Home -- Wolv book 3

Nine - Never Give Up

The sound of the motor was deafening. I flinched as it spun up, cringing as the sound tormented my new, sensitive ears.

"Daanis!" I howled, staggering around a building. Where is she?!?  And why did that motor sound so familiar?

Another sharp, furious howl sounded from up ahead, and I lost my footing, tumbling down over my own paws as my body constricted. "Stop doing that!" I snarled. How was I supposed to find and help her when she kept howling? Did the Alpha wolv simply not realize what her howl-song could do to an Omega?

"Drop it now!"

The voice sounded over the din of the motor, clear as day to my wolven ears. My tail twitched in horror--I didn't recognize the voice. I thought she said this place was a ghost town! How could a human sneak in here without her or Mingan noticing?!?  I pulled myself back up to my paws and sprinted around a bend in the street, my eyes wide and my tongue lolling out of my jowls.

A bright yellow airplane sat a few hundred meters away, in the middle of a long, straight stretch of charred gravel. The propeller was spinning furiously, beating the air as the motor revved. Daanis raced a wide circle around the aircraft, hissing like a feral cat at two men, standing next to the plane. Her teeth were exposed and her claws were out, digging into the ground below.

"Humfrey! Mingan is in there!" she screamed, fixing her eyes on the yellow aircraft. She tensed, before wildly springing forward at the pilots.

"Drop that thing down!" one of the men screamed again. My eyes caught sight of the long, slender barrel of a rifle in the hands of the other--

"Daanis! Look out--"

Strangely, I didn't even hear the shot. The shooter jerked back as the rifle kicked, and Daanis dropped to the ground like a stone, her legs twitching feebly several times before her nerves ceased firing.

"NO!!!"

The shooter heard my cry, and spun around on his heel, leveling the rifle at my exposed chest. He braced himself against the back draft of the propeller, before pulling the trigger.

"Ah!" I leapt back as the gravel in front of me exploded, showering my face with tiny bits of dirt and stone. I stumbled backwards on my paws, darting back towards one of the burned-out buildings for shelter.

"I missed him!" the pilot growled, and I heard the distinct clink! as he cycled his weapon once more. No, no, wait! Don't take me too--

I leapt around a charred, cinder block wall just as the dirt beneath my paws exploded yet again. Angry voices shouted loudly over the plane, and I ducked into the building through a hole in the wall, listening to their words as my heart pounded inside my chest.

"You missed it again!"

"He was moving! We don't need it, anyways. We've already got enough! Load that one up, let's go!"

I twitched my ears, crawling through a charred bedroom and into a blackened hallway. Outside, the engine began to get even louder, before the aircraft lifted off into the sky. I cautiously peered out of a broken window, watching the yellow bush plane turn gracefully over the trees, before disappearing from sight.

Daanis.

My eyes snapped down to the gravel road, searching for her body. I could still see her in my mind, dropping down instantly as the rifle kicked back in the pilot's hands.

Where is she?

I pawed gently at the window frame, brushing a few loose pieces of glass away before leaping up and out of the opening, landing in a clumsy heap outside of the ruins. Daanis was nowhere to be found.