Chapter 29

The warriors surrounded the pack grounds; they gathered everyone they could find, from the very old to the teenagers.
A warrior stood before them..."Do you know what has been happening in this pack, in the buildings two miles away on your pack lands?"
To the warrior’s disgust, almost all of them raised their hands—only the very old and some of the younger teenagers didn’t raise their hands. The warriors took the ones who didn't know to another house under guard. The others looked around at each other.
"Tell us, pack members, where is your leader? Where is your Alpha?"
"Do you even know who is in charge right now?"
One of the females looked at another male in fear, but she spoke up anyway. "Alpha Michael has been gone for some time now; no one knows where he is or when to return. The Beta is dead, killed by the Alpha. We are unsure who or where the next ones in charge are."
"We all knew that terrible things were going on; the Alpha and Beta threatened us all; if we talked or tried to leave, they would hunt us down and kill our whole family and our neighbor’s family. At first, no one took it seriously, but then whole families started to come up missing."
"At first, we thought they had just left in the night, and it was an empty threat until Davis's family left. They went after them, when they brought them back, they were all executed before us, then they did the same to their neighbor’s family."
"We were too afraid after that; he had eyes everywhere. If we complained, our pups would go missing, especially if they were young or female."
"We all had to keep ourselves from under the Alpha's radar. He made examples of some of the elders. Further into the woods, there is a trail. You will find several bodies impaled with spears into the ground."
"There are two more places you need to know about, the orphanage and the party house. They are on the other side of the wooded area; there is a path easy enough to see and follow."
The leader of the werebear group sent twenty-five warriors to go check these houses out. Then he sent two more to find the path in the woods that led to the Elder’s bodies.
The two warriors didn’t take long to find the path in the woods; they followed it to its end and stood in horror at what they saw. There had to be at least fifty pack members in different stages of decay, all impaled in various ways into the ground.
The smell was horrendous, but they could see why this spot was chosen; the trees were so thick that the wind couldn’t move the scent around.

When the warriors got to the first house, the music was so loud you could feel the beat of the music in your body.
They looked at each other with a smile, time to crash the party. All twenty-five of the warriors crashed in through every entry point. In the main room were six male werewolves; they all looked to be around their early twenties. They surrounded them, tied them up, and gagged them.
"Will someone find the source of that shitty music and shut it off."
One of the warriors found the player and smashed it against the wall, silence. They started looking around; the upstairs had four bedrooms all of them were a mess. When they found the door to the basement, they found six female werewolves; they were all chained to the walls with silver chains.
All of them were in bad shape; two of them pleaded for them to kill them. The place was filthy and damp. One warrior for each victim; as they carried them out, the females wanted to stop when they saw the males.
Each one of the females, no matter how weak they were, rejected the males as their mates. The males started to roll around in pain. Each of the males was tied to another rope as a warrior started to drag them down the path like a chain gang.
The remaining thirteen warriors went on to the next house; this one was a little bigger and quiet. It was as if it was sleeping. They all rushed the house coming in from every entry point as they did at the party house. The ground floor was dark and empty. It looked like the setting for a school.
This time they went to the basement. First, they didn't find anyone. It was just full of supplies. They went up to the first floor; it had two doors. Upon opening them, they were in the sleeping area of the male pups, and bunk beds lined the walls. In the other room, the same only was for females.
They went to wake them up but discovered they were drugged. They decided to leave them where they were while searching the rest of the house. When they got to the third floor, it was one giant room. There they were met with two males and three females. They managed to tie them up and gag them reasonably quickly.
When they looked around the room, it was lined with several cribs; there were fourteen of them, all of which had an infant pup. All of the infants seem like they were drugged as well. One of the warriors called the leader and told him what was going on and they needed more warriors to come to remove all the pups.
One of the warriors walked up to the tied-up pack members and spit on them.
“You guys are a special kind of sick cowards, drugging children and infants to keep control; seriously, what big bad warriors you are.”
Once everything was done, all the houses were empty. They loaded the innocent people onto a bus to be taken to another pack; the rest, such as the six young males, would be taken to the Royal Gardens to meet with the king. Six other older males were also singled out and taken with the first six.
The other pack members that knew but did nothing were to stay and watch them burn it all down. Once that is done, they will be split up and given to other packs as servants.
Nothing was left of Rising Moon Pack but embers and ash when they were done that night.
__________________________
Twelve males total now stood before Jack and Duncan. They ordered the guards to place them in the dungeons till the King decided to deal with them.
Duncan let out a sigh..."So the Alpha is still missing, and the Beta is dead at the hands of the Alpha. We got six of the ones in charge or knew too much to be innocent. Plus those six males who were torturing their mates. So they could sell them to the Alpha."
"Yeah, that sums up this shit show; what I want to know, Duncan is where Alpha asshole shitface is hiding."
"We have better get to looking harder; I don't want that piece of rotten shit popping out and causing more trouble."
"I will inform the King that these twelve have arrived, Jack. Why don't you go down and have a little fun with the prisoners? I have sensed for a while now that you need to let loose some of that anger."
"Yeah, your right. I think I will go down and welcome those twelve pieces of shit to the Royal Dungeons. I mean, it's only fair to them that they learn the rules and what is expected of them. Don't want them complaining that they don't know what to do."
Duncan knocked on the Kings chamber door; the King was no longer who he once was. He was quiet and sad. He was angry at his son for doing what he did and what he had to do to stop him. He would always smile when Adira came to visit; she was getting bigger by the day, and seeing her helped him forget that anger for a little while.
Duncan stopped before the King,
"Your highness, we have twelve guests in the dungeon awaiting your notice."
"Duncan, I think we will hold a public trial and execution for these twelve." I will sit as King for this trial, and all the council will also be in attendance. I want everything that they have done made public."
"I want pictures and video of it all shown at the trial. I want everyone to see why the Rising Moon pack will no longer exist. Nor will the Name be allowed for another pack to use. I want them all to see what happens when you break the laws of our world."
"I will see it done, your highness."
Duncan bowed and left the room. The King turned to the window with a sigh; things felt wrong with the world now; it felt empty and lifeless.
He was sure he would deal with it all with more of his attention and reason in time. He also knew that a part of him died that day and would never be the same again. Time heals all wounds; whoever said that should be flogged and shoved in the closet to be forgotten.


******A Small interlude set in the future**********

Three mages and a group of witnesses gathered around a small place in the middle of a clearing in the forest in the spring. It was a wonderful spring day. The sun shined through the trees with their newly formed leaves; a gentle breeze moved playfully as everything came back to life after a harsh winter.
Before everyone was, the bodies of the six females who had died, wrapped in white silk, lay on a bed of rose petals—each one laid at the bottom of a grave dug out carefully in the ground.
The three mages stood before them as the earth filled in around them as if it had a mind of its own. Then the mages magically erected a stone archway in the center of the gravesite. Flowers began to magically grow and cover the graves in a perfect circle.
Hanging from the archway were moonflowers in an unusual shade of lavender that seemed to change their color as the wind would pass by. Everyone watched in awe at what was happening before their eyes.
On the top of the archway was a golden plaque. It read...Here they lay, six beautiful females. We do not know their names, families, or anything about their lives before they met a terrible fate. We named them all beautiful.
On the plaque were six words; each word was written in a different language that would read the word beautiful when translated.
The mages announced that this place would remain sacred; the flowers would bloom every year from spring to fall and sleep in the winter. If anyone needed to be reminded of this world’s good, they need only come here and stand in the flowers.
No storms of nature nor hands of man can destroy this sacred site. Children may pick the flowers without harm; no adult must pick the flowers or desecrate the area; to do so is an invitation to join the dead.
Standing in the middle of the group was an older werebear named Oliver; on his shoulders was a little girl; she held on to his hands as she watched the ceremony.
Around her neck, she wore Oliver’s dog tags; she smiled as she watched, she was still having nightmares, but she clung to her bear with all that was in her. Her future would be promising from now on; the big bad bear killed all the monsters.