Ten

 

Gauge was unsure if it was the anxiety of the battle, bounding through the forest with Axle, or the thought of leaving his mate behind that made his heart pound incessantly fast. He didn’t want to fight, but the madness needed to end.

“No wolf reaches the cabin, “he’d instructed his clan and the Blacktail before they’d spread out to cover all the perimeters. Gauge hoped their victory would solidify the Whitetide’s territory in Greyson Creek.

He reached a clearing near the northeast perimeter and stopped. Axle followed suit. The smell of wolves was all around them, very near. Axle lowered himself to the ground, snarling toward an area of forest untouched by the moonlight. Six pairs of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the darkness.

A shiver ran down Gauge’s spine. His ears flicked at the sounds of wolf howls and tiger roars from over a mile away toward the southern perimeter.

“Six to two,” Axle said in Gauge’s mind.

Gauge looked at his brother. “If you give a damn about the future of our family, you won’t let those odds play with your head.” He tried to play it cool, but he knew the wolves probably already smelled his fear.

Axle grimaced. “I’m not. Let’s do this.”

The pack of wolves emerged from the darkness. Gauge and Axle stood back-to-back as the wolves began encircling them. There was no escape. Gauge sized up each of the wolves. He recognized the largest one as the same one he’d fended off from Aniyah.

“The leader’s mine,” Gauge said to Axle.

The leader bared his teeth in a grim smile. “You should’ve killed me when you had the chance, “he chimed in Gauge’s mind.

Gauge roared and leaped at the leader, his claws extended and aimed for the wolf’s throat. The leader jumped out of the way and let out a terrifying howl. The two other wolves suddenly pounced on Gauge, knocking him to the ground. Their combined weight on top of him crushed his energy. Pain shot through his neck as his skin fell victim to the wolf’s jaws. He glimpsed the other wolf, who chomped down on his tail. Gauge roared as endless pain surged through him.

It can’t end like this. It won’t…

Gritting his teeth, Gauge broke through the pain and groped the air for something solid. His claws penetrated one wolf’s skull. He raked them down over the eyes then pushed. Howling in pain, the wolf immediately rolled off him. With less weight bearing down on him, Gauge rolled over, whipping his tail from the other wolf’s mouth, leaving a tuft of his fur between its teeth. Still weakened, Gauge remained low to the ground while keeping his eye on the wolf and the leader, who stood strategically opposite him in a flanking position.

The wolf lackey charged at Gauge, snapping his jaws. Gauge met him force for force, driving his claws into the wolf’s chest. Using his own momentum, Gauge hurled the wolf into his injured comrade. Gauge shook the blood from his paws and faced the leader. He lurched his body forward in a feigning step. Fortunately, the leader took the bait, side-stepping. Gauge swiped his bloody paw downward at the wolf’s legs, attempting to flip him. One of Gauge’s paws connected, but at the same time, he felt claws dig into his shoulder. They both tumbled to the ground, neither letting go of the other. The sensation of his blood trickling from his shoulder wound made him cringe. He kept fighting, digging his claws into the leader’s flesh without letting go, though the numbness in his shoulder intensified.

The leader rolled onto his back and used his hind legs to shove Gauge off. One claw from the leader’s hind legs nearly took out Gauge’s eye as it whisked across his cheek. Blood no sooner trickled from the wound than Gauge leapt to his feet. Damn. Another scar that would never go away. Another reminder of his failures.

The wolf jerked and scrambled about the ground, his sharp movements causing Gauge’s hold to slip from his jaws. The wolf struggled to his feet and lunged at Gauge. The impact sent them wrestling, pound for pound, on their hind legs. Gauge spotted the wound on the wolf’s chest, where Gauge had struck him while rescuing Aniyah. The wolf’s grey-white fur refused to cover the patch of open skin. The reminder of his previous victory gave Gauge his second wind, and he used his weight to overpower the wolf, sending him teetering backward on his legs and falling over. Gauge stood over him, trapping the wolf where it had fallen. He sliced open the wolf’s chest, using the wound as a guide. The wolf fought and kicked with the last of his energy, kicking and howling, and Gauge continued eviscerating him. All Gauge saw was red. The smell of blood burned his nose and riled his senses.

Exhaustion quickly set in once Gauge realized the wolf leader was dead. Gauge got off him and roared in victory. He looked over at Axle, who was facing off with the two last wolves after mauling one to its death. Axle was bleeding and limping. The wolves looked at Gauge then their defeated leader, and the hairs on their backs rose. They snarled and backed away from Gauge and Axle then turned tail and ran toward the heart of the Whitetide territory.

Axle growled after the escaping wolves and started to give chase, but Gauge called to him, “Let them go.”

Axle looked back at Gauge. He set his paw down then yanked it back up again as if he’d stepped on something sharp. He let out a ragged breath.

Gauge spotted blood on his paw.

“We should… go after them,” Axle said, clearly in pain.

Gauge approached his brother. “Our clan mates will find them and make quick work of them.” He observed Axle’s bloodied left-front paw. It was missing a toe. “Holy shit. What happened?”

Axle sat down and nursed his paw. “One of those fuckers bit it off. I’ll live.”

A growl rumbled in the back of Gauge’s throat. He would make an example out of the Dessar leader’s corpse as a warning to any other clan who dared challenge the Whitetide. “Once word travels back about the death of their leader, the pack will be done for.”

“Does this mean this damned war is finally over?” Axle asked.

Gauge exhaled. For now, he hoped so. With Axle no longer in power, the future looked better for the Whitetide. “Maybe.” As his adrenaline subsided and calmness set in his mind, he reflected on the battle, which he and Axle had fought together. If only Diesel had been with them, the family would have once again become united. But Diesel had made it clear that he wanted a new future for himself. As his big brother, Gauge admired his persistence.

“Let’s head back to the cabin.” As he grabbed the Dessar leader’s corpse, something shiny slipped from the wolf’s front paw. It rolled on the ground and landed in front of Gauge. A ring. Once worn by the great Dessar leader, it was a symbol that solidified one’s dominance. Few clans still practiced the somewhat older tradition. Gauge brushed past Axle, dragging the leader along in his jaws back toward the cabin. “Grab that. I have a better use for it now.”