Patiently waiting Chester's POV

With shouts of excitement from my brothers and the tiring snorts of our horses, we rode through the city towards the wild forest just beyond the buildings limit. City dwellers stopped and watched as we raced past, their winter attire making them seem bulky. The raw feeling in my throat crept up to my mouth, making it water. I quickly shook my head and stared straight toward our destination.

"Where did you say Remus would be?" Liham shouted as he stopped his black horse. The horse pawed at the stone, obviously irritated. "Up the hill a ways. He caught the mutt's scent there this morning." Dave answered, turning his snorting horse north. I saw Liham glance my way, but I just turned my horse and moved him forward. We galloped sometime before Dave and Liham caught up to us. I did not want to think of my father's team scanning the woods for possible werewolf sightings. More killings had occurred since Tobias and his pack had vanished for the winter, and my father was all to convinced that it was their doing. Though I tried to explain otherwise, he would not have it. I had fulfilled my promise to keep human hunters out of the woods, but I had failed to keep the Vampires at bay.

Just then, an idea sparked in my head and I quickly stopped my horse. His flanks quivered as his ears twitched for a command. Liham stopped just ahead of me and turned his horse.

"Chester! What's the matter?" He called, his breath smoking in the dull light. I thought of all of my options but came up with one that would not be judged.

"I-I need a hunt. You two go on ahead, I'll catch up!" I shouted, hoping that my voice sounded frantic.

"I can come with you-"

"No. It'll be quick, I saw a straggler back a ways." I shouted, already turning my horse to leave.

"You did look a bit… paler then usual. Ok, we'll meet up." Liham said as he turned to go. I waited till they were out of sight then turned my horse into a small opening in the woods. I took our stride easy as he high stepped in the foot snow. His ears perked for small movements, but mine scanned for pants, growls, and barks in the dark forest. There had to be some way to warn the pack of the hunters, they would die innocent if my father found them.

It seemed like we had been walking forever when suddenly, my horse stopped short and perked up. His breath lingered in the air and his right hoof stomped on the cold ground. His head was pulled back and his nostrils flared. Just then, a small wolf pup burst out of the clearing and pounced into a hill of snow. It pawed at the dead branch that lay underneath the powder and began to gnaw on it. The horse let out a high whinny and the pup instantly froze. I pulled on the reins and tried to pull him back but he slowly moved forward, clearly wanting to spook the wolf pup away. As we moved forward, a white flash jumped out of the brush and stood between us and the pup. I gasped as I took in the white wolf's familiar black markings and bright green eyes. My breath carried on the wind as my jaw gapped at the growling wolf.

"Gavin…" I said, but the wolf stood his ground, clearly not going to let the pup get hurt. The wolf snapped at the horse's legs making him kick back and flare his mane. Just then, Gavin lunged for the horse's left leg and wrapped his teeth around it. My horse reeled up, dragging Gavin along with it, but making me fall back. I gasped as I hit the hard ground and stood stunned when a large brown wolf stood over me, his teeth bared in my face.

"Liko." I muttered. I wanted to move, but my body was frozen like the forest itself.

"Chester!" Liham called as he and Dave ran into the clearing. Liko's ears perked up at the oncoming intruders but quickly forgot about them and pushed off me to get to the horse. Liko quickly sank his teeth into the horse's flank and began to pull to bring him down. Other wolves joined them and began biting at the staggering animal. Liham and Dave ran over to me and pulled me up, brushing the snow off of my black overcoat. "What the hell is going on!" Dave yelled as he watched the wolves take down the family horse. "Why aren't they attacking us?"

"Because… in the winter, they are normal wolves, and the are probably looking for food. And for once, we weren't on the menu." I said, brushing off what was left of the snow on my pants.

"How do you know this?" Liham asked, his eyebrows shot up in question." I scanned the area and smiled when Tobias came into view along with other wolves. He stood back from the hunters and watched us curiously. He sniffed the air and flicked his tail. He was uninterested in us fore he licked his chops and whined in what was probably hunger.

"Tobias." I pointed my finger at the tan colored wolf with white ears and stockings on his forepaws.

"Do you know ALL of their names, Chester?" Dave mocked, his muscles tense as he waited for some sign of aggression.

When the horse was finally dead, the wolves bounced around and howled, they paid no attention to us. It had to be true, they would not hurt us, they were probably more scared of us in this state then they usually would be. Some of the wolves stood and watched as we slowly moved away from the kill; the smell of blood finally taking its toll; even though we would never be caught dead drinking animal blood. Gavin licked the tiny pup gently as it bounced around him like a ball of wild fur. He turned over on his back for the pup to pounce on his stomach. There was a loud yip and the pup bounced off Gavin and ran toward an auburn colored wolf. Eros. He then cleared the area for him and the rest of the pack to eat on the horse. Some of the wolves ripped at the saddle to pull it off of the horse's midline to get a better angle for eating. Tobias, stayed in the back, picking a spot far away from the kill where he laid down and watched us curiously.

"Chester, come on, we can grab Remus and the four of us can attack the wolves." Dave snickered and slapped me on the back.

"No." I muttered, watching the wolves eat my horse. I was alive, they were alive, Liham and Dave were alive, there would be no way I would have them attacked.

"What?" Dave snapped, his voice making some of the wolves look up at us.

"They obviously didn't want a thing to do with us. I'm not hurt and neither are you. So drop it."

"No, I am NOT dropping it! We have them right where we want them, I am not going to walk away from this!"

"But I am. If they didn't try to kill us, their enemies, then how do you suppose they killed all of those people in the city? They won't even come near us. Plus they're not even close to the streets." I said as I started to walk toward where I had come from.

"Chester! Get back here!" Dave shouted, following me like I knew he would.

"David! Calm down! If you think about it, Chester is right. There is no way they could have killed those humans when they just kept us alive. What if it was a new vampire?" Liham said trailing behind us. I would not argue with Dave here where the wolves could easily get hurt. So I kept on talking while Liham and Dave bickered back and forth as they followed behind me. I tried to concentrate on the sound the snow made when my boots sunk deep into it. The owls in the trees fluttered away as we walked past, clearly wanting to be out of our way. When we finally made it to the road, I looked both ways and jumped up onto a rooftop, not waiting for my brothers.

"All this talk about killing is making me thirsty." Dave grumbled as he and Liham stepped up on the roof with me.

"Tell me about it. Lets get a quick bite and head home and figure out what to do next." Liham said as he ran for the next building.

The air was getting warmer and soon the snow would melt, and Tobias and his pack will be human again. I would wait until I spot them again in the streets or catch their scent, but until then, I have to keep my family at bay.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do." I said finally, making Liham and Dave stop dead in their tracks. "We wait."

"What?" Liham said now, his head slightly turned to the side.

"Give them a couple months to come around again, and don't worry, they will. I can go to them and inform them about the killings."

"They probably already know about that…" Dave muttered under his breath. He whipped his head to the west and sniffed the air. He looked back at me and cackled, jumped of the roof right on top of a unfortunate lady.

"Ok. If you're right, which you say that you are, then we'll wait. You know Father will not like the idea of this sitting around business, but, I do not think that they did it either. After today, I'm just not so sure about anything anymore. I hate what happened to Mother and how it was so unjustified, but what if the real killer is out there. He must be stopped. And if they do indeed know something, then all we have to accept the price. If it is waiting a couple more months then so be it, I guess." Liham's shoulders drooped as he smelled the blood that Dave had just took.

"Thank you Liham." I said smiling ever so slightly.

"Yeah, but all of this wolf loving isn't normal, you know that right?"

I didn't answer, there was no point too. "You coming?" Liham asked, already walking to the ledge.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I answered. As I walked over to the ledge myself, wolf howls emerged from the forest, their voices hung in the wind like ghosts. I looked over my shoulder towards the thicket to listen when somewhere to the north, a loan wolf howled. If it was a response to the pack, I had no clue, but the loan wolf continued. I looked toward his howl and realized it was coming from the town north of Eastmoor. Now I wasn't a professional when it came to understanding howls, but the loaner's sounded sharp and long, like he was trying to get his point across. Maybe a wolf was separated from the pack and was signaling to the others that he was lost. I hoped that he would find his way to the pack safe and sound, to where he belonged.