Equals: War And Love

__________________________ . . . Alexandra could hear her own ragged breaths as her eyes fluttered open. She flinched at the sound of the crunching of leaves. Her eyes strained to the source and relief washed over her when she saw that it was nothing but a stag, looking curiously at her. She took in a deep breath, gasping when she felt agonizing pain course through her chest. Some of her ribs were definitely broken and there was no clue to what else damage her organs must have sustained, but at least she was still alive. She looked up at the small waterfall she had jumped from. She had to conjure all her willpower to swim herself to the shore after her chest hit one of the rocks hiding under the otherwise deep water of the river. And then she had collapsed on the bank. Alexandra Black really thought it was over and she would be discovered but it seemed like they hadn't realized she was gone yet, or they had not been able to track her down. She whimpered as she rose to her feet; she had lost one of her shoes as well. With a groan, she willed herself forward, away from her captors and hopefully towards civilization - civilization that would protect her from what she believed to be a dangerous cult. Little did she know that they were werewolves. Rogues at that. And she was still alive only because they indeed hadn't realized she was gone yet. She limped towards the forest, thinking it a better cover. She was surprised when the stag followed her, as if he was making sure that she was okay, seeing as how much she was bleeding, through a gaping wound on her forehead, a throbbing headache screaming for it to be attended to. But Alexandra had no time to stop and wash and clean the wound. 'Better bleed out to death than be slaughtered in some wacky ritual.' She thought to herself. She dragged her feet across the muddy forest floor, her bare foot collecting cuts and wounds from the sharp ends of stones and twigs. Everything hurt but the fighter in her kept going. She was only twenty-one years old. She had to live. She had things to do and a mother to go home to. She was worried about her as well. Alexandra had been abducted what she calculated to be nine days ago. Her mother would have already filed a missing person's report. People might be looking for her. She just needed to get to somebody. She kept going for another one hour before she slumped down on the forest floor. She looked around. Everything seemed the same and she was convinced she was not getting anywhere and was only walking in circles though she did keep her pace in a single direction. She jumped when the stag dipped down in front of her. He was still following her. She thought that whoever said it was right - animals are so much better than people. She looked down at what he had dropped. It was a branch of a bush. He had brought her food. Alexandra felt her eyes water. She couldn't eat the leaves but she was touched. She looked up at the stag and cautiously held her arm out to touch him. He lowered his head again, touching his snout to her outstretched hand. But he suddenly jerked his head up and looked back in the direction they had come. Alexandra looked back too and she could see the rustling of bushes in the distance. She scrambled to her feet and didn't wait to think as she lunged forward, straining her muscles to run as fast as she could. Her whole body screamed in pain and protest. It was agonizing and it just wanted to shut down but the adrenaline kept her awake. She needed to flee. She needed to save her lif- She was hurled to the ground. Before she could even realize what was going on, a wolf the size of a horse brought its jaw down on her. But before it could make the snap, another wolf hurled itself at it. Alexandra could see another wolf make its way toward her in her peripheral vision. But this time, she could not hold on to her consciousness and she slipped away into the darkness, fearing that she wouldn't ever come out of it. . . . "There's a human at the pack border." Beta Gretchen Ethen said as she walked into the Alpha's office where Alpha Calum Reign and Gamma Ron O'Malley were going through the files for the upcoming were-council meeting in Nevada. "Trekker?" Ron asked. "Doesn't look like one. She is heavily injured and she was saved from the jaws of a rogue by Andria Torres and Michael Moore." She informed them and the both were instantly on their feet. There was a rogue in their territory and a human was hurt there. This was going to become a very big issue, one that would have them buried in paperwork and answering all the questions the idiots at the council were going to throw at them over the lapse in the border security. "Oh man, this is going to be the main topic of debate at the council meeting." Ron sighed as they made their way out of the administrative building. Calum nodded. The wolf really wished he could take a break. "Are you guys serious?" Gretchen groaned. "A human is hurt. Very badly hurt. And all you care about is how you are going to deal with the political problems." "Well, it's not like we worrying for her is going to magically heal her, right?" Calum rolled his eyes. "That's our healer dude's deal." Calum was an okay Alpha. He was twenty-seven and did not think he had been ready to take over when his father decided that he had enough of his arrogant and senseless pack members. The West Spring Pack was a flourishing pack with abundance of land and resources but it was one of the oldest and its members equally old-fashioned. They considered themselves superior, blinded their eyes with superstitions and looked down on most other newer packs. Calum's father, Joseph, was from a different pack, the younger brother to the Alpha. His predecessor only had daughters and so when they found out that he was one of the daughters' mates, they had no choice but to make him the Alpha. Not that he wasn't respected. He too was from a very old and huge pack. But they were much more progressive and believed in equality and equity. Joseph tried for years to change his pack members' perspective but to no avail. It didn't help that his own mate, Carla, was one with such mentality. But despite it all, he was able to instil these progressive thoughts in his three sons and when he decided that Calum was ready to take on the responsibility and make the big change, he stepped down. He knew that his son thought that he was not ready yet but every good Alpha thought that. It was the ones so sure who always turned out to be the incompetent ones. "Alright Alpha, go enjoy the hospital visit." Ron waved when they reached the entrance of the pack hospital. Ron had decided that he would be taking a break now. He had walked till this far only because he knew that he would have had to sit and continue with the boring paper work if he had said then that he had no wish to go visit the human. Gretchen looked over at her mate. He really was a pain in the ass. "You know exactly what I will do if you don't quit being an ass and come in with the two of us." She said. Ron gulped. He knew what she was talking about. Their s*x life wasn't exactly vanilla so if he disobeyed, she would bring him to the basement of their house and do things that were better not said out loud. "Fine." He said, his eyes turning a darker shade. Calum rolled his eyes, smelling both their arousal. "You know what, I am giving you both the rest of the day off." He said and walked in to the hospital, hearing "THANK YOU!" from Ron. He could imagine the embarrassment on Gretchen's face. But that's how mates were, weren't they? Not that he would know. He hadn't found his yet. "Was the rogue caught?" He asked his head patroller when he realized that he and his friends were so busy bickering that they had not shared any other information. "She was killed, Alpha." Michael sighed. "She tried to snap Andria's neck so I had no choice." Calum assured him that it was alright and he did the right thing. More than the enemy, it was their own that mattered and he was glad that none of his pack members were hurt. He needed to hold a meeting to find weak points in their boundaries and strengthen security. This should not have happened. He was just glad that the human wasn't dead because then it would have been a completely different situation. He reached the door behind which the human lay. And he felt his wolf grow restless, though he refused to communicate with him. It was like he was in some kind of pain. Something Calum had never felt before in his life. The door opened. He could not take a look at the human because a frame was kept in the way. The nurse was dressing her after the healer did his job. Arnold Martin closed the door behind him and bared his neck to his Alpha, showing his submission. "Is she healed?" The Alpha asked. Arnold sighed and nodded. "She is healing alright. The injuries are serious but not life-threatening." "What do you mean, she is healing?" He asked. His healer was one of the best. She should have been healed by now. "I can't heal her, Alpha." He said. "So we have to wait until she does so naturally." "Why?" Calum asked. He was feeling more restless than ever, his wolf clawing at his insides. "Why can't she be healed?" "They contaminated her entire circulation." He mumbled. "With?" Calum knew the answer but he had to make sure that was the case. "Wolfbane." . . . _________________________