Escaping Wildfire

Gema

It had been a week since we’d gone to Harvest Moon, and things hadn’t been the same since then. Noah and I were great and still talked daily, but our Alpha family was hurting. That night of the bonfire, Noah and Cristian had come up and filled me, Jasmine, and Luna in on what happened with Jordan.

Jasmine had been angry with her brother but had put her feelings aside to support Jordan. She’d even been calling him every day to check on him and hadn’t teased him the whole week, which was unlike their usually playful sibling relationship.

I wanted to get Jasmine out of her head for a bit, so I begged my mom to let me drive us out for a spa day. She had denied me twice already when Mara, one of our female warriors, overheard me begging my mom in the dining hall and offered to drive us into the city.

By some miracle, my mom agreed to it, and now Jasmine and I were on our way into town with Mara. Jasmine looked happier today than she had all week, so I hoped this helped her get out of her head for at least today.

Noah

Jordan had been channeling all of his hurt and frustration into training this past week. I can’t even count how many times he knocked me and Cristian on our asses while sparring. We are usually pretty evenly matched, but Neo’s been on fire, putting his heartbreak to good use. Jordan said Aaliyah’s wolf was not on board with her rejecting him and Neo, so Neo went into a rage from being kept from her wolf.

We had talked about what happened at the bonfire the Sunday his parents went back home, but Jordan had refused to talk about it since. Other than his improved fighting, it was like it had never happened.

We’d made it through our third week here, which meant we were halfway through with the training program. I could already feel that I’d gotten stronger while here, and my tracking skills had improved tremendously while working with some of the trackers here.

We usually don’t have a supervision meeting with Alpha Kedrick on Saturdays, but he would be heading out for council training early tomorrow and would be gone for a few days, so he wanted to check in with us before he left. He’d usually start by going around and telling us what we did well and where we could improve for the following day, and it was no different today. He was going over Cristian's work with the virtual surveillance when I suddenly had a feeling of dread wash over me. Cosmo whined in my head but said nothing. I felt like a heavy weight had fallen on my shoulders. All of a sudden, Jordan slumped over and clutched his heart as if in pain, inhaling sharply.

Alpha Kedrick stopped talking and looked at Jordan. “Jordan? What’s wrong? Tell me what you’re feeling, is it just pain?”

Jordan had a hard time taking in another breath and he clutched at his chest. “No, it feels like a giant weight on my chest…and my heart, it feels like something snapped …like something’s missing.”

“I feel the weight, too.” Cristian and I said in unison.

“Alright, boys.” Alpha Kedrick swiped at his face. “Jordan, I’m going to need you to dial your dad’s number. I hate to say this, but if the three of you are feeling something’s wrong, then there might be something wrong with your pack. You’ll need to call your parents.”

Jordan pulled out his phone to call his parents. A feeling of unease settled over the room.

“My dad’s not answering. I’ll try my mom.” He dialed her number with no response and shook his head as he hung up. Jordan looked pale and was clearly still in pain.

Alpha Kedrick picked up his office phone. “Let me try the main packhouse line on my phone.” He dialed but the phone just kept ringing with no response.

Cristian and I pulled out our phones and dialed our parents with no response from them either.

We fell into silence as we all realized something was very wrong back home.

“Try your sisters.” Alpha Kedrick suggested.

Cristian called Gem with no luck, but Jordan tried Jasmine, and we heard her voice on the other end of the line. Jordan put the call on speaker for us to hear.

“Jasmine! Thank Goddess. Where are you?”

“Gema and I went for a spa day in the city. We’re on our way home right now, nearly to the border. Why?”

“Is it just the two of you?”

“No, Mara is with us. They let us go with her as our escort.”

“Have you talked to Mom or Dad lately?”

“Not since we left. Why? What’s going on Jordan?” We could hear worry in her voice.

“Look, Jas, don’t panic but we’ve been trying to get ahold of Mom and Dad and the Betas and Gammas too, but no one’s answering…not even the pack house phone.”

“What…you think something’s wrong at home? Mara, can you try the mind-link, and see if my parents answer.”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

“Mara says no one’s answering the link…we’re pulling up at the gate now, we can ask the guard if anything’s up.”

“Okay, just stay on the line.” We all took a collective breath as we waited to see what the guard said, but instead, we heard a blood-curdling scream.

“Jasmine!”

“Jordan…it’s Mara.” She cried, “They’ve killed Mara–”

“Give me the phone!” We heard an unknown male voice yell at Jasmine before the line was cut.

Gema

“We’re pulling up at the gate now, we can ask the guard if anything’s up.”

The boys had called us, apparently worried about something at the pack, which made my concerns rise. I dialed my parents while Jasmine was on the phone. The boys were right, no answer.

We pulled up to the gate, and a man I’d never seen before came up to the car. Before we could say anything else, he opened the door and unceremoniously yanked Mara out of the car.

She didn’t even have time to defend herself before he snapped her neck and threw her body to the side. Jasmine screamed as the man got into the car with us. “Give me the phone!” He snatched away Jasmine’s phone, hung up, and threw it out of the window. “We’ve been waiting for you two. Alpha will be glad to know you’re finally here.” He put his seatbelt on and started driving.

Jasmine and I were too scared to say anything. I was pretty sure she was still in shock about seeing this man kill Mara, and I felt the panic start to overtake me. He’d said Alpha, but I was fairly certain I wasn’t going to like whatever Alpha he was referring to. Did Wildfire finally come for us? Could he be talking about Alpha Marek?

As we turned the corner towards the pack house, we could see the chaos from far away. Wildfire warriors had some of our pack members on their knees and unconscious, at least I hope they were just unconscious, bodies littered the floor. I recognized some of them as our pack warriors. I looked around to see if I could find Alpha or my parents, but I didn't see them.

The man parked the car, and he roughly pulled me out of the back seat before dragging me to the other side and pulling out Jasmine. I grabbed onto her hand as he pulled us to the front door of the pack house.

There, I finally saw my parents, on their knees on the front porch of the pack house. I looked closer at the scene before me, and my heart broke inside of my chest. Annie, Felix, and Miles were also on their knees beside my mother, but Rodrigo was standing behind them, restrained by two warriors as he struggled to get free.

On the other side of my parents, Jade was sobbing over her father’s lifeless body, blood pooled underneath him. Luna Christina lay beside him, equally still.

“Mommy!” Jasmine yelled beside me and tried to run to her mother, but the man stopped her before she could move.

“Alpha, I have the girls.” A man with blonde hair and steely blue eyes came up to us. He lifted Jasmine’s chin and examined her. “How old are you?” Jasmine stayed silent, so he asked again.” She stared at him coldly through her tears and remained silent. He suddenly reached out and slapped her hard. My father growled and made a move to get up, but a guard pulled him back. “When I ask a question, you answer me. Now let’s try this again. How old are you?”

“I’m 16.” Jasmine spit out.

“On your knees, with the others.” He shoved Jasmine towards her family, and she went over to Jade, wrapping her up in her arms as Jade continued to sob.

He came towards me next. “How old are you?”

“I’m 17.” I kept my head down, not wanting to look up into his cold eyes.

“When do you turn 18?” He lifted my face, gripping my chin tight enough for it to hurt.

“Next month”

“Perfect.” His mouth turned up into a wicked-looking grin. “On your knees, girl.” He shoved me down and gave me another grin.

“Bring the Beta.” He yelled over his shoulder as he walked into the pack house. The guards suddenly pulled my dad to his feet and took him inside.

I shuffled over to my mom, and she grabbed me as soon as I was close enough to her. “Mami, que está pasando?” (Mom, what’s going on?).

“Wildfire. That man is Alpha Marek, and the one who brought you is his Beta. They showed up around dinner time and killed most of our warriors before coming for Alpha and Luna.” Tears trailed down her face as she talked. “We tried to fight, but they injected us all with wolfsbane, not enough to really hurt us, but just enough so that we can’t shift right now. Rodrigo keeps trying to fight, so they’ve given him extra doses.”

A guard yanked my mother back by her hair, “You two, keep quiet over here. And someone shut that little girl up, I’m tired of her wailing.” He motioned at Jade.

“Hey, let go of her. Don’t mess with these two.” The Beta came and stood in front of me and my mom. “Alpha has plans for them.” He licked his licks lasciviously before giving us a smirk, and my stomach turned at his implication.

A few more minutes passed before Alpha Marek stepped out with my father walking behind him, no longer restrained by the guards.

“Alright, let’s pack it up.” He motioned towards us. “Put them in a car, they’re all coming with us. Be extra gentle with this one though, I need her to stay pretty.” He pointed my way, and the look he gave me made bile rise in my throat. “Knock the Gamma out, I don’t need him causing me any more trouble.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt anyone!” My father yelled at Alpha Marek.

“I said I wouldn't kill anyone else…not that I wouldn’t hurt anyone.” He punched my father in the gut and shoved him to the ground when he doubled over.

“Beta Griffin, stay back, and make sure this mess gets cleaned up.”

Alpha Marek turned to the small crowd remaining. “Cobalt Falls is under new leadership now. Welcome to the Wildfire pack.”