Wolver's Rescue (28 page)

One thing about the group bothered him more
than their strength. None of them fit the description Samuel had
given of the Alpha. He should be here, not because his prowess was
necessary for the defeat of a lowly band of omegas, but because he
would enjoy watching as they were torn to bits.

Would he come from the opposite direction as
Bull planned to do? He was the one Bull needed to find, to attack
and bring low, so that the others could move in for the kill. They
had no Alpha to stand for them. They had to do it for themselves.
They were cutting their warrior teeth, too.

There was no time to worry about the Alpha’s
whereabouts. The moon was rising and calling him to go over. His
wolf snarled and snapped as Bull fought the shift, stored the power
of it and called on the moon for more. He watched the bright
flashes of light burst below him as the enemy turned to wolf and
trotted in formation up into the campground where their victims
awaited. It was another mistake. They should have waited until the
camp was in sight before they shifted.

Knuckles braced against the damp ground,
chest hovering over the knee of his solidly anchored leg, free leg
braced behind him ready to push off, Bull was a runner awaiting the
starting shot.

It came with four faint flashes of light that
came from the camp. They appeared weak only because the wolvers in
the camp had shifted in the shelter of the bus where the blocked
windows hid the truth. The attacking wolvers broke into a run as
they rounded the bend and disappeared. The race was on.

Bull sprinted down from his hideout, covered
the grassy area around the showers with long and powerful strides,
and cut through the trees, flying with the crow instead of the
road.

A high pitched, earsplitting sound soared up
over the trees. It was more wail than scream, more howl than wail.
It wasn’t the fearful scream they planned, but there was something
in it that made Bull smile. Helen had argued loudly against the
plan and conceded only when outvoted by the others. The big woman
had done her job, but was still angry, and God help the wolver who
stepped in her path.

Bull pulled in more of the full moon’s power
as he ran. He focused it in the part of his mind where he needed it
most. He threw out his arms, the racer breaking the finish line
tape and let the power go. He sent it soaring out over the wolver
camp, a shock wave of energy that sent the women over the moon and
stunned the enemy with its force.

He pulled the power back into himself and
with a burst of blue-white light, Bull shifted to wolf and charged
into the center of the fight.

~*~

The shack was just that; a shack. The low
growth of brush and trees around it said it hadn’t been used in
years. The roof was solid. The walls were vertical boards that had
gaps wide enough to slide your hand through. After the boys made
sure the place was clear of four-legged vermin, they moved in and
settled down.

It was already past the pup’s bedtime and at
Macey’s quiet suggestion, they made the little ones walk for the
last leg of the journey. They were exhausted and curled into their
blankets without complaint.

“
What do we do now?” one of
the cubs whispered.

“
We wait for Bull to bring
us home. Now settle down and get some sleep. I’ll keep watch and
wake you if I need you?”

“
Promise?”

“
Promise.”

The cubs settled in, but Tommie knew they
wouldn’t sleep. They were old enough to know what was happening
back at camp and smart enough to be afraid. It wasn’t long before
all three were propping their heads up on their elbows and waiting,
too. Finally, the question came that Tommie was dreading.

“
What’s going to happen to
us if...” The cub let the question hang.

“
Will they make us go
back?”

“
I’ll run away. I’m not
going back.”

“
No one’s going back. If the
worst happens, we head northeast. As soon as we get to a road or a
town, we call the number in this little backpack. Bull gave it to
me. He said they’d help us. There’s a little money in there, too.
We’ll be wounded, but we’ll be all right.”

“
But what will happen to us
once this friend of Bull’s gets us?”

“
You’re stuck with me, I’m
afraid. I promised your parents I would stand by you, protect you,
and love you. Now, I’m making that promise to you. You’d be my
family. We’d be a pack.”

“
Not without an Alpha, we
wouldn’t.”

Tommie gave a soft and whispery laugh. “Then
we’ll have to find one of those, but if he won’t take all of us
just as we are, then we won’t go.”

While the boys asked all the questions, Macey
was silent, and Tommie couldn’t tell what she was thinking. The
boys, however, were nodding their heads, satisfied that there was a
plan in place. Their minds were on the future, which in their
current circumstances was better than the present.

The moon rose and Tommie didn’t need to see
the sky. She felt it in her heart. Her wolf howled with it and she
heard it as a cry for Bull. Macey’s hand crept into hers as, in the
distance, a long and fearsome howl sounded in seeming reply.

It was a moment before Tommie realized the
girl beside her was crying.

“
It’s really happening,
isn’t it,” Macey whispered. “Bull was telling the truth. They’re
going to attack aren’t they? They’re going to take the boys and
pups and make them into examples for the others. You wouldn’t have
made plans if it wasn’t really going to happen.” She stood and
began gathering the bags. “Get the pups. Hurry. We have to
go.”

“
Macey, honey, it’s all
right. We’re safe here.”

“
No. No! You don’t
understand. They’re coming to get me. I told them where we’d
be.”

As planned, the camp males were attacked
first. Bull tore through the camp, snapping and tearing at random
enemy targets, throwing off the rhythm of their assaults. He
assessed each conflict, lending aid where needed. Some fared better
than others. Stretch, longer and leaner than his long legged
opponent, was unaffected by the heights the wolver could reach. He
wasn’t doing much more than ducking and dodging, but if points were
scored for being a pain in the ass, he would win hands down. Twice
in the few seconds Bull watched, the thief nipped his opponent’s
hind quarters. If he survived this battle, Stretch would have to
learn that bite and tear were more effective than nip.

Samuel was having a harder time. While he
could run on three legs, he lacked the balance needed to fight. The
bulky wolf broadsided him repeatedly, but the old wolf didn’t give
up. He righted, rolled and dove. He was badly slashed and bleeding
while his opponent had one small tear in his ear.

It was Bull’s first intervention. He barreled
into the heavy wolf, turning at the last moment, sinking his teeth
into the heavy wolf’s ruff. The fur was too thick for his fangs to
cause damage, but he rolled and dragged the wolf with him. His hind
claws raked the wolf’s back and drew blood. Bull continued the
roll, twisted free and slashed at the face. His fang left a streak
of red over one eye. The wolf cried out, snarled and turned away
and into the silent and slow thinking Sarah who sank her teeth into
the underside of his jaw and came away with a hank of bloodied fur.
The wounded wolf lashed out, catching Sarah’s side. She screamed
with the pain. Bull tore into the throat exposed by the move and it
was done. The assailants now numbered five.

And suddenly, they were four. Boris was under
attack by the much smaller wolf who darted and dove and bit with a
ferocity that was twice its size. Speed was its advantage and it
pressed that advantage to the limit, quickly catching on to Boris’s
blind side and concentrating its efforts there. Boris’s size worked
against him. He couldn’t turn fast enough to avoid the slicing of
the smaller wolf’s fangs. He was bleeding badly and weakening. He
fell and the smaller wolf leapt, but he never connected. He was
torn from the air by a set of lethal looking teeth and tossed to
the side. The grey who owned those teeth, slashed once at the
smaller wolf, snarled, and finished it with bone crunching
finality.

The grey was not one of theirs, but one of
their attackers. When he moved toward Boris, Bull was ready to
attack, but the grey stood over the cook and dared Bull to try. His
display of protection was surprising.

Molly, Cora, and Helen, had another wolver
surrounded. The three women worked together, taking all their pent
up resentment out on their victim. Cora dove for the face. Helen
swung her heavy hip into the beast’s and it was the male who lost
his footing and went down. Molly tore viciously at the ham string
and the wolver was doomed.

Shorty screamed and went down and the sound
tore through Bull. His wolf’s rage burned through him and he drove
the attacker back in silent fury. His fangs lashed out. Teeth and
claws raked. The attacker defended itself, but Bull could smell the
creature’s fear and his wolf was incensed by it. It tried to get
away by crawling under the bus, but Bull sank his teeth into the
animal’s hind quarters and dragged him out into the open.

He showed no mercy, because he had no mercy.
This beast had dared to attack what was his and now it would pay
the price.

The remaining wolf tore off into the woods
with four of the little band after it.

The Alpha’s cadre of six had expected a quick
slaughter of five useless omegas. What they got was a band of
eleven who had serious issues with the pack that had treated them
so badly. Paybacks really were hell.

A scream from the woods said the battle was
over.

~*~

Tommie saw it in her mind; how Macey wasn’t
surprised to see the wolver at the showers, how the girl spent all
her time there or reading in the tree, how exciting it would seem
for a lonely girl to live the kind of romantic adventure she read
about in books.

She slapped the bags from Macey’s hands,
grabbed the sobbing girl’s shoulders, and shook her. Hard.

“
You left the messages in
the tree. Didn’t you?” she asked, not caring that her voice sounded
more like a snarl. “How much did you tell them?” When Macey only
bobbed her head, Tommie shook the girl again. “How much, damn
it?”

“
I told him that you were
taking us to the shack. The boys told me where it was and I told
him,” the girl sobbed. There was no need to ask who it was she
told.

“
Bull. Did you tell them
about Bull? Did you tell them about the women?”

Bull’s strategy depended on surprise. He
wasn’t there for the first standoff. They didn’t know he existed
and without him the women couldn’t change. If there was any hope of
success, the Alpha had to believe he would be fighting a weakened
force of males.

“
No! He didn’t care about
the camp,” Macey answered. “He said the camp would be no problem
once he had you and the young. He said no problem,” she repeated
and began to sob again. “I thought he meant he’d leave them alone,
but he didn’t, he didn’t.”

“
No, he didn’t,” Tommie said
harshly. She had no time for mercy. “Which one of you is fastest?”
she asked the cubs. They didn’t waste time arguing. Daniel stepped
forward.

“
I am.”

“
Good. Go back to camp. If
there’s been no attack, you tell Bull we need him here. If there’s
fighting, you wait. Don’t put yourself in danger.” She scooped up
her backpack and handed it to him. There was no time to be gentle.
“If there’s no one left to help, it’s up to you to find a phone and
call the number. If no one answers, leave a message. Say Bull’s
name. You’re the only hope we’ve got, Daniel. You run like you
never have before, but be careful. Don’t get caught. Got it?”
Daniel nodded and she pushed him toward the door. “Go!”

As soon as he was gone, she turned to the
other two. “We need weapons, rocks, branches, I don’t care,
anything we can use to defend this shack.”

“
But if they come as wolves,
Primal Law...” one started to interrupt.

“
They won’t,” she snapped.
“If their plan is to take us, they have to do it as men.” Belatedly
she added, “And the Law doesn’t apply to us.”

Tommie had no idea if it did or not, but Bull
said it could be overridden and if ever there was a time to do it,
it was now. She knew she was right, but they had to understand
it.

“
Hear me
.” Her incensed wolf screamed for her to listen. Tommie closed
her eyes and the answer was there.

“
You aren’t adult wolvers
yet, you can’t fight as wolves, but you can fight as men and you
will follow the Law. Protect unmated females and pups. Now go, get
what we need and keep your eyes and ears open. If you can’t help
beyond that, stay out of my way.”

As soon as they were gone, Macey started
talking.

“
He said he’d only hold you
for ransom, that once they paid the ten thousand dollars, he’d let
you go.”

“
They don’t have ten
thousand dollars, Macey. You were there. You heard
Samuel.”

Tommie felt like she was split in two. Her
human mind spoke words while her body followed her wolf. She began
hurling bags and blankets out the door. She needed room to
fight.

“
I thought he meant Bull
would pay it?”

“
How could he if he doesn’t
know Bull exists?” One of the toddlers sat up and began to cry and
at the sound, another began to stir. “I don’t have time for this,”
she said to the girl who was still trying to explain. “Stop your
crying and take care of the pups. You wanted to be an adult, now
act like one.”