The sun had begun to dive, spreading red with an orange hue across the horizon. Epsilon’s attention is back at Zaden as he paced into the middle of the ring, in a very calm manner. There is a certainty in his eyes that the dice are in favor of him. Zaden didn’t rush, patiently waiting for the opponent to attack– something that he learned from the silver wolf. Epsilon paused studying Zaden but he gave nothing to him. Odd, no anger, no frustration, no cocky excitement– nothing to fuel the fight.
Finally, Epsilon lurched onto Zaden. He dodged his first punch, followed by the next few. Finally, he caught Epsilon’s fist and twisted his hands back. Selena is watching every single move they make. Epsilon threw his head back with full force, hitting Zaden in his nose and Zaden let loose of Epsilon’s twisted hand. His vision blurred for a second, providing a window for Epsilon as he began his ruthless assault. Hits after hits fell on Zaden, earning a gasp from Selena as her breathing seized and her feet began to tremble. Zaden whipped himself up and threw a sidekick which landed directly on Epsilon’s face, breaking his nose, gushing blood immediately. Smell of fresh blood hit Selena’s wolf sense and a low growl rumbled through her chest, taking back her pack members.
Zaden then grabbed his hand, twist it, and snapped on Zaden’s shoulder, effectively fracturing his elbow. A groan erupted from Epsilon. Most of his pack members remained calm except for a specific type of werewolves. They were not well-groomed, teethes with black cavities and eyes that are sullen and now red. Selena focused on these wolfs and she got a mind voice
‘Any minute now. We will finish him the second king gives his order, even if he wins’
Selena’s heart fell to her stomach. She turned to Ozrain
“Papa, they are going to kill Zaden even if Epsilon wins,” she said worriedly to him
“What?” Ozrain was shocked and she nodded with a frown.
“We need more people if that happens. Let me get Maximus” Ozrain tried to mind-link Maximus. The fight is getting fierce with Zaden making more damage. Ozrain focused on mind-link to Maximus but he failed, again and again
“I can’t reach him” he finally said which confused them all.
Exactly at that moment, a thunderous growl snapped the pack’s attention back to the sparing ring. Epsilon shifted to his wolf and bite Zaden’s feet. Zaden let out a soul-wrecking scream as he fell to the ground, squirming in pain while the copper wolf in front of him refused to let go of his leg. A smirk bloomed on Epsilon’s face. Selena and her packed waited anxious, rising blood pressure by the second
“Why isn’t he shifting?” Selena exclaimed to Orion. Orion stood there dumbfounded with wide eyes. All the memories of Zaden’s orders to bring Selena and Makeala away flooding his mind.
“Shit!!! Why isn’t he shifting?” Selena is now screaming, grabbing Orion’s sleeve in her fist. The next thing they know, all the weird werewolves from the background shifted to wolves and jumped into the ring
“OH MY GOD!!! Papa, do something!!!” Selena is trembling in between them. Epsilon let go of Zaden’s feet and latched on his neck. Zaden managed to grab his snout trying his best not to let Epsilon crush his neck.
Panic boomed within Selena and her pack as they ran towards the ring. All the while the pack tried to shift but failed to do so. They couldn’t figure out why.
“ZADEN!!!” Selena is screaming at him, tears stream down her cheeks while her hand is held tight to the wooden railing.
“The juice!!! That’s it. It must have seized our wolfs” Ozrain said in surprise and Selena turned behind to look at him
“It makes sense. That is why we can’t shift. That means, Zaden…” Xavier’s eye widened even more and he couldn’t bear his own thoughts.
Everyone snapped their head to Zaden. He is loosing his grip on the wolf’s snout as Epsilon’s teeth lightly grazed his neck and he began bleeding. There is no way Selena’s pack could fight a clan of werewolves in their human form and if Ozrain couldn’t mindlink, then he probably couldn’t exert his Samrat’s command as well. Zaden’s life hung by a thread when technically, he is a human fitting an Alpha wolf.
Out of blue, a bundle of silver mass hit Epsilon’s body on his left. He let go of Zaden’s neck as a reflex and rolled away from them. It is Selena, she shifted and stood in front of Zaden, the only fort. She looked at Ozrain and winked. She didn’t drink the juice. She tried to but because she got nauseous, she slipped the juice to the ground, pretending to empty out the goblet. The usual cunning, smart and fast Selena.
Epsilon pushed himself to stand and he lurched to attack Selena
“Quick, empty your stomachs” Ozrain ordered and Selena’s pack ran as fast as they can to the nearby trees and bushes, fingering their throat and expelling their stomach content.
Selena threw her paw with full force to the left side of Epsilon, smashing him to the ground and a loud growl erupted from him. Selena turned back to Zaden, who is still in pain. She licked his wound on the neck, before snuggling to his neck, cooing. She then straightened up, put one foot over his stomach, and pressed gently, again and again. Within seconds, Zaden’s stomach flipped and he rolled to his sides, expelling all his stomach content to the ground. He sat up, wiping his mouth. His eyes meet Selena’s eyes as a drop of tear rolled down hers. He quickly brushed off that teardrop, placing his forehead on hers. An exchange of affection between a magnificent beast and her Alpha who is the definition of man.
The rest of Samrat’s kingdom is getting more and more raged. He played unfairly by disabling the actual Samrats. Within the next second, Zaden shifted into his black wolf; standing in front of Selena with all other pack members backing them. All 15 stood there magnificently, ready and energized to fight. The juice, which was a mixture of Goya’s blood and deadly herbs gave a sort of side effect as the amphisbaena’s blood transferred to their eyes, making them red.
Epsilon also had gained stability and is now standing there with his loyal pack. His most feared prophecy embodied right in front of his very eyes, ready to rip him apart.
“Rogues–these are rogues,” Sitka said through mind-link
“What are they doing here, in a pack?” Makeala asked
“We are about to find out. Makeala, bring Selena away” Zaden ordered and Makeala stepped forward.
“No!!! You die, I die. We are here because of me and so, we will fight together” Selena
“Selena…” Zaden and his soft voice
“No arguments alpha. Either we fight and win or we argue and die. Your choice!!!” Zaden looked sharp at his bossy silver wolf. She stares back, clearly stubborn.
Giving up, Zaden pulled her ear between his teeth as a small punishment and let go before taking an attack stance. Selena shook her head to knock off the slight sting before gathering herself to attack as well.
“Epsilon is mine. You guys enjoy the rest” Zaden lurched front, hitting hard with his paw on Epsilon’s face. Selena can feel her stomach being solid hard and a tingle crept up her heart. Her wolf is excited to fight, something that she didn’t expect.
A brown wolf with dirty fur coat lurched towards Selena. She ducked down and the wolf flew above her, landing further from her. Zaden and the leader’s pack seem to be merciless, killing each rogue within minutes of contact. More and more rogues entered the sparing ring as dirt sprang up with the air around them, blurring vision. Selena on the contrary, either dodged or attacked for defense. She didn’t actual attempt to kill anyone and the pack noticed this. The whole fight carried on for about 40 minutes before the rogues finally gave up and started leaving their leader, one by one sprinting off the Samrat Kingdom. There was nearly 15 wolf to be finished off when Zaden gave out a mind-link.
‘Orion, I need an alive rogue’
Orion snapped his head at Zaden. His wolf frowned deep, before bending down to grab a rogue who was squirming in pain by his feet. He grabbed one of its hind leg and dragged it to Zaden while Zaden himself was holding another rogue in his mouth. Ozrain took over Epsilon who is now darn week from the nonstop assault of Alpha Zaden. Orion followed Zaden without any question and Zaden walked directly to Selena, dropping the rogues at her feet
‘We haven’t thought you to hunt and kill, have we?’ Zaden said and Selena stood there, with four legs and a wide eyes.
‘Because it is something required to do by your wolf and you were never able to shift at your wish before this. Now, let’s begin with killing, shall we?’ Zaden looked at Orion and now, he understood.
He held a rogue’s leg while Zaden grabbed his neck. Slowly Zaden’s teeth sunk into the wolf’s skin, as Selena watched with terrified eyes. A snap came from under his mouth and soon the neck was dangling. They are werewolves and will be able to recover from such a serious injury. So, Zaden snapped his head to the sides, slowly ripping the neck till it came apart, all as slow as possible for Selena to observe and learn. Zaden stood up with a bloody mouth
‘This is the easiest, mess-free way. Now, your turn’ Zaden mind-link to Selena and she took a few steps back to run away.
‘We fight together, don’t we?’ sensing her flight mode, Orion said and she seized her steps. Orion dragged another rogue and dropped him in front of Selena. The situation behind them is chaotic, yet here they are, teaching Selena life skills–werewolf’s life skill that is.
With much hesitation, Selena bends down to grab his throat. His smell and taste are vomit evoking. She took a while fighting her nauseous when the wolf started gaining consciousness and fought back to release itself from her mouth.
‘Just do it’ Makeala from far away, fighting off another rogue. Selena gathered her will and pushed her jaws together, snapping his neck within seconds
‘Is the ripping necessary? He looks pretty dead’ she mind-linked Zaden and Orion and they nodded. She sighed out before placing a paw on the victim’s chest, cautious as an elegant lady.
‘I am so sorry, whoever you are’ crushing through the wolf’s bone, slicing through its muscle. A gust of blood indicated that she is almost there and she snapped her head to the sides a few times. Her mouth felt empty, that when she realized she had beheaded that rogue wolf who was alive a few minutes ago. She spat out the little blood in her mouth. Zaden and Orion’s chest raised, proud of their Luna. Zaden paced to her, licking off the blood that had soiled her beautiful silver fur.
‘Good girl!!! Now, what do you want to do with Epsilon?’
As if a switch was turned on, multiple images started popping into Selena’s mind to his question.
‘I need him out of Samrat. Follow me’ she walked away from the ring followed by the leader’s pack and Ozrain. Ozrain’s pack finished the rest of the rogue with ease. Zaden dragged the week Epsilon by his feet, his body leaving behind a trail of blood and they walked through the Samrat’s Kingdom. Selena looked to her left and right throughout the walk. For no reason, the other pack members of Samrat from the ring followed them, mostly those who had been affected by his greed and his outrageous lust. Selena kept walking till she reached the outskirt of the Samrat Kingdom, the spot where they stopped yesterday before entering Samrat, the spot that she felt dizzy and leaned on Ozrain’s shoulders.
A familiar feeling raised within her, the panic attack symptom. Her heart beats faster, pumping blood more than she could handle. A bigger force is trying to come out. She kept walking into the forest, which felt like forever. After a few meters, the forest began thickening up. Closer and bigger trees knitted through the way. Selena’s feet began wobbling weak and she staggered a bit as Orion rushed to her, kneeling and hoisting her up. Zaden took the lead and kept walking ahead. He had a hunch that this place is the cherry on top of the cake.
The sun is setting fast and it is getting impossible to steer through the thick greenery. Soon, not far in the distance, a clearing approached. The spot was glowing bright by itself even though no sun or moon is present currently. A single tree, dried with no leaves stood in the middle of the clearing. The closer they got, tiny gold sparkle is visible in the air, lighting up the spot. Zaden dragged Epsilon to the dry tree and dropped him there. Selena is having more and more difficulties breathing, she leaned onto Orion’s body. Zaden paced to her other side, supporting her to walk forward. Something tells him that she should get there, to the dried tree.
2 wolves with heads up and Selena in the middle with slumpy head stepped into the ring of gold sparkles. A low, deep growl erupted from Selena.