Diana was apprehensive about the identity of her visitor. Her fear stemmed from the possibility of it being Calhoun, whom she had been evading for a long time. She was not willing to be found easily by him. In anticipation of Calhoun's arrival, she was ready to flee. She trailed the soldier to Jasyn's office, prepared to make a quick escape if it was indeed Calhoun.
"Did you hear the man's voice?" Diana asked, willing her voice to be calm and not shaky so that her fear could be masked.
The soldier did not respond immediately. "I'm afraid I can't exactly say what it sounds like. Perhaps if you could describe the voice of the person you were expecting, I would tell if it's him or not."
Diana remained silent, knowing that revealing the sound of Calhoun's voice would only lead to unwanted questions about her situation. She understood the danger of being pursued by someone as powerful as Calhoun and chose to keep her thoughts to herself. Despite her desire to speak, she swallowed her words and remained quiet.
Once they reached Jasyn's tent, the soldier bowed slightly and left her there. Diana was about to knock when she heard the voices.
"What is taking her so long?"
"I don't know, perhaps the soldier missed her way?" Jasyn answered nonchalantly. He was still yet to figure out the relationship between Diana and Eugene.
"Ugh. I don't have all day, I have better things to do!"
Diana's heart became calm. It was Eugene and not Calhoun or anyone from the royal household in Wisteria. She clapped her hand twice.
"Who?" Jasyn demanded.
"Diana." Came her soft voice. Jasyn could feel his hardened expression soften at the softness in her voice. He smiled a little.
"Come on in." He responded. Diana pushed the tent curtain aside and went into the tent. True to what she had expected, it was Eugene who sat opposite Jasyn.
"Diana! What took you so long to arrive?" Eugene asked. "Did you perhaps know it was me and choose to not come?"
"I had no idea it was you," Diana replied. "Perhaps the soldier missed her way when trying to find me. I came with her as soon as I heard the call."
"Why did you call?" Diana asked.
Eugene began to explain his reason for coming, but Diana was too preoccupied with studying his facial expressions. She was determined to determine whether or not he was telling the truth.
Jasyn noticed Diana's lack of focus during their conversation, which he found appealing. However, her sudden behavior change caught his attention as her gaze became sharp and she began to look around anxiously.
"What's the matter, Diana?" He asked, sitting up quickly.
Diana kept looking around, trying to focus on the sound she was hearing.
"They're coming." She whispered. "The enemy soldiers are coming. They are planning to gather around our camp and ambush us."
"What do we do?!" Jasyn demanded, getting up from his seat.
Diana smirked. "How about we beat them at their own game?"
George had set out on his journey as early as the sixth hour. He had left the country on the first day but being in the forest, he felt like he was lost. If not for the map which Tricia had stolen and given to him, he wouldn't have ever been able to locate the place he was headed.
He felt like he was lost in a forest that seemed to have no end. He walked in a straight path for two days, but the trees and foliage never seemed to thin out. Along the way, he encountered several scary beasts that he had to fight off. Despite his exhaustion and fear, he pressed on, determined to find his way out of the endless forest.
As he continued to walk, George took note of the different types of trees and plants that surrounded him. The forest was dense and lush, with a variety of flora and fauna that he had never seen before. He marveled at the beauty of the forest, even as he struggled to survive in it.
Finally, on the third day, George saw a glimmer of light in the distance. He quickened his pace and soon emerged from the forest, grateful to be alive. Looking back at the endless expanse of trees, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and wonder at the vastness of nature.
He had spent two days and a half on a journey that was supposed to last him six days. Yet he was nowhere near his final destination. He looked at the map. He still had a long way to go.
Thankfully, he heard the sound of the train towards the north. He smiled. At least the train station wouldn't be too far, and he could complete his journey sooner than never.
Back at the castle, Yara led his pack of werewolves into battle against the Wisteria pack. The fight was fierce, with both sides suffering heavy losses. Yara's main objective was to get his hands on Calhoun's body so that he could inject a more potent poison that would kill him permanently.
Felix noticed that Yara only wanted Calhoun's body and wasn't bothered about the rate of mortality from her side. He prayed that Thomas had hidden the body.
Despite the odds, Yara's pack emerged victorious. They had managed to overpower the Wisteria pack and begun to take spoils and gold from the castle. Evander and Felix had tried to fight him off but Yara was too strong. Yara wasted no time searching for Calhoun's body just to inject the deadly poison.
Unfortunately for him, Thomas had planned the entire thing out and while the battle was going on fiercely, he had morphed into his wolf form and slipped away from the castle with Calhoun's body. He went to his safe house where he usually hid when he was in so much debt and everyone was searching for him. He lay Calhoun's cold body on a soft bed in the small wooden house and stood beside the bed, watching anxiously.
As the dust settled and the moon rose high in the sky, Yara and his pack howled in triumph. They had emerged victorious, but at what cost? The memories of the battle would haunt them for years to come, but they had achieved their goal. Calhoun was dead, and Yara's pack had emerged as the dominant force in the werewolf world.
The fact that they couldn't find his body anywhere else made them believe that he had truly died.
Yara was about to sit on Calhoun's throne when Felix took a sword and slit his neck, cutting the head off completely. He expected the man to die but what happened next shocked him.
The head which was rolling on the floor was still laughing. Felix watched in shock as Yara's body got up and walked to where the head lay, grabbed it, and placed it back on the body.
Yara was ready to kill.
Felix had never witnessed something so scary before.
"You don't know where your king's body lay?" Yara demanded. "Well, don't bother about how all these happened. If not for that stupid man who went into the dungeon, I wouldn't have figured out that luck was on my side."
"Look at the soldiers that Calhoun spent so much time building... Foolish animals like their king."
"You think you can defeat me? Yara of the blood pack?" He broke into fits of laughter that sounded like the coming of doomsday.
Felix and Evander shivered.
"Now I shall force the truth from your mouth. As you saw, my pack and I howled at the moon, thanking the moon gods for the victory they gave us over Calhoun Montego and the Wisteria pack."
"Now I would have ignored all of you, assuming that Calhoun was dead. But how you have so desperately tried to prevent me from sitting on his throne is proof that he still lives."
"And so long as there is even a feeble breath in that descendant of Montego, I shall never be put to rest!"
"I swear on the blood that flows in my vein, on the gods of the moon! If Calhoun does not die by my hand, I shall die by his!"
Felix chuckled. "What a brilliant curse you have put on yourself."
"Yes yes." Yara agreed. "Bring me the prisoners."
Some wolves went into the castle and the screams of their family members could be heard. Felix's face turned black. Yara was playing unfairly.
"Now, shall you tell me where your king lies or shall I show you what the heart of your wife looks like?" Yara asked, grabbing Felix's wife and pulling her towards himself. Yara looked disgusting as a human and even more disgusting as a wolf.
Felix knew his wife wasn't a very strong wolf since she was the princess of another pack before they married. He had also only treated her so sweetly and never had he made her learn any skill in fighting. Calhoun was always there to protect them, nobody saw the need to learn.
"I don't know where the king's body is," Felix said. His wife was crying out, pleading with him with her eyes. Felix took his gaze away from her. It hurt him but he had sworn his loyalty to Calhoun, there was no way he could be disloyal even as the king was half dead.
Yara's desperation had reached a boiling point. In an attempt to locate the king's body, he had resorted to taking Evander's wife hostage. Felix stood strong, refusing to give in to Yara's demands, but the threat of their wives' lives hung heavily in the air. The tension was palpable as they all stood in silence, each contemplating their next move.
As the situation escalated, it became clear that Yara was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goal. His grip on Evander's wife tightened, and the fear in her eyes was evident. Despite their fear, Evander and Felix remained steadfast in their refusal to reveal the location of the king's body. They knew that giving in to Yara's demands would only lead to further chaos and destruction.
Yara hummed. "You are brave men, but you are stupid."
"I wonder what kind of men would give you their loved ones for a man that could never do the same for you."
In the end, it was Yara who relented. The weight of his actions had finally caught up with him, and he released Evander's wife unharmed. Though the danger had passed, the memory of that tense standoff would stay with them forever. It was a stark reminder of the lengths people will go to in the pursuit of power, and the importance of standing firm in the face of adversity.
They sighed in relief. Sharing a glance at each other, their wives ran over to meet them and they hid them behind their backs. It was left to Evander and Felix to fight off Yara.
"I can't sniff the king around here. Perhaps you have sent someone to hide his body." Yara said, sniffing the air. "Ah, it was that foolish man in the dungeon."
He began to cackle again. "I can't wait to find them and kill Calhoun with my bare hands."
Thomas had heard Yara's boast about killing Calhoun with his bare hands and it made him angry. He took the small dagger he had hidden in his boot and laced it with poison Yara had brought along.
Thomas called out to Yara, who turned around, and Thomas shoved the dagger into his heart, twisting it further. Yara stood still, and the poison began to work, causing him to fall to the ground.
Thomas had planned this carefully, and he knew that Yara's death would be attributed to the poison, not the dagger. He had been waiting for the right moment to strike, and he had taken advantage of Yara's arrogance. Thomas felt no remorse for what he had done, as he believed that Yara had brought it upon himself.
The murder of Yara had been swift and efficient, and Thomas felt a sense of satisfaction as he watched Yara die. He knew that he had eliminated a threat to himself and Calhoun. Thomas felt that justice had been served, and he was ready to face the consequences of his actions.
"You just killed an Alpha," Felix said. "Do you know what that means?"