Running with Wolves

Thank you all for the great feedback on Chapter 3 of RwW. I will continue to try and finish the chapters quickly and on a consistent time line. A big thanks to my editors MarieFlower and mordbrand, because without them I would be a hot mess. Please feel free to continue to send feedback and vote! I hope you all enjoy Chapter 4.

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Dominic was soon surrounded on three sides by giant, teeth-baring wolves. They were even bigger up close, a few almost eye level with his chest. There were also the two strange half canine/half human beings with them, making the group even more imposing. The male stood directly in front and was easily seven and a half feet tall, while the other, a female by the looks of it, was closer to six.

Their coloring varied greatly between each wolf; some being shades of gray, while others were different shades of brown, red, or blond. The tall hybrid female was a light sandy color, while the male was a deep brown.

Each of them was more than strong enough to take Dominic down on their own, his knife about half the length of just one of their canine teeth. It was a terrifying display, but Dom could still hear his friends upstairs, so he held his ground.

As the wolves settled into their positions, the female hybrid broke out of formation to approach the front door. Her clawed hand grasped the handle and, with a swift jerk, it snapped off. Someone outside pulled it open and Orion, Sol, Misty, and an unknown and very nude man came walking in. The naked man was taller than Dominic, maybe even by half a foot, built to last, and hung. It didn't seem to brother anyone that he was naked, so Dominic ignored it. Not like he hadn't been around naked men in odd situations before.

Sol led the group, Orion at her side with the two others behind them. No one else followed them into the building, but the she-wolf hybrid fell into step behind them as protection.

Dominic could see where Misty got her looks from. She was the spitting image of her mother with her blond hair and elegant face. He could feel as Misty walked through the door the strange pull he had briefly felt just before his escape, tugging at his core, making him want to go to her. He held back, not willing to give up his position at the bottom of the stairs, using his anger at her and the situation to give him the resolve he needed.

The unknown man held enough similarities to Orion that it wasn't a huge leap to assume they were father and son. They even walked similarly; shoulders back but relaxed, stride confident and casually paced with the two women in their presence. They both seemed calm.

The two women looked like they were going to war. Sol's face was relaxed, but her eyes held a spark of determination. Misty's steps were measured and looked a bit forced, like she was holding something back, as if even a small lapse in control and she would lose her composure. She locked eyes with Dominic, and for a brief moment they flashed gold before she shut them tight, shaking her head.

The four approached the line of growling beasts, the wolves parting like the Red Sea at their approach. Sol stopped just in front of the line of wolves, inserting herself as the leader of her pack. She didn't speak, seeming to decide against it at the last second, and Orion stepped forward taking her place. It looked like he was going to be the lead negotiator.

"Dominic." His voice was level and low.

"Orion." Dominic matched his tone.

"You have caused quite a stir this evening, leading us on this merry chase. I do not think any other Destined such as yourself has ever posed such a challenge to a wolf pack before."

"I'm flattered."

"You should be." Orion smiled slightly. "You left before we could have that talk. I was under the impression you wanted answers."

"I do."

"Well, we are all here now. I would prefer to do this back at our Den, but I can answer some of your questions now if you prefer."

Dominic shifted his weight to his other foot. "What do you want with me? You've put in a lot of effort over an accident and a spilt cup of coffee. I doubt that's the reason for all of this."

The big man sighed. "You are right. That encounter, while it did spark this entire event, is not why we hunted you as we have. What I want is for you to come with us, without any further fighting, and to become a part of our pack."

"Why?" Why him? He was no one special.

"You are my daughter, Misty's, Destined." Behind Orion, Misty flinched and grumbled under her breath. Sol snarled at her much like a dog does at an unruly puppy.

"I keep getting called that, but I don't know what it's supposed to mean."

Orion gestured to the wolves surrounding them. "As you can see, we are not human. We are lycan, shape shifters, or werewolves. Whichever you prefer. As lycan, each one of our souls has a pair, or second half that it searches for each time it is reincarnated. Our wolves are born knowing who their other half is, and we spend our lives searching for them. We call these pairs Destined Mates, because it is destiny that they find each other."

"And you think I am Misty's Destined Mate?"

"I do not think, I know. Our wolves are never wrong when it comes to things such as this. Even if our human sides have," Orion made a sideways glance in his daughter's direction,

"some difficulties, accepting who and what are our Destines are." Misty bowed her head in what looked to Dominic like a mix of shame and denial. So she wasn't happy with him being her Destined? 'Well I'm not exactly thrilled either so she can shove it.'

"You make it sound like I don't have a choice in the matter."

Orion looked somewhat guilty. "I'm afraid not. This decision was made for you before you were even conceived. But even if it were not true, we cannot allow you to leave now."

Dominic stared hard at Orion. What did he mean by that? "I don't understand..."

It was Sol that answered. "Wolves have a very strict code when it comes to humans knowing our secret. We cannot risk the human race becoming aware of us; it would be too dangerous. The moment it was revealed to you what we are, you no longer had any other choice." She lifted her eyes to the overhead office. "None of you do."

It took a second for the pieces to click for Dominic, but when they did he paled and moved the knife from his side to grasp it in both hands, despite the pain in his right shoulder. The wolves growled in warning, shifting their weight forward. "No."

Sol persisted. "You have no choice. None of us do."

"No! They have nothing to do with this!" The growling became louder, but he didn't take notice. He could feel his breathing become shallow as he began panicking over the realization what he had done by coming here.

"You made them a part of this when you came to them for help."

"You won't touch them!" Dominic raised the knife to point it at Sol.

A wolf lunged for him.

"NO!" Without warning, Misty shot forward, her dress ripped to pieces as her body shifted to something non-human.

White fur sprouted all over her body, covering her from head to toe. It was thickest on her head going down to her neck, following a path down her back to a thick bushy tail and long legs. It grew thinner around her chest, leaving her c-cup breasts bare, and down her stomach where it looked like just a thin layer of white fluff. Her hands grew long, sharp black claws. Her feet did as well, becoming more canine than human looking and adding to her height. Before she had been close to 5'8", but with the transformation she would easily stand closer to a height of 6'4. Misty's face also elongated, but not as far as the male's had, and canine like teeth grew from her jaws. Her ears traveled up to the top of her head, creating adorable tufted triangles. The only non lethal looking thing about her.

Dominic had never seen anything so terrifying or amazing.

The transformation from start to finish lasted maybe four seconds, before Misty in all her white glory slammed into the gray wolf that had lunged for Dominic. Their bodies collided and fell to the ground in a pile of snarling fur and claws. They fought it out as all the other wolves fell into a controlled panic, like they knew what they should be doing, but everything in them was telling them to break up the fight. Sol and her mate stood stoically in their original positions, the naked man once again a wolf and standing guard in front of them in case the fight fell too close.

Dominic was stuck where he was, having dove down out of the way of the two fighting monsters. He couldn't run for the door, Sol and Orion were in the way, and he couldn't move to the side without running into one of the wolves. He had no doubt they would take the opportunity to take him down if he gave them a chance. His only option was to take higher ground and try to make it to the stairs. The fighting pair was just to the left of them, moving in and out of his path, but he saw an opening when the gray retreated to try and get a better vantage, and made a run for the steps.

As the two fought, they were not paying attention to where Dominic was. When he made his move for the stairs, Misty had her back to him and when the other wolf lunged for her throat they both fell directly on top of him before the other wolves could react. He ended up slamming into the metal stairs on his stomach. He could feel the sharp edges dig into his skin, sure to leave another set of bruises, but Dominic had too much adrenaline going through him to do anything more than acknowledge that he would feel the pain later and try to climb on hands and knees up the steps to safety.

One paw made contact with Dominic despite his efforts to protect himself, landing on his shoulder from behind and tearing off his bandage. With the gauze went the scab and blood clots that had formed, making him cry out in pain. Misty seemed to go berserk when she caught sight of his blood. She grabbed hold of the slightly bigger wolf, lifting it and throwing it several yards away. The large creature landed with a thud and a whimper, not moving.

Misty threw her head back and let loose a victorious howl. It echoed throughout the building, making Dominic shutter in primal fear. He turned to look down the steps, spotting his knife on the ground at the feet of a black wolf. It had been ripped from his hand when they fell on him. The wolf stared him right in the eye as it put it's paw over the handle and, with a digging motion, flicked it behind the line of wolves. Asshole. Dominic could have sworn he heard the damn thing snicker.

When Misty finished, her eyes came down and took in the ring of wolves around her. She growled, in what Dominic interpreted as a warning. The other wolves backed down. Misty seemed satisfied enough with their submission that she turned her back to them and focused on Dominic.

He was still on the stairs, one hand clutching his shoulder to try and stop the blood that was running down his naked torso to soak his pants and create a small puddle on the metal step he was leaning on. He was focused enough on his pained shoulder

that he didn't notice her move.

When he looked up from his shoulder, he came eye to eye with a wolf-faced Misty. He yelped and flinched back, accidentally placing his hand in the puddle of blood and slipping. He landed hard on his back against the angled metal, one stair digging right on his injured scapula. His eyes closed tight in pain, and when he opened them, Misty was hovering above him. Her face was slowly becoming less wolf and more human. Dominic just stared as her features moved back to their original places on her face, reshaping themselves to look like those of a human. She really was a lovely woman, her wild hair and the glowing eyes adding to her allure rather than making her look terrifying, as they should have.

Dominic could feel when Misty's legs moved to rest on either side of his hips, braced on the step he was sitting on and settling herself closer to him. Her eyes roamed over his face and neck for a moment, studying him, before focusing in on his shoulder. She whined at the sight of the blood still leaking from the deep graze, before leaning forward with an open mouth.

"H-hey what the hell are you- AHH!" Misty didn't hesitate. She stuck out her tongue and began licking his wound. Dominic freaked out a bit, not understanding what she could be thinking and tried to move away. When he did she growled and grabbed him by his other shoulder and right arm to hold him still. She was incredibly strong.

She looked him in the eye, and something passed between them. Dominic could feel her inside his head, pushing her thoughts and feelings onto him. Her intentions and desires. It was overwhelming but in a strange way, nice.

She wasn't going to hurt him, just help him. She was worried about him.

Dominic calmed and settled back down. Misty turned back to her task. Her tongue stung at first, but soon it just felt warm. It made his body tingle from that one spot radiating outwards. She continued her work until it no longer hurt, or even felt sore. Just tingly.

When she seemed satisfied, Misty nuzzled her nose into his neck and let out a purring growl. Her body settled fully on his, molding them together. She stayed there a moment, but rose up as if realizing something. There was blood still all over him and now it was on her. She leaned back down, and Dominic could feel her breasts press against his chest, rubbing down to his abdomen as she dragged her tongue along his body. She cleaned up some of the blood on his chest, working her way down his pecs and stomach. It tickled some when she cleaned around his belly button and down to the edge of his sweats, making him flinch and his abdomen muscles clench.

Finished with her grooming she climbed back up the steps, her chest still rubbing along his body, making him very aware of himself. He kept in control, but her body moving above him the way it was made him feel honest arousal. Not like when he forced himself to conjure up something in his head to get hard for a client, but true untainted desire for her. Just her being on top of him made him want to lift his arms up and hold her, kiss her, take her. He hadn't felt that in a long time.

It scared him.

His fear seemed to flip a switch in Misty. One moment she was dragging her nose through the thin layer of black hair on his chest, the next she was sitting up, her naked hips still resting over his and her hands on his chest propping her up. Her eyes began to dim. As soon as they returned to their bright hazel color, she seemed to realize what she was doing, and scrambled off of him to the opposite rail.

Misty looked a bit panicked. "This can't be happening."

Dominic's eyes widened in indignation. Was she serious? She was doing this to him, not the other way around. He was about to tell her so, when she jolted to her feet, took one more look at him, and ran down the steps and out of the building like hell hounds were on her heels. Orion turned to watch her go, but made no move to follow.

Sol simply sighed and closed her eyes. What Misty just did seemed to really disappoint her. "Augustine." The tall blond wolf turned her head to look at Sol. "Stay with her." She woofed in acknowledgment and ran after the beautiful blond that had turned Dominic's life upside-down. But he had more important things to think about right now, like his friends.

"I don't care what you say, or what you think I am," Dominic grabbed the rail and attempted to stand, but the pain was too much and he slumped back down. "I won't let you hurt them."

Orion stepped around his son, ignoring his growl of warning, and approached the steps. Dominic was suddenly too tired to tell him to stop and just watched him as the giant of a man ascended the stairs towards him. He knelt down and looked Dominic in the eye. "I will promise you what I promised my son.

"None of your friends will be harmed, so long as they do not fight us. Convince them to surrender, come with us peacefully, and you all will be safe. That I swear. If you continue to fight this, fight us, it won't be just you that keeps getting hurt." He stooped down a bit further, practically whispering. "Our laws are clear and strict when it comes to matters such as these. We would never stop searching for you, Dominic. How long do you honestly think you would be able to protect them from a pack of hunting wolves? What would you be willing to sacrifice if you tried?"

Dominic was about to snarl out his answer when he heard the metal legs of the beds being dragged away from the door. He looked up in time to see the door was open about half way and watched as Ben came stepping out, Becky in hand. "Get away from him!"

Dominic knew that was a bad move. He had just lifted a knife before and gotten a single wolf to attack him, a gun would bring down a lot more heat. "Ben, no!"

"It's all right." Orion stood and began stepping backwards down the stairs. "It will give you all a chance to talk." He looked down at Dom once more. "Consider what I have said to you, Dominic."

Ben stepped forward and both Garrett and Jarod rushed out to help Dominic. Garrett began looking him over, whispering as quietly as he could. "What do we do Dom? We saw the fight from the window. We can't fight them off like this. How are we getting out of here?"

For once, Dominic didn't have an answer for them. How would they get out of this? They were completely surrounded by creatures three times their size, armed literally to the teeth. Even if by some miracle they did get past them inside the warehouse, there was no telling how many were surrounding them outside in the trees.

They were hours away by car and days away by foot from any sort of help. Orion was right; there was no way to get out of this without risking their lives and losing someone. Penny would slow them down considerably; there was no way to run with her. And Jarod's medical issues would severely cripple them if and when they flared up. Dominic tried to think of one way, any way, to get them out of this, everyone alive and safe. But, how safe could you be with wolves hunting you for the rest of your life?

Dominic grabbed his friend's hand to stop its examination. "I'm sorry."

Ben had moved to stand next to them, gun raised high. "This isn't your fault man, let's just figure out a way out of this. What's the plan?"

Dominic looked Garrett in the eye. "I'm so sorry."

Jarod faltered a bit, looking at his friend. "It's OK Dom, just tell us the plan. Come on man, there has to be a way out of this." He looked in the direction of the wolves, looking terrified.

Garrett shook his head. "There is no plan, is there?"

Dominic bowed his head and shook it. "We can't fight them off. Not this many. And we can't run from them. I'm too hurt to even try, and you won't make it without a car. Lorena cleaned us out so we have no cash." He pulled in a shuttering breath. "Orion swore to me, if we went with them without a fight, you wouldn't be hurt."

"Are you fucking crazy? Did you hit your head or something? We are NOT going with them! There has to be-"

"He's right." Dominic looked up to lock eyes with Garrett again.

"Dominic is right."

Jarod turned to him. "Are you crazy?!"

He shook his head. "We can't fight and have a prayer of winning, and we can't hope to outrun them. We have no choice if we want to try and survive this."

Both of the other men looked at them like they were crazy, then Orion started speaking again.

"Your friends are right. That gun will only take out maybe one or two of us, but only for a short time. It won't kill us. And if you try to run, we have wolves all around this area. You won't get far."

Ben lifter the gun higher. "Shut up! Get out of our home! Just leave us alone!"

The wolves snarled at Ben, their body language clearly saying they would not allow him to threaten their leader like that again. Fearing for his friend, Dominic reached out and grabbed Ben's leg. He looked down at Dom, panic and fear in his eyes. He was terrified too. Dominic tried his best to look calm. "Do you trust me?"