It was a grey day, and I shivered as we approached the battlefield. Already the Nightstalkers were gathering, and I felt colder when I saw Sarah in human form. I knew she wanted to settle old scores, and I was not looking forward to facing her one on one. But I knew I had the strength to subdue her; I had a lot of scores to settle with her myself, not least my missing foot.
Harry was tense under me, and I gently stroked his fur as he called a halt. Wolves lined up either side of us, and I felt a bit better when I saw we easily outnumbered the Nightstalkers two to one. But there was never so desperate a wolf when they were backed into a corner and had nothing left to lose; Ben had seemed to gather quite a few of those.
Ben himself approached, Sarah riding on his back. She wasn't showing, but I could sense the small life she carried inside her. And the dark etheric noose around its neck. If she died, so would her cub, and I shivered. I was relieved that my own cub had barely registered as a presence, but I knew if Ben won, Sarah would be sniffing my cub out in no time.
"Terms!" Sarah called. "No quarter given or taken. When one or the other Alpha dies, that Alpha's pack is to be immediately executed."
"We agree to those terms," I said. "I've got a few of my own. Whichever pack loses, their allies are not to seek revenge on the allies of the conquering pack."
Sarah frowned, but shrugged. "Very well," she said. A small smirk crossed her face. "I don't expect your allies to actually stick to that agreeement."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not in the mood," I said curtly, slipping off Harry's back as Sarah did the same. "I'm interested in ending this once and for all."
"Fine by me," Sarah snarled, and she raised her arm, as did I. We waited for several tense moments, until the unseen moon reached its zenith on the other side of the world. The moment it hit that point, we brought our arms down as one, and the battle was joined.
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I didn't hesitate; the moment the two packs rushed forward towards one another, I went for Sarah, and inhuman rage crossed her face as she met me halfway, tackling me to the ground and immediately trying to strangle me. I kicked her in the thigh, forcing her to let go just enough so I could wriggle free of her grip. As she reeled back in pain, I punched her in the face, and she fell backwards. I gave her no chance to recover; in seconds I was on top of her, and I let fly, punching her again and again. She tried dodging my blows, but as I continued my assault, her attempts grew weaker and weaker, until finally, she collapsed, limp, her face a bloodied, bruised ruin. I sat back, breathing heavily, watching for that telltale sign she was faking me out. But when I felt assured she wasn't getting up again - at least not without assistance when she came to - I got up, before planting my foot on her legs and whistling. Darcy, his fur dark with blood, came running. 'Is she out?' he asked.
I nodded. "Make sure she doesn't try and kill her cub when she wakes up," I warned him, hoisting Sarah up and draping her across Darcy's back. "She's got a spell ready to kill him or her, and I wouldn't put it past her to be spiteful."
Darcy frowned, before shaking his head. 'Too late,' he said. 'She must have known she was going to lose after you started beating the well-deserved crap out of her - the cub's dead.'
I swore under my breath as I realised he was right. "Fuck that bitch," I said, tears filling my eyes.
'Not your fault,' Darcy assured me, gently nosing my hand. 'She did it, not y--- NO!!!!!'
His etheric scream blanked out all my senses, but when I could see again, I felt as if a hole had been ripped right out of my chest. "HARRY!" I screamed.
As the dust settled, the horrible scene unfolded; Harry lay dead on the ground, Ben standing over him, his mouth bloody, his eyes glittering with rage and triumph as he turned to me. 'It's over! I have won!'
I saw red; rage rose up until it consumed everything. And in the midst of that haze, I howled.
Then I shifted.
When I could see again, I was stunned at how big my paws were; how big I was in general. But that soon vanished in another tide of red rage as I lunged at Ben, tackling him to the ground. Before he had a chance to respond or fight back, I tore his throat out. 'Die, you bastard!' I screamed as I did so.
And he did.
Dead silence reigned as I stepped back, the bitter taste of blood in my mouth, my heart pounding, my head spinning. The rules hadn't allowed for the revenge killing of the winning Alpha, but I was not about to let the stunned Nightstalkers take advantage of this break in protocol. 'Your Alpha is dead!' I said to them.
'You killed him!' one Nightstalker shouted in protest.
'Yes I did,' I fired back. 'The rules didn't say I couldn't.'
This did not sit well with the Nightstalkers, but Billy and Darcy - who'd passed Sarah off to Christian for safeguarding - stepped up beside me. 'It's unprecedented,' Darcy said, 'but we stand by our Luna. The rules did not allow for it, but you would have done the same had our roles been reversed.'
The Nightstalkers growled, but gave up. 'We will not forget this,' the spokeswolf said angrily. 'Our allies will avenge this murder!'
'You agreed to the terms,' I reminded him. 'If you go ahead with this, your allies will be deemed oathbreakers, and we'll have no choice but to retaliate.'
The spokeswolf growled again, but was forced to concede the point. And in the end, it didn't matter, as our surviving pack members took out the remaining Nightstalkers, as per the original agreement. This included Sarah, and while I did hope she could still be redeemed, I knew she was a lost cause. Darcy took on the role of eliminating her, not wanting me to be burdened by her death, for which I was grateful.
But as the sun started to set, I was still feeling rubbed raw, and when we regrouped, I was saddened by our losses. But the Beasts were still alive, and I knew I'd need them by my side for the long days and dark nights ahead that waited me. With Harry's death, a part of me had died as well, and as we began the trek home, I knew I'd never be the same again.
But at least Ben and Sarah were finally dead. Breaking of the rules or not, it had felt good to tear Ben's throat out, and it meant that my life was, from this point on, my own to live, without the threat of someone coming along and trying to control me.
That didn't cancel out my shattering pain at Harry's death, however.
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