The Path to Gold is paved with Blood

They reached the pack by noon, Aspen still felt shaken from the earlier incident, the attack had been unexpected and she had not seen that coming at all, then there was the fact that not just ghouls had attacked them but a human or was she a wolf had joined them.
In the chaos that had occurred she had not seen what the woman was.
And at the end of it she was gone and whoever had helped her then was no where to be found and what troubled her as much as it fascinated her was the fact that it could be Finn.
The Golden Fang pack was unlike the Dark Moon pack, it was more of a bustling city not as quiet and it seemed they were more in tune with their human population.
They arrived at a market, carts were being pulled about and hawker shouting out their wares, the people wore dark clothing that fitting them so they could move easily, she liked the concept. Maybe she'd suggest it when they went back home.
The woman in front of her drew a cloak closer to her shoulders as if she were trying to hide herself, but she didn't shrink away, just walked up boldly across the people.
" How did you know we needed help" Emily asked , the woman turned to us and sighed
" Our alpha sent us to you although I'm not sure if saving you was worth the trouble at all"
" We will do what it take to prove worthy of your kindness" Logan muttered softly.
Aspen knew the alpha of this pack, she was not intimately familiar with her but she had heard stories.
Briar Cavendish is the alpha of the Golden Fang pack, it is a position she had won through hard work and stress while overlooking the eccentricities of men, men who thought that because they had a piece of flesh between their legs they deserved power.
Men who thought that they had more sense than she would ever have or so they had thought. Briar had proved them wrong.
She had become Alpha at age fifteen which would have been the normal thing for an alpha male child but for a girl it was too young and very unheard of.
No one thought a girl could rule a pack,–in fact back home Aspen was sure most people would scoff at the idea of that sort of thing happening.
The elders of the pack and definitely not Alpha Briar's father had believed in her but when he had died on a warm day after drinking too much wine and falling off a cliff Briar had become the next alpha.
Twenty years later and she was closer to forty years old, and had ruled her pack with an iron fist, keeping her people away from the Werewolf world hidden and safe and so far she had done such a good job.
She had just one flaw which was in Aspen's mind not much of a flaw.
She had no mate, and thus no heir.
Which meant the Cavendish line was at risk,
" How long to the actual town" Emily asked and she shrugged
" No one really knows the town is hidden in itself " she finished, Bruce threw his hands over her shoulder grinning broadly
" What my little friend is trying to tell you is no one has ever been this far into the pack grounds " he muttered and she smiled reluctantly. She was glad that her rejection of his offer had not ended with them estranged.
" If the she refuses to help us –the Alpha what do we do "
"Then we seek help elsewhere " Logan responded
"there are two packs left there is one to the north and south west of her" he murmured, Emily sighed gratefully she had been leaning into Logan unconsciously, Aspen wasn't even sure she knew what she was doing and Logan was not about to tell her anything.
" It's not going to be easy getting there but we'll do it anyway"
" Let's meet Alpha Briar first, if we can't convince her then we move on, it's no loss to us " Bruce muttered as the guards who had helped them earlier pushed the door open and looked to us
" It's time"
*********
Briar Cavendish was not fond of intruders especially those from other packs. They made her antsy and now she had four of them on her doorstep seeking help after bringing whatever the hell it was to her doorstep.
" You have to bear a child " her close friend mumbled, chewing on a stick of candy,
" Yes, I'll get right to it. As soon as I'm done finding a mate" she mumbled trying not to twitch
" Well it's not like you're working on it anyway" she muttered and she sighed nodding.
" I don't need you discussing this behind my back, " she mumbled and Jeanie hummed
" Oh don't worry,the pack is already doing that for you, we just like to do it in front of you " Cassie said and she laughed, choking on air
She needed an heir of course they all knew just as well as she did that an Alpha female with no heir was useless.
The door burst open and a maid rushed in, an omega when she was fifteen and her mother worked in the laundry.
" Alpha, you have a guest" she rose from her desk
" guests, that sounds nice" she mumbled
" Tell them I'm on my way" she said, she was ready for her guest now.
She walked into the room it was a large room, she used for pack meetings and other activities, that carried quite a crowd but today it was mostly empty just she and ,she looked around –already the room was overwhelming because her friend had followed in with her.
She sat in her chair,she didn't expect this meeting to last long but maybe it would she would see how this went eventually. The door open and her beta Crissa walked into the room
********
The beta lead them through a corridor, lit with slight crystal that glowed from within, she led them to an open room a throne sat at the far end of the room, was the famous alpha Briar, she was just as beautiful as Aspen had imagined she sat in that chair with an elegance that she couldn't really understand she was tall and slender but she didn't look delicate at all. She was beautiful too, her hair blond, her gaze was lit with a soft curiosity when she caught her gaze she held it a minute before turning away.
She sprawled across the throne seemingly nonchalant her face in a mask that was not easily decipherable.
The beta hurried ahead of them to the her side and bowed low,then whispered softly. She had drawn near enough to see her features wrinkle slightly. She looked away from them to the room around her it was a spacious room a number of guards around the room at strategic points hidden and seemingly waiting to see what we did. The way they were hidden impressed me, it had taken a while to spot them herself.
Two of them stood behind the alpha and a group of women that sat by her side on a smaller seat
" So I hear that you are from the Wolf city " she muttered and Logan moved closer bowing his head lowly
" Yes I am Logan Axel and these are my companions, Emily, my beta Bruce and Aspen a friend"
She stilled
" You are Axel son" she said softly and he nodded, Aspen curled her finger over the sword in her hand
The alpha rose from her seat and sauntered towards them , Logan pressed against Emily as if trying to hide her but Aspen caught him from the corner of her eye she also caught Bruce palming something at his hip likely his knife or dagger and she wanted to face palm. They couldn't really think that they could fight their way out of this.
" You should bow to an alpha, I can excuse the submissive because she smells too human to know our rules but you two ,"she said shaking her head
" I believe it proper manners yes " she drawled slowly her eyes hooded. Aspen sighed bowing her head low and tugging at Bruce who seemed too reluctant to bow so that he joined in too.
" It's also proper manners to see to your guests kindly, alpha or are we not guests " she intoned dryly, Alpha Briar's gaze sharpened and she laughed
" I hear you came with a few unwanted guest, although you are an unwanted guest" she said her head cocked to one side. Emily nodded stepping forward arms stretched , Logan reached to stop her but she pushed him away, alpha Briar looked at them drawing closer to her and she shook her hand gently.
" I am not familiar with werewolf customs but this is the human way of greetings" she muttered and the alpha laughed
" I like you, come sit and tell me why exactly you are here " she mumbled leading them to find a seat as she sat down herself
" So what do you need from me and why did you bring a swarm of ghouls to my doorstep" she asked,Logan jerked looking to her
" You know about the ghouls " he asked and she nodded
" Of course I do " she gestured to the room
" No one does not know about ghouls. They have been very prevalent and persistent" she muttered
Aspen sighed rubbing at her forehead, well that was not what she had expected to hear. Alpha Briar leaned away from her and gestured to Emily
" What do you have to tell me" she asked
" We need access to your library " Logan muttered,she glared to him
" I believe I asked the girl not you alpha so please " she muttered and he scoffed but nodded shortly Emily gulped and Aspen held her hand tightened her hold.
" They have been attacks on our pack, ghouls that don't seem to die. We have no idea what they want but they seem too organized to just be random." she replied and Aspen's brow arched high in surprise at the fact that she knew this much. The reading had not been in vain.
" And who is doing this? If they're being controlled" she asked
" Well we've done some reading, we came from the Dark Moon pack-" Alpha Briar stiffened looking at them
" That old idiot let you in his home" she asked and they looked away while Emily sighed
" Not without some resistance at first " Alpha Briar laughed
" Of course not that would have given me palpitations" She laughed then stopped suddenly her face settling into a blank mask
"So what happens next" she asked and Aspen resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as Emily rushed to add
" Well, we have a list of people to research but one we suspect the most is a man named Finn" she answered. The whole room froze, or so it seemed to Aspen, there was no change in the expression on anyone's face just a plain mask that had hidden their suspicious behavior, Aspen watched them again.
In different circumstances, she would have found it amusing but she didn't know not when there was too much at stake.
Bruce looked at her deeply but she turned away from him and went back to staring at the room.
"Kal have the servants prepare rooms for my guests let's make them comfortable " she ordered, the woman beside her rose abruptly
" Are you sure about this she could be lying" she muttered
" After all the ghouls have never been in that number on our doorstep," the smaller woman with bright green eyes said, Aspen froze watching her intently,
" I can tell she is not, besides if they are. There are just four of them and more than a hundred of us, I do not see the problem " she gestured to the maid
" Give them two rooms. I want the alpha with his friend in one room and the fierce girl and the delightful human in another" She mumbled, Emily bowed
" Thank you for your kindness" she whispered and the woman laughed
" Oh darling don't thank me yet. "