Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
These were luxury cabins. They weren’t what had come to mind when I heard that we were looking for cabins. Not at all. These places were mansions that were made to look like cabins. And there were two of them that were relatively close together. I was guessing that they were for two different families that were close, yet still wanted to live separately up here in the secluded mountains.
“There. I guess we found those pretty easily.” Javier said as he pointed at the cabins. “We can get back to the castle and tell Queen Riviana what we found.”
“No. We can’t go just yet. We’re here as recon. We need to look into this a little more.”
“No. We don’t need to go any further.” Javier protested as I started toward the houses.
“Then stay the fuck here, you chicken shit asshole.” I turned around and snapped at him. “Either that or use your goddamn nose. This place doesn’t just reek of that nasty Jaegan stench. It also reeks of death. And if these people are already dead, then we need to let the King and Queen know about that.” I saw Javier take a deep breath through his nose. He hadn’t picked up on the scent like I had.
“You’re right.” He seemed to deflate a little as he admitted that, his shoulders drooping and his head hanging low. “We need to look into this place more. We need to give a thorough report.”
“Good.” I snapped at him. “Let’s go.”
We searched the outside of the property first, circling it in a manner that kept us out of sight of the windows and still at the advantage should someone make a surprise appearance. Though I didn’t think that was likely. I couldn’t sense anyone here. No sounds of breathing, footsteps, heartbeats, or anything at all. It was silent here, except for the sounds of Javier and I walking through the rocky terrain.
We found the source of that smell, the one that smelled like death. And it was a grouping of dead bodies that had been unceremoniously thrown into a ravine behind those mansion-like cabins. They looked like they had been there for a few weeks at the very least. And worst of all, those bodies were human.
“Aren’t those assholes supposed to be all for saving the human race or whatnot?” I asked Javier as we looked at the bodies. There appeared to be two families there. Two middle aged men with slightly graying hair and lined faces, two beautiful women that were in their early forties, and six teenagers ranging in age from maybe thirteen to nineteen. Two families were here on vacation and murdered by these assholes.
“Yeah, they’re supposed to be.” Javier said as he shook his head at the senseless loss of life. “Come on, let’s confirm that the houses are empty.”
We knew that they were, so we each searched one house at a time. This was to be more efficient with our time. And, of course, we had been right all along. The houses were empty. Not a single person was in there, but that stench was very thick and strong inside of the homes. They have been here, and recently too.
“There are a lot of trails that are nearby.” Javier said as he looked around the immediate area. “Do you think that they have more cabins somewhere else? Did they change locations because they were discovered or something?”
“I don’t know?” I sniffed the various trails, looking for the freshest of them all. “This trail smells strange.” I pointed at the one that was the strongest. “I can smell the people moving in this direction, but it doesn’t seem to me like they were all walking on the ground. It.. it’s almost as if they were carrying some of them on their shoulders or something. Some of the scents are higher in the air. And that just doesn’t make sense to me. Are these leaders so pretentious that they can’t walk on their own?” I just knew that something was wrong with this scenario.
“I don’t know. This whole group is weird.” Javier shook his head. “Let’s follow after them. We need to see where they went.” We started down the path that these people took.
We were moving slowly as we followed the trail. It was wide and so spread out that we weren’t really sure if they were moving off in different groups or not. It didn’t matter though, all of the groups seemed to be moving in the same general direction. Still, we had to keep checking to make sure that they hadn’t circled back to hide their trail.
“Does this seem familiar to you?” Javier asked as we followed the trail over a ridge.
“Yeah, it does.” The area that we were in was not where we had started the search in, nor had we walked in a circle, so I knew that we hadn’t been to this place already tonight, but I had definitely been here. Why did it look so familiar? Where were we right now?
I straightened up and looked around where we were. I saw the trees, the way that the mountains were shaped, all of it. And that was when I knew where we were. We were just outside of the city, and we were approaching the castle. They were heading into Colorado Springs, and they were going to attack.
“I need to call the Queen right now. I need to tell her what is going on right now.” I immediately opened the connection between our minds, that link that we all had to her. And I spoke frantically out loud as I sent the message to her telepathically. “Queen Riviana!?”
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Riviana
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鈥楺ueen Riviana!?’ Kiernan’s panicked and scared voice came thrumming through my mind.
鈥榃hat is it, Kiernan?’ I asked him hurriedly. I was worried that he or Javier had been attacked while they were scouting for the secret hideout for the Jaegan leaders, or the administration as some of them called it. 鈥楢re you hurt? Did something happen? Are the two of you alright?’ I let him know that I was worried about them, and that I would be there to help him as soon as I needed to if I had to be.
鈥楴o, Queen Riviana, we are OK. We are not hurt. W..we found the location where the Jaegan leaders were hiding. W..we know where they were.’
鈥榃ere?’ I asked him as I picked up the use of past tense in his voice.
…..
“Riviana?” Trevor came up next to me as he noticed that I was staring off into the distance. It wasn’t like I wanted to look like a space case, but it was unavoidable when you were talking through a mental connection to other people. “Is everything OK?” He mimicked some of my concern. He knew what it was that I was doing, he had seen me make this expression often enough to know that I was talking to someone else.
“I don’t know.” I told him as I listened to Kiernan. 鈥榃hat do you mean by you know where they were?’ I added to Kiernan after I answered Trevor.
鈥楾hey are not there anymore, Queen Riviana. They are on the move. I don’t know when they left, how soon before we got there, but they were gone. We found the humans that used to live in those huge cabins that they were in, but they were dead. Probably killed by the Jaegan a couple weeks ago. Those people, the Jaegan, were living in those houses, but they aren’t there now. And when Javier and I followed their trail, I noticed that they were coming back toward the city.’ He paused for a moment, I could tell that he was steeling his nerves. This was something that I was able to physically feel through the connection, but I never told anyone about it. If they knew that, then none of them would ever want to talk to me like this again. They would be afraid of what I was able to sense from them.
鈥榃hat is it?’ I asked Kiernan just as Joaquin came over and said almost the same thing.
“What is it, Little Bunny? What is happening?” He, like Trevor, was worried about what was happening and the fact that I was talking to someone that wasn’t here. At least I knew that they didn’t think that I was crazy or anything like that.
鈥楺ueen Riviana, I..I am sure that they are on their way to the castle. Th..they are heading into the city, but their trail smells strange.”
鈥楽trange how, Kiernan?’ I needed to have the answers as soon as possible.
鈥榃..well, some of their scents are like they aren’t on the ground. I..I am wondering if they are being carried, because they can’t fly, can they?’ He was thinking that it was just the Jaegan and no one else. If the Ancient Ones were already with them, then they would be flying. Though, why didn’t they pick up on that scent? Why didn’t Kiernan and Javier notice if the Ancient Ones were with them?
鈥楬ey, I need to ask you, is there another scent among them? Is there something other than that smell you were following?’
鈥楴o. Just that smell, but it is a lot stronger here than it was there at the castle. I think that it’s just because there are so many of them. We will continue following the trail, Queen Riviana, but I think that they are coming to the castle. I think that they are coming for a fight.’ His words weren’t news to me. I knew why they were coming. And he was exactly right.