C6 Chapter 6

“Relax; man. What’s with you?”

“I just want to get on with this; that’s all.”

Will, like Ed, is also a little leery about Snow. Her sudden attack. Her maneuverability around them. That knee-strike. ‘Who the hell is she?’. He’s sure of one thing; she’s not going to be an easy mark like the ‘pup’ they just took out. Will decides it’s time for ‘reinforcements’; so, he inconspicuously works the Taser from his pocket.

One of the attributes that makes Snow so easily adept to fighting is her keen sense of observation; keeping aware of her surroundings … especially being able to pick up on elements of danger present in the vicinity. So, when Will was trying to covertly retrieve the weapon; his movements, even as slight as they were, actually drew Snow’s attention … thus becoming her next mark.

Snow instantly charges for Will head on; and, Will cockily thinks ‘easy target’. He quickly raises the Taser out in front of him; then, squeezes the trigger. What he wasn’t counting on, was that Snow’s sharp vision was focused on his forearm; and, that she waited until it started to flex … indicating that he was applying pressure to fire the weapon … then, she immediately dived to the ground, legs out in front … like a baseball player sliding into base … avoiding the path of the Taser wires, and, subsequently knocking him down. She immediately springs up onto her feet, and, before Will can do anything, she stomps down on the hand holding the Taser; using so much force that it smashes the Taser … along with almost every bone in his hand. This all happening in a matter of seconds. Will wildly rolls around on the ground writhing in pain; screaming out agonizing moans.

First stunned … then enraged … Jack and Ed both blindly charge at Snow. She agilely dodges the rushes; then, charges back towards Ed … who was the closer of the two to her … and, delivers a swift, spot on, round-kick to his head … taking him down. One more to go.

Blinded by rage; Jack charges like a bull at Snow. But this time, instead of dodging his rush, Snow waits for him; and, when he’s just about to make contact, she grasps onto his shirt in the shoulder areas, falls back using his momentum to drag him down, while positioning her feet on his torso … then, monkey flips him; sending flying through the air, until crash landing on his back about five yards away … temporarily knocking the wind out of him.

Snow gets a little breather; while the assailants regroup … with Chuck finally coming to … and, rethink their strategy. They concur …

Suddenly; there are four, fairly-large, menacing werewolves frothing at their mouths; fangs bared at the ready. Immediately, Snow shapeshifts into her wolf-form; and, they’re shocked at the sight before them – up until now; no one besides Amanda has ever seen Snow in her wolf-form.

Her wolf … puny in comparison to the average werewolf … is just a tad larger than an ordinary timber wolf; with the same coloring. Truth be told; Snow’s wolf is even smaller than the petite Rose’s. Through mind-link, the despicable rogues laugh in their heads; and, Jack says …

“Shoot; we should have just done this from the start. … Let’s get her!”

They overzealously charge; again, underestimating Snow’s capabilities. Just like in human-form; Snow is swift and agile … and, easily maneuvers around them. And, as Snow delivers strikes; they discover that she is surprisingly strong … way stronger than her diminutive size would indicate. And; she’s a tenacious fighter. Even with four of them; they can’t get the upper hand. And, after about a ten minute skirmish … after receiving some pretty painful blows … the rogues hurriedly retreat.

Once they’re out of sight; Snow immediately goes over to check on Rose. She’s unconscious; but, at least still alive. Snow … whose clothes were ripped apart during the transformation … takes off into the woods to retrieve her backpack; intending on coming back after getting dressed.

Snow returns a few minutes later and tends to Rose. First, making sure she’s still breathing … which she is … then, cleans the blood off. Rose is severely bruised, with welts all over her body. Her eyes and jaw are extremely swollen; making her face appear disfigured. And of course; she’s still unconscious. But, as horrid as they sight may appear, Snow isn’t overly concerned over it; as long as Rose is breathing, she should be fine. Being a werewolf; Rose should heal rather quickly … and, the fact that she was now unconscious is proof that the healing process has already began … werewolves who are severely injured tend to fall into a ‘hibernation’ state; reserving most of their metabolic energy for rejuvenation and healing. The question now is; where should she bring the beaten youth?

Part II

With all the recent militant rogue activity going on throughout the nation; every pack is on heightened alert … and, are extremely wary when it comes to strangers in their territory. There has been recent reports of strangers sited in the outskirts of the Cerberus territory; so, a patrol from the pack’s Defensive Security Detail has been sent out to investigate. They are approaching the glade area.

The altercation had finished about fifteen minutes or so ago; and, the patrol missed out on witnessing what had actually happened. Instead, when they arrive, all they see is a stranger … quickly deemed as a rogue, since they can sense that Snow’s a wolf … hovering over their Beta’s little sister; who is lying motionless on the ground, naked and severely beaten. Snow notices them, and waves for them to come over; relieved to finally see others around who could help. What Snow didn’t realize was that she has been in another pack’s territory all along … a trespassing rogue who is now being looked upon as a suspected assailant of Rose.

The patrol members exchange brief glance to one another; then, slowly walk their way over towards Rose and ‘the rogue’ … keeping a careful eye on Snow as they approach. When they reach them; Snow starts …

“Boy, am I glad to …”

Before she can finish explaining what was happening, Tom, the Cerberus Pack’s Chief of Security, delivers a surprise, powerful kick into Snow’s ribcage; causing her to fly several feet in the air, before crashing back down onto the ground, and rolling a few times before coming to a complete stop. And, even before she manages to catch her breath, still desperately gasping for air, she’s quickly subdued by three, muscular behemoths; two of them are on each side of her, tightly grasping each of her arms in an arm-bar hold, with the other one securely pinning her legs down to the ground.

And, while they restrain Snow; Tom removes his XX-Large, button down, denim shirt and drapes it over Rose’s petite body to cover her up; then, he gently scoops up her limp body in his arms, and carries her over with him towards Snow. Of the four of them, Tom is the ‘smallest’ of the group; but, even though he isn’t a massively, huge behemoth like the others … Snow can see by looking at the shirtless Chief of Security that he’s still impressively large, and just as muscular … and, being held in his arms; Rose’s small body seems to disappear amongst the mass.

He sternly looks down upon Snow, and, with an authoritative tone, asks, “What did you do to Rose?”

Snow says aloud, under her breath, “So … her name is Rose.”

“I’m waiting.”

“I’m sorry; what?”

An annoyed Chief of Security – who also happens to be Rose’s godfather – harshly slaps Snow across the face; leaving his fingers and palm imprint on her face. She intensely glares up and him; with a piercing stare that looks as if she’s throwing daggers from her eyes out at him. He grins.

“Good … now that I got your attention.” He quickly glances down at his unconscious goddaughter in his arms; then, sternly looks back at Snow. “What did you do to Rose?”

“I was trying to help her.”

Tom scoffs, “Help her? … By beaten her up and …”

Snow curtly interrupts, vehemently protesting, “… I wasn’t the one who beat her up … I was helping her; you asshole!”

“Asshole? You’re saying I’m an asshole?”

“Well, let’s see … so far, you kicked me in my ribs like you were punting a football … slapped me in my face, while your three goons here are holding me down in place … and, accused me of hurting Rose; when I was the one who rescued her in the first place. … So; yeah … I’d say that makes you an asshole.”

The three behemoths can’t help to keep from laughing after hearing Snow’s flippant summation; and, even Tom himself chortles … while, Snow, who’s still tightly locked down, with sore ribs and a handprint on her face, can’t help but to smile herself.

“Fair enough.” He finds himself starting to believe that this rogue may not have hurt Rose; but, he’s not ready to fully exonerate her yet. “Then, tell me; if you didn’t do this to Rose … and, claim that you rescued her … then, who did it?”

“I don’t know who they were … but, it was four other rogue bastards that did that to her; not me.”

“Then; you admit you’re a rogue.”

Snow now thinks that in hindsight; maybe she should have chosen her words a little better. She tries to at least lessen the damage by reasoning …

“Well … I don’t necessarily belong to a pack; per say … but; I wouldn’t really consider myself as being what you might say is a rogue … per say?” She evokes a little grin; hoping to lighten the mood.

The three behemoths find Snow amusing, and, start chuckling; but, quickly cease when Tom shoots them an admonishing look to ‘cut it out’. Then, Tom mockingly informs her …

“Well, I do necessarily belong to a pack; per say … and, my ‘three goons’ over here belong to the same pack … as does Rose. And, that pack is called Cerberus … and, you happen to be in our territory, now … per say.”

Snow realizes her predicament all too well, now. Even if they believe that she didn’t attack Rose … which she didn’t … she was still a rogue trespassing in their territory. She starts to wonder if she could somehow manage to escape from their clutches; but, quickly puts that idea out of her head. She figures her best option now would just be to cooperate and follow their instructions; and, hope that they would show her some mercy for helping out their fellow pack member, and, let her go. And, while these thoughts go through her mind; the patrol members have their own mind-link conversation.

“What do you think, Tom? Think she’s telling the truth?”

“I don’t know; I suppose it’s possible she’s telling us the truth.”

“She said there was four of them; right? … Isn’t that how many rogues were reported to allegedly be seen in this area?”

“Yeah … that’s right. … And; there wasn’t any mention of a female rogue being with them. So, maybe she isn’t part of their group; and, didn’t beat up Rose. … How about it, Tom?”

“Maybe …”

“Hey, Chief; look over there.” The behemoth holding down Snow’s legs gestures off to the right with his head.

“What?” Tom looks off in that direction.

“That backpack over; it’s probably hers. … There are bloody rags next to it … maybe she used those to clean up Rose; since she wasn’t bloody when we got here.”

“So; what if it is?”

“At least then we’d know that she didn’t hurt Rose; and, that she was only helping her out, like she said.”

“Or; it’s possible that she did hurt Rose, but felt guilty after that … since they’re both females … and, tended to her wounds then.”

“Man; Chief … you don’t want to give anyone the benefit of the doubt; do you?”

“There’s no need to give her the benefit of the doubt. We’ll know what happened as soon as Rose comes to. … In the meantime; she’s still a rogue … so, let’s take her back with us for further questioning.”

“You got it; Chief. … I guess Beta Daniel’s going to want to talk with her, too.”

A troublesome expression suddenly emerges upon Tom’s countenance. “Yeah … I don’t know if that would be a good idea, though. … I sure wish Jake wasn’t out of town.”

Speaking aloud, “Alright guys; get her up. Let’s get going.” Tom starts walking off.