Kace

Chapter Twenty-One

~Kace~

I didn't spend the night in Sayd's room even though she asked me to stay and argued that it was too late for me to walk home. It was late, but not for me.

I found some woods nearby and turned wolf. One of my favorite things was feeling the wind blow through my fur as I ran, it motivated me to run faster. When you live among humans, like me, it gets depressing on your wolf because you don't get to turn as much. I've heard stories of people having their wolf stuck inside because they didn't get to turn enough and that sounded depressing. Our wolves made us who we are, if your wolf dies you die. When I was younger I would run out to the woods at night and train myself to fight Sonny and other wolves I meet. My wolf was bigger than theirs because I was born an alpha but I learned everything I knew with them.

After a few more minutes of running, I finally got to the house only to find the door was ripped out from its frame. It wasn't hard to see that there was a struggle here, a fight maybe. I immediately tried to mind link Reid and got nothing, then I tried Graham, but nothing also. Something was definitely wrong. I followed my instincts and went in any direction in the woods. I sniffed the air to pick up anyone of the guys, fortunately, I picked up Reid's deeper in the woods and run faster in that direction. As I got closer I could see Reid in his wolf form and stopped in my track when I saw he was growling at the wolf that was standing opposite him. They were both injured. The other wolf was noticeably worse but Reid wasn't in good shape either. He never backed out from a fight, out of the four of us, he was the most arrogant and he fought to the death. Which was obviously what he was doing now.

When the other wolf spotted me looking at them, it launched at me thankfully, and good for me, I was ready for a battle.

The wolf circled me before it launched itself at me with full force. I caught it by its snout in mid-air and hauled it to the ground. I didn't give it a chance to get up and bit into its shoulder fiercely causing it to let out a pained growl. It tried to shake me off and using its hind legs, it kicked me off. I quickly got to my feet and so did my opponent but I knew I had already won this fight when it tumbled back to the ground again. I almost felt pity when it got up again. This one, like Reid, wasn't going down easy. My intention wasn't to kill it but just to do enough to make him back down. So when he attacked me again I overpowered him and pinned him to the ground with my teeth around his neck and ready to rip his throat out. He breathed heavily as he contemplated the position he was in. He then turned back into a human as a sign of surrender. The scars he had from his previous battle with Reid were deep and almost nauseating. He looked at me with half-opened eyes before falling unconscious.

I pushed him aside and went to attend to Reid who had also turned into a human. I didn't want to change back in case anyone attacked, I wanted to be ready so I mind-linked him and asked him if he could get on my back so that I take him home or to a hospital.

"I'd rather go home," he said and winced as moved his position and threw himself on my back. "It'll heal in a couple of hours. "

The wolf rule was the more brutal the wound, the longer the healing time. I looked at our attacker and thought twice about leaving him here. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't showing any empathy. I need to bring him in to know who he was. I carried Reid on my back and dragged the other guy by his leg. Along the way, I asked Reid where Graham and Sonny were.

"I don't know man," he coughed and winced. " I lost them while they were fighting off another wolf. "

So they were two wolves, I didn't want to ask him any more questions with the pain he was in. So I planned to quickly take him home and go back to look for Graham and Sonny. When I got there I was relieved to find them both already in the house.

"Kace, we've been looking everywhere for you," he looked at a lifeless Reid on my back. " Shit, he got hurt this bad?" I also noticed Sonny and Graham had a few cuts on their faces and Sonny had one that looked bad on his arm.

"You should see the other guy," Reid said as he tried to move off of me. Sonny quickly went to his aid and helped him up.

"Easy big guy, " Sonny said and ushered him to a chair.

"The other guy's outside," I said when I turned back into human. " I was too tired to drag him in," and also I just didn't care to.

Sonny looked at me with a raised eyebrow as he walked outside and found the guy helplessly trying to pull himself up before he fell back to the ground again. He did him a favor and shoulder-dragged him inside the house.

"Where's the guy who attacked you?" I asked Graham and Sonny as they settled the guy on the carpet.

"He ran away in the woods after we came back here hoping to find Reid. " Graham responded. He covered Reid with a small blanket and inspected his wounds. " I think I have something that will help him." He went into the kitchen and came back with a jar of leaves soaked in a brown-colored liquid. He opened the jar put some in his mouth and began to chew. My nose wrinkled when he spat the chewed leaves out and rubbed them with his hands.

"This is more disgusting for me than it is for you buddy," he said as he rubbed his hands gently on Reid's lower abdomen and arms. " The healers in my pack use these to speed up the healing process and also ease the pain. "

Reid looked more relaxed as he continued administrating the treatment. I could tell it was already working.

"Thanks man," Reid said to Graham and he smiled in response.

" It'll feel more better once it dries on your skin. "

"Now let's have a chat with our friend," Grahm said turning to the wolf that attacked them on the carpet.

"Get up buddy," Sonny rolled him over with his foot.

"I'm not your buddy," he graveled

"That's too bad then," Graham said sarcastically and abruptly picked him up from the floor and throw him on the chair. He hissed in pain when his fragile body hit the hardwood.

"Who are you and why did you attack us ?" I asked as we narrowed in on him.

He choose to stay silent and then coughed out in pain.

"I could give you something for the pain if you cooperate," Sonny tried to negotiate with him.

"If I tell you anything, I'm as good as dead. "

"Then you might as well talk. You stay here you die, you go back to where ever you came from you die," Graham added in.

He huffed a laugh." You people won't kill me. He told me that's your weakness. Empathy. "

"Who's he?" I asked him.

He was wrong, we didn't show empathy. The only reason we demonstrated anything close to it was that we lived among humans. For humans killing someone even a wolf was a cause for alarm. We didn't want that on our name. In a pack, however, it was a different story.

"My boss. "

"Who is your boss?" Sonny asked impatiently.

He took me by surprise when he smiled, a smile that didn't touch his eyes. For the first time since our confrontation began, he made eye contact with us.

"The one who's going to kill you," he looked at Sonny, " And you," then Graham. " And you," then me. "And everything and everyone else he cared about."

I could sense the irritation from Graham as he moved closer to him and strangled him and lifted him from his seat. " Then why did he send you to do his dirty work? " When he started to gasp for air I urged Graham to let him go and loosened his grip.

"Coward, "I heard him whisper from the corner of my ear when he fell back onto the chair. At that, I roundhouse kicked him and sent him and the chair he was on flying to the wall. He fell unconscious again as blood oozed from his nose. Sonny went to him and raised his hand to feel his pulse.

"He's still breathing," he confirmed.

"Let's leave him for the woods," Graham dragged his feet. "I've had just about enough of this guy."