130 years ago

It's so dark and quiet in the forest, none of us made a sound, none of us couldn't, the smell was overwhelming of what was out here with us, moving wasn't an option, we were outnumbered by a few.

What should we do? Lucas mindlinks me as he stands behind a tree next to mine.

I keep my back to the tree and keep my eyes above me, I nod to Lucas then look to Rogon, both understanding instantly what I'm trying to say without saying anything.

Above us are thirty or so shifters clinging to the trees above us.

We are surrounded and outnumbered, they know it, I know it.

There is only one way out of this, either I kill a few and lose my men or we talk this shit out like grown adults, I don't have time to kill every single one of them without getting more information on these killings near my pack.

I close my eyes and take a breath, then I move from the tree and hold up my hands, keeping my eyes on the sky. "Let's talk." I call out into the night. "None of us are here to cause trouble." 

A screeching sound that makes the hairs on my arms stand yells out into the cold dark forest, next was the rustling of tree leaves, I mindlink to my men to stand guard but don't attack unless I say so, they all stand guard but make no move to shift.

What was once an empty forest is now filled with glowing eyes in the dark, but I can see them even though my wolves can not. The beast inside of me always knew they were here, following us since we stepped foot in here, nobody knows but Lucas, I need to keep this secret to myself if I want to protect my pack.

The shifters aren't normal creatures, they swear no alliance to anyone and mainly keep to themselves, some even take on normal lives, even if they are anything but normal.

One of them stands out, his build is bigger and his eyes are menacing as they look at mine, so that must be the leader, I step forward and drop the knife in my hand- a token of respect amongst their people, these knives are hard to come by, made my shifters, taken by my people a long time ago.

They're valuable, so they have to talk to me.

"What do you want Alpha of the wolves?" Their leader speaks, his voice low but hard.

'Kane this is a bad idea.' Rogon says through mindlink, Lucas and Larson both agree.

I block them out. "I want information I know you have, about the killings on my land, in return I will give you what you desire, a peace treaty."

The leader looks at me with amusement in his eyes then eyes the knife on the ground. "Interesting." He mutters out. 

"Alpha Black... wants information about... them." He calls out in amusement to his people and they snicker, causing me and my beast to think of changing our minds on letting him and his people live.

I growl in a warning and he holds his hands up with a smile. "I mean no offence, it's just, your family... Black.. you know what they are, they are yours are they not? Or they were..." He lowly whispers, stepping forward, coming two feet from me.

I know everything about my family, good and the bad- and there was more bad than good because of Demonia the Black family has a history within my world, everyone who was around a few hundred years ago knows the story, how we kept our people safe... how we used those for our own good.

But I'm not him. "Cut the shit." I snap out, causing the man to jump. "I want the location of their den, you know where it is, tell me that much and I'll let you walk away unharmed." I snarl out, my eyes shifting colors, my beast threatening to come out.

His eyes widen upon realization, he knows. "We know where they eat, but the den? We have no reason to get involved in your world, we value our lives, Alpha Black." 

I stare at him hard. "Where?" 

He looks at his people than at me, worry laced in his eyes as he starts to shift uncomfortably under my hard cold stare. "I-I will show you, but we go no further than that, do we have a deal?" He asks.

He's scared, terrified of going- but why? I need to check this out even more than before, something is not right, they should be all dead, the look in his eyes tells me there are more of them than I suspected.

"Show me."

He nods, swallowing hard he turns and waves his people to follow, I mindlink my wolves to shift, once shifted I see the way the shifters look back in fear at my wolves fully shifted following behind us on my orders.

I walk beside their leader, not needing to shift. "We have a deal, no harm will come to your people." I say, giving him the knife I brought as an offering, deadly to my people.

He accepts the knife and stares at it in awe, his eyes still tell me he is uneasy being around me but none of that matters right now, right now I need to find this den, once I get there and find a scent, the rest will be left to my trackers, by sunrise we should be able to find their hideout and kill them before they multiply.

He clears his throat after some time, gaining my attention I see him looking at me, he points in a direction in front of us that I use my sight to scout the area, the faint smell of the creatures is there, they were here and he leads us to the right place, theirs a clear view of a small cave up ahead.

'This is the right place, be on guard, they could be still in the area, if one gets you, don't let any of them bite you.' I minklink to my wolves.

"This is as far as we go, those who enter don't leave this place, may that be a warning young Alpha." He says, lifting his hood to recover his face, along with his people.

I say nothing and walk past him, letting him and his people leave without saying another word. I shift into my wolf form and sniff the air, once I get the scent I instruct my scouts to guard the surrounding area while me and Lucas check it out, leaving Rogon and Larson outside the cave.

We both keep our guard up as we walk up to the cave, the smell of death is overwhelming, the smell of rotting human and animal flesh is that of fresh and old kills. 

I caught the scent instantly upon reaching the cave so I mindlink my trackers to follow it and report back as me and Lucas enter the cave.

The cave is nothing fancy, it's small, and from the looks of it, none of them slept here, they used it as their feeding grounds, bones without flesh are all over the floor bed, some have been used as a makeshift statue I can't place, I've never known them to be intelligent.

Someone was here while they were feeding, but why? What is his objective bringing Orion back? They lost, their numbers are so low that showing themselves now would set them back, so why? It doesn't make sense.

'Kane, you're going to want to see this.' Larson mindlinks me.

I stop looking around the cave and head outside, signaling Lucas to follow, I go to Larson's location, not far from the cave, a short distance away is when I see what Larson and a few wolves are surrounding.

I shift upon walking over to the strange markings on the floor. "A ritual?" I ask Larson, who has shifted back with me.

He bends down and inspects the decapitated body and the markings surrounding it. "Yes, but look at these." He points to symbol from the old Valen language of The Vale. "These are ancient, I suspect the era of Axel, perhaps your dad will know what it means?" He asks as his curiosity takes in the sight in front of him.

I rub my face tiredly and sigh deeply. "No need..." I say, causing Larson and every wolf to look at me.

I recognize that symbol well, I know Valen as well as English, this word was used often while I was a child and I drew the symbol often in the wood, I know he was here and I know he left this only for me, but why? What is he trying to accomplish by doing this?

Shit. "Take anything of use then burn it all down." I tell Rogon. 

"Kane, what does this mean?" Lucas asks as he stands near me in concern.

"Friendship." I say quietly, making Larson look up at me in confusion and for Lucas to frown, knowing what it means. 

He left this here for me, he still hasn't forgotten me and this isn't the last of him, he is out there somewhere, waiting... and he will try again to kill me.

I know what he wants, what he has always wanted since we were children playing in the woods, but to come this far, it's like I'm chasing a stranger.

He will come to kill, he desires it more than his so-called freedom, he will do it soon, he and Orion had just made their first move. I need to move fast to protect my people and alert The Vale.

A war may be coming, if we're not ready, we will all go up in flames.

I stand and watch the trees in front of me burn in the dead of night, lighting up the dark cold sky with my wolves beside me, the stench of death being swallowed by the fire, evidence of misery gone with the flames, along with the memories of a happier time, a time when we were like brothers.

It's either him or me, when the time comes I will stop him, even if I have to kill every single one of them, he has to pay for the chaos he has caused, the lives he has ruined, the misery he has caused.

I will catch him, if it's the last thing I ever do, he won't hurt anyone else, not while I'm alive.

*****

Thekkur

"The welcome one" is The symbol of friendship.