Chapter 5

"Non! Non, s'il vous plaît!" Jessica screamed, pleading in French as she struggled against the one that had her in vain. All too quickly, she felt herself get grabbed by a different one and swung into a tree, making her let out a sharp yelp in pain as she came face to face with the blonde, his large hand tightening around her throat, threatening to cut off her air supply completely.

He growled at her, "Who are you, wolf?! Why are you here?!"

Sobbing, Jessica tried desperately to remember her English, "I...I-I'll be leaving soon! I promise! Just please let me go!"

"Answer the questions!" The blonde barked at her.

"Jessica!" She called out, tears flowing thickly down her eyes, "My name is Jessica... I...I didn't know any wolves were here...! I'll be leaving soon...!"

"You trespass on our pack's territory, stay here for a length of time without permission, and expect to just leave?" The brunette asked a growl of anger in his voice with each word.

Jessica whimpered in response.

She was trapped, boxed in by three of them, and one standing behind. What could she do? They were stronger and they were right. She was going to die, and it was all perfectly fine; it was the werewolf law. She closed her eyes as the blonde tightened his hold on her throat.

"Wait," The sound of the voice of the one who she knew had to have led spoke up. They looked at him, moving out of the way as he approached her, though the blonde still had a hold on her throat to keep her in place. His eyes bore into her eyes in silence. She quickly averted them and he tilted his head, "...You're alone, aren't you young one?"

Jessica swallowed again, but nodded, keeping her eyes down. She had no choice but to answer him.

"For how long?" He asked her.

"Four....fourteen years..." She squeaked out.

The other light brown-haired one snorted, making the one talking to her growl at him. He quickly looked down as the one talking to her resumed, "You're rank?"

Renewed tears fell from her eyes. This would set everything in stone now.

"O...Omega."

The brunette couldn't help but laugh now, "An omega? A lone wolf for fourteen years? What a crock of shit—"

"Emanuel!" The one talking to her barked at him and growled, shutting up the brunette, Emanuel, and he lowered his head in submission.

The leader looked back at her, and Jessica could feel his eyes studying her, but she dared not look up.

"...Let go of her neck, Conroy," He spoke to the blonde. Conroy growled in his throat and let her go, allowing her to breathe properly again as she fell to the floor. She grabbed at her neck and flinched at the contact.

It was going to bruise in a few minutes, along with the one on her back. Though she would heal faster than humans, bruises like this would take a few days to do so.

She felt the other dirty blonde grab her arm roughly as the leader turned and headed out of the park, them all following him and dragging her along to stay near their sides without seeming too suspicious in the night.

She held back a stifled whimper as they forced her into a black 2007 F150 Harley Davidson SuperCrew pickup truck with tinted windows. As they got in the car the one holding her pushed her in the center while the leader got in on the other side of the car next to her, locking her between them as Emanuel slid into the passenger seat and Conroy slid into the driver's seat and started the car.

Jessica said nothing in the silence of the driving, but as she was trembling, she knew she needed to ask. "....What...what pack are you from?" She almost whispered. It wouldn't stop them from hearing her anyway, as the leader looked down at her in silence.

"Delaney."

The very moment the word exited his lips, the fear she felt before seemed like nothing compared to the terror she felt coursing through her body and blood now.

"Just....kill me now..." She thought to herself, pure panic running through her thoughts.

She knew of the Delaney pack. What pack in North America—hell—the world, hadn't? She remembered hearing about them back in Ontario. The Delaney pack was by far the most notorious in all of the Northern Hemisphere. It was by no means the biggest territory or numbers-wise, but they were the strongest pack led by an equally ruthless Alpha.

In the past, she had heard that they were an older pack as well, starting somewhere in Russia, Germany, or Ireland; no one really knew, they were so old, but those were the guesses. Jessica heard of the pack wars they've been in. They almost always won, and even when they didn't, it's probably because the Delaney Alpha spared them, or at least figured he didn't want to "play" with them anymore.

Fortunately, they rarely got into any turf wars, for if they had, they could easily have taken over half the nation, or at the very, very least, a few states.

She did a slow glance at the leader from the corner of her eye.

This had to be him.

The Alpha.

His scent radiated of it, his power easily stronger than that of her old Alphas in Quebec. The thought saddened her in her already fear-stained heart.

Why is it that bad Alphas were always stronger than her good ones? Even though she didn't know the outcome of the Revolt in Ontario; she was long gone by then. She looked back down again; her furious heartbeating was an ever-beating reminder of what predicament she was in.

She glanced up again, this time, out the window. A clearing and a Ranger Station were in sight. Where are they going to stop there?

No.

Conroy merely rolled down his window, letting the man at the station see him. Giving him a nod, Conroy rolled up the window and drove passed. Jessica gulped again as they turned off onto a hidden trail. The trail was easily hidden by trees as they went through the mountains before coming up against large fences that seemed to appear from nowhere.

When she looked through either window, she saw the fencing that seemed to camouflage with the sounding trees and wilderness, having no trouble hiding in the snow either. She felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest and leave her as the fences soundlessly opened for the pickup to drive through, and shut tightly behind them.

They were here now.

Her wolf knew it. She knew it. She renewed her trembling with vigor; she didn't think she could cry anymore. It was time to face one of the most basic rules that every lone or rogue wolf must face:

Join the pack or die.

The Delaney Compound.

As they went further in, Jessica saw it, fear never once left her heart, especially as the pickup came to a stop. She was trembling again, her eyes even shook in terror as the two next to her and Emanuel got out of the car, the light brown/dirty blonde grabbing her arm and dragging her out, this time with less care. She squeaked slightly in the pain of her arm, biting her lip to hold in the rest. Though it wasn't going to be ripped from the socket—she hoped—she knew that she was going to have a third bruise to add to her other ones.

"Go park the truck, Conroy," The leader of them told him, who nodded and went to go park it, "Marco, Emanuel, let's go."

They both nodded and followed him into the compound. Jessica struggled to keep up with them, not having many other choices and her arm stung in pain if she didn't.

As they passed the homes—which seemed to make a small town on its own—she smelt and saw other wolves in their human, wolf, and Anthro forms: males, females, and pups alike. They all had eyes on her, each smelling her way, curious of her.