Wolfsbane

Back to Hell

We parked in the same place as before but now there were more cars than just the ones that belonged to the pack. "Good, they made it." Waine said to himself. Waine gathered us into a group. "Kill any mutts but if they throw themselves on the pack's mercy, spare them and we'll sort them out later. Don't kill the children. They come back to the pack." He took a moment to look at all of us. "Is everyone ready?" They were quiet affirmatives from the group. I wasn't one of them. Half of me was ready and had a blood lust. The other half was scared to face the cult of wolves again. Scared of having to be the one who kills Lola or Louise. I pushed that half away. Britney slid between people and stood next to me. She smiled at me in the dark and quickly squeezed my hand. Waine gave the command and we started walking. Dustin walked next to me for a moment and gave me a slight smile. Before I could smile back, he was past me. "Move quietly. We want to surprise them but there's a chance they're expecting us if they smelled us in the woods." Waine whispered but everyone in the group heard thanks to werewolf hearing. When we got to the edge of the woods, it was much like it was last night. No one was outside but instead of a blanket of darkness, we could see lights outside. We walked forward cautiously. Waine gave quiet orders and the wolves began to slip away from the bigger group. Some went right and the rest went left leaving us in a smaller group. I was relieved that I was still with Dustin and Britney. We had come up to the place where we had the welcome dinner. The picnic tables were gone and in the middle of the grassy area was Howard. He was alone. "I'm the pack master. Which one of you is the alpha?" His voice sounded too loud in the silence. Waine stepped forward and inclined his head. Howard looked him over and snorted. An obvious dismissal. His eyes found mine and his lips twisted. His eyes promised consequences. "We knew you were coming. We smelled strange wolves in our woods. As pack master, it's my job to protect my people. We're going to fight and not until first blood. We fight to the death." I heard curses and growls from the pack. Waine was tall and well-muscled. Howard was taller and built like a football player but Waine looked like he had taken better care of himself. "I expected nothing less." Waine said as if they were talking about the weather instead of talking about one of them dying after a bloody fight. "I'll fight for you." Dustin stepped forward. "I'm the alpha. I fight." Waine looked at us. "You, Britney, Lana and Ell, go. The rest can stay and make sure it stays a clean fight." Dustin was about to argue but Waine held up a hand. "Go." It was obviously a command. Dustin fumed but finally nodded and we walked away. Dustin and I went one way and Britney and Lana went another. Dustin looked back once but didn't try to interfere.

Howard used too much energy in his lunges and attacks early on. Waine dodged them neatly and got his own hits in. Howard got a lucky hit or two but they didn't slow down the alpha. Howard's punches and lunges started coming more slowly. More sloppy. His face was red with exertion but he didn't give up. Giving up wasn't in his nature. Howard suddenly bellowed and ran at Waine like a bull. He surprised Waine and knocked him off his feet. Howard took a few steps away from Waine and sank to one knee. He tried to control his breathing. Waine began to focus on his hand. It began to shimmer and change. His hand was now a paw. It took complete control to be able to change like that and Waine was the only one who could do it so far. He lunged at Howard and his claws hit his throat. Blood sprayed everywhere and Howard fell to the ground, choking to death on his own blood.

We were running in between the houses. We could hear the sounds of fighting around the commune but so far we hadn't run into any other wolves. I slowed down when I heard a howl nearby and Dustin got ahead of me. I cursed myself for letting us get separated. As I ran after him, someone grabbed me from behind. I yelped and saw Dustin stop and stare back at me, eyes wide in alarm. Hands roughly turned me around and I was face to face with Michael.