The Wolf Of Penshaw Lake

Mason’s POV.

Leaving her was against every instinct he held in his body, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He didn’t know what they would be walking into and Heidi had vulnerabilities a wolf could easily expose. She had no claws, no canines, no accelerated speed nor increased strength. A wolf could take one claw and rip her throat out. Mason growled at the thought and it took some seriously developed inner control to not turn into his wolf side.

“What’s the plan Alpha?” Isaac came up on his left hand side, Eric flanking his right ready to head into battle should that ever arise. Mason hoped he could simply slaughter them all and be back to Heidi in the next couple of hours. However, he knew that was wishful thinking, these wolves weren’t new to being rogue and they weren’t even the definition of ‘lone wolf’ anymore, who knew how strong they would be if they truly were working together. Mason was smart enough not to underestimate them.

“Under all circumstances we rescue Heidi’s mother,” Mason began. “We don’t know their numbers, their strengths or their plan. I have a feeling we are walking into a trap so we need to be prepared for a surprise attack from all corners. I want Phil, Adam and Blake to stay outside and scout the premises to make sure we won’t be attacked once we enter the house. Kate, Eric and Isaac I want you in the basement with me should a fight arise. Everyone else spread out in the house, take out any wolf you see.”

“Yes Alpha,” chorused the pack.

“Leave no survivors,” Mason added gutturally. “They’ve underestimated us and they’ve gone after the wrong Alpha.”

They walked down the lonely street on high alert, but the only sound or scent was that of their own and it sent Mason’s nerves on edge, surely he would have wolves scouting? They reached the house that Ella has talked about, noting its derelict appearance with wooden boards across the windows and a no trespassing sign pasted across the door. The front garden was overgrown and there were remnants of past parties littered across the grass; cigarette butts, balloon canisters and broken glass were just a few of the things that added to the depressing state of the house.

A new scent suddenly enveloped Mason’s nose and he held his hand up to signal the other wolves to stop. He sniffed the air and closed his eyes, a mixture of new scents were coming from the house but he took a few deep breaths and tried to focus on one scent in particular.

A human scent.

Heidi’s mother Louise.

Well, Zara, but she didn’t know he knew that.

“She’s there and she’s alive. Alright, keep your senses about you. I’m going to head straight to the basement and send her up with Kate. Adam, I want you to take her home should she make it outside before me.”

“Yes Sir,” replied Adam, a tall, stocky man with bulging muscles and an unwavering loyalty to his pack and his Alpha.

Mason stepped up to the front door and sent a flying kick towards it, sending it flying inwards and wood splinters coursing in all directions. A wolf immediately caught sight of him and yelled something incoherently to raise the alarm before Eric was upon him, a hand swiftly entering his chest and pulling out his still beating heart. He dropped it to the ground in disgust and flicking the blood from his hand, Eric looked towards his Alpha who stepped calmly over the body and through the house.

Mason could hear two wolves coming towards him from the left and he turned to welcome their ambush; claws and canines bared at the ready, but he was surprised to see Isaac take his place.

“You find Louise, I got these dickheads,” he said confidently, mirroring Mason’s stance. He nodded towards Kate whose teeth were just leaving the neck of another wolf, blood dripping down her chin and coating her bare chest. Kate stepped in line with him as she pointed towards a slightly ajar door with stairs leading downwards.

Mason bared his teeth in a growl as he descended the staircase, his eyes straining to see in the pitch blackness, adjusting only as a wolf ambushed him from behind sending him flying into the wall. A scream came from his left but he ignored it as he focused on the wolf before him as he attacked again, a feral cry coming from his mouth as his teeth went straight for Mason’s neck. Mason shoved him off with some strength, cutting him deeply across both arms with his claws. Suddenly the wolf evolved into its lycan side, shaggy and matted fur sprouting across his body and a drooling, snapping jaw in place of his mouth.

“That’s how you’re playing? Fine,” Mason smirked, feeling the change come over his body.

As he changed, Mason was at his most vulnerable and the rogue wolf knew this, choosing this moment to sink his teeth into Mason’s side. Mason roared in pain and spun around catching the wolf by the front leg and snapping it in two with a fierce bite from his jaws. The wolf yelped in agony and limped backwards, attempting to lick it. Mason use his powerful back legs to leap forwards and attack the wolf once more, sending it sprawling on his back. One bite and it would be all over, but he needed a witness. He barked for Kate who was untying Louise, her crying loud enough to hurt Mason’s sensitive ears.

Louise ran upstairs and Mason turned back, still standing over a submissive rogue, his hands covering his face and his leg twisted and badly broken.

“Knock him out and drag him upstairs behind me, I need to make sure Isaac and the others are okay,” he ordered, not waiting for a reply as he bounded up the stairs, taking two at a time and blinking as soon as the daylight came into view.

“They’re all dead Alpha,” came a voice from his side.

Mason was relieved to see Isaac and Eric relatively unharmed, although Eric was nursing a large gash on his side and Isaac was sporting a broken nose. Blake and Phil came inside the house from outside, confirming that Adam was walking with Louise back to the pack house where no doubt she would need alotexplaining to her.

“Although, I’m not sure you going to want to hear this Alpha,” Phil said nervously.

“What?”

“One of the wolves laughed as I sent him down and said that they were just the decoys. Louise was never the target.”

Mason shook his head, trying to ignore the chill that went down his spine, “Heidi is safe at the house.”

“He didn’t seem to think so, I think they were planning on Heidi coming after her mother.”

Mason barely registered running home, his pack hot on his heels as he tried to take in Heidi’s scent, feeling more and more panicked as the scent was still faint as he rounded the corner and almost collapsing as Jane, Josie and Dee ran out to meet them.

“She ran,” Dee cried, “We didn’t hear her until it was too late.”

“Where did she go?”

“After you! Towards the house.”

Mason turned back, almost wolfing out once again, but a petite hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“If she’s gone, then we need to plan. We have the witness and we can torture him for information. We don’t know the whole story, but this Dan has spent an awful long time looking for her and he isn’t going to kill her this soon. We have a little time,” Kate attempted to persuade him.

“He still has her,” Mason growled, “He used to do all kinds of despicable things, I can’t let him touch her.”

“She is strong Mason, more than you give her credit for. She’ll fight him and she’ll get through this, you just have to have faith in her,” Josie said calmly, although tears were streaming down her face. “You need to speak to Zara, maybe she knows where Dan might have taken Heidi.”

Mason sighed, he knew they were right and although he would never forgive them for letting her out of their sight, he followed them wearily into the house. Jane placed a hand on his arm but he harshly shrugged her off.

“I can’t...I can’t forgive you right now,” he said, “You let her leave.”

“I understand,” Jane replied softly, “It is going to take a while for you to forgive, perhaps never, but know that I will always be by your side to look for her and help her.”

“Yes mother, I know,” Mason replied quietly.

In the dining room, Zara was pacing up and down at the far end of the room, muttering incoherently to herself, her torn and tattered clothing flapping about as she moved erratically.

“Louise?” Jane called out softly, gaining her attention, “Can we call you Zara?”

“Where is my daughter? What have you monsters done with my baby?”

“Please calm down, we have done nothing to harm her, we believe this Dan took her,” Jane reasoned as Mason bristled at being called a monster, it wasn’t long ago that his Heidi thought that of him that too.

“Dan?” Zara’s voice broke as his spoke his name, trauma flitting behind her terrified eyes. She shook her head, “What does he have to do with those monsters that took me?”

“We believe he was one too,” Mason spoke up for the first time. “-and yes they were monsters, but we are not. I love your daughter and I am going to do everything I can to find her and kill that bastard.”

“What are you all?”

“Lycanthropes.”

Zara’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, “Like werewolves?”

“Werewolves are those that turn on a full moon and do not remember their wolf self, they do not exist. We are lycans, we exist as both man and wolf.”

“What could you possibly want with Heidi? We are not were-lycans, she’s just a girl,” Zara cried.

“Lycan’s have a predestined soulmate, someone bonded to them for life. Heidi is my soulmate,” Mason explained.

“We love Heidi,” Josie spoke up, Dee and Kate nodding animatedly beside her, “She is our best friend.”

Zara looked at the blood coating Kate’s chest and audibly gulped, Kate looked down and bit her lip, “I should probably change,” She said lightly, in a weak attempt to diffuse the situation.

“Does Heidi know?”

“Yes, she knows that we are wolves,” Mason confirmed. “It took her some time, but she fully accepted us.”

Zara shook her head, “We ran for over a year to escape Dan, I’ve spent the better part of her entire life scared shitless of the man only to run into a town full of men that can turn into wolves,” She scoffed.

“-and women!” Dee spoke up unhelpfully.

Mason gave Dee a glance which sent her eyes casting downwards and her cheeks redden. Mason immediately felt guilty, but his emotions were all over the place and it was becoming harder and harder to control them. He just wanted to find Dan and kill him.

Torturehim.

Make him wish he hadneverbeen born. That he had never set foot in Penshaw Lake and never lay a hand on Heidi.

Because now he was going to pay.

With his life.