Her Pack by Tamara White
Epilogue
Ten yearslater
Aiden? Where the hell did you go?
My eyes examine the woods, wondering where on earth he could have gone. He's too damn new at being one of us. He can't just go and run off without back up. That’s precisely why I told him I would come with him on this hunt.
There are other hunters out and about tonight, and none of them know of Aiden’s secret yet. He’s only been one of us for a few months and while he’s slowly starting to get control of his wolf form, he’s not quite ready to handle this on his own yet. Not while the full moon is riding us.
It’s been ten years and even I still struggle with this change on the nights the moon is at it’s peak. If the hunters were to find out though, they’d probably kill him.
It seems there wasn’t a big deal with them now knowing we could turn humans with a bite, because they assumed so anyway.
The hunters only tolerate me coming out on the hunts because I'm the Queen of my packs. They know I’m faster and stronger than them. I also provide an advantage when they are dealing with too many rogues for them to handle.
Besides, if they harm me, they will have a whole damn species hunting them. I’m sure the hunters don’t want that.
Dani, come quick. I think the rogues are hunting a pregnant woman.
I take off at a run, hoping he's wrong.
The rogues are getting bolder with each day that passes. They hunt and kill the humans, sometimes turning them if they need to increase their numbers. It's not something I approve of, which is why I'm out helping on this hunt.
We need to get their numbers under control, and quickly. The hunters have been dying off, the rogues slowly killing them off one by one. A couple of Aiden’s friends were hurt the last time they attempted to track down a group of rogues, so I’m trying to help where I can.
If they keep going off like this though with only half a plan, then things are going to continue to escalate until they’re all dead.
I had hoped my presence would assure them that this is a matter we're looking into, and that they didn't need to keep trying to hunt them down on their own, but the hunters are stubborn.
I catch up to Aiden's trail, scenting his adrenaline and all the other emotions he feels with every new scent he comes across.
That was a new one for all of us to adjust to. We could scent strong emotions like fear or arousal but now our senses are almost ten times stronger than they were.
I run as fast as my legs will carry me, hoping no one else dies tonight.
When I see Aiden’s wolf through the trees, I put on a burst of speed, skidding to a stop beside him.
One of the rogues is standing over a heavily pregnant woman. Her arm is bleeding, but she’s clutching her stomach protectively with no thought to anything but the safety of her unborn baby.
I know without a doubt she will be one of us. Her bite ensures it.
Damn it, the guys aren’t going to be too happy about this. They hate when I bring home strays. But it’s what must be done.
Although we’ve never had a pregnant woman in our care before. I’m not sure we’ve ever heard of a person being bitten while pregnant. Hopefully the bite won't negatively affect her unborn child.
Aiden growls, distracting the rogue for a second so he can dive at it and push it off the woman. They go tumbling away from the campsite, snarling wildly at each other.
I shift into human form and approach the woman slowly. She scrambles into a seated position watching me with wide eyes. I hold my hands out in peace, trying to show her I mean her no harm. I just want to make sure she’s okay.
The poor woman starts sobbing, clutching her stomach. “Please,” she begs, “Please don’t hurt me or my baby. Just leave us. I won’t say a word. I promise.”
"Hey, it’s all going to be okay. I'm so sorry we didn't make it to you sooner. You're safe now though."
Her gaze lifts to mine, her hands cradling her stomach. "What are you?"
"I'm exactly what you saw a minute ago. Your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you.” Her eyes run over me with concern. “But I'm also human. Though, I'm afraid that the bite on your arm means you too will now become like me. I promise you my pack will help you adjust and keep you safe. Your life won't have to change much."
"I'll become like you?" She gasps in horror. "No, I don't want to be a monster!" Fresh tears start to stream down her cheeks as she glares at me accusingly. "What of my baby? Will she be the same?"
I glance down at her swollen stomach, hating to be the bearer of bad news. "I'm sorry but there's every chance your child will also be born like us. Though she could still be born human. I honestly don't know for certain. You are the first woman who has been bitten by one of my kind that was carrying a child. Whatever happens though, we will work through it together."
A howl fills the sky and I curse under my breath. It's Aiden calling for help.
I glance away in the direction it came from, then back to the woman. "I’m sorry, I have to go and help my friend. But I will be back soon, I promise. Then I can answer all your questions."
I shift and take off towards where the growls and yips of pain can be heard. I arrive to see two wolves attacking Aiden. A third slowly creeping up behind him.
I leap into action, ripping one away from him, snapping its neck in a few seconds. It's amazing how quick I can kill now. I guess practice really does make perfect. It helps though when you have surprise on your side.
The other wolf that was sneaking up on Aiden turns its attention to me, snarling rabidly. It tries to attack me, going for my legs but I don’t let it get the upper hand, snapping down on its throat and ripping the flesh from its body.
The fresh blood fills my mouth and has my wolf craving more death and destruction.
Aiden manages to get the upper hand with the wolf he's fighting and rips out his throat, leaving the wolf to die in its blood. He’s on his feet, panting in exhaustion. I knew I should have made him stay behind. He’s not ready to be doing this as a wolf.
We train as wolves when we're at my house or at theirs, but it's not as much as he needs for a newly turned wolf. I keep telling him he needs to be more committed to one life or another. He can't have both.
Come on, there are another dozen this way.
I follow after him and we spend the rest of the night finding the rogues and killing them off one by one. In total it ended up being about seven by the time the sun starts to rise in the distance. When we couldn’t scent them any longer, we knew it was time to pack it in.
We dragged each and every body we had killed, piling them in a location that would be easy for the hunters to find, then we headed back to where we had stashed all our stuff.
We shifted back to human, then once we were dressed and ready, Aiden called one of the hunters who had hung back as a guard, Anton I think his name was. He was responsible for cleanup duty so all the other hunters could simply leave when the night was over.
After Aiden had relayed the location of the bodies, we both took off back towards the campsite where the girl was. Our job hunting was done, now it’s time to clean up the casualties.
"Let's go find the girl so we can get home. We've gotta take her back with us so we can monitor her when the change occurs. We might even need to bring in a pack doctor and a human one to oversee the birth of her child," I say aloud, thinking of all the possibilities.
My land has been set up to cater not just for me and my mates, but for others who wish to come stay with us. We have many flats and cabins created on the property for reasons such as this.
When I came back from the dead, I had to help the people in our packs adjust to the new changes, but It didn’t take long before I had to help humans adjust to becoming one of us.
So many idiots of our pack went out and bit people, just to see if they would turn. I had to make it a ruling that no human was to be bitten without consent both from me and the human in question. It took a while for people to realize I would follow through on the threat of imprisoning them if they broke my ruling. But apart from the rogues, and the few humans I’ve allowed to be turned, we’ve had peace.
We've been doing our best over the years to get the rogues under control and we had finally made some headway when one wolf went on a spree. He turned anyone and everyone he could until we finally caught up with him and took care of him.
But the issue is that so many people were turned and had no clue of the rules, of what was to be done or not done, it meant people out there killing who could actually be saved.
Aiden and I reach the spot in the woods where I left the woman waiting, only she's nowhere to be seen. The area is splattered with blood, her grey tent covered in bloody handprints.
My nose crinkles when I see a placenta discarded on the ground. Did she give birth? This is a lot of blood, even for a woman who's just given birth.
"Is that..." Aiden has noticed the afterbirth, his face going green. Considering he has two kids, you'd think he would be able to handle the sight of afterbirth more than I would but I guess not.
"Yeah, it looks like she had the baby." I glance around the camp site, my eyes landing on a knife, the scent coming from it a mix of human and wolf.
"Or not," I murmur, sniffing the air around it. It's almost like... No, no one would cut their own child from their body. Would they?
The more I move around the campsite and notice the different bits and pieces, the more I'm convinced. She cut the baby from her womb, left it over by a tree, then packed up her supplies and left.
The scent of the baby is stronger than her so I have no clue how long she left the child unattended. Maybe she had hoped to kill them both rather than turning, but she would have known after pulling the baby from her body that it doesn't work like that. After the first bite, the humans start healing. Especially if it’s on the night of a full moon.
"She cut the baby from her body, wrapped it in blankets and left it by the tree over here." I gesture at the spot of disturbed dirt. The soft scent of another person is here, but it's so faint I can barely pick up on it. The only identifier I can make out is that it was a human. "I'm guessing she knew I would return and left the baby for me to find, but someone else must have stumbled upon it first. Someone human by the smells of it."
"She cut her baby out and left it in the woods knowing that there were rogues out here? Who does that?"
I agree with him, but I don't say it aloud. She was probably just scared. To go to such drastic lengths by cutting her child from her body, that’s a move made by a desperate woman. I have no clue why she left the baby behind but I doubt we will find it now. The human is long gone. I can barely scent him now, even the child's sent is almost gone.
By the time we would make it to any location where he could have had a car, the scent would be fully immersed in among the rest of human kind.
"Come on, we better get going home. There's no point searching for them now. The scent trail is almost gone." It kills me not to search, but it’s pointless. I’ve had to learn over the years there are times when to give up.
Aiden and I leave the camp site as it is. If the human is reported missing, the humans will come along the site and set up a search party. If we covered it up and it was discovered we had done it, it could draw more attention to our existence. We need to keep a low profile until we get the situation with the rogues under control.
When we reach my car, I get in the driver’s side, and sigh. I grip the steering wheel tight, my mind stuck on thoughts of the child. My gut is telling me that I should have searched for the baby. For the human who took the child, but I also know the futility in doing so.
As Cam and Eli keep telling me, I can't save every human I cross paths with. And if I keep trying to, eventually I'll crumble under all that pressure.
"You okay?" Aiden glances over at me with worried eyes. "You're thinking about the baby, aren’t you?"
"Yeah," I admit with a sigh. "I became a doctor to help people. Knowing that woman cut her baby from her womb without any medical attention, without sanitary conditions, it has me concerned. What if the baby isn't okay? What if the mother develops an infection? I just wish I had the power to help everyone."
"If you had the power to help everyone, you wouldn't actually be helping anyone." I glare over at him, recognizing Lia's words.
She's told me many times over that not having special powers was the best thing for all of us because it meant I had to help the packs with what I had in my heart.
"Seriously? You’re quoting my sister now?"
He shrugs, his eyes twinkling playfully. "Well, sometimes she can be a pain in the ass. But other times, she's right. You have done more for our people than is humanly possible, Dani. Not to mention that you are now a resident at one of the biggest hospitals in the state. You are going above and beyond to help those you can. You just need to accept that one, not everyone can be saved and two, that not everyone wants to be saved. That woman knew you were coming back. You said so yourself. If she chose to run, then that was her choice. The fate of her child is not your fault."
I lean my head back on the seat with a sigh. He's right, of course. It just really sucks. "Ugh, I hate when other people are wiser than me," I grumble under my breath. I'm sure that each of my mates would agree with him and offer up a similar explanation. I'll feel better once I'm home and someone has their arms wrapped around me though.
"Let's go home then," I say, starting the car and doing my best to dispel my mind of thoughts of the child out there. Something tells me though that I will find her again. Call it what you will, foreboding or intuition, I just know we'll cross paths again soon.
