Chapter Two (A Traitor's death)

Alpha Roffe Barther seized the opportunity, using the distraction to his advantage. He quickly overpowered the weakened alpha and half-shifted causing his claws to extract and deliver the killing blow. 

"I'm sorry. I have to go to him," Luna Dawn whimpered to Eirika, 

“Mama, No!” Eirika cried quietly. 

“I’m sorry. One day you will understand when you find your mate. He is my heart…” she said the last part in almost a whisper. 

“Mama…” Eirika continued to cry. 

"Run, my pet, never trust anyone" she muttered right before she pushed away from her daughter. 

"Mama. NO!" Eirika cried. 

Luna Dawn ignored her, shapeshifting into a fierce Lycan and letting out a loud vicious roar. Bullets and poisoned darts whizzed through the air in her direction with a few hitting her. 

She leaped and managed to evade Alpha Roffe Barther from stopping her, scaling through the air at Bowyer. The treacherous beta looked stunned as Luna Dawn jumped him, swiping her claws against his chest, causing him to let out a pain-filled grunt. 

About ten werewolves leaped to fight her and despite the bullets and poisonous darts in her system, she managed to tear twenty of them apart, fighting to finish off Bowyer. But the wolves didn't let her. There were too many of them and they kept getting in her way until she weakened and fell to the floor beside her dying husband. 

"No!" Eirika screamed, drawing attention to her location. Several shots went off and poisonous arrows flew hitting their mark. Eirika let out a pain-stricken cry and then turned around and ran.

"Find and finish her off. Let no one escape!" Alpha Roffe Barther thundered. 

He then walked up to Bowyer. The treacherous beta was seated on the floor with his back resting on the frame of the podium. He held a hand to his bleeding chest wheezing. Alpha Roffe Barther slowly took the poisonous knife from his grasp and gingerly examined it. 

"We did it. We killed them all. Don't let that little shit get away… she must be killed," Bowyer said through gritted teeth, breathing with effort. 

"Yes, don't worry. There will surely be a mass grave here tonight and your precious princess will be the cherry on top."

"Great," he breathed, grimacing in pain. 

"However, letting a traitor who could betray his own alpha live would not be prudent, don't you think?" he said coldly. 

"What?! W-what are you saying? You know you have my loyalty. I did this to stop that weakling from making that slip of a girl our ruler! He was soft … weak! H-he had to go!"

"Are you sure that was it? You would get a share of their wealth if I agree to put you in charge after all. Are you sure it was not just your ambition, Bowyer? Don't get me wrong I love ambitious men. I am one myself. I just have an aversion to hired help or servants thinking they have an opinion on how I choose to handle my affairs…"

"Alpha Roffe Barther, please,  I promised you… I pledged allegiance to you…"

"Yes, you did. Just like – I am certain – you did to Mikain Aedelwulf. You were right. He was soft. Trust me, Bowyer, the problem is not you. It's me. I have trust issues and I also like to be the one drawing out terms. I especially hate being indebted," he finished with a cold sneer.

And without warning, he deftly buried the knife in Bowyer's chest. Drew it out and did it again and again, causing blood to splatter all over his face. Some got in his mouth and he licked the blood. 

The other Werewolf's face stayed frozen in shock, in death, his supposed alley exacted his own brand of justice for the treachery that had occurred.

Eirika ran, stumbling through the dense forest, her heart pounding as she held a hand to her bleeding stomach and another to her chest. 

She could hear the rival pack's howls and pounding feet getting closer and closer. She knew that if she didn't get away soon, she would be killed along with the rest of her pack. Branches and leaves lashed at her, sticking and tangling her hair and cutting her exposed face as she ran blindly crying in grief. Her heart ached painfully in recollection. The determination to survive continued to fuel her. A loud howl rented the air, startling her and she jerked her gaze backward while still running and then plummeted into a hole. 

A silent gasp escaped her lips right before an iron trap slammed shut and jaws of iron dug into her leg. 

She grunted hard trying not to scream and took quick shallow breaths, adjusting her eyes to the darkness. The smell of wet earth, roots, and her own blood assailed her and she could feel her bone, crushing. She grunted hard, hitting the framing sandy wall with her palm in reaction to the excruciating pain. 

Touching her chest she glanced down and saw her palm covered in blood. The sight of her legs made her shoulders shake as she cried. Her head felt woozy and her vision began to blur. She shook her head, summoning inner courage to fight, focusing on the injustice done to her Pack, and Bowyer's betrayer. Even from where she was deep in the ditch, she could hear the cries of her people being slaughtered. 

War had come to them only they weren't prepared. 

Fury surged in her bloodstream as she focused her rage on the image of Alpha Roffe Barther's face. Silently swearing that if she made it, she would not rest until she pay him back in kind. The thought of the retribution and her state of mind woke up the primal blood in her, causing an additional form of pain that was even more excruciating as her body started to metamorphose into her primal self. 

And in a bid to keep quiet, she searched and saw a stick in the sandy hole, reaching for it she bit into it - dirt and all, as the pain of feeling every bone in her body breaking and reforming tore through her.