Alpha, King, Mate

The Distance

Russ had agreed to our plan, though rather reluctantly. Our group was not fully occupied by just humans. There were also some wolves who had been a part of a pack before, but were thrown out or ran away for whatever reason. Russ was one of the latter. Like me he had been around the pack for longer than Nick or Arthur. He and his family only came in a week later than I did. There wasn't much of his family left, it was only him and his son now.

Right after Russ left we were faced with the next problem: The Alpha who was still hunting us off his land. We looked at the very few maps we had and found that we were not far away from the grand meet up with the wolves. However it meant that we had to turn back from where we came and run right back into our best friend the Alpha. 

Arthur and Nick came up with a plan. A good plan that still managed to suck for me. There were only three ways to get to where we needed to go. Through the mountains, straight through the woods from where we came or a different route through the woods. Our entire group would go through the mountains, led by Nick. The wolves would never expect us to go there, but we had the advantage of a person who has lived in this territory before. 

Arthur and I would go our separate ways with the different routes. Arthur was a great warrior, he had killed many wolves since he joined us. I was great at running and playing hide and seek with the dumb werewolves. It only made sense that I would go straight back, and he would take the other route. To confuse the wolves' sense of smell, we were both carrying pieces of clothing from people in our group. I occasionally dropped one, or flung it up into a tree. 

There were only five radio's in our entire group. I had one, and so did Arthur, Russ and Nick. The last one was given to Russ' son. Who scouted ahead for the main group. Every day at noon we would have to come in to show a sign that we were alive. Today however, on day four of walking by myself without encountering any wolves, the radio started making it's static noises, signaling someone was trying to come through.

My route was much longer than Nick's, and a little longer than Arthur's. I was out of range for Russ, and only barely in range for Nick. The radio's had been meddled with by the, very few, smart wolves before they threw them out like trash. We could hear quite a distance, but by the looks of it, we pushed it too far this time. 

"...Made it..." I heard Nick's voice repeat to me. "... Alive?" 

"I'm still breathing." I answered. There was no response and I continued my route to the gathering. Something felt weird about it. I was definitely not a witch, but sometimes I had the idea I could tell the future. For instance some days I would wake up with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and those would be the days that we get attacked. This time it was different though. It didn't feel like something would go wrong. Instead, I felt happier with each step I took. 

I tried to ignore it, but with nothing else to occupy my mind it was hard not to think about the butterflies in my stomach.

I lost contact with Nick for three days.  I still kept checking in though. Every time when the sun was at its peak I would search for contact, but no one answered. 

"Hello? Someone there?" I called into the radio on day four, without much hope for an answer. All of the sudden the radio made static noise back. 

"Nick?" I called into the radio, careful not to raise my voice too much in case there were any wolves lurking about.  

"Russ here." I could finally make up from the static noise. 

"Plan still going strong?" I asked. I turned on my heel when I heard something behind me. In the far distance I could see the silhouette of a big wolf. He could definitely see me. I broke into a sprint, discarding the useless bag of clothes. 

"The blood band was made, Nick agreed to the plans." The radio croaked back at me. I could tell in the background that there were other voices. He was not alone and I was willing to bet my life that they weren't humans. "Where are you Victoria?" 

"I'm close, probably one more day of walking" I said as I sprinted away. The wolf behind me growled. "What does the border look like?" 

"It's an open field. There are wolves patrolling." Someone else spoke into the radio.

"Thanks stranger." I answered back. The wolf was not only getting closer, he also seemed to have notified his friends. It was a strategy most packs used when they spotted humans. They didn’t know for sure if I was leading them into a human ambush, so he wasn’t allowed to attack me by himself. Three of those ugly beasts were following me through the dense forest.

"Are there any-" I cut him off by turning the radio off.  If I was going to survive this, I needed to be stealthy. 

I could not manage to lose the wolves, every time I thought I did I could hear another howl close to me. By this rate however I would enter friendly territory very soon. 

I had survived the night by nothing but luck. The wolves could see far more than I could. So I stuck to the trees, bushes and anything else that could provide me with some cover to catch my breath. I couldn’t help but smile when the sky started lightening up. It wasn’t soon after that golden sunlight started pouring through the trees. Now that I had the sun again I dared to take a small break and turn my radio back on. 

"I am currently seeing the biggest tree I have ever seen in my life. It has a small stream going around it. Does this mean I am close?" I asked into the radio, hoping to regain some energy and be told I am already in the safe territory.

"We call that tree Yggdrasil." The same stranger spoke through the radio. He seemed to be a pretty relaxed fellow judging by his voice. "Means you're about ten minutes away from the border. If you are in wolf form."

"Sorry, one hundred percent human here." I said. 

"Ah so you'll take like two hours?" He chuckled back. "Maybe three?" I rolled my eyes and started jogging again. "That is if the wolves don't get you." I heard someone in the background saying 'enough' but the guy just chuckled again.

"Wolves haven't been able to get me for twenty-two years." I answered back. "I bet I can survive for another hour."

"I'll take that bet" He mused back. More people seemed to be talking in the background. The signal was definitely getting stronger. 

"If I win you go hunting and find me a boar. I am starving." I laughed. We never got to eat meat in our camp. The scent of blood would alert all the wolves in the territory within seconds. 

"And if I win?" He asked.

"Well, I'd be dead." I answered. I heard a wolf howl. It was so loud I thought the wolf must be standing right beside me. Thankfully for me he wasn't. I started sprinting again, occasionally jumping over fallen trees and rocks. There was nothing I could do but sprint anymore. The trees had started to thin out, there was no more hiding. 

I heard the sound of paws digging into the mud close behind me and saw that my luck had run out. They were coming closer and closer to me. The other two had found their partner much quicker than before. I could see them foaming at the mouth, waiting to sink their yellowed teeth into my flesh.

I was so busy looking behind me that I almost stopped out of shock when I entered a clearing. The trees were gone, in front of me there was a large grass meadow, I could even see a town in the far distance. There were people on the meadow, wolves too. I made it. 

About halfway through the line of people I noticed a familiar grey wolf, Russ, flanked by three unknown wolves on each side. One of them clearly being an Alpha, he had the size of it. Behind them were some people from our group. Never in my life had I run faster than in that moment. 

I only needed to go ten more meters when I felt a hot breath on my back. However he seemed to go slower as we neared the territory boundaries. I crossed over, and heard Russ growl incredibly loud when I passed him. My legs seemed to give in from underneath me and I fell on my back in the grass, panting loudly. The sun felt nice on my skin, and for the first time since I was twelve, I could relax in the company of wolves.