were helping each other. Two Emerald members were caring for a Ruby member who had deep gashes along her back. A Sapphire member was putting a sling onto an Emerald. A few Rubies were helping separate the living from the dead.

Dead. There were dead wolves, all for stupid power.

I pushed those thoughts from my mind as well as looked at the terrifying beautiful scene.

"I guess the Rubies that are still here never wanted to hurt the Silver pack," Martha said stepping up beside me. "Now that Jake and his father are gone, they are able to do what want."

"That is until they get a new alpha," I commented.

A movement to our right caught my attention. I looked over to see Rick, his left arm in a sling, use his uninjured arm to help a woman off the ground. I recognized the woman almost instantly. She was the woman with different shades of purple hair who went to Mr. Smith's candy shop searching for me. I guess she never really believed in what her alpha was fighting for. Rich helped her get steady on her feet before looking in my direction. Relief and happiness crossed his handsome face as he realized that I was okay. He gave me a broad smile and waved with his uninjured arm.