Ursanthropy

Doreen

The purple gas that came out of the vents, had a horrid smell, of which I didn’t want to get close to. But if this was a harmful gas, then why isn’t Dennis in the slightest bit afraid of it? Has he taken precautions to be protected from it? Shit!

A cloud of purple began to dwindle lower, forming a blanket around Jack, at which he inhaled some of it. Immediately he began to shift back, screaming in pain and agony! The pain that he was feeling, wasn’t that of actual physical pain, but something more in the way of getting your soul ripped out! I could feel his agony through our mate bond and tears sprung out of my eyes because of it!

Something was terribly wrong with Jack and I couldn’t bear to see him like this any longer!

Dennis was smiling, laughing even at what was happening to him, which only fuelled the anger in my body more!

I roared a massive roar, shifted on the spot and ran towards him. While taking a deep breath when I was still in the clear air, I jumped into the purple cloud, bit Jack in his leg and dragged him outside of the room. But even though the purple cloud was physically hurting me now, as it burned the fluids in my eyes, and nearly put my own fur on fire, I kept pushing through, to save my mate!

By now, Vic and some of the other warriors had followed me inside, but as soon as they caught the awful smell, they kept their distance in the hallway. But when they saw Jack, they took him from me, to get him away as far as possible. He was still heavily coughing as they helped him stand up, it worried me at first, but when he managed to walk away with them, it gave me the insurance that he was going to be all right.

I stalked my way in front of the ballroom doors, going left and right, focusing on Dennis while I waited for the gas to stop swirling around the room.

“So, you’ve finally managed to shift into your bear?” He asked me but I didn’t respond. “Too bad that it’s of no use now!” He continued and I growled towards his statement. If he thinks that he can get away from me, he is clearly mistaken. He won’t keep his newly acquired title for long!

“The clouds won’t go away within the next hour. Are you going to stand there, waiting, while your own father is outside? Ready to fight against our kind?” Dennis tried to talk his way out of the room, as there was no other way to get past me, besides through the doors that I was stalking now.

And somehow he was right, as I didn’t want to stand here for more than even a single minute, while my father has the ability to run away, capture shifters, or whatever he wanted to try and go for. But apparently Dennis has the ability to not get burned or attacked by the gas himself, so he could just wait inside until I would leave, for him to make an escape.

The sizzling sound of gas pouring out of its containers, was still irritating my ears. And now that the gas was no longer contained in a closed environment, it was pouring out the ballroom, flowing into the hallway and forcing me to go back. The purple waves were slowly filling the halls, pushing me further back and eventually outside of the building, while Dennis was still trapped inside there, yet at the same time being protected from my anger.

But I’m smarter than him… Because it’s still a gas that is surrounding him, and as it causes a burning feeling upon touch, I doubt that it’s a non-toxic gas. So, it’s high likely to be a flammable one…

“Get me something that burns!” I yelled to Vic through the link.

I stepped towards the entrance of the house, keeping my hearing and sight focused on Dennis, while being followed by the purple gas that slowly seeped towards me. Dennis chuckled in the distance, him being fully aware that he had multiple ways to get out of the house now. But I wasn’t going to let him get away that easily!

“STAY INSIDE!” I tried to roar through my Queen’s link, towards Dennis.

As I shifted back, right outside the entrance, I watched as Vic came running in my direction together with something that only the characters in Hollywood films would come up with. I didn’t know where the hell she got this thing from, but I sighed because of the cliché item that she threw at me. I squeezed the handle together, pulled out the pin and threw it inside the packhouse, while now running away as fast as we could.

I could hear Dennis roar in fear, probably while he was shifted into his bear now, but I had no time to check up on him, to see if my command had been enough to keep him truly inside.

“GO!” I roared to Vic, as she was suddenly aware of what I had done. She nearly stumbled over her own feet as she had to turn around, so I took hold of her arm and after only two seconds more, we got blasted forward.

After a few minutes, as the blast of the exploding hand grenade dissipated, a loud ringing sound in my ears blurred every other sound that I wanted to hear right now. Muffled voices were trying to reach me, but I couldn’t detect any familiarity in them yet. The pain on my back was excruciating, yet I have been through rougher pain before, so now is not the right time to complain about it.

“Could you please stop protecting me now?” I heard Vic softly ask me, when the ringing sound had lessened. I tried to wiggle myself from the ground, and opened my eyes softly. Only then did I realise that I had shielded Vic from the blast and that she was laying underneath my body.

“I thought that Jack was going to be the only one that would be laying underneath a naked Queen.” Vic chuckled and I smiled lightly, while cursing inwardly from the stinging pain in my back as I stood up.

“Yeah, well, I thought so too, but I guess that my decorum got lost on the way out.” I matched her sarcasm, while pointing to the rubble behind me, at which she chuckled again.

I looked towards the packhouse that was once so beautifully build by Jack and Vic’s grandparents. But all that there was left, was a bunch of burning wood, that was laying around in a grand circle; a hole in the ground that showed the remains of the brick walls of the cells; some metallic pipes that were sticking out of the ground; and at the front of the house, the brick steps which guided people inside before.

It saddened me that I had to do this, that I had destroyed their pack’s home like this. But it was the only way to get rid of Dennis, without him getting away.

“Is he truly gone?” Vic asked me, and I had no doubt that the radius of this massive explosion obliterated Dennis. I even doubt that we could find some of his remains, as the magnitude of the fire that had erupted, must have evaporated his bones as well. I nodded to Vic, as I was fairly certain that he couldn’t have gotten away. Nor did I see or feel him around here either, so he was really gone and I let out a deep sigh in relief.

Somehow I was sad that he died such an easy death. Somehow I wanted him to feel every fibre in his body start to burn, somehow I wanted him to be tortured for hours, days, or weeks even… But this sudden way of dying had to be enough for now. He was gone, and so were most of our problems.

“How is Jack?” I suddenly asked Vic, as she stood right next to me, looking towards her exploded house.

“Well, someone bit his leg and his ego got crushed, but other than that, he is going to be just fine.” A raw, half coughing, male voice suddenly said while he came closer. I knew exactly who it was so I turned around and embraced his body with all my love.

“My pack house however…” He chuckled, while I pushed his arms away from my back, as it was still stinging. “Sorry, but- “Don’t be, it’s what Dennis deserved.” He interrupted me. “What hurts me more though, is that you had to be the one to save me and kill Dennis as well.” He said with a false pout.

“Well, next time you can be the one to do that, deal?” I chuckled and he nodded.

“Are you really okay? I mean that purple gas really was something awful.” I asked Jack and I could see the hurt in his eyes.

“Yes, I’m alright. It was as if that gas was trying to burn my bear out, but I guess that because the ballroom is- sorry, was – large enough to dilute it, and together with your fast response it didn't damage me beyond repair.”

“So, you can still shift?” I asked him hopefully, never guessing that someone could even come up with something so foul as a gas that can get you rid of your other nature. But now worry laced Jack’s facial features. “You can, right?” I asked him again.

He hesitated for a moment, but then nodded his head. “It might be a little more difficult, but I can feel that I still have that part of me, inside.” He said as he tried to hug me again, at which I hissed.

“Are you alright?” He asked me then, while turning around me, to look at my back. “Shit!” He cursed as he gently touched the skin there, at which I winced.

“Don’t worry Jack, it will heal.” I chuckled. “You look adorable, when you try to take care of me!” I said in a whiny voice, trying to act just like he did, when he had let himself get hit on his jaw.

I got scoffed at, by my comments, but even so, Jack kissed me on the lips.

“Ahem!” Another rather familiar man cleared his throat, which snapped me out of my happy thoughts.

Thoughts of where I had figured that everything was over now, when Dennis had been killed, that everyone was safe, that Jack could claim back his title, that our wounds would have time to heal now…

Well, my idiotic happy thoughts were instantly crushed as I had ‘forgotten’ about another threat. And this threat wasn’t something that we could easily ‘blow up’ or run away from.

I looked around, to see the forest be littered, with on the left a chaotic bunch of people, consisting of Maxwell’s pack warriors, our former pack members, Lunas, Betas, and the strongest Alpha shifters from all across the planet; and on the right, a small, well-orchestrated army of hunters, that were being led by my father.

My father’s hunters were lining up in neat rows, carrying weapons of different sizes; followed by small trucks or buggies that had bigger guns attached on the top; automated rifles were being set up; and I could even hear helicopters coming our way, hovering in the air. And knowing my father, I bet there are even some snipers, hidden in the trees somewhere.

Shit.