Bloody Chase
Hackles raised, Diana’s wolf jumped up to the branch above the clustered hunting team. Ironic, that they were called the hunting team, the best among the best since they were trained by the great Elder Shananel, but they were now the ones being hunted by the white-furred wolf.
The darkness within the forest and the ensuing storm hovering over the entirety of Crescent Pack’s territories did not help the hunting team at all. The rain washed the scent of the white-furred wolf and the pungent stench of death from the headless wolf of the tracker masked the lingering smell and intent of Diana’s wolf.
A werewolf was two things, a human and a wolf. It was known that mercy was found in the human side while the lethal animalistic side could be found in the wolf. But without the mercy of the man, the primal instinct of the wolf was unstoppable and a force to be reckoned with.
For newly awakened bloodlines for alphas and betas, it was double the primal instinct. The thin thread of humanity was like a thin sheet of ice. Once it would break, disaster would follow. And in the mouth of that disaster, the members of the hunting team were at the forefront. They failed to realize that chasing an angry awakened beta daughter meant death for them and now, they realized it too late.
As they stood at the mercy of one angry she-wolf, all they could do was prolong the inevitable.
A zing of silvery white light passed by like a blur for the hunting team members amid the cloak of darkness, for the zaps of lightning bolts, never returned. It passed by at the center of their circular formation as if she was mocking them that she could see them yet they could not see her.
The sense of sight and the sense of smell were disabled at the mercy of Diana Ritchell. With only the senses of hearing and touch to be utilized, the cluster of hunting team members inched their hides closer to each other. Their stilled tails almost touched each other with their proximity, while their ears kept on twitching as they made up for their disabled senses.
Though they were on high alert, the resounding howls of one of the hunting team members resonated within the dark forest.
His neck was bitten as he was being dragged by the white wolf to the darkness. With the added weight of dragging a kicking and snapping werewolf, all the other members of the hunting team took this chance to surround Diana’s escape route.
One sacrifice did not matter if it meant capturing or killing the criminal on the loose, or so they thought.
The second-in-command, who assumed leadership upon the death of the tracker, made a choice. Through the mind link, he announced their impromptu plan.
‘Assume the nearest directions to your side and guard the passageway. Forget that she is young girl who was once your pack mate and thinks of her as a criminal. Erase all your lingering attachment towards her like she did towards us and think of only one thing; never let her leave our sight. Capture her or let us die trying, deltas!’
‘For Elder Shananel!’
‘For the Werewolf Committee’
‘For the peace of the werewolf communities!’
‘For the comrades that we have lost!’
One wolf with a brunette fur, the second-in-command, dashed to the west to secure the passage towards the creek.
They knew that they would not be able to track Diana Ritchell once she would leap past the creek, for she would erase her marks should she dare trudged through the creek.
The second wolf with an ash mauve fur leaped to the north to block the passage that would lead to the northern borders. Should he fail to stop the awakened beta daughter, which was the closest biggest possibility among any other possibilities, he knew that the Blood Claws Pack would take her under their wing.
His thought was rooted because of one sure thing, the Blood Claws Pack hated the Crescent Pack among any other packs. He could even gamble that the Blood Claws Pack hated the Crescent Pack more than they hated the rogues.
The third wolf with stripes of black and brown furs raced to the east that would lead to the Black Ridge Pack. He was pretty confident that the newly awakened Diana Ritchell would not take that passage since the Crescent Pack’s central town had gammas, who oversee the peace and protection of the central town.
Since the central town was the biggest area where most of the pack’s residents and businesses were located, it had the tightest security in the entire pack. Because of this, the third werewolf was quite sure that among his brethren, he was the safest.
Or so he thought.
Behind the bushes, the limbs of the fallen member of the hunting team flew in all directions.
Its head flew to the second-in-command, making him take a step back from the gore before him. The hind legs flew to the werewolves who took the directions of north and east respectively.
A yelp was followed by a growl from them towards Diana Ritchell behind the blood-soaked bush. And before they could try to move an ounce of their tensed muscle, the heavy thuds of bloody white paws immerged from the blood-soaked bush.
Hackles raised and bloody canines on display, the snarling wolf of Diana Ritchell finally showed herself.
On cue, the zaps of lightning bolts returned with vengeance. With her back against the flashes of light, it only made her wolf look imposing more than ever.
For the members of the hunting team, it was as if they were confronted by death itself.
A mind link opened, making the members of the hunting team flinch audibly.
A raspy voice entered their mind. ‘You will regret following Shananel that traitor!’
Diana’s thunderous voice was answered by a collective flinch. On instinct, even when the human side of the members of the hunting team willed their wolves to stop submitting, the wolves tucked tails and showed their necks as they lowered their heads in unison.
‘What are you doing? Stop submitting to that wench!’
‘Raise your fucking head!’
‘Fuck! Do not submit! That mutt will kill you, stupid wolf!’
Their actions meant that their wolves still recognized the bloody white wolf as someone with a higher rank than them.
Taking the scene before her, Diana and her wolf did not feel the slightest satisfaction from the sight of their mopping. Though Diana’s wolf wanted to kill those before her, Diana’s one thread of rationality willed her beast to stop.
‘Do not move or I will finish you off.’
Diana warned them through the mind like. It was her last drop of mercy for them in consideration of the teachings of her mother and father which was not to use her rank indiscriminately. And so, she spared them even when every fiber of her being was telling her to set them as an example for the traitor, Shananel.
A warning that would declare war against her and the Werewolf Committee.
With one last growl, Diana willed the lightning bolts toward the forest that they were staying in. She took this chance to race towards the east where the central town of the Crescent Pack was located.
Yelping, the members of the hunting team closed their eyes from the onslaught of lightning bolts. The burning of the trees resulted from the contact of the trees with the lightning rod that occupied their sense of smell. Currents brought by the zaps of lightning bolts made their hackles raise in alertness.
‘Where is she?’
‘Damn! We lost her!’
‘Elder Shananel will kill us. We might have escaped death by a hairbreadth from Diana Ritchell, but we will still die from the Elder!’
The second-in-command released a deep howl full of fear and resignation, for they had utterly lost against the newly awakened beta girl, who had spared them yet pushed them to another pit of misery.