362 Between A Rock and a Hard Place(Blood-thirsty murderous wolf)...

“Hey, Samson, you said she was going to be in that inn. How come she wasn’t there? Aren’t you supposed to be the rogue general with the strongest sense of smell?” Benji whined, “Start explaining yourself.”

Despite the gravity of their mission, the boy was acting quite childish. There wasn’t the slightest hint of nerves in his voice. Samson was used to this by now. Out of all the Rogue King’s generals, Benji was probably the one who never showed any fear, ‘Must be his insane speed and agility that get to his head,’ the older man thought to himself.

“I don’t need to explain anything, Benji. We merely entered the store shortly after she had left. Now follow me while I try to pick up her trail once more. She couldn’t have gotten that far,” the two of them walked along the streets until they reached a bakery where Samson found himself entering. It was the same situation. Her scent was strong in the bakery, however, he was certain she was not in the bakery.

“Are we seriously going to go through that entire interrogation thing again?” Benji groaned.

“Would you have it any other way? I’ve noticed you take pleasure in hurting people that appear stronger than you,” Samson smirked.

“Yeah, you’re right about that. Hey, Baker, there is been a woman running about. She obviously looks suspicious. If you could point us in the right direction, we would be happy to leave your fine establishment,” the boy rushed the words out his mouth, forgetting his appearance completely.

“Isn’t that a little too bossy for a child?” the baker narrowed his eyes at the boy. These two would have passed for ordinary people or at least, cops, if they hadn’t been wearing dumb sunglasses. Benji couldn’t help the twitch of anger that showed on his face.

“We don’t have time for...” Samson tried to intervene.

“No, Samson... it doesn’t really matter how long this takes. The woman will die,” Benji said through gritted teeth. As a general, getting resistance from those beneath him was not something they were all used to... Samson included. But that’s why it was good for them to work in pairs. That way, they could watch out for each other. When they both forgot to restrain the other... a scenario similar to what happened at the inn would most likely play out... Carnage...

.....

“You forget, Benji... that we actually have a time limit for which we can rampage like this,” the man reminded the boy. The boy cursed, stopping the fangs that had only started to elongate in his mouth. Simon turned to the baker, “Ignore him, good sir. We’ve already lost enough precious time as it is and we would like to find that woman before she or anyone else gets hurt.” Samson tried. They’d already shown a clear amount of their vicious nature to the bakery.

What they didn’t notice, however, was the blood on Samson’s sleeves. For wolves that were used to the sight of blood and playing it off as normal, this easily slipped their mind. The baker noticed this before he said something he would regret. These two were not to be messed with. These were monsters compared to the hysterical woman he’d thoughtlessly sent away.

Monsters he couldn’t defend her or himself against, ‘What did she get herself into? I... Wait, I know that scent... on his sleeves.’ He recognised the scents of the wolves that had fallen to these two almost instantly. Keeping a fluid act, the baker decided to play dumb. ‘I have a wife and child. Getting involved in this might end up leaving my mate a widow. The heartbreak would not be good for her or my son.’

With his mind made up, he replied, “I thought she was dangerous for sure. She went in that direction not long ago. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up to her,” the baker hurriedly pointed them in the direction he thought he saw her go.

This process was repeated when they reached a restaurant moments later. Samson made a point of lying about the woman’s capabilities this time to make it sound like she was a fugitive of the empire. The ruse worked like a charm and had them out of the restaurant faster than any of the other places they had been.

'

The wind that was blowing somewhat viciously made it clear to Samson why he couldn’t tell if she’d just entered or left a store. The scent within the stores was stronger than that on the streets because of the blowing wind that scattered it. Without any way of discerning whether she was in the stores they entered or not, their progress was slow right until the moment they made it to the edge of the forest.

Benji smirked, “So she wasn’t able to get the transport she was seeking after all.”

“No, she wasn’t able to. It looks like we’re going hunting,” the older general chuckled, letting his wolf come forward. Two large vicious wolves with bloodshot eyes were soon tearing through the forest at blinding speeds in pursuit of the woman’s scent.

..........

Beatrice had been running for the better part of an hour by the time her ears caught the sound of the vicious rogues chasing after her. Her fears were confirmed... the two alphas were chasing after her. Their superior wolves were stronger than hers and she was sure they would catch up to her soon.

A loud howl reached her ears, pulling her out of her thoughts. They had closed the gap so fast that she could now hear the rapid ploughing of their paws and claws against the forest floor.

In an effort to get away from them, the female wolf rushed for the river abandoning the cover of the trees. A large crimson-eyed brown wolf tore out of the forest the moment she’d made it to the water. Stunned by the sudden flash of fur, Beatrice dived into the rushing tide.

The water was rougher than she could have imagined and immediately forced her under without an ounce of mercy. Beatrice’s grey wolf struggled against the tide. The brown rogue wolf struck the ground in anger and started to follow the struggling wolf downstream. Striking aimlessly at the water, Beatrice fought to gain control of her dizzying ride.

She’d already swallowed a few gulps of water whilst trying to get some air, choking her as some of it escaped into her windpipe. Her head felt like it was on fire from the inconsistent supply of air. She tried to hold her breath when necessary and nearly failed to catch a breath when she was able to. The ever-increasing panic did not help make this any easier.

She’d long lost her grasp on the concept of up and down. All that mattered now was survival. Without noticing, she pushed herself closer to the bank the brown wolf was waiting from. The wolf made a sound akin to a smug chuckle.

With one swift swipe of his deadly paw, the brown wolf struck her head, knocking her ruthlessly against a rock. The grey wolf went limp, going unconscious and succumbing to the ruthless tide that carried her along even faster.

Before Samson could react, the water took the unconscious wolf away, speeding up even more than it had before. Another dirty-grey wolf rushed beside him, watching the female get washed away by the waves. They both watched the river widen and spread out into massive rapids with plenty of rocks jutting out all over. The grey wolf crashed into a few of them before drifting over to what seemed like the edge of the world.

‘You don’t think...’

‘Yeah, it’s a waterfall,’ Samson confirmed through the mind link. The two of them watched her go over the edge. Rushing to the bottom of the waterfall didn’t help them find her. The river muddled her scent and drowned it out.

They weren’t going to be able to find the grey wolf even if they tried, ‘I don’t think she could survive that, Benji. We’ll report what happened to the Rogue king. It’s not like we can find her body either. The river chooses where to dump it and we don’t have the luxury to...’ Just then, the sound of a plane reached their ears. ‘Damn it... that can only mean one thing.’

‘Run, Samson. This is no time to think,’ Benji’s voice rang through the mind link. Looking to his side, the dirty-grey wolf had already vanished. The older alpha wasted no time in running as well, ‘We have to make a ten-mile distance to escape their range of detection, so run like your life depends on it... dammit.’

‘My life does depend on it. Do not lecture me,’ the man bit back, his paws striking the ground as hard as he could to make the fastest getaway he could manage, which made him appear as a blur to the normal eye.