C7 Ambushed

KADEN

I froze when I saw her eyes glow in mine. I knew what it meant or at least what it might mean but when my wolf confirmed by saying "mate," I was very surprised.

Even after she fainted, her breaths were still heavy and jagged. She must have been running for a long time, but from what? Or whom? There were so many things going through my mind all at once and all of a sudden, my hunting now felt very unimportant.

I put a stray strand of hair on her face behind her ear and my fingers brushed her face and my wolf grunted something inaudible. Now that was strange. My wolf barely ever made a sound not to talk of grunting or mumbling. I mostly sensed it when I was angry. Now all of a sudden it was speaking freely.

Ignoring all of this I lifted her from the ground. She was surprisingly light for the way she looked. She must have been out cold because she didn't move a muscle even as I carried her. My steps changed from a walk to a stride, then a jog. I could hear her heartbeat but it was very faint.

I took the shortest route back to the pack. I didn't enjoy taking this path, I preferred the longer path, it meant more exercise and gave me more time to think. But right now I needed to get this mysterious "mate" of mine revived. And if anyone could do it, it was Anna.

On the way, I wondered who exactly this person was. I knew one way or the other I'd still find out but right now I was very curious. Was she perhaps a lone wolf? No. She was running. Lone wolves didn't exactly have a lot of company. She might be a rogue from a different pack but right now it didn't really matter. She was in my territory and therefore under my laws.

The guards opened the gates when they saw me coming from a distance.

"Welcome Alpha." They all bowed.

"Hmmph." I grunted impatiently. "Where's Annalise?"

"In her chamber, my lord." Jackson, the captain of the Watch, replied , eyeing the unconscious person I was carrying. "Erm… alpha, Is she…?" He blabbed, staring stupidly.

I didn't have time for foolish questions.

"Tell Anna to come to my quarters. Let her know it's urgent and get back to work."

"Erm y-yes alpha." He hurried off.

I went straight home, because I didn't want to draw any attention from the pack. I set her gently down on the bed. She was still unconscious.

Anna, the pack doctor, appeared inside just a few moments later. Jack must have told her everything in detail because it seemed like she had run all the way.

"My lord." She bowed quickly. "Jackson was telling me something very interesting, said you had someone with… " She was cut off when she saw the unconscious lady on the bed near me.

"I don't know who she is. I just bumped into her this morning."

"In the woods?" She asked, moving towards her.

"Yes. She was running from someone or something then bumped into me and fainted. You will treat her."

"I will do what you command alpha but may I speak?" She asked with a tune that suggested I was going to receive a lecture.

"What now?"

"Don't you think it was a bit dangerous to bring her in? She might be a spy for all we know or even worse, an assassin." Anna's eyes were serious as she spoke.

"I am one hundred percent sure she's not an assassin because she could have easily struck me down in the woods or at least stabbed me when she collapsed into me but she didn't. And if she were a spy, don't you think our meeting would blow her cover? Just quit all these questions and heal her okay?"

"Yes my lord."

I nodded and left her to her work.

Hunter, my beta, was waiting for me when I stepped outside. He bowed when he saw me.

"Do you have updates?"

"The luna of Shadow pack still wants to get…"

"Oh God. Enough of this stuff already. I told her I wasn't interested in her so what the fuck does she want again?"

"She says she is willing to join both of our packs in strength to be a force to be reckoned with." Hunter recited.

Widowed lunas, princesses and royal ladies had been lining up and pretty much fighting one another just to get my hand in marriage. It was sad but also funny to see that they would go through all this trouble just for me to tell them no. I wasn't interested in anything of that sort.

"What did she send this time? A tank of cologne? A barrel of whiskey?" These ladies really had no shame.

"A large chiseled statue. Quite handsome, my lord. It's in the garden if you want to see it."

Now this was new. I knew it would obviously be something cheesy but I followed him anyway.

It was a huge sculpture. It looked like it was made of pure stone. It was a statue of two wolves. One was bigger, with a mane of a lion and wore a moon crown and the second had a crown made of stars. They were standing face to face with each other.

I would have given it an ace for good craftsmanship if not for the big heart shaped stone which both wolves in the statue holded together. That was just wrong.

It went from looking like a statue of strength to a confession of love or…marriage? That was pathetic.

"Tell her that Griffinhowl thanks her greatly for… this. But I will not be taking anyone's hand in marriage for now." I said looking at the big-for-nothing thing. "If she tries to cause you any problems like I know she will, just send the statue back." I smiled and made my way back.

"Yes alpha."

"For now just bring the twins with you to my quarters. I have an urgent job for you."

He nodded and left.

A few minutes later, the three of them assembled before me.

"This is someone I found in the woods this morning. I need you to take a good look at her, probably take some photos, find out everything there is to know about her and report back to me. I want to know every single thing."

"Yes alpha."

"I need you all to keep this on the down low. I don't need word of this getting out to the pack just yet, that's why I've called just the three of you. We have to be sure about everything first so we won't make the people uncomfortable for nothing. Got it?"

"Yes alpha." They chorused as one.

"Dispatch." I ordered and they went their separate ways to execute what I had asked of them. I knew they would be back in no time.

I looked up to the sky. It was clear without a sign of rain. My son was staying the weekend with my sister Elizabeth so I had more time. After a few minutes of thinking, I decided to go back to the woods. After all, I got distracted mid-hunting and didn't bring back any game. That was a loss. And I didn't do such.

I went to my shade, picked up my mahogany wood bow, some arrows and water. Then I marched back to the woods.

I went deeper into the woods where I was sure the antelopes would be and sure enough there was one nibbling at some of the shrubs nearby.

I watched its movements carefully. This was the most important part of hunting, paying attention. It took about ten to twelve chews of grass before bending down again to eat more. I picked out an arrow and nocked it, counting how many times it chewed. When it got halfway, I drew the arrow on the bow, lifting it to target the animal.

I watched it in concentration. When the antelope bent down, I loosed the arrow and watched it fly right into the neck of the animal. It squealed lightly and dropped to the floor. Dead.

I put the bow back over my shoulder and stepped out of my hiding spot. The antelope lived peacefully and died the same way. In peace. I made sure of that. It didn't deserve to suffer.

I pulled the arrow out of its neck, wiped off the blood, replaced it with the others and lifted the antelope to my shoulders. I made a move to go but stopped on reflex. I had a feeling I was being watched. I turned around and looked with my wolf eyes.

There was obviously someone else in the forest watching. "Just make it easier and come out."

A manic laughter cackled from the bushes. It sounded like a mad man.

Then suddenly something jumped on me.

Using quick reflexes, I used my bow to hit it away from my direction. At first glance, one might have thought it was a wolf but on hearing and now seeing it, my suspicion was proven right. Fucking Hyena.

Had it been here waiting for me to kill the antelope before it claimed it or was it just attracted to the blood? They were very disorganized things and I hated them.

The animal jumped again but this time it was for the antelope. I grabbed it by the neck before it touched my game.

It struggled in my grasp, making these stupid hyena sounds, whatever's the fuck they were called. "Learn some manners." I twisted my wrist and the neck snapped.

Finally some quiet. I flung it into a bush and as I made you turn, I sensed a second attack but just a second too late.

A second hyena sprung from nowhere and dug its teeth into my left arm and my blood flowed.

I looked at it with fury in my eyes, protracted my claws and tore it open from the neck down. Some of its insides poured on my boots but I was too angry to care.

The body was on the floor but its jaws were still closed around my arm so I removed it. It was a little deep but it would heal. I tore a rag and ties around it so blood wouldn't drop around everywhere

Stupid things.

I picked my game and headed back to the pack. I left the antelope for the workers to skin and went back home.

"Oh my gosh. What happened?" Annalise asked when she saw me. She had the same time for everyone when it came to injuries.

"I was ambushed… by hyenas." I added when I saw the look on her face.

"Let me take a look at it." She said putting on her glasses.

"I'm fine, Annalise. How is she?" I asked, nodding to the bed.

"She is stable now. But you weren't kidding, she was running. And at top speed too, it must have been hours because her lungs were actually stressed. I gave her something to help her sleep."

I nodded. Still wondering why but said nothing.

"And also, most of the wounds are healing. Though very slowly as she is very weak but they're healing. Whereas these ones," she pointed at the purple scratches on her arms and legs. "They seem to be getting worse. I've applied an ointment but there's no improvement. They might be from poisoned flower branches while she was running but I need to run tests to know.

I stepped closer to see what she was saying. The marks looked swollen and Anna had punctured some to run her tests. I held the now bloody cloth used to cover my wound to avoid blood dropping in the house. There was a scratch mark on her face, I touched it and some of my blood got on her face, I wiped it immediately.

Just like a switch, her eyelids flew open and her brown eyes glowed like before. And immediately she started shaking violently.

"Anna what's going on?!

"How is she convulsing?" Anna asked with confusion in her voice. She rushed to the bed, opened her eyes, and checked her pulse. "Oh no."

"What is it!" I asked, watching her patient still shaking involuntarily.

"The wounds that aren't healing were from poison hemlock, alpha. She's having a seizure. I'll try my best but she might not make it."