CHAPTER-2
1422 Words
Shadows of Betrayal
Mara’s POV
The incident at the event left Silverwood in disarray. The smell of smoke was strong and there were still smouldering fires. I stood with Damon amid the debris, our anxiety palpably high.
My voice firm in spite of my inner anxiety, I added, "We need to find out who's behind this."
Damon nodded resolutely, his mouth firm. We will, too. Collectively."
Sirens sounded far away in the night as we looked about at the mayhem. Though time was running out, help was on its way. Whoever planned this assault was long gone, and we were left to pick up the pieces.
I replied, my voice growing urgent, "We can't let Gavin's pack members escape."
Damon's look became icy. "They won't. That will be ensured by me."
Nodding, we broke off, each of us looking for the last of Gavin's pack members. Senses on high alert for any movement, I went quickly through the streets laden with smoke. Abruptly a man with a scowl on his lips appeared out of the darkness.
The pack member yelled, "You!" as he recognised me. One of you is the survivor. Gavin is going to complete the job he started."
With a chilly, determined voice, I shot back, "Not if I finish you first."
I was faster than he was, yet nevertheless he charged at me. I dodged his blow and kicked him hard enough to knock him down. I leant in, claws slicing through the air, before he could recover. He slept asleep at my feet at the end of our brief but fierce struggle.
Damon, meanwhile, squared off against another pack member close to the municipal limits. The two circling one other, the tension evident.
The pack member grizzled, showing his teeth, "You should have stayed out of this, Alpha."
Damon drew in his eyes. You will pay for the incorrect side you selected."
Claws out, the pack member sprang. When Damon and him squared off, their blows reverberated through the night. Each side resisted giving up in a bloody struggle. At last Damon had the upper hand and struck the pack member so hard that he staggered.
With steely voice, Damon yelled, "Tell me who's behind this."
A rebellious gleam in his eyes, the pack member spewed blood. You arrive late. There is already movement on the plan."
Damon gripped harder now. Just who?
A harsh, contemptuous laugh came from the pack member. "Nobody will ever know. Gavin's boss is unstoppable."
Frustrated, Damon knocked him down cold. He paused to gather his breath there and then turned back toward town. Reunited, we had to learn more about this mastermind guiding the ship.
We first got together at the old church in the center of Silverwood, where our tense partnership had started.
"They weren't very knowledgeable," a dejected Damon stated. The only difference is that someone is pulling the strings higher up.
I nodded, a little irritated inside. "Who might that be? Not even Gavin was the brains behind it.
Damon walked, thinking lines creased across his brow. One pack could plan something like this. Nightshade bundle."
At their name, my blood froze. Rumoured to have connections deep into the political and criminal underbelly, the Nightshade pack was renowned for their brutality and guile.
Determined, I continued, "We need to find out more." "We cannot let them to get away with this."
Nodding resolutely, Damon said. "Agree. But a strategy is necessary."
We both tensed when a man appeared out of the shadows at the same moment. That young woman had fearful wide eyes.
She stutteringly said, "I-I saw everything." The attacker is someone I know.
Hope burning in our hearts, Damon and I looked at one other. Approaching, I said, "Tell us."
She resolutely inhaled. "This is Mara Nightshade. She gave the order for the festival attack."
Shades of Mara. I got a shiver at the name. She was a vicious opponent and the Alpha of the Nightshade pack.
How come? Sharp-spoken, Damon insisted.
She swallowed, her eyes flitting uncomfortably between us. "She is wanting retribution. Her father died because of the Mooncrest and Shadow Fang packs, she claims. Years have passed while she has been organizing this."
The connections in my head raced. Using Gavin's pack as puppets in her game of payback, Mara Nightshade had planned the attack.
Low and urgent, I whispered, "We need to stop her."
Damon decidedly clinched his jaw and nodded. It will. First though, we must get more details. Figure out where the Nightshade pack is hidden."
Fear engraved on her features, the woman hesitated. She said, "I can help," softly. "I know their hiding place."
I shot a quick look at Damon. We were stuck trusting a stranger, which was dangerous. To stop Mara Nightshade, we had to take the chance.
Damon murmured at last, his voice firm, "Lead the way."
The woman nodded, then turned to take us farther into the forest, where the Nightshade pack waited in the darkness. With every step we got closer to the truth and the last confrontation that would determine our destiny.
The woman walked us through the thick woodland, sure and fast. Moving more into the night, the shadows around us, branches snapped underfoot. I maintained my awareness of possible danger, every murmur and rustling of the wind.
A little above a whisper, the woman said, "Almost there." They're hiding out up ahead.
With a gaze, Damon and I coiled tension. There it was, the crucial moment.
As the trees thrashed, a moonlit clearing emerged. There in the middle was an ancient, run-down cabin with moss and ivy on its walls. The festival's mayhem was a sharp contrast to the heavy pine and damp earth smell in the air.
"They're inside," the shaky-voiced woman said.
Damon nodded resolutely, his mouth firm. Eyes never leaving the cabin, he whispered to me, "Stay close." "We have no idea what we are entering."
Fear and excitement hammering in my heart, I nodded. As we moved closer to the cabin, we negotiated the darkness and stepped over fallen branches.
A low snarl broke the stillness, and then a twig underfoot cracked. Glancing at one other, we stopped. We were here, they knew.
Come on out, Mara. With a voice that sliced through the night, Damon called. You are in there, we know that.
The hut reverberated with mocking, chilly laughing. The door swung open to show Mara Nightshade standing in the doorway with her pack members on either side. She had a nasty smile twisted across her lips and gleaming eyes.
"Well, well," a poisonous-sounding Mara said. If not the small wolf and her ally Shadow Fang.
With a trembling of my entire body, I tightened my hands. I spit out, "You killed innocent people," my voice raging. "What you've done will cost you."
Mara smiled more broadly, amused sparkling in her eyes. Not that I believe that, Lila. As it happens, retaliation tastes finest cold."
Claws out, Mara sprang forward before I could respond. Although I just avoided, the force of her attack knocked me to the ground. Hurrying into action, Damon threw Mara's pack mates into a vicious dance of teeth and claws.
Fury shooting through me, I stumbled to my feet. I screamed wild at Mara, wanting retribution. Years of suffering and grief fed each blow we delivered as we fought. Though I was faster and driven by a rage that seemed to be eating me, Mara was stronger.
You believe you are able to stop me? Low and deadly, Mara hissed.
I yelled, "I will," sanking my claws into her side. "For my household. For everyone you have wounded."
Mara hissed and swiped at me again, her anger rekindled. Every second of the struggle drove us closer to the brink. But as I was winning, a stabbing pain shot through my side.
Grabbing the wound, I staggered back. A blood-stained claw of one of Mara's pack members had taken me by surprise. I resisted the darkness that threatened to swallow me; desperation gave me the power.
"Baby!" Through the mayhem came Damon's voice. He was fighting Mara fatally, their bodies whirling and twisting in the moonlight, when I looked up.
I sprang forward and drove the pack member back with all of my strength, yelling. Every step in the violent and enraged battle was a blur. I never wavered in my resolve, though, and I never took my eyes off Mara.
"Already!" Shouting, my voice carried over the clearing. Here, Mara, it ends.
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