\n I Can't See The Forest For The Trees.
\n Written by, Wolfie Steel.
\n Part Seven.

\n Here come the usual rules, all characters used in this story belong to their owners and are used with their kind permission. There will be references to homosexual acts and violence, you have been warned!!!!

\n This one is for us Rion.

\n Before the human can pull the trigger I launch myself at him, my head hits his and knocks him off balance, as he falls to the floor the gun goes off, the bullet slices the tip off my left ear but fortunately does no other damage. I open my jaws and bite down hard on the human's neck; the human begins to raise his gun towards me, seeing this Rion grabs hold of the human's wrist with his jaws.

\n With the human now unable to move the rest of the pack join in and make short work of ending the human's life. With the hunter now dead I walk over to the fallen wolf and his mate, Jason is on the ground and out cold whilst Jacob stands over Jason's body. I walk toward Jason and Jacob begins to snap angrily at me, it is now Stella that comes to my rescue.

\n "Jacob, let Wolfie check Jason out"

\n Jacob growls again then he sees the rest of the pack surrounding him, he slowly backs away from Jason and I quickly take his place.

\n "The bullet is still lodged within Jason's shoulder, no amount of mead wrap will cure this, I know that I'm going to get mauled for saying this, but we need to get Jason to the human village, they have animal healers there who are much better than I"

\n Jacob instantly head butts me away from Jason causing me to lose my footing, he continues to growl at me and slowly approaches me, I now fear that my life is about to be taken by the powerful jaws of Jacob.

\n Rion now stands over me protecting me with his body, he then yells at Jacob.

\n "Jacob, enough, you know full well that Wolfie has a point, a bullet wound is far beyond his healing capabilities, and Wolfie has human friends that will help Jason, but you have to have faith in Wolfie and we must also act quickly, the longer we wait, the more damage that bullet is doing"

\n Jacob ceases his approach and then speaks.

\n "Fine but I will carry Jason to the human village, and know this, if anything bad happens to my mate, I will kill Wolfie, then I will come for you"

\n Jacob takes his anthro form again and then gently lifts his mate into his arms, with the threat of my impending doom now temporarily lifted I stand and collect the hunter's gun in my muzzle. With the gun now in place I lead the entire pack to the human village.

\n As we enter the village a human that I know all too well comes to greet us.

\n "Wolfie old friend, what brings you to our village?"

\n I look at the human and then at Jacob and Jason, I then drop the gun from my muzzle and make my reply.

\n "Grainger, a human hunter came into the forest with this gun, he had death on his mind, he shot one of my pack members"

\n The human's face takes on the look of shock and horror.

\n "Ok Wolfie, first things first, ask the pack member that carries the injured wolf to follow me and I promise we will do everything we can to save the wolf's life"

\n I turn to Jacob but he nods to say that he has heard and understood the instructions. We enter the building where Jason will be tended to and Jacob gently lowers Jason's body to the table, the doctors quickly go to work whilst we head outside and wait. Grainger now looks at me and speaks.

\n "Wolfie, I want you to know, that the hunter you speak of, the hunter whose gun you brought to the village, well his name is Alteo, I have on many occasions tried to remove him from the village, he is bad news around here"

\n I hang my head and reply.

\n "Grainger, you know that as a wolf I am not violent, however today I have killed my first human, I really wish that I could change that because now I fear reprisals against us, I fear that one of your villagers will come hunting for me, so to save my pack from being picked off one by one, I offer myself to you as a sacrifice"

\n Grainger shakes his head and lays a hand upon my left shoulder.

\n "Wolfie, you were protecting your pack, it's what wolves do, if I had been in your situation, I would have acted in exactly the same way. There will be no reprisals for your actions, in actual fact you have done the village a great service. Now I see that you too have gained a bullet wound to your ear tip, I will ask one of the junior doctors to help dress your wound"

\n <><><><><><><><><><><><><>

\n It has been many hours since me and my pack had arrived in the human village and many hours since Jason had been taken into the building where hopefully the doctors would be able to save his life. I have a small bandage wrapped around my wounded ear but it turns out that it was what they call a flesh wound. Jacob now walks over to me with his head down; it seems that he is unable to look me in the eyes.

\n "Alpha, I come to you seeking your forgiveness, back in the forest you risked your life to stop the hunter from killing both Jason and me, and how did I repay you, I head butted you away from my mate when you were trying to get him the help that he needed. I just flew into a rage, you have provided yet more proof that you are not an Alpha to be messed with, and the way the human was killed it was done professionally and cleanly. Jason means the world to me and I know now that he will pull through this, in short Alpha I can't apologise enough for my actions towards you"

\n I gently nuzzle Jacob's neck and reply.

\n "Jacob, I don't need any apologies from you because if the tables had been turned and it was me in that situation with Rion being the one who was shot, then I would have acted in much the same way, and please just call me Wolfie, I am more than just your Alpha, I am now your lifelong friend. If this ever happens again and I pray to the great wolf that it doesn't, but if it should happen again, I will act in the same way, that is how much this pack means to me"

\n A doctor approaches and his face shows no emotion which in Jacob's mind can only mean bad news, the doctor turns to Jacob and speaks.

\n "Sir, your companion lost a huge amount of blood through the bullet wound, at one point we lost him, his heart flat lined and failed, we were just about to shock him when he gave us our very own shock, his heart suddenly started beating again. While we are powerless to tell you why or how this miracle happened what I can tell you is that we have removed the bullet and repaired the hole that it left, now he will have a permanent scare there I'm afraid, but sir your mate lives and is asking for you"

\n Jacob now turns and runs off towards the building needing to be with his mate. As he arrives at Jason's bedside he sees the bandage that covers the wound and lets out a small whimper, Jason opens his eyes and gives a weak smile to his mate.

\n "Jacob, I have no idea where I am other than I am in a human controlled building, how I got here is also a mystery, but seeing as you are here I'm willing to guess that it was you who brought me here"

\n Jacob places a paw on Jason's shoulder and replies.

\n "Love, in all truthfulness it was Wolfie that led us here, it was he who calmed things down between the pack and the humans, it was also Wolfie and the pack that killed the hunter, I'm afraid that I wasn't much of a mate, in fact when Wolfie tried to check your wound, I head butted him in his side and knocked him to the floor. When the hunter's gun fired and I saw you fall, I ran to you and stood frozen over your body, I didn't know what to do"

\n Jason weakly placed his paw on top of Jacob's and replied.

\n "Sweetheart, what you did was go into a defence stance, you were defending me with what you were almost sure would be your own life, you were prepared to die so that I might have some chance to live, that is the sign of a true loving mate. What Wolfie did though is the sign of a great leader; he is by all accounts also a great diplomat, without him the human's may well have retaliated which would have started a tit for tat war between our tribes"

\n I knock on the door of the room where Jacob and Jason are talking, Jason weakly leans his head up and he gives another smile.

\n "Alpha Wolfie, please come in"

\n I slowly walk into the room and sit on my haunches by Jason's bed.

\n "Well Wolfie, you and Rion have had an eventful first day as pack leaders and from what I have been hearing from Jacob and also the fact that I'm in a human clinic being treated, it seems that you are doing a very good job indeed"

\n Jason removes his paw from the top of Jacob's and lets it dangle from the edge of the bed, I tentatively lick his paw which gains a gentle laugh from him. He then notices the bandage on my ear tip.

\n "I see that you got injured yourself young Wolfie and yet you stand firm and do not whimper, truly the mark of a fearless wolf"

\n I blush heavily under my fur at the compliment then Jacob speaks up.

\n "But from this day forth you Alpha Wolfie and your mate Beta Rion will be guarded and protected at all times"

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\n Two night falls have now passed and the third mornings light is just breaking through the clouds, Jason is now strong enough to make the journey back towards the cave. Before we leave the villagers all begin to crowd around the pack, Grainger breaks through the circle of villagers carrying a large rucksack.

\n "Wolfie, the villagers and I still feel really upset that one of your pack members was gunned down by a human. We have filled ten of these large rucksacks with enough equipment and food to keep your pack happy for at least a month, so please accept them with our apologies. Also I would like to take this chance to say that the aid we supply after you're helping to save one of our infants will continue. Oh talking of which the infant that you helped save all those years ago, is now an eleven year old boy by the name of Steel, his parents gave him the name in honour of you"

\n Suddenly a young human boy breaks free from the villagers and walks towards me, he seems unsure at first, but I instinctively know that this young boy is Steel. I begin a slow and gentle walk towards him, my eyes staying focused on his, we meet and I gently nuzzle the young boy. Steel suddenly falls to his knees and wraps his arms around my neck and hugs me tight.

\n The hug is enough to cement the already strong relationship between my pack and the humans. I gently break away from the hug and turn to lead the pack away from the village with the villagers all crying and cheering as we leave I know that this is one place that my pack and I will always be welcome at.