Chapter 75- Late, But Just In Time

Derrick’s POV

“Where’s mom?” Miguel shifts on the bench seat in front of me, his eyes scanning the constant flow of people entering the field where his soccer game is being held. Snickers can be heard from his teammates at his question, his teammates still not believing that he in fact does have a mother.

“She will be here.” I tell him with the best reassuring smile my face can muster. I can tell that my face has failed me by the increase of worry that appears on his sweet little innocent face. Once again trying to reach out through mind link with Salara, I start to worry that maybe she didn’t wake up from her nap in time.

Not that I could blame her for over sleeping, she did use a lot of energy just a few hours ago, but it causes guilt to fill me because I was supposed to head back and make sure that she woke up in time.

“Daddy Derrick!” The sweet sound of Hayden’s energetic voice pulls me from my concentration as I try to reach her mother one last time. A warm smile fills my features as I turn to look at the bouncing little girl that is accompanied by my mother. Her cute little pigtails swing to and fro as she skips her way down the aisle towards where we sit in the front row.

When the pair finally reach our row, Hayden throws herself into my arms, a huge grin on her adorable face. “We played with puppies!” She squeals excitedly, making herself comfortable on my lap as if she has always done it. Before I can say anything in response, she looks around with a frown on her face. “Where’s mommy?”

My mother settles into the seat beside me before reaching over and taking the little girl from my arms and placing her in her lap. “Mommy is on her way.” She tells the little girl sweetly, getting a shrug in response before Hayden turned her attention over to her favorite person, Miguel.

I watch from the corner of my eye as brother and sister embrace excitedly, little Hayden rambling on about her day with the puppies. My eyes move over the throng of people quickly in search of the woman that makes my heart race. A growl from the front row takes me by surprise and when I look back, Miguel has one of his teammates by the throat and a warning growl is rumbling from his chest.

“Keep your hands off of my sister!” The little boy in his grasp apologizes profusely, his head shaking up and down in hurried motions as he lifts his hands in the air in surrender. Satisfied, Miguel lets go of the boy with a shove, causing him to stumble backwards on his butt. His remaining teammates eye him warily before moving to help the boy up from the dirt.

‘What did I miss?’

A proud smile looks in my direction, a twinkle appearing in my mother’s eyes. ‘Miguel finally found something worth standing up for.’ I am not really sure what that means, but I nod my head anyways, eager to get back to searching for my missing mate.

‘She is almost here, quit worrying.’ Hunter’s words cause me to pause in my searching. The game has already begun, with Miguel being first up to go in, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the entrance that still has some stragglers coming in late.

The breath leaves me when my eyes finally catch sight of the most beautiful woman to ever grace this pack. She quickly scans the benches in front of her before finally landing on where we sit up front. Her eyes light up the moment they find mine, resulting in galloping horses to take off in my chest.

Her feet quickly move in my direction, her gaze moving to the soccer field in front of us with every few steps that she takes. When she is almost to the bottom of the stands, she stiffens suddenly, her nostrils flaring as she sniffs the air. Before I can comprehend what is happening, she has launched herself the rest of the way down before jumping over the rail separating us from the players down below.

I watch in confusion as she races across the soccer field, effortlessly avoiding hitting any of the confused kids running down the field. It isn’t until she is close to the tree lines in the distance that I catch a whiff of the rogue wolves that she somehow must have scented a moment ago.

Jumping from my seat, I order my mother to get Hayden to safety before jumping over the rail myself, quickly eating up the distance between Salara and myself. Mind links start pouring in about rogues attacking from different corners of our territory, with cries of help coming through the loudest.

Four rogues burst through the tree line in their wolf form when I am about halfway through the large soccer field. Screams erupt around us as children begin to run to their screaming parents in a panic. I watch in aww as Salara effortlessly shifts into her beautiful, white wolf, as if she has been shifting for years instead of a single day.

She lets out a mighty roar, stopping the four rogues in their tracks as they had begun to make their way towards the screaming children. I watch in horror as four more rogues emerge from the trees, their attention solely on the white wolf that is snapping her jaws at them in warning.

‘Shift.’ Hunter growls in my mind moments before he forces the shift, causing pain to ripple through my body from the abruptness of it. ‘Get up, Human.’ He orders when I lay there panting through the pain of his brutally quick shift.

He growls in frustration when I continue to lay there on the ground, unable to move through the pain. Taking control of my body, he sets our paws into motion, causing pain to radiate through my system in constant waves. I can hear Hunter grumble, ‘Useless Human’ under his breath as he makes quick work of joining Salara who is already deep into battle.

Launching through the air, we tackle a wolf that was about to pounce on Salara’s back while she was unaware. Hunter makes quick work of the wolf, going straight for the throat and snapping its neck with no remorse. The wolf shifts back into it’s human form, causing us to pause when we are left staring at the lifeless body of Josiah, one of our missing pack mates.

‘Mourn later.’ Hunter says, drawing me back to the battle that is taking place before me. Salara has taken out two of the eight wolves, leaving a total of five wolves left surrounding her. She swipes out with her front paw, smacking one of the wolves in the face that got too close.

Snapping myself out of my wayward thoughts, I jump into the frey, placing myself beside Salara, guarding her back from attacks from behind. The wolves suddenly stop their snapping jaws, their ears twitching slightly as if they were listening to something. Each wolf looks to another before they all take off back into the woods that they came from.

Salara’s wolf glances in my direction before taking off in the direction that the wolves just took off in.

Shit!

Hunter and I tear off after her, following the sounds of wolves howling as we make our way through the dense trees. We soon come across Salara with one of the wolves in her mouth, her head moving back and forth as she shakes the life from the wolf. The remaining four wolves were nowhere to be seen.

The body in Salara’s jaws drops to the earth with a heavy thud, the wolf soon turning back to a familiar human form. Lying at Salara’s feet is the lifeless body of the Blood Moon Pack’s beloved princess.

While there is no alliance between our two packs, finding their Alpha heir here amongst rogue wolves brings up more questions than it does answers. Why would the Blood Moon Pack align themselves with rogue wolves and attack our pack?

There is also the question of why are so many rogues working together to attack a pack? Rogues are supposed to be mindless creatures that attack anything in their pack, including each other. It is unheard of for them to work together towards one goal.

Just what in the hell is going on around here?

Salara shifts back into her human form as she stares down at the young woman lying at her feet. She turns her head in my direction, tears pooling in those gorgeous eyes of hers. “What have I done?” She sobs out before throwing her body against my fur, her arms wrapping around me tightly.