Escaping Wildfire

Noah - Age 12 (Flashback)

“Last one down gets dinner duty for the next week!” Cristian yelled out as he cannonballed into the water below.

“Hey, no fair, it’s my first time jumping and you do this all the time!” Gema yelled out to him as he swam up to the surface, and he shrugged back at her not caring.

Jordan quickly jumped down, not wanting to be last, leaving just me and Gema. “Are you scared?”

“A little, but I can do it.” She looked at the water over the edge, and I could sense her nerves.

“What if we go together? That way we can share dinner duty.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Yeah, what are friends for?”

“Come on slow pokes! We’ll be done swimming by the time you two get down here!” Cristian called up.

I looked over at Gema and held out my hand. “Together?” She placed her hand in mine, and I felt a small tingle at her touch. I’d never held a girl’s hand before, but her hand felt nice in mine, and it made me feel happy. “Ready? On three.” She nodded, and I counted. “One…two…three.”

We flew through the air and as we hit the water, we continued to hold hands as we swam back up. We broke the surface, and for a moment, Gema hung on to me as she got used to the cold.

“That was so much fun, I want to do it again!” She smiled up at me, and I couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked. I’ve always thought Gema was prettier than the other girls in the pack, but this was a whole different thought process. I was suddenly very aware of how close we were to each other, close enough that I could smell the watermelon chapstick she was wearing. I think I liked being this close to her, and I wanted to stay with her, but instead, I swam over to where the other guys were. Jordan narrowed his eyes at me as I got to him.

“What?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“What do you mean what?” He splashed water my way. “You’re being weird with Gema.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Whatever…guess you two get dinner duty for the rest of the week. Have fun washing dishes together.”

Cristian laughed as he swam up to us and splashed us, causing a splash fight to start between the three of us.

Gema stayed on the other side of the river, floating on her back. Every so often I would peek over at her to see what she was doing.

“Stop staring.”

“I’m not staring,” I called out getting frustrated, but Jordan just shoved my arm and laughed.

Gema popped back up and waved and smiled as she saw me looking over at her.

“You were totally staring.”

I turned my back on Gema so that Jordan would stop teasing, but it only made me painfully aware that all I wanted to do was turn around and keep looking at Gema.

“Hey, let’s go to the cave.” The cave was a small cave on the other side of the waterfall that we sometimes went to. We had found some neat crystals and fossils there over the years. “You two go, I’ll stay and make sure Gem is okay.”

“Cool, thanks for watching out for my little sis. We’ll bring back anything cool we find.” Cristian called from the river bank as Jordan laughed and shook his head at me.

I swam over to Gema who had gone back to floating and poked her stomach. She tensed and caught herself before she fell back. “The guys went to the cave.”

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

“I wanted to stay with you.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed and I couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked.

“You want to go up and jump again.”

“Yeah, let’s go!” Her eyes lit up as she swam to the edge of the water. “Come on!” She waved me over as she continued up the path.

“You want to go on your own this time or together again?”

She smiled at me before holding out her hand to me. “Together.”

“Together then.” I smiled back at her and squeezed her hand as we counted off together and jumped into the water.

Noah - Present day

I gasped as I woke up to the feeling of falling. It was a dream. I was dreaming of me and Gema as kids. I still remember that day clearly, as it was the first time I realized my feelings for Gema were more than just friendship.

I thought back to all the times we had swam together at the waterfall. That may have been the first time I noticed Gema, but it certainly wasn’t the last. I’d had to hide my massive boner the first time she showed up in a bikini. Fuck, I missed Gema, so much.

I laid back down and stared up at the ceiling. I never got to take Gema to the cave. Over the years, the cave had turned into our special spot. We had dragged over an old mattress and a folding table and chairs. It was the place me and the guys swore our loyalty to each other as friends and ranked heirs of Cobalt Falls, it was the first place me and the boys got drunk, and it was where Cristian lost his virginity to his first girlfriend. I never got to take Gem there as something more than a friend. I felt stupid being sad about that out of everything that had happened, it was just a cave, and Gema deserved better than a cave and a musty old mattress, but it was also home. We had to get Cobalt Falls back.

My alarm started buzzing just as my eyes were starting to close again. I cursed the alarm as I hadn’t been sleeping well, but I got up anyway. The sooner I got up, the sooner we could see Alpha Kedrick about a plan.

The other guys seemed to have the same idea as we all exited our rooms at the same time. “To Alphas office?” Jordan asked.

“Let’s go.”

As we neared the Alpha’s office we heard a deep voice behind us.

“Good morning, guys. Looks like you all beat me to my own office. I’m sure none of you had breakfast, so I’ll have them send something up, and we’ll talk as we eat.

We all walked in after Alpha and settled into our usual seats.

"Beta Gabriel and Gamma Isaiah are on their way, so we’ll wait for them before getting started."

“Have you heard anything from Alpha Tate?” Jordan asked.

“We talked on the phone yesterday, but he hasn’t gotten an opportunity to do any more scouting at Cobalt Falls. He said he’ll keep trying, but he also said that Alpha Keenan had been by a few days after our meeting and voiced his opinion on the Wildfire matter again...Alpha Keenan said that he might have to rethink his retirement if Alpha Tate continued helping.”

“He’s already been voted in, he can’t do that, can he?”

“Honestly, I don’t know, it’s never been done, but that doesn’t mean it’s not allowed.”

Cristian clenched his fist, and I saw Ax flash in his eyes. Cristian had been good about keeping Ax in check these last few weeks, but I could tell he was nearing his limits. We all were.

The Beta and Gamma walked in followed by some pack members with breakfast, and the six of us sat down to eat and talk.

“The bears and foxes are definitely out then?” Beta Gabriel asked.

“Yes, I called each Council Alpha up individually to get their thoughts, and I even spoke to a few of the non-Council alphas. No one will help.”

“Bastards. What about the wolf packs?” Gamma Isaiah spoke up.

“The Council wolf Alphas have all agreed to ally and will help call other packs to see where they stand. There are a few smaller packs Alpha Jackson said are interested in teaming up as they are the most likely to be attacked next, but they have asked the larger packs for help training their warriors.”

“I’d be up for that.” Gamma Isaiah said. “I’ll look at my schedule and see what I can do.”

“Thanks, man.” Alpha Kedrick nodded.

“Will that be enough? With just the wolf packs?” I spoke up.

“It hasn’t been enough in the past, but we’ve also never had this many packs agree to work together before, so maybe.”

“But some of these packs can’t even fight? How long will it take to even get their people trained up?” Cristian’s words were laced with frustration.

“I have considered that especially as Wildfire’s warriors are top-notch. Combat is their entire focus, and their ruthlessness is unmatched.”

“So, we’re just going to go into this and hope we don’t all get massacred?" Jordan scoffed. “I already lost half of my family, might as well give up on the rest of them, right? It’s not like I have a mate to build up my pack with anyway.” Jordan threw his napkin on his plate, seemingly no longer hungry.

“Look guys, I know I told you I’d help come up with something. Gabriel, Isaiah, and I have been bouncing ideas around, and I think we’ve come up with something that may work. Also, our sister Aaliyah should be here tomorrow, and she’s great with both people and strategy, so I’m certain she’ll help us come up with something. Ellis has also already agreed to help with the extra training, so hope is not lost yet.”

“Your sister…that’s just great,” Jordan mumbled to himself, but I was sitting right next to him, so I heard. I nodded at him discreetly, but he just shook his head.

“What have you come up with?” I asked hoping to sound positive as Jordan and Cristian seemed to have given in to their skepticism.

“We’ll, we’ve contacted pretty much every bear, fox, and wolf pack in the area, but there is one avenue we haven’t exhausted yet.

“Please don’t say hunters.” Cristian swiped his hand over his face.

Beta Gabriel chuckled before the Alpha looked his way annoyed, effectively silencing him.

“No, not hunters.” Alpha leaned back in his chair, pausing for emphasis. “The cats.”

The three of us looked at the Alpha with our mouths agape. “The cats?” Jordan spoke up first.

“Yes, the cats.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No, I'm not. They’ve never wanted to be a part of the Council, but that’s because they don’t have packs. We looked at our territory maps, and a lot of the land Wildfire has destroyed and taken over is close to a few different cat territories. If I’m right, then some of their land has been destroyed in some of Alpha Marek’s massacres. The cats might just have a dog in this fight and be willing to help us…no pun intended.”

“That’s…” Jordan covered his mouth but nodded his head lost in thought.

“That just might work.” I looked over at the guys who looked back at me and we all nodded.

“Have you contacted them yet?”

“No, I don't have a contact, but I have my tech team locating a number for one of their leaders.”

“They have a leader? I thought you said they don’t have packs?” Cristian asked.

“No packs, but they still have a few leaders they go to for help settling disputes when necessary.”

“How many cats are there in the area?” I asked.

“Their numbers are small, but Wildfire won’t be expecting them. We’ll have the element of surprise on our side.”

“This just might work.” Cristian chuckled.

“Yeah…” Jordan smiled for the first time in days, and he raised his cup of coffee. “To the cats then.”

Cristian and I followed suit raising our cups together before the three others raised theirs “To the cats!” We clinked our cups and drank. All feeling a little more hopeful than before.