Chapter 14: Chapter 14
“I think she means now.” I hear someone say before the sounds of pursuit follows. I couldn’t help but laugh as best as I can in wolf form, rolling my eyes at how slow the Hunters and Trackers are. Heck even Dominic and Christian are a pair of idiots considering I took off from right beside them. You would think and Alpha and Beta would be smarter than this but nope. It took a wolf pointing out that my running away meant to start. I was starting to realize why looting them was so easy a few months ago.
I took this time from my head start to go directly to the creek just ahead from the training ground, running through the water to get rid of my scent trail. Once I feel like they will have a hard time following me I scan around until I find the low hanging branch of a sturdy birch tree and quickly hop onto it. I continue to climb up a couple of branches until part of me is well hidden with the bright leaves and settle down to watch below me. Soon the group crash through the bushes stopping for a moment to stare in all directions - some sniff the air heavily to catch my scent.
"Where the hell did, she go?" Christian’s cry of frustration reaches my ears and I fight back laughter. Man, this brought back memories of him trying to capture me when I first started looting this pack. I could see the gears moving behind Dominic’s eyes as he scans the forest. The sad part is many were searching the ground while some were sniffing in case the breeze brings my scent to them.
"Remember she is a top tracker." Dominic reminds the group, looking at the trackers mostly.
"What is the main hiding spot that you all use, the way you take when tracking rogues?" He asks it’s a smart question to ask and silently I do a little cheer for the Alpha. Maybe he isn’t as stupid as I thought he was. The group of trackers stop their movement as some look around confused. They definitely needed more training.
"Quick search the trees. I remember Ashlee said trackers use the trees since they are faster.” My eyes go to the she-wolf with pink tipped hair. She was short, maybe five foot three inches tall with a lithe build. I had a feeling that she would be a great Tracker with a little more training. Eyes continue to search this time everyone looking into the trees in hopes of spotting me. I stay still and wait in my hiding spot waiting to see just how sharp these wolves are. The pink tipped wolf walks forward and comes to stand beside green Mohawk wolf, their gaze trained on the trees above the creek. The gears in their thoughts were clear to see as I stare into their eyes, waiting to see which one of them would spot me first.
"There, I see her." Pink tipped wolf says as her eyes widen with excitement and she points at the birch tree I am relaxing in. I lift a paw and wave before taking off hoping from branch to branch quickly. The sounds of branches bending with the weight of a body indicate a few wolves have joined me in the trees, but their movements were slow and clumsy. I knew instantly I would have to focus on their skills in navigating through branches. The scent of fresh water slowly fills the air, and the scene of a lake greets me. Focusing more energy into my legs I leap off the final branch and twisting my body to the left I dive straight into the safety of a lake, making sure I am deep under the water. Shadows pass by in the trees above and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. The wolves chasing me did not stop to sniff the air to make sure they were on my trail and instead bypass me and the lake altogether.
An hour slowly passes by as I take the time to trick them, swimming to the island in the center of the lake and leaving my scent all around it. I brush against the bushes and trees, seeing some fur left behind and smirk. By the time the group decided to double back and regroup I was on the opposite side of the lake, letting the warm sun dry my fur while hidden by large bushes.
"Anyone catch her scent yet?" The question is voiced by the Pink tipped girl and I perk my ears up. Apparently they were close, and I had to be ready to make a run for it at any moment. I peak under the bushes hiding me to take a look at the group. I could see some trying hard to track down my scent as some look around the trees and bushes.
“Miles you’re our best swimmer in this group. See if she is over by that island over there.” Dominic suggests, giving the order to a wolf in the group. It turns out Miles is the green Mohawk wolf and I smirk as he starts swimming to the island that I have left my scent all over. Another twenty minutes pass by before Miles once again jumps into the water and swims back to the group, a frown on his young face as he looks at Dominic and Christian.
"She was there but she must have left maybe an hour ago. She must be watching us." And he was right. Maybe I should throw them a bone. The wind was blowing in my favour as everyone’s scent is carried towards me, but this exercise is to test their skills as a pack. So quietly I make my way through the forest around them until the wind blew my scent towards the group. I waited to see who would catch my scent first to see which wolf has the sharpest nose and it isn’t long until I hear a shout.
"I smell her!" Dominic exclaims with excitement, signalling that it was time to leave the lake quickly. With a quick jog I continue my path through the forest. Three more hours pass by in a blink and in those hours I continued to trick them, wait until many were just in reach to grab me before taking off in a sprint and even managing to lose the group. At one-point Dominic, Christian and Miles split into three groups with a mix of Trackers and Hunters split amongst them impressing me with their idea. But no one has come close to taking the scarf away from me.
The sun is beginning to set, the sky ablaze in many reds, oranges and pinks helping to disguise my fur better. I was starving, using the majority of my energy messing with the wolves being trained by me. They had done well – better than I expected – and I had an idea of what needed to be done. First thing first I had to talk to Dominic and Christian about Miles and how he would make a good Head Hunter and Partner in crime with training these wolves. I silently crept through the tree tops, keeping an eye on the wolves below me as they continue to scan through the forest. I could see the exhaustion and weariness in each wolf below me as some soon lean against a tree to support themselves. This is probably the most training they’ve ever done but at least they knew their territory well. I knew how they felt though. Other than my stamina being fine and my breath even my paws were sore. I would be feeling it tomorrow if I decide to shift again into wolf form and go for a run.
"Is there a punishment for surrendering?" Christian asks each word being punctuated with a gasp as he tries his best to catch his breath. I wanted to let out a small growl at Christian for wanting to quit. What if this pack was being attacked? Would he quit and surrender then? Disappointment fills me as I look down at Christian and sigh. Him and I will have to talk later about his attitude.
“We will not quit. Amberle is helping us to become stronger so we will keep going until she says so.” Dominic’s strong voice rings clear, silencing many cries of exhaustion and complaints. I couldn’t help but admire Dominic. Even with everyone exhausted somehow Dominic brought out their fighting spirit. Maybe there is hope for this pack yet to get back into the best shape with an Alpha like Dominic leading them. Smiling I decide to end the training here while I carefully stand and stretch before jumping off the branch. Mid fall I shift back into human form, landing quietly behind Dominic and using the scarf and my hair to hide as much as my body from the group.
“You all did better than I expected.” I start, watching Dominic jump in surprise and turn towards me in a defensive stance. I catch a few of his wolves holding back snickers at their flustered Alpha while Dominic straightens and stands, his hand scratching the back of his neck while a blush creeps along his face. Christian though is full out howling with laughter before being quieted by a growl from Dominic leading to me rolling my eyes.
“Like I said you did well, but you all ultimately lost. We need to work on your stamina and endurance. I want you all to run at least five kilometers a day around the training ground before going off to do your duties. On training day, it will be a ten-kilometer run before doing this exercise again.” I look into each and every wolf’s eyes as I see a spark of determination ignite with in them. Their fighting spirit is something I never saw back in Forest Paw, but it made me proud knowing that I evoked it into them. Finally, my eyes meet Dominic’s, and something flickers behind his dark green orbs, but it is gone before I can decipher it. I turn away to look at the pink-tipped wolf and Miles. I had a feeling that these two would be great assets and I planned to work with them one on one especially since I felt strongly about Miles being the Head Hunter.
A shirt is thrust towards me; breaking me from my train of thoughts and making me turn to see Dominic shirtless. My eyes flicker to his toned body, still as well defined as when I first saw him while taking his shirt gingerly from him with a small thanks. Quickly covering myself with the large shit I let the scarf loosely hang around my neck while the group begins to head back to the pack house. I take a moment to take a deep breath, inhaling Dominic’s scent and allowing it to settle around me.
“Hey Fire Foot.” I turn to the sound of a familiar voice, seeing the pink-tipped wolf coming to walk beside me.
“You can call me Amberle.” I reply back smiling at her. I really liked this wolf and felt good about her. She could be a good second to me. My partner in crime when training the Trackers and coming up with new ways to train – and slightly torture- them.
“I’m Avery. You’re amazing.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the energetic tracker as she bounces beside me. Even though I could tell that little pink tipped haired wolf is tired from the training that didn’t stop her from being excited and prattling on like a pup. Avery begins to fill me in on how the Trackers used to be trained and what exercises they had to do in the past. It was a good foundation and explained why these trackers had skills to begin with but also gave me more of an idea of how to train them. Since the Hunters are also being trained by me as well I needed to learn their past training schedule in order to make a proper training regime to fully bring the potential of Blood Moon to its peak.
“Dominic must really like you.” Miles comes up on the other side of me cutting off Avery’s rant about wanting to learn how to travel through a tree as I turn to look at the wolf with a green Mohawk.
“Why do you say that?” I ask wondering what he meant.
“About two and a half years ago he met his mate. She rejected him because he was the Alpha of this pack and she didn’t want to be with a quote on quote ‘Blood thirsty monster’. Before he could prove to her that he wasn’t his father he watched her run away with a rogue that was banished from our pack. As he chased after them to talk three Soulless attacked and killed both the mate that rejected him and the traitor till you couldn’t even recognize them.” Miles explains. My heart wrenches at Dominic’s past and I turn to look at him. I watched as a group of wolves joke around with Dominic, a smile on his face and laughter drifting over to the three of us. It explained why Dominic allowed me to cry in his embrace yesterday.
“In all honesty that bitch deserved to die Dom’s mate or not. She had a habit of harming pack members who stood in her way and had a high and mighty attitude. Dominic thought he could change her when he found out they were mates but Christian and the majority of the pack were against her.” Avery’s voice is laced with hatred as she scoffs at the mention of Dominic’s so-called mate. I understood how she felt about dealing with someone with a high and mightier attitude – I did grow up with Mia wanting to make my life hell after all. Avery and Miles soon change the subject while my thoughts drifted to their Alpha. Dominic had this air about him that sent butterflies into me so I couldn’t understand how someone could reject him. Hell, I understood why Leo rejected me even thought we were once best friends but from what I could tell Dominic’s mate grew up in this pack. She had to have known what Dominic is like.
“Penny for your thoughts?” A deep voice asks as I feel someone poke my cheek. My head swivels to see Dominic peering down at me, a gentle smile on his face.
“The Canadian government disbanded pennies years ago. I will take a nice fat lump of cash though.” I retort with, bumping my shoulder into his playfully.
“Well that will come later when you make your final decision on staying or not.” Dominic replies back, winking at me as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. I couldn’t help but blush as no wolf has ever been this intimate with me other than my friends. Not since my parents’ deaths. I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear nervously not bothering to remove his arm. Frankly, I liked how it felt being wrapped around me.
“So what are you thinking about so deeply here Fire?” Dominic asks. I could feel his eyes on me, and it takes everything in me not to shy away.
“Plenty of things are on my mind but I think I found your new head Hunter and an Assistant Tracker for me right now.” I answer. I decide to shelf the mystery surrounding Dominic and his own rejected past. When the time is right I have a feeling that he would go into more detail about it since being rejected is such a hard subject for the rejected to talk about. The pack house comes into view finally and the wolves cheer as many rushes inside. The smell of a good meal reaches me from the open doors and windows causing my stomach to growl.
“How about we grab some food and Christian, you and I go to my office to talk about who you want to have as your partners in crime for torturing us.” Dominic chuckles out, giving me a flirty smile as we head into the large building and right towards the dining room. I couldn`t help but smile as well. For once I felt like I am home again.