Running With Wolves

Sage was gone quicker than Lukas had ever seen someone Turn. One minute she was Sage, upset, angry, and the next minute she was something else entirely.

She was there, the most exotic and breath taking Were in all of Blackwood. Her flaming red hair had been diluted to the orange glow of embers but her eyes were as clear and startling as ever. An impossible orange coat, heart stopping bright blue eyes, and a full set of sharp white teeth that where pulled back over her jowls in a snarl.

”Salvie,” he breathed startled.

It had been a long long time since he’d beheld the wolf and never in his life had he feared of her teeth the way he did now.
Sage’s words rang clear in his head, ’a monster capable of tearing a girl a part’, the cold hard truth was that it was indeed true.

The wolf stalked forward and Lukas swallowed hard, holding his ground. “Salvie, yield.”

Salvie, was the name of Sage’s wolf; in all of Blackwood only two Weres had their own independent names and Salvie was one of them. No one knew why but the two specific wolves seemed to be their own separate entities, free of their human counterparts control. Salvie was one of them and Salvie was completely free of Sage’s bonds; a wild Were with a fighting streak.

The beautiful creature shook off Lukas’ command, the words spoken imitated an Alpha but Lukas was not Salvie’s Alpha, no one was Salvie’s. The words only insulted the Were, how dare anyone try to command Salvie.

“Salvie,” The warning his voice held sent her hackles up and the Were in him, to his dismay, regarded her as the complete opposite of a soulmate.

Suddenly his Were was as much of a monster with as sharp of teeth as Salvie’s.

She launched herself at him and then…and then Lukas was gone.

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Mia awoke with a start.

Disoriented at first she settled when she found herself within the warmth of Conan’s arms, who was still fast asleep. She was safe within his arms, safe within the secure walls of the house, safe amongst her fellow Weres.
All was safe.
All was well.
Sleep began nagging at the edges of her barely conscious mind, tempting her like a hot fire on a frigid night.

Suddenly she couldn’t even remember what had startled her awake, now that she was indeed conscious but whatever it had been must not have been of any importance for Conan was still asleep, not startled awake like her.

She closed her eyes again settling against the warmth of his body when she heard the sound of furious canine snarls.

That had been what awoke her.

“Conan,” She shook him urgently her heart suddenly racing. There were Weres outside of the house. Where they Eastern? Where they Western? “Conan!”

“Wh-what?!” Bleary eyed he sat up right, looking around for the fire that surely must have been blazing to wake him.

“There are Weres,” The low urgency in her voice caught his attention and when he met Mia’s gaze he didn’t question her words. Before he could open his mouth snarling filled the night air and Conan bolted upright, reaching for the hunters blade beneath his pillow. “wake the others,” He ordered urgently, rising from the couch and heading for the back door.

“Conan!” she hissed lowly, not liking that he was venturing outside alone.

“Go!” He hissed back before he turned his back on her and with a deep breath barged through the back door to see a sight he never in a million years expected to witness.

Two wolves, one of a blue grey and the other a striking orange, where circling each other, looking for a weak point in one another’s defensives; the weaker the defense the greater the injury.

“Oh fuck,” he mumbled.

One side of him was very, very, distantly relieved that it was not an outside threat. The rest of him was consumed with the thought that there was no way to stop the quarreling two. Conan wished then, more than he ever had in the past, that he was Cornielu’s birth son, only then would he stand a chance in breaking up the pair. But Conan had no Alpha bloodlines and within Lukas and Sage those bloodlines ran too hot, double that with the fact that they, (were supposed to be), soul mates, could any one really get between the two?

There was padding feat as Jasmine reached his side first. Her tired oaken orbs were wide and her hair was in shambles as her muscles immediately tensed for an impending fight.

“Oh fuck,” She hissed.

Conan turned his gaze away from the scene for only a moment to see Jasmine in only an oversize t-shirt and a shotgun in her hand; good old Jazz always had a weapon. Remembering the gun in her hand she dropped it suddenly as though it had burned her. A shot gun couldn’t help their current situation.

“How audacious do you figure your Were is?” Conan wondered grimly.

“She’s audacious not suicidal.”

Boy wasn’t that the truth.
None of their Weres were stupid enough to get between the two. Not to mention that in their Were form their ranks within the pack was a hundred times more severe, one snarl in any of their directions from Sage or Lukas and their Were would back down and stand by complacently, driven by Alpha command.

The orange wolf lunged at the male who met her head on. To Conan’s relief neither wolf got a good grip on the other.

“Fuck it.” He grunted as Mia, Rune, and Knoll came running. “Hey Knoll?” Conan called over his shoulder without looking at the younger man.

“Yeah,” Knoll said understanding perfectly what Conan was implying. His face was unreadable as he came to stand beside him.
Maybe it was their new pack bond, maybe it was just a good guess, but Knoll knew exactly what Conan wanted from him. “I got you’re back.”
If anyone had a chance at getting between the two it was kin; at least the two would recognize their brothers at the very least.

“Stay here,” Conan ordered the girls and then the two brothers moved down the steps.

“Salvie!” Conan barked. He was thankful he had stood beside his father long enough to mock the command of an Alpha perfectly.

The tone caught the two Weres attentions and Conan met Salvie’s gaze head on. “Stop,” He growled lowly, his muscles tensed and ready to spring.

For a moment neither of them moved and false hope washed over Conan. The grey wolf shifted on his feet and that was all that was needed to catch Salvie’s attention again. Her head whipped back in his direction and this time it was the large grey wolf that lunged at her. Salvie dodged away before she spun on her feet and with her mouth opened wide found purchase against the grey wolf’s side. The male didn’t yelp but on the contrary he only grew angrier.

“Razvan!” Knoll yelled in futile but the grey wolf ignored him
“They’ll kill each other.” Knoll declared and before Conan could open his mouth Knoll was gone and a lanky grey Were took his place, it resembled more of a coyote than a wolf and it was one hundred person Knoll.

Lukas launched himself at Sage but Knoll threw himself between the two, Lukas’s jaw coming down against his brother’s shoulder. Knoll let out a yelp and Lukas instantly released him, even as a Were Razvan recognized Knoll as kin.

Conan’s head turned back to the girls on the porch, their eyes wide with horror. “Jazz you’re it.” And then Conan was gone and a wolf, only slightly smaller than Lukas but larger than Sage appeared. It had dark blue eyes and rust colored fur, its appearance as striking as his sister, and he jumped between the quarreling wolves. Conan stood side-by-side Knoll, only one of them faced Sage while the other was turned to face Lukas.

For a moment the fighting ceased but then…then all hell broke loose.

Lukas lunged at Conan and Sage attacked Knoll.

“No!” Mia screamed. She made to move down the steps but Jasmine gripped her arm.

“You stay on the porch.” She barked and Mia couldn’t understand the need in her to obey Jasmine of all people but she did. Power surged through Jasmine as the throw of command momentarily made her dizzy with it. Sage and Lukas both neither in their right mind placed the Command on the shoulders of either Knoll or Conan (no one had quite figured out who ranked higher yet) but their own command was relinquished when they’d given up any command in order to break up the fight as Were’s. This way someone was still in charge of the remaining pack that had not Turned. In turn it left the power of command momentarily in the hands of Jasmine.

Rune shifted uneasily back and forth on her feet and then when Jasmine wasn’t looking she Turned. A loud helpless howl left the small white wolf that took her place and Jasmine, who had not seen her Turn, jumped startled. Jasmine would have shut her up easily but she understood the howl clearly and silently she echoed the meaning of the forlorn sound.

’someone help, someone please help’

At this point Jasmine figured that even if Viktor himself showed, at least Viktor could break them up and the three women would not have to witness their pack tear themselves apart.

Conan freed himself of Lukas’s jaws and then dodged him again when Lukas lunged at him.

“Conan, come back!” Mia cried, spotting the wet mark of blood on her lover’s side.

The tension boiled over and in a snap Jasmine unleashed on Mia.

“Are you stupid?! Lukas and Sage are down there on the verge of killing each other and you think he’s going to come back over here like some obedient dog?” Jasmine snapped in annoyance.

To this, Mia shut up and shrank away from Jasmine.

Rune let out another low howl as Knoll freed himself of Sage. Lukas did not go after Sage then but the orange Were did not cease her attack on him. Suddenly Jasmine understood.

“Conan,” Jasmine ran down the steps and she caught the rusty colored Were’s attention and suddenly he was right before her, staring at her expectantly. “Conan, fuck let this work, Turn.” Energy trembled beneath Jasmine’s skin but then Conan was human and staring at her, his eyes urging her to hurry the hell up and spit it out so that he could get back to separating the warring Weres.

“Its Salvie,” She said. “It’s not Razvan. This isn’t just Sage and Luke, it is their Weres too but whatever it is, Salvie is fucking pissed as hell at Razvan. You have to stop her, not him. She’s goating him to fight her. She wants him to hurt.”

“How the hell do you figure that?”

“Because when someone you love breaks your heart you just want them to hurt as much as you do.” The two froze for a minute as something passed between them but then it was gone.

Conan turned back toward the fight when something moved in the shadowy depths of the woods. It caught all of their attention, even Rune who broke off mid-howl turned to the sound of soft snapping twigs. The rustling of the leaves startled her so greatly she Turned and a wide eyed Rune stood on the porch, her eyes fixated on where the sound came from.

“I don’t like that,” She called down to the Jasmine and the Weres. As a Were she had sensed something Jasmine and Rune could not.
Knoll seemed to echo her words for he, who had been closest to the woods of Falcon Ridge’s boarder, darted all the way back to Conan’s side in the middle of the yard and Turned.

“Me either.” He said his eyes wide.

Sage and Lukas, Salvie and Razvan, froze in their fighting and turned toward the woods, though neither of them moved to meet their pack.

“What is it?” Jasmine whispered as the sound of cracking fallen branches and crunching leaves filled their ears.

“Honestly?” Knoll swallowed. “It feels like Corneliu and Viktor wrapped up into one.”

Their eyes widened at Knoll’s words and before anyone could say more a large black wolf crept carefully out of the woods and onto the thick grass of Lukas’s back yard.

Unconsciously Jasmine, Conan, and Knoll took several steps back in the direction of the porch while Sage and Lukas didn’t move from their spot only feet away from the wooded edge.

The Were was the largest any of them had ever seen, it was even larger than Corneliu and Viktor, which made him tower over Lukas who was the biggest Were in their new pack. The Were made no move to harm Sage or Lukas who were now only feet away but that didn’t bring any comfort to the witnesses on the porch. The black wolf ignored Lukas for the time being and focused his gaze on Sage or rather Salvie, creeping toward her until only inches divided them. Salvie whined lowly and then lowered her head in submission to him almost instantly.

That move put everyone’s hearts in there throats and Conan took a step forward but Jasmine instinctively reached for his hand to stop him. Neither of them looked at each other and neither let go of the others hand as they watched the scene unfold in fear.

Sage was the pack Alpha and Turned or not she didn’t submit to anyone. Hell Salvie was less likely to submit than Sage was and here she was with her head so low she had to look up at the black Were from the top of her head.

The Weres didn’t move and for a moment the black wolf just loomed over Salvie before it moved toward Razvan who did not offer the complacent submission Salvie did. The grey wolf’s hackles went up and a snarl slid through his lips to which the black wolf mimicked before he let out a loud bark that made them all jump. It was to all of their disbelief then that Lukas’s head was suddenly so low in submission that his chin was on the ground, a low rumbling growl issued from him and his ears were back but he made no move to strike against the superior animal.

Jasmine’s hand was shaking so badly that Conan held it tighter to stop it.
The black wolf looked away from Lukas then to gaze at Conan, Jasmine, Knoll, Rune, and Mia in turn, sniffing the air for their scent. In that moment none of them breathed and then quiet suddenly the wolf turned on its heels and disappeared into the woods, gone as quickly as it had come.

The sudden jarring events left everyone so bewildered and frightened that it was several moments before any one even thought of moving let alone actually moving.