Howls & Threats

Lilac

~Her mate stood in the middle of a gray canyon, surrounded on all sides by enemies. Even in his lycan form, he was no match for the hordes of vampires around him.~

~They licked their fanged bloody teeth, hungry to taste his blood.~

~She tried to call out to him...to reach him...to save his life…~

~But he couldn’t hear her.~

~As he arched back his neck and howled into the starless night, the vampires descended upon him.~

~Alpha Vasilio, her mate, her Kyril...he was going to die.~

***

Lilac sprang up from her bed, eyes wide, panting, in a cold sweat.

She’d just woken up from the worst dream imaginable. Her hands were still trembling. Her skin, numb.

She shakily stood up and hobbled to the bathroom. Splashing her face and looking into the mirror, Lilac searched her own brown eyes.

~It was a dream~, she told herself. ~Nothing more~.

A week had passed, and there’d been no word from Kyril or any pack members.

Although she tried to open her mind and keep the psychic link between her and Kyril open, he’d warned her in advance that the distance would make it impossible.

He was too far north to be reached.

Still, that was no reason to get hysterical or read too much into anxiety dreams. She’d been having them since she was a child, and they rarely amounted to much.

Kyril in danger? This was just another stupid dream. It had to be.

Still, feeling unnerved, Lilac grabbed a housecoat and stepped outside to get some fresh air, hoping to clear her head.

She was walking by the hedges of the garden when she heard voices whispering on the other side.

Curious, she stopped in her tracks, hoping to eavesdrop. It was rather early to be out and about, gossiping in the garden, wasn’t it?

“How could he be so selfish? This isn’t right. None of it is!”

Now, Lilac recognized the voice. It belonged to Rhea, the siren. And she sounded furious.

Lilac turned the corner to approach her. Beside Rhea was Crystal, nervously biting her bottom lip and playing with the hem of her dress.

As if she knew what they were doing was wrong.

“Rhea,” Lilac said, concerned. “Is something the matter?”

“As if you care,” Rhea spat, crossing her arms and turning away toward the fountain.

Lilac was taken aback by the hostility. ~Where is this coming from?~

“Rhea, if I’ve done something wrong, you can tell me...”

“~You?~” Rhea scoffed. “You honestly think this is about ~you?~ The little luna who hides away in her room, reading books, while her pack suffers?”

Lilac staggered back in shock. It felt like Rhea had dealt her a physical blow.

“Rhea,” she said, her entire body heating, “I don’t see the need to insult anybody. If you’ll just say what you mean...”

“What I mean? Fine, how’s this for what I mean, Lilac? Your mate doesn’t care about the well-being of his own pack.”

Nothing Rhea had said until now compared to this fresh treachery. Insulting Lilac was one thing, but to insult her mate?

Lilac felt like her skin was crawling. Her fingers dug into her fists. She was so unaccustomed to righteous anger she could barely formulate words.

“How…” she stuttered. “How can you say that? About your own alpha?”

Rhea marched up to her, fury reigniting in her eyes, until they were standing toe-to-toe beside the fountain.

“I am no wolf, Lilac. I don’t have to blindly follow the alpha’s orders. Especially when all he seems to care about is his bastard brother.”

“Zion?” Lilac asked in disbelief. “This is because of him?”

“Yeah, Lilac. Maybe if you looked outside your little bubble, you would’ve noticed that Zion nearly killed my mate, Chris. He nearly killed you. He would’ve killed all of us if he’d had the chance! And what does your mate do? He ~rewards~ him!”

Lilac’s nails turned into claws. She was itching to teach this siren a lesson for the way she spoke about Kyril. But Rhea was just getting started.

“Half of our leadership is on a suicide mission right now to save some random witch! Just because she was Zion’s mate! All he cares about is Zion. What kind of alpha is that?”

“Watch what you say, Rhea,” Lilac said, barely containing the growl from within.

“You think I’m afraid of you, Lilac? The little girl who follows her mate around like a lost lamb? Who has no mind of her own?”

“Rhea,” Crystal warned, nervous, trying to hold her back. “I think you should stop or...”

Lilac felt her eyes flicker to black, her canines splitting through her gums, her wolf threatening to take over.

All anxiety melted away as pure molten rage took over.

“Insult me all you want, Rhea,” Lilac warned. “But if you say another word about Kyril…”

“Why, Lilac?” Rhea bit back. “Does the truth sting that much to hear?”

~If you come after my mate, you come after me~.

Words that Kyril had once spoken to Zion echoed in Lilac’s head. The wolf inside her paced, wanting to lash outwards and punish the siren.

“Here’s the truth, Lilac,” Rhea spat like venom. “The kind of lycan who has to be chained up so he doesn’t kill his own people is no alpha. That’s a feral beast. You didn’t tame him. Kyril never changed. He’s still a wild, selfish trait—”

“SHUT UP!!!!” Lilac roared, losing all control of her senses.

She lunged at Rhea and shoved her with so much force that she stumbled back, falling into the fountain.

Crystal gasped, throwing her hands to her mouth, eyes watering. Faes weren’t accustomed to this much drama.

But Lilac didn’t care. Hands still shaking, she approached the fountain and looked down at the siren, sopping wet, lying on the shallow floor.

“If you ever so much as utter the name of the alpha again, I will have you exiled from this pack,” Lilac growled, wolf incarnate. “And you will never see your mate, Chris, again. Do you understand?”

Rhea, eyes red and puffy, looked terrified and rightly so. A luna, disrespected, was a very dangerous creature.

No one, especially not Lilac, had known she had it in her until this moment.

“I said,” Lilac repeated. “Do. You. ~Understand?~”

“Yes,” Rhea muttered under her breath.

“Then it’s settled.”

With that, Lilac turned and stormed away from the garden. Only when she was back inside, in the comfort of her bedroom, did Lilac collapse against the doorframe, hyperventilating.

~That~ was not the Lilac she’d always thought of herself as.

So who was that?

Crystal

Lilac.

Crystal

I want you to know.

Crystal

We all think you did the right thing.

Lilac

Thanks, Crystal.

Lilac

But it doesn’t feel like it…

Crystal

Rhea was out of line!

Lilac

But I shouldn’t have gotten physical.

Lilac

I mean I threatened her!

Lilac

That’s so...unlike me.

Crystal

With the leadership gone, someone needed to be strong.

Crystal

That was you, Lilac.

Crystal

You did what you had to for the pack.

Lilac

I hope you’re right.

Crystal

Stay strong.

Crystal

The alpha will be back soon!

Lilac hadn’t left her bedroom since the encounter with Rhea.

She wasn’t ashamed of her behavior. She stood by what she’d done.

But at the same time, she didn’t like the kind of person it had forced her to become. A cruel and domineering luna, so unlike the meek little bookworm she’d thought she was.

Was Crystal right? Was this just how it had to be?

Lilac didn’t know the answer. All she knew was that hiding out in her bedroom had allowed her to recuperate and regain some of the energy she’d spent.

Soon, she would have to re-emerge and be there for the pack members. That was what Kyril would have wanted her to do.

~Kyril~. She tried again to speak to him via her psychic link. ~If you can hear me, I need you. Come back to me…~

How she so wished her alpha was here. He would know how to take care of the siren’s insubordination.

Surely, there was a better method than throwing someone into a fountain.

Leadership? Dominance? These were not her strong suits. For these, the pack needed an alpha.

She waited by the window and listened, hoping to hear a reply from Kyril, however faint.

But she heard nothing.

“Kyril,” she said out loud, looking into the distance, “where are you?”

KYRIL

“Alpha Vasilio...at last, we meet again.”

Kyril stood at the precipice of a deep dark cave, naked and covered in blood. He had shifted moments ago so as to communicate with the vampire before him.

“Stavros Tadd,” he growled.

The lord of the Corban Coven grinned, revealing his immaculately sharp teeth. At his feet lay a body, groaning in pain, alive but just barely.

“Let him go,” Kyril warned.

“Or else?” Stavros asked, mocking. “You find yourself in a position to negotiate?”

Kyril turned his head, noticing the vampires crawling from the depths of the cave. With his wolves in the middle of battle elsewhere, he was outnumbered.

“You are defeated, Alpha,” Stavros cooed. “Admit it.”

“Kyril…”

The body writhing in pain at Stavros’ feet lifted his head. It was Zion.

His eyes were swimming with regret. “I’m sorry, brother.”

How had they gotten here? How had it all come to this?

Every fiber of Kyril’s being wished he could save Zion now. But Stavros Tadd, the vampire he’d come to destroy, was right.

They were defeated. There was no escape.

Kyril had only one option left.