1. THE BEGINNING OF THE END
JAYDA
In the eerie glow of the moonlight, cold breeze swept across my skin in the room, my eyes were shut but my ears were very much awake.
"Who sent you?" I heard a familiar voice few metres away from me.
"No one" The voice of a scared tortured man aroded the atmosphere.
"Do I look like a toddler to you? I will skin you alive and have my pack digging into your flesh like raw meat" The voice threatened, authority laced in his deep baritone voice.
"Where are you from?" A much calmer voice asked.
I fluttered my eyelids open and took a peak of the scene through the windows.
There he was, Alpha Damien, six foot four tall, raven dark haired, chiseled muscle with a perfect jawline, his sapphire green eyes were both intense and mysterious.
Everyone in the bloodhound pack stutters at the presence of their Alpha, he had a menacing aura, daunting enough to put anyone on jelly feet.
Right in front of him was a man, half beaten to death, blood gushing out of his mouth and his face swollen as a result of the several blows given by the Alpha. Beside Damien was his Beta, Jason.
"You were asked a question!" Beta Jason's voice echoed, demanding an answer.
In that moment, I felt a surge of empathy for the wounded man. I stepped outside, interceding on his behalf.
"Damien, is there not a different way to handle this? Killing him will not solve anything" I suggested, my voice steady despite the tension.
Damien turned to look at me, his expression unreadable. "Stay out of this Jayda"
I took a deep breath, trying to convey reason. "He is from the rival pack. If you kill him, it will only escalate the animosity between us. Lock him up instead; it sends a message without unnecessary bloodshed"
But Damien's gaze remained cold, unmoved by my plea.
"They won't submit unless they understand the cost. The message must be clear"
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I watched, helpless, as Damien carried out the execution, giving the invader merciless hits that had his life slowly slipping out, the life drained from the wolf's eyes and the camp was filled with an unsettling silence.
"Clean this up and send his head to the shadowfang pack, this way they would respect boundaries" Alpha Damien said as he walked away, his unwavering gaze focused on me whilst walking away.
I walked behind him and proceeded to speak the minute we were behind closed doors.
"You can not keep questioning my decisions in the presence of my beta and other wolves in the pack" He paused and turned to face me, his sapphire green eyes ablaze with a mixture of authority and frustration.
"Jayda, I am the Alpha, and my decisions are not to be challenged, especially in front of the pack. It weakens our unity" Damien stated firmly.
"I understand, Damien, but there has to be a balance. Unnecessary bloodshed does not make us stronger; it makes us ruthless and vulnerable to more attacks" I countered, my gaze unwavering.
He sighed, calming his racing pulse.
"Jayda, I am doing what I must to protect this pack. The Shadowfangs have been encroaching on our territory for weeks. We can not show weakness"
"I get it, Damien, but there are other ways to show strength. We can negotiate, find a peaceful solution. Killing their messenger will not end the conflict; it will ignite it" I urged, placing a hand on his arm.
His eyes stationed on me for a moment, but the resolve returned.
"This is not up for debate. The decision is made" He said sternly.
Why is he so stubborn? Why does he not listen to me? This is the exact same reason why we lost so many members of our pack, it will not be long until he looses his head because he is too cowardly to make peace with rivals.
I could not shake the feeling that our pack was teetering on the edge of something dangerous. I wondered how much blood would be spilled before we found peace.
He believed in dominance through fear and that always led to bloodshed. I stormed out of the camp angrily as the thoughts of how my mother was murdered began crawling in, she died because of the animosity caused by rival packs and rival zones .
Fear etched on her face, mother urgently pulled me away from the room, her brows furrowed with worry.
She was bleeding profusely, her right leg was covered with blood, it spilled down to her feet as she struggled to take me out of the room
"Mum you are injured, What happened? Where are we going?" I questioned, my heart pounding as we hastily exited the building.
I had no idea of what was going on but the gravity of the situation was evident in mother's trembling voice.
"You are injured, let me heal you" I begged as I watched more blood spill.
Her urgency spoke volumes, signaling that we were in serious danger.
We hurriedly shuffled through the door, I stole a glance back at our home, now empty, my only home is no longer a home.
"We do not have the time, let's go..... Stay close and don't make a sound" she said, her words came in form of a whisper but it had my heart pounding severly.
I was so worried and so afraid. If she does not heal from that wound, she'll loose alot of blood and die.
As we navigated the dimly lit alleyways, mother's determination clashed with the fear in her eyes.
"What is going on mum?" Oblivious of the situation I asked one more time.
"Your father and brother are dead, they were burnt alive and now our lives are at risk, we can not stay here, if we do not leave they will come for us too" She divulged, my heart broke into a thousand pieces, I was left shattered and dumbmfounded.
Father is dead? Who is after us? Who killed father? Who killed my brother?
"Come" We ran into the woods, seeking shade, seeking safety from our enemies, I still had no idea who they were but at the moment I was convinced that my life and that of my mother was in jeopardy.
Racing steps from behind echoed through the woods, right there it dawned on me that truly, we were been chased, chased by killers who murdered my father.
As we ran through the woods fearfully, mother fell to the floor, she could no longer run again because of the wound on her leg.
My once throbbing chest throbbed even harder, fear engulfed me completely and my eyes became teary.
"Run Aurora, run!" Mother said, her eyes full of tears.
"No, I am not leaving you here, I can not leave you, let me heal you please" I placed my hand on her wounded leg and tried to heal her as fast as I could even though I knew that my ability to heal was not fast enough.
The running steps got louder, closing the gap between us.
"Take this, if you manage to escape do not tell anyone you are half eastern, half western especially if you find your self in a western pack, no one must know your father was Alpha Tristan, I love you and I always will, now go" She said, as she spoke, her eyes brimmed with tears.
She placed a silver pendant in my hand and urged me more to run as the footsteps grew even louder, soon I began seeing the shadows of a strange pack of wolves.
I had to do the one thing I never thought I would do, run from my home and leave my family behind.