Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Giizis ran to the Guide Stone packhouse, followed by Hayes and Abigail. No wolves were standing guard, and the place looked deserted. Giizis rammed into the door, forcing it open.

Inside, sitting in a chair, was Alpha Alan. Hayes shifted to his human form and grabbed Alan by the collar of his shirt. He slammed him to the floor. Giizis stood above him and placed a paw on his chest. He didn’t even struggle beneath her. Abigail shifted. She looked to Calliope as they mind-linked.

“The Great Luna wants to know why,” she said as she knelt beside his head.

“Just kill me,” he spat.

“Oh, we will,” Hayes growled.

“But, before we do,” Abigail said as she looked up to the ceiling. “You’re going to talk. The Great Luna smells others, your mate and kids, hiding upstairs. Now, we don’t want to kill them, but if you refuse to talk-”

“No!” Alan yelled as he finally started to struggle under Giizis. “Don’t you dare touch them!”

“Then talk! Start from the beginning!”

“Alright! But I want your word that my family doesn’t get touched.” He said as he looked up to meet Giizis’ gaze.

“You have our word,” Abigail said softly.

Alan began to sweat, and he nodded his head. He cleared his throat.

“From the beginning? Well, a few days after my Alpha ceremony, an old man and his family approached me to join my pack. He claimed his family was shunned by his pack. That was because of a misunderstanding between his family and the Greats.”

Giizis turned to Abigail.

“What was his name?”

“Jaxson,” Alan gasped as Giizis pressed harder on his chest. “His name is Jaxson!”

“Is? Is he still alive?”

“Yes!” Alan nodded quickly. “The old man won’t die. Too much hatred is keeping his bones moving.”

“What does he and his family have to do with all of this?” Hayes asked. He knew who Jaxson was; he had heard the stories of his grandfather, Ezra. Not pleasant stories, though; he was always the monster lurking in the background.

“After I allowed them to join my pack, Jaxson and his son approached me. They brought me to meet some man, a man I would later learn was the leader of the Sun Wolves. They offered me things: women, money, whatever I wanted. They just wanted a place to hide out, a place to call home.”

“Why?” Abigail questioned. “Why allow them into your pack? Why not tell the Greats? What did they offer you that Calliope could not give you?”

“They said they would help me leave this hell hole,” he growled. “This pack is dying, has been for years. Nothing grows here, nothing grazes here. They told me once the Greats were gone, I’d have my pick of the pack lands.”

“You think that they would give you what you want?” Hayes laughed at him. “You are foolish thinking that.”

“That’s what you say,” Alan replied with a hiss. “But they were able to provide for me in the years I helped hide them. I could ask for anything, and they’d say yes.”

“Where are they hiding?” Abigail questioned.

Alan shook his head, refusing to answer. Hayes growled and stood, heading for the stairs.

“Guess I have to grab a kid,” he growled.

“No!” Alan yelled at him. He closed his eyes tightly, grinding his teeth together. “They are in old, abandoned mines! All of the mines dried up hundreds of years ago. You find a mine, you might find them!”

“Might?” Abigail asked, confused.

“The conditions aren’t great,” he said through tears. “Many of the human women died years back due to an illness. As if it matters, the sun wolves got all the babies they needed.”

“What about Jaxson? Where is he and his son?”

“His son died of the same sickness as the humans,” Alan answered. “But Jaxson lives with his grandson and great-grandchildren. He has a cabin, sitting in a valley beneath the Blue Tip Mountain.”

Giizis took her paw off of Alan. He gasped as he was able to breathe normally.

Have him brought outside, Calliope instructed Abigail. Have Hayes leave some of his wolves here to keep an eye on his mate and kids.

Hayes grabbed Alan and dragged him outside. He threw him into the dirt and stepped away. Alan coughed as he put his hands underneath him. He tried to sit up, but Giizis put a paw on his back. In one quick motion, she set her mouth around his head and bit down until she heard a loud crack. She let him go and stepped back.

Abigail, have Hayes send wolves to the mines. Once done, have him join us. We are going to pay Jaxson a visit.

Why bother with him? He must be 90 years old!

Because his family is the reason for this unrest. I intend to end it with his death.

Giizis ran north, up the dirt roads towards Blue Tip Mountain. Abigail ran with her, followed shortly by Hayes. While on the road, Calliope came across a man with children. They carried with them bags and looked as if they were running away. Calliope wondered if the groups in the outer territories were making their way south, perhaps scaring the families in this pack.

Giizis almost ran past them until she caught a glimpse of the man. His face... it was familiar. She came to a stop. Energy began to radiate from her as she snarled. The man dropped his bag and began to run into the woods.

That’s the man! Calliope yelled to Abigail. That’s the man who held the sword that killed Theo!

Giizis caught up to the man and knocked him to the ground. She grabbed his right hand and bit it off before doing the same to his left hand. The man screamed and begged for forgiveness. He struggled to get away from Calliope. He tripped over a tree root and fell back onto the ground.

Giizis struck him with her paws, scratching his skin, leaving deep gashes. The man screamed in pain but was unable to get away from her. He just begged: begged for his life and the life of his children. But neither Calliope nor Giizis cared for his life. He took Theo’s, and she was taking his. But she did it slowly. She let him bleed, let the steam begin to heal his body. As the slashes closed, she would attack him again. For some time, she did this to him until his screams meant nothing to her. Only then did she remove his head from his body. Only then did she allow him death.

Giizis sat there, looking at his body. The pain that she and Calliope felt over the loss of Theo didn’t heal. The hurt, the suffering, all of it was still there. His death didn’t bring them peace.

Calliope could hear the crying of children back on the road. Giizis finally left the body and returned to Abigail. A few of Hayes’ wolves were there too.

Calliope... Abigail said softly over mind link.

He is dead, Calliope replied. She was devoid of emotion, having spent all of it on her anger. She looked at the children.

Take them to the Blood Stone Pack. Let Alpha Hayes find homes for them. Let them join his pack when they come of age. She told Abigail as she continued down the road.

Calliope! Abigail called out to her. They are Jaxson’s Great Grandchildren.

Giizis stopped and looked back to the kids. There were three of them. A teenage girl and two young boys. They were crying, upset by the torture and killing of their father. She knew they couldn’t see it, but they definitely heard his screams.

They didn’t do anything to them; they are simply orphans. Calliope said as Giizis continued down the road. Hayes shifted and followed her.

Calliope made it to the base of the mountain, where a lone cabin was in the small valley below. Smoke was coming from the chimney. Hayes walked around the tree line, but all was clear. No one was there, except for an old man who sat in a chair on the front porch.

Calliope walked out into the clearing. They were high enough into the mountain that a thin layer of snow was on the ground. She stopped several feet from the cabin.

She looked at Jaxson. She hardly recognized him. He was old, weak, and brittle. She gave another sniff of the air. The only wolves she could smell were Jaxson and Hayes, who stayed in the trees.

Giizis shifted, letting Calliope talk to Jaxson. She stood there, bare feet in the snow, but she didn’t feel the cold. She looked up to Jaxson’s direction.

“Did you kill my grandson?” He called out.

“I did.”

“And his children? Did you kill them?”

“No,” she answered.

“Did you leave them to die to nature?”

“No, they are going to another pack. They will be well cared for and become pack members when they turn 18.”

Jaxson huffed to himself. He pulled a blanket he had on his lap further up to keep the cold from his skin.

“Are you here to kill me?”

“I am.”

“Then come sit; the least we can do is talk before my death.”

Calliope took a few hesitant steps forward. Jaxson looked at her. She hadn’t aged since she was 19 or 20. She looked exactly the same as he remembered. Not a gray hair or a wrinkle in sight. But her eyes, he noticed them quickly. He saw how she had trouble locating the handrails.

“When did you become blind?” He asked as she took a seat.

“When your grandson killed Theo.” She answered.

“How?”

“I can see through the eyes of my mate. I watched the ambush, I watched as our pack members died, and I watched as your grandson raised the sword to kill Theo.”

“Of course, you saw what happened.” He grumbled. “You Greats, always hiding your gifts. Keeping the Moon Goddess for yourselves. Controlling everything, with no care for anyone else.”

“What did I ever do to you, Jaxson?” Calliope snapped.

“You teased me into thinking we had something! You stripped my Grandfather and father of their titles and power! I had to scrounge to feed my family!”

“I didn’t tease you,” she replied with disgust. “I never liked you more than a friend! It was everyone else playing along with your parent’s fantasy. And yes, we stripped your family of their titles, wealth, and power because it was the consequence of their actions!”

“It’s because they tried to prove you to be a fraud! Your pride was wounded because of that, and you took it out on my family!”

“My pride? No sir. Your Grandfather schemed against me and Theo. Tried to have me killed so that he could lead!”

“It was a challenge, a fight to the death. Trying to kill you is the point.”

“And I won. But your Grandfather was responsible for Hannah’s actions and the spies!”

“Spies?” Jaxson laughed to himself. “You have no idea. My Grandfather didn’t pay for no spies. No... that was me! But you killed those men, just like you killed everyone else.”

“One of them died, yes,” Calliope admitted. “But the other two weren’t killed. They lived the rest of their natural lives in packs, as contributing members. But you paid them? What else did you and your family do? Might as well tell me before you die.”

“Yes, I might as well help connect all the dots in your pretty little head,” he mocked. He took a drink from a bottle. Calliope could smell the alcohol. “I will tell you everything you missed because you didn’t look. The silver that the sun wolves have is from my family pack. The small mountain was full of the stuff. Pure and in large quantities.”

“Why sell to the sun wolves? You’re supposed to sell pure silver to the Royal Moon pack.”

“For a lesser price? I think not! We sold to the sun wolves because they paid the most.” Jaxson boasted. He was drunk, and, at his age, probably didn’t care what he said. “But once you stripped my father of the Alpha title, we no longer could mine the silver. We didn’t have access to the money we once had. We were shunned! You would have been better off making us rogues!”

“So why come here? Why get Alpha Alan involved?”

“When we finally had enough of being shunned in our pack, my father took us to the outer territories. The sun wolves took us in. For years, I learned from them. But then Alan became an Alpha. A young boy, barely 19 years old. He was impressionable.”

“So you hide here, in the mountains, growing your numbers to kill us. What is the endpoint? You kill Theo and me, but then what? The Moon Goddess will create more Greats. The cycle of an eye for an eye continues.”

“She can’t create more Greats if the Moon wolves are slaughtered,” Jaxson spat. “Once you two were dead, the sun wolves would capture every human female, make more sun wolves, until we outnumber the rest of you. And one by one, kill every Moon wolf who doesn’t submit.”

"We? You aren’t a sun wolf, no matter what they led you to believe. You are just a foolish boy playing with fire.”

Jaxson shrugged and finished the liquid in the bottle. He tossed it to the ground and listened as it smashed into tiny pieces. He stood and walked out into the snow. His skin shivered in the cold.

“I’m ready, Great Luna. Kill me now before the snow does!”

Calliope stood and slowly went down the steps. She listened as the snow crunched under his feet. She walked a bit, then stopped. She thought to herself, to Giizis.

Was he the Goddess’ mistake? Creating him and his family? She breathed the cold air into her lungs.

“Let the snow kill you then.” She whispered before shifting.

Giizis looked at Jaxson with a stern glare. This man was just a pawn, doing as he was told, like a good boy. He didn’t fight, didn’t lift a finger. He wasn’t worth killing. She felt as though she didn’t have it in her anymore. She was going to let nature kill him. Let nature give him a slow death. She walked off into the woods. Jaxson tried to chase after her, but he fell hard on the ground.

“Calliope!” He yelled out to her. “Calliope!”

Giizis walked until she reached Hayes, who was in human form. She shifted so they could speak.

“My wolves report that the sun wolves are running deeper into the outer territories. Do you want to join so we can chase them?” He asked.

“No,” she answered with a shake of her head. “I’m done. Let them go. Let them live off scraps in the barren wasteland. Have our wolves burn any of our dead, then return home.”

“What about the old man?” He asked as he motioned his head to Jaxson, who still lay on the ground.

“I forbid anyone from coming near this area until all that remains are his bones,” Calliope growled.

“Alright, order received. What about this pack? They are without an Alpha and Luna.”

“You have a cousin in my pack, Seth. He is a grandson of Harper. She was meant to be a Luna, but instead, she joined my pack and later on became my Beta. Seth bears the same loyalty scar you do. He is also competent and would make a great Alpha. Once the dust has settled, I’ll have the ceremony arranged. In the meantime, can you handle it?”

“Of course, Great Luna.”

Calliope shifted, and the two of them headed back to the packhouse. Abigail had taken charge of those who surrendered. Some were Moon wolves, while a few were sun wolves.

Leave them; I’m ready to go home, Calliope says to Abigail. Hayes will take over for me. We are done fighting.

Abigail nodded and shifted into her wolf. The women made their long trek home. Once there, Giizis went to the Great Hill. They had traveled for several weeks, and tonight was the first night of the full Moon. She laid down, waiting for the Moon’s light to shine on her.

Calliope sighed to herself. On their travel home, she commanded that those who surrendered be allowed to join packs, except for those who were sun wolves. They were a risk, but rather than kill them, she asked that they be allowed to go into the outer territories.

Is this what the Goddess wanted? Her to allow the sun wolves to live in exile while she forgave the moon wolves that betrayed her? Did she right all the wrongs?

At Hayes’ suggestion, Calliope agreed to build small forts on all the borders leading into the outer territories. Two dozen wolves would staff them. Each fort would have a large pyre, ready to be lit at the first sign of trouble. The fires would be able to be seen by the next fort, which could then assist as backup. For once, it was as if there was a good plan for defense, a plan to protect their own.

Calliope lay in her wolf’s mind. Everyone called it a victory. They called her a hero. How many had she killed? 100? 200? She didn’t know. She had been blinded so often by rage.

She didn’t feel like a hero. She felt like an empty shell of a person. She wanted to hide deep within Giizis. Laying on this hill, for the first time since Theo died, brought her to tears. The heartache was still there. The pain is still there.

Without Theo, she was nothing, no matter what people called her. She was lonely and broken. And in her wolf, she made herself a prisoner. She was stuck in her mind, in her thoughts and feelings. She would spend the next several hundred years alone and blind. There was nothing that could heal her. Nothing that could free her from her own torment.

*Author’s note*

I just want everyone to know that this may feel like it is done, but there will be one more chapter that will wrap this book up!

But another song suggestion. It’s another metal-ish song. It’s called Dark Void by Asking Alexandria, my favorite band. Listening to this song helped me to get out of the rage mindset that Calliope was in a few chapters ago and helped shape how she is towards the end of this chapter. Enjoy!