Chapter 6 – A Painful Memory

2 years ago

"Let's go down to the lake," Enyo suggests. "That training kicked both our asses."

"Dad! We're gonna go down to the lake for a swim. I'll see you later!" I yell to dad, who is training with some young pups.

"Okay, sweet pea, I'll see you for the afternoon run," he yells back.

I run into the tree line and strip down, putting my clothes in the small tool shed we use to store our things when we shift so we don't shred our clothes.

We quickly shift, and I let Enyo take control. She's so graceful, considering her size. We run through the forest at full speed with little effort. Then, in no time at all, we're jumping into the cool water of the lake.

Enyo swims to the edge of the lake, and we shift. I dive back into the water, and I float on my back, enjoying the cool of the water and the sun shining down on us.

"Do you think the training is going okay with the pups?" Enyo asks.

"If dad needed us, he would have said so," I say.

"I know, but he seems to be slowing down a bit."

"I'm sure he's fine. Besides, it's only the pups' training. They just do self-defence stuff. And just think, in two more years, we will be Gamma," I say excitedly.

I close my eyes, enjoying the peacefulness of the forest, when I suddenly hear screams coming from our pack compound.

"What the hell was that?" Enyo says.

Suddenly my father's voice is in my head. "Athena! We're under attack! We need you!"

"Oh my Goddess," I say quietly, unable to move.

"ATHENA! MOVE IT!" Enyo yells.

I quickly swim to the bank of the river, and we shift and run towards the screams. Enyo is on high alert, scanning the woods and trying to focus her hearing on the fight. Adrenaline pushes us faster and harder than we have ever run before. Finally, we come to the clearing near the training grounds, and there are wolves everywhere. I see my father's wolf, Constantine, trying to keep wolves away from the young pups he was training when we left. Enyo runs in his direction and barrels into the side of one of the attacking wolves. She bites the side of the male's neck as we roll, and we land on top of them, gaining us the advantage. She raises her paw and strikes it hard across the wolf's face, cutting him deeply with her claws.

"Enyo! Get these pups into the gym and lock them in there where they'll be safe!" Constantine orders us. Enyo nods her head, and she goes over to the kids who look terrified and are crying.

"Come, young pups. We're going to go inside where it's safe," she mind-links them.

They nod, and we race inside the gym. I shift, and I rush the children inside the back storage room. I kneel in front of them and try to soothe them. "It's okay, guys. You will be safe here. All of our warriors are going to protect you. I promise you." I scruff one of the boy's hair, and I stand. "Someone will come for you soon, okay? Stay together, be as quiet as you can, and stay calm. Can you do that?" I ask them.

They nod, and I give them a smile, then I step out, and I lock the door. I run to the main gym doors and lock them, too. Then we shift back, and we head back out to the fight.

I freeze when we get back outside, as the scene before us is pure chaos. The screams and yelps of humans and wolves being injured fill the air, and blood and bodies are covering over our once green field. The primal sounds of wolves fighting raises the fur on the back of my neck, and I start to panic.

"We can do this, Athena. This is what we have been training for our whole lives. We need to protect our pack!" Enyo's voice awakens me from my trance, and we leap into action. I hand over control to Enyo, who sprints towards a group of our pack members who are surrounded by four wolves. She gets rid of one with ease, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and hurling it into a nearby tree, the loud snap of its spine causing it to yelp. The other three wolves turn their attention to Enyo, who lets out a massive growl as she waits for one of them to make a move. They try to surround her, but she attacks the biggest one and knocks him to the ground before they can. She clamps her jaws around the male's throat and looks at the other two wolves. She growls as a warning and then snaps the male's neck with great force. The other two wolves yelp and flee into the woods.

"There's more coming down from the mountain! We need more warriors here!" Dad's second in command, Alex, mind-links.

"Enyo! Take your squad and go help them!" Constantine commands.

Enyo howls loudly to summon her warrior squad, then dashes toward Alex at the base of Little Wolf Mountain. As she plows through the dense forest, the warriors under Enyos' command catch up with us. Enyo looks to the left and notices Ryna, our best friend, catching up to us in wolf form. His wolf, Alaster, is a lovely shade of grey, and just seeing him makes me feel better.

"What the hell is happening, Athena?" Ryna asks.

"I don't know, Ry. But we need to get to Uncle Alex," I say. Alaster nods, and we keep running.

We arrive at Alex's location 15 minutes later, and it appears to be complete chaos. There are bodies everywhere. Enyo charges straight into the fight and takes down a scraggly looking wolf attacking one of our young warriors. We slam him to the ground, and he hits his head on a rock, killing him instantly.

"Enyo! Ajax is in trouble!" Alaster yells through the mind-link.

I whip my head around and search for Alex's wolf, Ajax, and see him pinned down by a large warrior.

"Oh, Goddess! Ajax!" I yell, and Enyo runs towards them. Ajax yelps as the warrior slashes at his face. Enyo grabs him by the throat and violently pulls him off of Ajax just as the warrior is about to do it again. She then pins him down and rips his throat out before he can make another move.

I hear Ajax whimper on the ground, but his wounds are slowly healing. We walk over and lick his face. "Are you guys okay?" Enyo asks.

"You just saved our lives. We're more than okay," Ajax says and licks our face back.

We look around as the last of the wolves are taken care of, with no more coming down the mountain.

"Is it just me, or did some of these wolves not seem like warriors?" Enyo asks Ajax.

"They were definitely not all warriors. They were un-organized and looked unkempt." Ajax responds.

"Must be a low-ranking pack. But there's definitely a lot of them. So we need to get back to the pack," I say.

#

As we prepare to return our dead and injured to the pack hospital, we hear a piercing howl coming from the direction of home. Suddenly, we're all on our knees, our hearts pounding with anguish. It's then that I realize Alpha Niko has been killed.

We all let out a gut-wrenching howl and rush back home. The loss of our Alpha is excruciating. However, we push through it and return in just 10 minutes. I look around for Constantine but can't find him anywhere.

"Do you see my dad, Ajax?" I ask as I scan the training fields.

"There!" Yells Ajax.

I see Constantine taking down a small wolf across the field, and I sigh with relief that he's okay. But it's short-lived when I hear a loud boom, like a crack of thunder, and I watch as Constantine falls to the ground, shifting as he goes down.

"NO!!" I scream and run to my dad. As I approach him, I shift and kneel beside him. He's back in human form, and he's bleeding from his chest from what appears to be a gunshot wound.

"Daddy! Daddy, what happened?" I ask, tears streaming down my face. "WHY ISN'T HE HEALING?!" I scream at Alex, who has shifted and knelt beside me.

"I think I was shot. What wolves use guns?" My dad says with pain in his voice.

Alex bends down and sniffs the wound, then crinkles his nose. "It's wolfsbane," he says.

My dad starts coughing up blood. "It's stopping me from turning. I can't heal."

I start crying uncontrollably, "Daddy, no! WHERE ARE THE PACK DOCTORS?!" I scream, looking around for help.

"It's too late, Athena. His heartbeat is slowing," Alex says as he puts his hand on my shoulder.

"NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! DO SOMETHING!" I scream at Alex.

Dad lifts his hand and cradles my cheek, "It's okay, Athena. Shhhh, sweet pea, don't cry."

I place my head on his chest and sob, "you can't leave me, daddy. I'm not ready."

"You can be proud of her, my old friend. She saved my life," Alex tells dad.

I lift my head again to look at my dad, and he looks at me with pride. "You can do this, Athena. You have warrior blood in you. I'm so proud of you, my sweet girl."

He coughs and splutters, choking on his own blood. I sob as I watch him gasp for breath when he suddenly stills, and his face relaxes.

"DADDY! NO! PLEASE!! DON'T LEAVE ME!" I scream as I wake up. Tears are streaming down my face as I look around in the dark, confused about where I am.

Then I realize I'm in the room Beta Jason brought me to. I cry, burying my face in the pillow. The nightmare of Dad's death seemed all too real. As though I was reliving it. I search my mind for Enyo, but she has blocked me out. I sob into the pillow until exhaustion sends me back to a fitful sleep.