Wanted by the Wolves

J A S O N ′ S P O V :

When I went down to the dungeon, I found the team of wolves standing by the door. “Alpha,” the tallest said, stepping forward.

“What did you find?” I asked, an urgent tone on my voice. Could you really blame me, though? I needed to find this wolf before my pack panicked and the situation got out of hand. It was just a pesky rogue, what more could it do?

“Nothing,” the wolf said, his posture showing just how scared he was. “Absolutely nothing. Not a trace or sign of anything being in here. Other than this.” In his hands, which were wrapped in thick gloves, was a silver collar and muzzle, both coated in wolfs-bane.

“Kara said she removed them to try to help the animal...” I looked down, seeing them perfectly undone. No animal could’ve escaped that. No, she set it free, that much was clear. “I want the names of the wolves that have left this house within the last 24 hours.” I needed to figure out who took Kara here.

Going through a mental checklist, I knew I still had to find the wanted wolf, and who that rogue was. Ugh, so much to do!

I ran around and woke up every warrior I knew of, effectively waking up my father in the process.

“Jason, what’s wrong? Are we under attack?” My father asked sleepy eyed, as he struggled to stay awake at this early hour.

“No, that rogue escaped. I am going to find it if it’s the last thing I do.”

Without waiting for any comment from him, I ran down the stairs to alert more people.

By 9 am the pack was awake as ever. I had been up all night, scouring the pack for any wolf that could’ve been related to the wolf that took Kara or the rogue itself.

“No news, Alpha Jason. No one has been found to have helped the rogue in any way. Whoever did must have hid their tracks exceptionally well.”

I grunted and told him to move on as I kept searching. Coming up empty handed still at twelve, I called my dad in to talk to him.

“Son, you are tearing this pack apart!” My dad entered the room and sat down in the chair across from me. “All the pack activities haven’t been on schedule. Everyone is scared their next door neighbor is the rogue or wolf who attacked that human. I still haven’t heard what completely happened.”

“Dad, I told you. I went down to investigate only to find that there was a human. She said she was dragged here by some wolf, who we are currently looking for. She saw the rogue, and released him so he wouldn’t be hurt because she didn’t know who he was. He attacked her, I have proof of that, and then he escaped.”

“You know our dungeons are on the highest levels of security. It isn’t like anyone can just escape like that. Especially with nothing but the restraints left behind. A sample of blood or a patch of fur should have at least been left. Instead, nothing. Something isn’t adding up.”

“Who could’ve - Martha! She did it!” Now we were getting somewhere. Honestly, I had never thought of her to stoop this low, to the level of helping rogues escape. “I’ll bet she sent Kara here to give the wolf a potion, to get it out, so that.... ugh!” This was where my mind drew a blank.

What did she want with that pesky rogue? A fur coat? Information? Or maybe she was hiding it from us, but why? Was this the long sought after wanted wolf?

“Martha? Son, are you sure? That witch wouldn’t go that far to defy us.”

My mind slowly started putting together the logical reasoning like pieces to a puzzle. “She seemed like she knew the rogue, and could’ve given out a masking potion. That might be why we never caught it. Why no one caught it, for that matter.” It suddenly came to my attention that the wanted wolf has been on the list of wolves for years, yet no one even knows its gender, and its age is a inference. No one had ever caught it because they never even knew what they were looking for.

“Do you think that the rogue is possibly a wanted wolf, and that it could be using whatever Martha is giving it to keep itself hidden?”

“That could be a possibility,” my dad said, stroking his chin like he did when he was deep in thought. “I’ll have the wolves on investigation sniff out for that. A witches trail of magic can sometimes be very faint, but when one is searching for it, it is still detectable.”

I nodded, looking out the window. A mass of wolves ran around, searching left and right, feared looks on their faces. My father must’ve been able to read my expression, because he later spoke.

“Jason, it may seem like you are misusing your power right now. I was the same way. My power was unstable for a small while. That was until I met your mother, my mate. When you find yours, everything will balance out, I promise.”

That would’ve been great advice, had I known who my mate was. “Just another thing on our plate,” Ethan complained, speaking for the first time this morning. He had gone to sleep early on in the investigation, leaving me to only blame myself for the actions I had recently conducted.

“ALPHA’S!” An urgent pack mind-link entered my mind, taking all my undivided attention. “We checked the cells, witches magic is coating it!”

Ethan growled, and my dad and I shared a knowing look.

Martha had just committed treason, and she was going to pay.