Wolfs Pet Ch 26

"Let's make things look as normal as we possibly can. Brush out all the footprints." Carr surveyed the area looking for anything that had been disturbed during their rescue operation.

"If this is going to work we have to trick them into feeling comfortable enough to walk into the caves." Carr motioned for Wilson to join him. "Matt?" Carr looked for their newest ally.

Matt stepped forward. He swallowed hard and looked at Carr and his Alpha. "Yes Alpha."

"We're going to have to depend on you and the others to make it look like nothing unusual is going on." Carr looked at the assembled former rogues. They knew how important this was. If they couldn't get any of them into the caves the whole plan fell apart.

"Yes Alpha, we'll do the best we can." Matt turned around to his friends. "We have to redeem ourselves for our packs. If we die, so be it. Agreed?"

They solemnly answered in unison. "Agreed."

The Alphas looked at their own and smiled. If they died, it would be with honor. They would never be known as rogues and would be fully accepted back into their packs after tonight.

"All right, lets get back into our positions while they get ready for the Dire Wolves to return. Steve says they're winding down." Carr turned and walked away, Cole and Brett flanking him.

Each Alpha and his pack had their assignments for the next phase. Carr prayed all went as planned. If not, it would be a blood bath on both sides. He heard the car approaching and saw the headlights turn off. James and Alistair were back.

Alistair spotted Rhys and made his way through the group. "Jenna is with Katy. Rhys, it was hard to leave her. My wolf wants to pick Gary apart but at the same time wanted to stay to protect her. I've never felt so conflicted. But I know she's in good hands with Katy and the pack. For now, my place is here." Alistair smiled at his friend who clasped his arm tightly. They would stand together.

"Cole, I want to make sure..." Carr stopped talking and looked off into the distance. "They're on their way. Everyone get ready."

Craig took up his position with the monitoring equipment and operators. Phil was in charge of the camera work. Craig would watch for the best moment to blow the charges. Preferably with every Dire Wolf inside, but if not, then at least with as many as possible.

After ten minutes of waiting they heard the faint sound of howling. The sound made the hackles rise on the back of Carr's neck. He looked off into the distance. Steve was able to stay upwind but was having a hard time staying close enough to see them. They were fast.

Carr looked down towards the caves and saw Matt and the others wandering around, trying to look normal. They had a fire pit and they had lit the fire and filled it with green wood to make smoke to try to hide the scents of the other Were's. He hoped to God it worked.

Many of those standing and waiting had shifted and were ready for a battle. There was an occasional whine of excitement from the gathered wolves.

The Dire Wolves trotted into the clearing in front of the cave mouth. The blood from their kills was still wet on their coats.

Gary shifted and the Betas did the same within seconds. The males stood in a semi circle behind Gary, their skin glistening with the red blood. It still dripped from their mouths.

Gary slowly moved forward and looked at the smoke billowing high into the bright sky.

"What the hell is all this smoke? Greg! Greg get over here." Gary was seething. He had left orders for no fires tonight. He didn't want to draw attention to the caves while he and his Betas were away.

"Where is Greg? He knows better!" Now he was really pissed. Greg was in charge of the Omegas. He had been next in line to become a Beta. That might change if he didn't get his butt here now.

"Alpha, Greg was hungry and went chasing after a rabbit. He should be back soon Sir." Henry, an Omega from the Campbell pack had jumped forward to try to give a plausible answer.

Gary spun around and stared at the frightened male. He let out a bellow and with one hand snapped the Omega's neck. "And that will be Greg's fate when he gets back. Put out that fire!" Gary yelled at the Omegas who were hovering nearby.

Two of them ran forward with buckets of water to put out the flames.

"Are you stupid? That will make the smoke even worse. These Omegas aren't worth the meat they've been eating. Paul, take care of this. What the hell is going on around here? Where is everyone?" Gary started looking around and noticed there were only about twenty of his Omegas present. Where were the rest?

Paul spread out the burning wood and threw dirt on it to put out the fire. These inferior wolves would never make Betas in this pack. Gary would probably kill them. That thought made Paul smile. He hoped he would have his chance at a few of them.

The Alphas overlooking the caves were shocked at what they had just seen. Campbell dropped his head for a moment. He closed his eyes and swore he would tell Henry's parents that he had died bravely for the pack. He opened his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Carr who had a determined look on his face.

"Where is everyone? They should have been here waiting for our return." Gary was stalking through the clearing, his eyes practically bulging. This was a total lack of respect. Maybe he should just slaughter every one of them.

Gary stopped for a moment. Something was wrong. What was it? He looked around the clearing. His face started turning red as his rage grew. He smelled the women. They had been out here, including Jenna.

"Who the fuck touched the women? Who brought them out here without permission?" He stared at each of the trembling Omegas in turn. They didn't have the balls to have touched his woman. "Paul, check the cages."

Paul and three of the Betas entered the caves. Gary whirled around to the former rogues. "Which one of you decided to touch the women without permission, hmm?" He pointed at one of the males and motioned for him to come closer.

Carr and Alistair exchanged glances. They couldn't stand by and watch Gary and Paul slaughter these ex-rogues who had decided to help them.

The male slowly approached Gary, knowing it was his turn to die. It was his own fault. He should have deserted when Adam and Jackson did. He'd thought about it. But now it was too late. He held his head down, resigned to his certain fate.

Gary leaned in close to his face. "Who brought the women out of the caves?"

The male was silent. His body was shaking so badly he could barely stand.

Torrance watched the Omega from his own pack, Ryan, who was hardly more than a boy. He wanted to protect him but knew he had to hold back or the plan would be ruined. He watched stone faced.

"So you won't talk even when I disembowel you?" Gary had never been as angry in his life. This was supposed to be his pack and these less than Omegas had disobeyed him, disregarded his rules and disrespected their Alpha. They would all die. He could replace them any time.

"None of us brought the women out here Alpha, I swear." His voice was so quiet he could barely be heard.

"What was that you said less than Omega? None of you brought them out here? Then who did? I don't see anyone else here." He looked around and back at the frightened Were.

The Betas had smirks on their faces. They got warmed up on the hunt, and now they were going to get in a little battle practice.

"What should I do to you for not telling me the truth less than Omega? Should I rip you apart limb by limb until you scream? I can wait for you to heal after each limb goes flying. Or maybe I should let my Betas chew your limbs off? It would be more painful wouldn't it?"

Gary had a wild look on his face, like he was feeding off the terror in the male's face. He picked up the quivering male by the throat, feeling his legs kicking as the air was cut off in his trachea.

"ALPHA! ALPHA!" The loud yells came from deep inside the caves.

"What is it? Gary dropped the male and went running towards the cave opening but not far enough inside.

Craig had a finger on the button, waiting. He was trying to will Gary into going inside, but it wasn't working.

Paul was almost to the mouth of the cave. "The women are gone Alpha." He held the cut locks in his hands.

Three more of the Betas ran inside. But Gary and two others were still too far from the entrance. Craig looked at Carr who nodded. Craig pressed the button. 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 -

The explosion rocked the ground and several of the Omegas were thrown off their feet.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Gary ran to the fallen rocks at the mouth of the cave and then looked at the last two of his Betas. "Kill them all!"

On Gary's command the Betas shifted to gigantic brown wolves who launched themselves at the smaller Omegas.

Carr gave the command and the almost one hundred wolves ran down into the clearing, snarling and leaping at the much bigger Dire Wolves. They tried to hurtle themselves towards the larger wolves and bite at anything they could get at. There was just no way to take them on one or two at a time.

Torrance reached Ryan and picked him up off the ground. "Take your friends up to the hillside. Don't come back down here."

Ryan nodded and started gathering his friends to run for cover.

"Craig, how's it look inside?" Carr's voice echoed in Craig's head as he and Phil assessed the situation inside the caves.

"I released the gas. Paul is hurtling himself at the walls. The other Betas just look confused and are trying to pull down rocks to get out." Craig winced when he heard a shrill scream from one of the MacDonald pack. "It's probably gonna take some time for them to pass out. We gave them a good dose though."

Another scream rang out, and Craig had to remind himself his job was to stay here in case he needed to blow any of the secondary charges if it looked like they were going to get out of the cave before the antidote worked.

Steve ran up the hill and to Craig's truck. "I need those extra canisters of the gas, quick!" He took them from Phil and went sliding down the hillside, throwing one to Brett, one to Bryant, and one to Cole. They each took their canister that was actually a fire extinguisher and got as close to the fighting rogues as possible.

It was hard to find their heads as they bit and slashed at the wolves around their feet. But the hose made it a little easier to aim. And since they were fighting, they were breathing hard and inhaling the gas deep into their lungs.

Each of the Dire Wolves was surrounded by a group of wolves tearing at their legs, trying to rip at their bellies. And outside that ring was a second of the same number, ready to step in as any were injured or winded.

Gary was surrounded by the five Alphas, the Archivist, and the Head of the Council. Although not as large as Gary, their wolves were much bigger than the Betas fighting the other Dire Wolves.

The white wolf snarled menacingly at the brown Dire Wolf. He had raped his mate. He had beaten her, defiled her. He would kill him. He ran in between Torrance and Wilson and tore at Gary's Achilles tendon. He felt the blood run between his teeth and hoped it would be bone next. He barely heard the roar from Gary as he felt the pain.

Gary lashed out and his teeth caught at MacDonald's front leg, tearing the muscles of the shoulder. MacDonald cried out and fell back, his leg limp.

Cole had the canister and jumped forward whenever he could see a window, aiming the gas at Gary's nose.

Gary shook his head, trying to stay away from whatever they were spraying at him. But he couldn't help from breathing. The gas made it's way slowly into his heaving chest, deep into his lungs.

Slowly, the Dire Wolves were taking in the antidote. The battle was raging and they had to take in air to keep going. Every chance they got to aim the gas they took.

Rhys saw Gary turn to lunge at Carr and took the opportunity to jump onto his back. The large black wolf was still dwarfed by the gigantic brown wolf. But it didn't stop him from trying to grab at the thick neck in front of him. His teeth sunk in, hitting bone.

Gary bellowed and twisted, trying to throw off the offending wolf. As he moved, the others jumped in to grab at a part of his body.

"I need another canister!" Cole shouted out to Steve who bounded up the hill and retrieved three more.

Cole had to jump back out of the way when his canister was empty. He took in the scene while he waited. The blood in the clearing was everywhere, Dire Wolf and Werewolf alike. Several of the various pack members were laying in the grass, trying to regain their strength and heal enough so they could get back into the fray. Cole saw a few that wouldn't make it home alive.

"Catch!" Steve yelled out as he threw the full canister into Cole's waiting hands.

In a flash, Cole was back in Gary's face, spraying as close to the nostrils as possible. As Gary tired during the prolonged fight it was getting easier to get it directly into his mouth and nose. It had taken hours for Kyle to pass out. They didn't have hours.

Brett and Bryant were on their second canisters and praying these damn things would drop soon. They didn't know how long their friends could last. Brett tried to jump out of the way but was too slow and felt the long teeth sink into his forearm. His hand went numb immediately and he dropped the canister.

Steve dived in and picked up the canister, taking over spraying into the Beta's face while Brett dropped back.

Brett sat holding his arm, waiting for the bleeding to stop and the tissues to start to mend. He took a moment to look around at the carnage. One of Campbell's pack had been able to pull himself away from the fight before he'd died. The wolf lay motionless. Brett made his way to him and gently closed his eyes.

The air was filled with the sounds of tearing flesh, painful yelps, and snarling. It was hard to make out the screams of the Dire wolves from those of the Werewolves.

Brett watched one of the Torrance pack dragging himself along the ground without one of his legs. He rushed to him and helped him find a safer spot behind some rocks. By the time he had him settled the bleeding had stopped.

Brett felt tingling in his fingers again as the nerves healed themselves. Steve seemed to be working the canister OK so Brett shifted and jumped into a hole when one of the Crane pack backed off to rest.

The Dire Wolves seemed to be slowing down a little but it was taking forever. Although time didn't seem to mean anything as the wolves fought for their lives and those of their packs.

Craig saw the first Beta fall inside the cave. Then a second lost consciousness. Soon all but Paul were out cold, the rising and falling of their chests all that showed they were still alive. Paul on the other hand was still hurling himself against the walls, trying to pull rocks out of his way, trying to make his escape from the caves.

Craig looked away to watch the melee in the clearing. When he looked back he could swear the wolves looked smaller. Even Paul looked smaller, although not much. Was it his imagination? His attention was pulled back to the clearing by a loud shout.

"Look out!" Cole shifted quickly after yelling out the warning to his brother and jumped in to grab Gary's leg as his paw came crashing down on Carr's head.

Trina supervised the orderlies cleaning the trauma rooms. They would be needed again soon she was sure. She was surprised by the sound of cars driving into the compound. She wasn't aware of anyone else coming back this soon. Carr hadn't sent any message. For a moment she was worried something had happened to him, but Lee would have known and alerted her. So who could it be? She walked to the doorway and watched as a group of males and females got out of several SUV's. She didn't recognize any of them.

She called back to Jeff. "We have company."

Jeff sighed and forced himself to leave Sheila. She was stable and resting quietly, especially since she'd had her last dose of pain meds, but he hated to leave her. Just sitting with her and stroking her hair had calmed him. He wished he could mate with her soon to help her heal. But as a Doctor he knew that wouldn't be the best idea. He'd let her heal first. The drug induced coma had worked well for Karen. He'd give it a try with her.

He joined Trina at the door and smiled. This was the first good news he'd had all day. He walked outside and clapped the black haired male on the back. "Logan, I haven't seen you since medical school. What are you doing here?" He looked at the boxes being unloaded from the vehicles and the people, some of whom he recognized, stretching their legs as they looked around the quiet compound.

"Trina, this is Logan. He's the Wilson Pack Doctor. Logan, this is Trina, the best Were Trauma Nurse in the business." He pulled Trina out of the building and over to meet his old roommate.

Trina put out her hand and thought she felt a shock when Logan took her hand in his. Was there static electricity in the air?

"It's nice to meet you Trina." Logan flashed a smile at her as his hand lingered on hers. He inhaled and smiled even more. This would be an interesting trip.

"Jeff, we're here to help. The Alpha told us to come. He said there are going to be a load of casualties coming in at some point in time and that you'd need help. We picked up some help from the other packs on the way, a total of four Doctors and eight nurses. Hope that's OK. We brought supplies along with us. Figured you weren't used to treating a hundred Were's in a day." He smiled at Trina again.

Jeff looked from Logan to Trina and back again. He wasn't the only one with a surprise tonight.

The pleasantries were interrupted by a loud frantic wailing coming from the main house. Trina and Jeff exchanged a quick look before running to the Alpha's quarters. Logan followed close behind them.

When they got to the bedroom Karen was holding Lee who was sobbing into her shoulder. She looked up as they entered. She had a strained look on her face. "She can't feel Carr. She doesn't know if he's dead or just badly hurt. Cole is fighting and I can't talk to him."

She held Lee tightly and stroked her hair. "Shhh, it's going to be alright. He probably got knocked out or something. I'm sure he'll be OK." She looked at Trina with tears in her eyes. She didn't really believe what she was saying but she had to sound like she did.