Chapter 10

But when she woke up after a fitful night the next morning there was no smiling. The first thing she noticed was the shouting and it was coming from right outside of Asher’s apartment.

“Sheriff Boston was here this morning wanting a search of the place, do you know why? Because some people were looking for the girl and they are not our kind. If Chase had not put him off what do you think would have happened?!”

“If you insist on shouting down my throat I don’t think you’ll be getting any answers from me!”

She recognized Asher’s voice. Even though his voice was low and measured, there was a strain to it. She couldn’t tell the number of people who were outside talking to him but she had to assume it was the whole pack. She wasn’t wanted. That wasn’t news to her anymore. She had no pack and no place to call home. Asher was nice to her but even she knew the rules and bonds between pack members. She had to leave.

Thankfully the pack members were outside the house and the back door Asher had led her through last night was just through his tiny kitchen. She didn’t need help finding her way in the simply built house. A few seconds later she was opening the back door with her shoes in her hands ready for a quiet exit. She had nowhere to go but she would figure that out later.

Maggie stepped out on the grassy ground still wet and mushy with the sunlight drying up what remained from the morning dew. A slight shift in the air and a huge shadow over her head was all the warning she got before she found herself hitting the ground hard with a large gray wolf over her, pinning her by the shoulders on the ground with massive claws. Its huge jaw was opened and the rows of jagged teeth were exposed. Gray fur stood on end and its amber eyes with blue flecks held fury as it growled low in its throat.

A scream lodged in her throat but just then heavy pounding on the forest floor announced the presence of another wolf a second before a larger black wolf rammed into the gray wolf knocking it on its side. Maggie frantically rose on her elbows, her heart beating so heavily that the front of her gown bounced. The black wolf placed itself in front of her, legs spread apart and bent ready to launch in the air, paws planted firmly on the ground and claws out and ready to slash. She scrambled to her feet and stumbled backward. The sound of running feet brought a group of more than 2 dozen people all with looks ranging from concern to anger on their faces, turning even angrier when they saw her there.

The gray wolf snarled, baring its teeth. ‘What are you doing?!’ it asked in a disembodied voice.

“I-I-I was leaving, I swear. I don’t want to cause any inconvenience…” Maggie stammered. “Asher…” She had to leave before he came and tried to stop her. Although she would be lucky if he didn’t come running out now with all the ruckus.

‘Stand back, Carl!’

She couldn’t believe it. It was Asher and his voice was coming from the black wolf. The muscles in his fore and hind legs were stiff with tension. He would be 7 feet tall if he were standing on his hind legs. He was so huge. 

His fur ears and tail stood on end, rigid.

She hadn’t expected it to be him defending her. Although, given the hateful glares she was getting from the other pack members as they waited to see what Asher and Carl were going to do to each other she wasn’t exactly expecting anyone but him to defend her.

‘Bringing her here was a mistake! You know the rules. She has to leave or she dies!’

“I was just leaving. I swear. You can step out of the way right now and I will walk out of here and never return.”

“I suggest we kill her. Teach Asher a lesson.” It was a woman's voice this time.

The woman who had spoken was making her way through the crowd. Her jeans were ripped at the hem and her brown jacket had obviously seen better days. Her brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and though her face was bare she was pretty. She was a strong woman who held her head high as she made her way past the staring crowd to the wolves who were still staring daggers at each other.

“Down boys.”

When their response was to growl and crouch even lower for the kill she yelled. “I said down! Carl! Chase get him something to wear.”

Several seconds passed before Carl reluctantly straightened but his teeth were still bare as he circled a path and transformed into his human form. A man from the pack came carrying a set of clothes which he threw at him.

“You keep shredding your clothes like that and we will run out of them before you blink your eyes.”

Carl snatched the clothes angrily and put them on without bothering to hide his nakedness. Some of the older pack members sent the kids off. Maggie couldn’t help but notice that Carl and Chase looked alike and even more surprising was that the brown-haired woman looked a lot like them. Triplets.

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes at Asher. “I can’t command you but can you at least stop staring at me like you want to kill me? I’m not trying to tear the girl,” she indicated Maggie with a wave of her hand, “apart. Instead of tearing ourselves apart why don’t we talk like mature adults.”

‘Sure, because sneaking behind my back trying to kill her while the rest of you distracted me was real mature.’

She raised her hand in the air with a mischievous smile. ‘Caught me. I didn’t expect you to react quickly. Either that or Carl was too slow.’

Maggie was still trembling. Asher was right. Trouble did follow her everywhere. Now add hate to that because that was how the brown haired was looking at her. Her eyes almost singed her.

“I don’t care why you are here but I speak for everyone one of us here when I say we don’t want you here. Your kind brings nothing but trouble to us.”

“My kind?” Maggie asked finally regaining some of her wits and her ability to talk. “We are the same. I am a wolf like you if you can’t sense my wolf that’s because she’s still recovering…”

The girl interrupted her by laughing and the rest of the pack except Carl, Chase and Asher began to laugh too.

“Are you kidding me right now? We? The same? Honey, I gotta give it to you, I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time. You’re not the first Ptakkagaris foolish enough to think our kinds are one just because we have the same form.” She was walking toward her now and would have closed the distance if Asher hadn’t stood in her way. “You’ve got our Alpha on your side,” she smiled sardonically. “But if you’re here to do some activist ‘we are one’ type of bullshit I won’t mind defiling the order of hierarchy and killing you myself. You and I are not the same and that is why you have to leave now or I won’t hesitate to tell my brother to kill you.”

And Carl looked all too ready to do his sister’s bidding. Chase on the other hand had been standing silently by a now-dressed Carl but now moved toward Asher’s wolf, staying a safe distance away.

“You can’t stand between us and her for too long. You know the right thing to do.”

‘The right thing to do is to obey me as your Alpha,' Asher growled.

“Not at the detriment of our lives!”

“Let him be, he wants a repeat of what happened with Jennifer and I for one am more than ready to watch it unfold.”

All eyes turned to Ginny as the teen walked closer chewing a pink bubble gum. But even the browned woman and Carl were wise enough to shrink away from her because in a heartbeat Asher released a guttural growling - bark, launched into the air, and would have latched on Ginny, possibly torn her apart if Chase hadn’t wedged himself between her and a snarling Asher. His eyes flashed a murderous red at the girl as he fought Chase’s hold on him.