Intuition

Flint ran into the woods, headed for the missing warriors’ last post. It only took ten minutes for him to catch up with the warriors gathered in the sector. Jay stood in the center with his arms crossed over his chest. He was clearly frustrated.

“Explain.” He growled at one of his men.

Flint was listening to the conversation as he approached.

“There’s no trail, Alpha. It’s like they disappeared.” The warrior answered.

“I know there’s no fucking trail... I’m right here! What I’m asking you is why. There is no way two warriors disappeared without alerting any of you. There were fourteen warriors on this line. Where are they?!” Jay was obviously agitated.

Several warriors stepped forward and began to give their reports. No one had seen anything or heard any footsteps. Flint joined them without interrupting. As the patrol continued talking, an eerie feeling crept over the StarLight Alpha. He listened to the air intently, blocking out the conversation happening around him.

“A noise was checked out at half past midnight but it was just a NorthWood wolf too close to the border. I sent him back. Then silence.” A female warrior stated.

“Next.” Jay turned to the following person.

“Wait.” Flint held up his hand, demanding silence.

Everyone listened intently but all they heard was a gust of wind rattling the leaves overhead. Flint’s gaze turned toward the sky and all those around his followed it with their eyes.

“The trees.” He breathed nearly silently.

“What?” Jay furrowed his brows, examining the large oak tree in front of him.

“That’s why no one saw anything. No footsteps. No signs of a scuffle.” Flint spoke in a quiet, deep tone. “They were pulled right off the ground. The rogues are in the trees.”

“Why would they be climbing trees?” Jay asked curiously.

“You’ll recall the rogue commander that escaped last year before his execution? Well, the trees were his trick. He thought it was clever.” He left out the specifics of Bastian’s case.

“It is.” The other Alpha nodded.

Flint growled in response.

“We can arrange a search of the tree tops.” Jay ignored his peer’s anger. “It’ll only take-”

The sound of a branch creaking overhead caught his attention and he cut himself off.

“Only cowards hide in the shadows.” Flint raised his voice toward the sound.

Silence echoed for a moment and the lack of response lit a fire of frustration in his chest.

“Where are they?!” He roared at the darkest above.

Another creaking and a snap. Then a muffled sound, like someone groaning with their mouth covered.

“We have a message for Flint Dolan.” A female voice called down from behind him.

“I’m right here.” He growled in response.

Another sound. A creak from the left, followed by a rustle to the right. The warriors were all bracing for a fight, surrounding their Alphas. No one knew where the attack would be coming from, but Flint had a feeling it was being delivered on the bodies of the missing.

“I’m right here!” He called out in a louder voice.

The sound of multiple snaps was followed by the sickening sounds of ropes snapping tight and branches bouncing. Flint and Jay both felt it. Their warriors had been killed. The bodies fell from the trees with ropes around their already broken necks.

As if that wasn’t horrifying enough, there were rags stuffed into their mouths. The worst part being that there weren’t just two bodies. There were four dangling from various trees in different directions. Jay and Flint made eye contact for an instant before they both opened their mouths simultaneously.

“Find them!” Both Alpha’s barked in tandem.

Some of the warriors began to climb the trees while others shifted into their wolf forms to try to track the scents carried on the breeze. Eve was upset and she was struggling to contain her strength; Flint could feel it.

He took a deep breath through his nose to calm himself. His own inner beast was snarling for vengeance. He wanted to be set free to seek it for himself. Flint held himself together. If lost control of now, he knew he wouldn’t be able to find the answers he needed.

“Only one is ours.” Jay informed him stiffly while he cut one of the corpses down.

“Us too.” Flint was still focusing on his breathing.

“This one is NorthWood.” He spat the words as he again cut down another body.

Flint’s eyes widened in realization. The last hanging body fell to the ground, but even that couldn’t distract him from his thoughts.

He took one of each of us! The Alpha wolf growled.

More than that. He said the message was for us. He’s trying to turn the packs against StarLight. They’ll blame us for this. It was our enemy that killed their people. Flint answered back in an angry tone.

Let us out! We have to tear him apart! The animal was furious as thrashed around in Flint’s mind.

Not now! We have to find the messengers! He retorted as he ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back.

This is Bastian’s work. We need to get little thing. Get her now! The beast snarled.

Duncan got Flint’s attention as he walked into the area. He took a moment to absorb the scene before looking to his Alpha.

“The event square is secure. The Alphas are with Luna Eve at The Gates hotel. Elder Joshua was going there when I finished up.” He stated.

Flint nodded just before a warrior jumped down from a tree.

“No sign, Alpha. The higher winds-”

“Keep searching.” Jay ordered.

Flint took a slow breath before looking back at the commander. Duncan was bruised but he had healed enough to fight if he needed to.

“I have to address the other Alphas. Keep searching until you find something to follow. Anything. Understood?” His voice was strained from holding back his inner animal.

“Yes, Alpha.” He nodded.

Flint didn’t wait to hear what Jay had to say. He couldn’t. He burst into his wolf form and ran toward the hotel with shreds of fabric still wrapped around him. Eve was panicking and he wanted to reach her as fast as possible.

On the trip, his mind was racing. He had to convince Daniel to attend the Call in the first place and he insured the territory was safe. Now, he had not only been proved wrong. Flint had also been the direct cause of a warrior’s death. A civil war on the mountain could very well have begun brewing that night.

On top of that; if SilverCrest blamed Flint for the death of their warrior, he knew the elders would never give him the other half of the legend. Bastian’s ‘message’ could mean the deaths of Eve and the pup growing inside her. The mere thought of Bastian putting his family in danger made Flint ravenous.