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I paced around in a circle. “The meadow. The ancestors. Pack allegiance. Trust. Family.”
Levi’s voice cackled. “Trying to keep your paws rooted in the present, alpha?”
My eyes widened as my brain finally figured out what my heart was trying to tell me. What my father meant finally fucking clicked. He didn’t mean literal chains. Not the kind of chains that held someone down into submission.
He meant the chains of family. The emotional and mental bonds that threaded throughout cousins, siblings, uncles, aunts, best friends, and lovers.
He meant the stability of the family rested upon my back. Not the burden.
“Let’s do this,” I growled.
The first wave of bears stormed into our men at the edge of the woods, and I dug my claws into the cement beneath me. I latched on, clinging for dear life as I ground my wolf’s teeth together.
“HOLD YOUR GROUND! WE’VE GOT THIS!”
I smiled. “Nice to hear you again, Wolfy.”
“HERE, LET ME DO THIS!”
As I watched the ground beneath me quake with the approaching swarm of bears, I saw shimmering cords wrap around my legs. One by one, they reached out for me, slithering all the way up my front and hind legs. As if to root me in place. I followed the trail of the shimmering black cords as they disappeared into the darkness. And when I picked up my right front leg, I watched as some of the women to my right moved to the front of their porch.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
“PRETTY COOL, HUH!?”
“What do we do now?” Dean asked.
I turned to face him as I tugged with my back left leg, pulling the healers closer to us. “Go round up the men that are already wounded and lead them here. Go. Now. Levi?”
“Yes, alpha?”
“Run as quickly as you can around the chalets. Try to kick up as much dust and dirt as possible. We need this blue hue gone.”
He took off without a second thought before Hudson walked in front of me. “And me?”
I tugged at my left front leg and watched as the women to my left moved toward their back porches. “Go keep our pups safe. We can’t afford to lose anymore of our younger generations.”
The fight was brutal, but I held my ground. I tugged at the glowing strings wrapped around my legs, commanding dozens at a time to move in tandem. It was as if the pack were a symphony and I had become their conductor, showing them when the tension and the release needed to occur. The roaring of bears soothed my ears. The spilling of their blood tugged a smile across my face. I stood onto my hind legs, towering above everyone else around me as I plucked the strings, one by one, and commanded the pack to move as needed.
While I watched the mountains around us for the oncoming storm.
“It’s working!” Levi exclaimed.
“Well, holy fucking shit,” Dean hissed.
“I’ve got the kids tucked away in your house, Hudson said as he bounded back to my side, they’ll be safe there.”
I chuckled. :Then, let’s make sure those bears never even cross this goddamn threshold.”
With every step forward they took, our people pushed them back. Men slashed their claws against their faces, plucking their eyes out and slurping them off their claws like fucking ice cream cones. Women leapt off the porches, leading with their hind legs as they sank their protruding claws into the chests of the bears that managed to break through the throng of men we had at the edge of the woods.
And with me perched in the middle of everything, I had the tactical advantage of seeing where everyone needed to be.
“They’re falling back!” Dean bellowed. “They’re racing back up the mountain!”
“Follow them,” I commanded. “Everyone!”
The strings fell away from my legs as I fell back down onto all fours. I raised my face up to the crescent moon and let out an earth-shattering howl that stoked the howls of those around me. Women and men alike raised their snouts into the sky. The rumbling of the bears footfalls retreated away from our encampment, moving as quickly as possible while they left their dead behind.
