The Shaman's Revenge

~Thorn's P.O.V~ It had been six months since we last saw the Shaman, I occasionally see her bird peering around windows and gathering information I'm sure. Today was important though, today was my wedding day, to make mine and Grace's union official. Lilly was in with Grace and I could almost hear Lilly babbling about how pretty everything was. I don't think the Shaman will show up and try to ruin anything, I know I betrayed her, we all did, but my only worry today was to not have this wonderful day ruined by anyone. The pack had gotten used to her, even though she was a half breed and there was some trouble initially with a few pack members. Trouble that was put in it's place by telling them I'd banish them to the Shaman's forest. That was the best threat i could make now, that forest was eerie, and deadly, it had a new dangerous fog over it, one I wouldn't send my mightiest warrior in. I knew her power, and what she could do, but this feels like something pure evil. A loud knock interrupted my thoughts, and my Betta/ Best man came in with a quick "we're ready." He left the door slightly open and after securing my favorite cuff links I went down the hall to knock on my bride's door. Lilly opened it slightly with a "you're not allowed in." I sighed and said "I know, but we are ready if she is." A smile came over my face as Grace giggled , it was hard to make out but I still knew what it was. I turned to go to the alter, just outside of my castle, I worried about her walking down the stairs in heels, so the alter was just right at the doors, everyone was invited, the staff took the day off, and we had catering from another pack that wanted to wish us a wonderful union. The wedding went off without a problem, we exchanged rings and vows and I lifted the veil to kiss my wonderful new wife. She looked stunning, a corseted back dress with aqua and lavender flowers wrapping around the natural hip and bottom of the dress with butterflies in her veil, perfect for a June wedding. Her eyes sparkled with a sense of security, knowing she had her one true mate, and I mine. After we kissed, I picked her up bridal-style, and walked her up to our room, I could hear everyone cheering and clapping....but I noticed something no one else did...that stupid bird, watching it was almost full turquoise now, and it's eyes and feet were turning a sliver colour. I set my new wife on the bed, and she pulled me down to kiss her, I couldn't resist. Naturally we were in full passionate embrace in a matter of seconds, but there was a knock at the door that made both of us stop. "Sir, we are ready for you to cut the cake." then footsteps, it must have been one of the caterers, I didn't recognize the voice. I looked down at my wife and kissed her.  "We have to go celebrate with our pack, we can do it privately later tonight." She smiled and nodded, words were still hard for her, if we hadn't betrayed the Shaman, Grace would be healed by now and singing, talking, even yelling, any of it I want to hear it. We changed into a regular suit for me and Grace was in a beautiful aqua coloured sun dress that had layers of chiffon over it and came to a halter top style, really anything this woman wore would be perfect. We exited the room, and down the stairs to the main garden, the maze of bushes had been cleared away for this event, only a "maze" of flowers and red english ivy  were left, the center of the garden had a large gazebo built with an in-ground fire pit for small fires on cold nights. Over the fire pit today, stood a large table with the most beautiful traditional style wedding cake. Grace could have screamed in excitement, I was in charge of the cake, and she wasn't expecting something so grand. She squeezed my hand tighter as we both made our way through to cut the cake. After we cut it, and feed each other a small piece, the party started, everyone in the pack was being served various foods from the catering, cake was distributed, and music started playing, since most people would have a live band or so, or a DJ, we just made a playlist and hooked it up to some speakers. It wasn't to be cheap, but doing the music ourselves made it feel more personal, and since we could just get on a website and play any other song, the guests could put down requests too. Our first dance as a married couple was Moonlight Shadow, I didn't want to tell her, but I picked that song because it was the Shaman's favorite, and with out the Shaman...we'd have never found each other. Once the kids were tired, many pack members congratulated us again and went home, only a few pack members were left. Grace and I decided to slip away with a little care package, it had some nice cooked meats, breads, butter, vegetables and fruits..basically a sampling of everything with a nice slice of cake on it, all in a basket. I knew that if any of the council knew I was doing this, I'd be put on trial but it never set right to betray the Shaman like that. Plus I knew of her healing powers, so maybe she was okay now, just angry. We walked the path to the part of the forest the Shaman claimed as her own now, marking off the entire section she claimed with a thick and unnatural fog, it seemed to be a purple haze really. We left the basket at the edge of the forest, the hair on my neck stood as i sensed a predator, raw, primal, and most of all smelled horrible. We slowly took steps back, still hyper focused on the spot we left the basket, and just out of site of seeing the full body, we saw a set of hollow glowing eyes, and could barely make out a pair of antlers. The woods made no noise as we kept backing away, the thing didnt make a movement but it smelled horrible, even from here. Grace fainted, and I heard the thing move quickly, I started to panic now and just flipped Grace over my shoulder and ran as hard as I could back to my castle. There were footsteps behind me and sometimes it sounded like four and other two sets...what was this thing, was it the shaman? I made it back to the opening of my pack grounds, and heard the footsteps run the other way again. The pack members who were still out saw me collapse on the ground with Grace still passed out, they all ran over and took her to the doctor to be treated. I couldn't tell them what happened, but by my look they knew something went wrong, being their alpha they didnt ask, they knew I would tell if needed. They helped me to my feet, my suit was torn and destroyed, I hoped Grace's didnt look this bad, all I knew was that I had to get out of there and fast, so thats what I did. "I'm fine, I'm fine." I said holding out my hands, everyone went back to what they were doing, the moon was out and shining brightly. I stared up at it, only to be snapped back to reality by a familiar "CAW" I nearly jumped out of my skin as I slowly turned around. It was that damn bird, I could kill it now and be rid of a few problems, but he pecked at what looked like old parchment paper and took off back to the shaman's forest...maybe she taught the bird shape shifting? I picked up the paper and unfolded it open, there were no words, no markings that i could see, just one dark red strike mark across the small parchment piece. I could smell it perfectly, it was her blood. Was this a warning? a curse? I looked around the forest again and was meet with those same hollow glowing eyes, we held our gaze for a moment, and it ran off to follow Crow.