Against All Odds

Kari Masters

“Mason! Come on!” I shouted to my best friend. We were running to the creek to play, as we normally did on Saturday evenings. “Kay, slow down! You know I can’t keep up with you!” he shouted back a few feet behind me using the nickname only he would call me. I snickered at his response. He could beat me in most things, but when it came to speed, I could run circles around him.

When I finally arrived at the creek, I sat in my normal spot, a small patch of grass directly under the tallest tree. Our names carved in the tree to signify our forever friendship. A loud grunt filled my ears as Mason fell on his back right next to me. He shifted enough to place his head in my lap. I giggled, running my fingers through his hair. “One of these days you just might be able to beat me” I snickered. He let out a chuckle, closing his eyes. “When I become Alpha, I will be much faster than you.”

I let out a small laugh and smacked his forehead gently. “When you become alpha, you’ll forget all about me.” I said, sighing quietly. It wasn’t an unknown topic between us. A lot of the kids we went to school with would talk about the upcoming alphas leaving behind childhood friends. I was always terrified it would happen to us. He was my best friend, and the thought of losing him crushed my heart. We had been friends since I was born basically, our fathers were best friends since they were kids. He was the alpha’s son; I was the beta’s daughter. Ever since I was old enough to start playing with him, we have been attached at the hips. I prayed nothing would ever change it.

“Kari,” he said quietly, opening his eyes. I quickly closed mine; I didn’t want him to see the fear they held. His soft hand pressed against my cheek. “Kari” he said again, “I will never abandon you. No matter my rank or yours. You are forever my best friend, and you always will be.” I smiled slightly, leaning into his touch. I went to respond, but as soon as my mouth opened, the warning bells sounded through the pack. We were under attack.

Mason jumped up quickly, grabbing my hand. We ran through the woods towards the pack house, we needed to get to safety. We came to an abrupt stop when a rogue wolf jumped out in front of us growling. As beta’s daughter, it was my job to protect the alpha. My job to protect my best friend. I quickly stood in front of him trembling. My wolf hadn’t come in yet, she wouldn’t come for another 4 years, but I stood in front of him anyways. I had to make sure no one hurt him. “Kari!” he shouted behind me, quickly pulling me back to him and getting in front of me. “I know you want to take your job seriously Kay, but you don’t have your wolf yet, I do. Let me protect you for now.” He said holding my hand tightly. The rogue growled loudly, not liking the fact that we weren’t paying attention to him. He quickly shifted into his human form, eyes bright red, showing his wolf was still, very much in control.

“Listen here you runts.” He growled out. “Give me the girl and I won’t have to rip your heart out boy” he said as he took a few steps towards us. I whimpered at the thought of the rogue touching me and clung tightly to the back of Mason’s shirt. Mason growled out loudly, his fingers shifting to claws. His wolf Ares was coming to the surface, as I could feel his body rippling with the possibility of him shifting. The rogue lunged at us, but before he could reach us, an all-black wolf rammed into the side of him.

” You two need to run! Run now!” Mason’s Dad, Alpha Carter shouted through our mind link. Mason quickly grabbed my hand and started running the opposite direction. “Mason! Where are we going?” I shouted, “The pack house is the other way!” he kept a tight hold on my hand as he pulled me closer. “The pack house is where the fighting will be, I need to keep you safe. I’m going to our spot. They won’t be able to find us.” He yelled back. I knew we were close to the spot; it was beautiful, and I hated that we would have to use it to keep ourselves alive. As we ran further into the woods, Mason folded over in pain, I quickly dropped to his level to ask what was wrong when I felt the alpha bond snap, quickly followed by a heartbroken howl. My eyes flooded with tears looking at Mason, his hand was on his heart and tears were streaming down his face. We both knew what happened, his dad died protecting us.

“Oh Mason.” I said softly, touching his cheek. He leaned into my touch before jumping up and growling towards the tree line. The same rogue stepped through the trees, blood covering his muzzle as he snarled at us, and I was frozen. “Kari.” Mason said, but I barely heard him while the rogue held my gaze. “Kari!” he shouted again, I quickly looked up at him, his eyes were completely gold. “Listen to me Kari.” He growled out, his voice much deeper than normal. Ares was speaking with him. “You are going to run. Run as fast as you can. Go to Aunt Megan’s house. You know where she is. Run until you get there Kari.” I was frozen looking at him, tears running down my face. I grabbed his hand, holding tightly. “I can’t leave you Mason. I am the one who is supposed to protect you.” He growled knowing how stubborn I was. “Kari! Listen to me for once! You need to run! I can’t risk losing you too. You are my best friend and I hope I can one day see you again, but I need to focus on protecting myself and keeping this rogue here. You need to run. Go! Now!” he shouted at the end using his alpha command. I felt myself whimper as my legs started moving, I couldn’t say no to him now, “I love you” I whispered through our mind link as I began running away. “I will say it back when I get to look into your eyes. Run fast Kari.” He replied before blocking me out.

I ran for what felt like hours, I had felt when I crossed our territories line, it hurt to be so far away. I kept running, I had no wolf, and I was too far from my family to mind link them. I finally slowed down, thinking I was safe until I heard rustling in the woods in front of me. I quickly scaled the tree to my right, climbing as high as I would as I watched 4 panthers come trotting out.

“Do you smell that?” One of them asked as he shifted back into his human form. “It doesn’t smell like a rogue.” Another replied. I held my breath, hoping they wouldn’t find me. I didn’t know what packs territory I had found myself in, but seeing as they weren’t wolves, I knew I was screwed. I stayed in the tree as silent as possible when they finally started walking away.

I breathed a sigh of relief until I heard a growl coming from above me. I screamed as I looked up to see a panther staring at me. As my fear hit, my hold on the tree slipped and I fell. I landed hard on the ground, my head throbbing. “Damnit Andrew! Why did you go and scare her like that?!?” I heard someone yell to the panther in the tree. I couldn’t hear his response over the pounding in my head. As I heard movement near me, I quickly jumped up, the dizziness in my head making it hard to stand.

“Woah! Calm down there girl.” One of them said to me, holding his arms out. I growled as another moved close to me. “Careful little wolf, we aren’t trying to hurt you, but you did cross into our territory.” Said the man standing further away. As I whipped my head around the circle of panthers surrounding me, my vision began to blur. I dropped to my knees gripping my head as tears streamed down my face. There was movement in front of me, but I couldn’t look up. Everything just hurt so badly. “Hey there sweetheart, my name is Casper. You need medical attention, I’m going to pick you up, please don’t freak out on me.” A guy said as he kneeled in front of me. All I could do was grunt my agreement as he reached forwards to pick me up.

I closed my eyes as I felt myself being lifted from the ground. “What do you think a young wolf is doing all the way out here?” I heard one of them try to whisper. I felt Casper shaking, “I’m not sure, but she looks terrified. Her clothes look like she’s been running for hours.” He replied quietly. “Hey, Little wolf, I need you to open your eyes. You hit your head pretty hard, you need to stay awake.” I heard Casper say, but I couldn’t open them. Darkness was already creeping up to me. “Kari” I said with a whisper, “my name is Kari.” “Can you tell me how old you are Kari?” Casper asked softly as he brushed my hair out of my face. “Can you tell me what pack you are in?” he finished. “I’m 10” I said softly as I tried to think of the next answer. My head hurt so much, I couldn’t even remember what pack I was from, all I could remember was those beautiful blue and gold eyes I had grown to love.