Chapter 3
1518 Words
The council never called for an audience in the early hours of the morning unless a decision was made. Lyra sat once more at the far end of the table. The members sat in their respective seats, but this time there was an addition.
Her brother.
‘That should've been my seat’, she thought.
Lyra took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, leaning back in her seat. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her affected by this change.
If they cared, that is.
Elder Howard stood up, clearing his throat. “The Darkshadow pack has accepted our...” His eyes scanned each face for any objection, till it landed on Lyra.
“However, they expect you to spend at least a month there before the nuptials. To see if you're Luna material. Is that time frame enough for you?”
He wasn't asking because he was being considerate. No, it was to show who was in power and who wasn't.
“Since when did the council start caring about my preferences?”
A faint murmur moved across the table, quickly silenced when Howard raised his hand slightly.
“The council has always considered what's best for the pack.”
“Best for the pack but not for me,” Lyra leaned back in her chair, gaze steady. “What happens if I refuse this silly arrangement?” she challenged.
Howard regarded her for a long moment, the lines on his face unmoving, carved by years of authority that had rarely been questioned.
“You have no right to refuse, child,” he said evenly.
“It is my life and I have a right to choose whatever I damn want.”
“You can't."
From the corner of her eye, she could see Gabriel standing up and she turned her head toward him.
He continued, "the treaty has already been signed and any act of defiance from you would be seen as rebellion. And you know what happens to a rebel…”
“Exile." Elder Howard completed.
Lyra clenched her fists, trying to calm her wolf down as her claws itched to come out.
She looked between Elder Howard and her brother, eyes lingering on Gabriel. His expression looked calm and collected as he sat back down.
Just like how she was taught in her years of Alpha training...
Lyra's eyes widened instantly. "You knew, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," her twin countered.
"You do," she rose to her feet, "you knew I would never be considered as Alpha but you would."
The betrayal struck more than the thought of political marriage.
"All that training...and it didn't matter."
"Oh please, you know there has never been a female Alpha. What made you think you would change that?" Gabriel's voice came out cold, not like the brother she had grown up with.
Lyra nodded her head, deep in thought as though she was silently agreeing to what he had said.
The council members stayed quiet, amusing looks on their faces as they watched the siblings' brawl.
An unsettling smile grew on Lyra's face as she looked at Elder Howard, "when do I leave? "
"Tomorrow, at dawn. Darkshadow is just a day's travel and they expect you to be there as soon as possible."
Lyra nodded and moved out of her seat, heading towards the door. "I'll start packing then."
"And don't try anything stupid," Gabriel warned. He knew his sister better. She didn't give up easily.
Lyra paused, her hand hovering on the door handle.
"You may have sealed that treaty."
She turned, passing a fleeting look at Gabriel.
"But not my loyalty."
And without waiting for their response, she walked out.
—
If there was anything like superpowers among werewolves, Lyra's would be her keen sense of observation. The Darkshadow pack borders were a few miles ahead.
She pulled her horse to a halt, making the men behind her stop in their horses too.
“Something doesn't feel right,” she said, getting off her horse.
“My lady, we can't afford to stop now. We're almost in the pack’s city and it's not safe to stop just outside the borders,” Lincoln, the chief guard, said.
Lyra looked around with her nose up in the air, looking for any scent. There was nothing much to see in the dense forest. The trees had branches that entwined with each other, blocking sunlight from reaching the ground.
Within seconds, a creature jumped out of the woods and lurched at the guards. It all happened so fast that Lyra had little to no time to get out of its way.
The creature looked like a werewolf, but had no scent.
‘Strange.’ Lyra thought, scrambling to her feet.
It stood at a height of eight feet, more than the average werewolf, even bigger than a full grown Alpha. And its movements… were erratic. Uncontrolled.
Most of the men had shifted into their wolf form, lunging and snapping at the beast. Lyra began to take off her shoes, wanting to shift and fight alongside.
She could've easily shifted right then and caused her clothes to rip apart, but she was the only female amongst them.
‘Lyra, run!’ Lincoln's voice cut into her mind through the pack mind link.
He was the only one left as the others were badly wounded and on the brink of death. Some were already dead. He bared his canines at the creature and lunged towards it, swinging his claw at its windpipe.
Lyra began to step back slowly. The Darkshadow pack wasn't that far. She could go and get help but she felt like a coward, running away from a fight.
That thought soon disappeared when she saw the creature subdue the chief guard. Without being told to, she turned on her heels, running as fast as her human form would allow her to.
She paused momentarily as she had soon gotten to a point where she could see both the fight and the tips of the high pack gates. The beast sank its canines into the chief guard's neck, snapping his head off as soon as it was done.
It looked up into the distance, mouth covered with blood, eyes trained on Lyra.
‘Forget about the clothes, I can always get new ones.’
Her body began enlarging as she ran, trading fingers and toes for claws, skin for fur and a snout for a nose. Her clothes ripped off her body, exposing a coat of white fur with a dark red crescent moon on her right forelimb
The pack’s full gates soon came into view with ten to fifteen men stationed at the gate. They raised their silver-armed guns as soon as they saw her wolf running towards them.
She instantly gave a howl of surrender, making them lower their guns a bit. She hid behind a tree close to the gates, laying against the bark.
The men could see the creature coming closer and raised their guns higher, ready to shoot. Five of them had shifted into their wolf forms just in case.
Shots rang out, hitting the creature in its arms but it didn't seem to slow them. Two of the wolves ran forward to attack it, the other men held their fire so as not to injure or kill their own.
The creature caught both their necks and swung them into some trees. Lyra gasped in shock after she shifted back. ‘My men had at least given it a tough time, but these ones…’
She had found some torn clothes left behind by the shifted wolves and wrapped them across her chest and hips, leaving her torso bare.
The men started firing once they saw that attacking the beast would be useless. It picked up speed and jumped, landing right in front of the men. It swung its arms, hitting the men.
The wolves, however, grabbed a hold of its arms and sank their teeth into it, ripping out mounds of flesh in a way to weaken it. A shot fired out and it stopped moving— a hole had pierced its chest, right where the heart laid.
The weapon felt heavy in her arms, slowly lowering it to the ground. The thought of different outcomes that could have happened assuming she missed the shot roamed her mind. But she hadn't.
The creature fell to the earthen floor with a thud. Blood oozing from the wounds on its arms.
‘So a shot to the heart did it?’ Lyra thought, unimpressed as she dropped the gun to her feet. With the danger gone, she could finally let her senses take over. The autumn air nipped at her exposed skin, her feet were sore and probably covered with blisters.
‘That's what I get for running without shoes.’
Black dots began to cover her vision. She had exerted too much stress on her human body while running. Without thinking twice, she let herself succumb to the darkness.
Only hoping that the men would take her to their infirmary and not otherwise.
- Writer
