Rise of the She-Wolf

Vanessa’s pov,

The next day I trained with the rest of the pack in the morning until Tomasso came for me after lunch. We walked to the gate, and I felt excited and curious about the spy mission. Tomasso had not spoken yet, but I followed him into the forest outside the property of Don Lorenzo. As soon as we reached the shadows of the trees, Tomasso transformed into his wolf form. His wolf was big with dark brown fur, but I recognized his kind ember eyes. I followed his lead and transformed into Spirit. Immediately I heard his voice speaking through the wolf bond, “Sorry I didn’t talk to you but with spy missions, it is only safe to exchange information in wolf form.”

“I understand, so what are we going to do?”

Tomasso his wolf shadow started walking deeper into the forest and replied, “Don Lorenzo has heard about some rumors that the Latin American packs have made a deal with the Irish wolves. We are going to see if the rumors are true.”

He then started running and I made sure I stayed close behind him following his exact trail. After a few hours, he slowed down and softly walked to a spot in the bushes. The spot gave a view over a river harbor with loading docks. It was already getting dark, and I sat down next to Shadow to look at the river. “I have never heard of the Irish wolves,” I said to Shadow.

“They are wolf packs that do business in Ireland. They have pubs but they make most of their money with smuggling in Europe. The wolf packs residing in the USA decided we would not do business with them because we cannot trust them. However, if alpha Carlos has broken that promise then he should be reminded who his allies are. Secretly making more money would not be tolerated by Don Lorenzo.”

It made sense that Don Lorenzo would like to know if he could trust his allies. He was lucky with a beta as loyal as Tomasso to figure it out for him. I wondered what Don Lorenzo had done to deserve such loyalty. “Can I ask you something personal?” I asked Tomasso.

His gaze was still fixated on the docks, but he answered, “Yes.”

“Why are you so loyal to Don Lorenzo? Are you sure he deserves it?”

“I know he might seem aggressive right now, but he used to be a well-balanced leader. Always doing what was best for the pack and making sure no Italian wolf pack would have to live poorly. Under his leadership, the packs grew immensely, and he was strict but always fair. Loyalty was rewarded and sneaky, respectless behavior punished.” He was silent for a while before he continued, “But when his Luna still didn’t give him pups after a year, he felt like the dynasty he had built would have no future. He became obsessed with making his bloodline continue and was more absent from other pressing matters in the packs that needed his attention. He feels like everything he built is slipping from his fingers, so he tries to grasp it back with aggression to show he is still the Alpha.”

I could see a sadness in Shadow his eyes and I asked, “So why do you still stay?”

“Loyalty is important for me. Would you abandon someone the moment they are having a hard time?”

I thought about it for a while and replied, “No I guess not but it is difficult because you don’t want to follow someone over a limit. When is something so bad that you say, it has been enough I cannot live with myself anymore if I would support this?”

Shadow looked into my eyes for the first time tonight, “Honestly I don’t know.”

“I would feel better if I knew the breeding wolves are okay. Do you know if they are?”

“No one is allowed in there, so I do not know. I must admit I have also wondered about them. Tomorrow is the monthly moon ceremony. I can get you in there while everyone is busy preparing for the feast,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat and I just wanted to agree to the plan when I noticed movement at the docks. A boat came to the dock, and I could hear the Irish accents of the men on it. As soon as the boat anchored cars drove to the dock and started loading boxes into the boat. The captain of the ship went to one of the cars and shook hands with a tall, slim man. I squeezed my eyes to look better at the man and saw that he had a big scar on his left cheek. “Who is that?” I asked.

Shadow growled softly, “That is Alpha Carlos. His wolf’s name is Scar and I don’t have to tell you why.”

He silently walked backward out of the bushes and turned around, “I have seen enough we have to go back to Don Lorenzo and report this.”

We ran back to the mansion, and I was happy that I got used to running a little bit because otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with shadow. At the mansion, we transformed back to human form and immediately went to Don Lorenzo his office.

Don Lorenzo seemed nervous when we walked in. He was walking back and forth plucking his mustache. He did not greet us but just asked, “And?”

Tomasso answered calmly, “The rumors are true Don. Carlos shook hands with the Irishman, and he loaded things onto their boat.”

Don Lorenzo his face became red with anger, “Then we must soon pay our Latin neighbors a visit and remind them they do not want us as an enemy.”

At the same moment, someone knocked on the door and Don Lorenzo stormed past us to open it. A small man with glasses and a white doctor’s coat came in looking very nervous and uncomfortable. Don Lorenzo looked at him hopefully and barked, “Well? Tell me!”

With a trembling voice, the doctor said, “Nn.. nnn. oo Don I am sorry. None of the she-wolves is pregnant at the moment. I will come back on Monday to do some tests. Maybe some sickness or something is going on.”

Don Lorenzo was silent for a moment before exploding, “WWWWWRAAAAAAAHHH.” He screamed and his body started to transform into his wolf form. “EVERYBODY OUT,” he growled and Tomasso, the doctor, and I didn’t know how quickly to run out of the office. Tomasso closed the doors behind us and while I walked away it sounded like the whole office was getting trashed. The sound of howls, growls, snarls, and ripping claws were all I heard when I went back to my room and stared at the ceiling. All I could think was, “I hope the breeding she-wolves will not suffer from this anger.”