One Princess One Pack One Villain

by Brenda Westfall

  “Damn it, Cara we thought you were sleeping on the couch. We were trying to let you rest. Good thing we were outside, we might not have heard you as soon if we had been inside with the television on.”

  “I know it was another dumb mistake.” It didn’t take long till the Chiefs’ pack had run past us to help chase Max. Cane and Zeke carried me back to the house. They stayed right with me. I knew I wasn’t going to get rid of them, not that I wanted to at this point.

  It was about an hour before the packs came back. Father had me carried out on the porch so both packs could get a report. I told them I was just walking. When I knew, I was being followed I thought it was one of my pack. Then when he got close enough for me to pick up his scent I started howling.

  “You're damn lucky he didn’t take off with you. Damn it, Princess, how did you get out again without us knowing?”

  “You were all out back, I simply slipped out the front. Rufus, I didn’t think he knew where we were.”

  “One, you know I wasn’t asking how you left. I was admitting we failed you again by leaving you unguarded. Two, I know you didn’t think he knew where you were. None of us did. Guess we were all wrong. Now that he knows you’re here we need to get you out of here.”

  “Wait, I have called our Pack Master. The Chief said to keep you here. Our pack is going to keep your house surrounded. He won’t get past us. I do apologize none of us thought he knew she was here either. We should have been guarding you. You are our guest.” Their Beta explained.

  “Get her back inside off that leg. Don’t let her out of your sight. Rufus, I am putting you in charge of her.” My father told us.

  “No way!”

  “Princess, you will mine me. Now inside with her. The rest of you stay put. We are going to do a little fishing around. I want to know how the hell he found her so fast?”

  I could hear the arguing going on between my father and the Chief’s second in command. It was a pretty heated argument. Rufus was pacing in front of the couch. He wanted to take me upstairs, but he wanted to be close in case of a fight.

  The Chief showed up later with his men from the force. They started looking over things. Come to find out somehow Max had been able to put tracking devices on the bottom of each van. No one could figure out how he got into the police parking garage.

  I had to put my two cents in. I stood up and headed for the door. Rufus grabbed me up off my feet. “Where are you going?”

  “I have something to say to the Chief. Take me out there, please. Rufus please.”

  He didn’t want to, but he knew I wouldn’t stop till I said what I had to say. He carried me out to the spot where the packs had moved away from the house. They should have known I would be listening in. Father was furious when he saw Rufus carrying me back out. But then when Rufus told him I had something to say to the Chief and he let it go.

  “Miss Cara, I am so sorry he managed to get to you. It won’t happen again I swear on my packs lives.”

  “Chief, did it ever cross your mind that he didn’t put the tracking things on the vans himself? You have a cop on his payroll.”

  “No, our officers undergo special training and they're checked for any problems with their background checks. No, I don’t think so.”

  “Then you explain how he got in a locked garage that is guarded by armed officers. When your people drove us down into the garage they had to stop and show I.D. Then a garage door opened for them to drive through. It shut as soon as we were in. So, you tell me, just how did he get to the vans? There are only two ways he could have gotten tracking devices on those vans. One was either when they stopped at the garage door coming or going or he paid an officer to put them on the vans.”

  The Chief turned to one of his officers and told them to check surveillance tapes in the garage door area, then he turned back to me. “Miss Cara, I hope your wrong, but I won’t stop till I know the truth. We have sent the tracking devices to the lab. They will check for fingerprints. I don’t expect any. Meantime, we know he knows where you are. He also knows you are completely surrounded by two packs now instead of one. You're safe as long as you stay inside.”

  “No, if we stay here, then he is going to start killing your pack and ours. He has already killed two of my brothers and two of our pack. Plus, he shot a human girl at school and killed her. He used tear gas in the halls and shot through the windows. Or he paid someone to help him. I am pretty sure he was in control of the remote that blew the bomb in my brother’s truck. He would want that blood on his hands.”

  I watched as his pack soaked in what I had said. I wanted them to know why I didn’t think they should help us. I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else getting killed.

  As we were all standing out there in the open area gunshots started flying. So much for the Chief or his pack keeping us safe. The first to go down was one of our wolves, then one of the Chiefs. He shot again and hit Rufus in the arm. He would have killed him had he not been moving me out of the way. The grass on the field was tall enough to hide in once down. I kept looking around to see if I could spot him.

  The shots had done enough damage. If only I could get to him. Maybe I could talk him into stopping this madness. I started crawling toward where the shots had been fired from. I made it pretty far before I was tackled.

  “Kyle let go. Let go of me. I can stop this. I have to get him to stop before he kills us all. Kyle, please let go.” I started kicking him and fighting for all I was worth. While we struggled, we heard him laughing. He was close enough that we could hear him laughing.

  Kyle lost his grip, and I was up running. I was so pissed at Max laughing that I was ready to kill him. How dare he laugh at shooting my family. I made it a good twenty yards before two wolves took me down.

  Rufus and Kyle. Just my luck they were all over me. The laugh hadn’t stopped. But the shooting had. That is until Rufus and Kyle tackled me. Then we heard: “Get off her!” The laughing never stopped. It didn’t take much to figure out it was a recording. But him yelling get off her was for real. He was close and watching them touch me.

  “Lay still Cara. He is so close he can see us.”

  “Yes, and now you two are out in the open with no cover. He has a clear shot. Move, we have to get out of here.”

  “She’s right. Cara see the shed to your left. Move and move fast. Rufus, you grab one arm and I’ll grab her other arm. One, two, three.” We got up and they hauled me off the ground. They ran with him shooting at their feet. He wasn’t trying to hit me. But he couldn’t risk shooting higher in case his shot missed its mark. We made it inside the shed. They sat me on a lawnmower and laid into me.

  “What were you thinking? You can’t stop him on your own. He is a mad wolf. You have to stop this trying to save the pack alone crap.” Kyle was angry.

  “I swear I am going to buy a chain and chain your ass to a bed. You can’t drag it through the door. That way I know you're safe.” Rufus stood in front of me growling at me.

  “Rufus, I just wanted to stop him. Kyle, I can’t let him kill my family. He has done enough damage already. You have to understand.”

  “Well, I don’t understand you thinking it’s ok to be stupid.” I stood up and went to Rufus. He turned his back on me. He was madder than I had ever seen him. I put my hand on his shoulder, he shrugged it off. I moved to stand in front of him and saw he had tears running down his face. I reached up and wiped them off.

  “I’m sorry. I just want to protect my family.” He pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly to him. I kissed the side of his neck. He was surprised. I didn’t usually show any affection to any of the three.

  “You understand how much you scared me? Do you understand I would die for you?”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry, but what you are not getting is I feel the same way about all of you. I need to be able to protect all of you.”

  Now I had tears running down my face. He licked them off. Then he put his forehead to mine.
“You are amazing you know that? Your job is not to protect us. Our job is to protect you. Princess, please stop trying to get killed. You will only get us killed trying to save your ass. We could have easily been shot trying to stop you.”

  “Then stop trying to save me and let me kill the bastard.”

  Kyle had stood still as long as he could. He didn’t like me in Rufus’s arms. He pulled me away from Rufus. He stared into my eyes. “He’s right, you know, stop trying to save us. Let us take care of you. Princess, you don’t seem to understand how much we love you. Some of us more than others, but the entire pack will die trying to save you. If anything happened to you I would die. You understand it isn’t just Zeke, who would die if you did. I don’t want to live in a world where you’re not.” He pulled me in for his hug. I felt like I had to be equally as affectionate to him as I had Rufus. I put my arms around his waist and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

  “So now what do we do?”

  “Well, if we were alone I can think of a lot we could do.” I elbowed him in the side. Rufus was growling ready to attack him. I stepped back out of Kyle’s arms and stood between them holding them at arm’s length.

  “You can’t kill each other and think that I am going to approve. Plus, right now we have more important things to worry about. Our pack is pinned down in an open field how do we help them?” We didn’t have to worry they had made it out of the field and were on the hunt. Rufus and Kyle waited till they thought it was clear then carried me into the house. Both packs hunted throughout the night for Max but never found him. They found several trails with his scent but finally the trail lead to a parking spot where he had apparently left his truck. He had been alone. They did find a tape recorder with his laugh on it.

  That night sleeping was pretty much out of the question. I couldn’t sleep worrying about my pack. They took turns staying with me and going out on patrol.

  Chapter 18

  Another week went by no more Max. I couldn’t rest. Both packs were exhausted as they kept patrols going at all times. No one wanted to let him slip back in yet staying there, they weren’t finding him either.

  We were running out of supplies at the house. I had made a list of things we needed. Mostly bathroom supplies. Being human part time had its disadvantages. I was told to make a grocery list as well. So, I made a big one not knowing how long before someone would try to go to town again. How I wished I could go shopping. I miss doing the normal things.

  The Chief and one of his wolves stopped by the house to pick up the list. Father spoke with him. He wanted to send a few of our wolves along for protection. Everyone was worried after the car bomb on my brother’s truck, we all expected trouble.

  Three wolves from our pack and five from the Chiefs’ pack went to town. I was on pins and needles waiting for them to get back. Three thirty-four they pulled back into the territory.

  They said they had made it to and from town without any problems. Everyone was so excited. They thought that meant Max had moved on. I knew better so did the Chief.

  Later that evening as two patrols went out for their shift, things started happening. Way back on the backside of the property thing started blowing up. The explosions could be heard all the way back at the houses. The windows even shook.

  I jumped out of my bed and ran for the downstairs. My leg was totally healed now. I made it to the front door in record time. But there were two wolves keeping me from running outside. Father and Marcus.

  “What is going on? We need to go help the others.”

  “No, we need to wait here. If it is Max, he is just waiting for us to step outside. We would be easy pickings.” He was right. Father was thinking much clearer than I was as usual. I paced the living room floor hoping everyone was all right. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing someone else.

  Then I started thinking who is out on patrol? Marcus and father were in the room with me. Two of our other wolves were there. My brothers and my three over barren protectors, all of them were outside somewhere.

  I started panicking. Zeke, I called out in my mind.

  “I’m all right. You?”

  “All right. Who all is with you?”

  “Lucian and Cane. Umm looking around I see three of the other pack wolves. Oh, and Duncan is here somewhere. All of us are ok. Who is with you?” I told him who was in the house. He promised the minute he knew what was going on he would let me know. He told me he would let me know if anyone was hurt. I didn’t believe him.

  “The dang woods just started blowing up all around us. Is everyone accounted for?” A wolf was asking.

  The wolves had scattered when the explosions started. They were slowly being accounted for. After they gathered the wounded they started back toward the houses.

  Rufus had a couple of wolves with him. They looked around and found the explosive remains. They gathered every little piece of evidence they could find. Then headed back toward the houses.

  Before any of them got out of the woods more explosions went off. Max had been able to sneak in between patrols and wire a long path with explosives. Who knew how many trails he had wired to blow.

  The first group of wolves carrying wounded made it back to the house. All the injured wolves were laid out on our living room floor. I took care of them with my brother Marcus. “Some of them are missing arms or legs. Marcus, how will they survive?”

  “Cara they may not, they have lost way too much blood. Princess don’t you lose it on me. I need your help. Come on, focus on cleaning wounds.”

  I couldn’t concentrate till they were all home and counted for. I worked cleaning wounds, but never lost the thought of how many are dead. I knew someone had died. I could feel it. I just couldn’t feel who had died or tell how many.

  I hadn’t yet met the Chief’s two young, mated females. Today I would. They were being brought in to help with the wounded.

  Tiger odd name for a wolf, right? Tiger had brown hair with black stripes through it. It was all natural she was born that way. Hence the name. Bev was a tiny little blonde. She looked fragile. She was five months pregnant due in a couple of weeks. Most wolves carry from five to six months. Our pups grow faster than humans. Between the four of us, we managed to treat and take care of sixteen wounded. They hadn’t detected the explosives ahead of time and were totally caught off guard.

  Finally, the last of our pack made it in. I looked to see who was walking and who was being carried. Then I saw out the front door. The dead were being covered out on the lawn. I ran to the door to see who had died.

  Rufus stopped me. I looked around me seeing Zeke, Cane, Amos, no Lucian? Then, as I looked I saw Kyle, but no Duncan? I pushed past Rufus, but he came after me. He stopped me from lifting up a sheet covering a body. “No Cara, don’t. You don’t need to see them.”

  “Who?”

  He picked me up and carried me back inside with me kicking and screaming at him. I clawed at his hands to get them off me. I had to see who had died.

  Once inside I was surrounded. The pack who had survived, wouldn’t let me go outside to see who had died.

  Father stepped in front of me and took hold of my arms. He held me still and forced me to look at him. “Princess, I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

  “Who died?” I yelled.

  Zeke stepped up beside us and held on to my hand. He stared at me. Father couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me the names. “Zeke, who died?”

  “Lucian and Duncan.”

  I fell to my knees. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening again.” I was doubled over crying. Rufus bent down and started telling me how sorry he was, and I leaped into his arms. Then Kyle came and stayed with me. The two of them kept trying to calm me down, but there was no calming me down. I had already lost two brothers. Two brothers who we still hadn’t properly buried. “I want to take them home. We need to bury them all.”

  “I know you do Princess. We all want to go home.”

  The chief had lost five of h
is pack. When they had walked into a certain area the trees all the way around them exploded trapping them in the middle. Some were blown to pieces and others were impaled by large splinters from the trees.

  There was a lot of debating but after several hours of arguing it was decided, we were going home. We would take our dead home to bury then on our land.

  First, the Chiefs’ pack would bury their dead. After they had taken care of their dead they would go with us to bury our dead. We would take the vans after they had been checked for explosives and tracking devices.

  This time, we would all travel together. The vans would not split up. We would travel together in case of trouble we would all fight together.

  We loaded up the vans with all our supplies and headed out. It was pretty crowded. Two packs in six vans. They were large moving vans, but still with wolves and supplies and wounded who needed to lay down It was a very stuffy ride.

  On the way home, we had a few minor incidents. Slashed tires, dead batteries stuff like that, when we stopped over one night at a motel. There were guards watching the vans so how had he slashed tires and drained the batteries without being seen? No one had a clue.

  Two days later we reached our territory. I was so happy to be home and yet it depressed the hell out of me. We had bad things ahead of us. Some of the pack went out into the woods to dig the graves while the others readied the bodies. Wolves don’t use caskets. We bury our dead straight into the earth. Wolves believe our souls will live on the earth without our bodies. That the dead will rise to watch over those left alive.

  When it was time to carry our dead to the graves another problem arose. No one thought I should go out into the woods. They wanted to leave me with the other pack while they buried my brothers and Duncan.

  “You know that isn’t happening. I won’t stay behind for this no matter what you do. Father, I have every right to be there. I have every right to say goodbye to my brothers, to Duncan and to the pack who died. There is absolutely no way I will stay home.”