The air in the warehouse was taut with tension, apprehension palpable in the disposition of all present. Reid — flustered and frustrated — paced the floors of the warehouse, from wall to wall, his head tossed upwards, as if he was imploring some deity. Moss and Keeran, both still exhausted from the rigors of battle, sat on the ground, their backs against the wall. Other wolves sat on the ground, too, in various stages of injuries, nursing their wounds.
"Fuck!" Reid suddenly let out, punching the wall, his fist cracking going through it, mortar and dust sprinkling to the ground.
The noise from his punch gave everyone a start, and they fixed their eyes on him.
"We had everything planned out," he said again, his breath shallow. "Every single damn thing, and now this."
Keeran got on his feet, padded over to where Reid stood leaning against the wall and put his hand on his shoulder, squeezed gently.
"Be calm, Alpha. We did our best," he said. "There's no need to have regrets. We can always—"
Reid turned around swiftly, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall, his eyes a dull yellow.
"Don't you ever tell me to be calm, you hear me?" He said, his voice low and menacing. "That was supposed to be our night, my hour of redemption, and it got thwarted, just like that. I have a lot of anger going through me so you better watch your mouth."
He dropped Keeran, who fell limply to the floor, coughing.
Reid continued his pacing, and everyone tried to remain quiet. Just then, a figure appeared at the entrance, frowsy and unkempt. She walked in dragging one of her legs behind her, obviously expending much energy to move. When she got closer, a tight frown was visible on her face — her brows pinched, her lips pursed.
It was the witch — Elena.
"You," she said, pointing at Reid. "You left me to die."
Reid looked befuddled. He thought she had been killed by Ezrianna's blast. He stared at her ungainly movement until she was a hair's breadth from him.
"I choose to help you and that is how you repay me, eh?" She said, stabbing his chest with a gnarled finger. "I could end you, you know that. I could just—"
"Ohh, please, Elena," Reid interrupted. "You could barely hold Denzel down for a few minutes. Did you see the witch that subverted your powers? She was young, a fucking child."
Elena hissed, her eyes turned into slits, but she did nothing more. She had not wanted to get involved in the inter-pack battle, but Reid had coaxed into it, promising her a portion in the territory that would become theirs. They had not really known each other. Reid had been friends with one of her friends sometime ago, and he had had to do extra to contact her.
"You're such an asshole, Reid," she said to him. "That's why you'll never usurp Denzel's place."
She turned back and left, the sound of her foot shuffling as she dragged it.
The warehouse was silent again, everyone was deep in contemplation. Of all of them, Moss felt the most regret. He should have stayed with the Blackmoon Pack, under Ronald and Denzel, he was doing fine enough. But Reid had made lofty promises of him becoming Beta, and he had allowed himself become enticed. Again and again, Ronald's expression when he found out he had shifted loyalty, popped up in his head, and it made him sick.
"We can go again," he spoke up. "We must."
Reid looked at him, nodded.
"I like your faith, Moss, but you're speaking too early."
"Maybe. But we don't have a choice. We almost had them. Almost. If it hadn't been for that stupid witch, Ezrianna, we would be walking the grounds of the Blackmoon Pack, celebrating by now."
Reid sat down on a crate nearby.
"You're right, Moss," he said. "Ezrianna, she's the problem. But what do we do about her?"
"We take her out," Keeran finally said. "She stays in their territory, doesn't she?"
"Mm-hmm, in a cabin somewhere," Reid answered.
"Good. So we stake out the place, and strike when the time is right."
"I fucking hate witches," Reid said under his breath. "They're elusive, hard to find, slippery as eels."
"But we can get her," Moss said. "And remember, she's just a child."
"Underestimating her is the beginning of our downfall, Moss," Reid said. "That's what just happened, and we even came along with a witch of our own. Look how that turned out."
Silence again.
Reid buried his head in his palms, thinking. Moss was right — if they took out Ezrianna, that could make things considerably easier for them. They would still have the problem of Nira, but that could be easily solved.
"Members of the Bluefur Pack," he said suddenly, rising to his feet, his voice booming, "have you lost your spirit? Are you weakened by one battle? Have you let your battle wounds cloud your reasoning, and make you forget who you are? You are not weak, my brothers and sisters, this is only temporary. You fought bravely last night, valiantly, all of you, and I am proud of you. But never forget, as long as you have that lupine blood flowing through you, as long as the moon goddess still watches over us, you are formidable."
Everyone was silent, each individual seemed to be holding on to every word that Reid was speaking.
"And soon, my brothers and sisters, we will strike again, we will attack the Blackmoon Pack, and take what is rightfully ours."
The warehouse exploded in howls and cheers. A new energy charged through the wolves and the air in the place changed. Reid loved it. He looked around with pride at what his pack had become.
"This time, my brothers and sisters, we won't do it halfway, we shall triumph!"
Again the pack howled their agreement and excitement.
***
Later that day, Reid met up with Moss and Keeran in a small bar in town. Reid wanted them to being staking out Ezrianna's place as soon as possible.
"But don't you think they'd be more on the alert now," Keeran expressed his doubt.
"Yeah, but they're also more skittish," Reid countered. "We did some serious damage, don't you forget, and they lost many wolves. They're still grieving, and trust me when I say this, they're not as rational as they should be."
Reid swallowed a shot of vodka and requested for another.
"Besides, we want to go only to Ezrianna's place, huh?" Moss said.
"Yeah. If we can take her out, we can proceed with our new plans," Reid said.
"I suggest we do that tonight," Moss said and Reid nodded, downing another shot of vodka.
Keeran still had his misgivings, but he didn't want to seem like a spoilsport so he said nothing and just nodded as they spoke.
"Keeran, you'll pick a couple of omegas," Reid instructed, and we'll go to Ezrianna's cabin, under the cover of darkness of course, and do what we have to do. I remember that cabin like the back of my hand."
"I'll do that," Keeran said.
Later that day, Keeran picked two omegas, wolves he had seen in combat and really admired — a guy named TJ, who had a scar on his left cheek, and a redhead named Jessica. Reid looked them over, and nodded his head.
They headed into the woods at night when all was quiet and, after masking their scents, began to tread the forest carefully. Some wolves from the Blackmoon Pack were situated at various spots in the wood, guarding it, but they couldn't see Reid and his invading team. Reid chuckled silently to himself as he thought about taking some of them out, but he did not want to draw any unnecessary attention. As they approached Ezrianna's cabin, it got even quieter.
"We're almost there," Reid said.
Finally they were on the path that led up to Ezrianna's door. Reid instructed the other wolves to surround the cabin while he and Keeran went inside. In they went, the door yielding easily to their push. They looked around, but it was empty. Reid, upset, ransacked the place, kicking the chairs, scattering the crockery that were neatly stacked in a corner of the cabin. He went on, until Keeran reminded him that they had to be quiet.
"All of this for nothing," Reid said as they slipped out. "That witch has escaped my grasp this night."
"She has to be in the mansion," Moss said when they regrouped outside.
"But we can't go in there," Reid said.
They left the cabin, tracing their path out of the woods again, tired and frustrated. Reid repeatedly cussed under his breath, but everyone else tried to remain calm. When they finally emerged on the other side, the sun had begun to leave streaks of light in the sky.