Cry Wolf

Chapter 7

It had grown dark and both the first and second moons had risen by the time they felt confident none of the soldiers had followed them. Hidden in the depths of the forest, they stopped near a rippling stream.

"Let's see what prize Raul would want so badly he'd double the guard to protect it," Rein said, jumping down off the driver's bench and stalking around to the back of the wagon.

Sin and the others gathered around.

Rei untied one side of the rear canvas, while one of Marta's boys freed the other. They lifted the sheet up and over the top, revealing the contents inside.

"Gods of Erantz," Marta whispered.

They stared, all of them frozen in time for several long seconds.

Wide, terrified eyes stared back at them from inside the wagon.

"They're kids," Wen said, breaking the shocked silence.

"Not just normal children. Look at their eyes, they're glowing." Marta breathed.

"Wichlings!" Wen gasped.

As if thinking in tandem, Sin and another one of Marta's gangling boys ran to the rear of the second wagon and untied the flap to reveal more of the wide-eyed, frightened youngsters.

Marta immediately took charge. "Come on out now, darlings. It's okay...no one here will hurt you. Come on now."

There were fourteen in all and, according to Marta, who'd gotten a few of them to talk, they ranged in age from four to nine years of age.

Rei, Sin, and Jax stood off to one side in quiet conversation as Marta and her sons soothed the scared children and tried to find out where they'd come from.

"There haven't been that many witch children in one place since before the Great War," Jax said, referring to Raul's quick, deadly war against the human the century before.

"What in the name of all the gods was Raul doing with them?" Sin asked, his thoughts reeling with how The Clan Leader treated human children. He could barely stand to imagine what sort of lives these witchlings had lived or had been about to face.

"I don't know." Rein looked troubled. "But he transported them across the Great Plain. That's ten days hard ride on a horse, and longer in a wagon. There are very few Witches left in the outer realms. To have this many children all in one place..."

"You know what he did to our children before." Jax's voice was low and angry.

Sin knew he'd be showing his ignorance and would, no doubt, only cause a resurgence of Jax's enmity toward him, but he had to ask. "What did he do before?"

"What do you care, huh? You're just an ignorant country bumpkin!! Everyone knew how the Great Clan Leader of Wolfkin sent assassins after our people. Why you don't know even that?! It just clearly shows how naive and truly ignorant you are! You have no place here, no right to be here, no right to ask questions!"

"Jax!" Rein's tone carried firm authority. With his square jaw clenched tight and his eyes flashing silver fire, he was every inch the leader. "That's enough. An attitude like that is exactly why some Paranormals see us as reckless and impulsive. I told you earlier...no problems. I meant it."

Sin wondered what kind of conversation the two had had earlier and if his name had come up. After Jax's reaction to him at the tent when they first met this morning, he didn't doubt the dark-headed human had given Rein an earful the moment Sin had left.

Jax glared at Rein. Then he turned on his heel and strode off.

Rein watched his back and sighed.

"I'm causing problems between you and your friend."

Rein's attention immediately focused on Sin. His eyes churned with repressed emotion, but Sin couldn't define it. "No. Jax causes his own problems. He was a child when his parents were killed by Raul's assassins. He was hidden in a closet and watched it happen."

Sin winced. He could only imagine the horror. "What did Jax mean about what Raul did to the children before?"

"At the same time all those wolf children were slaughtered and the humans were blamed for it--the impetus for the war against us--we discovered that dozens upon dozens of our own had been slain as well."

"Holy gods," Sin breathed. "Did Raul do it in retaliation for...well..."

"For what the humans had done to the werewolf children?" Rein's lips had thinned and his voice had a brittle edge to it.

"I didn't say that."

"No, but you thought it. Let's get something straight right now...the humans did not kill those human children. It goes against everything we believe in."

Sin placed a hand on Rein's shoulder. The human's body heat radiated up into his hand and arm, leaving him feeling close and connected to him again, as they'd been in the cave last night. He wanted to draw Rein against him and kiss him. But decided this wasn't the time or place. Words would have to suffice. "I believe you."

Rein took a slow, deep breath and finally nodded. "I'm sor--"

"No, don't apologize. We're both acutely aware of Raul's crimes against the innocent. You have every right to defend your people."

The heat of Rein's gaze settled on him, igniting a fire not only in his groin, but in his heart as well.

Rein didn't seem to have any issues with the time and place, since in one swift motion he pulled Sin against him, pressing their full lengths together. Their mouths met in an emotional kiss that left Sin shaking at its intensity.

"You are a man of exceptional quality," Rein whispered.

Guilt hit him hard and with a vengeance. "No," he rasped. "I'm--"

"Yes." Rein kissed his forehead, then held him tighter. "And I don't plan to let you go."

Numb with anguish, Sin leaned into the welcome but bittersweet embrace and tried to soak up as many sensations as he could, memorizing them so he'd be able to keep them in his heart when this beautiful reality ended.

As awareness of their surroundings returned, they separated. But the emotional closeness remained.

"We have to figure out what Raul's doing with these witch children," Sin said, his gaze falling on the poor little tykes seated near the stream. "Where did they come from, and what does he want with them?"

"I can answer at least part of that." Marta joined them, looking like she either wanted to hurt someone or be sick. Or perhaps both.

Rein wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What is it?"

"The children were raised in a house together, brought up from babes. They were cared for by werewolf omegas who fed them, clothed them, but nothing else. The poor darlings..." Marta's voice broke and in the moonlight, Sin saw tears sparkling on her lashes. "They were left on their own to do chores, locked in the house, except for at feeding times. If they didn't complete the chores to the satisfaction of their keepers, they were beaten."

"Where are their parents?" Sin asked, his own chest tightening at what Marta had described.

"They don't know. They've never seen them."

"It almost sounds as if they were bred and raised for a purpose." Heavy lines were furrowed into Rein's forehead.

"But for what? Surely they weren't raised only for Raul to..."

Marta's voice trailed off without speaking the horror aloud, but Sin's mind filled it in... Surely they weren't raised only for Raul to kill them.

"Our priority right now," Rein said, "is getting these kids out of here and safely back to our camp. And we'll have to hide our trail because sooner or later the sorcerer's troops are going to come looking for these wagons. We can't have them following us."

"Perhaps we should split up," Sin suggested. "Give them several paths to follow, then confuse them so they find nothing."

Rein nodded. "Not a bad idea. I know we're all tired. Some of us have had very little sleep, but we can't afford to stop tonight. We have to keep moving. If we move fast, we can be back in camp in five, maybe six hours."

"I'll travel with the country bumpkin," Jax said, appearing out of the shadows and glaring at Sin.

He doesn't trust me, Sin thought.

But Rein overturned Jax's decision. "No, you're both strong fighters. I need you separate to watch over your own group of children."

Rein called Wen over and briefed him on the plan to split up. "Jax, Marta, Sin and I will each take three kids. Wen, you and your brother Jarad will take two. Marta, your two younger boys will travel with you. Everyone will take a different route back to camp. Be careful to cover your tracks or disguise your passage. We can't lead Raul's troops back to our encampment. Let's unharness the horses and let them free. We don't want to make this easy on the soldiers. Questions?"

There were none.

"I don't think I have to say this, but...protect these children as if they were your own."

__________________________