Chapter 2: When the sky lit up

That evening I had luckily not gotten stuck with patrol duty thought I was called to my father’s office. Like I said, I knew that hallway all too well. It made sense that I had been called to the office. I had completely messed up combat fighting this afternoon, having gotten a quick nose bleed from a newbie. Who – by the way – had actually cheated. I trudged up the steps, wondering if I should just disappear into the kitchen or something so that I wouldn’t have to face my dad.

But then, that would acknowledge that I knew how the place worked. And let’s get something straight, that would never be my intention. Because that meant I knew it well enough to live in it and that meant I’d become the new chief. And I was definitely NOT going to become chief. I didn’t even like being a warrior that much.

I knocked on the door of his office, hearing him say come in before I opened the door. My dad was standing by his desk, his eyebrows knitted together as he looked through a piece of paper. When he looked at me, his eyebrows ceased a bit but he let out a cough, “Sorry for earlier” he said, me recalling his instructional fight which I had been a guinea pig to. He had shown the newbies how to do a flip and I had been his partner. Ouch was an understatement. He had tried to do it as painless as possible but then there would be no point to showing the thing in the first place, right?

I nodded, going to sit in the seat across from his desk. I didn’t know how long the meeting was going to be, but today had been a rough day so my legs needed the break.

“Your mother called and sends her regards” he said. This conversation was weird… really awkward and weird. My father went to sit down in his seat, sliding the papers away from him and then stared straight at me.

“Now, what happened last night?”

O crab cakes…

“Nothing” I grumbled.

“Luca I know that wasn’t a bloody deer that you scented. Even you can’t be that idiotic”

“Maybe I am just that idiotic Dad” I grumbled, looking down at my lap. There was still dirt on my pants from when I had crawled through the netting.

“Luca, stop playing games” my dad growled, slamming his hands on the desk, “If it was something dangerous and your keeping this from me, you are putting the whole pack at risk!”

“It wasn’t something dangerous Dad! For fudge sakes I’m not that stupid”

“Then what was it?”

I glared at my dad, not saying anything.

“Luca for fluff’s sake, stop messing around and just tell me”

“No” I growled, folding my arms.

My dad let out a frustrated groan, his hand rubbing the back of his head, “I just want to protect this pack”

“I just said the thing isn’t dangerous” I snapped, standing up from the chair, hearing it squeak against the floor, “Have some bloody faith in me dad”

“I have faith in you but you were clearly lying to me so tell me right now!”

“I said it’s not dangerous!”

“I didn’t ask you that! I asked you, what was it?”

I groaned, glaring at my dad as I tried to control my anger. I spun around, deciding to just leave before I lost it in his stupid office. I threw the door open, knowing my dad was not going to just let me go but hoping he did.

I trudged down the steps, throwing my jacket off as I went. I needed a run. And I needed one now.

Once I was outside, I sprinted far away from the mess hall and away from the maniac towards the trees. I shifted as soon as I hit the first tree, speeding off.

My paws hit the soft ground, it slowing down my heartbeat. I was sad to admit I had gotten my dad’s temper. Which came in really well during fights and I was ranked second in the pack. Right behind my stupid father…

I shook my head in annoyance, speeding up. I don’t know how long I ran but my breath started coming out in pants when I finally stopped. Goodness knows I was probably in human territory by now. Werewolves had tiny slithers of land that was just theirs but we still claimed land like nothing else, even if humans lived on them. I sat down in the snow, feeling the cold seep into my veins, it actually helping me calm down further. I sighed, placing my chin on the ground, closing my eyes.

I slowly opened my eyes once more, taking a deep breath. And just before I wanted to close them again – I saw it.

White filtered through the dark trees, my eyes snapping open wider. I jumped up from the ground, trying to spot the reason my dad was so pissed off at me. The thing was speeding fast and I dug my heels into the ground, chasing on after it.

Come on, come on… what the hell was it even doing here!? Had it followed me here? O shit… if the other warriors saw it, it was sure to die. Heck, my dad would kill it himself. A sudden hit made me stop running and I was suddenly thrown to the ground. The wolf growled above me, its teeth glinting with saliva.

Not this bloody again! But before I could even throw it off, its teeth was latched into my neck, blood splattering on the snow.

“Hey I saved you!”

I growled but it paid no attention to me, and just continued to dig into my skin. I took a deep breath, making a move to get it off of me. It skidded off, his teeth off of me but taking a big junk out. Crap… blood was mixing with my pelt and I was getting light headed.

But I didn’t have time to ponder that before the wolf came for me again. I side-stepped it thought it was smarter this time, getting me in the ribs.

“Get the hell off of me!”

I moved my body around, grabbing the thing by the tail and yanking it away from me. I showed my canines, growling at the thing. It looked somewhat different, if possible. The eyes were definitely redder, more maroon than ruby. The wolf advanced again, me too slow and light headed to move away quick enough. Again, I was thrown to the ground, the thing only making me bleed more. I stretched out my neck, grabbing the monster by the ears and yanking its head towards mine.

I didn’t want to hurt it. In no way but this was getting insane. It was trying to bloody kill me!? I unlatched my mouth from its ear, grabbing hold of its neck, sinking my teeth in. It whimpered before blood filled my mouth. I quickly let go, the thing stumbling on its leg as it fell back. I halted from advancing, feeling how my skin started to knitted back together.

Thank goodness for werewolf healing powers! The wolf in front of me shook its head, getting ready to attack once more and then… then we heard a howl.

It chilled my bones and my eyes widened as something suddenly appeared from the trees, the thing large and haunting.

I gulped, trying to not fall down in submission. But then it stopped, the wolf becoming smaller once more and those eyes shining gold.  She bent down, yapping at the crazy thing that had tried to kill me. It looked with widened eyes at the wolf before slowly moving towards it. The bigger wolf nodded, not even glancing at me before turning around. It took me a moment to register what had actually happened but then I rushed after them.

“Hey! You can’t just-“

The wolf’s head suddenly whipped around, growls erupting and me wanting to kneel down once more. It stepped towards me, me trying to stay where I stood but I swear, everything in me was trying to submit. The smaller one luckily nipped the bigger one’s ear and it turned its attention back to the wolf. It slightly shook its head before shooting me one final glare before running off. This time I stayed, watching as the white disappeared through the darkness.

Ethan’s POV

My friend was an idiot. And that was an understatement. He had disappeared about an hour ago and it was already lights out. Which meant I was breaching it whilst waiting for the buffoon. I groaned, standing up from the bench once more and walking towards the woods. He was going to get a bloody earful when I found him. I was supposed to be the irresponsible friend! The one who got in trouble… I had coined that since we’ve met!

Suddenly something grabbed hold of my shirt-collar and I was pulled back. Well, I still had the getting in trouble thing going for me…

“Evening Chief” I smiled nervously, looking at the glaring, growling, might-kill-me leader.

“What are you doing out?” he growled.

“Um… I’m on patrol?” I tried, thought I knew this guy knew the schedule out of his head.

“Don’t be an idiot Ethan” he snapped, “And where is my son? You two seem to always be hanging out”

“In the room, promise” I grinned, watching the guy’s eyes turn into slits, “O really?”

I nodded hastily, catching the figure in the corner of my eye. Thank freaking goodness. He looked over at me, mouthing sorry as he rushed towards the cabin.

“What you looking at?” the guy in front of asked, his gaze moving to where his son was a moment ago.

“Nothing” I mumbled, “Sorry Chief”

“Come on” the man growled, starting to pull me towards my cabin, “And Ethan, if my son isn’t there I swear you’ll be stuck training the newbies shifting for the whole entire camp”

I only nodded as I was pulled towards the cabin. When we came in, I thanked the moon that my friend was already sitting on his bed, looking busy. When we entered, his eyebrows scrunched together and he stood up.

“What’s going on?”

“Your idiot friend was caught outside after lights out” Chief sighed, pushing me forward.

My friend shook his head, trying to hide the smirk that played on his face.

“Tomorrow morning, you’re on kitchen duty” I groaned, shooting a glare at my friend as his father left the cabin. The moment the door closed I rushed over, tackling the person.

“Where the hell were you?” I asked, going to go sit on him.

“Aw, did you miss me?” he grinned, pushing me off of him.

“You’re helping me tomorrow” I snapped, going to go sit on his bed.

Luca nodded, glancing over at the other beds. Everyone else had luckily gotten stuck with patrol or we’d hear the grumbles of unhappy cabin-mates.

“Where’d you go?”

“Dad pissed me off” he sighed, “Went to the woods”

“Did a tree attack you or something?” I asked, noticing the blood splattered on his arm. It looked like a pretty deep cut as well. Actually, he seemed to have a lot of blood splatters on him.

“It’s nothing, I’m fine” he said, not looking over at me.

“Dude, no you’re not”

“I’m fine Ethan” he said, “Just tired”

I nodded, getting off of the bed. I didn’t press things when he was like this. I climbed up to my own bed, hearing my friend mumble things under his breath.

“Night” he yawned towards me. I responded, thought didn’t close my eyes. How could I? My friend had gone to goodness knows where and as someone who would usually tell me everything, he was suddenly cutting me out of a conversation. Like – the dude hadn’t just gone for a walk or a run or whatever, he had been in a fight. And well, I’ve known the idiot for a while and he, he didn’t usually get scathed at a fight. So, the blood and stuff, it worried me.

XXX

Luca’s POV

I didn’t sleep well that evening. Half of the reason was because of the stupid roaring/snoring that came from the idiot above me, but the more important half was because of those wolves. There were two. Two unknown, two wild wolves that I didn’t know anything about. And well, the dried up blood on my skin was disproving my words about them being dangerous.

But I wasn’t going to tell my father. I couldn’t!

He’d kill them and well, somewhere inside of me – didn’t want that to happen. I groaned, sitting up from the bed. These stupid thoughts were giving me a headache.

An arm flew in front of my face, the snoring only intensifying. Jeez, he sounded like fifty tractors. I sighed, pushing the arm away from me and climbed off of the bed. I quickly get dressed, trying to keep my mind off of the wolves but it’s nearly impossible. In the end, I found myself back in the forest. Thought – this time I was going to be ready.

I trudge through the trees, letting my instincts take over for now. My wolf easily catches the scent, me letting go of the control I had fought so long for and praying that I’d get it back as soon as I find those wolves.

Which didn’t take too long. I end up near a darker part of the forest, their white pelts like beacons. I can feel my wolf crawling back into the space it was as I approach the wolves. Both are sleeping, the smaller one crawled close to the bigger one, almost invisible with the closeness.

I was about half of the darker part of the forest when those ruby eyes capture mine. It looks angry but I immediately stop in my tracks, directing my gaze to the floor as a sign of respect.

Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me

My fearlessness knew no bounds, honestly.

“I’m not here to hurt you”

Like before, the wolf looks confused, shaking its head to get my thought out. I take a step towards them but it immediately lets out a fury of growls, its head bowing towards the smaller one.

“I promise I mean no harm”

I try to sound soothing but the voice only confuses the wolf more. Once again it shakes its head, the wolf’s eyes closing in frustration.

“My name is Luca, can you tell me yours?”

The wolf lightly barks, me just looking at it dumbfounded.

“Okay, think your name. I don’t speak proper wolf”

The wolf sucks in a breath and I can see its concentrating really hard. What comes out is a shout. Thought the voice immediately captures me. It sounds like a chorus of bells. Pure, beautiful.

“LUCA”

“Yeah, Luca. What’s your name?”

The wolf looks confused and looks down at the smaller wolf once more. It was slightly stirring, waking up. Her head suddenly snaps up, her eyes glowing.

“Leave”

She was desperate, worry filling her being. This small wolf… it probably meant the world to her. And protecting it was her main priority. I only nodded, disappearing back through the trees.