The Children Of Maddeline

Twenty-Three

Maddeline

I yawned and shuffled around the papers on my desk, it was quite a boring day without Gray here.

"Maddeline!" I heard a voice call my name on the other side of the door.

The double doors burst open to reveal a very frantic Emma. Her dark eyes were wild as she latched her sights on me, she rushed to me and gripped my hands, pulling me out of the office.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Something is wrong with Jadzia!" She yelled over her shoulder, pulling me out the front door.

I frowned, why would Jadzia be outside? Emma hastily ripped off her tank top and her shorts, she jumped into the air and shifted faster than any werewolf. Her fur was a soft and dark brown, with tints of blue on the edges. Her claws were long and sharp, digging into the soft grass of the lawn, and her blue eyes shone like the ocean. Strange, the eyes of her human form were black.

She growled and gestured for me to climb onto her back, I didn't waste time with hesitation and did as the she-wolf told me. As soon as I was comfortable, Emma bolted off into the trees. She ran so lightly that it seemed like we were flying and her feet barely touched the ground.

She jumped out of the bushes, landing gracefully on the leafy ground of the clearing. I swung down from her back, falling slightly until my feet hit the damp earth, she was an extremely tall wolf and I wasn't a very tall woman. I ran to the garden shed, peering in the door and gasping with horror.

Jadzia sat on the dusty floor, Tyler's head cradled in her lap as she cried quietly and played with his unmoving hands. She had obviously taken him down from the noose hanging from the rafters of the shed, his neck was an ugly shade of purple and blood spilled from the small scratches that the rope has given him.

I took a deep breath, hoping it would calm me down. But instead I became panicked, that smell... It was him, Delton. Although it wasn't entirely his scent, but I presumed it was one of his pack members who had touched him, therefore smelling like him.

The smell of him brought back memories of dark rooms, rusted chains and broken bones. I collapsed to my knees and stared at my daughter as she sobbed, rocking back and forth clutching her mate's body in her arms, she wailed and screamed in heartbreak.

"He won't live to see the light of another dawn." I muttered to myself, clenching my jaw and bawling my fists.

I felt my eyes start to glow, yellow light pouring out of the sockets, I screamed in fury and slammed my fist down on the ground, causing an indent. The patrol wolves ran into the clearing, looking frightened and bewildered, Gray was the last to enter.

He ran towards me, shifting halfway and skidding to his knees next to me. He scooped me up in his arms and distraughtly, when he touched me something deep inside my mind stirred. The familiar presence let out a grumble, more like a low growl. Megaera. She'd come back to me, but she was very weak.

My eyes stopped glowing, but my anger and fury swirled in the depths of my body. I became aware of Gray rubbing my back and kissing my forehead, he too stared Jadzia, gulping back tears as he saw such a mighty woman, brought low. I sat up slowly, nodding reassuringly at my mate and crawling across the floor of the shed until I sat close at Jadzia's side.

"Hush now." I murmured in her ear, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her head.

She let out another choked sob and her grip on Tyler's corpse tightened, she leaned into me and I held her in a tight embrace. Her breathing was heavy and uneven, she choked and gasped for air. After a while, I slowly started to pull her away from the dead body.

"I don't want to leave him yet." Jadzia said as soon as I started to move her.

"Ten more minutes." I agreed, kissing her head and getting up slowly.

It was cold outside, night had fallen and the patrol wolves were active on their night shift. Gray had gone back to the pack house after me constantly telling him to leave through our mind link, but one wolf was still lying on the ground and miserably chewing on a deer carcass.

"Emma?" I hissed.

Her ears pricked and she raised her head, a chunk of meat hanging from her jaw and her muzzle covered in blood. She finished eating her mouthful and licked the blood away.

"What happened?" She asked in a gruff voice.

I took a step back in shock, only the highest ranking wolves of the world could speak when they were in their wolf forms. I relaxed and mentally slapped myself when I remembered that Emma was one of the high ranks. She had her own seat in the werewolf council, right next to her mate.

"Tyler was murdered." I say darkly, "By another pack."

Her ears flatten against her skull and she whines, expressing her sympathy.

"We have to call a meeting with the council." I say, sitting down next to her.

She shakes her head and swallows another clump of deer meat, "We have nothing to do with private wars between packs or between Rogues. If you want to declare war on another Alpha, we shall not stand in your way."

I thought about her statement for a minute, "did you ever study different types of wolf calls?"

Emma looks at me with confusion, I must admit it was a pretty out of the blue question but she answered it anyway.

"Yes I did, it is common law for Luna's to study werewolf calls so she's knows the difference between a Rogue attack and a love song." Emma snorted.

"I need you to do the Alpha's call." I ordered her.

She blinked at me, before standing up and shaking out her fluffy coat. She took a deep breath, taking a while as she remembered the tune of the howl. And then she threw her head back and howled; it was loud, but also low and deep, her mouth would change shape so different pitches of the call were released.

When she stopped howling, I heard another howl echo to us from a mountain a fair way away, and then another came from across the river. I heard them from all around us, all answering Emma's call and hopefully they were headed this way.