Page 7 of Blood Pearl
After giving Raina and Flint a nod, I link Aztec. ‘Are you ready, Aztec?'
I’m ready. We’ll follow Asher for now.
Quickly shifting into Aztec, I settle back, allowing her to take the reins and follow Asher over the border and into no-man’s-land. Our senses are on alert and I’m listening and watching through Aztec’s eyes.
We travel quickly, and as quietly as we can. Stopping when we hear something we are not sure of. Smells are hard to define, as the area has the stink of rogues all over it. Gerry’s wolf Asher is easy to follow, and now and again, I hear him speak to Aztec. He is respectful of my wolf and I’m happy to hear it. My worry was Asher may try to push Aztec around, and that’s something she won’t allow.
Asher, shall we stop and drink? I can smell water somewhere close. Aztec asks.
Yes, but be alert, drink quickly, and we move back to cover. We can rest awhile too.
After Asher and Aztec have had a drink from a stream, we take cover in a cluster of trees and shrubs. Shifting back, I lean against a tree and listen to the sounds of the night. An owl hooting in the distance, bats flying in the night air, and somewhere a howl from a wolf.
“How far do you think we have to travel now?” I ask Gerry, but keep my voice low and my senses alert.
“Two, maybe three hours. We won’t get to see the hostage area until daylight drops again. Finding somewhere to remain during daylight is going to be imperative if we are going to get in and find your pack members.”
“I think we have lost our sense of direction. Meaning myself and Aztec. I’ve been into no-man’s-land in the past, but not this deeply. It has a strange sense about it, don’t you think?”
“Yes. It’s like the place is waiting for something big to happen. I pray the Goddess is with us, and with your pack members. Being a hostage for months is not easy, and if they are held in one place, they may not be eating or exercising which isn’t going to be good for them.” Gerry leans the back of his head against the tree and closes his eyes.
“Don’t worry about that. I know my pack members will do whatever they can to maintain their bodies. They will do any exercise they can to keep up with their fitness, and are ready to take any opportunity to escape,” I sigh, but continue, “my worry is they may keep being punished for trying to escape and for not being compliant. Most of my members have come from situations they will never willingly go back into. They’d rather die than become slaves to anyone’s will.”
“I hope they will be alright Aurora. You know this will all end with a war. We can’t forever ignore what these filthy rogues are doing. They keep messing with Alpha Lyle of the Spirit Walker Pack, and he’s a good Alpha. He’s mild tempered until such a time they push too far, then he’s going to blow and he’ll storm this place and all the packs will have no choice but to follow or we’ll see a pack destroyed.” Gerry opens his eyes as he turns his head to look at me.
“I agree. One of my regrets is I couldn’t help the Blackshadow Pack when I was called. If I had done that, they threatened to kill my pack members. They already had them at that time, and I was being watched by one of them inside my pack. But he tried to rape one of the she-wolves and four pack members ganged up on him and killed him. No way could they keep their wolves under control. It became a killing frenzy. It was at that point that I threw his body over the border with a note pinned to him that if they ever put any of them over my border again, the same thing would happen. I also told them if one of my people were touched because of this rapist, I would stop all food supplies and speak to the council. It had the desired effect, but I still didn’t have my pack members back.”
“Everyone knew something was wrong, but with you closing your borders, we couldn’t find anything. Be very proud of your pack members. Not one of the patrol warriors would say a word about what was happening. Councilman Flint tried many times to get inside your pack to speak to you but had no success. Only one of the council pushed to rush your border and see what was happening.”
“Yeah, and I can guess that was Eve Planter.”
Gerry chuckles, giving me a nod of the head. “Yep, you guessed it.”
“I’ve no idea why she has this hatred for me. I’ve had nothing to do with her. I’m not going to worry about it either. It’s more than obvious to the other council members, and they keep her under control as far as my pack is concerned, so I can live with her dislike.”
Hearing rustling, we slide down and tuck ourselves behind bushes. Thankfully, there is wild mint growing. It is covering our scent and the more movement we make, the more the mint gives off its aroma.
It’s rogues. Stay still and quiet, Aztec links.
The smell hits and I flick my eyes to Gerry, who is tense and I can see he’s ready to shift if needed.
“I’m sick of all this border patrolling. It’s not even our border, let’s be honest. This is no-man’s-land. It belongs to whoever wants to live here. If we hadn’t been banished from our packs, we wouldn’t be living here in the first place.”
The voice gets quieter and quieter as they walk past and away from our position. There is more than the one person but the second one says nothing. It seems not all the rogues are happy about being a rogue, and that could be to our advantage.
The one that spoke was a new rogue. The other one smells bad. Been a rogue for a long time, Aztec informs me.
Gerry taps my arm, gaining my attention. “Let’s move. I think if we follow the stream, we may come across more cover. If we are very lucky, we may even find a tree hollowed out.”
Giving him a nod, I shift as soon as he is standing before me as Asher. Taking off, I remain behind Asher and keep my eye out behind us. Aztec is alert and I’m doing my best to listen for anything untoward.
Thirty minutes later, Aztec follows Asher into a cave. We’d moved away from the stream and toward a small range of mountains. Not quite mountains, I suppose, but large boulders that have created a natural range of rock. Within them Asher has found a cave and stepping inside it’s dry and warm.
Shifting quickly, I look at Gerry, who is checking for any wild animals that may cause us a problem. I see nothing to worry about, but it’s hardly somewhere you would stay unless you were forced.
“Everything seems secure. If we take turns resting, we’ll not get taken by surprise. I’ll take the first shift to watch. Shift to Aztec and you’ll be able to rest easier than in our human form. We need to be rested if we are going to cover the last piece of our journey quickly. We are close to where we need to be, and by the look of the terrain now, we may be lucky to be able to look down on where they are being kept.” Gerry squats near the entrance and I can see he’s using Asher’s senses as his eyes have a glow to them.
“Wake me for my turn, Gerry. I’m a light sleeper, and I don’t sleep many hours, even at my best.” I shift to Aztec and after walking in circles for a moment, she flops down and tucks her nose under her tail, closing her eyes after exhaling a large breath.