Diverted for war
Asher felt a bad feeling within him.
As he and the rest of his pack marched to subdue the enemy, they were on their guard, even though they knew it would take some time to get to their destination.
“You can never be too careful when it comes to the Hunters” Asher thought.
Still, even though they were making very good progress, and it was clear they held the advantage, the gnawing feeling of uneasiness kept at him. Was he missing something? He couldn’t have. He had taken care of everything, his plan was perfect and his strategy had never failed him before, so why… Why did he feel like he had it all wrong?
Suddenly a sharp pain pierced his heart. Asher groaned as he ceased his match and pressed his hands tightly on his chest. What was happening to him?
It was nothing physical, and he wasn’t hurt in any way. Clearly, he was unharmed, yet the pain kept persisting. His heart began to race at an uncontrollable pace and his instincts went haywire. He couldn’t sense any danger for miles, so he was sure it wasn’t a threat to him. His eyes bulged at the realisation.
The reason for his uneasiness, why everything seemed so easy and they were so obviously the winners. What if it was all not real?
“They’re not here…?” Asher muttered.
“What was that?” Dax said, noticing Asher’s pained look.
Quickly, Damien and Dax rushed to Asher’s side and the rest of the pack went on high alert, looking everywhere for signs of assault, but their senses felt nothing of the kind.
Asher quickly turned behind him and looked as far as he could. He could definitely sense more presence from the direction of the village than the direction they were headed.
Everything started to add up within his head, and within moments he made sense of the situation. They had been tricked… There were no werewolf Hunters in the direction they were going… It was all wrong.
“How did this happen? Was it the information? Did they intentionally set this up, or did it come from…” Asher thought as he looked at all his subordinates who gave him curious stares.
“No, Asher, calm down. How dare you suspect your own kind. They wouldn’t do such a thing… What werewolf would betray his people like this?”
It had to be the Hunters. They must have found a way to trick them, but how? No, this was no time to be worrying about such things. First, he had something more important to do.
“Asher, Asher… Asher, what’s wrong?”
Dax finally managed to get through to Asher, who was lost in his thoughts.
“We’ve been had! The Hunters aren’t there! They’re most likely coming from the opposite direction!” Asher quickly said.
“W-What?! That makes no sense, but if that’s true, then that would mean…”
Dax’s eyes bulged as he realised the implication of the situation. If Asher was right… Then that would mean the pack was in danger. Rita, everyone else… They would be laid under drive by the Hunters.
“N-No, shit! We only left 10 percent of our forces there… And they aren’t even…” Dax mumbled.
“Exactly! This must have been what they were aiming for!” Asher responded quickly.
He didn’t have time to reason out the details. They had to leave for the village immediately, but that would be difficult now. Everyone had been on the move since the night before. They were all partially exhausted, and there was no way they could make it to the village in time. But…
“I have to go now! Dax, you follow behind me! Damien, wait here with the rest and leave for the village immediately they have rested well enough!” Asher ordered
Before they could respond to his words, he took off. His speed caused shock waves to envelop the surroundings and the snow parted as he charged ahead for the village.
Dax, after pulling himself together, followed Asher, though he couldn’t even catch up to him in the slightest even when he was running at full speed two. The difference between them continued to widen as Asher continued picking up his pace.
One of his hands still tightly gripped his chest as the pain continued. He knew it was due to his connection to Roxanne. The bond couldn’t be denied. She was in trouble… He had to hurry and help her!
“Faster! Faster!” Asher bellowed.
Immediately, he transformed into his black werewolf form and went on all fours, increasing his speed even further.
“Roxanne… Wait for me! I’ll be there soon!”
“Huff… Huff…” Roxanne breathed heavily.
Blood had already stained her body, but she didn’t mind. The red hue dripped from her sharp claws and fell upon the snowy ground, but Roxanne didn’t care for that. Her eyes remained transfixed on the Hunters.
Currently, they had left everyone else and they all gathered around Roxanne, seeing as the only major threat left to them. They numbered in dozens, too much for her to care by herself.
She had killed quite a great deal of them, but they still persisted. She was slowly tiring, and her exhausted state became evident with her strained breathing. Transformation took a great deal of energy, and even though it wasn’t full, she was in partial form.
She had not eaten anything for a long period, plus she just woke up. Roxanne was nowhere near her top form, so her stamina was entirely bottom line.
That was supposed to be the case, but unexpectedly, she had held out for an unbelievable amount of time. Even Rita was surprised by how long she maintained her form. Roxanne stood in front of Rita, who was still healing from the injuries she had received.
Rita, now in human form, could do nothing but helplessly watch Roxanne defend her while she healed up.
“Shit, the Wolfsbane is making my recovery slower! I should have been healed by now!” Rita thought.
Yet, she couldn’t do anything but leave everything to Roxanne. How much longer could she keep it up? Could she hold out until she fully recovered? Even if she did, Rita wasn’t confident she could face so many Hunters at once, especially when she was still being affected by wolfsbane.
“There are still dozens of them… How did they get there… Just how many are there?”
“Grrrrrrr” Roxanne growled.
“Shoot it down!” One Hunter commanded. Clearly, he was the leader.
He stayed behind the tightly locked formation of the Hunters. Roxanne couldn’t get him without going through the fodder.
“Huff… Huff..”
She had long passed her limits, and she wasn’t sure why she was still holding out. Everything looked bleak.
Her head became fuzzy, and she began to lose consciousness. The images in front of her became blurry, and her body swayed, even though she tried to stay upright.
The Hunters readied their aim and prepared to fire. Any moment from now she would be riddled with holes and die, was this the end of the very short while she spent with the people she had grown to love? Roxanne couldn’t think straight anymore.
“Rarhhhh” She raged.
She took hurried steps and slid underneath them as they fired, missing her entirely. Using her hands and legs, she front-flipped, slashing the Hunters closest to her.
“Uaghhh” They let out in pain.
After she had killed more, she leaped back and felt lightheaded. She crumbled on the floor, kneeling weakly. Her body wobbled and she could hardly support her body anymore. Her wolf aspects began to disappear, merging back with her skin as she reverted back to her human form.
“Urrhhhh” She slurred as she began to lose consciousness.
“N-No… Roxanne!” Rita yelled.
The Hunters let out laughs of victory. Yeah, they had finally won.
“Finish her off!” The leader commanded.
Rita watched as they neared her with their guns, trying to stand, but couldn’t. All she could do was watch helplessly as Roxanne was about to be killed off in front of her.
She shut her eyes in despair and hoped, prayed for any rescue. She knew the capable ones had gone away, most likely on an expedition to take care of the hunters, she realised that help was too far away to call… Yet she still hoped for it.
“Please… Anyone, save Roxanne! Save us!” Rita cried.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew, like an answer from the gods of legend. A loud, deafening sound was heard, something strong had made a huge impact on the ground. Rita opened her eyes to see what caused the sound she heard and the strip g breeze she felt.
Her eyes widened as she saw him, clad in all black, his fur darkening the bizarre background of white snow and blood. His low growl made Rita’s heart tremble as she smiled with relief. He was here… Her brother, The Alpha of the Rockwood Pack and Wolf King of the entire Oregon woods. Grand Alpha, Asher!
“Y-You… Came…” Roxanne slurred, drifting to unconsciousness as she saw a blurry image of Asher.
He turned to face her in his baseline state and nodded slightly. It was funny how this same look of his had been a symbol of terror to her in the past, and now it was that of hope and salvation.
“I… I always knew… That you… would come…” Roxanne forced as she lost herself to her weakness.
“Don’t worry, Roxanne. I’m here now… You can rest… I’ll take care of the rest!” He declared with his thick and gruff tone.
She smiled softly and finally passed out
“You did well in holding out for very long, but you can rest too Rita, Dax is on his way, so I don’t want him to see you in a sorry state.”
“A-Asher…” She said, tears falling from her eyes.
“I’ve got this, little sister!” He said calmly.
Rita smiled and relaxed her tense muscles, watching her brother as he took on the rest of the enemies surrounding them. She knew instinctively… They stood no chance!
“Heh, arrogant beast! Everyone, shoot the devil’s mutt down!” The leader ordered.
Asher cracked his neck as they all aimed at him.
“Devil’s mutt uh? How wrong you are… Right now, I’m no mutt… I’m the devil himself!” Asher’s red eyes glowed
Rita knew fully well why Asher would win the fight. Not only did he have peak combat and sensory prowess among the werewolves, but he also had something else, something different.
“Ancient Werewolf Art…”
“Domination!”
“Awooooo!!!!!” Asher howled.
Immediately, every single Hunter trembled in his presence, unable to do much else. Their bodies didn’t listen to them as they froze before him.
They had looks of horror and unspeakable despair as they watched Asher grin widely at them. Some peed their pants as a result of the fear that overwhelmed them
“N-No… Please… Oh, God…. No!!!!”
Asher made short work of them, tearing them limb from limb. Their bones crunched, their necks snapped, their flesh tore, their blood poured, raining down on Asher’s savage form. His eminence overshadowed everything, it was primal, raw… A true monster!
“My, my… Looks like the fun is over! Asher’s here, so everything is a wrap. This is surprising though, to think he made it all the way here from such a distance… Incredible. Asher, you truly are amazing,” Larry muttered as he watched the scenery from afar.
He was sitting on a tree and observed everything that happened from a safe distance. He had a smile on his face as he obviously enjoyed the entertainment the deaths of the Hunters and Werewolves alike provided him.
Suddenly, a sound came from behind him. It sounded like footsteps. Larry smiled since he already knew who it was.
“Y-You… You planned all of this, didn’t you? How could you do something like this? To your kin, how could you…?!”
Camilla looked at Larry with a disdainful expression. Tears were evident in her eyes, for even she could not have imagined such horror to have occurred. She looked at him from the foot of the tree. With hate and spite, she glared.
“Sigh, what’s all the fuss about?” Larry said slowly.
“Just a few of them actually died. We werewolves have an amazing recuperating ability, so unless we are actually stabbed in the heart or beheaded, we won’t die. You should know this, Camilla, ”he added.
“U-Unbelievable… You…” Camilla muttered in shock. Was this even a person?
“Besides, this is merely the first phase. You can’t back out now. We’re already both culprits in this grand scheme.” Larry said, jumping down from the tree branch, landing on the tip of his toes, barely making a sound.
Camilla wanted to protest, but she couldn’t. She merely swallowed her words and looked helpless.
“Good girl. Now then, we better get out of here. It won’t do well for us to be seen together, so I’ll take my leave first.” Larry grinned in amusement.
He walked past her, and after taking a few steps, he paused and turned back to face her.
“Don’t worry Camilla, I’ll definitely make your ambitions a reality… Though after witnessing this, I can’t imagine why you would still want to go for it… Being the wife of such a beast, how scary”
After he was done with his words, Larry left her alone.
She looked devastated and helpless. There was nothing she could do. She had an air of regret over her.
“Father… Is this really… The path I should take?” She muttered.