Aryn

"Fred, turn this car around on the count of three," I ordered, gruffly. "One!" I counted.

Hearing my words, he shifted uneasily beside me for he was well aware of the underlying promise of imminent disaster that would befall him if my command were not carried out.

"I vow to stop making those ingenious machines that help to enhance the quality of your drawings and artistic crafts if you do that," Star chimed in, hastily, with a defiant gaze as we both stared off, heatedly, at each other.

"Two!" I urged. My neck was angled away from him and towards Star who sat down on the backseat with a rigid cross of her arms.

I knew she had her bouts of assertiveness and courage, especially, when she felt strongly about a certain matter, but I didn't need that right now. It was planned that Fred, a couple of pack warriors, and I would make the trip to North Dakota to face the Night Prowlers head on.

Despite our need for the destructives, that only Star could create, I had stood my ground regarding the decision to leave her out of the expedition. So you could imagine my surprise when I found out that she had learned of my plans and had managed to sneak into one of the 4x4 pickup trucks only to suddenly materialize hours later from her hiding spot under the tonneau cover.

"I refuse to be placed in the middle," Fred protested, making a U-turn at an intersection. "Besides I can't turn back now Alpha because we are five minutes away from the pack borders of North Dakota," he reasoned with a quick sideways glance but seeing my grimace he turned back towards the road and gulped down hard. "A-a-and that doesn't mean I'm on your side Star," he frowned when he noticed her trying to repress a growing smile through the rear-view mirror. "You're just lucky that's all," he murmured.

"I don't care if we are at the borders or in the territory itself," I ground out, irritatedly. "She's going back to Alaska," I noted with finality, pointing towards her and then at the road before I slumped back into my seat.

Star scurried over to the space between Fred and I and placing her hands on the armrest console, she turned to look at me.

"Think of how much time you'd lose, following me back all the way to Alaska," she persuaded with big, doe eyes. "Besides I'm the only one who can make destructives and from what I've heard, my skills are highly needed as well. So, it's a win-win situation," she bargained.

"Who even told you that your skills were needed? Or that I was going to North Dakota?" I asked, turning to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"That's beside the point Alpha," she evaded the question with a roll of her eyes and continued. "You know you need my skills," she re-emphasized, placing a loose strand of her scarlet locks behind her ear.

I knew she wouldn't give up a name so easily but all I could say was that heaven better help the soul that told her of my plans.

"You are not making any destructives. How many times do I need to say that?" I sighed with a hand to my temple. "In addition, you hate war, and everything related to it so the pack is your safest bet," I added in a monotone voice as I turned to face the window.

"I'd rather not go to war, yes, but if it came down to that, I wouldn't shy away from it," she dismissed. "Let me help where I can, Alpha. I'm not some weak, cute, nerdy she-wolf," she whined, earning a scoff from Fred who thought otherwise. Star shot him a pouty glare and he immediately turned to whistle out of the car window.

She might be kinder than most individuals and soft hearted, but I knew she wasn't weak. However, I was still resolute in my decision because despite her outward expression of bravery and strength, I knew the incident of time past still hurt as painfully as it did ten years ago.

I got distracted, momentarily, by the vast expanse of sunflower fields that became increasingly visible as we neared the borders of North Dakota. Their vibrant colours caught the rays of the fairly warm sun and they swayed gently in the breeze. The land mass was one of flat plains that stretched far and wide leading up to perfectly sculpted snow-capped mountains with a meandering river cutting across the valley. The view was magnificent and even more enchanting during winter when the snow clothed the numerous trees in its white apparel and froze the crystalline waters of the lake to finally transform the pack into a fantastical snow town.

I sighted a few pack warriors ahead, some in wolf form and others in human form. The defensive stance that their taut muscles embodied reminded me of the horror and bloodshed that was currently taking place and I fought to control the seething fury that boiled within me. Star's slight movement brought my attention back to our discussion and with renewed determination, I sought to finalize our disagreement once and for all.

"Star, my decision is final and don't worry about me wasting any time because you'll be escorted back by a pack warrior," I enforced, throwing a fleeting look at her crest-fallen expression before I turned to face the Head Commandant of the North Dakota pack, Omari Ngoy, who motioned for a roll down of my window.

"Alpha Aryn! What a pleasant surprise," he smiled, relieved, upon seeing my facial features. "I wasn't expecting you to arrive so early seeing as we only sent the SOS two days ago," he remarked.

Omari was a man in his early thirties with smooth ebony skin, framing the muscled physique of his six-foot build. His chestnut-brown eyes twinkled brightly in the warm afternoon sun and its rays highlighted the artistically, gravity defying, mass of thick, black coils styled in an afro, atop his head. His persona was one of good-natured kindness and his baritone voice was one that commanded power yet harboured the soft tones of hospitality and balanced leadership. This was the reason I had made him leader of my allied pack in my absence.

"Patience is not one of my best virtues, Omari," I drawled, and he chuckled. "The more time I waste, the more lifelines those bastards have to spare, and I'd love to end every single one of them as quickly as possible," I smiled, wickedly. "Only then can it be said that I am a patience man for those unfortunate wolves who happen to be captured will experience slow, unrelenting pain and torture," I added.

"Couldn't have said it any better," he agreed with a firm nod. "But do come in Alpha so we can get down to deliberating this matter once you are settled in and comfortable," he urged, signalling for the pack warriors to retreat from their defensive stance and with that Fred revved up the engine and drove deeper into the pack with our truckload of entourages driving closely behind.

"I'm starting to think we've entered into an alternate dystopian world," Fred noted, under his breath, as he took in the disarrayed surroundings of the pack.

Several makeshift tents had been put up at strategic points of the pack with minute numbers of pack warriors inhabiting them and the once serene, picturesque view had been replaced by dried out trees, broken down buildings, streets littered with rubble, debris and the sore sights of wounded wolves with festering injuries, blood gashes and missing body parts. The terror called the Night Prowlers had run amok in this once gorgeous abode, leaving a trail of pain, destruction, and calamity in its wake. They had destroyed its essence from the inside, leaving the exterior untouched. Making the pack a shell of its former self.

It was a metaphoric message to me. I had destroyed one of their leaders, Kodiak Wolff, and in doing so left them as a shadow of what they used to be.

Star's silent gasp drew my attention to her presence, and I shook myself loose of the tumultuous feelings that threatened to consume my whole being as the sight plunged me deeper into the memories of my haunted past.

This was war at its finest. A phenomenon of hatred and evil that sought only one aim: to destroy.

Fred parked the 4x4 pickup truck by an open space not far from the makeshift tents before he promptly got out to direct the rest of our company. He was to spearhead the offloading of our weapons and essential foodstuff relief for the ailing wolves who couldn't afford to go farming for fear of the Night Crawlers.

"I'll let one of the warriors know that you're going back and I'll be sure to keep tabs on your journey back to the pack at all times," I announced, pulling my door open and getting out.

The quick slam of the door behind me did little to halt my steps towards the cars' tonneau but the small hands that grasped the crook of my arm in a gentle but firm hold did.

"I can't go back not after what I've seen," she insisted with a frantic shake of her head. "I can help you win this fight faster than any sword or arrow can and you know that. The pack has already lost so many lives; would you be willing to lose even more when there is a much better, effective offer?" She questioned, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion.

Her actions had caused her glasses to slide further down on her delicate nose and I found myself smiling despite the situation.

"Is this funny to you?" She asked, incredulously.

I pushed her tilted glasses gently back and placed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as I looked into her eyes. "I know the destructives would give us a far better advantage over the Night Prowlers but I'm not risking your life or..." I trailed off, breaking eye contact with her and staring off into the distance.

Why couldn't she just let it go? That was far much better than revisiting the past.

"...just go back to the pack Star. Please," I pleaded.

I rarely begged anyone to get things done. Why would I? I was Alpha after all, but Star was different. She was my childhood friend and I viewed her as family. If I could protect Dina by leaving her behind where I knew it was safe, then I'd do the same for Star as well.

"You are not just scared for my life, are you?" She asked silently and I sighed at what was to come. "You probably think I'm still affected by what happened ten years ago. I'm not saying I'm not but that shouldn't be an excuse for wanting to exclude me. It hurt then and it still hurts now but I'm far stronger now than I was then and when I see that my Alpha and pack members need my help..." she stated, motioning to the pack warriors who were now disbursing food items to a gathered mass of sickly, injured wolves. "...then by hell you know I'll help out where I can," she added, fiercely.

I knew when an argument had reached a dead end because it was quite hypocritical that I judged her strength based on the pain that she had gone through in the past. I, myself, was a living proof of someone who had worked through his pain to emerge as the best Alpha he could be. Albeit I repressed my pain but that didn't matter because everyone dealt with trauma differently. I looked back towards the determined, dainty, she-wolf who packed one of the most fierce, resilient, spirits I had ever seen and knew that over the years she had confronted and dealt with her pain in ways that I hadn't.

Ten years ago, her brother, Leo, together with Star and I, had gone deep into the woods to try out a destructive automated crossbow that she had invented. Her father and previous beta, Dylan Brown, had not been a fan of his daughter's propensity towards the creation of weapons of mass destruction and had prohibited her from indulging in such activities. Leo, on the other hand, had always supported her passion and he had built her a secret workshop which we visited fortnightly.

On that fateful night, we had been so engrossed and enthralled by the precision with which the crossbow propelled arrows that refilled automatically, at the targets. It was a deadly weapon that would give us an advantage over our enemies and Leo had persuaded Star and I to help in his elaborate plan to bring the weapon to the Alpha, my father's, attention. At least if the Alpha approved of the weapon then Beta Dylan would have no other choice but to grant Star with free access to continue the production of innovative creations like this one.

It was Leo's turn with the weapon and as he positioned it towards the target, he missed, and the arrow whizzed deeper into the woods. Leo was talented at archery and so this came as a shock, but Star pacified him by stating that the arrow could have been curved since she was still perfecting the weapon and its automated disbursing mechanism. We had a great laugh about it, however, that was the last sound I heard from him for the arrow had managed to curve back, almost like a frisbee, and lodge itself deep within his heart. His death was one of great sorrow to everyone in the pack, but their sadness could never be compared to Star who believed for years that she had killed her own brother. She carried the heavy guilt alone and it didn't help that her father refused to even glance at her shadow, up until his death at the chain war.

"I thought the Sky Lordians would do me the favour of stripping me of the talent," she mused, bringing back my attention to her. "But seeing as it's still with me, then I'd love to help where I can. It won't lessen the pain but at least it would help to always remember that my weapons killed off those bastards," she cussed, tentatively, almost as if she was afraid the words would come alive to hunt her and I chuckled.

"Okay then. Let's kill off those bastards," I spat with valour and she giggled. "That's how you do it. Lesson number one on how to be cool, swear like you mean it," I laughed, and she scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"Alpha Aryn here you are," Omari announced with a broad smile as he approached Star and I. "Who is this gorgeous beauty by the way?" He asked grinning politely at Star who returned the gesture.

"She's our head weaponry creator," I replied, and Star widened her eyes at the title in surprise.

"Weaponry hey," he repeated, impressed. "Not only a beauty I see but a bad ass weapon creator. I better watch out," he teased.

"It's not much really," Star blushed, shying away from the overwhelming attention and praise. Ever modest Star. Such a sweetheart. "But then I better get cracking on those weapons seeing as I only have the sketches but I'll be sure to get back to you Alpha regarding my progress," she bowed and smiled before turning on her heels.

"Just don't work too hard," I chastised her retreating back.

"Take your own advice Mr Alpha," she threw me a bright smile before she continued towards Fred who was busy by the tents.

"I like her character. She's a ball of sunshine in the midst of all this gloom," Omari commented, chuckling at Star's antics.

"That's undeniable," I agreed, still entranced by her faraway figure as I got consumed by the warm feelings that I bore for her.

I would make sure to protect her, she was too precious, and her mate better treat her right or he'd get acquainted with my fists.

"All right then," he inhaled, deeply, with a brief clap of his hands. "If you would follow me just down this path, we'd be sure to get you settled in before we go over the details," he said, leading the way to the pack house. "I have gathered the pack armed forces as well as pack trackers into the meeting room for a debriefing so let's make haste," he added as I followed his lead.

"Now you are speaking my language," I smirked, walking beside him.

The Night Prowlers had drawn blood, I would draw their souls.

"You just had to tag along, didn't you?" I drawled, jumping over a fallen tree then turning to help Star who had a slight difficulty with conquering the obstacle.

The circumference of the fallen tree was relatively larger than most and considering Star's petite figure and physical fragility, it was a no brainer that the only way she'd get past it would be to walk around it.

"You advised me against my workaholic tendencies so I decided to go for a walk," she replied, grasping my hand, tightly, as I hauled her unto the tree trunk where she balanced, shakily, before jumping down.

"I'm sure you've noticed that this isn't a walk in the park," I teased, noting the beads of sweat that gathered on her forehead together with the tinge of scarlet, caused by physical exertion, that coloured her freckled cheeks.

"It's the best option at the moment seeing as you won't even allow me to walk five centimetres away from the weaponry workshop," she countered, stopping, momentarily, to shrug off her checkered sweater which she promptly tied around her waist. "I had muscle spasms from being cooped up in that space for such a long time," she complained, bending her neck to each side in an effort to relieve the tension in her shoulders.

"It's for your own safety starry star light," I remarked, pulling her, gently, to my side to massage her shoulders but she squirmed away from me, hurriedly.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, Alpha. No need for that," she laughed, uneasily, as she put a considerable amount of space in between us.

"I don't bite, you know?" I furrowed my forehead, quite confused by her response. "And I give one of the best massages," I persuaded with a wiggle of my eyebrows.

"I'm sure you do but you don't need to trouble yourself," she waved off with a shake of her head, causing a few tendrils out of their placement in the messy bun and unto her heart shaped face. "It's quite better now," she smiled, shakily, moving her shoulders up and down rapidly in support of her claim.

Fred snickered from behind us and I turned to peer at him with a quirked eyebrow.

Mind explaining that? I mind-linked him with false sweetness.

Oh! Don't mind me, I just got a piece of fruit lodged in my throat, he replied, coughing uncontrollably for emphasis. Do carry on, he urged, moving to fall in step with Cayden who was ahead of Star and me.

The plot twist.... He hadn't even a tiny bit of fruit in his hands.

I diverted my attention away from him and towards Star who was now on a mission to avoid any eye contact, whatsoever, with me. I sought to question her concerning her odd behaviour; I mean she so happened to act like that whenever I showed some kind of concern, when Omari spoke up.

"This exact position is where our defence is weak Alpha," he explained, pointing to an area adorned with lush green grass, moss covered rocks and trees, sprouting out beautiful wisteria flowers, all situated around a ravine. "Before the attacks we worked on the construction of a connecting bridge just right there...." he pointed to the space between two cliffs overlooking the overhang of a magnificent waterfall. The bridge had yet to be completed, in fact the ropes on one side had been sabotaged so that it now dangled loosely between the cliffs.

The Night Prowlers were sneaky bastards, you had to give them that.

".... the bridge had been in its final stages of completion when the attacks began and unsurprisingly it was one of the many things they destroyed," he continued with a slight frown. "Cutting our pack from the other side gave them the advantage of sneak attacks as the land opposite this clan is much easier to walk on as opposed to here where the slopes and sharp rocks make crossing to the other side difficult,"

We were standing, currently, by the edge of a slope, just opposite the riverbank of very turbulent waters. Farther down, the riverbank narrowed making jumping to the other side easier. However, the land on our side was very steep and if a warrior lost his footing, he was sure to sustain devastating injuries from the rocks that jutted out of the land, menacingly, with sharp pointed tips.

The land on the other side, however, was overgrown with rows of endless pine trees and thick bushes. This made sneak attacks all the more easy to carry out. In addition, the curve of the landscape gave full access into the pack and jumping over the narrowed banks of the river was no difficult feat from the other side.

"Does most of their entry into the pack happen through here?" I questioned, bending to feel the dark sandy substance, embedded in the soil, between my fingers.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time they'll come through here, guns blazing, deafening war cries and ghastly howls," he recounted, staring far off into the distance at the sun set. "It's my understanding that they have camps in South Dakota. That would explain their entry from the other side," he proposed.

"They have a love for gunpowder as well," I muttered, taking a whiff of the black substance.

"It's deposited by weapons called bomb rockers," he answered, motioning Joel forward. In his hands was a blueprint of a certain weapon, complete with labelling's and mathematical calculations. "It's a cone-shaped structure, shot from cylindrical propellers. The force causes them to spiral, speedily, in time to the air current and once they lodge their tip into the target they go off with a deafening bang," he explained, pointing to the illustration.

Star's curiosity had been piqued and she walked softly towards us, peering at the illustration closely.

"What other weapons do they use besides the conventional guns, arrows, swords and bombs?" She questioned, tracing the drawing with delicate fingers.

"That's pretty much all they use," Omari answered, deep in thought. "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. Well except the fact that the bullets are laced with wolfsbane," he added.

"Hmmm," she hummed in response before looking up from the blueprint. "The mechanism of the bomb propellers are nothing complex. It's quite basic, if you asked me," Fred moved to stand next to her and she passed the drawing over to him. "The only reason they've had an upper hand in this battle is because the pack is lacking in much more destructive weapons," she noted, turning to take in her surroundings.

Despite the war that was causing destruction to the inhabitants of the pack, the forest still managed to encapsulate an air of serenity and beauty. The tree leaves rustled, unbothered by the feelings of anxiety, pain and fear that plagued mankind and the sounds emanating from the waterfall spring continued its ministration of hypnotic, melodious tunes.

"But not for much longer," Fred chimed in with a wicked smile, drawing my attention back to the ongoing discussion.

"Star is quite skilled in the art of making destructives as you know," I said, addressing Omari who gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. "Highly complicated weapons of mass destruction and with her on our side, the Night Prowlers have nothing on us," I stated with conviction.

"I have actually started working on some old sketches of mine," Star rolled up her sleeves, excitedly, as she offered up that piece of information. "The pack members have been so helpful, and we should have a batch of thirty weapons complete with ammunition by this evening," she added, earning a proud smile from me.

"That's good to know," Omari's chiselled features lit up in a grateful smile as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Now all we need is a sneak attack of our own. One that's even much more cunning," I smirked as ingenious ideas concerning battle strategies filtered into my mind in a rush.

"That smirk says it all. It's back to the drawing board to revise our strategy and war plans, isn't it?" Omari chuckled, lightly.

"You know it," I shrugged, turning back towards the pack.

It was highly likely that the Night Prowlers would show up in a few hours' time and so what better way to welcome them than with a wicked game plan.

I slowed my pace down, considerably, to walk behind Star who was engrossed in animated conversation with Aaliyah, a North Dakota pack member who was helping out with the creation of weapons. We had ventured into the forest with a few pack warriors who flagged us protectively from the front as well as behind. However, I made sure to remain close to Star at all times as she was mine to protect, personally. It also didn't help that she possessed no skills in the art of combat.

But Star being Star, she had persuaded me to take her along and I had agreed on the condition that she stayed put by my side.

The thick foliage adorning the rows of trees were beginning to thin out as we drew closer to the inner pack. I registered the strange change in the atmosphere and stopping momentarily to observe the oddity, I noticed the small, almost inconspicuous, bullet that fired straight at Star. Whoever had shot the bullet had placed a silencer on the weapon to reduce its acoustic intensity, consequently, no one had heard the shot. I ran, swiftly, towards Star and barrelling my body into hers, I shoved her unto the soft grass with a hand to cradle her head.

"We are under attack men! Take position!" Omari hollered, drawing out an ancient sword.

The guards took on defensive positions around Star and I and some had already shifted into wolf forms with their fangs bared in vicious snarls. I looked to Star who had fainted from the impact and inspecting her body, closely, I noticed that the bullet had still managed to graze the side of her temple where a line of blood had formed.

"Fred get her medical help now! She's been shot," I ordered, panicked. If the bullet was coated in wolfsbane, which I was sure was the case, then every minute counted.

"Of course, Alpha," Fred rushed over to me, taking Star from my arms, and running towards the pack with a few pack warriors guarding him.

I looked towards the source of the shot bullet and caught a slight movement among the switchgrasses. My guess was that we weren't under attack instead a spy had been sent to learn about vital information as news of my arrival would have filtered over to the Night Prowlers. That shot was purposefully meant for Star as she was our key player in winning this war and my blood boiled at the revelation. Without thinking, I sprinted towards the other side of the field in human form and as expected the hidden figure noticed that I was unto him and fled.

"Alpha Aryn, stop! It's a trap!" Omari warned but I ignored his call. I wasn't stopping until I got my revenge.

The figure was clothed in a black cloak with the hood fastened over his head and so it was hard to determine the gender or age.

My guess was that the figure was male. The Night Prowlers hardly ever employed the help of females.

We ran back into the forest with the hidden figure twisting around trees and jumping in haphazard patterns as a way of getting me off his trail. Abruptly, the individual turned and fired a few bullets, blindly, towards me. This act deterred my steps, momentarily, as I had to take refuge behind a tree to avoid the bullets. Calming the erratic beating of my heart, I peered from behind the tree, slowly. With an ear to the ground and noticing a flash of clothing, I deduced that the figure had taken refuge behind one of the numerous trees as well, but I wasn't sure which one.

I moved towards the middle of the forest trying to determine in which direction the figure had run when I heard the cock of a gun behind me. I froze in place, anxiously awaiting the bullet to make its exit from out of my body but nothing happened. I turned around, slowly, and came face-to-face with an individual who was trying, frantically, to work the firearm which had fallen susceptible to a mechanical malfunction. I noticed then that the figure was much smaller than I was with a slight figure that was dwarfed by the huge black cloak and hood.

I still believed, however, that the figure was male......or could it be a female?

Regardless of the individual's gender, I was still resolute in my plans to avenge Star. I moved swiftly towards the figure and with a muay thai manoeuvre, kicked the gun forcefully out of his hands. He backed away from me, disoriented, and with a quick turn shifted into wolf form, bursting out of the cloak with a vicious set of canines angled towards my neck. I skidded out of its line of sight quickly, the action causing a thick rise of dust which created a hazy, film partition between us. I shifted into my black wolf as well and once the dust settled, both wolves faced each other, determinedly.

As expected, his wolf was much smaller than mine with grey-coloured hide and a pair of yellow irises that sparked, surprisingly, with innocence and apprehension. The behaviour of the wolf from his mishap with the gun to his build and overall aurora was quite contradictory to the crazed character of most of the Night Prowler pack members. It was almost as if his show of bravado was all an act.

I had no time to think more on the matter for he rushed towards me with an intent to disbalance my footing. Even his fighting skills were subpar. It was foolish to go headfirst towards an unknown opponent and for that mistake, he suffered the devastating consequences as I leaped over him and with a mighty land on the forest floor by his other side, I turned around and dug my claws into his back. His howl of agony was deafening but having no mercy I sunk my fangs into his hind feet and ripped out the muscles and tendons, violently.

This was retribution for Star.

The fight ended as quickly as it had started with his wolf writhing in pain on the forest floor. My whole being was shrouded in the electrifying mist of bloodlust as I rounded the wolf, stealthy, with the intent to rip out his heart and watch the life drain from his eyes, gradually. But first I needed to know the identity of this brazen soul and on further deliberation, I couldn't afford to give him an easy exit out of this world. His suffering would be one of excruciating, ghoulish horror. I shifted back to human form and walked towards the wounded wolf whose hide was now submerged in a pool of his own blood.

"Shift!" I commanded, my Alpha essence radiating from my being. It whimpered in submission and heeded my order with little to no resistance.

The shouts behind me alerted me to Omari and the other pack warrior's presence. Surveying my surroundings for the remains of my clothing, I figured that they'd have to find me stark naked as the torn cloth pieces could not be salvaged.

I looked back towards the shifted wolf and blinked rapidly in disbelief, quite sure that my eyes were deceiving me. However, what I saw was the reality. The wolf had turned out to be male just like I had suspected but the jarring thing was that it wasn't a trained wolf but a child who couldn't have been older than eleven.

A badly injured child who was on the verge of death as he stared back at me with those same yellow orbs of innocence.

"Shit!"
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