As the first rays of orange light penetrated through the slightly dark clouds, the hope of a new day did not lift anyone's spirits. The fire had long died out, the smoke clung to everything like a thick blanket. No one cried anymore, they were past that but it was replaced with gloomy silence.
Cassandra noticed the Alpha all through the smoke towards her and smirked to herself, he wondered what opportunity his mind had brought him through this tragedy. She pretended like she had not seen him until he was close enough for her to feel his energy because whereas she could not trust his words, his energy she could.
"I want to know what happened here," he said unceremoniously. He was so used to being followed that his tone was always calm, confident that he would still be obeyed regardless.
"I want to know the same thing too," Cassandra replied with a smile. But her grey eyes said otherwise. Although she did not feel sorry for the dead, something in her felt unsettled.
All her instincts screamed at her that something was not right but she could not figure it out. She had tried a spell to gauge whether the attackers were still in the pack territory but everything looked perfectly normal, too normal for a place which had witnessed a massacre.
"I feel totally nothing done alarming," she had intended to say, but she felt something that stunned her into silence.
Almost robotically, Cassandra started walking into the woods.
Cornelius had spent enough time with Cassandra to notice when something was off about her. She was always running her mouth and spoke without considering the consequences. Being a witch, she was immune to pack hierarchy and although he loathed to admit it, she did not respect him as much as he would have liked and he had nothing much he could do about it. She may not look much with her lithe frame and silver hair but her powers were commendable. Without a word, Cornelius followed an almost dazed Cassandra into the woods.
After very serious pondering and inner conflict, against his better judgement Kyle had decided to walk to the pack house. Now that the sun was out, he was certain that things had settled down a little and hopefully they would be too occupied to notice him. Among everyone, he really hoped Thalia was distracted enough not to ask him questions he was not willing to answer.
The woods were very familiar to him and every snap reassured him instead of scaring him—as long as the forest felt alive, they were safe. He continued treading through the trees, occasionally entertaining the thought of heading back to his cabin and pretend like nothing out of the ordinary happened but he could not do that because he also had his own questions about the previous night. Although they had not seen the enemy, he had felt her.
A very smooth whisper had continuously played in his mind but he could not understand a word. It had only stopped when all the pack members were dead.
An unfamiliar scent snapped him out of his thoughts. Further off stood a woman, lithe hair as pale as her skin and her eyes were closed but seemed to be staring intently at him and for a second he was alarmed expecting to hear that almost unearthly whisper in his head but instead, she rushed at him at an almost inhuman speed although he sensed no wolf in her.
More curious than intimidated, he remained still until she reached him. At a close up look, she looked almost hysterical with her closed eyes, her eyes moving rapidly behind closed lids and her lips mumbling feverishly.
"When the faceless appears on all faces, the moon will bleed and only the unfated shall remain to reclaim the wild," Cassandra said in a hysteric voice and went limp in Kyle's arms.
Silently, like the hunter that he is, Cornelius retreated from the trees and headed back. Sometimes, remaining unseen was the best tactic.
Kyle sighed hopelessly and continued walking with a limp Cassandra in his arms. Too much for being unnoticed.
Everyone had dispersed. Too exhausted both physically and mentally to say a word, Bianca was leaning quietly on her brother's shoulder. She noticed a golden haired stranger carrying a limp Cassandra in his arms and on any other day she could have been curious but not today, she felt like all the emotions had been drained from her but that was not the case for Thalia.
She had been leaning on an overgrown willow tree lost in thought but when she saw Kyle, she ran towards him almost immediately.
"What is going on, Kyle," she asked without bothering to keep her voice down. The sight of him had awakened the night's memories and all the unplaced rage was now being directed at him. Calmly, he lay Cassandra down on the scorched grass and then replied,
"I'm also curious."
"Do not play the dumb game with me, how did you know to warn us about this attack," she shouted and Kyle felt the accusing eyes of everyone who had been pretending not to be eavesdropping direct on him.
"I just had a hunch," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Before Thalia could reply, Cassandra shouted again, this time her eyes wide open.
"When first blood walks the ancient l and, the unfated will light the flame and the fittest nameless will arise."
Thalia eyed both Kyle and Cassandra suspiciously but was not sure what to say because Cassandra's words held no meaning to her.
"If you think I had something to do with this, then you are wrong, Luna," Kyle said. But this time it was not Thalia who responded.
"But do you know who did it?" Cornelius' steely voice sounded from behind them.
He cast a fleeting glance at his supposed mate and then faced Kyle. There was no way he could accept that a wolf less nobody had killed everybody but maybe he had conspired with another pack, probably Night Howl and decided to bail out when things went south.
"We did not see anyone," he replied in that same flat voice that always made Thalia wonder if anything or anyone really affected him. He looked at her for confirmation and she nodded her head affirmatively.
"So you're telling me that someone invaded my territory and you saw nothing," he said in a low tone but his steel eyes showed how annoyed he felt.
"We are telling you that almost everyone in the pack is dead but there was no attacker," Thalia rephrased his statement and almost jumped at him. She wondered how his main concern amidst this tragedy was his territory.
By now, everyone was timidly approaching the arguing leaders.
Casten flinched when Cornelius turned to face him.
"Are you even hearing yourself?" Cornelius asked. Her rebelliousness always irked him and the frustration caused by the bond just increased his irritation.
"Too hard when your Alpha ego is everywhere," she spat back and cautiously increased the distance between them. She could feel the frustration too.
The moon goddess trying to bind you to someone you hated and despised was one of the harshest jokes.
"The Luna is right, those people just killed themselves," Casten said quickly before he could change his mind.
Casten directly addressing him just fueled his anger. He barked without even sparing him a second glance.
"Mind your place, Omega."
"I'm sorry, Alpha," he apologized but that made Cornelius snap. He strode towards Casten but before he could do whatever he had in mind—
Raphael, who had been watching everything in silence, took a small step forward.
"Ancient l ands."
All along he had been watching everything but only half attentively. His mind was trying to remember where he had heard the word ancient l ands. When Cornelius threatened Casten, in a desperate attempt to rescue his mate, the memory had resurfaced.
"The ancient l ands are the Barrens," he said and everyone's confusion turned to disbelief and slight discomfort.
"Who said that?" Cornelius asked. His attention now fully on his beta.
"It was common knowledge among the elders," Raphael replied meaningfully.
"But she couldn't possibly mean there, they are called the Barrens for a reason," Thalia tried to reason although she knew Raphael was probably right.
"There is nothing there and let's not forget the distance," Casten risked speaking again.
"Two weeks would be enough if we go through the south part of the forest," Cornelius summarised, totally focused on the prospect of finding the intruders.
"That part is full of rogues," Raphael reasoned and his gaze involuntarily shifted to the siblings.
"You could use the main road and find us there in a month," he replied and started walking into the forest.
Sighing in defeat, Thalia eyed Casten meaningfully and the trio followed Cornelius. She was willing to die on her way to the Barrens if it meant a chance at revenge.
Raphael would have been willing to take the long route with Casten—it would have meant keeping him away from danger and more time to try and get close to him—but if he had chosen to follow the Luna, then he would also willingly face the rogues for his sake.
With a long yearning for answers to questions he was too scared to even voice out, Kyle lifted an unconscious Cassandra and silently entered the forest too.