A Howling in the Hills (Prev. Adjusting) (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 7 - Tracking

Alex was furious with me tracking down a rogue.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?!" he almost shouted at Brian. 

The six of us who were in the office earlier were all standing at the edge of the woods. We had waited until night time to go for our hunt. Brian stood in a relaxed pose, his hands stuck in his pockets, his eyes showing how little he cared about what Alex was saying. Alex was the complete opposite, with his green eyes flashing with fury. He seemed even taller than normal as he ranted.

"Adrian could be killed!"

"Alexander, calm yourself," Alpha John said. 

Alex whipped his head around to fix his glare on his dad. The Alpha stood there with his arms crossed, his brown eyes revealing his excitement and anxiety. He stared into Alex's eyes for a moment before switching his gaze to me.

"Are you sure you can do this?" 

I nodded to him, trying to hide my true feelings. I was worried. I didn't know whether I would be able to track down a rogue or what might happen if I were able to find one and the others weren't nearby.

However, I was also worried that if I didn't offer to try, I would quickly be out of the pack, a gift from the soon-to-be Alpha.

Alpha John narrowed his eyes, as though he knew of my lie. Luckily, he didn't point it out and turned back to face the group. 

"We will follow behind Adrian, far enough so we can't be scented, but close enough to hear him if need be. Understand?"

We all nodded to him. I gave one last look at Alex's worried face before turning away from the group and briskly walking into the forest. Once I was safely in the cover of the trees, I took off my clothes and folded them before setting them in a neat pile and shifting. 

Pain wracked through my body as it morphed from average human to human-sized wolf. 

Once I had fully transformed, let out a short bark to let the others know I was ready. One at a time, each wolf entered the shelter of the forest. I could easily spot Alpha John, as he was the largest wolf there and was fully chocolate brown with no other colors marring his coat. I could quickly spot Brian as well, for he was the second largest with an ashy brown coat speckled with black. The other three wolves were roughly the same sizes, one with dirty blond fur, one with pure black fur, and another with brown fur. I picked out Alex as the one with several shades of brown due to his bright green eyes. The other two wolves I couldn't identify as Blake or Greg, but I also didn't really care.

I turned away from them and ran deep into the forest. After running about a mile, I stopped, closed my eyes, and took in the scents around me.

After two years of torture and ten years on my own, I had been taught by other rogues and taught myself how to track well. You needed to know, in that hell-hole, who was coming and when in order to be prepared. You had to learn the specific scents of not only each pack, but each pack member and rogue while out on your own. You needed to remember which scents meant another day of living, and which ones meant instant death.

After a minute or two of sifting through the multiple scents, I finally found the one that wasn't like the others. I could smell several wild wolves, but I could also smell a couple that were much stronger than the others. These two scents smelled as though they were from the same wolf pack, yet at the same time gave off the stench of a rogue. 

I had found our guys.

I quickly set off on their trail, ducking and weaving through the trees as quietly as I could. After running for a few minutes, the two scents went different ways, and I was at a fork in the road. I randomly decided to follow the one that continued to the left with barely a pause in my stride.