Chapter 10: A Turn for the Worst

What remained of the Central Pack was slowly walking through the woods when they heard running footsteps coming from behind them. They stopped and the alphas that were encircling the omegas and pups turned and faced back into the forest, prepared to fight to their last breath to keep the pups and omegas safe. But they were surprised when they saw Mick appear from behind the trees. Adam walked up to him, wondering why he was there.

“Mick,” he said. “What are آپ doing here? Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re gone,” he said. “They’re all gone.”

Everyone just stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing what to think about what Mick had just said.

“Your grandfather’s final command was that آپ become pack leader. He کہا Ron and Mary will help آپ complete your training.”

The pack had a moment of silence, not for their fallen comrades, but because of the weight of the news they had just received. Finally, Adam broke the silence.
    
“Come on, guys, we gotta keep moving.”
    
“Who made آپ leader?” Steven said.

“Jack,” Emily کہا in Adam’s defense.

“So,” Steven said. “Who made Jack leader?”

Everyone suddenly turned and looked at Steven in surprise.

“Just wondering.”

The pack eventually reached the sandstone cliffside, a large cliff face made entirely of sandstone that stretched out into woods surrounding it. There was a small clearing in front of the cliff that allowed the sun to shine down on the ground without having to try and break through the trees. The remaining half of the Central Pack rested near the cliffside for a few weeks, with Mary and Ron continuing to help Adam with his alpha training until things began to take a turn for the worst. Mary died.

The pack mourned her, Adam the most. The two pack leaders were now gone and since his parents had both been omegas, Adam was now اگلے in line to lead the pack. سے طرف کی pack law, Ron, as the اگلے best بھیڑیا to teach Adam, could advise him on the job of leader, but he himself could not take over. The only circumstance under which this rule did not apply, was if both leaders died and the اگلے بھیڑیا in line was still an infant pup. In cases such as these, only then could a close friend of the leaders take over until the pup was old enough. But Adam was not an infant pup anymore. He had to be the leader. He was suddenly thrust straight into a position of great responsibility without any warning یا preparation. He was now the only one who could lead the pack. And that, was going to prove to be very difficult for the young alpha.

Meanwhile, back at the animal shelter in the human town, Kenya had been sitting there, locked in her cage, alone, scared, and most of all, worried about Humphrey. It had been a few weeks since they were taken from their parents and every دن since then, she had seen humans enter the shelter, take an animal, and then leave with them. She had made some دوستوں among the other animals that were there and most of them had been taken. She never saw them again. Then, one day, it was Kenya’s turn.

The دن started the same way it always did. She would wake up, her body cramped and sore from sleeping on the bare metal surface all night. A human would come in and give her some round, chunky food that she absolutely hated, but she still ate it anyway. But that’s where the similarities would end. Usually, she would just sit there all دن and watch humans come in and take the other animals, always wondering if she would be next. But this day, she was chosen سے طرف کی one of the humans who came into the shelter.

As usual, whenever a human would come in to pick an animal, they always stopped and looked at Kenya for a moment, marveling at her rare, purple fur, but then would اقدام on to another animal that wasn’t as “pricey”. Because her purple فر, سمور was so rare, Kenya had been placed at a much higher price than most of the other animals, so no one really wanted to buy her. Except one human, who surprised Kenya سے طرف کی telling the store owner that he was interested in buying her.

This scared Kenya. She didn’t want to go to this human’s den. She didn’t know what it was like, what was in there, and she didn’t want to find out. She just wanted to go home. But there wasn’t anything that she could do about it. It was completely out of her control, and that was the most terrifying part of all. But that didn’t stop the store owner from opening the cage door and reaching in to grab her. She backed away from the man’s hand, further into the cage, but that did little to deter him from reaching her, as the store owner only had to reach in a little farther to get at her. The store owner put Kenya in a small kennel and then took her up front to the counter where the man paid and then began to carry her out to his car.

Just as they exited the building, they passed سے طرف کی a man who looked at the kennel as they went by. The mysterious man passed سے طرف کی them and entered the building. Once he reached his SUV, Kenya’s new owner opened the تنے, ٹرنک and set the kennel down inside. He pulled down the سب, سب سے اوپر and shut the trunk, then got inside and started the car. All of a sudden, a loud yell was heard coming from inside the building and as the car began to drive away, Kenya watched out the back window of the truck as the mysterious man came running out of the store, seemingly enraged سے طرف کی something. He looked around the parking lot until he eventually looked directly at the truck that was driving away. He stood there for a few moments with a frustrated expression on his face before turning and wandering off down the street.

Once they reached the man’s house, he took Kenya out of the truck brought her inside. It wasn’t a big house سے طرف کی any means, but that didn’t matter to Kenya. Big, small, it didn’t matter. It was still terrifying.

Over the first few days, Kenya was constantly abused سے طرف کی her owner, who had a very obvious drinking problem. He never let her go outside other than to go to the bathroom, the food she had was terrible, even سے طرف کی the standards she had grown accustomed to while living at the shelter, and she wasn’t allowed inside at night, except when it would grow to be exceptionally cold.

One day, however, proved to be the worst. She was let out to go to the bathroom and she noticed another dog passing by. As the dog grew closer, she recognized him as one of her old دوستوں from the shelter.

“Hey!” she called over.

The dog looked over and stopped.

“Hey, Kenya,” he said, walking over. “Finally got picked, huh?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “It’s the worst.”

Once the dog realized whose house she was at, he sighed and agreed.

“Oh,” he said. “You weren’t kidding. Lucas is worst human آپ could’ve possibly ended up with.”

“Tell me about it,” Kenya replied.

“No, آپ really have no idea,” the dog said.

He looked around him as if he was afraid someone might overhear him, then he leaned in close and said, “I heard his wife died in a car accident and he hasn’t been the same ever since. He’s completely unstable mentally. He treats everyone around him like crap. What does he call you?”

“Lizzy,” Kenya said. “What does your human call you?”

“Nugget,” Nugget said. “There’s something else, though,” he began. “There’s been rumors about a mysterious man wandering around town.”

“I think I’ve seen him,” Kenya said. “We passed him when we were leaving the shelter. He came running back out looking pretty upset.”

“I think I know why,” Nugget replied. “I think he’s after you. I’ve heard tell that he’s been searching relentlessly for a very specific kind of بھیڑیا pup. One with purple fur.”

“What!?” Kenya shouted in surprise. “Why!?”

“I don’t know, but he left this morning, heading off toward the road سے طرف کی the woods. He got into a pretty heated argument with two other humans before he left, though. I didn’t catch all of it, but I heard something about getting revenge on a بھیڑیا for something they did to him.”

“Did he describe the wolf?”

“I think he کہا something about it having a burn mark on its side. A burn mark he gave it when he was just a kid.”

Kenya’s eyes widened. She knew exactly who Nugget was talking about.

“That’s my grandfather!” she exclaimed. “He’s got a huge burn mark on his right side and he کہا that he had gotten it from a kid that hit him with a flaming branch.”

Before Kenya could ask any more, she heard her owner calling for her.

“I better go,” she said.

“Yeah, آپ really should,” Nugget replied.

“Well, it was good seeing آپ again,” Kenya said, turning to head back to her home.

“You too,” Nugget replied.

The two parted ways, with Kenya rushing back to Lucas’s house, hoping to avoid his wrath for interacting with another dog, which he had strictly forbidden. But all she could think about was what Nugget had just told her. Why was that mysterious man after her? What did he want with her grandfather? She had no idea what it all meant, and that was probably for the best, because the truth was far worse than she could’ve possibly imagined, although she wouldn’t learn it for many, many years afterwards.