Shadow wolves: A burning desire (Book 5) - Complete

Chapter 1 - No matter what ... We stand together.

Matt

Before dawn, I was up and ready for our run when Anthony knocked on my door. I opened the door expecting to find only him, when I was surprised by all our boys joining us, together with all the pack’s twelve-year-olds that would be celebrating being able to shift. Erik was one of the young ones who could shift before the actual ceremony, but since we hadn’t really spoken much about it, I had no idea who his wolf was or what he could do.

“They are driving their parents nuts. So, we are going to take them to the old practice park to work off some of that pent-up energy they have.” Anthony grinned as if he knew something I didn’t.

“The old practice park?” I looked amused. Anthony had lost it. “You can’t take a bunch of kids to a practice run that you test grown wolves on!” I laughed, thinking he was joking.

“Oh, believe me I can.” He grinned again.

“Are you sure?” I couldn’t believe we were doing this.

“What? You scared old man?” Some of the young ones laughed.

“No, I just don’t want to explain to any of their mothers why their pups are returning injured. Luckily, I’m not the Alpha or a Beta … So, I don’t have to. Let’s go.” I took off my shirt, stepped in behind the cupboards in the kitchen, strapped my pants to my leg, shifted, and ran outside.

“Last one there is a rotten bat.” I shouted through the mind link as I sprinted out ahead. I’ve always been faster than Anthony. I kept in shape on the ranch … Let’s see if he kept in shape this side.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Erik shouted.

“All’s fair in love and war, boy. Get used to it. Your old man is one of the best.” Anthony laughed through the pack link. It took Anthony only a couple of seconds to catch up to me and we slowed down slightly, not wanting the pups to get too far behind.

“Thanks Ant. I missed running in the daytime and the open air like that.” I linked Anthony.

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to get this cheeky lot through that damn practice course. I promised their mothers they would come home safely.” He shook his big head and I laughed at him.

“Let me guess, one of them challenged you on something stupid and you fell for it?” I gave him a wolfy grin.

“That’s about it, yes. That’s why I called in reinforcements. Nobody knows the course better than you.” He grinned right back.

“I haven’t done that course in years. I don’t know where to start!” I shrugged.

“Muscle memory … Just fake it till we make it. But we have to beat these kids!” Looking behind us, they were quickly catching up and we sprinted ahead again.

Fiona

It has been many years, but I was lucky enough to find a calendar in one of my escape attempts and it is the year Erik will shift and meet his wolf. I needed to find my way back home. I had tried so many times and so many times they caught me and had beaten me to the point of near-death. Sometimes I wished they would just kill me and get it over with, but then he wouldn’t have his prize to brag about and I would remember my little boy, my little Erik, and fight again.

Seeing my son again is what kept me going. That wolf that took me played his game really well. Thinking fast on his feet, he cut my hair, smudging it in the dirt between the bodies on the battlefield. He left it near one, making it look as if I might have been killed. Covering our scent, he kidnapped me. Filled with rage, he believed that the Wolf King owed him for his hard work in the war and he sold me into slavery for his payment to some rogue pack living in a forest. I was blindfolded all the way, but I knew I hadn’t left the continent. The drive to the town where he sold me was on a dirt road, but I wasn’t sure of the direction or the distance. I can just remember the sun changing on my skin.

Anthony taught me how to read time according to the sun and I hoped that I did it right. I was then put in the back of a truck where we drove deep into the forest. They didn’t hide where we were going and, at first, I thought it would be easy to get out of there, but I quickly learned why they weren’t worried about me seeing where we went. The first time I tried to escape they were still opening the cage to hand me a plate of food. I shifted, ready for them to open the gate, but they were ready for me and I was zapped with electricity running through my body from two sides the second I took my second stride. Who would have thought humans could be so fast?

As punishment, I wasn’t fed for a week. Or at least that’s how their boss explained it. He loved withholding food as punishment. To him, I was an animal to show off to his business partners. The second time I tried to escape, I grabbed hold of one of their pants with my claw, only to find myself being hit with bolts of electricity again. I was hoping that if I had one of theirs, they wouldn’t hurt me. I was wrong. His body was just dragged off somewhere. So, over time, I learned to read their schedules. Each time I tried escaping they would change it and I would have to start all over again. Each time the punishment was more severe than the one before, until I couldn’t anymore. When he arrived with his guests, I would shift, my growl no longer coming out as a growl after years of abuse.

Until one morning, the guard was in a hurry and didn’t close the cage door properly, leaving the lock open. I took my chance, making a run for it and made it to the town where I was sold. Hiding away in one of the shops, trying to explain that I was in danger and needed help, the shop owner called out for them and gave me up. Looking around for anything I could use as a weapon to try and defend myself; I saw the calendar. They caught me and took me back to the camp. It had been eight years! Eight years of Erik’s life that I missed. How could it have been that long?

When we got back to the camp the boss couldn’t do anything else to punish me more than he already had. I was skin and bone from all the years of withholding food and if they beat me, he was scared that I wouldn’t heal properly and he wouldn’t be able to show off his werewolf. So, he decided to do the one thing that would upset me. He had the throat cut of the guard who didn’t properly lock the gate. Someone else’s life was taken because of me. He used guilt as a punishment. His guards dragged me back to my cage. They dumped me in the mud that I had grown used to sleeping in and locked the gate behind me.

This time they made sure it was locked. He stood there with his cruel sneer laughing at me, knowing he had won, yet again. What he didn’t know was I had found new determination. I wasn’t upset about his guard being killed. I was upset about having been away from my baby for so long and not being able to get back to him. I might have been kept here and not been able to escape until now, but I would find their weakness and I was going to escape. I will get back to my son.

Another four years passed where I tried every possible way of escaping, testing all their defences from the inside to see how fast they reacted and from where they came. They thought they were switching out their security details, when in fact they were just following the same over and over and didn’t even realize it. Each time I was caught he would stand on his terrace laughing at me, probably thinking what a stupid animal I was. After finding the town the previous time I escaped, I had a general sense of the direction I had to escape in. Watching them carefully that night, only one place remained.

I had to go through the main house. I had to face the demon himself and from there find my way back home in the opposite direction without being caught again. This time I was not going to the town. I was going through the wild. I was not going to be caught by a human again!

Matt

We reached the practice course and I was expecting weathered broken-down wooden pillars and rope bridges. To my surprise, there were painted steel beams and chained bridges.

“This is a bit unfair!” I frowned.

“What?” Anthony looked confused.

“There is no wondering if the wood is going to break and leave you hanging with your pants behind your ears!” I laughed, remembering when I was training recruits. One of them one day refused to do the course saying he didn’t want to end up with his pants behind his ears. It had become the joke of the practice park. We took up our spots in front of the kids and they filed into their rows.

“Now pups, I promised your mothers that you would all get home without breaking any bones. Don’t make me break my promise. Matt here is the expert on the run and will do a run through to show you how it works.” Anthony laughed, pointing at me.

“What?! No, you go first.” I protested and they all burst out laughing at my wide-eyed expression.

“Is that a challenge?” Anthony grinned and I held my nose in the air. I had already caught on to what he was doing. He was trying to teach the kids that if you challenge someone, you have to be willing to take it on.

“Uhm… Yes, of course…” I pretended to think about it.

“He’s an old scared cat this one.” He pointed his finger my way, making them laugh. Even Erik joined in. Anthony proudly climbed onto the steps and took the first steps onto the bridge.

“Remember, don’t look down!” I shouted and he looked down … Coming to a complete standstill.

“Has anyone ever told you that if you tell them not to do something, they are going to do it?” Anthony sighed.

“Yeah, I believe you told me that.” The kids and I laughed watching him take a small step forward when the bridge started swaying a little in the wind. Now comes the part of the practice I liked. I ran up the steps. “Hey dude, I’m right here buddy.”

“Cool.” Anthony didn’t sound happy.

“Just take a deep breath and look up and ahead to the end of the bridge, okay?” I couldn’t figure out if he was still scared of heights or not.

“Nope, nope I can’t, I’m stuck!” Anthony was stuck in the middle of the swaying bridge.

“No, you aren’t, it’s just your brain that is telling you that you are stuck. Just pick up your foot and move.” He lifted his head, picked up his foot, and started to move. Ant, being a great actor, came to a dead standstill just as we were about to reach the end, nearly making me walk right into his ass!

“Nope, nope.” The bridge started rattling with the way he pretended to shake.

“Did you look down again?” I sighed as the kids laughed.

“No, yes, no.” Yeah, he was faking his fear for sure!

“Eyes up buddy, we have the entire pack to get across. You gotta move.” Anthony picked up his head and after an hour and a half, we finally crossed the bridge giggling like school girls. The kids were in stitches, as we prepared to start sending them across the bridge. As expected, we had one or two who did get stuck on the bridge, but they worked together and helped each other over the bridge.

“What is important here, pups, and what we are trying to teach you is that we are family, no matter what, we stick together and help each other. If one of us has a fear to overcome, we all stand together and help him or her.” I rolled my eyes as Anthony grinned at me.

“Alpha, what about those that desert our pack?” Erik looked at me.

“We stand by our pack no matter what. You never know what someone is going through or might have gone through. It is not our place to judge. That is why our Luna brought in the pack vote. We all stand together and we all decide together.” Seemingly not too happy with Anthony’s answer, Erik rolled his eyes and stepped back. We finished off the training for the day and returned to the packhouse.