And Then The River Went Dry (Wolf Creed Pack, 1)

Max had just gotten word from Cypher that he had successfully infiltrated the purist pack when he felt his mate wolf reach out to him in fear. As soon as Max got the mind link from the enforcers about an S.O.S. situation, he jumped out his office window, howling at the sky. His enforcers and some of the other pack members answered his cries as he tore the clothing from his body and shifted on the run. Miles came out of nowhere in his wolf form running straight toward the two loud explosions he heard. His wolf was on the verge of madness, no doubt preparing for a killing if anything happened to his mate. Shifters, not only wolves who came from all directions, headed straight to the scene to protect what was theirs. How dare they attack their women on their lands! It was blatantly disrespectful! And a challenge to the death! The cowards didn't even have the decency to make themselves known so that he could challenge them formally. He just got his mate and it felt like he was losing her. Once he got a hold of who was behind this he was going to unleash on them, after all, it was his right now, for they not only endangered his mate but killed his people and came on his territory unannounced. That was a challenge if he ever saw one and he was going to coat the lands in their blood. He tried reaching out to his mate since the enforcers' mind link but came up against a blank wall. Panic was starting to grip him but he told his wolf not to worry because his mate could handle herself. He had seen her fight before and she was amazing. He had to believe that she was going to be okay...

Carmeta woke up in the middle of nowhere in a dense thick forest, nothing around her felt or smelt familiar. In fact, she could not smell anything, not even her scent. She felt a euphoric high that was unusual, to say the least, and her wolf was woozy and couldn't think straight. The mumbling of multiple men arguing in the distance caught her attention and she tried her best to sit up but she was restrained by her hands and legs with individual, interlocking, soldered links made from Tungsten. She looked around for Stephanie who too was restrained by nylon ropes at her hands and feet and she was still past out from the gas earlier. Carmeta tested her restraints multiple times but each time they failed then she tried to mind link with Max or anyone from the pack, even her brothers and parents but couldn't.

"I can see that you are awake love." One of the guys said as they all turned to stare at her.

Just then Stephanie came too and when she saw what situation they were in she started to panic. Memories of her past came rushing in and she couldn't stop the terrifying scream that ripped from her throat. Even when the men threatened her she couldn't stop. So one of the men grabbed her by her feet and dragged her across the forest floor. Her head hit the ground with a cracking sound and her screams turned into moans of pain.

"Be careful with her, she's with a child you idiot!" Carmeta shouted.

"Someone had the stomach to lay with a human and impregnate it. This is what is wrong with our kind, we are corrupting the gene pool with these weak species. The moon goddess was the worst thing that happened to shifters. We are becoming weak!" He ranted and kicked Stephanie over and over in her stomach.

She tried her best to protect her unborn as much as her restraints would allow and Carmeta fought tirelessly against her restraints cussing and spewing words of hatred against the group. They all laughed and watched in amusement as the two women struggled against their restraints. Stephanie cried out in agony as blood came pooling from her vagina. She continued to contort in pain as one of the men dragged her by her hair and dragged her into a sitting position.

"Shut the fuck up you bitch" he said and punched her in her face, the crunching of her nose could be heard, even without her wolf's hearing.

She kept saying "my baby" over and over, unconcerned about what the men were or will do to her.

"Prepare the altar for sacrifice!"

"What are we going to do with the she-wolf?"

"Kill her. She's too much trouble that even with the mors interfectorem dulling her senses, she is still powerful."

Carmeta was in a state of shock as she just stared at the pool of blood coming from Stephanie. Her wolf tried to focus but couldn't, her mind was in turmoil. It felt like her mind was splitting from her wolf's and she felt like she was going insane. She started to fight her restraints just as one of the men dragged Stephanie by her hair towards their "altar" and then used a pocket knife to drain blood from her neck. The first of the chain broke as she felt her wolf slamming itself against her mind to be free. Her protective instincts were now dominating her entire Being and she was becoming feral. She unleashed her full alpha trait to try and protect Stephanie but there was too much of them, she was drugged, exhausted, and restrained. Nevertheless, she felt the bloodline of her father coursing through her veins, the formidable warrior would not allow weaker wolves to dominate her. Everything for Carmeta went red at that moment and she fell into her shift, relinquishing full control to her wolf. All she could remember was their shouts and screams as she broke from the last of her restraints and ripped through flesh and bone. When she finally came too she was in the arms of her mate who was covered in claw marks and dirt. She tried to sit up fast looking around at the carnage of bodies in search of one particular person, Stephanie.

Stephanie lay on the ground with her head in Miles's lap unmoving as if she had succumbed to death. Miles howled to the sky in complete and utter devastation. He had lost his mate. The uncontrollable wolf of his lineage clawed its way through his mind and he had no more fight left in him. He turned his teary eyes to his alpha. His friend, the one who took him in and gave him a place to call home. His eyes blackened, swallowing the last of his humanity with him as he embraced the curse of his bloodline.

"He's going full feral!" Max shouted a warning just as Finn shot Miles with a tranquilizing dart.

"I figured we would need this for the worst-case scenario. Take your mate and go Alpha, we will handle things here" Finn, the reliable, said.

Max looked down at his mate to see that she was in shock and still stared at Stephanie's lifeless body. Just as he was going to comfort her, one of his people mind linked him

"Alpha the crystal pool, it's gone!"

And then the river went dry...