Spirit Wolves : A New Path (Book 2)

3. Restful Bliss, Until...

**Nate**

For the past 2 days we have had the much needed restful slumber of wolves.  We managed to hide the trucks and move just beyond the park into the forest where we were able to relax for a bit.  I could sense the packs nearby and lingering closely, but they left us alone as we asked.  Well, more like telling them to and they obeyed but the point is, we were about to be ourselves and regenerate.  I made sure that we did not move too far from our camp, which kinda sucked, but the first night we did go for a run.  Most packs did not come too close to major roads so I flipped a coin and I took the pack on a good 50 mile run.  Everyone was in wolf form and we ran alongside the road, just far enough into the trees not to be seen by any drivers.  After about a mile into the run, Aspen ran up beside me and linked 

‘Alpha?’

‘Ya?  Whats up?’ I replied through the link

“Oh, I just wanted to tell you’ she body-checked into me, forcing me to lose my footing before she finished her sentence ‘your it!’ and she took off like a bat outta hell.  It felt good to not only stretch our legs, get some exercise and let our restless wolves have some time again but to have some fun was just what we needed.  Shadow actually had caught me off guard and before I knew it, our run turned into a group of adult wolves (us being the youngest at 21) playing tag.

The small town of Libby was only a mile down the road.  We decided to see what they had so we all walked into town.  Being that most of the pack lived solely in the woods for the past 20 years, I made Luca, Aria and Aurora join us as we were a little more accustomed to civilization and wanted no reason to bring any ill feeling towards us.  Personally, I think they wanted the alone time to shag, but I really didn’t give them a choice. We came across a small tavern and decided to go in and unwind for a drink.  We just told the locals that we were passing through town on our way to a concert in Seattle and needed to unwind a bit.

For the first while everyone was so uptight sitting straight up in their chairs or lined up against a wall, watching the front door as though they were waiting for a fight to come walking through the front door while sipping on a beer, but after a while of watching Luca and Aurora kick Aria’s and my ass at a game of pool, they seemed to relax a bit.  My Beta women however were in their glory.  Joking around, laughing and dancing to some music from a jukebox in the corner.  I laughed for the first time in a long time, watching some of them play pool and darts and seriously began to wonder what they did for fun before we came along.  To be honest, I think it was also the first time in 20 years that they consumed any alcohol either.   I was glad that our bodies wore it off fast though because we were here to unwind a little bit, not to be fools.

Honestly, everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves and for the first time, I stood back, leaning against the wall by the jukebox just watching them.  I realized that this was the very first time I had seen most of them smile, let alone laugh and that brought me joy.  I even found myself laughing too, but for some reason I could not allow myself to fully relax.  You know when you are a kid and you are heading home, knowing that as soon as you walk through the door, you will be in a lot of trouble?  That feeling you get of imminent doom in the pit of your stomach?  We, I have not been able to get rid of that feeling since we arrived in town.  It would come and go but it was still lingering there.  

Right now, it was probably the strongest it has been since we arrived and it was making me feel uneasy.  I looked at the clock above the bar and it said it was only 11pm.  Most taverns close down anytime after midnight depending on how busy they are but can stay open until as late as 2am.  Even though it was a short mile back to our current home for the week, I realized that we should start to gather everyone to head back.

‘Last call everyone.  We are leaving in 15 minutes.  Luca, please make sure we do not have anyone owing on a tab and let's get going.  We will have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.’  I linked everyone and heard some grunts, groans and some not so nice comments, but the truth was that I just had this feeling that we had to go.  I had learnt at an early age to trust your instincts and my father always told me that they would never lead you wrong.  If you got a feeling from something, that it was your non dominant senses trying to tell you something.  We made sure that all tabs were paid and thanked the bartender for putting up with us for the past few hours.  Luca made sure to tip her and we headed back out into the little town of Libby to go home.

“I think you have gotten a little lost, Alpha.  You were supposed to stay in your little corner, remember?”  I heard a voice with seething disdain speak after I exited the bar and stepped onto the road.  I growled instinctively, not impressed that anyone would talk to me not only that way, but the tone he used was nothing short of hatred.  I turned and looked in the direction that I had heard the voice coming from and before my eyes, the entire street was filled.  Someone had told them that we were here and someone planned this.  I smelled the air around me and I could smell the scent of 2 different packs, but what bothered me more was that sense of being watched came back again.

The rest of my pack was following me outside and all found themselves in a touchy spot.  Looking the way we came, the whole street was lined with a pack of wolves about 20-30 feet in front of us.  I roughly counted 75-100.  I recognized the Beta from a couple of nights ago and he was standing beside who I could tell was his Alpha looking mighty pleased with himself.  I looked up the street in the opposite direction and there was another pack about the same size poised, growling and ready for a fight with all of their senior members as well.  

‘Everyone remains calm and does not! shift in town’  I ordered everyone through the link immediately, remembering that most of them preferred to be and fight in wolf form, but were still not really used to being around humans and might forget that they were in town.

“We are not scheduled to meet until tomorrow.  To what do we owe this pleasure?”  I asked calmly while I linked everyone again ‘Luka-you, Piper, Willow and half the warriors take my six.  Shadow, Aspen, you're with me.’  Everyone began to move, forming 2 lines spanning from curb to curb and standing back to back with Luca and I right in the middle.

“Oh, we got a call that you were bothering the bartender and came to escort you back to your hole.”  The Alpha stepped forward, speaking directly to me.  

“I call bullshit on that.  The bartender was not only laughing along with us, but asked us to stay longer.  Said that we were a lot better than the normal riff raff that came in.”  I replied a little snarky.  Wolves on both sides began to growl.

“My Beta here tells me that you think you are the Spirit Wolves, but I told him that was impossible because they ran extinct over 20 years ago.  You son, do not look a day over 20, so what is a young pup like you, waltzing around on MY land making false claims and trying to order my Beta around- huh?  I think someone needs to teach you some manners.”  He boasted and the wolves on both sides of us growled again showing their support to what he had just said.

“So, tell me Alpha????  Jackass is it?”  I inquired sarcastically, clearly still feeling some of the effects from the beer I drank inside but either way, I continued “What makes you think that we are not Spirit Wolves?  Your Beta clearly obeyed what we told him to do and he left practically pissing his pants.  So, tell me what proof you would like to see?  What will satisfy that curious-non believing brain of yours hmmm?”  Clearing I was mocking him, but inside I had absolutely no clue if we had enough power to take on this many wolves.

“Listen here you low grade, wanna be Alpha millennial..”  He began trying to insult me, which only angered me more, so I cut him off.

“NO!!!!”  I do not know how I did it, but I connected everyone in my pack together through the link.  Our internal, goddess blessed power combined and we were stronger than ever!  Everyone’s eyes glowed the brightest I had even seen.  The street lights began to flicker and I assumed that was from Aria and Aurora’s magic as well but the sheer raw power flowing in, through and around us was exhilarating!

“We have had a couple of much needed, restful days.  We came into town peacefully to unwind for a couple of hours and we were just heading back to our camp.  YOU WILL PART TO ALLOW US TO PASS.  YOU WILL ALL MEET US AT OUR CAMPSITE TOMORROW MORNING AT AM.  And since you are both so close, you can come together.”  I finished, turning around to look at the other Alpha.  He nodded as a reply and I turned back, faced the pack before us and just started walking.

No one spoke another word and sure enough, as we approached they parted right in the middle to allow us to pass.  We kept quiet until we were back at camp and after Aria and Aurora cast that fancy sound cloaking spell they had before we spoke a word.  No one had ever done or saw anything like that before and some of them were over 100 years old.  No one could believe what had just happened and when asked how I did it, all I could say was that I didn’t know….If I had to do it again, I don’t know if I could but one thing was certain and that was that everyone agreed that the power that we shared as a pack was 10 times more then each of us individually.  And I’m the Alpha so you could only imagine what I felt at the time.  Needless to say, we had sobered up pretty quickly, but sleep was not coming too soon as I supposed we were a little drunk on the power, but I promised myself that I would not allow that to happen.  Only for good reason and never for any personal reasons.  Tomorrow was bound to be interesting to say the least but one thing I was sure of more than anything now, was that I would have to be a little more forceful in the future and try to maintain a healthy balance that we would not force our will on the decisions, only to have them listen and make up their own mind but I had a feeling that this was going to be a much better approach.