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Running with Wolves Ch. 01

By: BlueWolfDancer4454



When Dominic had thought the day could not get any worse, he had been wrong. 

It did get worse.

Not wanting to walk around in a soiled shirt to meet his next clients, he had taken a chance and stopped by a thrift store to purchase a cheap new T-shirt. While he was in line to check out, his phone rang. The couple he was supposed to meet up with had decided to cancel. 

"Oh, don't be like that. I was really looking forward to seeing you two again and I'm only ten minutes away. I'll make it worth your while if you reconsider~." He was laying on thick but he needed this hundred bucks.

Cue the bullshitting. It wasn't a good time, their new roommate was going to be there, maybe next week when he would be out of town? More bullshitting.

"Well if you're worried about that, I'm cool with letting him stay. I don't care if there are a few extra people. I won't charge you for him if he stays in a different room."

More bullshitting, more bullshitting. Ah, and we finally come out with the real reason. The new roommate was their dealer. He wouldn't be ok with someone he didn't know coming over, he was extremely paranoid.

"Look your dealer doesn't need to worry about me. If you're that worried, I can come over later when he isn't there."

The lady at the counter had a perplexed look on her face. What, never listened to a guy prostitute himself before? Dominic gave her a smile and reached into his sling strap backpack to grab his wallet.

Again with the bullshitting. The guy would be there a while; they didn't know what time he would leave.

"Come on baby, is it really that much of a problem? You know I can be very~ flexible." Something about their dealer being too paranoid and they don't want to risk him doing something. 

Maybe if he shot up with them their dealer wouldn't be so worried? They were in good with the guy so he probably wouldn't have to pay. Dominic signed in annoyance. "No I can't shoot up with you. You've known me long enough to know I don't tough the stuff... No, you know what, I'm good. Have a good night." The phone made a satisfying snap as it closed. 

Dominic clutched it in his fist and smacked it in frustration against the counter. The cashier, not knowing quiet what to do, rattled off the total. "I don't need it any more. Have a good day." 

Dom adjusted his pack to rest against his back, gave the girl one last sad smile, which she returned, and left out the shop doors.

It was chilly outside, being the middle of September. The coffee which had been hot enough to leave a stinging burn on Dominic's chest was now cooled off in the nighttime air and sticking against his skin. It made him flinch when the chilled fabric made contact with the warm burn. The liquid had stained the grey shirt to a most likely permanent dark brown color, but at this point he would just have to settle for hiding it under the black hoodie stashed in his bag. Dom needed to get back to the truck before much later. Even with it being a lemon and not worth much as a whole, a chop shop could still strip it to make a few bucks. Plus, he had stopped by it half way through the day and dropped off most of the cash he had. Leaving it for more than a couple hours was just begging for trouble.

It was parked it about 15 blocks away, hidden behind an abandoned store between a couple dumpsters Dominic had been able to shift around to hide it better. He would sleep there tonight, then tomorrow he would pick up a small load of groceries, and the Grinch would just have to deal with being $50 light this month. They were good for it next month, and he knew it.

As he started down the busy city street, Dominic noticed a tall blond haired woman walk past him. It wasn't the same one from before, thank god, but she looked enough like her that he had to do a double take. He was crowded on one side and she wasn't looking his way, so she ended up bumping into him. She grabbed his arm to steady herself, looking to his face to apologize. She seemed to pause a moment, staring, before blushing at the extended eye contact and mumbling a quick apology as she released him to continue on her way. At least she would have be the polite sister. 

After walking about two blocks in the direction of the truck, something in the air shifted. Turning off the lit populated sidewalks and walking down a dark ally for a shortcut in a big city never brought on a good feeling, but tonight there was something more off than usual. Dominic had developed a sixth sense when it came to his environment, a product of living in abusive households and on the streets most of his life, and that sense was telling him someone was following him. Stalking him. 

There were no sounds of movement or talking, and looking around there didn't seem to be anyone around, but even so he picked up the pace. Getting jumped was not an option either. 

*

It took Dominic more than an hour longer than it should have to get to the spot he hid the truck. Not trusting there wasn't someone following him, even if his eyes couldn't find anything, he had moved back to the busier streets and started weaving in and out of crowds, going into a store front and bars only to immediately exit the back kitchen door or shimmy out a bathroom window. He was taking no chances tonight, and his gut was almost never wrong. Even with all the extra precautions, the feeling of dread didn't abate. He felt he had lost whoever was following him, but the unease of impending doom kept nagging at him.

When he finally made it to the truck, he took a pause. 

'Dammit, I took too long getting back.' It sounded like someone had already found the truck and was messing with it. 'This must have been what was what making me so tense.' he thought. But he didn't quite believe that, even as he thought it.

Hoping it was just some punks or maybe the homeless woman that had made a home in an alcove about a block to the left, Dominic glanced around until he found what he was looking for. A stack of old rust pipes. He had noticed them earlier when he had come to drop off his first load of cash. They would have to do.

Picking up the sturdiest one he could find, Dom crouched down and slowly made his way to the back corner of the building, avoiding the street light and broken glass on the ground till he was close enough to peak around the corner. 

There was a dumpster in the way, but by listening to the voices and different sounds they were making, he was able to get a basic picture of what he was up against. 

From the voices he could hear there was one, no two men and one teen. The men were standing by the back of the truck farthest away from him, talking about what they were finding in Dominic's backpack and dumping the contents on the tailgate. 'Assholes, he had just put all the clean stuff from the upstairs in there this morning when the lower floor flooded and drenched his bag. They better keep it all off the ground. Yeah like car thieves are going to be considerate. 'Hey we took your truck but we left the stuff that was inside somewhere clean and safe. Here is a key to the locker we rented to put it all in.' Unlikely.' Dominic held back the urge to snort.

The boy was in the cab, his voice closer and echoing slightly whenever he interjected into the adult's conversation. He sounded maybe 15. Dom could hear when he opened the glove compartment and started rifling through the recites and paper notes. Hopefully he hadn't looked under the seats yet. That was where the cash, and a small 9mm ruger Garrett had found a year ago, was hidden. If they found that, fighting them would hold no purpose.

Sure that they wouldn't see him come closer with the large trash can in between them, Dominic slouched around the corner and tip toed to lean his side against the dumpster, pipe still in hand and at the ready. This close he could begin making out words from their conversation. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the men on the other side of the dumpster.

" ...her Destined. Dagwood said he spotted him after it happened. Apparently he doesn't look like much. Good looking, but rode hard and put away wet and willowy is how he described him. No wonder Misty is pissed." The kid the the cab, still going through the glove box. The rustling papers were a dead giveaway.

"Well, Luna chose him for a reason. Maybe she just isn't meant to lead? But you never know, maybe Dagwood was wrong, and he'll turn out like Kate did and give Misty a run for her money. He is going a bit blind in his old age." One of the older men. He sounded like a big guy and in his mid to late 20's, not someone to mess with.

"He isn't that old and we don't go blind. Besides, I'd like to see any one try to keep her from taking over the pack. I was there when that bitch from the Hood Mountain Pack challenged her. Doc Rivers was hard pressed to get that girls organs back in her body before she could heal too much. I don't think she was able to save the arm though." The other guy at the back, older in his late 40's, but also big. If it had only been one this would have been much simpler.

Dominic wouldn't be able to take them head on. Leaning back, he opened his eyes. These guys didn't sound right in the head. 

'Luna? Pack? And that story of the girl with the organs. They don't sound all there.' Maybe they were druggies, or some weird gang that was using slang Dominic just didn't understand, but one thing was for sure and that was they were going to be a problem. There was too much muscle for him to fight off head on, and they weren't some kids he could scare with a loud bang and a threat to call the cops. As he contemplated what to do, a thought came to him. 

It might not work, but it was worth a shot.

*

Flint was just finishing going through the stuffed glove box and about to get out of the cab so he could search the rest of it when what sounded like the pile of pipes on the side of the old storefront crashed onto the pavement. They hadn't heard anyone approach, but they all started when they heard a woman cry out in pain and begin to scream and shriek.

"Someone help! Oh God someone please help me! I'll do whatever you want just don't hurt me please! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Flint swung out of the cab and was about to run to help her when Hale grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"Oh no you don't, you aren't even supposed to be here. You stay with the car, mom would flip her shit if you got hurt." The woman let out another wail. "Stay with the car! Do NOT move!" Cliff was already turning around the corner, Hale not far behind.

Flint stared at the corner where his brother and their guardian had disappeared for a moment, peeved, before scoffing in frustration and crossing his arms to lean his hip against the wheel well of the beat up clunker. Everyone was always like this. 

Just because he was the baby brother didn't mean he couldn't take care of himself. So what if he was a bit late to-

The sound of a gun being cocked made him freeze. Slowly turning, lifting his hands on instinct, Flint came face to face with a small hand gun, along with the man holding it. He had it held in one hand, pointed strait at his forehead. 'How the hell did this guy seek up on him? His ears weren't that bad!'

"Don't make a sound." Flint shook his head furiously, not able to speak even if he had wanted to. He had never been so scared by another living creature in his life. 

The man holding the gun was a bit taller than him, maybe 5'11 to his 5'9. His hair was black and shaggy, hanging slightly over his eyes, giving him a brood-ish look. His nose was slightly dented like it had been broken then not properly set, and his slightly narrow mouth and square jaw were relaxed, but his eyes. 

It was his eyes that scared Flint more than anything.

His irises were a rich cobalt blue, and reflected slightly as if made of crinkled foil. It was like there was a dim light blue glow stick inside the socket, giving his sclera an eerie luminescence, only made brighter by his dark lashes and hair, and the tired circles underneath that told of a lack of sleep. They were cold as they looked into Flint's, as if what he had been through in his life had sucked all the ability to feel joy and happiness out of them. 

He even smelt dark. Like something akin to dark chocolate and black cherries, coated in coffee and sex. It was beautiful yet terrifying. And it was also the sent that has brought them to this particular truck. 'Oh hell...'

*

Dominic flicked his gun up slightly. 

"Back up." Flint did as he was told, taking measured steps towards the back of the truck. Dominic matched his pace. "I don't know why you were messing with my truck, kid, but you really shouldn't be toughing things that aren't yours. It's rude." 

In the background he could still hear the woman screaming bloody murder. It hadn't taken much to convince the homeless woman to help with the ruse. Four granola bars and a large can of beer will get you far with people like her. All she had to do was scream for 20 seconds to get those men to come help her and the food was all hers. It hadn't worked completely, but the largest threats were gone. That just left the kid.

"Look, we didn't mean anything by it. We weren't going to take anything we just needed to know who you were."

"And why did you need to know that? I'm not on anyone's turf." Dominic was careful about where he left the car. No one had claimed this block as theirs. "It doesn't matter anyway. Your friends will be back any second. Just stay quit and do as I say and you'll get home just fine." He reached the back of the truck and without taking his eyes off his target began shoving his larger travel backpack and the spilled contents back into the bed so he could close the tail gate.

Flints eyes flickered to the left. "Look, Dominic, I'm really sorry just let me explain."

"How the fuck do you-" Dominic suddenly saw stars. He grunted as his body jolted forward from the force of someone smashing a pipe against his shoulder blades, all the air leaving his lungs with a loud 'whoosh'. He fell to his knees and begin to sputter and cough, gasping to reflate them.

"What the FUCK Hale?! Did you need to hit him so hard?!" The kid moved to pick up the gun from where it had bounced to when Dominic had dropped it, about four feet away. That wasn't good.

"He had a gun pointed at your face Flint. What? Was I supposed to just let him shoot you? Asshole had it coming."

"Didn't you recognize his sent? He doesn't know who we are! If you had just let me talk to him-" The kid began reaching down for the gun. Dominic saw his chance. 

They hadn't noticed or they hadn't cared about the pipe he had held with his other hand while he had the gun on the teen, and it had rolled under the truck when he fell. They probably assumed he couldn't reach it. But as he knelt couching and gagging on his sticky throat, he could see how the asphalt was slightly sloped as it went towards the building, and that slope was just enough to give the pipe the momentum it needed to role back under the truck and towards Dominic's left side. 

Right before the boy, Flint, was about to wrap his fingers around the gun, and with both still distracter by the argument 'Something about attacking a possible Destined? These guys really are nuts', Dominic grabbed the rolling pipe and lashed out as hard as he could with his right arm. 

He screamed at the pain that lanced down his arm from his shoulder, but the pipe still hit its mark hard. He could hear the mans fibula crack and felt it give under the blow. Hale shouted in shock and pain, falling backwards but catching himself on the truck rail. Flint cried out for his brother, too focused on him to notice Dominic make a dash for the gun still on the ground. 

Right as Dominic was about to grab it though, someone else tackled him to the ground. It was the third man. Dom had forgotten about him. They tumbled to the ground, knocking Flint on his ass as they went and rolling away from the gun.

For a moment the older man had Dominic pinned on his back, hands holding down his shoulders and legs straddling his waist. Looking into the older mans eyes, panic began to set in. Flashes of memory began crossing through Dominic's mind, threatening to consume him and forfeit him into submission. It almost had him, but under the fear came the voice of reason, giving him clarity and understanding. It wouldn't help him if he allowed the panic to devour him. Later, later he would fall into that pit of darkness that was his past, but for now he had to get out of this, he had to stay alive. The others were waiting for him. So he squashed the panic and centered himself while his body continued the fight to keep him alive. Something must have shown on his face, because the man for a moment looked taken aback for a moment, and loosened his grip ever so slightly.

Stealing his resolve, Dominic felt his body move. Not flailing in fear, but flowing in a practiced fluid motion. 

Dropping his hands and grabbing the man's wrists, he pulled up, dragging his hips out from underneath his opponents and drew his knees up until they pressed against his chest and his feet were free. Then without pause, he shifted, pulling both hands to the right and taking the other mans hands with him. Using the leverage from the resistance, Dominic pivoted his lower body to the left, wrapped his legs around the left arm of his adversaries and shoved down while keeping hold of the guys left wrist. 

Within three seconds Dominic had his attackers left arm held tightly against his abdomen, his hands and right leg holding it in place, while his left leg pinned the other man's head to the asphalt. 

Normally this move would be used to keep control of an attacker till help arrived, but there were two others and a gun in play so he didn't hesitate. Thrusting up his hips, Dom dislocated the mans elbow and broke the bottom of his humerus. He screamed in pain.

Before any of the car thieves could recover enough to get up, Dominic jumped as fast as he could to his feet. Searching for the gun, he looked up to see that someone else had already grabbed it.

Flint lay on his side, panting in fear, holding the gun and pointing it at Dominic. They froze and stared at one another for a moment. Both males took each other in, gaging what they other was going to do next. The gun was the counter weight of this battle, whoever had that would tip the scales heavily in their favor and have all the power. The smart move would be to try and get it back. At this distance Dom could see the fear and hesitation on the boys face; He was most likely to loose that fight. But Dominic hesitated. 

A groan behind Dominic made up his mind for him. Giving Flint one last look, he turned and bolted to the truck, praying the kid wouldn't shoot him in the back. Hale was still next to the truck, trying to lift himself onto his good leg in order to help his companions. 

As he ran towards the cab, Dominic did the only thing he could think of to keep the much bigger man from trying to stop him. He picked up one of the discarded pipes and swung it as hard as he could. The cylinder again made contact, this time with Hale's skull.

With him unconscious, Dominic was home free. He grabbed the door, about to pull himself into the cab, when he was taken by surprise from behind for a second time that night.

This time however this unknown assailant didn't hold back, and body slammed him full force into the side of the truck. There was a snapping sound in his skull that Dominic knew was his nose being broken, and an internal popping feeling that he could only assume were his ribs cracking. His head crashed against unyielding metal, clouding his world in fuzzy darkness. 

When he came to again, he was on his back on the ground. Blurry tires of what looked like a large delivery van were pulling up between him and a pair of what seemed to be a pair of woman's black leather spiked heel boots. 


Running with Wolves Ch. 01



Dominic whimpered in fear and pain and tried to get up, but before he could hands slid under his arms and calves, lifting him into the air and caring his limp body towards the unknown van.

Panic set in again, but this time Dominic didn't have the control to keep it down. It filled his head with images of what that van could lead him to and plugged his ears with a dull ringing noise. Without much conscious thought, his legs began to kick out and he began to scream, both in rejection to being take into the van and pain from his many wounds. "You MOTHER FUCKERS let me- AHHHHH- GO! No! LET me GO LET ME GO-!" 

The person at his feet must have already been in the back of the van, because when Dominic began kicking and their hands lost their grip, his feet found purchase against the door. In a last ditch effort to keep from being put in the van, Dominic used the door to shove back. This resulted in the person holding his shoulders to loose their balance and drop Dominic onto the unforgiving pavement. He managed to role over and lift himself to his knees when another body slammed onto of his and pinned him still screaming and cursing for them to get off and let him go. They could have the truck, he was now more interested in keeping his life than cash he wouldn't be able to take back to his make shift family i the were killed by these lunatics.

People were yelling around and at him, grabbing his limbs which were flailing and doing everything they could to get him free. In the end, more people showed up, and with the extra help Dominic was unable to resist their efforts any longer. 

Feeling the stick of a needle going into his arm, Dominic felt as the gang of strangers once again lifted him off the ground and into the van, laying him on what felt like a pile of blankets and coats. The drug began to take affect not long after and he fell into a longer bout of unconsciousness. He prayed for the first time in a long time that he would get out of this and make it back to the others.

*

This whole situation was a mess. How had a simple recon mission turned into a battle royal that ended with two broken limbs, one unconscious werewolf, and a battered Destined? 

There was going to be hell to pay when the Alphas found out.

Kate sat in the Mayfield Estate infirmary, watching as a male omega nurse set her mates broken arm and dislocated elbow with a Velcro elbow brace and sticky gauze, then glanced over to see another theta nurse checking over Hale, who had just woken up from his pipe induced nap. There were five others milling about, keeping watch or just fidgeting in anticipation of the Alphas arrival. She couldn't see Doc Rivers in the examination room, but knew she was working on the man that had evaded them for an hour and a half that night. This guy was something else.

When Misty had run into him on the corner by that coffee shop, no one had thought much of it. He was human, and it was an accident, so they hadn't interfered. No one had realized until it was too late that the male, this human man, was her Destined Mate.  

When she had finally snapped out of her shock and told Cliff and Kate what she knew, it was too late to stop him. He was already around the corner and gone in the crowds of the city. But they would find him again, it was only a matter of time.

And they had soon after. One of Misty's cousins, Augustine, had spotted him coming out of a thrift store a few blocks over and had marked him with her sent so they could better track him. It was easier to follow a familiar sent through the dense city than try and imprint a new one to memory on the fly. They understood why she did it, even if it was somewhat taboo to purposefully mark an unattached Destined that wasn't meant to be yours, and allowed it so they could follow and collect him. 

However, that plan had been thrown out the window! Somehow, he realized he was being followed, and he must have known it was a pack of wolves because he did a damn good job of throwing them off his trail. Weaving in and out of large groups, confusing the trail and covering himself in other scents to mask the one they had placed on him. Even going so far as to dodge into a nasty bar to climb out the bathroom window and land in a dumpster on the other side. That was when they had finally lost him. He couldn't be completely human, maybe he was a witch?

That would be something, a wolf and a witch. HA! But they would have scented that. So what was he then?

It was an hour later when her mate, Cliff, had called in a panic. The guy that was supposed to already be in their safekeeping (and why wouldn't he be? One human against a pack of highly trained werewolves? He shouldn't have stood a chance), was back at his truck and had a gun on the Alphas youngest son, Flint. She had sent them to follow the mans old sent trail and see where it led. They apparently were rummaging through the truck when they were distracted and separated. That was all the information she had gotten before there had been a loud shout and the line went dead. Everyone began panicking then.

It had only taken Kate two minutes to follow her mating bond to find her partner and right as she was about to turn down the street to get to him a shock wave of intense pain had shot through her mating mark and lanced all the way from her left shoulder to her wrist. The panic from realizing her mate was hurt had caused her wolf to surge to the surface. She had jumped out of the moving car and started running down the street before she fully realized what was happening. When she had turned the corner of the store, Kate watched as the human male had swung a pipe to Hale's head, rendering him unconscious and bolt for the driver's seat of an old Chevy. Without thought she had lunged like a wolf onto its prey and slammed him into the side of the truck. Not her brightest decision she had made as a beta of the pack. She had busted his already battered body pretty good with that move.

Now she was going to have to answer to all of this in front of the Alphas. Today was really starting to suck. 

Not a moment later, a black escalade pulled up behind the Estate into the emergency entrance between the travel van and the piece of crap Chevy. The infirmary was located in the very back of the Estate, and was structured much like a human emergency room with a privet drive, automatic sliding doors, and a 24-7 medical staff. Since wolves can't get medical treatment at a human hospital because of their aggressive and tendency to shift, the estate doubles as a hospital for wolves that are hurt within the city borders. 

The front doors of the giant shiny car opened wide, revealing Storm and Thunder. They were the twins of both the Alpha's second in commands, and the current highest ranking betas in the pack. It was no wonder when you looked at their tall muscular builds, not disguised at all by the expensive suits they wore, and intelligent ever vigilant eyes. They looked like mobster bodyguards with the slicked back dirty blond hair and fancy clothes. 

Once both were satisfied that the area was safe by both site and smell, they moved back to their respective rear doors and opened them, allowing the occupants to exit into the damp night air. 

Alpha Orion Five Rivers was the first to exit the car. He was a tall man, towering over everyone else at 6'8 and covered in thick, but not bulky muscle, like that of a hockey player. His strong almost military looking features went nicely with his dark brown hair cut short, and his eyes, which like the rest of them were a shining golden hazel. Similar to his guards, Orion wore a tailored suit, though his was navy blue with a vest and gold tie tucked underneath while theirs were simply all black. 

He stepped around to the other side of the massive car and held out his hand. From inside came his mate and the Madam Alpha, Sol Five Rivers. 

She was a stunning picture in her red silk evening gown. The halter top, which plunging down to show all of her cleavage and a descent amount of the sides of her breasts, was being held up by thin gold chains that started at the points of the halter just behind her shoulders and hung down to meet at her mid back, joining as one and twisting down till they met the edge of the gown just above her rounded rear. The right side had a slit all the way up to her hip and when she moved, the floor length fabric would split and show a glimpse of a garter toped stocking and gold velvet fuck me heels. Kate knew in a dress like that, you didn't wear panties. With her long wavy silver blonde hair draped over one shoulder and slut red lipstick, she looked like a modern version of a 1940's movie star. 

Offering his arm to his mate who looked agitated and worried, most likely because of the sent of nervousness and blood in the air and the fact they had been asked to come here immediately was little explanation, Orion guided them through the automatic doors and into the sterile hospital setting. Everyone able came forward and stood to bow to their leaders but left a path open for the two to travel. When they moved around the corner and spotted Hale, Sol lost what little composer she had. 

"What in Luna's name happened?!" She released her mate and went to her eldest son's side, her hand hovering over the nasty gash on his temple and eyes roaming his body for any other injuries. "What happen to you? Who did this? Why aren't you standing-"

"MOM- mom take a breath. I'm fine, ok? Just a bit banged up. Nothing that won't heal in a day or two." Hale grabbed one of his mothers fluttering hands and pulled it towards his chest to try and calm her. "By the way, did I tell you this morning before we left that you look really nice in that dress."

"Oh hush flattery isn't going to help you now. What are you doing all the way out there on this side of the city? How did you get so hurt?" She spun around, making her dress flutter, to look at Cliff who was sliding off the hospital bed despite the nurse's protests. He had slouched shoulders and down turned eyes.

"It is my fault, Madam Alpha. I was lax in my vigil and two of your sons were put in danger because of it. I beg your forgiveness and will exert any and all punishment you deem fit." He tilted his head to the side in submission.

"You weren't lax, Cliff. None of us this guy coming." Hale grabbed hold the handle of his bed and pulled himself to a sitting position, the nurse using the remote on the side to lift the bed so he could still lean back. He was a bit dizzy after the knock on the head.

"What guy?" Orion, ever calm in a crisis, looked around at the scene before him. His eldest son bloody in his nice dress clothes on a hospital bed, his oldest and most trusted friend slumped against the end of his wearing a brace, and his youngest son- "Where is your brother? He was supposed to be with you."

"In here." The male Alpha heard his son's voice from one of the privet examination rooms. The door opened, revealing his youngest boy sitting down next to a human male on a bed while Doc Rivers tending to his many visible wounds. His son looked sheepish. "Hey dad." Orion just stared.

"What is it?" Sol moved to see what had her mate so stunned. When she laid on on the scene in the van, her instincts as Madam Alpha took over. "Explain this Cliff, Kate. I want a full report."

Kate shuddered at her Madams tone but moved to stand beside her mate without hesitation. She would be lucky to get out of this with all of her limbs, but at least Doc wouldn't let her die. "Earlier this evening, after you were sequestered in the Neutral Gathering Hall, some of the first timers wanted to check out the local nightlife. We split up into two separate groups, the rest of us were heading to the Mayfield Estate for the evening. 

"On our way there, Misty broke off without warning. Myself and Dagwood followed her, but by the time we had caught up there had already been an incident. While she was running she had run into a man and spilled his coffee onto his chest. He was angry and yelling. At the time, we believed Misty had been angry with him for yelling at her and was attempting to keep her wolf in check, so we didn't question her silence and kept our distance so as not to agitate her further. 

"Once he left, we approached. She continued to be silent, staring after him, but after some encouragement we discovered that the reason she had broken off was because she had caught a sent and that this man," Kate gestured to the unconscious human in the bed, "was supposedly her Destined."

Sol gasped, whirling to take a better look at their captive. Orion looked shocked too. "I immediately sent out word of what he looked like and his general direction to the Roaming Guard, and had Dagwood contact Cliff and Hale in the other group to go to the original point of contact and follow the old sent trail, just to see what they could find. While they began their search, I received a call from Augustine that she had spotted the Destined not two block from our location. Misty continued on with June to the house. She was," Kate glanced at Dominic. "understandably shook up. When we were able to meet up with her, Augustine informed us that she had marked him with her sent, so it was easier to follow him.

"I'm not sure how, but he must have realized wolves were following, and he took measures to shake us loose. We lost him not long after we found him, and we didn't get a lead on him again until Cliff called me." Kate hung her head in shame, wanting nothing more than to lay on the ground, show her belly in submission, and beg forgiveness for allowing this all to happen.

"That doesn't explain how one human man was able to take down two full grown wolves and a boy." Orion didn't notice Flint's pained look at not being included as one of the wolves.

Cliff straightened and began to share his side. "We got the call, as Kate mentioned, to do a scouting mission on an alleged Destined. Hale and I were going to go on our own, but Flint wanted to tag along. I hadn't seen the harm; it was supposed to be a simple scouting trip on one lone human.

"The trail had led us all over the city. The first place we came to was a motel in the downtown area. From there we had to do a bit of guess work. He had taken the bus, but by taking in how old the scents were we were able to guess the time he got off and deduced which buses he could have ridden. We followed the public transportation rout to each stop to sniff out where he got on. It took some time, but we discovered three other locations he had spent some time at before finding his vehicle over there." Cliff motioned to the truck which had been parked in front of the entrance. With two unconscious people taking up the entire back of the van they had needed it to transport the rest of the pack members. "I wrongly assumed he would be within the hunting party's care by then, so we began to search the contents of the cab and the backpack we found inside. While we were examining his things, we heard a woman screaming just down the block. Hale and I went to investigate.

"There was a homeless woman down the road a little ways whom we thought was being attacked, but when we arrived there was no one confronting her. She was just standing on the corner screaming. Hale came back here to watch over Flint while I tried to talk with the woman. I didn't realize at the time, but I believe the Destined paid her off somehow to cause a distraction, because she immediately stopped screaming and ran off when she saw me. I was going to follow her when I heard Hale scream-" Cliff flinched back as he was cut off by Sol's growl. A mother wolf was a mother wolf, no matter how old or how strong her pups were. 

"Its not his fault mom, I was an idiot and wasn't paying attention." Hale came to the defense of his guard and friend. "When I got back to the truck I saw a guy with a gun pointed at Flint. I didn't think about who it could be, I just assumed it was someone trying to jump Flint and bashed him with a pipe. I underestimated him and when he fought back and I got hurt before Cliff came back and tackled him before he could get the gun. The guy managed to break Cliff's arm, then knocked me out. I remember coming got once. I was on the ground and Kate and her unit were here shoving the Destined into the van. He was still trying to fight them off, but he was in too much pain and drugged up to win. If its anyone's fault its mine. I shouldn't have approached the situation the way I did, its what set this whole fight in motion, and I should have never done that to a human Destined. I beg your forgiveness, Father Alpha, Mother Alpha." Hale tipped his head back in surrender to what ever punishment his parents were going to dole out on him.

Orion was about to respond when Flint began yelling and what sounded like a scuffle ensued. Everyone turned to see Dominic was awake, and once again fighting to get away from them. Kate could give him one thing; he never did give up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you all so much for the voting and comments on the last chapter. It was better than what I expected after rereading it after it was uploaded. I want to apologize for all the errors in the previous chapter, I guess I stared at it for so long that I couldn't see the errors anymore. I am looking for an editor, if anyone is interested, so that a chapter like that doesn't get uploaded again. Please let me know what you think of chapter 1!



Running with Wolves Ch. 02



Thank you all so much for the positive feedback. It makes it such a pleasure to write this story, and I will be sure to try and get the chapters out in a timely fashion. I want to give a big thanks to my new editors mordbrand and MarieFlower for editing this chapter for me and weeding out the errors. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! All comments and messages are welcome, don't feel shy about telling me how you feel.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up in a strange place was not new to Dominic. 

Waking up in a strange place and not knowing how he got there was not new either. 

Waking up in a strange place and not knowing how he got there and waking up to see the face of one of the men that had attacked him? OK, maybe not so totally new, but this situation was definitely new.

When he first opened his eyes, all Dominic could see was a boy sitting on a comfortable looking chair next to him. There was a beeping to his right, most likely a heart monitor, and quiet talking on the other side of the door. Whoever the person was, he looked like he was distracted and hadn't realized Dominic was conscious, so he took the opportunity to take inventory of the room.

An I.V. was connected to his inner left arm, the tube feeding what looked to be a bag of fluids into his body. To his right was the boy, a small table for guests, and the monitors. Farther down was a movable table stationed over his feet and a small cabinet in the far right corner. It would pass for a hospital room to anyone else, but Dominic had been a frequent flier to the local hospitals as a kid and this was not one of them. 

It was too bare. No attached bathroom, the only machines were the roll around respiratory monitoring system that had a layer of dust on it, and the door had a latch on it with no window. Even the chair was off; A woven fabric with real wood arms. There was no way this was a real hospital. 

The realization kicked his brain into high gear. This wasn't a hospital, he wasn't safe, and the stranger wasn't a total stranger. He was one of the men that had been stealing his truck, had attacked him, and shoved him into that van.

He needed to get away.

Panic takes hold easily when the mind is foggy. In this case, it surged forward causing Dominic to snap his head towards Flint. 

Once he confirmed what he already knew, Dominic yelped and rolled in the opposite direction of the threat, landing on the floor with a dull 'thud'. Pain like he hadn't felt in years coursed through him and he lay immobile from the intensity.

"Oh Luna are you ok?!" Flint jumped up and ran to the other side of the bed. "Here let me help you! You shouldn't be moving around like this-" When he placed a hand on Dom's shoulder, he wasn't prepared for the reaction he got.

Dominic felt the contact and out of pure muscle reflex his body turned over and his leg flung out to land a swift kick to Flint's breast bone. Flint fell back, winded, and Dominic took the opportunity to grab the I.V. stand with his left hand to use as a weapon. It hurt too much to move his right. The needle in his arm had been torn out in the scuffle, bruising the tissue so deeply that it would take weeks to heal. 

That was how the others found him; sitting on the floor pressed into a corner, I.V. stand in hand, with Flint crouched at the end of the bed catching his breath.

"Stay the FUCK away from me! Who are you people? Why did you bring me here? I said stay the fuck BACK!" Flints hand was tagged by the rod of metal when he reached out to try to calm him. "Why am I here!?" 

A deep baritone voice filled the room. "I understand you are scared. This is not how things should have gone and for that I am sorry, but let's not make it any worse. Put the weapon down. You will be left unharmed, just put it down." The man that spoke reminded Dominic very much of Ben's father Sergeant. That hadn't been his real name, just what he had demanded everyone call him. He had similar short brown hair and thick bridged nose, his eyes were the kind that always looked placid, and his mouth had a slight down turn at the corners that pointed towards the angles of his square jaw. It was odd to see him in an expensive fancy suit and not something made of military camo. He was far taller than the other man had been though. This guy was almost freakishly tall.

"All due respect, sir, but I think I'll keep it." Dominic did lower it slightly, however.

The newcomer nodded "That's fair." He moved slightly forward, tapping Flint on the shoulder to direct him out of the room. "I think it would be best if just you and I talked alone for now. Flint, go to your mother. Everyone else as well. I will be fine alone with him." Outside in the hall there was a loud shuffling of feet. One voice stayed behind.

"Orion?"

"I will be fine love; he is no threat to me." After a brief hesitation a pair of heels clicked away. The man closed the door and took in the surprisingly calm looking Dominic sitting in the corner.

Not trusting the newcomer, he settled farther into the corner. 

"Your wife?"

Orion moved slowly to grab the chair from the other side of the bed, moving it until it was stationed between Dominic and the door. He was boxed in. "Yes, her name is Sol. As you heard my name is Orion. Orion Rivers. May I ask your name?"

Dom hesitated a moment, considering lying to the man. It didn't seem like a smart idea. "Dominic. Just Dominic. Why was I brought here? This isn't a real hospital."

Orion unbuttoned his jacket, folding it and placing it over the back of the chair before sitting and crossing his legs. He was very intimidating, even sitting. "That is a more complicated question than I think you are ready to hear the answer to. I will say that you are correct, this is not a true hospital. You are in the private emergency clinic at what is known as the Mayfield Estate, and you were brought here because you were badly injured," he motioned to Dominic's immobile right arm cradled in his lap, "but you are safe now."

Dominic raised his eyebrow at that, though it was hard to see with the bangs. "Pardon me if I doubt that very much. Your men attacked me when I tried to stop them from stealing my truck. Are you aware of that?" 

Orion nodded. "They told me just before you woke."

"Then don't bullshit me and try to tell me I am safe. I am far from safe."

Orion sighed, but nodded his head. "I suppose after the introduction you've had to my pack you would feel that way." He uncrossed, then re-crossed his legs. "The boy you held a gun to was my youngest son, Flint. He was also the one sitting with you. The man who first hit you is my oldest son, Hale, and the man whose arm you broke is named Cliff. They regret very much how that situation unfolded. They had no real intention of harming you."

"So bashing me with a pipe and slamming me into my truck was supposed to, what, be a gentle tap? How unfortunate for me." Orion didn't respond. "I'm assuming the reason I was brought here is because you want to convince me not to press charges. Give me back the truck and everything that was inside and you will never hear from me again. Just bandage me up and I'll be on my way."

"That's not quite right, but a close guess. You will be staying here for quite some time."

"I want to leave."

"I'm afraid that is not possible."

The pole rose up again. "Then kindly go fuck yourself and leave me alone. I have no interest in talking with my kidnappers any further."

Orion smirked, not unkindly. "You truly are going to be an interesting development. I am glad you were brought to us." He stood briskly, the pole following his every move. "Doctor Brigid Rivers will be coming in after me. She is a kind woman, and her only interest is to heal. Allow her to look you over once again so as to make sure you did not further injure yourself. I have some things to attend to, but I will soon be back to answer your questions. I truly want to see you happy here Dominic." Orion placed his coat over his arm and turned to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob to address Dom once more. "I know it is quite a lot to ask, but please do not allow your previous encounters to create an inflexible bias against us. All of this was truly unintended and had things been done with the proper protocol you would have never been put in this position. Have a good rest and I will see you in the morning." With that he opened the door and walked away. 'All things considered, he was very nice for a kidnapper.' Dominic thought as he watched the man leave.

The voices started up again, and a few minutes passed before a woman entered through the open door. She was a tall woman, 5'7, and beautiful. She had long light brown in a low ponytail and eyes that were golden hazel. He seemed to have seen a lot of that recently.

"Hello Dominic, my name is Doctor Rivers. I understand that you do not feel comfortable, but would you please put the I.V. stand down so I can help you up onto your bed. You really shouldn't be moving around so much." Doctor Rivers put both hands up in a complaisant manner.

Dominic evaluated her a moment. She was kind and he had no doubt that, even if he wasn't at full strength, he wouldn't be able take her easily. He stood the pole back in its proper place.

"Thank you Dominic." 

*

She had been right about the not moving part. Without the adrenaline coursing through his body, Dominic could feel every broken bone and scrape on his frame. His nose had been broken, but was reset in its proper alignment. His ribs, luckily, were just cracked even with the struggle and fall out of bed. 

They still hurt like a bitch whenever he tried to take too deep of a breath though. His back stung with road rash from when he had spun to pin Cliff down.

The worst wound he had was the broken scapula from Hale hitting him with a pipe. He couldn't move his right arm without a shooting pain all the way from his wrist to his entire upper back. 

That was going to be the biggest obstacle in getting out of this crazy place.

After Orion left, Brigid, or 'Doc Rivers' as she preferred to be called, had helped him into bed since he was too sore to do it on his own. She checked his vitals, put in another I.V. with some light pain medication, tucked him in, and left to go get him food. 

'Very much the mother hen, that one.' He thought as he remember what she had sent for him.

Dinner was brought to him on a dolly. It consisted of a Caesar salad, cream soup, cut up steak (most likely so they wouldn't have to give him a knife), garlic mashed potatoes covered in butter, cheese, and bacon, shrimp in garlic butter, crab legs, venison, salmon with a lemon bur blanc sauce, poached lobster in cream sauce, a side of seasoned vegetables, fruit, and for dessert candied walnuts, bread pudding, some sort of warm fluffy sugar-infused bun (which was delicious), and a pudding cup. They had told him they weren't sure what he would like. 

Fucking rich people.

When he got up to use the bathroom out in the hall, he saw two men standing outside his door. Guards of some kind. They said they were there to make sure he was safe, but Dom wasn't buying it. They were there to make sure he didn't leave or do something ridiculous like kill himself. 

Dominic lay in his bed, putting together the last portion of his plan. 'Ha, let's see them try.'

At one end of the short hall in-between the two rooms were the large bathrooms; a dead end with no windows or vents large enough to crawl out of. On the other side it opened up expanding into a much larger rectangular room. In it were three beds sticking out along one wall just like an emergency room, three doors, one on the left that presumably led to the rest of the facility, and another with a window at the end of the beds which led to an office, next to the exit, and an unknown mystery door. In one bed was Hale, asleep with an I.V. of his own. 

Whatever was in his looked to have knocked him out cold.

It took some convincing, a call to Doc Rivers, and the promise of a smoke break, but Dominic was able to get the guards to let him take a walk outside, feigning a mild case of claustrophobia. 

They escorted him of course, but he wasn't going to run.

The doors were automatic, and led to a covered paved drive. There was a garage door to the left of the hospital doors and the entrance was to the right. If you didn't pay attention you would miss the tinted sliding doors and you would assume the drive was an entry to an underground parking lot. The small hill to the right led to a gravel drive and curved around the corner. Orion hadn't been lying when he called this place an estate. It looked like a Beverly Hills movie star's summer home. 

The massive front lawn was cut in half by a driveway big enough for two cars to drive side by side, with a roundabout at the end in front of the house with a large wolf statue in the center. The howling wolf was standing on a large boulder, two other wolves howling with him on lower rocks. With the water flowing around it looked as if they were standing on rocks in a river. At the end of the drive was a gate. No guards, just a security camera rotating back and forth at ten-second intervals. Like that would stop him. Turning around he had made a loop past the secret hospital entrance and was able to see at least four vehicles, ranging from an Escalade to a Ferrari, parked in a parking area just past the entrance. That was all he could see before being ushered back inside. Apparently they didn't want any of the guests to see him walking around with an I.V. stand and wearing a borrowed pair of black sweats and white t-shirt. Wonderful, there was a rich people party going on.

Once back in his room, Dominic took a better look around. There wasn't anything that could be used as a weapon, but there was the cabinet. Hopefully what he thought was inside would be there.

It was locked with what looked to be a very old lock. Not a problem.

'I guess they just don't know all the things you can do with a decent fork.'

The walk had tired him out, so after a nurse came in and added more of the light pain medication to his bag of fluids, he closed his eyes to get some rest.

It felt like only a few minutes later when he woke up again. In reality, according to the clock on the guest table it had only been an hour. The insomnia wouldn't let his mind shut off for more than that no matter how exhausted or drugged. It was 12:50 in the A.M., no better time to try out his plan. More than likely the adults were still partying, but it would no doubt wind down soon. He needed to act now.

Being as quiet and calm as he could, Dominic sat up Indian style and reached under the cushion of the chair to retrieve his tools. 

Along with dinner, they had given him an assortment of silverware, including a tiny delicate fork to get the difficult bits out of the crab shells and smaller pronged forks for his salad and deserts. He had made a mess of the dishes, and they hadn't been worried because they didn't give him anything that could have been used as a weapon, so they hadn't checked if anything was missing.

He proceeded to bend the tiny fork back and forth, but the heart monitor on his finger was in the way. Looking at the monitor, he reached down and unplugged it. They had turned off the sensor for when his heart was within normal rhythm, so there was no sudden silence that someone would notice. With that fixed, he again began bending the head around until the tiny flat piece of metal came off, leaving the stem. He inspected it, making sure it would be thin enough before putting it on a napkin on the portable table, then grabbed the fork with the smallest prongs and bent one back using the edge of the guest table as leverage.

Sliding off the bed, he paranoidly flipped over the soft slippers they had given him along with the new clothing so that the felt side was down, bending the rubber heel backwards so he could slip his feet in and tip-toed to the door. As he moved, he felt a tug. The I.V. was still in his arm, so he picked up the stand and carried it with him, assuring that the wheels wouldn't squeak. He left the lights off so they would think he was still asleep. The light from under the door was just enough to guide him.

He closed his eyes and listened. The men were still out there, talking about the guests and playing what sounded like a card game. Who they saw that night, old friends they recognized, the hottest ones they wanted to get into bed. They were plenty distracted.

Still not wanting to risk discovery, he very carefully moved to the cabinet and slid the makeshift picking tools into the lock. It was a tight fit, but it was all he had. It was difficult holding the piece with his right hand because moving that arm was extremely painful, but he could manage as long as he didn't move it too fast.

Dominic began praying again, and set to work.

With the clumsy tools, it took longer than it would have Jarod or even Garrett to get the lock undone, but after one more turn, there was a barely audible rotating sound of the latch coming undone. He almost cried in excitement. 

"Did you hear that?" Dominic froze. How could they have heard that? He barely heard it!

There was a snort from down the hall, Hale shifting in his sleep. 

A pause. "Oh don't be so jumpy. The human is asleep. Relax, Alpha Orion put us on this 'cause he knew we could handle it."

"I still don't get why he would put two Thetas on this guy. He took down Hale AND Cliff. Broke their bones and almost got away! Have you ever heard of a human taking down a wolf before? I haven't. So why doesn't he have Thunder and Storm on him instead of us?"

"You know why, dumb ass. Your move. He needs all the Betas keeping an eye on everyone upstairs. That many Alphas in one room and there is bound to be at least one good fight. Just go already! Doc Rivers said the sedation will work up to six hours on a human his size, she double checked and everything. Relax its going to be a slow night."

Dominic hoped not. These people really were nuts.

There was no squeak as the cabinet door opened. Inside there was exactly what he had hoped for.

Inside were syringes filled with all kinds of tranquilizers, pain killers, and any kind of medication that would be needed for a critical patient within the first hour of their arrival. Stuff like this would usually be locked away in specially designed lock boxes that could be rolled around with coded locks and all kinds of extra supplies. With it being such a small facility they didn't need to have a box to wheel around, they just kept it all in one stationary location.

Picking up one syringe at a time, he lowered it into the light and read the labels.

'Damn, what are they trying to do? Kill someone?' Most of the syringes were high dose tranquilizers. The kind of stuff that could put a couple horses down no problem. Why would they need such high doses? They really were crazy ass rich people.

After some searching, he struck gold. Tranquilizer in a form similar to an EpiPen meant for when a patient was beyond reason and uncontrollable. The plan just got a whole lot easier. Dominic crept back to his bed, I.V. stand in hand. Once sitting back on the fluffy mattress (rich people have all the nice things) he gently lifted the I.V. stand and laid it across his lap, removing the fluid bag. The bottom and top both unscrewed off, so wrapping a portion of blanket around the base to quiet any noise, he began twisting. It was slow work, but soon he had a short portion of the center pole separated and the two bigger pieces on the bed at his feet. The guards were still talking and playing cards. 

Now the fun part. Dom gently grabbed the butterfly portion of his needle and tugged. He bit down hard on his lip so as not to make a sound. When it was out, he flexed and removed the sharp tube of metal and placed it on the table along with the rest of his tools. No point of losing track of something and paying for it later. He then grabbed the pole, syringe, and tubing and began combining the three together in a spear-like fashion. Without having to worry about a plunger, all he had to do was make sure the pen didn't slip when pushed against a leg.




Running with Wolves Ch. 02



With his weapon finished Dominic now had everything he needed. 

He pulled out the last tool to finish his plan. The smokers lighter. He had lifted it off him after they came back inside.

With everything re-hidden under the edge of his bed, he reached over and plugged the monitor back in, placed the sensor on his finger, turned up the sensitivity so that any elevation would set off the alarm, and Dominic's plan was put into motion. 

He began to violently choke and gasp for air, hands grasping the rails on the bad and back slightly arched in the air, mimicking one of Garrett's allergic reaction he had seen after they had first met. He couldn't go too far or his shoulder would hurt too much for him to tolerate. The monitor went nuts with his heart rate. 

The two guards did not disappoint.

Both came bursting into the room, panicked and shouting.

"The HELL?!"

"What the fuck did you do!?"

"What do you mean me?! I was with you! Oh hell oh FUCK!" 

"Go get Doc NOW!" One of the men attempted to turn Dominic onto his side. Dominic simply switched from deep gasping to holding his breath all together, gurgling slightly and throwing his head back to show his neck veins popping out.

"But I don't know where-"

"Just FIND SOMEONE!" 

The other guy bolted from the room. Perfect.

"Don't you die on me! Not you! Do you have any idea the hell-" 

Suddenly Dom took a deep breath, the monitor went back to normal, and the alarm stopped. The man was stunned.

"Hold on, Aspen, I think he's-" When he turned to go get his friend, who was long gone, Dominic slipped his fingers under the mattress and pulled out the spear. With the man a good distance away, he thrust the makeshift weapon at the guard's thigh. The guy yelped and spun. "What the hell did, you..." He fell to the side, breaking his fall with the corner of the bed.

"Sorry about that." Dominic flung off the blanket and stood on the bed. Lighter in hand, he flicked it open and held the tiny flame to the sprinkler head above the bed. "Come on, come on." 

Water began shooting out. "Yes!"

Alarms sounded all over the Estate. They would freak out the guests enough that everyone would begin to panic. It would give him time to get out of there before the other guy managed to find help for him, and hopefully delay them even after that.

Hopping down, Dominic moved quickly off the bed, wiping water from his eyes and face. He left his room and moved past the beds and a still sleeping Hale. He really was out cold. He didn't deserve it, but out of sympathy Dominic tilted his head to the side and took a pillow off the other bed as he walked by, putting it on his face so he wouldn't breathe in any of the water.

That done he approached the office door. Inside was his large backpack.

Looking around for something to help him get inside he ended up grabbing a short rolling stool. He swung it with his good arm and smashed the glass, reaching inside to open the door and unlocking Doc's office door. 

He grabbed the heavy pack, slinging it over his good shoulder, then, in a moment of curiosity, he began opening the drawers of the desk. They would have been stupid to do so, but maybe- AH HA!

The Rugar was sitting in a bottom drawer along with the removed clip. He picked it up and inserted the magazine, raking the slide to chamber the first bullet. He didn't want to actually have to use it, but at this moment his life was more important than some kidnapper's. He slipped it into the back of his pants for easy retrieval if it came to that.

Dominic made his way outside. Hearing shouting and talking in the direction of the entrance, he quickly shuffled to the back lot where he had seen the cars. There were a few people clustered by the back door, but they were far enough away that as long as he was careful, they wouldn't notice anything.

He crouched low, keeping to the wall behind a line of box shrubs. When he got to the closest vehicle, the van, he pushed through the shaped foliage and lifted the door handle. Unlocked, perfect.

Placing his pack on the gravel with a hiss, Dominic unzipped a side pocket and produced a modified flat head screwdriver. It was Ben's, but 'what's yours is everyone's as long as they ask' as they said. It would come in handy now anyway. He re-zipped up the pocket and lifted the bag into the seat, pushing till it fell into the passenger side and then jumped in himself, feeling the firearm press into his spine as he leaned back. With the screwdriver in hand he popped off the metal cover to the ignition and inserted the rod of metal into the key hole. With a twist the van engine came to life and the dash lit up like Christmas. Dominic felt like it was Christmas, and gave a "Oh thank you baby Jesus!" There was a full tank of gas.

"Hey!" Dominic had celebrated too soon. A group of the party goers, mainly the guards, had noticed his unauthorized use of their company car and were coming to investigate. When they saw his wide-eyed face and didn't recognize it as one of theirs, they broke into a run. Some pulled out guns, others radios. One elderly looking guard looked down right panicked.

'Shit they're fast!'

Dom grabbed the shifter and threw it into reverse. The wheels took a moment to find purchase on the gravel when he slammed on the gas, but after a panicked second they found their grip and jolted the van backwards. Once far enough back, he slapped the stick into drive and gunned it again, flying around the corner and almost putting the mammoth on its side. But it righted and sped forward on the side drive heading to the front. When he turned the corner and slammed the brakes, that's when it got dicey.

Pulling around the corner to the front of the Estate, Dominic came face to face with a crowd of angry, dolled up rich people. Every last one of them was dressed to the nines in expensive suits, long gowns and cocktail dresses, heels and slicked back hair. Not to mention barely any of them were under 5'5". It made for a very intimidating picture.

Almost in sync, every one of their beautiful heads (and they were all beautiful to some degree or another), turned to look at him in the van. None of them seemed to know what to think of him. Their individual faces wore varying emotions of surprise and shock to anger and even a few looked at him with flat out hatred.

One of them, to Dominic's utter shock, was the girl that had rammed into him earlier that evening. She was dressed in a red lace dress, skin tight from the strapless sweet heart neck line all the way down to her round hips where it flared to her calves. Her blond hair was up in a messy bun on top of her head. She looked stunning, and she looked pissed. Dominic sat stunned. 'Was it her? Is she the reason for all of this? Because SHE ran into ME?!'

His eyes went cold. What were they planning to do to him anyway? Put a gun to his head and force him to grovel for her forgiveness? Fuck that. No way in hell was he going to bow down 'cause some uppity little rich priss couldn't handle being snapped at over something she did. It didn't matter how beautiful her body was or how something about her tugged at his core. He was leaving this rat's nest of psychotics, and she was just going to have to deal with that.

The group of pedestrians were blocking the exit side of the roundabout. Dominic considered gunning it and letting them figure it out, but he spotted Orion approaching him slowly in his peripheral vision. He was saying something, probably along the lines of how he should surrender. Even if the guy did allow his people to kidnap him, Dom didn't want to hurt the man. 

So instead he grabbed the gearshift and pulled it into reverse, making eye contact with the pissed off beauty the entire time, daring her to try and stop him. Her eyes seemed to glow with the challenge, her body shaking with the rage she must have been feeling. He didn't care, he would be gone long before she could do anything. 

Breaking eye contact, Dominic looked into the side mirror, watching the guards from out back begin to surround and approach the van. Seeing a bit of a gap, he turned the wheel slightly. The men began shouting at the movement, but it was too late. He floored it and the van began flying backwards, the guards wisely diving out of the way. As he continued around the circle nearing the straightaway, the guards seemed to sense his intent. Guns came up, bullets leaving their chambers and piercing the metal of the van. People began yelling and screaming. The drive got shorter. Just a bit further. A bullet went through the windshield, then another. A few more seconds.

The back of the van made contact with the security gate. The vehicle jolted, then the wrought iron gave way with the force of a half-ton missile going 90 miles per hour. The force knocked Dominic against his seat, but he managed to swerve in time not to hit an oncoming car. The van spun half a turn, listed, then slammed down with a final rock before settling. Not wanting to give up this opportunity, Dominic didn't hesitate to once again push the gas pedal to the floor, leaving behind one confused stopped driver and the insanity that was that house.

*

Flint hadn't wanted to leave Dominic in his room alone with his father, but when the Alpha tells you to do something, vocally or not, you do it. He moved away from the scared man in the corner, holding his I.V. stand in defense. No one else would notice it, even holding the makeshift weapon at the ready, but he was utterly terrified. To anyone else, his dark blue eyes would just look angry and determined, but he truly was scared of them. 

That was the last thing Flint wanted.

Leaving the room, he first caught sight of his mother in the hall. She didn't really acknowledge him, simply put a hand on his shoulder then moved past to go check on her mate. It stung to be so disconnected from her, but he couldn't really be angry. Everyone was coping in their own way.

He moved on into the main portion of the clinic. Doc Rivers along with most of the wolves in Kate's unit were there, looking shocked and mystified. They must have found out about Misty's new mate.

Doc Rivers smiled at him, the only one to do so. Everyone else looked down and away. "How are you tonight Flint? Feeling ok?" Her fingers automatically began pressing against his forehead and pulse. She did that pretty much every time she saw him.

"He's been doing well. Not as many fits as before. Those meds you gave him are really doing the trick." Hale chirped from his bed. "When he does have one, they aren't nearly as bad. I think he is getting better."

"Well maybe this one will do the trick." Her voice was enthusiastic, but Flint could see it in her eyes. She didn't think this was going to change anything, just delay the inevitable. But why burst Hale's bubble? It would just bring more strife to the pack than there already was.

"Yeah I've been doing fine. How are you Hale? The leg feel any better?"

Hale snorted. "Yeah its fine. Already feel it mending. How are you doing? You had a lot of excitement tonight. Maybe you should sit. Hey June, could you grab him a chair?"

June, one of the lower ranking Betas, jumped out of her own chair and brought it over to Flint. "Oh, no June I'm good, really I'm not even dizzy-"

"Your brother is right. Sit for a while." Sol breezed past her youngest son, barely looking at him. "You may not feel dizzy now, but there is no way to tell when another episode will occur. Rest for now." She walked over to Hale's bed, placing herself at his feet to wait for Orion. Flint didn't argue farther and accepted the chair held for him. He hated the babying, but fighting it would just make it worse. 

"Maybe when we get back to the Den we can run to the old creek? We haven't done that in forever." Hale smiled big at his baby brother. "I can carry you like when you were small. We could-"

"You have far too much work to get done before you can go gallivanting in the woods like children. Maybe when you finish your duties you may run to the creek." Orion moved in behind Flint, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you well?"

Flint looked at his father and smiled in gratitude. His brother could be a bit much. "Yeah, Mother just thought it best I sit for awhile. How did your talk with Dominic go?" Every one else had probably heard most of the conversation, but he hadn't caught a whisper.

Orion smirked. "He will be good for Misty." The light in his eyes left. "Though I am not happy how these events unfolded. Hale, you will be receiving a course in self control and awareness. The rest of you will be dealt with on a different date. We need to make our appearance soon or the guest will take offence. Times may be changing with this new treaty but it is still a delicate matter with the Southern packs. We need this night to go off with as few issues as possible. All of you need to get ready. Brigid, check on our guest other before you go. He took a nasty spill when he awoke."

"I want him sedated after he eats." Sol stood from her spot on her sons bed. "Make sure he is unconscious until we can get Misty to speak with him. She may not like this, but she must accept it. Her behavior when it came to finding her Destined is not acceptable." 

Doc Rivers nodded to her Madame Alpha. "I will need to double check the dosages but he will be sedated within the hour."

"Good. Now let us hurry, we can't give those Southerners another reason to be angry with us." Sol addressed her guard for the night.

Kate and her wolves nodded and set off to get ready for the night. There would be multiple teams already positioned in and around the Estate, her team would be the primary on the Alphas and their family. Flint especially, which he grumbled at.

The wars between the packs had been going on for thousands of years, long before any of them had been born. It was small territorial disputes that had escalated into massive ones that led to the wars, with smaller conflicts and misunderstandings mixed in that made it worse. Many had their own version of why they hated one another. The grudges and mistrust had been passed down from generation to generation till finally, Orion and Sol had had enough. They gathered many Alphas from neighboring packs and after years of talks and negotiations, agreed on a truce. Together they continued to spread word and soon all but the Southern packs had given up the fighting. Outnumbered 4 to 1, the South had held out as long as they could but recently they had realized how futile it was and joined the treaty. Today had been the day that all the Alphas gathered together in solitude, unaffected by outside influence, and set borders and laws that everyone would have to abide by. It was the beginnings of true peace.

This party that was being thrown by the Five Rivers Pack in the Pine Glen Territory was a symbol of working with one another to support a goal. The two packs had been trying to annihilate each other for years, so this show was to prove that co existing was possible. Of course it didn't stop everyone from trying to out show each other. That was still perfectly legal.

Flint wasn't looking forward to this party at all. Even with all the progress there were still splinter groups, rogue packs created by pack deserters who had defected in protest against the truce, that still posed a threat to this fragile bit of peace they had built. There was word of a possible attack on this gathering, and with Flint being the weakest link, he would be the easiest target. That meant more special treatment.

"Take your medicine, Flint. And Hale, I don't want you moving around and hurting yourself trying to come up to the party. You need your strength to heal. I'm going to have Brigid give you something as well."

Hale grumbled. Flint knew he had planned on sneaking up to the party to watch over him, but the Alpha had seen through him.

Flint's father squeezed his shoulder in encouragement. They would make it through this.

*

About an hour into the gathering, Flint became dizzy. He wasn't going to make it through this after all.

This was how all his episodes started. First the dizziness, then the tunnel vision, followed by rounds and rounds of intense muscle cramps and a splitting headache that all could last up to a day. It felt as if his body was being torn apart. 

And in a way it was.

Not wanting to upset the party or his family he slipped out the back door, his world slowly becoming smaller and smaller. Soon all he would be able to see would be about a face size blur with no peripheral vision. He needed somewhere dark to lay down and soon.

"Flint, what's wrong?" Dagwood, an old Beta and loyal to a fault pack member of the Five Rivers approached from somewhere outside of his vision. Apparently the meds had just held back the episodes and now a monster of one had built up until it couldn't be controlled anymore. He already couldn't focus enough to speak correctly. "Here here, grab my arm. Do you want me to take you to a room to lay down?"

"No! N-no, just t-t-Take me sommmewhere quiet. D-dark." 'God my head hurts when I talk.'

"Ok, let's move over here. Brook!" There was a sound like keys being caught, then they were moving. The gravel didn't have any more distinction, just blurry flecks of gray. It was getting darker, so they must be moving away from the back porch. Dagwood lifted him without much effort and put him on what felt like a bed of blankets. It was dark, and quiet so he didn't feel too bad about what he was laying on.

"I'll sit with you."

So they stayed that way for a while. Flint for the most part silently withering in pain while Dagwood stood watch. His muscles felt like they were being pulled to the point that the tendons would rip off chunks of bone. At times it would only be a few cramps, then his entire body would feel like it was being stretched like a rubber band, ready to snap into multiple pieces. 

Flint begged for it to end, to just end him permanently. 

His familiarity with the pain kept him silent, so no one came to investigate. The two just stayed in their bubble of solitude waiting to see if it would subside.

It was a little while later that the alarms went off. 

"What the hell." Flint was aware enough to notice Dagwood's worry. Something had happened. 

"G-g-go, I'm n-not going any w-where."

"I can't leave you here."

Flint turned to look at the old wolf. He looked torn. Protect someone who he cared for, but had no worth to the pack, or go to help protect the Alphas, the most important members of the pack. It was a difficult choice, one that Flint would not force Dagwood to make. "My f-family, nnneeds you, more than I. For t-the good of the p-pack, go." Flint laid his head down on the blankets again. "I-I'll st-till be here when you g-get back." 

Dagwood looked down on him one last time, before standing straight and nodding. "I will be back soon. Your father knows where you are." There was a slam and it was quiet again.

Once Dagwood was gone, Flint lay there focusing on his breathing. It seemed to help because his muscles began to relax and go limp. He wouldn't be able to move for a while but it was better than being in excruciating pain. He wouldn't survive this much longer. Soon his body would give out unless something changed, but that was unlikely. They had tried everything they and others could think of.

There was a sound of a door opening. The floor beneath the blankets began to vibrate.

"Oh thank you baby Jesus." 

'Jesus? Isn't he part of the human belief system? We don't worship him, what an odd thing for a wolf to say.' Flint thought, confused and not completely grasping the situation.

The van suddenly lurched backwards, causing Flint to slide closer to the back bench seat, then it pitched to the left, flipping him onto his stomach. He whimpered at the movement, but it was an almost silent sound. He was too sore and pained to do anything to stop what was happening. It lurched again and sat a moment. Flint could hear his father somewhere, but couldn't make out exact words. Something about Dominic. 'Dominic? I thought he was sedated in the infirmary?'




Running with Wolves Ch. 02



Without warning the vehicle shifted back, the momentum again moving Flint. The turning motion shifted him sideways, his right side pressed against the seat. There was a feeling of acceleration, a moment of silence with a few odd popping sounds, then Flint was practically thrown into the back doors of the van. Again he made a noise of pain, this time louder, but with the sound of metal breaking through metal, his voice was drowned out. The pain from the sudden body slam was the final straw, and after feeling the van correct itself from listing once again, Flint's eyes closed, pulled into unconsciousness.



Running with Wolves Ch. 03



Thank you mordbrand and MarieFlower again for editing this chapter. I hope everyone enjoys Chapter 3.

~~~~~~~~~

Flint woke up to the rumble of an engine. He was sore, a combination of his most recent episode and the fight he had lost with momentum. It was dark, so still night out. He hoped he hadn't been out that long.

There was someone talking up front. "...doesn't matter right now. She ran and we don't have the resources to track her down. Knowing them, it's probably gone already... I told you, I don't know what is coming, that's why I need to leave... I can't drag you guys into this! You can sell the van to a shop and-... I'll buy a bus ticket and get out of town. I can't risk staying; It will put you guys in too much danger... No! No, no, no, that is NOT happening. You are staying-... Fucking hell Jarod put Ben on the phone!... Then put me on speaker... Ben, you ass I know you can hear me! I am not letting you destroy everything we have built- what is he saying?... Oh my fucking!- I'll deal with him when I get there. I'm still a few hours away-"

Flint groaned in pain when they went over a bump while he was trying to lift himself up onto his knees.

"What the hell?!" The van swerved to the right, coming to an abrupt stop. "Someone's in here. I'll call you back." A phone snapped shut. Flint could hear the front door open and loud steps coming his way. Still confused as to what was going on he scooted as far as he could to the back corner. The loading door opened and the above car light turning on and blinding Flint. He closed his eyes and whimpered like a pup. It was so bright after being in the dark.

"Flint?! What the fuck are you doing here? God dammit kid you have a nasty habit of being where you are not supposed to be. I almost blew your head off, you dumb ass!"

Flint opened his eyes, adjusting. At the door was Dominic, gun in hand, pointed at him for a second time. The night's events after being put in the van came into focus, and it began to make sense. Dominic must have gotten out and stolen the van, not realizing he was inside. 'Dagwood's probably worried.' The thought floated in and right back out Flint's head. 

"You know, I'm going to have to point that at you to make us even again." Flint's voice was heavy with pain. He really wasn't feeling good.

Dominic laughed non-comically. "I'll have to make sure you don't get the chance." He looked Flint over. "What are you doing in here? You don't look good."

He snorted. "Yeah well your driving didn't help. I was in here waiting out an, uh, episode, when some alarms went off. Dagwood left me in here to rest while he went to go check on my family." Lifting into a sitting position was difficult, but he managed. "What happened? How did you get out? You were supposed to be sedated, Doc Rivers said you would be out for hours."

Dominic lowered the gun, most likely coming to the conclusion Flint wasn't a threat right now. "I have a high tolerance for anything drug related, and insomnia, so I woke up sooner than you probably planned. It wasn't hard to disable the guards on my door, your security sucks. The lighter I snagged was a good distraction. You probably got banged up when I busted through the gate."

Flint was confused. "Gate? The security gate?" Dominic nodded. "But, wait, how did you get past the guards? They should have heard you long before you were on them." His guard had been Thetas, Aspen and Haven.

"I'm light on my feet and I picked the cabinet and got a hold of some tranquilizers. Knocked him out cold with it."

Flint's eyes went wide. "So... You attacked your guards, set off the fire alarm, stole a van, inadvertently kidnapped me, and destroyed part of the Pine Glen pack's property?"

"Don't know who Pine Glen is, but if that was his gate then yeah I destroyed it." Dominic suddenly swayed. "Whoa."

"You OK?" Flint took his first good look at Dominic. "Oh Luna, you're bleeding!"

Dominic's entire right shoulder of his white shirt was stained red. 

"I'm fine, it's just a graze."

"They shot at you?!" 

'That must have been the popping sounds. No way Five Rivers shot at us, knowing who Dominic is and that I was in here. That means Pine Glen did it! Holy shit if the treaty wasn't in jeopardy before, it is now.' Flint leaned forward and got to his knees, slightly panicked. Dominic raised the gun again.

"Oh please, do I look like I can take you right now? Just give me a second." He crawled out of the van, Dominic backing up so he couldn't reach the gun, and once stable on his feet lifted the carpet and located the little metal loop underneath. Pulling up, a panel came loose and lifted to the side. Inside was a compartment that held an assortment of clothes, jugs of emergency silver antidote, and medical supplies.

Locating what he wanted, Flint lifted a first aid kit and replaced the panel, placing the hard covered pack on the top of the cover and unzipping the case. Inside was a bounty of bandages, antiseptic, gauze, scalpels, scissors, tweezers, and small bottles of the clear liquid that helped a werewolf fight off the effects of silver. Anything and everything that someone would need if ambushed. They had been in a war after all.

"OK, now can you put the gun down long enough for me to dress your wound?"

*

Dominic considered his proposal. Flint was obviously not in that great of shape. His knees shook and his face was pale. That, coupled with the fact Dom had lost quite a bit of blood decided him. "Alright." He didn't even have enough fight in him at the moment to not practically fall onto the van's floor to let Flint help him.

Flint looked a bit surprised by how easy it was to convince him, but started to work anyway. With Dom sitting in the door jam, he took up a pair of scissors and removed the ruined shirt, then carefully inspected the wound. It was just a graze, thankfully, but it was deep and would get infected if not treated properly. 

They sat in silence, working together to get the wound clean. Dominic was having a difficult time keeping from flinching away from the probing and swabbing so he sought out something to preoccupy him. 

"What are these bottles for?" He lifted one and read the label. 

"Silver antidote?"

"For if one of us gets hurt with silver. It's the only thing that can stop a reaction from killing us too quickly before we can get it out."

"Reaction to silver? Is your family allergic or something?" Were they some sort of high class family that felt so threatened in their every day lives that they needed to have copious amounts of their antidote at all times? Oh woe the price of being rich.  

Flint paused in wrapping the long strip of bandage around Dominic's shoulder. "My father didn't tell you?"

Dominic looked at him sideways, becoming suspicious again. 

"Tell me what?"

"Oh well, uh,-" Dominic lifted the gun again as a warning. 

"Look, kid, I like you, all things considered. But if you don't tell me what the hell is going on I will shoot you in the calf and leave you here for someone else to find. I have no patience."

Flint eyed the gun, taking a step back and gulping. "I really shouldn't, that's Misty's responsibility. I just assumed because she hadn't, father had. I thought that was why you ran."

The gun came up another inch. "Who's Misty?" 

"My sister."

"Wait." Dominic's eyes went cold. "Is she the blond in the red dress? The one who ran into me?" Flint nodded slowly. The gun came up completely and Dominic charged at Flint.

"WHOA Dominic let me explain!"

"That was why you were at my truck! What, the little priss sent you after me 'cause she couldn't handle being yelled at!? BACK UP! Is that why you were going through my things? Making sure I didn't have the resources to press charges after you beat me into apologizing?!" Flint looked terrified as he backed away from an angry Dominic into the middle of the road. There were cat eyes on the center line, and he tripped over one, falling back. Dom stood over him, gun shaking in his left hand.

"It isn't like that I swear! Please just let me explain! I'll tell you everything I can, just please let me explain!"

"Then explain!"

"You're her Destined!"

Dominic froze.

"Her WHAT?" What the hell was a Destined?

"Her Destined mate! That's why we sought you out, why we were at your truck. Misty scented you while she was out in the city. She wasn't expecting you to be human, so she wasn't looking out for you when she turned the corner. Please I know how it sounds but you have to believe me it is the truth! Just please don't shoot me."

"That doesn't make any sense. What do you mean she scented me?" 

"We're werewolves, OK?!"

Dominic just stood there, gauging Flint. 

He suddenly began chuckling, then laughing. Soon he was in full-blown hysterics.

"Um Dominic? Are you OK?"

Dominic threw his head back, crying he was laughing so hard. It was hurting his cracked ribs. The gun dropped to his side. 

It was all coming down on him. The horrible day that he had had, all the clients, the stress, running into the girl at the coffee shop, running all over the city because he was being followed, the fight, waking up in that hospital room, being held hostage, escaping, what awaited him back home, and now this kid was telling him about how his entire family was allergic to silver because they were werewolves! What made it all come out at once was that Flint truly believed what he was saying. It wasn't some ploy to get away, to scare him, he honest-to-goodness believed it. This was beyond insane and absolutely hysterical to Dominic in that moment.

"Dominic?" Flint looked worried.

It took a minute or two, but soon enough Dominic finally got a hold of himself. He wiped the tears from his eyes and took one last look at Flint, before motioning down the road with the gun. 

"You know what kid, I am too tired and stressed to deal with this. You go on, there was a gas station about a mile that way. You can borrow a phone there. Tell your sister she's just going to have to get on with her life, 'cause I'm going to be long gone before she can find me. Have a good night."

Flint had an incredulous look on his face when Dominic turned his back to him. Oh well, he would just have to deal with it. Dom didn't want to have to deal with him any longer. He had too much to deal with to try and keep up with people he would never see again.

"Wait! Dominic! I'm not lying to- GAHHH!!" Flint's pained scream echoed off the tall trees and into Dominic's head. He spun around to see Flint on his knees clutching his arms around his torso. He screamed again, but this time Dominic didn't hear it. He was too focused on what he was witnessing Flint's body doing. Maybe his blood loss was worse than he had thought, because there was no way Flint's body could do something like this.

Every muscle under Flint's muscles were moving. Not in the natural way muscles move when they cramp or spasm, but moving from side to side, tightening and pulling. It looked as if snakes had taken form in his body and were trying to detach themselves from his bones so they could squirm their way out. Dominic imagined it would be even more horrifying if Flint hadn't had the fitted dress shirt on.

Flint fell to his side, curled in a fetal position, still screaming in pain. Dominic dropped the gun and rushed to crouch above the fallen teen. He grabbed his shoulder and roled him on his back. The front of Flint's shirt had fallen open, revealing the twitching and slithering muscles underneath. His eyes, shut tight in pain, opened to reveal the hazel had been replaced with a glowing gold. Flint's voice was more a growl then speaking when he forced out his next words. 

"I-I-I wwasn't lllllyinng, to youuu." Dominic watched as Flint threw his head back and howled in agony.

*

Dominic pulled up to the warehouse doors. He had made the seven-hour trip in three and a half. Having a car that will go over 55 miles per hour and flying down the road will do that. Flint was in the passenger seat, still in pain, but back to himself. 

When he had fallen unconscious after howling, Dominic hadn't known quite what to do, but he knew he couldn't leave him on the road. Something in the back of his mind had urged him not to, or else, he felt, Flint wouldn't last till morning. So he had slid into the van, maneuvered it as close as he could to the unconscious body, and hauled Flint as best he could into the passenger seat. Flint woke up a few hours later, disoriented but stable. No more snake like muscles.

"What was that Flint? What's happening to you?" Dominic parked the van facing the front of the building, turning the key and killing the engine, before turning his torso towards the passenger side. "I need you to tell me what is going on."

Flint simply stared glassy-eyed at him. "I'm dying."

Dominic rested his head against the headrest. "You mean that literally, not figuratively." Flint nodded. "Are the people in your family really werewolves?"

Flint snorted. "So you believe me now?"

"I believe you believe it, and I believe what I saw. Whether or not they are the same thing I do not know yet." Dominic looked ahead again. "Once I get packed up, we will make one trip through the city and drop you off. Have anywhere specific in mind?"

Flint hummed in thought, looking around for a moment. He looked confused. "Where are we?"

"My home." It was. No need to feel shame.

"But, I know this place. Its been abandoned for years. You live here?" Flint's eyes focused in on a door opening near the corner of the building. Jarod came running out.

"Yes." Dominic slipped out of the van, slamming the door in place and jogged to meet his friend. Jarod looked panicked when he made it into the light of the lantern he held. 

"Holy shit man, you didn't tell us it was this bad. Garrett!"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Where is Ben?"

"Right here." Ben came striding out of the warehouse, two huge packs on his big shoulders.

"Put that shit back you dumb ass, you are not coming with me. This is my problem, and I will not let you drag everyone out of here because of something that as of yet is only affecting me- HEY don't ignore me!" Ben strode right past Dominic, placing the bags in front of the van and catching sight of Flint in the car.

"Who is he? Someone you picked up?"

"No, he is one of the people that snagged me- No!" Ben's eyes were narrowed and he made a move towards the van door. Flint looked scared when he saw the aggressive stance. "Leave him be, he didn't have a choice and he isn't a threat, so leave him be. Garrett! Take a look at our new friend in the van!" There was a "Will do!" on the other side of the giant roll up doors. "We need to discuss this insane idea of yours that you are coming with me."

Ben spun on his heels and got right in Dominic's face. They were the same height at 5'11, but Ben was all hard muscle from his manual labor jobs, while Dominic had more of a runner or swimmers build. Ben had his usual long sleeve button up shirt on, and jeans. His dark green eyes were alight with challenge. "If you think you can just BAIL on us then you have another thing coming! No fucking WAY are you running from these psychos on your own and leaving us behind. We. Are. Family! Or have you forgotten? Were you just going to leave us behind, like unwanted pets? Just move on? Well I'm not letting you leave without at least saying it to my face." Dominic stood frozen. 

Ben was near tears. He hadn't seen Ben shed tears since they were young teens. Dom relaxed his posture, placing his hands on his best friend's shoulders to calm him.

"No, Ben, I wouldn't do that. But I don't know what is coming after me or how far they will take this and I can't pull you all into the crossfire."

"Is that really your decision to make?" Jarod stepped next to the two other men, his dark skin reflecting with beads of sweat in the lamp light from running up and down the stairs. "We made an agreement. No one bails. It's how we survived this long. I've already talked to Garrett and Samantha. They want to come too." At this point everyone was outside. Garrett with his dirty blond hair in a short ponytail to work in and Samantha holding baby Penny while she slept. They looked determined.

"Besides," Garrett, holding another heavy bag, spoke up. "We can't stay, no matter what. Didn't Jarod tell you what went down after you left?" He walked to the van to set his bag down by the others. "I'll go check on our new friend."

Dominic's eyebrows drew together. "I didn't get the whole story, but he told me enough. She took everything?"

Ben began fuming again. "Yeah. Lorena cleared us out. The rent, the savings, even the more valuable stuff we were waiting on pawning. We have no cash, no reserves. The Grinch came by today too, like you thought he would. He wants his money in two days or he calls the cops saying we are squatting, and we'll get arrested for trespassing."

"All the cash I made today is sitting in the truck. We can't get to it." Dominic pushed his bangs back in frustration. They really were between a rock and a hard spot. "We don't have a choice then; we have to leave."

Ben smirked at him. It was rare that he was right, so Dominic just smiled back. "I'm thinking east. We can look for a place on the coast, and there are plenty of spots along the way we can set up for a week or two and pull together some cash. It will be like before."

Jarod frowned. "I hope not. That place we stayed with the leaky faucet still bothers me sometimes." Dominic remembered that place. Jarod's OCD had kept him up for days on end worrying about a dripping sound none of them could find. Turned out to be an echo from a neighboring building. That was a rough two weeks.

"Dominic, can you come here a moment please?" Garrett called from the passenger side of the van. He was standing next to Flint, who seemed to be having issues.

Dominic jogged over. "What is it?"

"He won't talk to me. I don't know what's wrong." Dominic shook his head. "I'll figure it out. Go help Ben for now, we need to be out of here before first light." Garrett nodded and left.

"Flint, what's going on- Flint? You there, buddy?" Flint wasn't paying attention; he was just staring off after Garrett.

"Who is he?" Flint finally looked away when the focus of his attention went inside. "What's his name?"

"That's Garrett, and he is way out of your league." 

"What do you mean?" Flint became slightly defensive.

"I mean he is 25 and therefore you are not his type. He isn't into jailbait."

Flint blushed dark red. "What?! No I didn't mean it that way I was just- Wait, how old do you think I am?" Dominic took him in, evaluating him in his head.

"Maybe a really tall 15?" Dominic knew he was wrong by how much darker his passenger got. 

"I turned 21 in July! Do I really look that young to you?" Dominic nodded his head. Flint groaned. "Damn. It's because I haven't shifted yet. My growth is being stunted. No wonder everyone treats me like a child."

Dominic couldn't believe this guy was the same age as him, but let it go. He was curious. "Shifted?"

"Yeah." Flint blushed again. "Wolves don't shift, or turn into wolves, till puberty. Before that we're basically human. Afterwards our bodyies become stronger, and older looking as a result, but then aging slows to a crawl. You saw my father, he looks maybe 45 in human years, but he is actually over 200 years old. I haven't shifted yet, so I'm younger looking compared to everyone else my age."

Dominic shook his head. "You people really need to lay off the bath salts. It's really screwing with your heads."

Flint looked disappointed. "You still don't believe me?" 

"Doesn't matter what I believe, we will be out of here and across state lines by next nightfall. We won't ever see each other again." Dominic reached out to open the sliding door. "So do you need another minute to check out my friend or can he come look you over now?"




Running with Wolves Ch. 03



Flint blushed again. "I was not checking him out." His voice got quiet. "I wasn't."

*

It was five in the morning when everyone was gathered together inside going over the last of what needed to be packed. Jarod had checked all the rooms, his OCD not letting anyone else do it, and Ben was finishing shoving old damp clothes into a duffle bag. Lucky for them, the water from the flood yesterday morning had receded rather quickly, but everything it touched had to be washed. With an overcast day like it had been, the items they had managed to clean were not dry, but wet clothes could still be packed.

The only money they had was everyone's personal hidden savings, money that during a good month, after they had each pitched in their fair share of rent money and food, had been stored away to buy something they wanted in the future. Collectively they all had about 80 dollars. Not enough to go far, but it would get them started.

"Alright, Samantha, can you go check the ties for the stuff up top? I don't want anything to fall off on the road when we head out of here." She chirped an "aye aye captain" and headed out the door. Jarod was holding Penny so he would have something other than the packing of the van on his mind. He was fighting the impulse to go out and repack it all to suit his OCD requirements. He was getting better, before now Dominic would have had to hold him back or have someone else keep him sequestered in a room somewhere.

Then they all heard Samantha scream. All the men were up on their feet in a second, but she was already flying back in through the door, slamming it shut behind her and locking it. She was mumbling under her breath, scared out of her mind.

"What the hell is it?" Ben went to grab her before she passed out while Garrett went to the door to look out the tiny window. Dominic followed Ben.

"What is it Samantha? Hey- hey look at me. Just focus on me. That's it, OK, take a deep breath with me. All right, in" They breathed in together. "Out- in- out." They continued like that for a moment, stopping Samantha from beginning to hyperventilating. When her breathing was steady once more, Ben let her go. "Tell us what happened. Was it Flint? Did he do something?" He was asleep out in the van, but he could have woken up and gained enough strength to try to and stop them from leaving.

Samantha shook her head. She tried to speak, but her mouth was dry. She licked her lips and tried again. "No, not Flint, it, it was-"

"Wolves." Dominic spun around, facing Garrett who was staring stunned out the tiny door window. "There are wolves out there."

Dominic couldn't believe it. He sprinted over, shoving Garrett out of the way so he could see for himself.

Sure enough, outside in the light of the lamps and headlights of the van, were six wolves all bigger than any normal wolf could be. They were sniffing at the van and pawing at the door where Flint sat inside. He opened the door without hesitation; sliding out while one of the beasts sniffed him from toes to chest. He looked to be talking to it. Another wolf walked into the light, only he wasn't on all fours. He was standing on his back legs, at least 8 feet tall, and more wolf than man with clawed hands, a slightly elongated face, fur covering his entire naked body except his genitals, and wolf ears in place of his human ones

"Holy shit he was telling the truth."

"What?" Garrett snapped from behind Dominic. "Who told you the truth?"

"Flint. Flint told me on the ride here that his family were werewolves. I didn't believe him but-"

Ben came walking up to the door. "He's full of shit, no way are werewolves re-" He looked out the window. "Holy shit." 

Without warning, another set of headlights lit up the night, then another. Soon there were six cars pulling up, all black and all massive. Out of one car came Orion and a blond Dominic didn't recognize, but assumed was Sol, his wife. Behind her another door opened, revealing the current bane of Dominic's existence, Misty. She was still wearing her red dress from before, but her hair had been let down. Everyone else was wearing what looked to be nice sweats and T-shirts, much the same as what Dominic was given.

More people exited the cars, and more giant wolves showed up. Dominic and his group were trapped and they knew it. Whether or not they would survive, none of them could answer that question. The only one with a chance of getting out of this was Dominic, and he wasn't going to allow his family to die tonight. So they erred on the side of caution.

Ben was the first to react, cursing under his breath and bolting for the stairs. "I'm getting Becky! You guys get the doors!"

Garrett sprung into action at the order, as did Jarod. Both ran to check the warehouse doors and lock them, pushing heavy crates left behind from the days the warehouse was in use in front of them. Samantha took Penny from Jarod as he ran by and moved to follow Ben up the stairs. She needed to keep her daughter safe and away from any fighting. Penny started crying from all the sudden excitement. 

'Becky' was actually a short barreled shotgun that had been a birthday present for Ben when he was young. They had brought it with them when they left. It was one of the few things they would never and could never get rid of. Unfortunately, they had put the Ruger in a backpack, which was now outside in the van.

Ben came running down the stairs just as the other two were finishing checking the doors. Dominic listened with half an ear to their strategic planning, instead staring at Misty who was in turn watching him, when he heard a thumping sound. It was dull, but it grabbed his attention because it didn't come from out front.

"Guys! Quiet... listen." The thumping was loud footsteps. On the roof. 

They had climbed to the roof!

"Shit!" Ben ran over and pointed his gun at the door at the top of the second staircase leading to the roof. "I FUCKING DARE YOU TO COME IN HERE YOU HAIRY MYTH BASTARDS!" He let off a shot when the handle of the door moved, then racked in another shell. There was a yelp and the door didn't move again. Penny started crying louder in the background. "Dominic what do we do?!"

Dominic just stood by the door, overwhelmed by the situation. 

"What?"

"What the fuck do we do?!"

There was a slam coming from a back room. They were breaking down the door.

Dominic took another look outside, taking in the cars, men, and wolves outside, then turned to look at his friends. Ben was at the bottom of the roof stairs, Jarod was praying while running from door to door to make sure they were locked, and Garrett stood with a knife he had pulled from the kitchen area. All of them were yelling at him for guidance, and Dominic could feel the room get smaller, the walls closing in and his vision start to blur. 

He heard Penny crying in the background.

Dominic made his decision, steeling his resolve. He would NOT let his family die tonight. He turned to the door again.

"All of you, upstairs."

Garrett was the only one to hear. "What?"

"I said all of you upstairs." Dominic turned to look at their shocked and confused faces. "NOW!"

Ben looked like he was going to argue with him, but there was another SLAM. The door wouldn't hold much longer. 

Ben cursed. "Don't you do anything stupid!" He lowered his gun and ran to the office stairs. Jarod gave Dominic one last hard look before following suit.

Garret was the last to go. "Here," He placed a knife in Dom's hand. Not a kitchen knife, but a well-kept Military Warrior knife. It was as black as Dominic's hair and shined in the light of the lamps they had set up inside. It was Garrett's prized possession. 

"Don't do anything stupid, but if you are forced to, you use this."

Dominic shook his head. "You need it for upstairs."

When he tried to hand it back, Garrett just took a step back and left for the stairs. "Keep it and stay safe. We need you." He took one last look at his friend, then turned around and ran up the stairs, closing the door and locking it. Dominic could hear the scraping of the beds being pushed up against the door as a barrier. 

Taking a deep breath, Dominic walked over to the bottom of the stairs leading to the people he cared about most in this world and waited, listening to the SLAM and following BANG of the back door being busted open. They were in.

Dominic slipped his fingers into the grip of the knife and watched as one by one, wolves and men slid in through the door of the back room and moved to surround him. 

If they were going to go after his family, they were going to have to kill him first.

*

Kate was running as fast as she could through the trees of her pack's land, her unit of six Beta wolves close on her heels. 

They had gotten a call from the Den. Dominic and Flint had been spotted on the eastern edge of the pack's land, heading northeast in the direction of what seemed to be the abandoned airstrip. A patrolling unit had apparently heard Flint scream and arrived at the location it came from just in time to watch as the van sped off. Years ago, a man had set up a charter business at the airstrip, but in reality he was using it as a cover for a distribution center for a drug smuggling ring. With it being so close to pack lands, Sol and Orion had to shut it down. It had been abandoned ever since. Why would they be heading there? 

Cliff was driving one of the vehicles on the road next to her. Inside were the Pine Glen Alpha, Ash Pine Glen, and his mate Lily. Behind them was a car holding Storm and Thunder, with Kate's Alphas and Misty inside. Everyone was on edge with two Alpha pairs present, but she had to focus. They needed to find the runaway Destined and get Flint back soon. 

No one knew how Dominic was able to acquire the things he had in order to escape. Well, they had an idea, but no one could figure out how he had used them to take down yet another wolf, set off the fire alarms as a distraction, steal a car, kidnap the Alpha's son, and drive off into the night after destroying the security gate to the Mayfield Estate. Kate could still clearly see the look on everyone's faces when he crashed through the gate, at any other time it would have been priceless.

What followed after Dominic's escape was a monumental mess. 

The Pine Glen pack had shot, of course unknowingly, at a human Destined. Misty had flipped her lid and almost shifted, a big no-no according to the rules set before the gathering. Pine Glen had freaked, almost attacking her, which caused Five Rivers to come to her defense. They were two seconds from restarting the wars when Sol had stepped forward and snarled for everyone to back down, Misty especially. Ash Pine Glen had also come forward, backing down his pack and demanding answers. Sol had explained the situation to him, how Dominic was a Destined that had gotten hurt during a fight, how he had been brought to the Clinic for treatment, and how they had believed him to be incapacitated. She apologized for the gate, though it came out a bit forced. She was livid that they had shot at Dominic.

Ash had also been slightly appalled they had shot at Dominic. Human Destined were seen as gift from Luna, and cherished. Killing one before they were mated and turned was seen as deplorable. Wolves in the past had been put to death over it.

He had asked why he was not with his wolf mate, and everyone had looked at Misty. Her actions had been the chief cause of all of this, so Sol had no issue putting her on the spot and making her take responsibility. Misty hadn't said anything.

Kate didn't understand Misty's behavior. When Cliff had found her 15 years ago, he hadn't been able to leave her side. Kate had just lost her mother and had quit her job as a manager for an expensive luxury hotel to travel and rediscover herself. She had a lot of guilt when it came to her mother.

Cliff had found her during one of her 'rough it out' camping trips she was on. When he had found her, he tackled and pinned her down, smelling her and licking at her entire body. He had been in his wolf form, and Kate had been terrified. She fought him for a while, but he never left her. Not like Misty had left hers. 

Misty had just LEFT him, claiming that he couldn't be her one true mate, that her wolf was mistaken, and had gone on to the Mayfield Estate with June. Kate and Dagwood were the ones who tracked him down, not her. It was incredible the amount of denial it must have taken to push down the kind of instinct that comes when finding your Destined.

'She wants to lead, Kate. Having a human mate pretty much takes away that possibility. She doesn't know what to do in this situation.' Cliff must have heard her through their bond.

Kate snorted lightly, jumping over a fallen log and continuing to dodge trees. 'I didn't turn out so bad.' She thought about the wolves under her command. 

'Yes you have become a strong member of this pack, sweet.' Cliff sounded proud. 'But as you know that is rare. Most human mates, no matter how strong they are when they are human, turn out to be weak wolves. Their animal instincts just aren't that developed so they don't have the strength like born wolves do.'

'Doesn't excuse what she did.' Kate landed hard after jumping off a pile of boulders in her way, a pair of raccoons screeched at her as they ran off.

'No it does not.' 

There was a thinning of the trees, the air still had a slight smell of jet fuel and there was a subtle scent of humans nearby. They were getting close.

The cars slowed while everyone in wolf form kept their pace. 

They would scout the area and discover what they could before allowing them to come forward.

In total there were five units of wolves. Three were Five Rivers, all in wolf form. Kate had six wolves in hers, Cole, the Alpha's second son, had eight, and Clay, Kate's mentor and biggest pain in the ass friend a girl could have, had nine wolves following his orders. Clay, being the third highest ranking Beta in the pack, was going to take point when they arrived at wherever Dominic had stopped. 

Including everyone in the van that wasn't shifted, there were a total of 38 Five River pack members and their Alphas present for this hunt. Pine Glen had brought their own two units, both holding seven wolves, both in human form and in the vehicles. Adding their 14 Beta wolves and their own Alpha pair, that made a grand total of 56 wolves hunting down one human Destined. This was ridiculous. If he got away again, Kate would kill herself in shame.

They arrived at the tree line surrounding the airstrip. Clay and his unit took point, Cole on his right, Kate on his left. Opening their minds, they reached out and formed temporary connections with each other. The bond was similar to a mating bond, but without the physical mark to anchor them together. 

When Kate had first been taught how it worked by Clay, he had described it like navigation a huge city with a complicated map. Looking at it the first time is overwhelming and doesn't make any sense, and its easy to take a wrong turn or miss a connection. The more you travel the city and get to know its patters and shortcuts the easier it is to get to where you are going in a timely manner. The mating bond is like having google maps on your phone, showing you exact routs with times and traffic reports and verbal instructions. 

Forming a Pack Mind was tricky when you started adding more than five or six wolves. Kate and the other two lead Betas had to first find each other, then add their groups of wolves into the mix one at a time. It was shaky at the start, wolves coming in and out of focus in Kate's mind, but when Orion, still back in one of the vehicles, joined them everyone stabilized and they were able to become one cohesive unit. He was the only wolf Kate had ever heard of that could create such large, stable Pack Minds while still in his human form.

Together they evaluated the area. There were four buildings; an empty hangar for the planes, a large office type building, a burned housing structure that use to belong to the owner and the semi-permanent hired hands used to reside in, and a warehouse. Everything was overgrown and dilapidated. Moss had overtaken the ground and started to creep up the sides of the buildings. A man made drainage creek was on the other side of the warehouse reeking of bad water and filth.

The warehouse seemed to have the most activity. The stolen van was standing out front, with the headlights on and reflecting off the warehouse's roll up door. Surrounding it were about half a dozen lamps. The back loading door was open, and they could see packs and other large bundles of items inside and as well as on the roof. Flint was sitting in the passenger seat, not moving but Kate could just pick up his heartbeat if she really concentrated. She only managed because the sound was familiar to her.

'Hear anything else?' Clay addressed Kate specifically, but every one of the wolves in their Pack Mind and Orion could hear it. 

Kate focused further on her hearing, catching faint sounds but nothing discernable. 'He is inside the warehouse, but I can't tell what he is doing. I'm too far away. It doesn't sound like he is alone though. What do you think he is he doing here?' 

Cole sniffed the air. 'His scent is here. Perhaps he discovered this place and is using it to hide something? I can smell others with him but I am in the same position as Kate. I need to be closer to be able to tell anything more than that.'

Clay began playing out scenarios in his mind. They all could hear and see him in their mind's eye evaluating the area, searching for weak points, assessing risks, trying to see possible escape routes for those inside and for them if they needed it, and trying to find the easiest and quickest way to get everyone in and out safely, while still accomplishing their objective. It was always fascinating to Kate the things he saw that no one else would think to look for. 'Why thank you Kate, I'm flattered.' He had heard her think that. She grumbled at him, making him chuckle in amusement. Then he went serious. 'We need more information. Cole, head north and make your way around to the other side of the warehouse, make sure no one else is here. I will go south and meet you there. Kate stay here.'

Both huffed in acknowledgement. Kate watched as Cole and Clay moved out, seeing what they did in her mind's eye. It wasn't a big facility. It looked as if the warehouse was the only thing in use, the other three buildings were relatively untouched. Cole could see his brother in the van and he whined. Flint looked pale and was sleeping in an uncomfortable looking position. Cole almost went to him, but he felt his father reach out and sooth him. 

'Your brother is fine, follow your orders.' Cole whined again, but did as told. His father was right.

Once they reached the other side, they had a better picture of what they were up against. There were the scents of six individuals that Cole could sniff out, but the smell of the fuel prevented him from distinguishing anything specific in them. 

Knowing that all the unknown humans were in one central location, Clay gave Kate the go ahead to approach the van and make contact with Flint. They needed to make sure he was ok.

Kate and her wolves were silent as they moved forward. Getting closer, she could make out that Cole was right. There were six heartbeats, but only five people moving around. One must be sitting down. They were talking about places to stop on the way to the east coast. 'So Dominic is packing up and bolting from the state. I don't blame him. After the night he's had I would have run too.' Kate felt a spark from Clay. He might agree, but now was not the time. She refocused herself.

Kate stepped up to the halo of light made by the battery-operated lanterns. They skirted it, trying to catch a decent scent, but everything was masked by the smell of the drainage water. The ground was saturated in it, and the items inside the van had a diluted undertone of it beneath the smell of dish soap. 




Running with Wolves Ch. 03



'It must have flooded recently and they tried to clean up. What were they doing way out here? There's a generator and bins of stuff back here.' June pushed some of the items in the back of the van around with her nose, trying to get a better look. 

'It doesn't matter, we can figure it out after. Dagwood, check on Flint-'

Just then, a girl who looked about 18 came out of an opened side door. 

Kate was about ten feet from her when she looked up and spotted them surrounding the van. For a brief moment everything froze. The girl's eyes grew slowly wide, and her mouth began to open.

'Oh please don't-' 

She let out a high pitched scream.

Kate flinched as her sensitive ears were assaulted by the noise. Orion quickly contained her pain to just her so that it wouldn't affect the others. The girl spun and almost fell flat on her face as she ran back to the door, slamming it shut. They heard the lock slide shut.

'Well that could have gone better.' Cole sniped. He was annoyed at Kate and her unit for not noticing the girl approach. Now they lost the element of surprise. Kate huffed and went to continue sniffing around the front of the building focusing on the voices inside the warehouse.

"... it Samantha? Hey- hey look at me. Just focus on me. That's it, ok, take a deep breath with me. All right, in," Dominic was helping the young girl steady her breathing. "Out- in- out." She gained back her breathing. He was good. "Tell us what happened. Was it Flint? Did he do something?"

"No, not Flint, it, it was-"

"Wolves."

Kate looked up to see a handsome face in the window of the door. He was lightly tanned, with slightly dirty blond hair and grey eyes. He looked her in the eye and she could see his shock, amazement, and fear. He was pushed away from the door and Dominic's face replaced his. Kate hadn't actually seen Dominic's eyes before, but they were an amazing dark blue. The two men stared at Kate and the rest of the wolves from the safety of the warehouse, taking in the scene in front of them. Dagwood had continued on to the passenger door, where Flint now sat up awake, woken up by girl's scream. Dagwood scratched at his door, whining. He was worried about Flint, and feeling more than a little guilty. After all, he had been the one to leave Flint defenseless and vulnerable to being taken.

Flint opened his door and slid heavily out of the van. The big wolf began bumping his nose all over Flint to check him for injury.

"It's ok Dagwood, I'm fine. Really you don't need to-" Dagwood just began sniffing him harder. "OK, OK, fine. Really though I'm OK you can relax." 

Behind her, Clay had shifted to his hybrid form and was walking around on two legs. 'Show off.' He grumbled a laugh at her thought. They really needed to drop the Pack Mind.

"Holy shit he was telling the truth." Dominic made direct eye contact with Kate. She shivered a bit at the intensity of his eyes.

"What?" The blond was just out of sight of the window now. 

"Who told you the truth?"

"Flint. Flint told me on the ride here that his family were werewolves. I didn't believe him but-"

There was another male voice in the background. "He's full of shit, no way are werewolves re-" The man behind the voice came to look out the window. This man was all angles, with a strong jaw and thin mouth. Something about him told Kate he was the roughest of the bunch. "Holy shit." 

Just then all the cars in the procession pulled off the road and lined up in front of the building, signaled by Clay after their cover was blown, their headlights coming on to illuminate the area further. The Alphas got out quickly, followed by the Glen Pine pack's units. Most everyone was battle ready if it came to it, having changed into on hand emergency clothing on the ride over. All except Misty. She refused to even entertain the idea of shifting because, Kate was sure, her wolf would follow its instincts and go to retrieve Dominic.

Now that the Alphas were physically present with the rest of the wolves and close enough that the Pack Mind wasn't a burden to Orion, Clay backed down to allow them to take charge. 

Kate stood by along with the others, awaiting orders as Sol took in the situation with her own eyes. "I want a way inside that building as quickly as possible. Our new pack member is a sly one and he is not keen on staying with us. We will deal with whomever else he has sought out for help after." 

Sol entered the Pack Mind using her mating bond with Orion. 

'Cole, shift and come around to debrief your brother. We need to know who else is here.'

As they awaited his arrival, Kate heard movement. The rough one she had spotted shouted something about retrieving someone named 'Becky' and ordered the others to lock the doors. She alerted to the shift in the behavior of the ones inside and the others froze to concentrate on the trapped humans. 

Dominic stayed at the window, continuing to stare at the wolves, mostly Misty, while everyone else began running around behind him. Kate counted four pairs of footsteps running around to different sections of the building. That's when Kate heard it. A tiny cry echoing within the building.

'They have a baby in there!'

Everyone at once became warier, backing off from the building. Everything they were planning to do changed with that tiny cry. None of them would willingly put an infant, human or otherwise, in danger. 

Kate was flabbergasted. 'Why do these people have a baby with them?! Is it Dominic's? None of this is making any sense.' The others were thinking along the same lines as her. None could figure out the relation these people had to each other or this place. 

Kate could feel the Alphas immediately knew that they needed to approach this completely different. Orion thought a moment, processing much like Clay had done, all of their options. They couldn't attack full force like they had planned, which included rushing the building and taking down anyone in their way, and they couldn't sneak in because they had barricaded all the ground floor doors. Sol didn't like talking. It left too many things to chance, but it seemed that was now their only option. 

Orion sent out the order. 'I will make contact with Dominic, and attempt to talk him into backing down. Clay and Augustine, climb the building and see if you can find an open door in case the situation changes and I need reinforcements. Be quick. The longer this takes the more agitated the situation becomes.'

Kate watched Augustine shift into her hybrid from, and then stood by as a spotter as the two half-human half-wolf creatures climbed old gutter pipes to the top of the building. 'Cole, we need answers from your brother.'

Cole acknowledged his father's command by shifting into his human skin and going to his brother. He was naked, but uncaring of his nudity. It was normal among a pack of wolves to be unclothed around each other. 

Flint had sat down once again in the van's passenger seat, too weak to stand for long. "Are you all right Flint?" Cole put a hand on his brother's shoulder to get his attention. Flint opened his eyes, nodding his head, but his eyelids were drooping. "I know you are tired, but can you answer some questions for me?" In the background they all could hear the humans inside panicking over the footsteps on the roof. Cole stayed focused on his task. "Just tell us what you know. Do you know why the Destined brought you here?"

Flint sighed and adjusted in his seat, trying to stay awake. "It is his home. Dominic, and his group of friends, they all live here together in a kind of pack, all their own. He didn't know I was in the van when he took it and he was going to leave me behind to find my way back, but when I had an episode on the way here, he brought me with him. I don't know why they live here though; they wouldn't tell me anything. They were packing to leave, I think I heard them say east, I'm not sure I fell asleep."

Without warning, the rough looking one shouted "I FUCKING DARE YOU TO COME IN HERE YOU HAIRY MYTH BASTARDS!" and a gunshot rang out, followed by a yelp from Augustine. Through the link, Kate was able to tell that she had only been startled by the shot. Clay had pulled her out of the way in time.

Sol had had enough, Kate could feel her frustration and worry leaking into the Pack Mind. The humans were far too desperate and scared. It was only a matter of time before something serious happened. 

Orion had had enough as well. 'This has gone far enough. We have them cornered and they are becoming far too desperate.'

Sol agreed with her mate. 'Breach the back door, but do not attack.' 

Kate took the initiative, ordering one in her own unit to start breaking down the back door. It was sturdy, and there was something blocking it on the inside, but it wouldn't hold up for long.

"Father!" Flint, hearing the crashes, moved to get out of the van. Inside, Dominic was giving orders for his friends to hide upstairs. Smart on their part. Kate moved to head for the back door, which was about to give. She and Clay would be the first ones to enter. 

She could still see Flint through her link with her Alpha.

Orion approached his son. "What is it Flint?"

"You can't hurt them! Any of them!" Flint was panicked over the idea that one of the humans would be hurt. 

"Why is that? What do you know?" Orion steadied his son, who was swaying on his feet.

"They are Dominic's family. If you kill any of them he will never forgive us." It would seem Flint had already formed a sort of bond with Dominic. He would not allow anything to happen that would hurt Dominic, a pack member. Kate felt a bit of pride come from both Orion and Sol. He may not have shifted into a wolf by now, but he still had wolf blood coursing through his veins. He was a good pack member. 

"Do not worry, son. None of them will be harmed." Kate could feel the order in Orion's promise.

Kate reached the back door just as it was broken down. She rushed in, followed by Clay, ready for whatever Dominic and his group had planned for them. She weaved through a crowded back room and entered the main section of the warehouse.

She spotted him first, standing at the base of a flight of stairs on the right side of the warehouse, with a knife in hand. She could hear the others up at the top in what looked to be an office designed to oversee what was happening on the ground floor. Clay spotted faces in the window, the girl and the blond. The others were pushing things to barricade the door.

Dominic held his ground as Kate, Clay, and their wolves surrounded him. He had a cold, determined look in his eye. He was willing to fight them, creatures that to him, until a few hours ago had for him only existed in movies and the imagination of teenage girls. He was willing to die protecting what he deemed precious. Kate had the sudden overwhelming urge to back down from him, a mere human with a knife. He truly was something else.