Chapter 6 CHAPTER SIX

CAIUS

“Get the car ready. We’re leaving.” I bark at Clayton.

“Leaving? My phone has been going crazy, everyone is waiting for you to come so they can start the meeting.”

“The meeting can start without us. I have something more important to do.”

He shakes his head and calls someone as he leaves to bring the car to the front. I take the heart and put it in a small black bag to conceal it then I go downstairs and enter the car.

“Where are we going to?” Clayton asks, starting the engine.

“There’s an old healer here in Moon city. I want her to take a look at the heart.”

“Why don’t you wait until we get home? Our healer is older and wiser than any other werewolf alive.”

I laugh. “It’s not a competition. I want her to look at it while it’s still fresh. Who knows what will happen to it if I wait until we get home?”

I direct him to her house. It’s been ages since I was there and I hope she still lives there. She lives on the outskirts of town, in the forest. We pass by pack members who are cleaning the street where the fight happened and Clayton covers his nose.

“Why do they smell this much?” he asks.

It’s the same thing I want to know. Rogues smell but not this much. Something else is happening and I just need the healer to confirm it.

We park on the street and walk to the front door. I knock and wait.

“We should have asked someone from the pack. What if she no longer lives here?”

The door opens and the frail healer looks up at us in confusion. She sniffs me and her confusion clears.

“Alpha Caius. I don’t remember you smelling this foul.” She says and steps aside for us to enter.

“Thank you for inviting me into your home without notice, Lynara. The matter is urgent.”

She closes the door and leads us to her living room. We sit down and Clayton introduces himself while I bring out the heart. I pass the zip lock bag to healer Lynara and she takes it. She opens it and puts it to her nose briefly before moving it away from her face.

“Where did you get this?” she asks, her eyes sharp.

“From the rogues that attacked the city this morning.”

“Rogues.” She says.

“Yes, more than one. They were working together.”

“That’s unheard of.”

She brings back the bag to her nose, sniffs it once then removes it from the bag. She turns it and sniffs it again. She hums before she extends her claws and digs into the heart. Clayton and I watch silently as she licks the claw.

“Very dark magic is at play here.” She says.

I suspected as much. “Do you know what they did?”

“It’s impossible to say but the witch who did this is at least 500 years old.”

So we're dealing with an old witch who wants to see werewolves fail, that could be any old with.

“You say they attacked this morning?” she asks and I nod.

“I want to see.” She says.

We drive her back to the scene and she takes a look around the place.

“War is coming Alpha. War between the rogues and us.”

“Not with the witches?” Clayton asks.

Lynara shakes her head. “Witches hate rogues more than they hate us. If a witch is doing this, it means they do not have a choice.”

More puzzles to put together. We take Lynara back to her house before we drive back to the council building.

When we return to the council, Alphas are screaming at each other and no one is deliberating anything.

“I told you they’ll still be at it.” I tell Clayton through the mind link.

I walk to the front with the heart still in a bag and I throw it in front of the council members.

“That,” I say, raising my voice so everyone can hear me. “Is the heart of one of the rogues.”

Alpha Hill picks it up and smells it. He jerks and hands it to the alpha next to him who has the same reaction before he throws it on the floor.

“That reaction is because it doesn’t smell like rogue heart. I hope that before the shouting started, you discussed the fact that these rogues banded together. They were forty in number. Rogues don’t think, they’re crazed wolves and they do not form packs. I hope someone asked how creatures that you can never find in group of more than three gathered in their forties to attacked Moon city.”

Silence meets my questions and I groan in disappointment. What were they shouting about then?

“This meeting wasn’t a secret and yet they came, ready to die. The rogue I captured took his own life. A rogue decided it would rather die than be studied.”

“That’s why you’re late to the meeting? Because you were thinking of ways to call us fools?” Alpha Mika says from the crowd.

“You are a fool Alpha Mika, I do not need a grand entrance to tell you.” I turn back to the council members, ignoring Mika's outrage.

“I took this heart to the healer Lynara. She said that there’s dark magic involved.”

“She confirmed this?” Alpha Haze asks and I nod.

“Witches want another war? We’ll give them war and they’ll learn not to mess with us.” An Alpha says from behind me.

“Witches hate rogues more than they hate us. A witch wouldn’t have done this if they had any choice.” Alpha Brent says.

He’s one of the Alphas I respect on the council. He doesn’t talk much but when he does, he makes sense.

“Knowing this? What do we do? What have you discussed?” I ask.

“Well, we settled on more vigilance. Every Alpha here should make sure their pack perimeters are well guarded by strong wolves.” Alpha Hill says.

“I think we should release the guns.” I say.

There’s immediate outrage but I don’t back down. “Those who fought the rogues should raise their hands if they noticed that the rogues didn’t fight like they expected to live. They were restrained and it still wasn’t easy.”

Slowly, hands start going up and they start seeing the point I’m trying to make.

“The strongest werewolves had issues fighting rogues who weren’t fighting at full power. We need guns and bullets to put them down.”

“It’s forbidden to shoot fellow wolves with silver bullets. That was what the humans did.” Alpha Haze says.

“If the silver is the issue, let’s replace the silver bullets with tranquilizers. Wolf’s bane soaked regular bullets, anything.”

“Alpha Caius!” Alpha Hill shouts. “We will not shoot werewolves no matter what. Go to your pack and get your fighters ready in case they attack. That is the stand of the council and that is what will happen.”

I extend my claws. Ready to pounce on him for raising his voice at me. I look from him to Alpha Brent. Alpha Brent shakes his head and I retract my claws. He’s right. It’s not worth it.

“Alright. I have heard the decision of the council.” I say, turn around and leave.

Clayton follows me and gets into the car after I do.

“Are we going to follow the directives of the council?” he asks.

“Not a chance in hell.”