The men muttered their agreement.
Sam stiffened, “They’re on the move.”
Nafarius shot her a quick look. “How can you tell?”
She looked up at him, a distant look in her eyes. “I can feel their animals and something… else. Not lycan but not human either.” She tilted her head as if listening for something.
“Witches,” Dresden said. “Storm utilizes all manner of supernaturals in his unit.
“Sam, can you keep the lycans from changing and give the pack time to take them down?” Nafarius asked. It would give them a distinct advantage if the enemy was forced to fight in human form.
Sam smiled, it wasn’t a nice smile. “I can do better then that,” she said.
Nafarius didn’t ask what she meant. It was time.
Giving the signal, the men dropped to the ground and started to change. Nafarius was half way through his change when he realized that Sam remained in human form. He knew that she didn’t require the same amount of time as the rest of the pack to complete her shift. Still, he didn’t like her remaining in a human form with the enemy so close at hand.
Sam smiled down at Nafarius as he nuzzled at her hand. She knew what he wanted. “Not yet,” she said and started into the forest.
Nafarius followed her growling low in his throat. His growls turned to gentle nips at her heels as she kept walking and a foreign scent filled the air. Lifting his head, Nafarius turned into the wind, his heart pounding at the scent of gun oil drifting on the breeze.
Sam took another several steps before the first of the lycan stepped out of the trees. A large lion, obviously male with muscles that rippled in the sunlight. Sam stopped. He seemed surprised to have found her so easily and still in human form. For a moment he hesitated and it cost him his life.
Sam didn’t think, didn’t need time to gather herself. She simply reached out with her power, grabbed hold of the human that lurked beneath the animal’s surface and pulled.
Nafarius crouched, ready to lung when suddenly the man exploded – from the inside out.
Turning to look he watched as his mate stepped around the man’s remains and moved further into the trees. He watched her go, not believing what his eyes had seen, until the sound of movement off to his left reached him. Turning he went after whatever was out there.
Sam walked through the woods, a strange sense of calm coming over her. She steer clear of the humans. She had no idea if her abilities would work on something like a witch. She would leave those men to the rest of the pack. She sensed three other lycan moving through the forest. All of them headed towards her pack, towards her young.
The sounds of fighting filtered through the forest. Animal growls mixed with human screams and gun fire. Despite their greater numbers she had no doubt that there would be casualties on both sides. Lycan couldn’t survive a bullet wound to a vital organ.
“Stop!”
Sam turned at the order and found herself face to face with the barrel of a gun. An automatic, if she had to guess though she knew very little about guns. A quick check told her that the man was human. She hadn’t sensed him, he approached from down wind and the noise of nearby fighting covering the sounds of his movements.
Realizing that she had only one option, Sam shifted, hissing as pain sliced through her right flank. Not bothering to stop and check, Sam, now in panther form, launch herself at the soldier taking him down between her paws and tearing out his throat before they hit the forest floor.
Sam left the soldier lying on the ground and slipped in between the trees. Shifting from panther to wolf, she sensed the pack moving up ahead and hurried to join them. By the time she’d caught up with them Nafarius, Roland, Dresden and the men of the pack had located Storm and had him surrounded.
Sam stepped into a small clearing that had obviously been used as a makeshift base. A tent had been set up along with a folding table and several open crates that once held weapons. From her view point Sam could see a map of the surrounding area. Several sections were marked off, each one corresponding to a known pack territory. Realizing that Storm knew more then they had thought, Sam growled and stepped forward.
Storm stood surrounded, he counted seven wolves and one panther. Turning, he addressed the panther. “Hello Dresden, I wondered where you had gotten yourself off to. It appears you’ve made some new friends.” Storm smirked with a confidence that seemed strangely out of place given his current situation. “Do they have any idea who you really are? Where you come from?”
Dresden’s hiss turned into a growl of warning as he took a step forward.
Nafarius growled, effectively ordering Dresden back into his place. He was tempted to draw this out, to take his time tearing into the man that had threatened his mate and young and effectively held his pack immobile for so long. But that wasn’t why he held the pack back. They were waiting for something, for someone.
Sam slipped in between Roland and Nafarius and stared at Storm. The old soldier stood, his uniform tattered and blood dripping from his hand. Sam suspected the wound was inflicted in a struggle for the man’s weapon.
Storm caught sight of the newest wolf and smiled. “Samantha,” he said in satisfaction. The man still believed that he would walk out of here. “So nice of you to join us.”
Nafarius nuzzled his mate in greeting. Earlier she’d asked if at all possible for these few moments.
Storm stared in wonder as Sam shifted from wolf to woman. He had several lycan in his unit and had studied them for years but never had he seen anything like it. “You’re even more powerful then I had imagined,” he whispered in awe.
Sam stepped forward stopping only when Nafarius growled in warning. He would allow her these few minutes but wouldn’t see her closer to their enemy the necessary. Sam rested her hand on the top of Nafarius’ head and considered the man before him. “I find myself curious, just what did you think would happen when you came here?” she asked.