Part 14

"Surprise!"

Kyle had spread his wings and opened his beak attempting a smile, but the pack was silent, even Zayne was quiet.

"Kyle...why are you a bird?"

"Wait what?" Kyle says as if confused by the response

"A raven is nice but it cant pick up anything larger than it" Cara says, as if almost saddened by it.

"I...I thought you could use an eye from above, spot prey for you and give signals for you"

The pack was quiet again, but then surprisingly, Alyssa walks to his side, towering above the small raven with large yellow eyes that pierced them all.

"I say let him hunt with us" She said, shocking everyone in the circle.

"What?" Adrian said. "I'm sorry but does he even know what we are tracking?" He finishes.

"A blue stag..." Kyle blurts out, shaking out his feathers of the anxiety of bring this poor family any more grief or pain.

"I agree-"

"Sorry Zayne but you're biased as his bond" Cara elaborated, knowing they were wasting time with this as she lowers her head to look the crow in the eyes.

Her eyes were intimidating, but Kyle had already moved past that, he was looking at the only motherly figure in his life that truly mattered to him, knowing that even if she denied his help, she was doing it out of love, and not hate.

"But the rules are clear...if you can't keep up, you can't hunt with us"

Kyle's heart dropped slightly, expecting her to turn her back on him, but she lifts her head and howls loudly into the morning sky, the others join in as Kyle was deafened by the noise being so close.

"We welcome you to the hunt Omega, prove your worth and may you succeed the trial" Cara says proudly, the rest all wear happy tongues out of their panting faces as they rejoice.

"Welcome to the hunting pack Kyle!" Adrian congratulates him, following his wife on the trail they were on as Alyssa passes by Kyle.

"Just follow orders and you'll be fine" She said sweetly, catching up to her parents as Zayne and Kyle were now alone.

"Im so sorry, I didn't want to intrude but I felt if you had my hel-"

Zayne was however wagging his bushy tail, looking at Kyle with a smile to his eyes.

"This is gonna be the best hunt so far, I can show you the ropes seeing as I'm a Beta"

"What does Omega mean?"

"It means you're the runt~"

"Oh..."

"Dont worry, we've all been the Omega before, seeing as the pack was only four of us for a long time, both me and Alyssa get the joint role of Beta, which is like second command to the Alpha male and female"

"So you're higher rank?" Kyle asked Zayne innocently

"You bet your feathery ass I am, Ten hut birdbrain lets get a moving~" Zayne teased playfully as he runs ahead, making Kyle rush to start flying along side him, The alphas were in front with Alyssa behind the two. And Zayne stayed back as he supervised Kyle in the air, who lightly breezed past them as he looks around for anything moving overhead.

"Kyle, use those eyes of yours and try scanning for anything nearby" Cara orders him.

"On it"

Kyle immediately flies upwards through the tree branches and up above, the sun was lovely on his feathers. Floating high into the air and following his eyesight at the path in the trees ahead of them, noticing the trees had scratch marks on them.

"Up ahead, scratch marks on the trees, it may have been around here recently"

"We got a track, lets go" Cara says as they all run towards the said trees, where there was bark missing, pokes and scratches ran 8 feet upwards.

"Wow...this stag is huge..." Alyssa said in awe of the markings, sniffing at them with a happiness Kyle had never seen her express before, she must really be in her element he thought.

"Yes, it'll take more than just us if we wish to take it down"

"Should we follow its scent?" Zayne asked his mother as she shakes her head, Kyle flying in circles above them waiting for an order.

"We should split up, Zayne, Alyssa and Kyle will go left and see if the tracks lead anywhere, while me and Adrian will follow the trees, maybe it circled back to confuse us"

"Yes, alpha" all of them say in unison as the group splits in two, leaving to track down the stag.

Alyssa was pretty happy, the stag smelled interesting to her, like a cold juniper berry in the snow, nothing like anything she had smelt before. While Zayne was walking behind as she followed the scent, Kyle's wings were beginning to get tired as he swoops in on Zaynes large head and sits peacefully on his fur.

"Ahhhhh this is nice~" Kyle sighs lightly relieved.

"Yeah, though I never expected you to be able to change your form...I didnt even know witches could do that~" Alyssa chimes in, turning her head back for a second to smile.

"It is cool...though it would've been cool to see what your wolf form looks like" Zayne thought as Kyle thinks it over.

"Well, I'm nowhere near done with the book, I feel like I might never finish it if im honest"

"Why not? look at all you're learning already, its really impressive, mum always told us about Mags and how much goes into protecting the sanctuary...she always said it was intense but I never knew all the things you guys could do was so....so wild!"

"You're in a good mood today~" Kyle said and as he does she shakes the accusation and focuses the scent again.

"Eh, she gets like this on most hunts, she just likes the forest and wont admit it~"

"Shut up, I'm trying to focus"

Alyssa, back in prime concentration, follows the scent through another brush into another smoggy area, the vines beginning to get more clustered and wet as the ground gets slushy, the wolves now in ankle deep water.

"Ugh, this mist is blocking my nose, Its up to you Kyle, reckon you could do some recon ahead and give us a heads up?"

"Sure"

Kyle jumps from Zayne's head and zooms through the trees and vines, his flying exceptional and thought out, the mist did make his feathers feel damper than usual but nothing too bad to weigh him down. And as he soars he suddenly hears something, flapping stationary in the area as he surveys the area.

Hearing the noise again.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuggghhhhhhh"

It was a deep groan of pain, it sounded familiar but he didnt think it could be what he was thinking. Investigating, he swoops onto a tree nearby the source of the noise, and to his surprise, it was not what he was expecting.

It was a man, and he was just standing there, swaying and groaning slightly. If Kyle didn't know any better, he'd assume he was seeing his first zombie, but something didnt feel right about it, how did the man get in and why was he in a Hawaii shirt, dressed like a cheesy tourist in Ibiza.

He didnt turn round but his demeanour...there was definitely something wrong with him.

"Guys...there's someone here...be quiet though"

"Stay there we're coming now"

The two wolf siblings sneak over without being seen or heard, settling just by the tree Kyle was perched on as they try to engage what was happening.

"Why is a human in the forest?"

"Why is he dressed like that?"

"More like, why's he making the noises...I dont see blood, Zombie?"

"No, pretty sure Zombies are covered in blood"

Kyle was slowly losing faith in Alyssa and Zayne as they pour out questions after questions, getting distracted, deciding the only way to find out was to:

CAW CAW!

Kyle flaps his wings and calls out loud, shocking the two as the mans arm twitches slightly, not really reacting but knowing he at least acknowledged it.

"Jesus Kyle, you could've warned us"

"I totally did~" Kyle lied as the wolves slowly advance to investigate, as they circled around to his front, they jump back at whatever his face looked like. Kyle swooped in to see and regretted it immediately.

The man didnt have any eyes, the place where his sockets would be were replaced with solid skin, he was completely blind and swaying to and from with his lips parted in a grimace, moaning slightly every now and then.

"Oh my gods..."

Kyle was staring intently at the man, who seemed to be groaning from despair, not pain.

"What happened to him?"

"Who knows, but we should get the fuck out of here right now" Zayne said, his nerves on high alert, as was Alyssa.

"But we cant leave him like this...what if it was something in the woods that did this?" Kyle asked.

"I've lived near these woods my whole life...and nothing I know that's in here could do this..." Alyssa says with a small faint whisper.

Stunned and not knowing what to do, the three leave him to stand in the clearing, deciding it was best to just leave him be. Kyle was still going over leaving him there but decided he should just follow orders to not fail the first trial, Following Zayne and Alyssa who ran back to the trees before hearing a blood curdling howl.

Kyle didnt recognize it, but instinctively the two share a look and sprint in the direction, making a break between the scarred trees and as things get more orange the bark begins to darken and to everyone's surprise, snow was blending in with the mud until it covered the floor and trees and the rocks were getting more frequent and jagged like spiky knuckles pushing from the earth.

"Okay, this cant be a coincidence we've never run into this before" Zayne says.

"Yeah, somethings off, we need to find mum now it sounded like she was in trouble" Alyssa recedes, following ahead.

"There's wolf tracks here, should lead us to them..."

"Wait"

The two wolves stop at Kyle's word, looking off into the snowy distance and seeing a large column of smoke erupting through the trees, making Kyle swoop ahead to do some recon while the wolves were slowly following behind. Kyle didnt see anything at first but as he got closer he began hearing chatter.

"Not my fault the other one got away, besides, I never forget a pretty face~"

"quit your chatter, the more noise we make the more agitated it gets"

Kyle had heard a man and a woman, they were sitting by a camp fire as the struggles of something caught in a trap worms around in the net, to Kyle's anger, it was Adrian.

The man and woman looked rough and were sporting red looking uniforms of sorts, jagged and scaly, like a dragon.

"There's hunters here, they've caught Adrian but I can't see Cara" Kyle warns the pack as he watches them turn something over on the fire

"Shit, Alyssa sneak over behind them and I'll flank them from the left, Kyle, think you can cut him free?"

"I can try"

"Then let's do this"

They all spring into action with Alyssa heading off behind them, while Kyle had moved towards the writing bag hanging from the tree branch that held an entrapped Adrian, a low growl emanating from the bag.

"I swear when I get out of this bag!" Kyle heard him say with a high tempered voice.

He attempts to peck at the rope on the tree branch, but as soon as he starts, the hunters noticed him, the man throwing his shoe at the raven.

"Get outta here you stupid bird!"

Kyle dodges the attacks and relocates to a safer branch slightly further away.

"He wont let me free him"

"Can you cause a distraction? If we jump out we'll get pelted with silver the second they see us"

"Hmmm..."

Kyle begins to circle in the air above the camp fire they were sitting around, and focuses his attention to the fire itself, feeling a tightening feeling in his head as he recites a spell in his head.

"Dilata~"

In one swift motion, the tightening feeling began to expand, as did the fire which shot out in a large bulb, burning the two hunters closer to the bushes around the small circle, they both shriek in fear at the flames. Giving Zayne and Alyssa an opening to drag them into the bushes, the only thing Kyle could hear was the snapping of bones as blood slowly pools from the bushes.

Kyle soars back down and starts to peck at the rope, it felt weird, like bashing his nose against a wall, but it didnt hurt at all, the rope slowly picking away as the bag hits the floor with a thump.

"Ow!" He heard Adrian groan, his head popping from the bag and shaking it agitated, the braided parts in his mane were slight unraveled and ruffled.

"I thought I saw the stag and stupidly rushed ahead into a trap...we need to find your mother, two others chased her into the forest after I was caught"

"We need to go, did you catch where they ran?"

"No I've been in that disgusting bag for half an hour...its made of wolf skin the sick Dracului!"

"We need to hurry, if there's two then shes outnumbered"

Kyle hadn't waited for an order and neither did the rest, all splitting the forest of any trace for Cara, and after about twenty minutes of talking they heard the sounds of fighting near an opening, the trees thinning and in a vast field of snow. Cara was facing off against the hunters as one brandishes silver knives while the other a cross bow, she was dodging the knives effortlessly, rounding on her and biting hard into her arm, throwing her a few feet away with a thunderous growl.

Kyle swooped in to try and help as the man with the crossbow locks a bolt in and aimed it at Cara, lining up the shot with her heart, blood trickled down his face from a claw mark, a determined glare in his eyes as he launches it.

The bolt flew, but luckily she had seen it coming, it was as if she was moving on air, sliding in and out of the shots he was shooting, As Zayne and the rest of the wolves arrived, the crossbowman turns his attention to the pack, aiming at their charging forms, but Kyle had darted for his head, pecking him from above in quick succession.

With the man distracted by Kyle, Cara was able to pounce on the hunter, and with no hesitation she reaches for his jugular and punctures his throat with her now snarling teeth, the mans eyes wide with fear as they drain of all life, she drops him once he had stopped breathing, trying her best to spit his blood out of her mouth.

"Disgusting Hunters...how have the reign taken refuge in the forest..."

"We killed the other two Alpha, it would've been difficult without the help of our Omega" Alyssa says proudly, as Kyle lands back on Zaynes back, Cara looks up with the blood stained in her fur with a pant of exhaustion, but he could see in her eyes that she was proud of him also.

"Omega, you were put to the trail, and saving your own you have earned your right to hunt with us, you may not be a wolf, but the spirit of the wolf howls inside you, may it live free, may it live wild"

"May it live free, may it live wild" All of them speak in unison, speaking deeply to Kyle's very soul, feeling like it was forever tethered to the pack, something more than family.

Then they all lean up to howl again, loudly into the air, and this time, Kyle joined in, but ravens cant howl so he prolonged his croaks. Flying happily in the cold rush of wind.

"Now that that's settled, where the fuck did this snow come from?"

*

Shaun back at the house was taking ample advantage of being home alone, they were all gone for a few hours and he was enjoying a mini rave to himself, he found glow-sticks in his room the night before and was helicoptering them in his hands, standing on his bed and dancing awkwardly to music on the kiddo stereo in Alyssa's old room.

After he grew bored of that, he decided he should snoop around and see if he could find out if anybody had any secrets lying around, sneaking his way into Zayne and Kyle's room, a cheeky grin on his face as he rubs his hands together in a slow playful cackle.

"Okay big brother, lets see what kissey wissey Zayne is hiding from you~"

He starts rummaging around in drawers and stacks of books Zayne had let Kyle put there for safe keeping, he reads some for a few seconds before chucking them behind him. coming cross a small note addressed to him, he opened it with a confused glance and reads it out loud:

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒮𝒽𝒶𝓊𝓃, 𝐼𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒾𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓋𝒶𝒸𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒵𝒶𝓎𝓃𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓂𝒷 𝐼 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓊𝒸𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝟣𝟢 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒹𝓈.𝐵𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓁𝓊𝒸𝓀, 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒷𝒾𝑔 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝒦𝓎𝓁𝑒 𝓍𝓍𝓍

"Pffft you wouldn't do that~"

And just as he says that, a small hissing sound could be heard from under the bed, Shaun jumps to the door but its now locked, and as he gasps with terror, the bomb counts down.

3.

2.

1.

POOOOOOOOOOOF!!!!

The room fills with an invisible gas, the minute it hits Shaun, he covers his nose and his face scrunches up in disgust as he gags.

"Oh! you crafty arse!" he coughs, slightly laughing as he tries to escape, the door slightly budges when he had pulled on it, opening it just a sliver so he could get through. But the damage had already been done, his clothes, hair and skin all smelled like the gas and he absolutely reeked of it.

"Jesus Christ that is bad...well played bro"

He rushes to the bathroom and stayed in that shower until the smell had calmed slightly, and just as he had gotten out, Kyle and the rest of the pack had returned, hearing them all speaking in hushed voices when they returned, he waited by the banister, listening in on them and what they were saying, whispers and mutters.

"What are we going to do? there could be so many more in there than we know!"

"What we need to do is not panic, they may be here but that doesn't mean they know where we are" Cara reassures them.

"How are we going to fight them if we have no idea how many there, honestly Cara we are way out of our league here" Adrian says, trying to plead with her but her fit slammed on the table.

"WE ARE N-"

There was a silence as Shaun gets slightly closer, getting a better ear on them.

"We are not out of our league, if anything they have no idea who the hell they're trying to hunt, they caught us off guard today, but we'll need to be vigilant..."

"We should relocate-" Zayne chimes in.

"And abandon our home?! never!"

Shaun's heartbeat was thumping in his ears as he fears for they worst, that they maybe weren't as safe as they thought, even after the Nick situation, it had given him a false invincibility up until now. But who were they talking about?

"Cara..." Adrian says, pulling her into his gaze.

"No...I'd rather die here than abandon it to them again...NOT again!"

"What about the kids...what about Shaun?" Alyssa says to the group, Kyle hadn't said a word up until this point.

They all go silent again.

"Maybe...maybe Alyssa should take Zayne, Kyle and Shaun away...so they dont have to stay here while those hunters are paroling the forest"

"We are not leaving without you two...its not an option" Finally Kyle says something, and Shaun agreed with him, he didnt want to leave when he could also fight.

"If that is what you have ordered...I will carry it out" Alyssa says, to the shock of Shaun.

"No...no we need more time to think this through...as a family" Cara says, shooing them all away as people start heading upstairs, Shaun rushes back into his room as Kyle and Zayne had reached their room, but stopped when the two both smell the air.

"What's that smell, its gorgeous~" Zayne says as Kyle nods, a knowing smile on his face.

He turned around and knocks on Shaun's room, after some ruffling inside, Shaun came to the door, opening his door a crack as Kyle peers in with a grin

"So that's why you were in the shower for so long...enjoy my bomb stinky?~"

"Ugh, why does Zayne even like it, smells like a skunks ass died and then was dipped in shit"

"I know, I spent a whole two hours casting it just because I knew you'd sneak in my room, it smells like a nice thing for the actual users of the room, which means only you smell the bad baby bro~"

He closes the door, as Kyle chuckles going into his room as Shaun shakes it off, it wasn't the smell that bothered him anymore, in fact he was getting pretty anxious about how little he was being kept in the loop, he only knew that Kyle was ok because he read the page it was left on, assuming he had gone to joint the wolves.

Now its like he's apart of their inner circle, and was feeling left out of the real issue.

He remembered what his grandfather Nick said the night he invaded the home, hearing his cruel voice in his head.

"He had gotten your witch of a mother pregnant with you, He tried to run to her claiming after all I taught him, after all I endured to pass on my knowledge of the blood-line"

Shaun figured he was never going to get the magical awakening Kyle was hoping for him, maybe he had to take a different approach to helping his family...his new blood line.

Shaun was just as determined to make up for what the family did for them, and in the coming afternoon when everyone had settled down to relax after the confusing day they all had, Shaun had taken the chance to escape out the window of his room, which wasn't as large a height down as Zaynes and Kyle's room.

Sneaking away with a very pink rucksack strapped to his back as he runs off towards the green gate towards town. On a mission that nobody could've talked him from, not even his older brother.

This was just something he had to do on his own.