Chapter 11: Chapter 11

When Élancé woke up the next morning, she could see the orange light of dawn slip in through her curtains. Her splitting headache had subsided. Quickly, she sat up, eager to see her father. There was a plate of steak and hot dogs by the nightstand, but she couldn’t find her hunger anymore. She was out for longer than she had imagined.

As Élancé was putting on her boots, she saw two silhouettes from the small space under her door.

He might not make it. This is the fifth episode in the last three hours.

Élancé could recognize the voice and the scents, but she didn’t want to believe what it was they were saying. She laced up her boots with a lump in her throat and flung her door open. Austin wasn’t surprised—very little shook him. But James, realizing that she must have heard what he was saying, was shocked.

Élancé paid no attention to either of them. She bolted down the hallway to the room her father was being treated.

*

Austin waited for about an hour in the kitchen for Élancé to say her final goodbyes to her father. He couldn’t tell why, but he was feeling prickly under his skin. Perhaps it was as a result of the mate bond and the period of grief he believed Élancé was going through. He poured himself another drink, took a whiff of the glass and gulped it down completely.

Austin was itching to be around Élancé. He looked at his watch and saw that it had been an hour since he left her. Then, he stood and walked out of the kitchen. The sound of his boots hitting the the floor of the large room reverberated on the walls into a soft echo.

Austin sighted one of his men standing by the mouth of the staircase. As the man turned and saw Austin, he immediately felt the need to reorder his demeanor. Austin gave a gesture with his index finger beckoning his man to come. When his man got close enough, he spoke to him in a very calm but assertive way.

“Find James. Tell him I need a progress report.”

Without hesitation, Austin’s man left the room in search for James.

Austin continued his walk to Élancé, confident that his second-in-command would find him there. When he got to the door, he stopped before reaching for the handle. Austin could hear sobs coming from inside the room. Then, he closed his eyes and listened closer with wolf hearing. It sounded like Élancé was talking to herself. He listened closer and he could make out Élancé saying something about her father from years before. Austin felt softened somehow, like Élancé’s grief was seeping from under the door and moving under his skin.

Austin opened his eyes and regained his composure when he heard a familiar footstep coming.

“He’s most likely gone by now,” Jack said from behind Austin. He knew better than to sneak up on the Alpha of the Dark moon pack so he spoke a few feet away from Austin to announce his presence.

Austin listened for heartbeats beyond the door but he could only hear one steady thump. Listening to the rhythm of her beating heart, Austin knew that there was something changing about Élancé. He gave a slight nod to concur with what the doctor said. Hogwash was indeed dead.

“His chance of survival was always slim from the beginning,” Jack said. He noticed Austin hadn’t yet turned around to acknowledge his presence so he decided to leave the alpha alone. “It’s a wonder he even lasted that long,” he added, before walking away.

Again, Austin could feel Élancé’s grief like he was sharing in the loss even though every muscle in his body was convinced that he had no reason to feel the loss that deeply. Werewolves die. Not every day, but Austin had seen his own fair share of the darkness of the world.

He felt relief when he sensed James getting closer to him. At last, he thought, a distraction. James always seemed to do things the way Austin wanted. He was also always there when Austin needed him. When James left his pack to go searching for Élancé, James had offered to go with him, but Austin had objected, saying that he would be much less worried if James was around to look after the pack.

“Everything alright?” James asked when he saw Austin standing before the door without opening it. Then, he too quickly noticed that there was only one heartbeat coming from inside the room. He got the feeling Austin needed a distraction.

“What did you find out?” Austin turned around to meet James’ gaze, then walked away from the door towards his second-in-command.

“There hasn’t been any sightings or attacks yet, but their scent lingers at the mouth of our territory.” James said.

“Did you try tracking them?” Austin asked.

“I did, but outside our territory, their scent is all over the place. They leave no trails to follow—footprints or scent.”

Austin chewed his teeth and tried to stop himself from clenching his fist too hard. Austin hated bad news, but he hated no news even more. He couldn’t doubt James’ tracking skills because he knew that James was one of the best trackers in his pack.

“I did notice something which I found a bit odd,” James said with a troubled look.

Austin’s eyes lit up with expectation of news. Any news at all.

“What is it? What did you find?” Austin asked, hoping for a reply that would distract him even further.

“In the Northern woods, the leaves…they are shedding at an abnormal rate. The whole forest floor was covered by fallen leaves. There were barely any leaves left on most trees. And also there was something weird about the aura. It was almost like I was being watched.”

Austin stayed quiet for a while, then walked close to James and placed one hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said. “It’s normal for trees to shed their leaves in autumn. My concern is about the oddies.” Austin removed his hand from James’ shoulder and leaned against the wall.

“Something strange happened when I went over to the Crystal moon pack and it has been bugging me ever since.”

James focused all of his attention on Austin and what he was saying. Whatever it was, it seemed to cause Austin genuine concern.

“After I saved Élancé, I stood to fight them off but they all retreated. Just like that. Not even a single one attacked me. I am still trying to figure out what all of it means.”

“You think it’s because you are an alpha?” James asked.

“I don’t think so. Hogwash was an alpha and they came after him. They also came after Élancé. And they might have had their way if I had not intervened.”

“Well, maybe it’s because they saw you as a threat? I mean historically, oddies don’t even attack unless they felt threatened.”

“If that was the case, then they should have attacked with everything they had, not retreated. There’s something else at play here and I’m going to find it out.” Élancé was right. There is no telling who is going to be next. “Double security around the compound.”

Austin was feeling way more than he was letting on. He was alpha and so he could not let his men know he didn’t know anything about what was going on. But in truth he was bothered about what all of it meant—the death of the crystal moon pack’s alpha, what it meant for Élancé, and what the oddies were going to do next. But most of all, Austin knew that the oddies were going against their nature. They had done so two nights in a row. What else was going to go down? Why did they target Élancé’s pack and who would want to wipe them out?

“Go get something to eat,” Austin ordered James who had not long ago returned from his expedition in the woods. “Get some rest.”

James gave a slight nod and left Austin to his thoughts.

Austin’s mind was going haywire. He had a few speculations but he had no concrete evidence. He had no proof that someone else was involved in what was going on, except that Élancé’s men had fallen unconscious. If the same fate were to befall his men, if the oddies were to launch an attack on the Dark moon pack, he knew his men were capable werewolves. But could they resist whatever it was that made Élancé’s men fall to the floor like swatted flies?

Austin tilted his head back to the door. He thought of Élancé and wondered if she was going to be okay. Then he felt inclined to get back to the door. He leaned off the wall after staring at the door for some seconds, then he walked to the door and closed his eyes to listen deeper.

Austin could make out Élancé sniffling and sobbing, saying things to her dead father. He heard her talk about her childhood and how it was for her father after her mother died.

“You took care of me after mother died. And even though you were always hard on me, I know it was because you loved me…I know now father...I know that you missed mother too...I know that you grieved for her every single day. But you wouldn’t let me see you that way. It’s alright now…it’s alright. You can rest easy. You can go meet mother. I know she will be waiting for you…I will avenge you father...I will avenge all of you.”

As Austin listened to Élancé through the door, he got to know a little more about her, like the reason she was as stubborn as she was. She was raised by her father, the alpha, who as he would guess, always demanded nothing short of excellence. Austin was seeing a new found strength in Élancé—strength she was born with, and strength her father had instilled in her.

The talking died down. He heard Élancé’s chair scrape the floor faintly and guessed that she was ready to leave her father’s side. He reached for the door knob, twisted it open and waited some moments before entering the room.

“You’re right on time,” Élancé said to Austin as soon as he entered. She had already wiped the tears off her cheeks but her eyes were still puffy. Austin looked to the body on the bed; it had been covered from head to toe. He wanted to ask Élancé what exactly he was right on time for, but he had a feeling he was going to find out soon enough.

“I’m going back to bury my father,” she said. “He deserves that much.”

Austin felt softened by her conviction. He knew that in another world, that could have been him lying lifeless on that bed. And he would have liked to be buried the proper way. It wasn’t a demand he could deny another alpha, but he had concerns about Élancé’s safety.

“Fine, but you’re not going alone. Those creatures obviously haven’t finished what they aim to achieve.” Élancé turned around and their eyes met in an electrifying moment. “I’m guessing there is one more piece to be knocked off the chess board. I’m going with you, so are James and Mojo.”