Mira stilled her beating heart. The Alpha Kings' eyes, too, shone brilliantly when he looked at her. "Please, rise to your feet. There is no need for an Alpha King to bow in my presence." She cooed as she snapped her hand back as she felt like his feverish skin had scorched her fingertips. As the Alpha King rose to his full height, Alpha Bastion stepped forward. "Thank you for coming to my aid." Mira felt compelled to thank him in front of their audience."If you didn't show up when you did, I'm not sure what I would have done to Beta Daniel." She made sure to say the Betas name loud and clear for all to hear. "No need to thank me." ALPHA BASTION snarled as he looked past the Alpha King and stared at his Beta who was slumped over. His Beta couldn't have looked more pitiful and shameful in front of his young pack members who were taking photos of him on their smartphones, even if he tried. He looked to his right, "Get him out of my sight!" He ordered through gritted teeth. Two

As soon as everybody turned around and faced the wall of trees, the atmosphere grew dense with uncertainty. The trees danced as the night's chilly breeze whispered through the air, and the breaking of twigs grew increasingly audible through the silence that had surrounded them. Mira held her hands out at her sides as she was getting ready to draw from her source of energy if she needed to. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she could feel the presence of death hovering like a menacing cloud above them. Whatever was coming from beyond the trees, she knew it wasn't going to be pretty. But Alpha Bastion laid a heavy hand on her shoulder, "Save your energy, it can't be safe for you to draw from it repetitively. Tonight my pack will protect you." He said in a firm tone as his fingernails extended into thick sharp claws. ~WE will protect her, Bastion. Make sure that big Alien keeps his mitts off her!~ Shadow snarled in Bastions' head. ~OUR main focus is to protect e

HOURS LATER, Mira found herself perched on the wooden log that was stationed in front of the flickering fire pit with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Even with a warm blanket and a fire burning in front of her, she could not prevent the chill from creeping up her spine no matter how firmly she tugged at the blanket's edges. She tilted her head back and gazed at the sun that was gradually making her appearance in the clear sky as it played peek-a-boo between the clouds. She let the sun's gentle beams caress her bare face, savouring the scant warmth it provided. "This pack will never be the same because you FAILED to protect them when they needed you the most." She whispered, directing her cruel words to the Moon Goddess that she could no longer see perched in the sky. "If you want to continue cursing me, I suggest you keep those claws hidden until you are ready to use them against me, and me alone. Because I am about to leave a path of destruction and devastation in my wake

Miras' teeth slightly chattered as the small room she and the Alpha King were thrown into was made up of three frigid concrete walls and a steel-rodded door. She raised her hands that were still shackled and blew into them as she desperately sought some warmth upon her shivering body. "Here, let me," The Alpha King said as he shuffled to her side and wrapped his shackled free hands around her body. "My body temperature should be enough to keep us both warm." Mira wasn't in a state to reject his kind act of a warm embrace, so she snuggled against his feverish flesh absorbing all the warmth he generously offered her. After a few moments of silence that was shared between them, she stifled a yawn and peered up at him. "Thank you," The Alpha King peered down at her with the corners of his mouth curling into a gentle smile. "My pleasure, Mira." His hands stroked her bare arms to remove the goosebumps that had appeared all over her skin. "Truth be told, this is not how I pictured this

Mira lurched forward as the Alpha King stumbled back from the steel-rodded door with the syringe still embedded in the crook of his neck. He collapsed to the ground, yanking the syringe out as he examined the odd-looking object before he tossed it onto the cold ground beside him. "What did you stick him with?!" Mira cried out as she lowered herself onto her knees and tried to help Zeb stay awake. "Just a tranquillizer," Lennox hummed as he watched the Alpha King fall to the ground with great enthusiasm. "Why would you do such a thing?!" She yelled at him with wide eyes. "Because my pack has suffered enough from the second he arrived. Death, confusion, despair. It's all there swirling in the back of their minds as they continue to mourn from last night's blood bath." Mira rose to her feet and she glared at Lennox through the thin slits of her eyes, "He is to stand trial... You did this so he won't be coherent enough to answer the council's questions, didn't you?" She hissed as