Part Eighty-Six

I looked at the wolf and instinct took over. I pushed James aside and lunged through the window, shifting as I did so. My clothes tore from my body and fell to the floor. The wolf was running. I didn’t care about the cuts on my body from the broken glass. I didn’t care about anything else at that moment, I just needed to kill him.

The wolf stopped in the middle of the clearing and his stench bothered my nostrils. We circled each other and I spotted five other wolves emerging from between the trees. I was outnumbered. He had lured me here and he had won this round. I could not take on six wolves.

Then I heard them in my head, they were close. Malachi, Garrick, and James; they had followed me without question. We all stood there in the clearing, growling at each other. We could not communicate with them and I wondered now about my decision to just blindly run after him. It didn’t matter much, what was done, was done. I would face him if I had to and they all knew I wanted to kill Ramos.

‘Why is he back?’ I asked Malachi. We had a truce with Ramos and now he had broken it by coming into our territory. My rage and anger had intensified at the sight of him. He had tried to break Adara’s spirit, and I swore that he would never lay a finger on her again.

‘I don’t know, but if we fight, we fight to the death!’ Malachi said and everyone else agreed with him. This was a new side to Malachi that I had never before witnessed. This was also the first time we were engaged as wolves against other wolves.

Ramos growled at me and I went for him. I lunged at him snapping and snarling as I did so. I couldn’t worry about the others now. They had an extra wolf on their side, but we had an Alpha and a future Alpha on our side. He yapped at my side but got a mouthful of fur, I turned towards him and grabbed him by his neck.

I heard the growls of the other wolves around us fighting and I quickly looked up, that split second of not focusing on Ramos gave him his chance to get loose from my grip. I pulled away just in time as his teeth grazed my cheek.

Malachi had torn out the throat of the wolf that had lunged for him when the fight started. He was circling another one while James and Garrick were still busy defending themselves. Ramos was snapping at me but not attacking me, low growling filled my ears and I wondered what Ramos was up to now.

Malachi lunged at the brown wolf he was circling, and they rolled together, Malachi was on top and went for the jugular again. It took two bites and the brown wolf also succumbed. Malachi turned his attention to me and Ramos. Ramos went into a kneeling position and changed to his human form.

“We retreat. If you kill me, it will be murder,” Ramos said with his head bowed. I looked around and the two other wolves were also bowing down in their human form. This was very strange; I noticed a man further up with a camera. He was videotaping us!

‘This is a set up!’ I said to Malachi and I turned around and started to leave.

Malachi growled at Ramos and we made our way home. I could hear Ramos laughing as we walked away and I had to control the urge to turn around and rip his throat out, murder or not.

We got back to the house and the women must have left clothes out for us. We found them in the sitting room, on edge and ready to change should they need to. Adara rushed over and hugged me tightly.

“What happened?” she asked, concerned. Karani, Stephanie and Shoran had also gone to hug their other halves.

“It was mainly a set up. Malachi killed two of them,” I said and Karani looked at Malachi. She was shocked.

“Ramos stopped in the clearing; I was there first. Then I saw five other wolves emerge from the trees. Then Malachi, Garrick and James showed up and I just went for Ramos. We fought, I’m not sure if Ramos failed to tell them Malachi is an Alpha or deliberately left that part out,” I continued.

“Malachi took care of two of the wolves that came for him and then Ramos suddenly just submitted and changed back to his human form. I spotted a guy up on the hill recording us, Ramos told Malachi that if we kill him, it would be murder, we had no choice but to leave,” I concluded.

“Bastard!” Adara hissed. She had every reason in the world to hate Ramos and I wondered again what he was up to now.

“We need to call a pack meeting, Malachi,” Karani said and Garrick nodded. Even though the final decision was always made by the Alpha, a good one informed his pack and let them vote on every matter. Malachi only made decisions alone when it was spur-of-the-moment and he had no other choice.

“I’ll start sending out the notices. Unfortunately, we need to make it at least two weeks from now. Give everyone a chance to sort out their human affairs,” Garrick said.

“Are you talking about convening a tribunal?” I asked Malachi and he nodded. “Doesn’t that mean…?” he interrupted me and answered my question.

“That Adara and Shoran will have to testify to their rapes and undergo the truth seeker’s questions,” Malachi finished.

“I would also have to testify,” James added and looked solemnly at Shoran.

“Shoran would then also have to admit to murder,” James added in a low voice. I hadn’t thought about that part. We also couldn’t give any version other than the truth. The truth seeker would know and the consequences for Malachi and all of us would be harsh if it was found that he had condoned lying.