Dawn broke over the trees in the forest, and the lycans knew it was time for them to leave. They split into their groups, and each group made its way to the camps of the werewolves.
Desmond was his usual relaxed self, while Payne was agitated.
He always felt nervous working with the quiet man. He liked the fact that he was quiet, but he also knew the storm that resided in him.
He walked behind him and had time to notice how laid-back the man appeared. His short ashen-blond, almost gray, hair was messy, as he didn’t care about how it was styled.
His icy-blue eyes were focused on their target. Payne knew that the laid-back attitude was just a facade. No one could escape Desmond.
Out of the four, he was the most dangerous and deadliest lycan.
Payne was as tall and as muscled as Desmond, but they were still very different.
Desmond was pale, while Payne had wheat-blond hair and spring-green eyes. He looked more alive than the other one. However, their quiet natures meant that they worked well together.
They walked for some time in the forest before they reached the werewolf camp. They chose the army of Alpha Leopold.
The old wolf was the one who’d started this whole mess. He’d attacked the other pack because of lands he’d claimed belonged to his pack.
Lycans had no lands, and they had only one pack and one purpose in life: serving the Moon Goddess. The concept of owning lands and protecting their pack was foreign to them.
They had one alpha, and that was the Moon Goddess herself.
The camp was bustling with wolves preparing to go to war. They had no trouble making their way through the camp.
Nobody noticed them. They were too focused on getting into formation and running around.
The two lycans inspected each tent and found the one hosting the old alpha. He was talking with pack members, and the lycans assumed that they were his leadership.
Packs of werewolves had an alpha; a beta, the second in command; and a gamma, the third. The beta served as an advisor and a help to the alpha, while the gamma was the best soldier after the alpha.
The three werewolves were looking down at the table and seemed to be in an intense argument.
The lycans couldn’t hear what was being said because of the noise around them. They needed to get closer.
It would be tricky because the wolves would eventually be able to smell them if they weren’t cautious.
They stealthily moved behind the tent to reach the other side. They did their best to stay in the shadows so the wolves wouldn’t see them.
There was no wind today to carry their scent, so they thanked the Moon Goddess for her benevolence in according them good weather.
“We can’t, Alpha. We have to move west if we want to catch them unguarded.”
“Very well.” The old wolf sighed. “We’ll try your way, Joseph. You should…”
“Alpha! They’re here!”
The three werewolves turned to the young one who’d just delivered the message.
The two lycans were pissed. What were Fabian and Wade doing?
“We charge, then,” the old alpha said. “No time for strategy.”
Payne swallowed nervously. They wouldn’t have time to kill him if they moved.
Desmond was done with this shit, so he took out his sword and jumped at the old alpha, plunging his silver sword right through his heart.
For three days, the lycans fought the two werewolf armies. They’d won, but at what cost?
They were now walking in a field covered in blood, and their own bodies looked like corpses. They were all bloody, and only their eyes were visible.
Wade was laughing like a maniac. It had been the best fight of his entire life, and he’d enjoyed every second of it.
Desmond’s smile was also proof that he’d enjoyed the fight, although he was a bit more reserved in showing his appreciation.
Payne sighed, and Fabian shook his head. They both knew this wouldn’t go without consequences. They’d disobeyed their Goddess for the first time in their immortal lives.
Payne dreaded the retaliation.
All her children knew the Moon Goddess as a benevolent mother, but she showed no mercy to those who disobeyed her. Payne wondered just how much she would make them pay.
She appeared in a flash of silver light into a pool of blood, splattering the red liquid toward her already red lycans.
They all dropped on their knees in front of her, but she was radiating fury, and nothing would calm her down.
“How dare you!” she snarled. “I told you to kill only the alphas. What is this?! You disappoint me greatly.”
Payne lifted his green gaze from the ground and looked at his master.
“Your Highness,” he said with a steady voice.
“We had no choice. The wolves were going to clash again, and they would have noticed we weren’t from their pack. We’re sorry things unfolded the way they did, but… It was the only way…”
“That’s not what I expected from you,” she boomed. “I wanted the wolves safe from their alphas. So many losses… So much despair for their families… I cannot and will not overlook this.”
“We’re ready to receive our punishment,” Payne declared, lowering his head.
“Oh, you will,” she said, anger dripping on every word.
“I will curse all of you for this. You will all be stripped of your names and human forms for a thousand years.
“You created an apocalypse here, and you will now bear the titles that go with your crimes. Desmond.”
The ashen-blond lycan lifted his gaze to look at his Goddess.
“You will now be known as Death for the first kill of this ridiculous slaughter. Everything you ever have an interest in will die until the thousand years have passed. That is your punishment.”
As soon as she uttered the words, the man turned into his light-gray wolf and felt the weight of the curse disconnect him from his human body, preventing all shifting.
Feeling his body fade into nothingness, he became so scared that he ran out before she could sentence the others.
He ran as fast and as long as his four legs could take him. It was night when he finally stopped, and he was on top of a mountain.
He threw his head back and howled in despair, but the moon just kept staring mockingly. What were his strength and skills good for when he was just an outcast lycan?
What would the next thousand years feel like? He would soon find out.
