“Silver, Silver.” Hayden shook her.
She was still breathing but she was very still and her eyes blinked erratically like she was seeing something he couldn’t see. He lay her on her back and kissed her cheek, while repeated calling her name so she would snap out of it. They had mated, so they were connected now. That was the only reason why he wasn’t panicking, he could feel that she wasn’t in any danger.
She suddenly gasped and as she came out of the trance.
“We need to get to the half moon pack.” She said to Hayden.
“Why? What happened? What did you see?” He asked as he rubbed her arm.
“I saw a …” They were suddenly interrupted by a loud shriek.
“GET AWAY FROM HIM, HE’S MINE!” Beth screamed as she ran towards them from the line of trees where the forest ended.
They immediately disengaged and Hayden stood in front of her in a protective stance. Silver moved out from behind him to stand beside him. He wanted to tell her to stay behind him, but they both noticed that there was something wrong with Beth as she got closer to them.
She seemed to be surrounded by a dark aura and they both gasped as she transformed. Not into a wolf, but a hideous creature.
“What the fuck?” Hayden said as the creature dove through the air, aiming for Silver. She rolled out of the way at the last minute so the creature that used to be Beth was now between the both of them
It ignored Hayden and went for Silver again, swiping at her with long curved claws and snarling with it’s jagged rows of sharp teeth.
Silver rolled away again and changed to her wolf just as Hayden’s wolf jumped on the creature’s back and bit into it’s neck.
The creature snarled and shook itself till Hayden was dislodged. He moved around it to stand beside Silver’s wolf. They were a sharp contrast, his wolf was pitch black, while hers was a silver colour that looked almost white.
They both turned around and began to run away from the creature.
“It’s fast.” Silver said to Hayden through mind link. They were mated now, so they could communicate like pack members through their minds.
“And it’s clearly after you.” He replied to her.
“I’ll go left, it will follow me.” She said.
“I’ll come up from behind and then we’ll both attack at the same time from front and back. Aim for the neck.” He said to her and they split ways, each going in a different direction.
Just as planned, the creature that had been chasing them immediately followed Silver. She led it on for a while, and when it was almost catching up to her, that was when Hayden gave the signal.
Silver turned and jumped, then clamped her sharp teeth around a side of the creature’s neck. In the next second, Hayden’s teeth was around the other side of the creature’s neck from behind.
The creature snarled but it was too late. They both ripped out their part of the creature’s neck and it’s head fell off. The body tumbled to the ground as black blood leaked out of the severed neck.
“What on earth just happened?” Silver asked as she changed back to her human form.
“I’m just as confused as you are.” Hayden said as he also changed back to human form.
They were both naked and covered in the creatures black blood.
“Was that Beth? Or was I hallucinating?” Silver asked and Hayden crouched to examine the creature.
“It was her, but I don’t know how she changed to this.” He said.
“Right before she changed to this, did you feel the aura around her?” Silver asked as she crouched beside him.
“Yes, and I recognise it too. It’s the same as the voice that always tried to kill me when I was having nightmares about the prophecy.” He said and Silver gasped.
“There was no mention of the darkness being able to… infect people.” She said.
“We need to let the others know what just happened so they can keep their guard up. And we need to inform the Alphas to meet us at the half moon pack as soon as possible. We need to get to the bottom of this, going forward in the quest might make what happened right now make some sort of sense.” Hayden said as he picked up the creature’s dead body and stood.
“What are you doing?” Silver asked with a puzzled expression as she stood.
“We need evidence of what just happened. And no matter what, Beth is still a part of my pack, and she was my Beta. Even if she’s like this, she still deserves a proper cremation.” Hayden said and they walked together back to the pack house.
**
“Welcome to the half moon pack.” Jerald said as Hayden and Silver came in. The other Alphas were already at his pack, the new couple were the last to arrive.
“Is everyone here?” Hayden asked Jerald.
“Yes, we have been waiting for the two of you.” Jerald replied.
“Sorry. We were… distracted.” Hayden said even though he didn’t look like he had an ounce of regret or remorse for arriving late.
The distraction had been Silver and him stopping frequently to rut in the car on their way there.
“I have an important message.” Silver said to Jerald and he sighed.
“I was hoping to have at least a month of rest before we put our lives in perpetual danger again.” Jerald said.
“Come on in.”