"We need an opening." I spoke as I continued trying to twist the chains that bound my feet.
Meggy let out a long groan as she hit her head against the stone wall which looked like it should have hurt but she didn't even touch.
She turned to look at me.
"You need a reality check."
I let out a huff. I had been exerting myself trying to find a way to get these chains off but I knew I might just finish the little energy the food they had given me had supplied.
And I would need that for Ornyx.
The wolfsbane was still in my system but I definitely felt way better... stronger too. Not at my best but enough to be able to pick a fight and hopefully win it.
"You said it yourself, there's no getting out of here. So why don't we go out with purpose?" I told her.
She let out a breath and looked away.
I didn't think convincing Meggy would be easy but we were both sitting here awaiting death.
She was a fighter, I could tell that much. And like me, she had nothing to lose. So I didn't get why she was making me work so damn hard for this.
"I never thought I'd see the day I would team up with a Silvercrest wolf. Much less their alpha."
I tried to hide my relief but clearly I failed miserably.
"Ornyx needs someone to take him down a notch. I still think this is a suicide plan but I owe it to my family to try. What'd you got?" She asked me.
I sat up straighter or as straight as I could with a renewed motivation.
"My battle to the death with Roman is up soon. We need to get out of these chains before the guards come and get me and I know you haven't been sharpening that rock for nothing." I spoke nodding at the object she had been clutching since we got in here.
It became obvious with all the scratching that she hadn't been doing it to count the time we were in here but to forge a weapon.
Meggy held on more tightly to it as if I may snatch it.
"It's never going to work." She spoke. "Even if we take out the guards who come to fetch you, we'll be overwhelmed once we get out there. We need you in that ring with David. Ornyx will want a front row seat so he'll be accessible, that I'm sure of."
She was right. I would have way more people to fight if I attacked beforehand.
"So I'm going to have to take out Ro-David quickly."
"You'll have to go for the kill." Meggy spoke. "No showboating or stalling, you'll need to be ruthless. Like a real Shadow pack wolf."
I clenched my jaw. If there's something I never wanted to be, it was that.
But I needed to fight fire with fire.
And that meant doing as the Van Cliffe's did.
"David is still a halfling. He isn't as strong as a full fledged wolf. Use that." She urged me.
I nodded. Then something occurred to me. "You're a halfling too."
She had no definite scent. Her and the wolves that attacked the second time, none of them did really.
"None of Ornyx spies were full fledged." She explained. "We were bred. Human mothers, Shadow pack fathers. It was the perfect way to have us infiltrate other packs."
I couldn't hide my disgust.
"I thought Ornyx hated humans. How did -"
"The women never knew anything. They were paid to be surrogates. You'd be surprised by the things they do for money." Meggy spoke sounding more than unimpressed. "When we would be born, they would hand us over... and never look back."
I saw the look on her face and I could tell this was a touchy subject. One we couldn't even get into if we tried. At least not now.
I cleared my throat getting back to business.
"Where will you be in all this?" I asked. I doubted they would give her a front row seat.
She smirked. "As I said, I haven't been sharpening this rock for nothing. When everyone's distracted with your duel, I'll sneak out. They haven't been giving me wolfsbane so I'll be able to shift easily. I'll go for Ornyx. It will take the both of us to take him out."
I didn't know if I could trust Meggy not to just run off when she got the chance but it's not like I had a choice.
"If I'm correct, we're in the Southern woods." Meggy explained. "That was the latest planned site for regrouping. The Shadow pack had never really found a place to settle. We always moved around like nomads and regrouped once in a while invade any of the Werewolf Union packs detected us." It's not too far from Silvercrest territory either.
I fought the urge to grit my teeth.
Of course.
The southern woods were mostly Jerry Pack territory.
The pack was small with a fairly large territory which they left most of untouched.
If you were a healthy wolf, it was at most a three hour run to Woodfell. Both a safe and convenient distance. Perfect for attack. Which they planned on doing anyway.
I showed have scoured harder and wider.
Maybe I would have found a stray Shadow pack member. Prevented all of this.
"If we kill Ornyx, will everyone stand down?" I asked.
That was the whole basis of the 'cut the head off theory' my father had.
Meggy furrowed her brows as if she was seriously considering it.
"If Ornyx dies, automatically the next alpha would be -"
"Crystal?" I guessed.
She frowned. "No actually. Theresa. Technically speaking Crystal is next in line but she hasn't earned her spot or sworn her allegiance. I mean even if she was to automatically claim the throne, Shadow pack rules are the rules of old. She'll need to earn it. Meaning anyone can challenge her and kill her for the title."
I winced at the idea. Crystal wouldn't join the Shadow pack. Not willingly anyway.
I hoped Bridget would keep her safe and make sure she never had to go through any of that.
"What if -"
Suddenly everything went back. I felt my body go limp.
Suddenly my eyes opened and I wasn't in the cave.
I was in a dark room.
I saw Crystal materialise in front of me.
The relief on her face was evident as she rushed towards me and wrapped her arms around me.
For a few seconds she just held me.
"Hello my love." I whispered.
I couldn't feel her. Not really. But just having her here was more than any dying man could wish for.
When I pulled away I saw her begin to examine me.
"Are you okay?" She asked hurriedly.
"I'm fine." I told her. I couldn't exactly tell her the truth.
"You?"
"I'm okay." She reassured me.
I swallowed hard. "Everyone else?"
Her face fell. She let out a breath. "We saw the video. I - I thought Ornyx might have already -"
"I'm okay, Crystal. At least for now. What's going on over there? Did you get my message to Bridget?"
She nodded. "Everyone's preparing for the war. The - the union met and - and I told them about your plan."
I let out a breath of relief and placed my hands around her face. "Good, good. They'll need to remain vigilant. Ornyx is determined to tear us all down. They can't give up. No matter what. They must fight like hell."
Crystal looked at me wistfully.
"What does he have planned for you?"
I debated on what to tell her.
I really didn't know what her reaction would be to telling her that I was to fight her ex boyfriend to the death.
Either way, this was probably the last time I would see her and talk to her. I wasn't going to let Roman ruin even that.
"I'm sorry we couldn't have had more time." I whispered.
She shut her eyes tightly, probably fighting back tears.
"Stop it, Tristan."
"I need to say this." I insisted.
She looked back at me albeit clearly regretting it.
I took both her hands in mine savouring the moment. Who knew how much longer the mindlink would hold.
"I need you to know that it never mattered to me whether you could be my Luna. Even if I wasn't Alpha, Crystal, you know we'd still be fated to be mates. Maybe it would have even been easier without all the... politics. But nevertheless I need you to know I still valued all the time we've had together. And I thank God everyday. I love you Crystal and I always have and always will. Never forget that.
I want you to live your life knowing that."
Tears streamed down her face now.
"I can't let you go. I won't." She spoke.
I sighed. "We can't help things, my love. Not now. But take heart, hope will never be lost where there's faith."
She ripped her hands away from mine and wiped her face. "No, Tristan. I mean it. I'm coming to get you. Stay alive, for me."
I furrowed my brows in confusion.
But just then the room begun to shake violently.
"You're exerting yourself." I told Crystal hurriedly.
We had no time. "Tell my brothers goodbye, tell them - tell them I love them. And give Bridget and the commander this information. Tell them we're in the southern woods. Ornyx plans on attacking at midnight. They must hit him first. Catch him off guard - if they overwhelm him then there's a chance we can take the upper hand. I'll do as much damage as I can on this end... while I can."
Her eyes widened. "What? What do you plan on-"
Suddenly Crystal was gone and I was back in the cave.
Meggy watched me expectantly.
But before she could say anything, the door slammed open and a couple of guards stormed in.
Guess it was time.
Crystal
My eyes shot open.
I pushed the chair I was sitting on back and shot to my feet but I was immediately overcome by dizziness and fell back down.
Someone was by my side immediately holding me up.
"Whoa, are you okay, Luna?" I looked up and saw that it was Nia.
"It was harder to hold that link open." Joshua groaned, rubbing his head.
Mikey looked a bit disoriented but he forced himself to focus on me.
I placed my hands on the table trying to stay upright. I refused to sit back down knowing I had no time to waste.
Raphael moved closer to the table as well.
The special ops team for this mission included him and Nia as well as Andrew, Joan and Kurt - soldiers Nia had promised em were the best of the best.
They were all in the room with us looking at me expectantly.
"He's still alive but I don't know how much longer. He's planning something crazy, I just know it."
Raphael had a stern look on his face. "What did he say exactly?"
"He said that he was being kept in the Southern woods. And that I should tell Bridget to attack first. H - he also said he'd try to do as much damage as he could."
"What does that mean?" Joshua asked.
Raphael looked thoughtful. He remained silent and I had a feeling her knew exactly what Tristan had meant.
He turned to Nia. "Get this information to Bridget. A location is a huge advantage. We should use it without hesitation."
Nia nodded and made sure I was steady before turning to leave.
I knew Bridget, Jasmine and the others were busy with war preparations and I couldn't fault them for not being here.
It was so hard to believe that I'm just a matter of hours the Silvercrest pack would be at war.
I thought of my family, hoping the safe house would still serve its purpose.
Raphael looked at me. "We need to get you suited and get on the way." He spoke. "If Bridget can have the troops organise a surprise attack then we might have enough of a distraction to find Tristan."
Considering he didn't do anything stupid before then.
"Keep us posted." Mikey spoke sounding more serious than I had ever heard him in my life. "I'll be working the defence post with the other generals."
Raphael nodded in approval. "Keep them tight. If by any chance our forces are overwhelmed and the Shadows start heading this way, you must evacuate immediately. The Calhouns are the closest and they'll definitely offer refuge. You will still need to fortify Woodfell though, we can't -"
"I know the battle plans, Raph. I've only studied them since I was eight." Mikey spoke with a sly grin.
I couldn't help but smile as well. I wondered if in his attempt to keep his brothers so sheltered, Tristan had forgotten how very competent they actually were.
"I talked Bridge into putting me in the second wave of forces." Joshua spoke. "She can't stop me from fighting for my pack."
I knew from my short lived AAP stint that the second wave was sent in if the first one was getting overwhelmed.
Silvercrest usually had five waves with the last being the most desperate collection of soldiers.
It comforted me a bit to know that Joshua was in the second rather than the first who got the brunt of it all.
If the first could hold them off for long or hopefully even win, they wouldn't need to call for reinforcements and Joshua could be safe here.
I knew he had trained all his life but still... I was determined to bring Tristan back to both his brothers in one piece.
And in the off chance that I refused to even consider that I failed, we still needed to preserve the Melrose name and legacy and Mikey and Josh were it.
Raphael stepped forward and put his hand on Joshua's shoulder. His voice was so low I almost missed what he said.
"Go for the kill."
Joshua clenched his jaw and nodded firmly. "Gladly.
"I'm serious, the Shadow pack doesn't play fair."
"I don't plan on doing so either."
Joshua's tone scared even me.
Before I could stop myself, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him.
I could tell he was in shock about the action but he slowly placed his hand around me
I looked behind him and gestured for Mikey to join us.
He did so and the three of us embraced, the mind link mixing together all our fears and anxiety.
When I pulled away I squeezed Mikey's hand.
"For Silvercrest."
They both nodded. "For Silvercrest." They muttered in agreement.