Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

We walked out of the gates, the guards opened the door for us.

"Just how many people are going to be there?" i asked, my hand still wrapped around Nate's muscly forearm.

"Most of the pack - some wolves are staying back to keep guard, but everyone else will be there." he answered.

I gulped, remembering my stage fright - i've never really liked being the centre of attention.

Sensing my unease, Nate tried to calm me down,

"Don't worry, it only takes a moment, and you don't have to actually do anything, so you can't fuck it up."

"Thanks!" i said sarcastically with a smile, "but what exactly am i going to have to do?"

"I'm not so sure, we rarely get new wolves joining our territory - most of them join the Bloodlust pack.." he seemed uneasy at the mention of the other packs name - i could understand, their name alone was scaring me.

"What's our pack name?"

"Crescent pack."

"That's a fucking awesome name," i said with a smile, "but why do all of the wolves join 'Bloodlust'?"

"It's much bigger and stronger - we have around 200 members, they have near 500."

"Why does that matter? We have more spare rooms in the pack house," i said with a smile.

"To be honest, the situation between our 2 packs has been tense for a long time, it's likely we'll go to war soon - most people would prefer to join the pack that has more of a chance of winning," he replied. I guess that's why the Alpha wants me to learn self defense, i thought, remembering last night.

"Are you rethinking joining this pack?" Nate asked after seeing my thoughtful face.

"No! i've always loved the underdogs, and the bloodlust pack sounds awful. Plus, i've never been afraid of death, what scares me more is cowardice - i'd rather die fighting for good than live fightimg for bad."

"What makes you think Bloodlust are bad?" Nate asked

"I don't know - i just get wierd vibes. But anyway, Crescent is awesome, so anyone fighting us must be bad."

Nate smiled at that, "Actually we hate each other because we share the same land - wolves are territorial - "

"What a stupid reason to be fighting! You should learn to share!" i cut him off.

"And you should learn not to cut people off!" he answered, "The main reason we fight is because the Alpha of Bloodlust is a dick."

"Aren't they all?" i asked, remembering Alpha Dustin. Nate gave me a look,

"He can be quite strict, but he can be really nice too - and don't let him hear you say that - you can get banished."

"I won't," i replied, feeling slightly guilty - there was a moment yesterday when i thought that Dustin was nice too, he even smiled at me - but then he told me off which i absolutely HATE!

"And if you think our Alpha's bad, you'll hate the Alpha of Bloodlust - he's cruel and ruthless - he has conquered and taken many packs by force and he'll kill any rogue that enters his land without a second thought - though that is understandable, his parents were killed by rogues and he had to take over at 16 - i guess that's why he is so hard," he offered as explanation before continuing, "no one has ever seen him smile. Some want him to find his mate so she can soften him up, most don't think the fates would give him a mate because he is too horrible to deserve one."