Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
I look around and take a perfectly placed branch off the ground. As I pick it up, I’m yanked back by the old lady just as wooden spikes pop up from the ground in front of me.
‘Not that branch.’ She smiles.
I stare back at the branch that had a rope tied around it. As I had picked it up, it pulled the rope, activating the spikes that were supposed to penetrate through my chest. I take a less obvious branch and begin gliding it across the ground in front of me. We follow Mabel’s lead. It’s obvious she has been here before.
‘This way.’ She says for the fiftieth time.
At this rate, the warriors will be there before us.
Mabel laughs.
‘What’s so funny?’ I ask.
‘Nothing, nothing at all.’ She says with a bemused look on her face.
‘There’s a cave over here.’ May says.
‘Not that one, dear.’
‘But it looks safe and there’s plenty of light down there.’
‘Ah, to be young and naïve.’ Mabel says.
‘And what is that supposed to mean, lady?’ May huffs.
‘It means you’re young and dumb, my dear.’
I cover my mouth and cannot for the life of me contain my laugh. The look on May’s face is priceless.
‘Why you old crone!’ May says, about to throw a stone at her.
Her dad grabs her wrist just in time.
‘May, she’s old. You know to respect your elders.’ Leon growls at her.
‘But… she started it!’
‘May, I don’t care. You are proving her to be right, acting like a child.’
‘Well, I am sixteen dad, technically I’m still a child so I’m only acting how I should act!’
Leon rubs his head.
‘The day you find your mate, I’ll worry about him. That’s for sure.’ Leon says.
‘Dad! How can you say that? You’re just as bad as the old crone, you know!’
Leon holds his hand up to silence May.
‘Shh, you hear that?’
May stops her tantrum and we all listen.
‘What do you hear, dad?’ May whispers.
‘I hear silence, and that’s all I want to hear. Now be quiet so we can focus on finding your sister.’
Again, I have to cover my mouth with my hand to contain my laugh. May turns and glares at me. I gulp and swallow my laughter down, but keep the smirk on my face.
Mabel has a grin as wide as the Nile River plastered on her face.
We continue to follow Mabel quietly until she comes to a stop in front of a dark cave.
‘The other cave looked much more welcoming than this one.’ May pouts.
‘You wouldn’t last five minutes in that cave, dear. Looks can be deceiving. This one here may be dark and gloomy, but I guarantee you it leads to the ruthless rogue pack.’ Mabel says.
Leon shifts into his wolf to see better. I want to shift too, but it will take too long and the rogues will hear my screams of pain, which will give us away.
Mabel flicks a stick, and a tiny ball of light appears like a flame but invisible. She hands it to me and flicks her finger against the tip of another stick and hands it to May.
‘How did you do that?’ May says in amazement.
I look down at Mabel.
‘You’re a witch?’
‘Shh.’ She smiles. ‘This way.’ She waves. We follow her through the shallow, murky water.
I can hear the sounds of frogs and rats. May is shaking like a leaf at the number of cobwebs and spiders we pass. The one cave now has three different tunnels. We stop and stare at the three passages.
‘Which one is the right way?’ I ask Mabel.
‘Always keep to the left on the way in and keep to the right on the way out.’
I turn to thank her as she vanishes into the shadows.
‘How did you disappear like that?’ May asks.
‘Magic.’ I shrug.
‘So, which way do we go?’
‘Left, let’s go.’
We trudge down the left tunnel, holding our magically lit sticks in the air that illuminates the cave. Leon, still in wolf form, grabs a rat and eats it.
‘So gross, dad!’ May says.
Leon ignores her and finishes his meal. We continue through the tunnel to find another two tunnels.
‘We go left.’ I say before May even asks.
The tunnel becomes smaller. I have to bend my head down to fit. After what feels like hours of being in here, we finally see light at the end of the tunnel.
We can hear yelling in the distance and approach with caution. Peeking our heads out, it is almost nightfall. I touch the end of the lit stick. It’s not hot, so I tuck it into my pocket to hide the glow. May does the same. We follow the sound of people yelling. There are some thick bushes nearby. I signal for Leon and May to follow me. I crawl into the bushes and inspect the commotion.