The Last Wolf

Shadow sat up with a groan while his icy glare struck Phoenix’s eyes. He tore them away from her just long enough to watch Doc prepare a bag. The old man couldn’t help her. A grunt left his lips as he rolled his eyes. He pushed the quilt from his legs and forced his body to stand. Macon started toward him, but something in the daggers his glare threw must’ve stopped the human wolf.

“You can’t go out there on your own,” Shadow stated. He gritted his teeth. The sound echoed through his hoarse voice. Three sets of eyes widened while they stared at him; disbelief, anger, jealousy.

“Who’s going with me?” Doc retorted while his disbelieving eyes turned back toward their task of packing.

“Not you!” Macon and Phoenix answered in unison while their eyes filled with so much emotion; his for Dahlia, and hers for Shadow.

“He will kill you!” Shadow shook his head. His own anger welled inside him. The monster that helped kill his mother had his friend. “He doesn’t care what happens as long as she dies!”

“No, he doesn’t care, but he won’t kill her. Not yet,” Doc retorted.

“Yes he-”

“No, Shadow! He will not!” Doc yelled. Macon shuddered while Phoenix moved protectively toward Shadow. He stepped away from her, holding White River’s glare with his own. “Your brother will not kill the last wolf for two reasons…” Doc trailed off glancing at Phoenix for a moment. “The first, and most important, reason is that she is the last and she is valuable because of that, and the second being that she is important to you. He knows how important she is to you!” Phoenix stormed out of the cottage as Macon’s hands balled into fists.

Shadow opened his mouth to tell White River that he was wrong. Hawke didn’t care about anything that might’ve been important to his brother; if he did he would’ve protected their mother. A high pitched hissing noise stopped his mouth from explaining. The noise forced the medicine man and the injured shifter into the brightness of the sun.

Shadow took note of how the sun made the ache in his bones feel like more of an annoyance; he longed to stretch his legs. Viper’s arms uncoiled from her scales while her legs finished forming. She watched White River; her voice obviously trying to expand on its rough hisses.

“Calm down,” he told her. “Take deep breaths.”

“She’s injured,” Viper hissed. “But it’s not bad!”

“Is she…” White River trailed off. He didn’t want to know if the humans found her, if her parents had her, but he needed the answer.

“She’s with Raider. He’s not doing so good himself.” She cleared her throat. “Kamara kept her word; she chased him through the field that separates our land from theirs. Shifting wasn’t an option because he had Dahlia.”

Macon rushed toward the direction Viper pointed to while Phoenix’s arms and legs turned a boiling shade of red. Her fiery hair whipped around her as her bones shifted. Viper followed her lead before slithering after Macon.

“You didn’t tell me,” Shadow growled before White River had the chance to race after the others. “She was with him!”

“I didn’t know for sure, until now,” he retorted.

“Yes, you did!” Shadow wanted answers. He wanted more. It was obvious, in his mind, they wanted him out.

“If I did, Colt,” White River spat his name, “I would not have involved her parents! The only thing I could prove was she went missing. Raider, like you, leaves us to roam around. I don’t ask him questions; I don’t ask you questions!” He turned his back on Shadow.



I awoke to a tree canopy above me. Panic swarmed through my veins. They must’ve pulled us back into the darkness of that awful place. Unlike the dark forest, light streamed through the tree canopy here and beauty found its way here. I pushed myself into a sitting position. My left arm, the same arm that Colt bit, was numb; something black looped around my shoulder. Memories of Raider’s teeth haunted me. I glanced around, not able to look left too well.

He laid crumpled against a tree to my far left. Blood smeared his cheeks and arms. Patches of fur covered the ground around him. Fear bit into my soul, memories of teeth and talons. He growled so much, so protectively. I pressed my back against the tree trunk closest to me, took a few deep breaths, and forced my body to stand.

“Raider,” I stated. My voice sounded gravely and strained. He didn’t move. “Raider!”

His head twitched. Blood pooled on his shoulders. I pushed him forward to see the damage. It looked like someone took a bull whip to his back, relentlessly. Moans escaped his lips. “I just got the pain to stop,” he groaned. I helped him sit back.

“We can’t stay here!” Fear spread through me like wildfire. Safety, we needed safety.

“This is…” he trailed off as his eyes rolled back and a deep breath forced its way into his lungs. “Our land. Viper was here.” His words and breaths seemed labored. I wanted to ask what happened. Did Hawke do this to him?

“Are you going to be…?”

He nodded while a grimace crossed his features. “Fine!” He grunted. His head rolled back against the tree while his breathing lulled. He was not fine.

Leaves rustled close to us. It sounded like it came from the right; another noise crashed to my left. My muscles tensed as I stood over Raider. His condition stopped him from protecting me, and my human weakness gave way to fear. I stood straight and puffed my chest out, trying my best to seem brave.

Before I saw what made the noises in the brush near us, a deep voice floated on the whispering breeze. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away that easy, did you, Little Wolf?” Raider didn’t move a muscle, which made me believe only I could hear him this time.

“Come out and play,” another more feminine voice sang while laughing. Raider’s fingers scrunched and pulled dirt into his fists. Groans escaped him.

“Gotcha,” Hawke’s deep voice hissed in my ear before something sharp dug into the shoulder that Raider bit. My feet dangled as my arm got wrenched high into the air. I tried to look at my captor, but all I could see was black feathers that fought the wind.