Chapter 5

Twigs slashed against our heavy fur as we ran through the woods, you could hear the sounds of fighting up ahead. Howls had filled the silent night, my claws dug into the frozen mud. I wish I could go back to the day when I dug my toes in the warm dirt, just relaxing under the Sun's warm rays and no man came for me, I was free and happy. Hearing a piercing howl my ears perk up towards the noise, an authoritative cry for war makes Luca barks for us to pick up our pace, soon we are sprinting into a clearing. Wolves move in silent blurs, droplets of dark blood cover the frozen tips of grass hovering above a thin blanket of fresh snow. Many of the wolves from our group have already joined the fight, but as the wolves from our third group race towards the center I feel the buzz of excitement race through my bloodstream. I almost start prancing towards the gory mess, thirsty for the taste of blood and victory. Suddenly a large figure steps in my way, Anfisia moves to block my path, I step to the side to excited for a real fight. Growling comes from my left, I turn to see her glaring at as she nods her head to the side, signaling to the side of the woods. I growl lowly as I lower my head, my growling gets louder until I sit down in the foliage with whiny sigh of discontent. I grumble as I watch her participate in the small battle, wishing I could join in the act of pure joy. Now that I regard the fight before me it seems so small, only twenty to thirty wolves in total. Maybe there is more wolves fighting in different areas, but as I look closer I see only ten or so wolves are from the Russian's pack and the other twenty giving take or two are from my old pack, excluding the dozen dead ones too. Now I realize no one from the Russian's side is deceased, and no one is really that injured either. I watch as each Russian moves with agility and grace, stepping easily out of the way as the pack wolves try to draw blood. Moving my eyes I watch as Luka and Anfisia fight as a team, using the other to launch each other at the enemy, lour one wolf in while the other makes the strike killing off several wolves with ease. Watching them together makes me yearn for my other half, I feel a squeeze in my chest, wishing for that embrace and comfort only he could bring. I continue to watch their every move with jealousy eating it's way into my soul and mind. I do not want a mate now, I need to find my footing before I start running head on into the man I'm supposed love for the rest of my life. I need to balance life out before I add on a extra weight to it. I cry out in pain when I'm tackled to the ground, blood starts to run down my thigh, as the wolf slashes at the back of my leg. I turn around, shifting into my human form grabbing the wolf's muzzle, yanking upwards I thrust my fist at the throat of the wolf, the body stills due to the shock. I take that moment to shove the Russian to the side. Picking myself up, I run away in fury. The cool ground pricks at the bottom of my feet, and the bushes scrape against my ankles. I pump my arms, and kick my heels up trying to run from the Russian wolf. The shadows move silently as I run, distorting the nature, I leap over fallen trees and stubble on the uneven ground. I pull my wolf's vision forward and everything comes clear, ahead there is a smaller cliff, around fifteen or twenty feet tall. I can hear the wolf behind me gaining ground by every passing second, knowing hand to hand combat would drain me, already my wolf is deprived of food, water, and injured. I have the disadvantage, and I don't know if I can run again if we fought. I push through the pain and dripping blood on my left leg, I'm probably only thirty feet away from the drop off. I lean into my run - twenty feet away. I swing my arms forward and backwards with more force - ten feet. I legs move with more agility over the rubbish on the earth's floor - five feet. My leg muscles tighten, I thrust my right arm and leg forward, flying over the edge. Soon I tuck and roll, trying to avoid any more injuries upon impact. I look up, just to see the blonde wolf coming to the edge and peering over. He growls in frustration, watching my figure disappear into the foliage some fifty feet away, knowing I've bested him. I run for several minutes before stopping against a tree, the ache hurts, but not as much as the feeling of betrayal, I left the nicer Russians there. Even though I left them with their own pack mates, I promised to deliver them to their Alpha. Deciding to follow through with the promise, I turn back around hoping that specific wolf is long gone. Walking through the dense foliage once more I retrace my steps, after several minutes of light jogging I lean against a large evergreen tree feeling the sap stick to my bare shoulders. Rubbing my arms to create friction, I huff in annoyance as the white cami does nothing for the cold October nights. Glancing towards the clearing, I watch as the Russians clean up the mess of dead bodies, Anfisia stands off to the side discussing something with Luka, Vlad, and a few others I do not recognize. "She would've just ran away, it's not something she would do." Anfisia states. "She's a prisoner, of course she would want to escape." "John that doesn't make her a traitor." She counters back, "Something must have happened to her, I suggest we go looking." "Sia, look you only knew her for what, a few hours?" Luca looks towards Vlad, getting his answer, "You hardly knew her and I know you're good at reading people, but she was probably very desperate and saw the opportunity to flee." "No, I felt this loyalty in her, she truly wanted to-" stopping, she turned around sniffing the air, twisting her body she starts walking. Feeling the blood tickle my ankle, I squat down and whip the running liquid off with the palm of my hand. Straightening up, I lean back into the tree brushing my hair out of my face. "So you didn't run?" "Cut the tough girl act, I saw you over there, I know what you were talking about so let's just move on. What's the plan?" The rest of the Russian's circle around, looking around I smile at them. Instead of receiving the greeting they all stand defensively, their glaring eyes tracing up and down my body finding any and all flaws to it. Pushing her way through Anfisia enters with Luka closely behind. "Ustupat" 'stand down' she calls to the group, turning she looks them all in the eyes. "Plan?" I ask again. Chuckling she looks at Luka. His deep, husky voice resonates around the circle, bouncing off the bodies, "There is no plan, your attacking warriors are dead. We will meet up with our group." "Is my assistance really necessary then?" Popping out a hip in annoyance, I draw out my words with cockiness tainting them as I speak. "You never know what could happen." He replies knowingly. "So yes?" "Of course your part is not fulfilled, girl." Vlad mocks me. His wrinkly skin pulls into a cruel smirk, "Who even raised you?" Ignoring his hurtful comment and my parents' death I turn away. Looking at Anfisia I ask, "Where will your rendezvous be?" "North East border, near a large lake." I walk off in that direction, motioning for them to follow, "The ground is quite flat, we should be fine just running." "Sounds good, lead the way." Together we ran, over the dying grass and frosty dirt. This made me feel, as though I am actually part of something. I feel important and desired, for something other than a mateship. It feels good to be wanted. Anfisia tells Carina the story on how they became prisoners- "We were sent on a diplomatic 'mission', if you would like to call it that. We were sent to supervise your Beta, his actions were concerning the council. So they sent a message to our Alpha to deal with it, obviously because they are too busy sitting on luxurious thrones wasting away their life." "Isn't one of your members on the council? Every pack sends one of their-" "That doesn't stop them from being lazy, we no longer have control over Abidjan, he follows the path of the council. He lost the right to be part of the Leonov pack." She spats back. "I am sorry that happened to you." "Oh don't worry Cari girl, your advisor is just the same." Luca chimes in. "So what did he do that peaked the interest of the council? I mean besides being crazy." Carina glances at Anfisia. "That is what drawn their attention to him. The expect a coup d'etat." She replies. "Not surprising," Carina chuckles, "He has always been a greedy bastard." Luca laughs, "Amen to that, besides imprisoning my beautiful mate, I always thought him to be an asshole." So many questions flutter around my head; what was the arrangement between the Russians and Alpha Opai; why did it collapse; who's fault was it; why was the arrangement made in the first place, no one dealt with the Russians besides the council and they too feared them so truthfully no one dealt with the Russians. I knew I could not ask Anfisia this, I would either get a vague and unhelpful answer or directly told in was none of my concern while receiving pointed and untrustworthy looks from the others. Both of these options did not sound pleasant, therefore I did not ask them when I desperately wanted too.