Fated Mates, Destined To Be Enemies.

Chapter 11

Pureblood Pack Meeting.

Tristan.

By the next morning, everyone in the Blackwood house knew the same thing.

It had been confirmed that a Night Breed was in New Orleans.

And this time, there was proof, not a rumor, not guessing, and not a story told by Gen X Purebloods to Gen z.

A small piece of dark flesh and fur had been found on the spot of the ground where the wolf was injured.

My father had summoned the elders and guardians before sunrise, and by noon, Purebloods had begun arriving from different parts of New Orleans.

Some came from nearby towns, and others travelled from far beyond the city.

They came quietly, in ordinary cars, dressed like ordinary people, but there was nothing ordinary about the gathering happening inside our territory.

This is a good setting detail. I’d weave it into Tristan’s narration so it feels like part of the world rather than an information dump, while keeping your original meaning and voice.

The old council hall was located in the eastern part of Coldstone, hidden beneath an abandoned tunnel that had been converted into a council hall for the Purebloods.

It was one of the secrets our kind guarded carefully.

Humans walked past the area every day without knowing what was beneath their feet.

If you knew about the place, then you were either a Pureblood or a witch. They were the only two mystical beings our kind respected enough to share our secrets with.

Witches had existed alongside werewolves for centuries, and unlike the other creatures that had once walked among humans, they had never tried to expose us or hunt us down.

The vampires were different.

They had once been feared by humans, hunted by them, and eventually wiped out, or so we believed, but witches had survived and so had we.

The council hall itself looked nothing like the grand meeting places I had imagined as a child.

It was an abandoned tunnel, cold and damp, with rough stone walls and old markings carved into them. Over the years, the Purebloods had transformed it into a proper meeting hall, but the place still carried the feeling of something buried and forgotten.

That morning, however, it was anything but forgotten. The hall had not been this crowded in years.

In fact, I couldn't remember ever seeing this many Purebloods gathered here, well not since I was born. Maybe it was because we had never had a serious problem before.

For years, our lives had been almost painfully predictable. We lived among humans, we attended their schools, worked their jobs, bought food from their markets, and followed their laws and pretended to believe the same things they did.

Our hunting nights were controlled, our territory was protected, and the elders made sure nothing threatened the secret we had spent generations protecting, until now.

A Night Breed had appeared in Coldstone, and suddenly, everyone had a reason to be afraid.

I stood outside the entrance with the few Pureblood wolves I knew around my age in Coldstone. Henry, Grey, Denise, and Zerelia. We watched people arrive.

“Look at this,” Denise muttered.

“What?”

He nodded towards the road. “More are coming.”

I followed his gaze.

Purebloods parked their cars a reasonable distance for the meeting grounds, and walked all the way down the path to council hall, so as not to arouse suspicions from humans.

Elders stepped out and guardians followed.

Some were old and lucky enough to have witnessed the last conflict between the Purebloods and Night Breeds.

Others were younger, trained from childhood to protect our bloodline and territory.

Everyone had heard the same message.

A Night Breed had been found in New Orleans.

And everyone wanted to know how.

My father had told me to keep quiet about what happened at the bonfire.

I hadn't told anyone that the wolf had looked directly at me before we chased it. I hadn't told anyone how strangely familiar its presence had felt, and I definitely hadn't told them about the sensation I had experienced when I saw it.

Something inside me had reacted, something I couldn't explain.

“Are you going inside?” Grey asked.

“In a minute.”

He looked at me.

“You've been quiet since yesterday.”

I wanted to respond, but then my father's voice came from behind us.

“Tristan.”

I turned.

He stood at the entrance, and his expression was harder than usual.

“Come inside.”

I nodded and stepped forward, then my friends followed.

The moment we entered the hall, the conversations died down.

Every eye turned towards us, and I suddenly wished I had stayed outside.

My father walked to the front of the room. The elders sat around the long wooden table, the guardians stood behind them.

My mother and grandmother were among the family members seated to one side.

I took my seat beside Janice.

My father placed a small sealed container on the table.

The room became completely silent. “That,” he said, “was recovered from the branch used to injure the wolf.”

One of the elders leaned forward.

“Open it.”

My father nodded.

He removed the lid and inside was the piece of flesh and fur.

Even from where I sat, I could see how dark it was.

A murmur travelled through the room. Those filthy dogs!”

One of the guardians stood.

“Night Breed.”

Another elder shook his head.

“Are you certain?”

My father looked at him.

“Our trackers examined it.”

“Flesh can resemble another species.”

“The fur is not from any animal found in these woods.”

The elder leaned closer. “Then what is it?”

My father looked towards Drogo and he stepped forward.

He was one of our most experienced trackers. “I examined the wound and the material left behind,” he said. “The scent is unlike any ordinary wolf.”

“Could it be Pureblood?”

Drogo shook his head.

“No.”

“Why?”

“The scent.”

He paused.

“I've never tracked a Night Breed before, but I've studied the records. Their scent is different.”

An older guardian spoke.

“And you believe this belongs to one?”

“I do.”

Silence settled over the room again.

Then someone asked the question everyone had been avoiding.

“How did one get here?”

My father didn't answer immediately.

He looked around the room. “That is what we are here to determine.”

Another elder folded his arms.

“How long have we believed the Night Breeds were gone?”

“Decades,” someone answered.

“Not gone,” another corrected. “Hidden.”

A few people shifted in their seats.

My father raised his hand.

“Enough.”

The room quieted.

“We don't know how many survived the last war. We don't know how long they have been hiding. What we do know is that one was seen less than a mile from our territory.”

“And it was wounded,” an elder added.

My father nodded.

“Which means it may still be injured.”

“Or dead.”

“Not likely.”

Everyone looked at Drogo.

He pointed towards the container.

“The flesh was fresh when we found it.”

“How fresh?”

“Less than twenty-four hours.”

A guardian leaned forward.

“So it's alive.”

“Yes.”

I remembered the wolf running through the trees. The way it had moved, the way its eyes had met mine.

It hadn't looked weak or looked like something that was barely surviving.

It looked terrified.

One of the elders turned towards my father. “What do you intend to do?”

“We find it.”

“And when we do?”

My father didn't hesitate. “We kill it.” The words echoed through the hall.

Nobody objected,.not one person.

I lowered my eyes. For some reason, the answer didn't sit right with me.

My father continued. “We cannot allow another war to begin.”

A woman across the table frowned. “Another war?”

“If there is one Night Breed, there may be others.”

The room erupted into whispers.

My father waited until everyone quieted. “We don't know whether this wolf came alone. We don't know if it has a pack, a family, or a Keeper.”

The word Keeper made several elders exchange uneasy looks.

My heart skipped.

I had heard the stories, every Pureblood had.

The War, the Moonstone, the Keeper and the prophecy, but the thought of actually seeing a Night breed was exhilarating.

An elder slowly stood.

“We were fools to believe we had wiped those filthy dogs. The Moonstone was still not recovered, so we would have at least suspected that they were still living amongst us.

My father's jaw tightened.

“Until we have evidence, we assume there is only one Night Breed in our territory.”

He looked towards the guardians. “You will search the forests.”

Then towards the trackers. “Follow every scent you can find.”

My father stood. “This search remains within the Purebloods.”

He looked around the room. “Humans must not know what we are doing.”

Everyone nodded.

Then he placed his hand over the container.

“We have spent generations keeping our existence hidden.”

His eyes hardened. “I will not allow one wolf to destroy that.”

The meeting was dismissed.

Chairs scraped against the floor as everyone began leaving.

I remained seated for a moment.

My eyes returned to the small piece of black fur inside the container. For reasons I couldn't explain.

“I hope you know you have to do everything possible to be the one to kill that wolf.” My father's baritone interrupted my thoughts.

“M… me…?

“Yes you son. As the future Alpha, this is your chance to prove yourself.”

He tapped my shoulder and walked away.

This was the only time I had to prove to my father and my pack that I was a great fit for an Alpha, so this filthy nNight Breed had to be killed by me.