Chapter 4

TEMPLAR P.O.V

“It’s over Templar. We have already crossed their territory,” June informed me gently.

I was scared shitless that we had had to cross through the Greenrock pack’s territory. It would have been too tiring for June to run all the way Waterwave territory, so that was why we were now sitting in a bus crowded with people.

June told me that since the bus had other passengers, who were all humans; it would be safe for both of us to take it the rest of the way. She also reassured me that my scent would be faint and they may not be able to even identify it because I had left the pack six months ago, but to avoid all risks we had to be careful.

The bus had now crossed over the Greenrock pack’s territory, and I felt myself relaxing from that knowledge.

“Breathe Templar,” I whispered to myself.

“You really don’t want to go back to that pack, do you?” June asked me with a frown. I shook my head and she gave me a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

I knew Jan had been taken by Igor’s men and it had been done to get June back, but I couldn’t stop wondering how they were able to cross so many packs’ territories. June was able to smell their scent in every pack we crossed. I was growing angry that no pack had been able to stop them. I was angry most with the Greenrock pack’s current Alpha for not stopping them. That Rhino!

The only thing that I could do right now was pray that Igor’s men didn’t hurt Jan. I felt useless because I’d been unable to protect her. They’d taken her right in front of me and I had been unable to even stop them. My old pack had been right. I was a weakling. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks now.

“Hey, don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine,” June said, placing her hands on my shoulders in a reassuring way.

“I am so sorry. I feel like a total waste for not being able to save January. They took her right in front of me and I did nothing to help,” I said in misery, choking on the taste of salt as my tears ran into my mouth.

“No. it is not your fault. You…” I interrupted her before she could continue.

“It is my fault. I was there.”

“Yes, you were there, but this was going to happen sooner or later. Both Jan and I knew this day was going to come ever since we ran away from our pack.”

“If I was a shifter, I could have done something.” I lowered my gaze in shame. “But I’m human.”

“That is going to change,” She said and smiled knowingly at me.

I let out a strangled laugh and asked her, “Do you really still believe that?”

“Yes and when you shift you are going to be one hell of a strong wolf.”

I didn’t reply. I didn’t even know what to say to that. These past six months she’s continued to reassure me that I’m going to shift one day. She’s been training me every single day, teaching me everything her father had taught her. So instead I smiled and looked outside the window.

“Only 15 minutes left,” June whispered softly.

I was shivering now. It was very unlike me. Beside me June was calm, cool and composed. We were in the territory of the pack she had run away from, and yet she wasn’t even the least bit scared to return. I think it was because of what she had said; she’d known this was coming.

We got down off as soon as the bus stopped. June turned to the direction of the woods and she grew ready to shift, but I quickly stopped her.

“I know I’m only a human, who is no match for all those wolves that are there, but January is not only my best friend, but also a sister to me and I’m ready to sacrifice my life for her safety,” I said and looked out at the woods hopelessly.

“You won’t have to be the sacrifice. You just have to protect January,” she said softly and a tear ran down her cheek.

I swallowed loudly in worry. I would do anything to protect Jan.

June handed her clothes to me and shifted. She ran fast into the wood with me on her back. We used to always do this. It was always a competition between June and Jan to see who the fastest wolf was. I would always take turns sitting on each of their backs as they ran. I couldn’t help but smile at the memory.

June and I both hid behind a large tree as we watched the house before us cautiously. There were a lot of cars parked out the front, which meant who knows how many people were inside. I looked over the cars and spotted two that were very familiar to me. They were the cars that had taken Jan, but the third was missing. Looking further I spotted a house not far from it that had been burnt. There was nothing left of it but a single wall, that was covered in burn marks and was laying on the ground in a crumpled mess.

“Bastard burnt my house,” June said loudly as she spotted what was left of the other house.

We both peered around the tree, looking carefully for any movement, but we saw nothing. There were no humans or wolves close by. The place seemed deserted.

June told me to head towards the east, and she’d go west. She told me there was something she had to find.

I made sure to slip behind trees as I walked, keeping myself out of the line of site of the house. But really, who was I trying to fool? These were shifters we were dealing with. They could sense my presence in a second, and could kill me even faster. I used to try that in my old pack, hide from their pranks, but every time they would still catch me.

I noticed a small structure not far in front of me in the forest. It had also been burnt, but all the walls were still intact just covered in a mass of blackness. The only thing missing was the roof. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was I was looking at.

A closer look confirmed my suspicions to what the building was. It was the pack temple, or what was left of it. Stepping inside the ruins I saw a collection of burnt corpses, and quickly shut my eyes tight in horror to the site. How could Igor do this?

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes slowly. I looked to the silver statue in the center of the temple and saw that what had been the image of the Goddess was broken, pieces of it lying scattered on the ground at its feet. A large Warhammer lay among the pieces of silver on the floor. It must have been what had destroyed it.

Looking around I let out an angered sigh. The temple was completely destroyed. Nothing could fix the roof or the burns in the walls, and there was no way the statue would be able to be recovered.

How could someone do this to the Goddess’s temple? It was here for the pack to worship and there was nothing left. I felt my limbs begin to tremble with my rage at what had been done to this place of worship. Igor was a truly heartless person if he could do this. I couldn’t look at it any long so I strode quickly from the temple.

I looked around the trees and heard nothing. There was complete silence. Why was there nobody guarding the pack lands? I knew there should have been, and it left me feeling highly distrustful of the silence.

I didn’t walk very far until I came to another building. It was much smaller than the first house had been and it was weatherworn. I checked the door to find it was locked. I didn’t have time, so I ignored it and continued ahead.

I heard a child crying from the building as I walked by and quickly stopped. I turned back to it and listened carefully. The voice grew clearer and it was joined by a chorus of voices. Was this where they kept the rest of the pack as prisoners? The dungeon? Maybe Jan was in there.

I knew from checking that the door was locked, so I couldn’t get in that way. I walked around the building until I spotted a window. It was covered by a Hardwood board that had been screwed securely into place. It looked like it had only been placed here to stop the light from reaching inside. What a Psycho.

I found a hard stone and started hitting at the screws, but it wasn’t doing shit. So I went in search of a pointed one and found it not far from the building. I tried again but got the same result. The board wouldn’t budge. Suddenly a light bulb lit in my mind and I knew what would work on the damn board.

I ran back to the temple and picked up the Warhammer. Damn, this thing is heavy. Somehow I managed to half carry, half drag it back to the dungeon. I went around to the front of the building and tried it on the door, but it didn’t even splinter it. I went around to the window and tried hitting it harder on the wooden board, but still it did nothing, but I kept going.

I was pretty sure by now, that all of Igor’s men were hiding, because I was making enough noise to wake an army from hitting this damn board. There was noises coming from inside the building. I’m sure they were hearing the noise I was creating.

I looked at the board and saw that there still was no sign of any damage. The wood still hadn’t even splintered. I felt so weak and pathetic. I could hear Everett, Terence and Sam’s voices in the back of my head, teasing me for being so weak.

Their voices were enough to force my anger to its head. I gritted my teeth and threw the hammer high over my shoulder, then slammed it down with all my force into the wood. The wood of the board gave a loud creak and a deep crack appeared in it where I’d hit. I smiled. Now I was hopeful.

I continued to hit the door with all my energy. Again and again I hit it. Using the anger I felt at the voices inside my head calling me weak.