Red Is for Traitor

Two weeks quickly turned into a month. For thirty days we did not know where the wolves had disappeared to. That was 720 hours of torture, searching, listening, and going out whenever there was a lead only to find they were not there. To pass the time, the Red Cloaks trained to perfect the way we moved and worked together. By the end of one month we could read each others body signals as if they had spoken their intentions out loud. We even started synchronizing when we were in the village together. We received strange looks.
It was one of the rare times when my group was not training when hunters tried yet again to attack our village. It was going as smoothly for them as ever. They tried to sneak up on us while the majority of the inhabitants slept, but within seconds of the horn being blown everyone was up and lending a hand somewhere. This time however, they tried to take us from two fronts. First they attacked in the open, but then we heard howls from the forest. I took a quarter of the village bound Red Cloaks and wolves to the forest where we fought to push them back. It was a tiresome fight in all honesty. You could see how both sides did not have as much heat behind their punches as they normally did. By this point everyone had someone they knew die and were too tired to give 100%. It did not take long for us to push most of the hunters out of the village and territory; we did not run after them once they were off.
When I thought every hunter bad been run out of the woods I heard a growl to my left. I told the others to go on and that I would make sure the wolf was okay... the wolf was fine, it was the hunter in danger. I stood almost paralyzed at the scene before me. A hunter was on the ground trying to create as much distance between him and the wolf; his ankle caught in a bear trap like contraption. One of this arms was clearly broken by the way he cradled and babied it against his chest. He held a knife in his other although he knew there was no chance if the wolf decided to strike. Honestly he wasn't the one I had my dilated eyes struck on, it was the wolf. Zane stood before the hunter in his newly acquired hybrid form. He bared his pointed teeth at the hunter with claws flexing to be used and silver eyes that dared the hunter to try anything.
I thought for a second that maybe things were going to end well, that knowing I was there Zane would hand him over to me... but I was wrong. All the hunter did was shift and within a second the dagger he held was halfway across the clearing. Zane now stood with his hand around the man's throat growling in his face. The man gasped for air, using his only good hand to claw at the impossibly strong grip of the seven year old.
"Zane." I called to him in a commanding voice, demanding his attention. His molten silver eyes flicked to me, growling a warning. "Zane, let that man go."
"No." His voice was gravelly, sounding more wolf than human through his canines.
"You must let him go."
"No!" He snarled. "He knows where Poppa is."
I was taken back as rage started bubbling up in me. I closed my eyes and took a calming breath before speaking with him again. "Are you sure, Zane?"
He did not speak at first, only huffing the way people do when extremely angry. "He is hunter. He knows where Poppa is.."
"Not all hunters do, Zane. Has he said anything that suggests he does know where your Poppa is?"
"...No. He no answer any of my questions."
"That does not mean he knows where he is."
He snarled again, "No! He knows. They all same!"
"You know that is not true, Zane. Not every hunter knows what is happening to every captured werewolf and human."
"NO!" He denied tightening his fingers.
"Zane!" I did not back down as his eyes burned at me. We stared at each other for longer than anyone thought possible, but he could not keep it up I outranked him. He growled in frustration as he looked away and threw the man away when he released the hunter's neck. The man coughed and gasped while Zane growled menacingly. "Zane, go back to the Den."
He snarled at me, his lips curled back threateningly. "No!"
"Go, you are done here."
"You can't tell me what do! You not my mom or in pack!" We both knew the latter was false, but it still hurt to hear.
"Zane Moonshadow, go back to the Den now." My voice was deep and powerful as I ordered him away from the area.
Unable to resist a superiors order, he let out an angry howl. "Fine! But if Poppa dies, it's you fault!" He shouted the words and then shifted to his wolf. Snapping at me as he passed, he bolted away towards the Den.
I waited until I knew he was no longer within hearing distance before I walked over to the wounded man. I looked down at him as he regulated his breathing and cradled his arm. He looked up at me in disdain. "Do you know where Sindri Moonshadow and the wolves he was with are?" My voice had turned eerily calm like a frost breeze gliding over the air.
"Why would I tell you?" He spat.
"Because I am the one keeping you alive." He refused to speak continuing to glare at me. "Fine, just remember I gave you a chance." I knelt down causing him to flinch away. I rolled my eyes, "I am not going to bite you. I am a healer, let me see your arm." He hesitated before reluctantly shifting to a position I would be able to access his arm. I took out a thick blue salve and spread it so it encircled his bicep and triceps. I waited about thirty seconds before setting the broken bones. He went to yelp in pain, but found that there was none. I swiftly created a splint and encircled his other arm in the salve.
"What are you doing!" He cried when I finished.
I looked up with dull eyes, "I do not need you harming me or anyone else. The numbness is only temporary thus do not worry about having useless hands forever. Be grateful." I looked at his foot and thought. I could use the salve on his ankle but that would make the foot useless and he needed to make it to the village. "I am sorry, but you are going to have to live with the ankle pain for a while before I can numb it."
"Why?" He asked perplexed but I did not answer. Instead I shifted down to the trap and looked it over. It would be simple enough to deactivate, but he would have to be swift in moving his foot. "Once I open it, you must remove your leg swiftly I do not know how long I can keep it open for. Ready?" The hunter nodded and together we got his foot out of the trap. He held back a cry when I first opened it, but the moment he could he freed his foot. "Excellent, now let us get you standing." It took a little while with some trial and error, but eventually we got him upright with his arm around my shoulders. We started in the opposite direction of where Zane ran off to.
"Where are we going?" He asked wearily.
"The village."
"Why!?"
"You need medical attention."
"There are wolves there! and Supporters! You've got the fu- Red Cloaks there."
"Very astute."
"I can't go there!" He tried to fight me, however we both knew it was a losing battle.
"You will and are."
"Why don't you just kill me then? When the werewolves see me that's what they'll do!"
"You are not going to die."
"How can you be so sure?" He glared sideways.
"Because I said so." And that was the end of our conversation. On the outskirts where the forest met the village, Mina and Rami saw me coming.
"Is that a-" Mina began but I cut her off.
"Yes, help me get him to Dr. Pent please." Rami took the hunter's other side. He exchanged a worried look to Mina, but I did not comment on it. Our pathway cleared as we hobbled through the streets to where the doctor lived. Arawn, Shionnah, and a few wolves looked at us worried and a little betrayed.
"Take him inside to the guest room. He will not harm you, but take everything out that could potentially be a weapon or allow him to escape. Watch over him until I return." Rami and Mina nodded before lugging the hunter inside the house.
"Sister dear, what is going on?" Arawn asked.
"What does it look like?" I inquired back in a tired voice.
"It looks like you were helping a hunter."
"You would be correct."
"Why?"
I sighed, "I want this war to end and it will not if we continue this killing. He is a prisoner." Werewolves and humans a like began shouting about how he deserves to die because he probably has killed hundreds of werewolves. I waited for everyone to quiet or at least the shouts to reduce to a murmur. "What better way to show the hunters that we are not mindless monsters than to treat them with some respect when we capture them?"
"That is not how it works, Macha." Corbin walked through the crowd with some of the other Alphas.
"Why not? It is what we have been talking about for a while."
"Letting them go and keeping them as a reminder of how many they have killed are two different things."
"It does not matter, we must. He would not be able to go anywhere the other hunters were and would be in our territory anyway."
"Macha." It was his turn to sigh. "Think about it from everyone's point of view, think about what he represents. Doesn't it bother you knowing that a hunter is living in town after what happened?"
I tried to hide my flinch, "You already know that answer." We had almost a month of confessions to each other to know how I would feel. I shook my head. "How I would feel does not matter in the grand scheme of things." I looked up and stared at him. "We are on the side of the greatest disadvantage. Unlike them, we have to prove to all the doubters that not ever wolf is a mindless feral. We have to go above and beyond anyone's expectation and if that means having hunters as prisoners then that is what we must do. Beyond that we have to treat them with respect and kindness." The crowd began to object at the notion.
"Not everyone will agree to that." Corbin warned just loud enough for me to hear.
"If not then I will sit protecting him so none will touch him."
"Why are you doing this, Macha? Why are you protecting him after what they did to Sin?" He looked at me desperately.
I looked back revealing only to him the pain I was feeling, "Because this war must stop. I will gladly suffer in order to end it, bring Sindri home, let all the captured werewolves free, and to make sure pups like Zane do not have to make the terrible decisions we do." Corbin, Arawn, and Shoinnah stared at me speechless as I turned and entered the doctors house. I relieved my friends of their duty and watched over the hunter.
I spent most of my time making sure the hunter was safe. My bringing him into the village had caused a split between many of the wolves and some Red Cloaks. Corbin and a few of the Alphas tried to keep the village peaceful, but each day was becoming more difficult. Sleeping was becoming restless again with new nightmares slithering in and corrupting my dreams. I was pretty sure I looked near death most days.
A week and a half into his imprisonment (which was a lot more cozy than probably anywhere else) I was getting ready to leave so another could take my place. Like with most days I asked, "Do you know where Sindri and the wolves that were capture are?" It had becoming almost like a our farewell to each other.
This time however, he changed up our ritual. "Why do you care so much about this Sindri?"
I blinked at him for a second baffled by him finally saying something other than a one word answer. "Aside from being Zane's father-"
"The boy that tried to kill me?"
Instead of answering him I continued my thought, "Sindri is also my mate, my husband." Of sorts.
"You are married to one?" His face of disgust showed up again.
"Are you married?"
He hesitated before nodding, "Yes."
"Do you love her?"
"Yes." He replied sharply as if I had insulted him.
"I take it she is kind and caring. Loves you even when you make mistakes."
"Yes, although you do not want to be in her way when she is angry." He chuckled at the memory of his angry wife. "But she's a sweetheart."
"Then you have your answer. He and his pack have been kind, loving, and caring to me since I was a child. Even when my mother turned her back on me or my step-father beat, ignored, and eventually disowned me, they have always cared. Sindri knows all my darkest fears, knows the story behind every scar, and never lets me push him away. I love him for who he is, him being a werewolf has very little to do with it. He is a beautifully powerful wolf, but I love the man perhaps a little more. Though do not tell him that." I grinned. "Growing up after my father died, I knew very few kind humans and in turn I withdrew into myself. The pack helped me and now I find friends among both species." My smiled dropped to a small sad one. "Good-evening, Master hunter."
As I stepped away he called, "Why don't you let them just kill me? I don't understand. I have killed hundreds of their kind and harmed if not more."
"I believe all life is sacred thus I do not like killing unless for sustenance or mercy. You still have time to repent for the crimes you have committed if you believe there is any. Besides," I smiled a little wider, "Your wife is waiting for you and as one who is also waiting, I believe you should return to her."