Chapter 13 The Silent Predator
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Chapter 13 The Silent Predator
The enormous iron gates of the Bloodmoon Pack house crashed shut behind the returned Alpha and his retinue, but a tangible sense of unease had taken up residence within the walls of the castle. Kaelen held Elena as though she was the most fragile crystal, so utterly perfect, and so unbelievably breakable. The Alpha was quite, irrevocably out of his mind with fear driven jealousy.
He'd put three times the number of guards outside her chambers, not allowing anyone to enter – not even himself, at least, until he cooled down a little.
He was treating her as precious washed up china he had found in the sea and saved from a tempest, while, upstairs in the house, the Beta had shut himself away in his dark study and was slowly, deliberately going mad on his own time. He’d paced back and forth in his private chambers for what felt like days, wringing his hands tight, then loose, then tight again, as the sheer shock – the horror he had felt when he had seen Elena, in one piece, alive in the cave, with that unnerving smirk playing around her lips – was consuming him from the inside out. It made no sense! A Frostclaw commander was a blood thirsty brute of a man, a full vanguard of his people had been dispatched to bring Elena back!
How in the ever-loving hell could an un-empowered, uninteresting, layabout servant have managed to outwit and out maneuver every single one of them!
In a frenzy born of his Alpha’s paranoia, the beta had sent three of his last few trusted personal spies back to the Northern Caves. “Go,” he’d commanded between his teeth, tongue flicking out, “Find out what happened. Who helped her, where did she go.”
Night gave way to morning in the Beta's study, still sitting beside the dead embers in his fireplace as he waited for the distinct clicking sound from the secret door to his chamber. A sound indicating the return of his head spy. His agent stumbled into the room, shaking so badly he could barely stay upright.
He was white, white as snow, and his eyes held the terror of an ongoing nightmare as he gulped each raw, pain filled breath from lungs constricted too tight for even air to fit.
“W… what did you find?”
The Beta snarled, yanking the collar of his agent’s tunic.
“Where’s the Frostclaw commander?
Did they fall back?”
“T… they…” The spy choked out, his voice laced with terror, “T-they’re all dead, Beta.
The entire vanguard… slaughtered.”
The Beta’s eyes narrowed, a wave of relief tinged with a chilling disbelief washing over him. Kaelen must have dealt with them, before he’d brought Elena back.
Yes, his wolf had finished the job…” “No, Beta!
That’s… that’s the nightmare!”
the spy gasped, his wide eyes flicking frantically around the room.
“It wasn’t the Alpha!
No claw marks on their bodies. No wolf teeth sinking into their throats. The cave… the cave was a charnel house… pure, unadulterated, unnatural strength. We saw bodies pressed into the rock walls.
Bodies thrown like rag dolls through the air!
The commander’s throat… not bitten! His great steel sword… shattered… and his throat… torn out with… with human hands!” The Beta released his agent’s collar, his knees buckling under him.
An unnatural, frigid cold seared through him.
“What did you say?”
he whispered, his voice trembling.
“Human hands?”
“Yes, Beta! They didn’t even shift! Their bones… breaking like twigs in their fingers. Precise.
Someone who isn’t a wolf… but stronger than any Alpha we’ve ever encountered!
There’s a monster among us!”
The spy's words were like a death knell in the Beta's ears. "If Kaelen didn't do it, and no other pack was involved..."
Who was it?
"He had a flash of a horrifying, impossible image of Elena's peaceful smile in the cave, and violently shook his head trying to push away the thought.
'No. It's impossible.
She is a defect.'
'She is a human servant.
She can't be...'
The following morning, heavy morning mist hung over the groomed rose gardens of the pack estate. The Beta walked through the stone archway trying to clear his mind of the nauseating paranoia." Then rounding a corner, by the white marble fountain, his breath hitched in his throat.
"There stood Elena, a young woman in a simple white gown with long dark hair flowing over her shoulders. She looked almost angelic, as she gently ran slender fingers over the soft petals of a dark red rose. Kaelen was not around; he had been called for a brief meeting by the southern gates."
Elena was alone.
"Seizing the opportunity, the Beta clenched his fists, willing his dominant Beta aura to flicker just for a moment, and strode towards her. He wanted to shake her, to terrorize her, to extract truth from this madness consuming his mind. 'Elena.' the Beta said, stopping two steps away from her, his voice deliberately deep and commanded. 'You seem quite well recovered for a person that was apparently kidnapped by ferocious animals last night.
You should be crying your eyes out in your room, or did you quite enjoy the company of our enemies?'"
Elena didn't flinch or even look up from the rose. Slowly she released the flower and turned to him. "The naive and helpless look was gone.
In her dark eyes there was a still, bottomless pit that made the Beta's instincts shriek danger. Elena took a slow, deliberate step forward without a word. Even though the Beta was a well-trained warrior, twice her size, he instinctively wanted to step back, but his pride held him frozen."
"Elena stopped in front of him, leaning closer.
She cast a shadow over him with her tiny, delicate frame, tilting her head as she spoke in a beautifully calm voice that sent a cold shock of electricity down his spine, 'Aapke bheje hue log caves mein bohot shor macha rahe the, Beta... Isliye mujhe unke sath thori sakhti se pesh aana para.' "The Beta's heart froze in his chest, and his eyes widened in a paralytic horror that struck him like a physical blow. She knew.
" 'You...' the Beta stammered, unable to speak as he stumbled two large steps backwards, hands trembling, 'You are...
What are you?'
Elena straightened, her serene smile returning, but now tainted with a terrifying, icy promise. 'I am the Luna of the Bloodmoon Pack,' she whispered, voice like silk against a razor.
'And if you ever, EVER try this kind of game with my life, or try to cross me again... I will not only shatter your spies. I will personally rip your spine through your throat, Beta.
And I will make your daughter watch.'"
"The unseen force of her power felt overwhelming, and the Beta's knees buckled as he looked into the face of what seemed to be a hidden goddess of death cloaked in the appearance of an innocent lamb."
"'Elena!'
A deep, powerful voice thundered in the garden. Like a switch being flipped, the freezing, chilling energy radiating from Elena's aura disappeared instantly.
Her posture sagged, her shoulders drooped, and her eyes flooded with soft, watery fear.
She spun around, a little gasp escaping her lips as Kaelen stride into the garden with golden eyes blazing in furious protectiveness.
'Kaelen!'
Elena whimpered, her voice cracking as though from overwhelming fear.
She rushed to Kaelen, throwing her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest, her shoulders shaking as though she were weeping. 'Oh thank goodness, you're here... The Beta...
He was being so mean to me.
He was questioning my escape... He was making me so scared...'" Kaelen's jaw clenched so hard, a popping sound came from his joint. His golden eyes gleamed with a lethal fury as he pulled Elena tightly against him, a large arm protectively wrapped around her.
He shot the Beta a look that promised death.
"'Beta,' Kaelen hissed, voice low and demonic, causing the surrounding roses to vibrate, 'I warned you. If you dare to speak to my mate without my permission again, I will end you. Get out of my sight.
Now.'"
The Beta, still white-faced and trembling from Elena's wordless threat, could only choke back a dry click in his throat. He looked from Kaelen to Elena, nuzzling into her Alpha's chest.
Elena, from behind Kaelen's broad shoulder, peeked out and met the Beta's terrified eyes with a beautifully terrifying and completely triumphant smile.
The Beta turned and fled the garden, knowing his nightmares were just beginning.
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