The Tribrid's Return

The Chase

Callan's P.O.V.

I stare at the four of them, while panic makes its way through my body. Athena says that Derek and Trevor had Estelle restrained and were escorting her to the dungeons when Athena left the pack house this morning. If that's true, though, then how did she escape so fast? If she escaped and is free, then that means she can either leave pack territory and go back to The Dark Moon Pack, or sneak back into town and tell everyone about Athena and what she saw her doing, whatever it was that she was doing. Either way, Athena's secret is about to be leaked out and make its way around like wildfire.

"We need to find her. NOW! Make sure that Sean knows, as well!" I order Derek and Trevor, before looking over at Gavin, "You stay here. We need to sit down with Athena right now, so that she can tell us everything we need to know."

"I think that my dirty little secrets can be put on hold until she's located." I hear Athena say with annoyance filling her voice.

I turn to look at her as my face contorts into one of frustration, "I don't think you understand, Athena. If she gets out of pack territory and makes it back to her real pack, we will have an attack coming our way within a few days. The Alpha of The Dark Moon Pack is blood thirsty and greedy, he will do anything and everything to imprison a tribrid and to have you as his own. If she saw you out there doing things that regular werewolves don't do, then she knows and is surely on her way to tell him."

"He's right, Athena. Estelle might not be the strongest in the pack, but she's definitely one of the smartest." I hear Gavin say from beside me.

I turn to look at him and notice that Derek and Trevor have already left, before turning back to Athena, "She's not going to go back into the town square just to spread gossip, that's not like her. She's going to do what's in her best interest, which means going back to The Dark Moon Pack and report to her Alpha, even if she didn't follow through with his original plan."

Athena nods her head at me, "Do you trust me?" she asks me as she crosses her arms over her chest confidently.

I scoff at her, "Well, of course. If I didn't, do you think I would have you living in my home? Do you think I would be doing everything in my power to protect you?"

Athena nods her head at me, before she opens her bag and pulls out some white crystals that are shining brightly, "I can locate her. I just need you to try and keep up with me and let me do what I need to do." she says as she tightly clenches onto the crystals, before their light suddenly absorbs into her hands and up her arms.

I watch her in amazement, still surprised every time she does anything extraordinary. Athena puts the crystals back into her bag, once they're back to their dull shade of white again, before turning back to me. Her face is back to its normal color; a healthy pink shade covering her cheeks now. The dark bags she had under her eyes this morning are now gone and the whites of her eyes are bright again.

"What was that?" I ask as I stand there staring at her.

Athena smirks at me playfully, "Just think of it as a super charged battery pack." she says before walking towards the door, "Gavin you might want to close your eyes. I'm about to strip down and shift. You boys try to keep up with me, okay?"

Gavin grimaces at what she says, before he turns around to face away from her. True to her word, she starts stripping her clothes off. My wolf is begging me to watch her so he can get a glimpse of her beautiful body, but I turn around, as well, to give her some privacy. Once I hear that she's completely shifted, I turn around to see a pure white wolf standing in front of me. Bewilderment takes over as I stand there and stare at her. I've heard of white wolves in old folks' tales, but I've never actually seen one before. Now that I think about it, though, I don't even know what other color I expected her to be besides a white wolf, since nothing else seems fitting.

"You two coming or what?" Athena asks through the mind link.

Gavin and I quickly strip down, as well, before shifting into our wolf forms and following after her. Athena starts running through town, swiftly, making her way towards the east side of our territory where the mountains are. I can see pack members staring at her, questioningly, as we quickly pass by them, but I'm barely able to make out the expressions on their faces since we're moving so fast.

"I can't keep this slow of a pace, just so the two of you can keep up. Can you run any faster?" Athena asks through the mind-link once we get out of town.

Gavin laughs at her, "I was never able to catch you when we were kids, but I was always able to keep up, not far behind, when we played chase."

"This isn't the same, Gavin. We were always in human form when playing chase as kids. My wolf is completely different when she is able to tap into my vampire side." Athena tells him with a serious tone.

"You just do whatever you need to do, Athena. Gavin and I will do the best we can. Just keep your mind-link open in case you get too far ahead. Make sure to tell us where you are and what's going on. We know the area well, so we will know where you're at." I tell her, trying to make her realize that I completely trust her right now.

Athena suddenly doubles her speed as dust flies up behind her as she runs further ahead of us. Gavin and I both widen our stride to try and keep up with her. Gavin stays beside me for a few miles before I finally start to trail ahead of him a little. I'm very impressed by him, actually, by the fact that he was able to keep up with me for this long. Not only has he proven to me that he can be trusted and that he's comfortable around me, instead of cowering down like other pack members,but he's also now proving that he can keep up with me at full speed while running. It's a great quality that I've been looking for in a Beta. Athena is out of our sight now, but we keep running in the same direction we lost her in. We run east for another mile or so before we finally hear her talk through the mind-link.

"I caught her scent. Turn right at the waterfalls." Athena instructs us.

"Athena, that goes outside of pack territory! That's too dangerous!" Gavin warns her.

Athena suddenly growls through the link, "I'm very aware! I'm not letting her get back to her pack, though. You guys can turn back if you want. I'm going to kill her, though, which means I'll be left alone for around ten minutes completely vulnerable to whatever is out there."

"Athena, don't you dare kill her! We just need to catch her! We will figure out what to do with her once we get her back to the dungeons!" I yell at her as panic sets in, before the memory of what happened to her during Gregory's death instantly floods my mind.

"STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME, CALLAN! HER AND HER FATHER PLANNED TO ASSASSINATE YOU! THIS IS THE PUNISHMENT! I'VE TOLD YOU THAT YOU CAN'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME, WHEN THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN!" Athena angrily yells back at me.

Gavin suddenly catches my attention as I watch him run past me, before quickly trailing ahead of me, "Callan, was Estelle's punishment going to be death eventually?" Gavin asks me as he runs ahead.

"Yes, I just wanted to wait a couple of days to give Athena time to recover." I confess to him.

Gavin sighs in frustration, "Athena, you do what you think needs to be done. We will be there, no matter what." he says to her reassuringly.

I can hear Gavin panting with exhaustion as he sprints ahead, but he never slows down. I pick up my pace even more, before finally inching my way closer to him and finally catching up again.

"I can feel her watching me. I don't see her, though. I'm stopped at the old railroad tracks beside the old coal mines." Athena informs us with anxiety filling her voice.

I look over at Gavin, only to notice that he's already looking over at me, "We need to get there. NOW!" I yell at him.

Gavin nods his head, "Callan, one of us needs to trail around onto to the other side of that area, so that she won't have the chance to get away again."

"It's too dangerous for us to separate and be alone. This area is always thick with rogues travelling the tracks as they pass through. If they catch one of us, we will be by ourselves and could get ambushed." I say to him, unsure of what to do.

Gavin veers away from the path we're taking, before going towards the opposite side of the railroad tracks, "GAVIN! I NEVER GAVE YOU THE ORDER TO DO IT!"

"With all do respect, Alpha, this is my sister and I'm going to do what I can to protect her. I promise, I will be fine. If you get to her before I do and she's already killed Estelle, make sure to protect her while she's vulnerable from the outcome. I'm not changing my mind on this, so I'm going around to the other side like I said. I will deal with the punishment later, if you feel it's necessary." Gavin tells me defiantly.

I let out a frustrated huff, "FINE! ESTELLE DOESN'T LEAVE THESE WOODS ALIVE, THOUGH, OKAY?." I growl out at him.

Athena starts yelling at us through the mind-link again, "CAN YOU TWO STOP TALKING?! I CAN'T CONCENTRATE ON HER LOCATION, WHEN YOU'RE ARGUING BACK AND FORTH, AND YELLING AT ONE ANOTHER! I'M SO CLOSE TO HER I CAN HEAR HER HEARTBEAT! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY I CAN'T...RWAA...ARAHA...."

My heart drops, before bile starts to rise in my throat from the noise at the end, "ATHENA?!"

"OH NO...NO, NO, NO, NO!!!" Gavin yells through the link, "I SEE THEM, CALLAN!"

"GET TO THEM!!! NOW!!!" I yell back at him.

I run as fast as I can, my heart feeling like it's going to beat out of my chest, before I finally see the train tracks come into view a few moments later. Then, I see them, all three of them. Gavin is kneeling down next to Athena in his human form, holding her blood-stained white wolf in his arms as he cries. Estelle's wolf is lying a few feet away from them, her brown fur coated in blood, as well.

"Derek? Trevor? Sean? Marco? William?" I ask through the mind-link, trying to contact any one of them.

"Yes, Alpha?" Sean replies immediately.

"Get to the old coal mines, immediately." I tell him.

"All five of us are almost there. Marco saw the three of you running through town and had a feeling something was wrong. He contacted us and we followed your scents." he tells me.

I let out a whimper when I finally reach Athena and Gavin, "Athena's hurt." I tell Sean through the mind-link, before I shift back into my human form, as well.

"She won't wake up! She's not moving, Callan!" Gavin screams out, as tears run down his face, "I can't feel or hear her heartbeat! She's not breathing!"

My heart falls into my stomach the second his words leave his mouth, "What?" I whisper out.

"I CAN'T FEEL HER HEARTBEAT! SHE'S NOT BREATHING, EITHER!" Gavin screams louder, unaware of the fact that I didn't ask because I didn't hear him, but because I couldn't believe him.

I kneel down next to Athena's body and put my hand on her chest, waiting for a heartbeat. Nausea takes over and I feel like I'm going to be sick, because he's right, there's no heartbeat. I stand up and walk over to Estelle, realizing that she's dead, as well, before I even get to her body, because her throat has giant gashes running across it. I check anyway, just to make sure, and sure enough, she's dead as well. My mind goes completely blank, lost on what to do in this moment, before the feeling of helplessness takes over. Suddenly, I hear a loud gasp behind me, before I hear Gavin screaming in relief. I turn to look, only to see him hugging Athena's human form as she trembles in his arms.

"What...how?!" I yell out as I run back over to them, before kneeling down beside her, as well.

Athena doesn't have any scratches or marks on her body. Whatever injury that had caused her death is gone now. I stare at her as she starts crying and screaming uncontrollably, before looking over at Gavin. Gavin looks up at me with nothing but concern covering his face. Both of us are lost on what to do for her, so we just sit beside her and let her scream and cry, while caressing her hair every now and then. The other five wolves finally reach us, before stopping and staring at the sight in front of them, while they stay in their wolf forms just in case of rogues.

"What happened?" Sean finally asks me through the mind-link.

I look over at Athena with furrowed brows of confusion, before looking back at Sean, "She was...she was...dead."

"Athena was dead?!" Sean asks, before standing back up and walking towards us with the other four wolves slowly following behind him.

"Yes, her heart stopped and she wasn't breathing. She was still in wolf form when we got here. She was completely lifeless." I explain to him.

Marco's wolf walks over to Estelle's body to examine it, before walking back over to us, "Who killed Estelle?"

"Gavin, who killed Estelle?" I ask Gavin out loud as he stares down at Athena, who's still screaming and crying.

Gavin looks up at me with tears running down his pale face, "Athena did, why?"

Marco sits down beside us and stares at Athena, before looking back at me and talking through the mind-link once again, "Her pain last night with Gregory's death was already horrible in itself, and you were the one that killed him, not her. Maybe this is what happens when she takes a life with her own hands?" he says to me, still sounding a little unsure if what he's saying is a probability.

"If...if she was dead...does that mean..." Gavin trails off as he looks down at her, before looking back at me with terrified eyes, "Does that mean that her wolf died and she's a vampire now?! Is she freaking out like this because she lost her wolf?!"