Chapter 7: Double Duty
*Blackjack's POV*
It has been one day since Hutch and Candu were attacked, and a restless night of waiting to see if Hutch's condition would change. Candu finally came to and explained that he and Hutch were attacked by a brown wolf, and then saved by a silver wolf. Winston and Tony had been up all night discussing something but I;m not sure what. It was clearly about that wolf, but I could never hear what they were saying.
I got a couple hours of sleep, which was better than none. But as I woke up I started to wish I had gotten more, because Garth was standing outside of my den with an irritated look on his face. He looked at me as I woke up and motioned for me to come out and talk. As I approached the edge of the den Kate was sitting beside Humphrey barely able to hold her head up.
"What's up guys," I asked with a yawn. Garth rolled his eyes as he yawned himself. Apparently none of us had gotten a lot of sleep.
"Winston and dad want us to double our patrols, apparently that brown wolf is more important than we thought," Garth complained.
"Are you serious," I asked hoping he was joking.
"Nope, Humphrey and I were up all night trying to talk our way out of it," Kate yawned.
"I thought Humphrey was an omega though," I pointed out.
"He's technically an alpha since we are mates, but dad has some of the stronger omegas out to," Kate explained.
"Well this is fan-freaking-tastic," I groaned. "Well, how was Hutch doing,"
"He's getting better. He's going to recover slowly, but he can't get out for a while," Kate said with mixed emotions
"Have you found a date for him yet," I asked.
"Actually I have, her name is Sadie, she said that she would love to go with him, now we just have to get Hutch in on it," Kate said as she lightened up.
"Well we have to let him heal up some first," I noted. Kate just rolled her eyes at me.
"If he has something to look forward to he will heal quicker," she argued.
"I don't think it works that way," Garth laughed.
"Oh what do you know," Kate laughed.
"Well, I suppose we should get our patrol over with, I guess we should split up, me and Garth and Kate and Humphrey," I said trying to get this out of the way as quick as I could.
"That's the plan, and when we're done we should meet up by Candu's den and check on him," Humphrey chimed in. We all nodded in agreeance and headed off in seperate directions. As Kate and Humphrey walked out of earshot me and Garth started talking about yesterdays attack.
"After I went back to my den last night, did Winston or Tony mention a name," I asked him lowly.
"Nope, all we know is we're looking for a dark brown wolf, or a silver wolf, if its the latter then we attack on sight, but if its the other we approach with caution," he replied in the same low volume. After that, a thought appeared in my mind. It was the moonlight howl, I didn't have a date, and I didn't want to go without one. And the one I wanted to go with, was in love with someone else.
"Hey Garth," I said, a little louder than before.
"Yea, what's up," he asked lookeing over at me.
"Do you know anyone who needs a date for the moonlight howl," I asked with a small blush. He just looked at me as if he was dumbfounded.
"You mean you don't have one yet," he asked. I shook my head.
"No, I don't and I really don't want to be alone on it," I said trying to hide my face.
"Well, I will cut you some slack since youve only been here a couple of days, and you still have 4 days to find one, but I think I can manage something," he replied with a grin.
"Thanks, I might just owe you one for that," I said with a snicker.
*Lexus' POV*
I sat on the edge of the territories all night. I waited for the right opportunity to sneak my way back in, and would sit there as long as it took. I knew Byron wouldn't have gone far from me, so I couldn't go in this way, and if he left, I knew he would go straight to Blackjack.
"Damn you Byron," I whispered to myself. If it weren't for him I could have had Blackjack, and his friends, well, except for Hutch. He may not have had the pure hatred that I did for him, but he still disliked him. And that was a major advantage on my part.
All I had to do was find out what made him tick, and then he was all mine. He was surprisingly easy to manipulate. He was most vulnerable when he slept. That's when I hit him the most. I would whisper to him, for hours upon hours, repeating the same simple message. He would even mumble it back to me when he had taken it in.
Turning him against Blackjack was the easy part. But, when it came to the others, he was more resiliant. The message would never fully soak in, and he would argue with it, fight it off. It was frustrating, he took to hating Blackjack in one night, but I could see then that turning him against the others, would be more difficult.
Especially that one they call Candu. Hutch normally growls in his sleep when I tell him to dislike Candu. Those two are very connected, breaking that connection wouldn't be easy, or quick. Seeing Candu stick up for Hutch even though I was three times his size was very courageos, it disgusted me.
'Perhaps if I turned my attention to the others in the pack, I would have more luck'. I thought to myself. Kate and Humphrey were inseperable, so I would have to hit them at the same time. Lilly and Garth are normally together, I could get them on nights they were seperated.
Then a thought struck me. I knew that they were going to find Hutch a date for this 'moonlight howl' as they called it. Pehaps if I can find out who they find him, I can turn her against Hutch and that in theory should cause a chain reaction. I grinned wickedly at my plan.
"Oh Lexus you've done it again," I whispered. My only problem, was getting past Byron.
*Candu's POV*
"You really found Hutch a date," I asked Kate excitedly.
"Yea, Sadie said that she'd been crushing on him for a while, but never could get the nerve to talk to him," Kate answered with an almost equal amount of enthusiasm.
"That's great, and I talked to Eve earlier while you guys were out on patrol, she said Hutch should be healed up enough to go to the moonlight howl," I said about to jump for joy, but my sides were still sore so I didn't.
"Now we just have to get Hutch to agree," Garth said as if he were trying to point out the problem with our plan.
"Oh come one, we get Sadie to go talk to him, he asks her to the howl, simple as that," Kate said with a laid back tone.
"If that doesn't work we'll have to make up a plan b pretty quick," Blackjack pointed out.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Kate said. She seemed so sure that this plan would work that I was begining to think it was fool proof, and I hoped it was.
"Say, was Hutch awake when you visited earlier," Kate asked. I thought back to the quick stop I made by Eve and Winston's den, and could vaugly remember Hutch trying to say something as I walked up, but I wasn't sure what it was, something about voices.
"Yea, I'm pretty sure he was awake," I replied nervously. I decided it was best to leave that part out, at least until I could verify that's what he said.
"Great, I'm going to go get Sadie so she can start talking to him," Kate said as he rushed out behind her.
"Well I hate to split, but I promised Lilly that once the patrols were over I would spend the rest of the day with her," Garth said as he turned away to walk out. "I'll see you guys later,"
That left me and Blackjack alone in my den. The silence however, didn't last long. Blackjack was about the only Alpha I knew, well, besides Humphrey, who couldn't stand the quiet. I liked that though, it brought up a lot of interesting conversations. As we talked he seemed to be holding something back, it was like he wanted to say something but couldn't.
"Blackjack, I can tell something is bothering you, you can tell me what it is, I won't tell anyone," I said softly, trying to aid his dilema. He just let out a soft sigh.
*Blackjacks POV*
"I think I'm in love with Lilly," I blurted out finally. Candu's jaw dropped almost instantly.
"But she's about to become Garth's mate," Candu objected.
"I know, when I found out I was heart-broken, but there's something about Lilly that reminds me of someone I think I knew before I lost my memory," I said as my head began to throb in pain and I fell to the ground in tears. The image of a pale white wolf with violet eyes, but, she was different from Lilly, she was taller, and looked stronger.
"Alexa," I shouted finally. That was it, I remembered Alexa, she was about to become my mate, but what happened to her I didn't know.
"What are you talking about, are you alright Blackjack," Candu asked with concern written all across his face.
"Yea, I'm fine, Alexa, she was about to become my mate, before I lost my memory, but I don't know what happened to her. I thought as hard as I could to remember anything that might have happened to her, but I couldn't think of anything at all.
"You mean, you were about to get a mate before you got here," Candu asked.
"I guess so, I wonder what else I'm not remembering," I said as I looked out into the woods.
"Well, don't worry, maybe you'll get your memory back in small pieces," Candu said trying to keep my spirits up. But my mood was fine, what needed help, was my memory.
