Chapter 5

I arrived back at Cabin B but the thoughts racing through my head didn't let me get much rest. A witch and a prophecy? Could I have possibly heard that correctly? Perhaps this prophecy is the reason he had to make sure that all the wolves with multicolored fur attended his games. Perhaps this is why Alpha Berion was hosting the games at all. I imagined myself as the Luna who's arrival had been prophesized leading my pack to peace time and prosperity with Alpha Berion the Loyal at my side and I smiled.

A comforting fire crackled in the hearth and I could see its warm glow through the sheer canopy around my bed. Dandilion's steady snoring radiated from the other side of the room. At least she had managed to put her worries to rest for the night, but I wondered if we would both still be in this competition by tommorow. I pulled my warm quilt up to my chin and stared at the wooden logs of the ceiling until my restless mind grew quiet. Soon I was so deep asleep I didn't hear the blowing against the walls of my cabin or the strangled howl the wind surpressed.

-Outside-

A blonde wolf padded softly through the night away from the safety of the great wooden mansion and the wall that surrounded it. A pack of her belongings was on her back and she was embarking on the long dispiriting journey home. Alpha Berion would have let her wait and leave in the morning, but she couldn't handle the shame of having to face all of the other wolves at breakfast tommorow morning as a loser of the games. 

She stretched her shoulders as she began her journey. They were sore from the bite marks so genorously given to her by the wolf who's lap she accidently tripped into before her banishment from the games. He had shown her a good time, but she knew that ultimately it would be too embarassing to stick around the palace to see where things went with this stranger. And still her mind wandered to how her clawed fingers felt tracing there way down his large warm chest. He had ruined her chances at becoming Luna so she was going to make sure she at least got something out of this mess. He definitely made the trip worth her time. She couldn't help but savor the memory of how he had panted and howled in her ear like animal as he was leaving those bites on her shoulder. He had begged her to stay at least until morning, but this time it was his turn not to get something he wanted.

So much her mind was replaying these events that she didn't seem to notice the tall dark figure looming in the shadows of the wall watching her closely. A flicker of stray torch light flickered off the dark eyes that followed her every step mercilessly. Cloaked in darkness the sound long footsteps were masked by the distant sounds of the party still wrapping up all the way back at the pavilion. Undetected the figure crept until its shadow was cast right in front of the wolf. The blonde's eyes widened and her heart felt like it was beating two hundred beats a moment and yet she stood frozen in fear. Suddenly a long cold arm was pulling her backwards and holding her tight. She managed to choke out one strangled howl but it failed to reach any wolfish ears. Try as she might her next howl never managed to escape her blood soaked throat and the blonde wolf was dragged from the trail and was swallowed by the endless darkness of the woods.