I keep on being surprised by how good of a reception my story is receiving and I am so grateful to everyone who has voted and/or commented. As always thank you to my editors mordbrand and MarieFlower. Please enjoy RwW Ch. 07 and tell me what you think.
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Ascending the final flight of stairs and turning the last corner, Kate prepared herself for what she was about to see. The scent of blood was thick in the air, a mix of wolf and human, but it was too muddled together to discern who it was coming from. The emotions streaming into her senses from the wolves around her were making it even more difficult to concentrate.
Orion was trying his best to keep his emotions in check, but the scent of his fear for his son was still strong on him. Hale was the same. They all knew Flint reaching out the way he had spelled disaster for him. Sol was more in control, but it was on her too.
Misty was also trying to keep it together. She couldn't completely fight off her instincts and they were probably screaming at her for leaving Dominic alone. If something happened to him, Kate knew there would be hell to pay.
As they turned the corner, the first person they saw was Day, a young wolf who had shifted the previous winter and had recently take his place as an Omega, hiding behind a toppled couch. To see him just crouching there, looking petrified, was an indication of who else was there, but the sounds of the battle drew Kate's attention and all else was put aside and forgotten. She allowed her training to focus her on what was important.
First, she registered Storm in his hybrid form, his golden blond body catching the light. He was pinning down a high ranking Theta she recognized as Spruce, his light brown fur darkened by the blood leaking from his multiple wounds. Thunder was behind them, holding off two other wolves. Cedar, another Theta, was on the attack, snarling and lunging at the hybrid, while Lark stayed back a ways, watching them fight it out. All of this was happening in the confined space about half way down the hall. To the right of the fighting groups and about 12 doors down was a partially broken door that looked as if one of them had slammed into it. The reinforced wood had held up, the shine of the metal center peeking through the layer of splintered wood. The scent of the human blood was leaking into the hallway through there.
Having judged what needed to be done, Kate charged, Cliff and Dagwood flanking her. She instinctively opened her mind to encompass Dagwood into hers and Cliff's bond, giving orders to go after the three lower ranking wolves and force them to submit. In their state of mind, the Alphas orders would not reach them, so they needed to break their focus from the fight and force them to stand down.
But they never got the chance.
Before they could make it more than a few strides down the hall, Orion's snarling command caused Kate to buckle and skid to a stop. His orders were clear.
He would take care of this.
The massive chocolate brown hybrid flew over them with a running jump. Kate had only seen him in such a state during the battles fought with the other packs. He was terrifying in this form, almost seven and a half feet tall and thick with muscle. Everything about him was lethal and powerful.
He didn't even attempt to slow his momentum as he barreled into Spruce, who had broken out of Storm's grasp and had him backed against a wall, his smaller size an advantage in the confined space. The impact leveled the bloody wolf, dropping him into a stunned heap on the floor within a second.
With one wolf down, Orion kept up his pace by blindsiding Cedar and grabbing him around the middle. He picked him up with little effort and threw him backwards, right into Spruce who was trying to get up again.
Lark didn't even attempt to fight. Before Orion could get to him he was on his back and showing his belly. Kate felt like snarling at him.
Orion did it for her, his teeth bared and snapping at Lark's exposed neck. His bite just barely grazed the skin, tearing a small clump of fur out. Had he been putting up a fight, Orion would have had cause to take a much larger chunk out.
"Would someone mind telling me what is going on here?" Sol strode forward. The rest of the spectators stayed back, allowing the Alphas to handle the situation without distraction. The only ones to move with their Madame Alpha were Kate, Dagwood, and Cliff. They stalked forward together, Kate watching the downed pack members intently. They may still be caught up in their instincts and lash out.
However, it was soon clear they were not. The two closest wolves, Spruce and Cedar, both cowered away from their Madam Alpha's glare, crawling on their bellies away from her to the wall. They were Thetas after all, it wasn't in their blood to handle direct negative attention from an Alpha. Lark just continued to hold his submissive position.
"Well?" Not getting her answer from the three before her, Sol turned around and addressed Day, who until then had been forgotten by most. "Come here, Day."
The young boy came scrambling forward, not willing to do anything that would upset his Madam Alpha further. She had a softer tone with him, seeing as how it was always his older brother, Lark, that started the trouble and he was just pulled along. She gave him a gentle but firm command. "Tell me what has happened here. What cause did your brother have to attack the humans?"
Day gulped loudly, glancing in the direction of his brother. The poor kid was more scared of him than his own Madam Alpha. "They, the humans, were wondering around the Den without a guard or verification of why they were here in the Den. While Lark was patrolling, he went to confront them and they, they and Flint attacked him. W-we came here to protect the pack, Madam Alpha." To Day, Kate knew it was the truth, but she knew Lark. Something was off and it had nothing to do with protecting the pack from unverified humans.
"Tell that punk ass to stop lying or I'll come out there and kick his fucking teeth in!" There was a muffled yell from down the hall. Kate could tell Ben meant what he said, even trapped behind the destroyed door. "They attacked first and we defended ourselves!"
Sol sighed. Kate knew this situation was not at all what her Madam Alpha wanted for the humans first real interaction between the humans and the pack. These humans had had enough of a problem getting here, it would be a wonder if they ever fully assimilated into the pack after this stunt. "I will get to the truth, Ben, you have my word. Storm, Thunder, take these four to the security room. Find the footage of this incident from start to finish, and find out why no one informed us of this situation before it escalated. We will be along shortly."
The two golden hybrids hesitated. The brothers looked at the broken door down the hall, a desperate look in their eyes, before Sol let out a low growl. Both wolves growled back in compliance and began herding the wayward pack members past the rest of them and away from the wing. Once out of sight, Orion allowed his anger to subside, but it was instantly replaced with the scent of worry. He moved to the broken door, sniffing and trying to open it. His clawed hand wasn't as dexterous as his human hand so he ended up just breaking off the knob and shoving the door open. There was the sound of a large piece of furniture moving, so Kate knew they had been smart enough to try and barricade the door.
As she watched her Alpha squeeze through the space he had made, she could hear the humans inside gasp at their first sight of him. She could still remember the first time she had seen Orion in his other forms. He was a sight to behold even all these years later. He was intimidating beyond belief.
With the door having been opened, the scent of human blood became more pronounced. It wasn't completely human though, it had wolf in it, which meant the blood belonged to Flint. Hale caught the scent too and was immediately running to get to the door. What ever had happened, this wasn't going to be pretty.
*
Inside of the barricaded room, Dominic watched as a wolf-man came almost scrambling through the door. Seeing him really was a shock, but having been confronted by something like him before he was able to keep it together. He needed to keep it together. If he didn't, the entire room would erupt with their fear and panic.
When Flint had told them he could contact his father, Dominic had been skeptical, but it was the only option other than leaving Flint to be killed by his own people. So together they had waited.
Flint had looked to be struggling with something seconds after starting. Sweat had begun to drip down his forehead, and his limbs began to posture. They had all been so focused on him that the first crash had sent most of them to the ceiling.
Lark had gotten through the security door. He had begun to yell at them, taunting them. He told them he was going to pay them back for humiliating him in his own Den, that he would kill every last one of them because no human bastards were going to take a higher position in the pack than he. Each one of his sentences had been punctuated by a body slam to the door.
Somehow the door held, bending inward instead of cracking. The metal inlay was doing its job but it would not last forever.
With each crash Samantha would scream, and with each taunt she would begin to cry harder. She was being affected far more than the others, her eyes unfocused as she was taken back to a dark place in her memory. She had been moved to the bathroom with Penny, the last semblance of a safe place if their room was breached. Dominic had been desperate to try and keep her calm but he was unable to in their situation. She was beyond his help at the moment and he needed to put his efforts into keeping the others calm.
Ben and Jarod had stood at the ready in front of the three on the couch, Ben growing more and more taught with each passing second. He was ready to fight the moment the door came down, his knife held tightly in his fist. Jarod was less focused, his attention split between the intruders trying to break in and Samantha's deteriorating state of mind. Dominic had snapped at him to focus on the door.
When a body hit the door a fourth time, and a noticeable dent popped up, Dominic had turned to Flint to see if he had done what he needed to do. Garrett was sitting next to him, trying to sooth Flint's contracting body. Whatever Flint was doing was costing him dearly, but not doing it would cost him even more. Running out of options, Dom had knelt down in front of Flint and grabbed his face, looking him dead in the eye.
Dominic told him that he was sorry for the pain he was in, but that he needed to do this or they would all die. They were counting on him to save them, and if he didn't push past the pain they would all end up dead. He brought up Penny, asking if his pain was worth letting that innocent baby be killed. If he wanted to be responsible for Samantha and Ben and Jarrod and Garrett being killed.
That had done the trick.
Flint's eyes flashed gold, he took in a deep breath, and for a split second he looked like he was in heaven. Then the blissful look vanished as his entire body began to contract all at once.
Flint had screamed like he had on the road to the warehouse, his muscles clenching and moving in inhuman ways as he cried out in such pain Dominic knew he was wishing for death. Flint fell to the side, curling into a ball and falling to the ground. Garrett tried to stop his descent, but just ended up on the floor with him. He had held Flint as he was reduced to silent screams and gasping sobs. There was an odd, muffled snapping sound and without warning pools of blood had begun forming all over Flint's casual button up and jeans. Dominic and Garrett's eyes had met in horror when they realized the sounds were Flints muscles breaking off pieces of bone and tearing the skin as they snapped to and fro.
