RECAP:

The forest was silent. The little creatures had run away, as if they had been warned of the oncoming massacre.  Even the wind seemed to blow slower and colder. The only sound was our breathing and fearful heartbeats. Connors eyes never left the field, waiting and waiting for the long overdue reunion.

A single deep brown wolf broke through the tree line.

Danny.

He sniffed the air, catching our scent. His eyes snapped to our hiding place in the bushes and he seemed to smile, dark and sinister. He sat back on his haunches and raised his nose to the sun. His howl was deep and ominous. It pounded in my ears like war drums. Slowly, more and more wolves emerged from the trees. As his howl grew in volume, the edge of the clearing filled with a sea of ragged fur. There were hundreds of them. We were easily outnumbered three to one. I could feel the dread in the air as the flow of wolves continued. Andrew looked down at me.

‘It’ll be ok,’ he thought. The lie parents tell to their children on their deathbeds did little to comfort me. I didn’t reply, simply looked over the sea of brown and grey death. It hovered like a vulture waiting for an animal to die beneath it. There was no way we could win. There were too many of them. Then it finally dawned on me.

I was going to die.

We were all going to die.

Connors words rang in my head.

‘If I am to die today…

I’m taking those bastards down with me.’

Chapter 31

Gage and Jason flanked Danny in their synchronized dance as he stalked to the center of the field. We watched in silence as they shifted to their human forms, still as menacing as before. The air was silent, not a single word spoken, or breath taken. Connor slowly emerged from the bushes, showing himself to Danny. Their eyes met, Connors filled with fear and anger, Danny’s with an unfeeling empty arrogance. He smirked at Connor as he walked, not a trace of fear about him. We slowly followed behind him, as did the companies covering our flanks. Once out of the trees, the company stopped, following unspoken orders from Connor.

‘Everyone keep your cool, don’t let them bait you. We have to stall the battle as long as we can. It will take time for the others to get into position. Stay with me and follow my lead.’ Connor shifted as we walked, and we followed suit. We stopped in the middle of the field, but five feet from Danny. Danny and Connor never lost eye contact, staring each other down. Standing next to each other, they looked as similar as twins, yet as different as day and night. They both towered to the same height, their hair and eyes were the same color. But Danny looked as if he was in shadow, as if he existed only in an alternate, darker world. Danny’s eyes were empty of all but bloodlust, and Connor had too many to identify.

“Little brother,” said Danny. “It has been far too long.” He smiled, sizing Connor up.

“Far too long,” agreed Connor.

“Now, little brother, we both know how this will end. Why not give up now? You could fight, and die. Or you could surrender, upon which only most of you will die.” He eyed our troops back on the tree line.

“No Danny, this ends here. You versus me. Like it should have been a long time ago.” Connor took a step forward, sending a ripple of strained growls across both packs.

“Now, now, little brother, no need to get testy. Let me see if I can get you to…reconsider my offer,” He waved his hand in the air. Men from his pack broke through the crowd of claws and fur. Each held the shoulders of a person with a bag over their head and their arms bound behind their backs. They brought their prisoners before us and pushed them to their knees. A line of Danny’s men stood between the prisoners and us. One by one, the men pulled the bags off their heads.  Elli looked up at us from the ground, her starburst eyes wide in fear. All the other missing pack members were lined up beside her. The man holding Elli grabbed her by her hair and pulled it back, exposing her throat. He pulled a knife from his belt and flipped it open. “Surrender and I will spare them, though I wish I could say the same for you, little brother.”

“Connor, don’t do it! He’ll kill us anyway!” yelled Elli. Danny whipped around and kicked her in the stomach, making her double over in pain.

“You really must teach your bitches to mind their tongues, little brother,” said Danny as he turned back to us.

“You bastard…” Connor looked to Elli, then to Gunner and the rest of the captives. All that were able shook their heads, their eyes glazed over as they spoke to Connor silently, telling him not to do it. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists by his side. “I will not surrender.”

“Of course not. You are far too stubborn for your own good little brother,” He turned and nodded to the man holding Elli. He pulled Elli’s head back again, as did the rest of the men holding captives.

“Danny, stop this!” Connor pushed against the line of men, trying to get to our pack members, but they held him back. “Fight like a man you coward!” Elli looked to each one of us, and nodded as much as she could. We each nodded back to her. Then, in a second of horror, the men slashed the captives throats open. “No!” screamed Connor. Their limp bodies fell to the ground, lifeless. 

Danny clicked his tongue in scorn. “Oh little brother…” He looked back to the lifeless bodies as they soaked the grass red with blood. The men began to drag the bodies away, tossing them into the bushes at the side of the clearing. “She was right though,” He turned back to us and grinned. “I would have killed them anyway, just for the fun of it.”

“You bastard!” Connor strained against the line of soldiers, but Andrew grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

‘Not yet,’ I could hear Andrew’s thoughts as he sent them to Connor. ‘Not yet Connor. The others aren’t ready. If we start the battle now it’ll be massacre. We need to stall a little bit longer.’

‘Andrew they just executed seven of our people in front of us…Elli’s dead…’  Connor backed away from the soldiers and turned to Andrew.

‘There was nothing we could do…’ Connor nodded his head.

“Little brother, you do make this far too easy on me. You care far too much about your pack, and life in general. I can threaten the life of a single, insignificant person, and get you to do anything I want. Or, if you don’t, the guilt eats you alive. Quite entertaining to watch actually...”

“You’re sick Daniel,” Connor growled.

“You put too much faith in people as well.” Danny picked at his nails dismissively. “It was all too easy to turn one of your own against you. So, so easy…”

“Alright Danny, you’ve had your time to gloat. So who is it? Huh? Bring your informant forward. Bring him out. Let him face me like a man, not the cowardly slug he is!” He looked behind Danny to the pack standing in the distance and yelled to them. “Let the traitor show his face!”

Danny chuckled. “Oh little brother… You are so easily fooled. Why don’t you come forward, my dear?” We all looked to the mass of fur behind him, waiting for one to step forward. No one moved. Someone bumped against my shoulder as they walked to the very center of the field.  I didn’t want to believe it, though it was right there in front of me. We all stood, stunned.

She turned around to face us, her light, wavy hair blowing in the slight breeze. Danny took her hand and kissed it. “She was a wonderful little actress wasn’t she?”

Cece smiled at us. “Surprised?”

“Cece? It was you?” Connor stepped back as if he were struck. “I…I don’t…Why?”

“Oh Connor, I wish you could see. Humans are vermin. They don’t deserve to continue existence. They should have been wiped out a long time ago.” In that moment, her eyes seemed to change. The normal glisten, the shine of elation and optimism, died out. Her eyes were as dead as Danny’s. Their void of darkness stared us down with no emotion. All ties of friendship were lost. More accurately, they never existed.

“No…no…Cece you love people. You love everyone. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met I don’t–”

“Oh come off it Connor! I never meant anything I said. Well, not for the last couple of years anyway. Jason here found me one night and opened my eyes.” She sauntered over to Jason and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You have no idea how insufferable it was to deal with all your inferior drama. Constantly defending the pathetic humans, it made me sick.” Then her eyes shifted once more, I could see the spark again. “Join us, all of you,” she walked back to us, her arms out stretched. “Join us and help us create a new, superior race. Help us rid the world of those parasites,” She walked over to Connor and placed a hand on his arm. “We can create a new world, a better world.”

Connor jerked his arm away from her. “Don’t touch me. You betrayed all of us. It’s your fault our friends are dead!” The shine died away from her eyes once more, as she dropped her hand and walked back to Jason.

“No Connor. It’s your fault,” She said as she grabbed onto Jason’s hand. “Come on babe, let’s go.” She stared pulling him back towards the rest of the pack. He pulled his hand out of her grasp.

“I’ll be there in a second,” She nodded and shifted running back and melded into the sea of our doom. Jason turned to me then, a smirk on his face.

“Hello there Maggie. It is so nice to see you again.” We stood but four feet apart as he stared me down.  “When this is over, I’ll enjoy breaking you…again,” He brushed his hand against the side of my face. The memories of our past flowed into my mind. I felt Andrews’s horror and panic as he saw my memories. I tried to stop them, but it was too late. Andrew knew everything. His rage flared like kerosene added to a fire. He looked at Andrew with murderous intentions. I snapped back to reality and slapped Jason’s hand away.

“When this is over, Jason, I’ll enjoy making you beg for death.” His smirk faded and he turned and followed Cece. Andrew looked over at me, but said nothing. I could feel his horror, and that was enough.

Danny and Connor were staring each other down, their eyes locked. Danny smirked at Connor, arrogant and sure. Connor steamed with anger and pain, his muscles clenching and his hands trembling.

“Oh little brother...What would our dear mother say about our little predicament here? Rest her poor soul,” Danny shook his head and looked up to the sky.

“Don’t you bring her into this. Don’t you speak of her!” Connor almost lunged at Danny, but Andrew held him back.

“I still remember her face when she realized who I was. When she realized just who was ending her life,” He traced his thumb across his lips. “Her blood did taste oh so sweet…”

“You bastard!” Connor broke free of Andrews grasp and shifted. In a flash, he was on top of Danny, teeth and claws slashing.

In a roar of trampling paws and growls, our pack flooded out of the trees. The two packs met in a clash of teeth and blood. The wolves moved in a blur, like a picture of moving cars. I stretched my wings and shot into the air to avoid a charging wolf. I looked out over the battlefield. Wolves and humans fought alike, ripping each other limb from limb. I couldn’t discern my pack from theirs, it was all one mass of fur and blood. I took a breath in the thinner air, shut my wings, and dove back into the fray.