We are about fifteen minutes walk to the pack's second gate when Eric pulls the car to the side of the road. Ivar also parks behind him. We all get out of the car and I look around me, surprised at the amount of change that had taken place since the last time I walked down that same road with Eric and some of our teachers and classmates back then.
"Wow, Eric. These had grown quite tall..." I say in amazement as I look around me. The long road leading to the pack's second gate is now lined with tall trees compared to the last time I saw the place.
"Yeah..." Eric replies with a smile. How old were we then when the pack did the 'plant a million tree' campaign?... Nine?... Ten?" He asks and I quickly supply him with the answer.
"Ten years old. We were in fifth grade then, remember?" I remind him. "It's been eighteen years. See how tall they've grown." I say as we both walk a bit further away from the rest while taking in our surroundings
"So how does this place work now? Is it still like the rest of the two gates that the Gamma guards can see far and wide away from it?" I ask since he had always kept in touch with everything happening in the pack during the time that I didn't give a damn.
"Yeah, it is." He replies before pointing in the direction of the woods. "Now it's even easier. They can hide behind these tall, fat trees and easily ambush us."
"Yes. I'm thinking we should take the woods because they will be expecting us to drive and not walk. We'll surprise them as much as they want to surprise us" I say and he nods in agreement
When we are done talking, we walk back to where the others stand, waiting for us.
"How many Gammas are stationed per gate?" I ask Victoria.
"We're sixteen In number and there are four guards per gate. We each get a day off once a week."
I nod
"So there's every possibility that four Gamma are standing guides right now while five including the Gamma chief are waiting in the woods to help ambush us, right?"
She cocks her head aside for a couple of seconds like she's considering my question,
''Yes, it's possible." She replies and nods in agreement.
"Okay, you and your mother should take that car and head back to your house," I say, pointing to the car Ivar, Timothy, and her mother came in. "You can return it later. Thank you for your help so far. Eric will contact you when it's time to arrange for patrol."
I turn to Eric to discuss our approach when her words stop me
"Head back to our house? But I thought..."
"What, did I stutter, or were my words not clear enough for you to understand!?" I snap with irritation. My men don't ever question my command, who the fuck does she think she is!?
"Sorry Alpha..." She says with a quick bow and immediately starts walking to Ivar's car with her mother in tow.
After they'd driven off...
"Eric, you and Ella should take one side of the woods while Ivar and Timothy take the other side. I'll drive the car and..."
"Wait. You want to offer yourself as bait!?" Eric interrupts, looking at me as if I've gone out of my mind. "C'mon man, are you sure about that? We don't know what sort of ambush they have waiting for us..."
"What sort of ambush can they manage to muster up in that few minutes that it took us to drive down here?" I ask them all.
"Not much if you ask me. We still have an advantage over them, believe me. So let's get to it. We'll of course communicate through the mind link while we're apart and remember, now we're taking them alive so try not to kill them."
I already had the car door open as I talked and immediately entered inside before Eric could think of another reason to stop my plan of driving towards the gate alone.
"Remember guys, keep your ears and nose open, and while you track, remember to check the trees. It's getting dark out here and it's going to be darker inside the woods so speed is paramount" I say finally and start the car.
'Be careful' I smile when Eric's voice says through our mind link that excludes the rest.
'Yeah, you too brother.' I reply
I'm halfway to the gate when the attack begins. I suddenly start hearing rapid gunfire and before I can say the word gun through the mind link I hear a loud bang. Immediately, I realized my front right tire had been blown out as the sound of air whooshing out assaulted my ears.
I've been in worse situations not to know keeping calm is paramount in situations like this. I keep a firm grip on the steering wheel to maintain control of the swerving car before gradually releasing the accelerator to slow down.
I'd barely pulled the car to the left side of the road when a bullet whizzed in through the right car window, missing my head by about a quarter of an inch.
"Oh, shit!" I swear out loud as I immediately duck down inside the car." I was expecting to be ambushed and surrounded by wolves but never be rapidly shot at with bullets flying all around me.
'Eric!...' I only manage to shout through the mind link before another bullet flies in through the window again
"Son of a bitch!..." I curse out loud again.
'I'm being shot at guys! They're really trying to kill me, c'mon! You need to locate them now!
'Hold on, we can see the bastard and we're almost on top of him...' I breathe a huge sigh of relief when Eric finally answers but did I just hear him say 'hold on'?"
'Nah! No way am I staying hunched down for the lucky bullet that will finally do the job.' I reply and push the left door about an inch wide to see if anyone is shooting from that side.
When I didn't hear any shooting, I opened the door a bit wider and slither out of the car, making sure to stay crouched down. I start to consider my next course of action, and before I can make up my mind on what to do next, something furry comes flying out of the woods and straight toward me.
I'm not invincible to bullets but I was born and trained to war with, and bring down werewolves that are far bigger than mine. I hardly shift to my wolf form when I fight. I only do that if the situation is extremely dangerous and since I can't describe this situation as extremely dangerous, I keep Kane at bay as my fangs and claws begin to extend.
'Eric, you guys need to take care of the shooters now! I've got furry company coming in my direction. I shout through our link and immediately rise from where I'm squatted, running towards the wolf coming for me.
I would have loved nothing more than to pierce this son of a bitch's side with my claws and rip his heart out but I remember the discussion I had with Victoria. The goal is not to make myself look like a monster to these shifters, it's to prove to them what liars and manipulators Evelyn and her cohorts are.
This wolf is about half of Kane's size so it's hardly a threat. It's easy for me to grab it around the throat with one hand and squeeze his windpipe tightly, enough not to kill but to put him to sleep.