Hated Ties That Bind

Chapter Eight

The group trudged through the closely grown trees, marching toward the distant horizon where the trees thinned, releasing them back into the open fields.

‘Why did you do that?’ Daniel murmured from Riley’s right side.

Riley shrugged, ‘they weren’t Rogue’s, not really, just a family who got handed a crappy deal in life.  They deserved a chance of a pack, I gave them the ability to gain access to our Alpha, it’s now up to Nicholai and Rosalie to convince Isabella that they are worthy of membership to Silver Cross’ he replied.

Daniel smirked, ‘if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were starting to go soft, you have never cared about the fate of Rogues.’

Riley scowled, ‘I still don’t, as a whole, they are the scum of our species, who r*pe, rob and murder law abiding packs, but that family didn’t choose to be Rogue.  Their pack was destroyed, and they ran for their lives, that’s not the same as being kicked out because they were bad wolves.’

Falling silent the pair continued to follow the younger men as they weaved through the trees.  Once out of the gloom of the forest, the group made their way through the open landscape, looking for signs of werewolves. As the sun started to set in front of them, the five men found a sheltered corner, hidden from passers by where they set up camp for the night.

Rummaging through their backpacks, they decided to make do with some of the provisions that they had brought from the pack house.

‘Do you think that they will go to the pack?’ Landen asked between mouthfuls of the chicken salad sandwich in his hands.

‘I hope so’ Daniel replied as he poked a stick into the fire that they sat around, making the flames dance slightly as the twigs shifted.  ‘They were good people, they don’t deserve to be out here.’

The others nodded as Rowan stood abruptly and walked away from the group, settling down a few feet away, his back to the others.

‘What’s bitten him?’ Riley growled in a low voice as he glared at the warrior. The two young men shrugged as Daniel looked over at the ex Rogue in concern.

Settling down in a circle, the men were soon asleep, each taking turns to guard the others for two hours through the night.

The following morning, the group washed up, ate and packed their belongings, preparing to set out on the next leg of their journey.

Striding through the rough terrain, the five men stayed silent, their eyes cutting through the distant bushes for signs of danger.

Dropping back slightly, Rowan fell into step beside Nathaniel who looked over at him from the corner of his eye.

‘We are being watched’ the warrior muttered quietly, his lips barely moving.

‘Are you sure?’ Nathaniel asked as his eyes flicked from left to right, trying to spot any movements.

Nodding imperceptibly Rowan replied, ‘three definitely, possibly a fourth that is still keeping low.’

‘Rogues?’ the future Alpha muttered as he tensed slightly.

Rowan shook his head, ‘trained, I’d guess small pack, I think we’ve stepped into their territory.’

Looking around as he pretended to stretch his neck from side to side, Nathaniel murmured, ‘why haven’t they challenged us?’

The warrior placed his hand over his mouth as if he was coughing, covering his words, ‘they are waiting for back up, and probably holding off to see if we are here to cause trouble or just passing through. We out number them and they can probably sense that we are from a larger pack, they don’t want to bring attention to themselves unless they have too.’

‘If they are a pack, I need to meet them, my mate could be with them’ the young Alpha whispered distractedly.

Contemplating for a moment, Rowan suddenly diverted from their path, cutting through the long grass as the others stared at him in shock.

‘Get back in the group Rowan’ Riley growled loudly.

‘Need a piss Riley, chill the f**k out’ Rowan replied with a shrug as he continued to make his way toward a small corpse of bushes.

Letting out an annoyed snort, the Luna ground to a halt with the others as they waited for the warrior to return.

Disappearing into the bushes, they heard a small scuffle before the ex Rogue stepped back out much further to the right, a sandy haired warrior in front of him as he held a blade to his throat.

‘Call them out’ Rowan growled warningly as he tightened his grip on the man who swallowed with difficulty.

‘We don’t want any trouble’ the warrior mumbled back as his eyes flicked around the stunned faces of Rowan’s companions.

‘You don’t want trouble, but you and your men have been trailing us for the last fifteen minutes’ Rowan replied angrily.

‘How the f**k does he know that?’ Daniel whispered in shock.

Nathaniel shrugged as he grinned, ‘this used to be his world’ he replied, respect in his tone.

‘Call them’ Rowan repeated forcefully.

‘Come out’ the man shouted loudly before three other men stepped out of the bushes and long grass around them, their hands up to show that they were unarmed.

Beckoning them open with the blade still near his captive’s throat, Rowan walked them toward the group of Silver Cross warriors, the three strangers moving cautiously toward them as well.

Pushing the man away from him, Rowan indicated to the ground, ‘sit’ he ordered, the four men obeying immediately.

‘Who are you, and why are you following us?’ Nathaniel asked as everyone sat in a circle, eyeing each other suspiciously.

‘We are warriors from the Green Vine pack’ the sandy haired warrior replied, ‘my name is Tory, this is Hank’ he added nodding to a black haired man who nodded in acknowledgement. ‘Julius and Ivor’ he finished, a short muscular man with a shaved head nodding first, then his comrade, with long strawberry blonde hair that was tied back into a ponytail.

Nathaniel nodded as he introduced each of his own companions in turn, each raising a hand as he said their name.  When he got to Rowan, Tory gave a wry smile, ‘your man here is a good tracker, I didn’t even hear him approach me’ he admitted as he rubbed at his neck.

The Alpha laughed, ‘Rowan is rather skilled, he is an asset to our pack.’

‘This doesn’t explain why you were following us’ Rowan growled in a low tone, his eyes fixed on Tory who shifted uncomfortably.

‘This is our territory; we were watching to see if you were here to cause trouble’ the warrior replied. ‘We don’t have an issue with people walking through our territory, we are only a small pack so we just want to live peacefully, so we don’t engage unless threatened.’

Rowan nodded as he relaxed slightly, the Green Vine pack members relaxing as well as they saw him ease his muscles.

Nathaniel took charge of the conversation again, ‘we are actually looking for small packs that are not well known’ he started carefully, ‘I am the future Alpha of the Silver Cross pack and I am out searching for my Luna’ he said softly.

Tory’s eyebrows lifted at the warrior’s words, ‘you are Silver Cross?’ he asked in surprise, the group nodding in reply.

‘You know of us?’ Daniel asked curiously.

Tory nodded eagerly, ‘we know of Alpha Isabella, our Alpha has never had the privilege of meeting her but news of her leadership skills has reached far within the Werewolf world’ he said.

Riley swelled at the praise for his mate, his guard dropping slightly, Nathaniel gave the man a smile, ‘Isabella is my mother, and we would graciously ask that your Alpha allow us access to your pack so that I can look to see if my mate is within your members’ he requested.

Tory nodded as he scrambled to his feet, ‘it would be an honour gentlemen, please, follow us and we will take you to the pack house.  Our Alpha’s name is Alpha Christof, once we are close enough, I will link to him to ask for an audience for you.’

Standing up, the group started to walk, Julius and Ivor leading the way, Tory walking beside Nathaniel who was flanked protectively by Landen.  Riley and Daniel walked beside Hank whilst Rowan brought up the rear, his eyes flitting over the terrain, on alert.

Looking back at the warrior, Tory grinned, ‘he’s very dedicated to you all isn’t he’ he muttered as he tipped his head back toward the ex Rogue.

Nathaniel nodded, as he glanced back at his brother in law, ’he’s a good guy, just don’t get on his bad side, he doesn’t take kindly to being threatened’ he replied with a chuckle as Tory paled slightly.

‘I don’t intend too’ the Green Vine warrior murmured, ‘he looks like he knows how to handle himself, obviously I would fight to the death for my Alpha, but I have no intention of looking for a fight with that man.’

Walking in amicable silence, the group finally came toward a large farmhouse that faded into the surroundings, small buildings built around it that they assumed housed the pack members.  The whole area gave a feeling of a working farm, going far enough to have horses and livestock held in large paddocks in the grounds.

Noting their surprised looks, Tory chuckled, ‘not what you were expecting from a pack house?’ he asked cheerily.

The Alpha shook his head, trying to cover his shock, ‘I expected most pack houses to be more . . ‘ he started uncertainly.

‘Elaborate? Expensive? Flashy?’ Tory filled in for the young man who laughed weakly as he nodded.  ‘We have barely forty members to our pack, Alpha, and we tend to keep to ourselves, so we grow our own food and keep our own livestock.  We trade with or sell to local villages for the things we need, a few of our members work in some of the shops to earn money as we don’t have huge businesses of our own to fund our lifestyle.’

Nathaniel swallowed as he looked over at the man, ‘I’m sorry, that must be a hard life’ he murmured.

Tory shrugged, his stance easy, ‘it’s actually really nice’ he confided, ‘we work hard for what we have, we don’t take anything for granted and we appreciate the things we have got.  Alpha Christof is all about earning our way, even the children have chores around the farm suited to their age, just because they are seven or eight years old doesn’t mean they cannot feed the chickens or collect the eggs each morning.’

The Alpha muttered his agreement, his respect for this unknown Alpha increasing with each step that they took.  Tory’s eyes suddenly glazed as he halted, the group coming to a halt around him as he silently conversed with someone in his head.  His eyes clearing again, the warrior smiled warmly, ‘the Alpha would be honoured to meet you Alpha Nathaniel. He has asked me to bring you and your friends to his office immediately’ he said as they started to walk again, the farmhouse growing larger in front of them as they closed the distance between themselves and the new mystery pack.