Big Bad Wolfie
Chapter 58: 57 - The Base

Damn rouges. All they know how to do is pray on the weak.

My aunt and uncle may have been strong fighters and the Seconds on our house, but ten rouges is a lot.

They were only two.

I sighed, letting myself feel only a portion of the real sadness. I'll let myself feel more when I have some time alone and when lives aren't at stake.

But damn.

More death.

More family. Gone.

More people to blame myself for the loss of.

And more life ripped from good people's eyes.

They weren't my favorite people in the world, but they were still good. Deep down, they cared about our house.

Besides, I feel like it's an unspoken rule you don't hold grudges against the dead.

Jason's POV

I watched my girl closely as I fell slightly behind the group because of my injuries.

What hurts most though is my neck.

It f**king hurts it to wiggle my toes, I don't know how Ki did this to Maria.

'She was going to leave us.' He growled.

She was just upset.

'With you.'

Yeah, no kidding.

...I still can't believe you did it.

'Let's just stop talking about it,' he snapped ferociously.

I had to hold back a chuckle. But you sure got a taste of your own medicine, didn't you?

He barked angrily at me and receded back to the back of my mind, where he had been dwelling grumpily after the incident.

My attention was drawn back to Maria. She's been walking towards the outside of the group, keeping to herself.

It's odd. She was the one to start most of the conversations before.

Now that it's just empty space where her voice and laughter used to be, the gravity of the situation has invaded the air.

Now she's in her head.

And so is everyone else.

But I'm more worried about her.

I've come to the conclusion it's never good when she's in her own head.

It's a dark place in there, and I'm sure I haven't seen anything yet. But just by the nightmares that haunt her and the way she immediately assumed I was trying manipulate her by kissing her, I can tell she doesn't have the happiest thoughts.

I can admit some of my advances were rather manipulative(not that they worked). . . But all I was thinking in the moment I kissed her that day was making her feel better. Trying to lessen the pain. And then I f**ked that up too.

I'm such a f**king idiot.

I should just call Master Apollyon and tell him the deal is off. My mate's been through enough pain, I don't need to add any more than I already have.

Maybe Maria and I's forces combined could actually take him when he retaliates for my breaking of our contract.

She seemed pretty confident she could help when she figured out he's the reason I took over her house.

'That puts both of our packs in danger. And we're already dealing with one serious threat. The hybrids. We don't need another.'

Oh, now you wanna be logical.

'Grr.'

I rolled my eyes and dropped it for now, knowing anything I say is gonna go in one ear and out the other.

I looked back to Maria and sighed.

That girl thinks too much.

I say as I'm arguing with my wolf.

But It's funny, because she can come off as not having a care in the world. I can see how on first glance she just seems charismatic, but reckless and immature, without a thought in her head... Mostly because that's what I assumed too.

But that's not it at all.

She thinks.

A lot.

And it's not what most girls her age would be thinking about.

Like my little sister for instance, only a year younger than Maria and all she has on her mind is if her new crush is going to ask her to the dance and what she's gonna wear to it.

While Maria's thoughts are of how to run a house, or win a war, or how this, or why that, or what if, or what does that mean.

Deep s**t like that.

But then she actually figures it out.

Because the Moon goddess decided to gift her some serious intuition along with some genius.

Why she gave her to my dumb @ss, I have no idea.

Seriously because then she turns all the smart thoughts in her head into words, and when someone disagrees, "Why?" She challenges. 'Mhm, she even questions superiors.'

Well, she is a pure blood. In the natural order of things, she doesn't have superiors.

'Grrrr.'

So moody.

I eye Maria and watch her think.

She doesn't show any emotion as she probably processes what we just stumbled upon. She's so beautiful.

I just hope when she's done she won't have come to the conclusion it's all my fault and never forgive me.

It is mostly my fault, though...

But I don't have time to hate myself for it. I'll drown in self loathing after the hybrids are dealt with. Especially if Maria hates me for it.

Why the h3ll not just add it to the list of reasons she has to hate me though?

She's probably lost count by now. I know I have.

We kept walking for hours and the sun was just starting to set, the sky turning a light orange.

I was enjoying the hues it left on Maria's skin and hair when she abruptly stopped.

I frowned.

Her brows were furrowed and she looked confused.

After a few seconds, she spoke, "Do you guys smell that?"

"Oh my goddess, not this again," Cali groaned.

"Shut up Cali," everyone shot back.

She pouted.

"What is it, Mari?" Rose questioned.

"Yeah, I don't smell anything," Stephan looked around.

Maria also looked around attentively, eyebrows still furrowed in concentration.

"Yeah, what's up with that? How come you can smell these things and we can't? I know they have masking abilities, but why can you smell them?" I asked her.

She looked to me, "I was surrounded by them for two years. I know what to look for. You guys are trying to detect the wrong thing," she explained.

"They don't have scent masking abilities, their scents are just naturally harder to detect," she continued. "Stop trying to smell a werewolf or a vampire and start trying to smell if anything seems different. If the air tastes off, or if there's an eerie quiet in the woods, or something smells just a bit different from everything else, that's a sign they might be around."

Everyone seemed uncertain but gave it a try.

I tried extra hard.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

I waited.

And waited.

Really wanting to hear or smell something but... I don't think -

I caught something.

Malaki jumped up to the forefront at the scent.

He growled, suddenly getting really aggressive and defensive.

'Threat,' he growled.

How big of one? I immediately questioned.

He just kept growling uncontrollably.

I walked closer to Maria protectively, out of instinct.

She looked at me.

"You can smell it?" She questioned while nodding. Probably telling by the look on my face.

I nodded back, "I can smell something, and Malaki doesn't like it," I said gravely.

Maria's POV

"It's them," I confirmed.

"What?" Brandon frowned. "We're not even close to the direction of their base. If they're wondering around the woods this far out, they know we're looking for them."

"No. I don't think it's just a small group," I shook my head. "Listen. Do you hear that?"

Everyone paused to listen.

"I don't hear anything," Happy concluded.

"Exactly," I nodded.

"Where are all the animals?" Rose jumped in, getting my thinking.

Silence.

"There's nothing," I continued. "Not even an echo of a cricket or bird chirp from far away. Something scared them all enough to not even come close. A predator."

Realization dawned on everyone's faces and I decided to cut to the chase. "Did anyone consider the possibility there was more than one base?" I paused. "I think we may have stumbled upon one of them."

A heavier silence settled.

"So are we gonna go deeper?" I asked the group.

"What? Are you crazy?" Cali snapped.

"Well this is what we came here for isn't it?" I looked at her.

"Yes but we were just supposed to replace it and then report back to get more forces. Not anything else," she argued.

"No, we're here to get intel and scope the place out. We didn't come all the way out here to replace something we thought we already knew the location of," I shot back.

She whined a little bit before finally agreeing. "Fine, but we need to stop and think -"

"No, no stopping and thinking, we don't need them tracking us here if this really is a base. We either commit and go all the way and think up a stealthy way to get around on the move, or we get far, far away from here. There's no option where we just chill and talk. Speaking of which, we need to make the decision now." I looked around.

There was a slight pause.

"I'm down to go all the way... Whatever that means," Happy spoke up.

"So am I," Stephan nodded.

"I am too," I put in my two cents

I turned to Rosie and Brandon and Brandon sighed, "I guess if you're in, we're in."

"Yeah," Rosie sighed along.

I smiled at them. "Love you guys."

"Mhm," they both rolled their eyes.

I looked to Wolfie and he just silently nodded in agreement, something clearly on his mind.

I pried my gaze from him and it landed on Cali. "So? You in?"

She looked around at the rest of the group and rolled her eyes, "I guess, I am."

"Great," I nodded.

What the frick just happened. OMG, I'm gonna cry.