Darius

Darius has been watching Tyros for weeks now. He knew it was almost time, but the waiting was killing him. He has been away from his wife too long. She was due any day and she was going to kill him if he missed the birth of their first child.

The witch said that the rise of the true King will come with the birth of his firstborn. At first, he thought that she was talking nonsense and he felt like a complete idiot for believing her, but he had this gut feeling that she was indeed telling the truth.

A few decades ago, he was woken up by a bad dream where his Alpha and future King was being murdered and there was no one to help him. When he sat up, he saw a hooded figure in the corner of his chambers. The glowing green eye sending shivers down his spine. As he reached for his sword, he heard a commotion outside his chambers and looked at the door but when he looked back to the corner the figure was gone. The next thing he knew about 20 of his pack members barged into his chambers and he could see on their faces that they had the same dream. He nodded and within seconds they had all shifted and was running towards the forest. Not one of them knew where they were going but they all felt the pull and were following it.

When they came to a small tent, they heard the screaming and they all howled at the pain they could feel through it. Darius shifted back as his pack member finished of what seemed to be little elves, but that was terribly deformed. As he entered the tent he fell to his knees and screamed. Before him,

laid his best friend. Mutilated in the worst possible ways. He could see that nearly every bone in his body was broken but what killed him inside was the cut that ran from his navel to his chin. Like they were trying to turn his insides inside out. He screamed again knowing that no one could survive this. Not even the strongest of warriors.

He dropped his head in his hand and started to sob. It was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder that he stopped. As he looked up, he saw the hooded figure but before he could do anything, she put her finger to her lips. “Listen” is all she said. He shook his head but when she repeated herself, he listened carefully. His wolf hearing zoning in on every sound. He could hear a faint beating of a heart. Like the one of a baby still in the womb. She pointed to Dave’s lifeless body and as he crawled closer the sound got louder. “He is not dead, but you have to make sure everyone believes that he is so that he can live again and righten the wrongs that are to follow. The true King will rise again with the birth of your first-born son. After the grieving, return his body here and I will take care of them” With that, she disappeared.

Every 10 years she would return to him in a dream, reminding him of that fateful night, reminding him. After the murder of his first wife and mate, he never thought that he would find another, but when he did, he felt that time was nearing. When they found out that she was pregnant he told her everything. He didn’t know what to expect but he did not expect that she would tell him that she had had visions and that she believed every word.

Now he didn’t know what was more important. He was torn between the two futures that were equally important to him and he didn’t know what to do. He sensed DeLorean nearing and shook his head, answering the unasked question. Both of them just stood there looking at Tyros when Darius’s phone rang. He didn’t need to say anything. The look he got from DeLorean said enough. “I will be back as soon as I can” With that he shifted and rushed to the packhouse that was situated about 3 hours away.

He crossed the distance in 2 hours and was relieved to see that his son was not born yet. He ran to his wife’s side who was looking at him strangely and only realized that he was naked when someone hung a sheet over him. Smiling at his wife she just shook her head before a contraction changed her beautiful face into one in pain. She nearly crushed his hand, but he wouldn’t change it for anything. It wasn’t long before he held his newborn son in his arms. His wife now resting he looked out the window and saw the fireball shoot out from the volcano. As he turned around his wife was holding out her arm. “You need to go now. He is going to need all the help he can get”

It was taking what felt like forever to get to camp even though his wolf was running as fast as he could. Everyone was waiting for him. They had to do this as a pack, the witch had told him that every time she visited him, if one of them get separated they will be killed.

As soon as he got to camp everyone congratulated him in person on the birth of his firstborn son. In normal circumstances, the whole pack would be howling, but today they needed to keep a low profile. They weren’t sure who else was watching and they had to keep their numbers a secret. Over the years they had found that others were looking for the King and no one could be trusted.

The 25 warriors were ready to fight and were waiting for word from the scout that was sent out 20 minutes ago. When they got the mind link, they all headed towards the stream, where the scout said they would find him. What they didn’t expect was a snow-white wolf with big green eyes protecting who they knew without a doubt was their King. They watched as she attacked a rogue. They knew he was a rogue with the deformities he had. The wolves that turned on their own King 100 years ago, were all cursed so that all the living packs would know that their forefather were traitors.

It was only when they felt the air go cold and the earth-shattering howl that they jumped into action. They had to get to their King before the demon witch did. But to their surprise, the witch was not after the king, but the rogue. After knocking him out, she disappeared as soon as she appeared taking the rogue with her. Everyone made sure that there were no other threats before they shifted back into their human forms.

Darius was the last to shift back and was confused to see the whole pack looking toward him fiddling with their fingers. “We have a problem” DeLorean spoke up. When he didn’t elaborate Darius pushed through the men and turned around as soon as he saw what the problem was. Looking at the ground he understood why everyone was fiddling with their hands. No one knew what to do with the naked female lying on top of their King. No one thought that the white wolf was a female, no one had time to think at all, but right now no one could think of what to do. They had left all their clothes at the camp and they knew if that female was their Luna, they will all suffer just for even that she was naked.

“Um, Darius. I think one of us should go up to the camp and get a blanket” Herman piped up. There were a lot of agreeing hums, but then as if one, they all grunted realizing that they never kept blankets at the camp. They must have been standing there for about 5 minutes before DeLorean told them all to shift. Just as they shifted, they saw DeLorean’s wife, Hannah walk up with a bag in her hands. “You can all shoo for now.” Hannah said shooing them with her hand “Darius, your wife said to bring the jeep. You will need to bring them to the packhouse. They are both in need of medical attention” DeLorean has never been so proud of his wife before. As she walked past him, she ruffled his fur on his head and kissed his snout. “Don’t worry. I will explain everything later. Now put these on so you can help me with Dave”. She put some clothes next to him and walked towards the female and covered her up.

As soon as the jeep came, Hannah put the pillows and blankets that she had in the bag down neatly so they could put their Alpha and their Luna down so that the trip to the packhouse wouldn’t be such an uncomfortable one. Even though they may not know of it, the bumps down the mountain could leave a lot of bruises especially if they didn’t know exactly in what condition either of them was in.