Blake's POV: Present Time

"You hear that?" I asked Dave, who was sitting beside me. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, the door opened with a loud bang, and wolves washed in blood came pouring into the room. Dave stood up, his claws digging into the table, growling softly. He never was able to control his transformations as much. I quickly stood up in front of Alyssa, allowing her hands to grip the back of my  shirt. She was shaking with fear. I saw that the whole pack was ready to make their transformations. The room was quiet, the torches completely blown out. All I could see was the Silver Hunters' eyes glowing with anger.
Alyssa spoke up amidst the silence that had befallen the packs. Her voice was quavering from terror.

"Who-- who are those?"

Dakota spoke next, which surprised me. "They're members of the Red River Pack. Nobody ever thought they'd cross the river so suddenly, much less dirty their pretty nails with our blood." Now that I paid attention, I could smell some meta-human blood that would most likely belong to the guards outside.
"I don't know why they're here," I said. "But I'm willing to bet it has something to do with you. You should go. A human's no match for a werewolf."

I thought I heard Dakota mutter something about romance, but it was covered by the sound of Alyssa's chair scraping against the floor. As soon as she stood up, she ran out the back door with no hesitation. I turned to Dakota. She had neither fear nor anger in her expression. "Go after her," I commanded, walking next to the door that was about to close.

"I'll stand guard here."

"Whatever, lover-boy." I had to admire her ability to keep her cynicism at a time like this. She looked at me, this time with a gentler expression on her face. "Good luck," she said, her voice now just as gentle.

Dakota reached for the door, but did not catch it before it closed. The sound of the door slamming shut set everyone against each other, and before I knew it, there was blood flying through the air and rubble falling to the floor. There seemed to be more Red River wolves than before, five coming in for every two lost. I had time to see five wolves slipping out the door, probably to catch up to Alyssa. I grabbed Dakota's shoulder before she could reopen the door. She glared at me, her eyes telling me Make up your mind! How could I let her know that there were five werewolves after her without later consequence? Girls are stubborn things.
"You forgot your daggers," I said, presenting her with the spare set she had given me. She insisted I keep them on my person at all times, which at the time I had brushed off as paranoid. However, I couldn't be more grateful now.

"Will I need them?" she inquired, as if she knew they weren't her own.
I nodded. "Five of them went back around. They'll be after Alyssa, I know it."
"Who would've guessed?"

Now, of all times? I didn't have time for this. "Hurry!" I snarled, although she was clearly unfazed. I opened the door, which I admit I should have done sooner, and Dakota bolted out. I closed the door behind me, turning my attention back to the battle.
Thank Lupa I had turned around when I did, or I would have been staked to the door I was standing in front of. I frantically dodged whatever was flying in my direction, and each one imbedded itself into the door. I took a closer look, and felt sick when I realized they were fragments of long bones, with the flesh torn off rather carelessly. I didn't have any weapons on me, and I definitely didn't want to lose control and transform, so I selected the cleanest fragment and pulled it out, cringing the entire time. This wasn't the time to be disgusted, I knew. It didn't seem as if anyone else was trying to get through the back. The bone fragments seemed to come at me entirely by accident. I clubbed the door's handle off and kicked a table in front of it, then I rushed forward to join the fray.

The Red River Wolves had stopped coming into the hall, and they were all engaged in combat. I scanned the room and set my eyes on a large wolf surrounded by at least seven smaller red wolves with no backup. By the way his eyes glared indigo, a startling contrast from his human form, I assumed he was Dave.

"Dave!" I called as I looked around at his opponents. I made eye contact with one brown wolf, her eyes strangely intelligent. "Settle down! I have a plan!"
The wolf turned around, and his eyes roamed until they landed on the spot I was hiding in. He ran towards me, and I moved out of the way just in time for a human-ified Dave to dive through the small opening.  Since Dave was human again, he was half naked. "Dave, why can't you be like everyone else and wear some clothes when you turn back to human?" He shrugged his broad shoulders.
"Why can't you not be Alyssa's mate?"
I looked at him sternly. Where did that come from? "Touché," I answered uncertainly.

He smiled all big. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"The plan is... I don't know. I got nothing. I'm going to be a pack leader and I have nothing." I felt like the world was coming down on me. But something made me click. Dave looked sadly at the ground like a little lost puppy. "Dave, you're a genius!" He quickly looked up.
"Really? I am!" I chuckled. "What we have to do is..."
Before I could say anything, I heard with my wolf ears the sound of flesh tearing nearby. I smelt fresh blood, and I turned my head to the direction I smelt it. I saw my father's head and body falling slowly to the ground with a thud. Above him was a thin girl with long, dark brown, wavy hair to about the middle of her back. She had glossy, kissable lips and her skin was so tan. She wore a black cape with a white tank top that showed off her cleavage. Her mini skirt nicked up so high you could almost see her underwear. She was holding a sword in her right hand, and the other was bloody. She licked the blood off with a wicked smile on her face. A tear rolled down my face. "No!" I got up and went through the hole Dave came in. He tried and failed to grab my wrist. I had so much anger and grief all at once, I could almost feel it hit me. I jumped, and that's when I turned into a wolf and landed on the girl that killed my father. I bared my teeth. I would show no mercy.

But, she was still smiling. Her evil grin made me want to kill her even more. I was itching to bite her head off. But something stopped me. When I looked into her eyes, I lost control of myself. I got off of her slowly. She just kept staring and smiling at me. I sat like a common house dog. She smiled one last time and kissed my nose. She leaned in towards my ear.

"Blake, if you want a real mate, you can find me by the lake," she whispered softly. Her voice sounded like an angel's voice. I sat there waggling my tail like an idiot. She walked towards the door, and she looked back at me. Then she was gone. All the Red River pack wolves were gone. A lot of people were wounded.
Dave came up to me and looked at me funny. "Blake? What happened to you? You looked like you wanted to kill her, but you stopped." I turned back into my human form. I sat on the broken chair next to me and rubbed my temples.
"I don't know, to tell you the truth. I kinda felt... lovestruck." He looked at me, shocked. I heard sobbing. I forgot about my dad. I quickly spun around to see my dad's body right next to his detached head. My mom was weeping by his side.
"Damn you, David. Why would you do this to me? Damn you." She was in pain. I knew we had to have a leader at this time. The whole pack was in the hall, badly hurt. We were outnumbered.
I stood up. "Everyone, may I have your attention?" Everyone looked up at me. "I know you all are mentally hurt or wounded. We all lost a few of our pack members. We even lost our chief. I lost my dad. But besides that, we did a hell of a job beating the Red River pack asses! Yes, we did lose. Yes, we were outnumbered. But they were outnumbered by heart. Our pack is small, but we have a huge heart! Let's not show them grief, or anger. That's what they want. We shall celebrate for surviving. Now if you are injured please go see our Doctor. If a pack member is dead please take them outside to be buried. Thank you. I will make a great feast for all of you."
Everyone began to cheer. They did what they were told. I sat talking to Dave.
I heard something buzzing and saw a small light flicker in the hall. "What the hell?" I walked towards it.
"Blake, wait..." I heard Dave say behind me.
Alyssa poofed in front of me. She had her eyes open but she didn't see me. "Blake!" I heard her scream. I put my hand over her mouth. She was very tense.
"Alyssa, you're fine, just be quiet." I saw she was more relaxed now.
"What's going on? Are there still Red River werewolves around?"
"No," I admitted. It's just that everybody is going to hate you because your existence sparked a war. Not to mention that weird girl. "It's going to take a long time to explain. Where's Dakota?"
"She-- Dakota!" Her eyes widened. "She used this," She said , raising her hand to show me. By then, her eyes seemed to have adjusted enough to see. "What... It's a card now." She said, surprised.
She looked up at me. "She gave up the wishtoken?" I asked blankly.
"She was talking like you wanted me to have it more. Not that I believe her," She said hurriedly. "But she was really stubborn."
"That does sound like her."
"We're going back, right? I know where she is, she said to look for--"
I shook my head. "Like I said, I have a lot to explain."