Chapter 5

This was not Colleen’s first tattoo of course. She had a wolf on her shoulder that was modeled after her own wolf. She had a rose wrapped around her ankle, a tree up her spine and a full moon over her left shoulder. This new one would be wrapped around her right arm near her shoulder. It would be about 3 inches wide. “Always a pleasure to come here!” Colleen said plopping down in the chair. She pulled off her hoody revealing her simple black tank top and Jake got to work. Carol, Colleen and Jake talked and laughed as she tried not to fidget anxious to see the finished work. Jake hadn’t shown her the tattoo, asking her for her to trust him and the wolf gods. Since she had received all of her tattoos from him and she had seen his work she gave him her trust. Besides he was pack. Finally it was finished. Jake whipped off the excess ink and she looked at it in the mirror. There surrounded by an ancient wolf tribal, written in ancient wolf script was the word Strength. Colleen was out for a run in her wolf form. Her wolf was beautiful. She was solid black but a midnight black, her fur was so dark it had a blue sheen to it. Her eyes were a deep midnight blue. She had gotten home from getting her tattoo later then she thought and got caught up in talking to her mother she didn’t get to start her run until later then she wanted. Colleen was running along the border when the metallic scent of blood hit her nose. She stopped and frowned inwardly. She proceeded to the smell carefully in case there was someone waiting to attack. She came up to a clearing and stopped dead in her tracks. Hardly daring to believe what she saw. A young male by the name of Terry was lying in the clearing. He had been torn apart. Colleen ran up to him and sniffed him, he was gone. She howled and sent a message to her father. She stood guard over her pack member to make sure that no one got to him first. She didn’t know him well but she cared about him. She remembered him as a rascal. He would always be up to trouble, playing pranks of various pack members. He was 14 years old and he was so excited as he made the freshman football team. Tears ran down her muzzle. *Be strong Colleen* Nya said to her *The pack can’t see you like this* Colleen mentally nodded and tried to hide her emotions away. She had to be strong for her pack. They needed her. A few minutes later her father and several guards burst into the clearing. The guards immediately spread out searching for foreign scents and to protect their alpha and his daughter. Colleen’s father walked over to her and nuzzled her before turning to the young male. He shook his head sadly and walked behind a tree to change. He came out in a pair of jeans holding a tarp. He carefully wrapped up Terry up in the tarp and sent a message out to all of the pack to meet them at their house. He picked up Terry and started walking back. Colleen followed behind him in wolf form. She was too upset and didn’t want to change into her human form. It was easier to hide emotions in wolf form. 4 of the guards stayed to investigate while 3 followed the alpha back. They stepped out of the forest and their backyard was full of people. They took one look at the alpha and seen the wrapped bundle he was carrying and several broke down into tears. Holly ran up to her husband and he silently acknowledged her. He walked up to two pack members, Amber and John, Terry’s parents. “No, alpha no” “Tell me it’s not him” “I’m sorry” Was all he could say. Holly caught Amber as she collapsed to her knees wrapping her arms around her. Holly lowered them to the ground and held Amber as she cried. “What happened?” John whispered reaching out to touch the tarp. “We don’t know yet. Colleen found him and he was already gone. By his scent I would estimate that he had been dead for about an hour and a half by the time she got there.” John nodded not being able to say anything. The pack doctor came up to them and held out his arms. “Alpha may I?” George (Colleen’s father) nodded and handed him the body. Colleen moved over to Amber and nuzzled her, comforting her the only way she could. Amber wrapped her arms around Colleen’s neck. “Thank you, Thank you for finding him” Amber whispered through tears. Colleen couldn’t say anything. The pack surround them comforting Terry’s parents and each other. Losing a pack member was hard and losing one so young was even harder. /The next day Carol walked into Colleen’s room and found her sitting on her bed staring at the wall. She walked over and sat down beside her. They were dressed in black as the funeral was today. “What’s wrong?” She asked Colleen looked at her. “I can’t help but wonder if I could have stopped it. If I had been home sooner, if I had gone out for a run sooner could I have been there to save him? Would he still have been alive today” Colleen said crying. “Oh hunny!” Carol wrapped her arms around Colleen. “If you were meant to save him you would have, if you were meant to be home sooner you would have. We don’t always know why things happen the way they do but everything happens for a reason. It was just his time” “but he was only 14”