One of Runts

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Plan

        "We're working in the west sector of the kingdom, as are five other groups," Azrael starts, speeding to a trot. My hind leg is held up from the pain it causes if I try to walk on it. One of the she-wolves, the shorter one, Raven, re-bandaged my leg before she shifted.

        I'm closer to the center of the squadron, and from what I can see, there is no pattern as to how they run. There are a few wolves a few feet from the group, and Azrael is obviously at the front.

        Conner is lagging behind, despite the fact that we're only going at a trot. How did he get into the top squadron if his stamina is cut? I ignore the thought for now, though I know something's up. There is no way he could have made it to this squadron fairly.

        "We'll be traveling in the colder section," he states.

        "So that's north-west," Tryn, the shorter red-brown wolf, cuts in. Azrael doesn't seem to mind the fact that he cut in.

        "That's correct. Squadron Four will be in that area as well. Squadrons Two and Five will be in the center section, while Squadrons Three and Six will be in the lower area. Squadrons Seven and Eight are in the North, Nine through Twelve in the south, Thirteen through Sixteen in the east, and Seventeen's on the island."

        I nod my head absentmindedly as I take in the information. I'll never know if I'll need the information at one point. I hide a yelp as I jump over a small branch and hit my leg off of it. I stumble slightly before my trot turns smooth.

        "You okay, Ever?" Azrael asks me, slowing down slightly to run beside me. I pant lightly to let the rest of the pain fade.

        "I'm good," I tell him, speeding up my pace a bit to make him run faster. He runs ahead slightly and takes a small glance at me before returning to the front of the Squadron. I see a few of the squadron members take a few curious glances between us two.

        A gray and white wolf, who I easily identify as Conan, speeds up slightly to trot closer to me. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you hurt your leg?" he asks me, tilting his head in curiosity.

        I pin my ears back at the reminder of Kace, though I do answer. "It was actually yesterday during my hunting test. As you can tell, I'm in heat," he looks away slightly, uncomfortable. "I had easily tracked down and got the wolf I was hunting, though it turns out he didn't have any ideas of letting me go.

        "We tumbled around a bit, and in the process, he fractured one of my ribs and sliced open my leg. Don't worry, though. I got a few bites in." Conan's lips curl up and he bares his teeth. I see a lot of the others do so, having listened in, and Azrael snarls slightly.

        "Who did you hunt down?" the blonde wolf, Seth, asks me. I don't get a chance to answer as Azrael snarls.

        "Kace Sentry." He's baring his teeth and my ears stand tall in surprise.

        "You two are related?" I ask him, obvious surprise in my tone. I can feel Azrael's contempt at the fact as he shares his emotions through wolf-bond. You can't share emotions through mind-link.

        "He's my aunt's son. He took our last name." I twist my ear to the side. I didn't know Azrael has a blood-related aunt.

        "That wolf has some nerve," I hear Sybil, the white-blonde wolf to my left, state. "He always breaks the rules and never gets in trouble."

         "Well, he sure as hell spent the night in the dungeons for trying to force himself on Ever," Azrael snarls out. I cock my head to the side.

        "That's a pretty mild punishment," I tell him, trotting a little quicker. Raven moves a little closer to my left, an ear tilted to the side.

        "What would your pack have done?" she asks me, her voice full of curiosity. My lip curls up slightly at the thought of it.

        "He would have not only got fifty lashes in front of the whole pack, but he would have been forced to be tied to a pole for a week in wolf form. Afterward, he would have a month of Omega duties.

        "My pack doesn't play around with such things," I tell them, my voice harsh and full of malice. A few of the wolves take a few surprised glances at me.

         "That's... harsh for an attempt," Raven says softly.

        "It may be harsh but it sets an example," Conner says coldly. Someone had attempted to rape his sister and he was the one to perform the lashes. That was years ago, however, around seven, before she left the pack with her mate. "Trust me," he says. "Had he been in our pack and had actually raped Ever, he would most likely be dead."

         I pin my ears back at the thought of someone actually forcing themselves onto me. "Had he done that," Azrael says, his voice trembling with anger. "He would have his throat torn out. And I would have been the one to do so." I see all of Azrael's squadron, aside from me and Conner, give him wide-eyed looks. I can feel some of their emotions and a lot of them hold knowing and surprise.

        I cock my head to the side at the emotions, but the wolf-bond is closed before I can sift through it more.

        "Getting back on track," Azrael says, shaking his fur out for a second. "We're going to be in the denser part of the forest near the coast-line. Which means it'll be harder to track. Good thing we have a few good trackers here." My ears turn pink as I know he's mainly talking about me.

        There's also the fact that he looked at me as he said it.

        "The reason we're searching this area is because there are barely any packs there and the King thinks this is where the rogue is hiding his base of operations. It'll take us around a week to travel there. We'll have a day to rest up before setting up camp. That'll be our base of operations. We've got four warrior wolves with basic tracking skills and four trackers with average fighting skills."

        "I'm a warrior," Seth cuts in. "So are you, Azrael. Sibyl and Conan are our other two warriors."

        "I was getting to that," Azrael states, growling in annoyance. "That leaves Tryn, Raven, Conner, and Ever as our trackers." We all nod at him.

        "We'll most likely form four different groups and check a section of our sector. That means that there will be pairs. Two pairs will be tracking near the coast, while the other two will be in the forest. Our camp will be at the center.

        "We'll all try to search a small part of the section each day before returning to camp before night. We'll all do daily reports and if a group senses something, you'll report first. We'll check it once we wake up.

        "If you end up spotting a group of rogue wolves, don't approach them. Mind-link and wait for at least one other pair to meet up with you. However, if it is a single wolf and you don't sense anyone else nearby, take them as a prisoner for questioning.

        "Do you all understand me?" Azrael asks, his voice stern. "Under no circumstance are you to attack a wolf unless they attack you." We all nod at him, each of us giving a verbal reply.

        "I understand."

        "Gotcha."

        "All clear."

         Azrael nods his head at us. "Good."

Author's Note:

Check out the picture in the last chapter! And comment. It helps keep the inspiration. :3