I was crouched at the border, half hidden by ferns and brambles. Nate was ten feet to my left, and Gwenna ten to my right, the rest of my team waiting further behind for the signal. Da had sent us to raid the blue moon pack, with the intention of stealing food rather than money or anything important. The packs were even beginning to camp the little corner stores, which made it all the more difficult to feed ourselves. That was part of the reason he'd split out original group up; less mouths to feed over a bigger range.
But Blue Moon were pretty smart with their tactics, because their alpha was mated to a rogue girl and she had spilled our secrets to him. Traitor. I'd never do that, no matter what. What I found ironic was that she had painted a bigger target on her back than his, which was by all accounts, she barely left the safety off the pack house. So she was a coward too, ready to give up her freedom for a crumb more security than the rogue lifestyle offered her. One day we would get her. But for now, I just needed to raid the houses on the outskirts of the pack, and her reckoning would come later.
They ran split patrols, where all but one of the fighters running round the border would pass first, and then five minutes after (when the rogues would have tried to make a dash into pack lands to have the most time to raid undetected) the last member would pass and raise the alarm. They'd managed to get a fair few of us before we wised up, partly because we tend to be too cocky for our own good. But da came up with a new strategy, and Sadie tested it, and then Blue moon was back on the menu.
I waited for the patrol to be out of sight and then shifted, having already stripped down to a loose vest and shorts that would slide off as soon as I transformed. I heard Gwenna and Nathan do the same, the quiet cracks and snaps only just audible. I took of at a slow lope, doing nothing to disguise or confuse my scent trail, the other two falling in by my heels. We barely made it fifty feet before baying started up, the scout having picked up our trail and brought the patrol back to pursue us.
I sped up, running as fast as I could as we burst out of the thick woods and into the cleared area where the pack built and lived. The three of us split off, going different directions as I tugged the mind link with my raiding team. As we drew the pack fighters and ran rings around them as a distraction, they would make use of the empty borders to sneak in and bust into houses, stuffing their rucksacks full before legging it, provided we could keep up the distraction for long enough.
Racing past the outskirts, I veered off of the road before I hit the pack house, choosing to skirt around their beautiful lawn to leave big claw marks gouged in. I had just ventured far too close to where their puppies would be having class, so every fighter with a family would now be coming after me. Gwenna would loop right around the pack house, and Nathan would venture close to the barracks. Between us, we should marshal every fighter to come after us.
I was getting a constant loop of feedback from the team, and the sheer amount of information was disorientating. I had never led a team like this before, so I was only used to keeping my leader in the loop with everything I was doing. I tried to focus in on Nathan and Gwenna's voices, as they were at the most risk and could tell me when the distraction was about to fail, while also trying to have a feel for my raiding team's emotions, listening out for any panic that would tell me that they'd be found or confronted.
While trying to do all of that, it was really hard to concentrate on where I was going and how I was evading the fighters on my tail. A few stumbles, and they were snapping at my heels. Just as I was beginning to panic, I felt my da trying to open a mind link with me. Naturally, I pushed it away, because this was not a good time, but he kept pestering and pressing until I knew he would force his way in if I didn't accept.
'Da, really bad time, go away.' I snapped out in a hurry, almost running into the corner of a house and getting fur nipped off my tail for the fumble.
'I'm trying to help, you ungrateful little shit, so focus on running. I'll monitor the mind links and let you know if you need to give orders.' He replied grumpily, easing the burden on my mind. Now that I could actually focus, I was quick to pull ahead again, able to correct my course to the one I had planned out before the raid even began.
'Cheers, old man.' I thanked him grudgingly. It wasn't really something we did as a rule, but he had probably just saved my hide. I only got a grunt in response, but I knew what that meant. He'd always been like that; he let us do whatever we like, but he'd always step in before we could get ourselves killed.
I was coming to the end of my course, going for a straight rush back across the border and onto the moors, and da told me that Nathan and Gwenna were doing the same. I told my team to pack up and get out, and I put on a burst of speed to try and cover the last bit of ground. As I did, I blocked da from my mind, wanting him to be gone before the adrenaline wore off and my thoughts went places I didn't want him to see. If him helping me out with a raid was what outed my relationship to Sebastian, I would never forgive myself.
Just as I was reaching the border, I heard a very familiar yelp close by. Without thinking twice I turned on my heel and barrelled towards my sister, knowing that Nathan would be doing the same. My team was feeding back that they were almost in the clear, the fighters who had realised our play only just starting to run back to them.
More yelps followed, some Gwenna and some strange to me, drawing me closer. I still had fighters on my tail, but she was sending garbled messages down the link. Maybe I could just fight her followers off long enough for her to run for it, and then flee myself. I burst onto the scene through a patch of undergrowth, taking in the situation at a glance.
Though I soon snapped into action before I could take it all in, because Gwenna's paw was in the jaws of a fighter, and if they bit down it would cripple her and we wouldn't be able to get her out of here. I tackled the wolf away from her, blindsiding him enough to get my jaws around his throat and bite down. I disengaged and twisted away from one of my own pursuers who flew over my back in a mess of wild fur and sharp claws and snapping teeth. We were outnumbered two to six, and then three to eight when Nathan came racing in with two of his own pests on his heels. He immediately bowled off another wolf from Gwenna, but we were barely holding our ground even with Nate battering them with his mind.
'We need to run. Nate, get ready for a big attack, and I'll make a space for us to run through.' I snapped through the mind link, only just managing to evade a bite to the base of my skull. Nathan counted down in my mind, before his wolf froze as he channelled his energy into forcing the wolves' minds to crack. The second he began I lunged at the smallest wolf who was stumbling about with pain, biting his leg hard enough to crack the joint and force him to the ground. I raced out, Gwenna on my heels and Nathan just behind her, running slower than he usually did. I dropped behind to flank him, because he couldn't defend himself as well when he was fighting in his mind as well. Gwenna fell in first, picking out the route and trying to set a decent pace, though it was a touch too fast for Nathan.
We were being chased, of course, but we had also just skidded across the border line. That alone wasn't enough to throw them off, but if we veered close enough to a human footpath they'd chicken out.
'Nathan, pull out of their heads and focus on running!' I snapped through the mind link as he lagged a little more, almost tripping over a tree root.
'Can't. Strong. Attacking.' Came the garbled, strained response from our flickering link. He wasn't panicked, which was a good sign, but he was clearly having to put up one hell of a fight to keep whoever the attackers were out of all of our heads.
'Gwenna, try and help Nathan out. Wait, no, I need you alert in case we get attacked. Bloody hell, we need to get away from here. Flank Nate and help me guide him.' It would either be a bunch of pack wolves all trying to attack at once, or one really powerful linker having a go. I really hoped it was the former, because if the pack had someone of Nathan's calibre among their ranks, it could be a problem. Gwenna fell back, running shoulder to shoulder with Nate's right as I did the same with his left, leaning against him to push him in the right direction.
While that did make Nathan faster and gave him more energy to focus on the fight, it was slowing the two of us down, and I could hear the pack wolves closing in on us again. In a bit of a panic, I linked a few of the scouts, calling them back to try and scare the pack wolves off or lead them away while we got my brother to safety.
Before we got ten more feet, I glanced back and saw snatches of fur through the trees, getting closer by the second. Panic was beginning to set in when suddenly, Nathan jolted, stumbling for a moment before speeding up, his eyes sharpening as he withdrew from his mental battle. Just as the pack wolves were about to close in around us, I put on a burst of speed, our trio getting out of the closing ring seconds before it was too late.
Rogues were the master of getting away from pack wolves; we spent half our lives doing it, and the other half nicking from them. Now that everyone was focused, we split off, each going different ways to split up the forces. I sensed that Ada and Gwenna had met up, the former no doubt too worried about her mate to follow my instructions. Might have to pull her up about that later.
Soon, I could forget about the others, trusting them to get themselves away, and focus on the feeling of wind through my fur and dirt beneath my paws. Sure, I had a few wolves following me, but I was outrunning them pretty easily and they were soon called back by their delta.
From there, I was left to run with a sense of accomplishment in my heart, making my escape from the pack.