An Ally

Briar found the werewolves from the Wolf City to be quite peculiar, Her pack was always isolated, she wanted it that way for a reason but maybe it was why they surprised her. The effort they put into this was commendable but that was past and they were in the present .
A present where all these things didn't matter, not if they were all dead.
Briar found the dress she was wearing to be uncomfortable but the truth was she really would have preferred to wear anything else but what she had on, this was Sera's way of dressing. She had always liked the colors and styles.
Her beta Sia stood at a painting on the wall while she turned to the window looking outside
" You look so much like her" she whispered and Briar hissed
" You said something" she asked
" I said you look so much like your sister " she muttered and Briar smiled,
" I wouldn't know, I've only been told she was very pretty" Briar answered,that was a lie she bore little resemblance to her sister.
Briar knew what she looked like too young, she had been beautiful not at all what a leader of this many people would look like but never as beautiful as her younger sister.
Briar heard her footsteps as Sia stalked to me
" Careful. Why do you keep stalking about the place " she asked and Sia laughed leaning on her table
" How did you know" she asked
" I may not see too well but I can definitely hear you" Briar warned
" Are you ok" Sia asked again she looked to her smiling lopsided
" Are you always so much fun" she asked and Sia laughed
" I have always been this protective even when I shouldn't be, and you know this" she murmured unable to hide her amusement,then she frowned again
" So I ask again. Are you ok"
" I'm fine, now or as fine as I can be " she muttered , she was in a place where she didn't feel like such a failure as an alpha even though those feelings kept intruding on her solitude.
She had made so many mistake with her life,with her pack and she had paid for it with a traitor
" It's not your fault Jessie did what she did" she mumbled and she shrugged
" That's debatable but ok"
" Fine. I will not ask that again"
" How about the war. Our men are good but they can only last so long" she mumbled and she huffed
" what is your mission here? See how fast you can get me depressed "
" Not really no, but since you don't want to talk about Jessie i thought we could discuss practical matter"
Briar groaned
" I wish I could find this Finn idiot and wring his neck from his body " she hissed
" So you know this is his fault" she said and Briar shrugged
" Of course, I keep my ears open to see what my eyes cannot"
" And I do know that this Finn is a menace and the war he plans to wage will not be a simple war" Briar said simply
" But the truth is Jessie let him seduce her she gave up her soul and her pack and I cannot forget, the truth." She finished, that was what made her a leader, she would learn from the faults so it never happened again.
After a minute of silence,she turned to Sia
" The packs will fight" she muttered and Sia laughed
" You will be lucky if you get one" she groaned. Of course she knew that, Alpha Zavi was the craziest man she had ever met he was rude brash and foil mouthed– this was not going well at all
" We will need men, " she stated and Briar nodded
" You will have men, we just need more but in case we can't get them we need to utilize what we already have " Briar replied. Her door opened and the Omega who liked to serve her tea walked in with a tray
" Have the guest been well settled " Briar asked and she bowed
" Yes alpha, I gave them breakfast and everything, they went sparring with the guards" she mumbled as she poured a cup and turned to her
" Is there anything I can help with" she asked
" No, thank you " the girl smiled and walked out the door
Briar strolled towards the balcony pulling open the door and feeling the breeze on my face. Soon there would be no time for that.
Briar had grown from a naive nine year old stained with the blood of her mother struck down for not giving birth to a male child and then from the fifteen year old saddled with a sister she was supposed to take care and then loosing her all those years later.
Now she was the alpha of her pack, it was a position she had won through hard work and grit while overlooking the eccentricities of men, men who thought that being male made them better than her
Men who would have crumbled if given this job for as long as she had held the position.
Becoming Alpha at a young age had been the first step of proving her father wrong. Doing his job a thousand time better than he had was the next step and that had worked out well for both her and the pack.
Twenty years later, she was close to forty years old, and had ruled this pack with an iron fist, respecting the laws but keeping the people away from the bullshit of the werewolf world and so far she was doing well.
She sipped her tea slowly taking a deep breath,
" We need to strategize " she muttered biting her lips
" So what do we know about this Finn " Sia asked and she shrugged
" Well for starters he is the son of some powerful god but the Fressian gods have never been my string suit" she muttered the only people who knew about the Fressian gods were those who were so stick in folklore that they couldn't be pulled out. Sera had been one of them. It had been some self imposed study after our father had drummed it into our heads that she was the priestess reincarnated.
" Why would Jessie have joined this man. From what I've read he wasn't so kind to her "
" Well no and I don't know why she would join hands with him considering he locked her up" she huffed ,that was one way to show love, she sighed tired of thinking about her
" But she did whatever he promised was enticing enough that she could not resist"
" How many men does he have" Sia asked and she frowned
" From the little fight with him I would estimate him to have about two hundred ghouls at dispense ,that's excluding warlords and any wolf stupid enough to buy into what he's been selling" she muttered
" You think he has werewolves with him" Sia asked and she shrugged
" I'd like to think that they aren't as stupid as that but Jessie was and she was one of the smartest people I knew so–" she finished and Sia nodded as she leaned forward across the table
" So you're telling me that this man wants power and control and he has magic to back him up" she asked leaning into her seat, she wore a wry grin and Briar found it amusing but she wasn't sure why
" Yes "
Sia nodded, and Briar realized she had done it again, she had made her comfortable enough and drawn her out of her misery so that she could see the issue with tact and no emotion.
" I think we can beat him on just ghouls alone, they are tough but can be defeated "
" the problem will come in when he uses the warlords of the wolf's" she mumbled and Briar nodded
" That's fine, we'll take what we can get but until then we don't panic" she mumbled
" All we know right now is that Finn is powerful and dangerous and he wants something. To be king or whatever the hell it is he is searching for but the only thing I can be sure of is we'll do our best " she nodded.
Her door opened and in rushed a maid
"Alpha a sentinel has sent word,from the gate the alpha of the Dark Moon pack is here and he says he will join us but only if we can win this war"
Briar huffed underneath her breath supremely pissed. Of course Alpha Zavi would just want to piss her off
" Go tell them to let the idiot in" Briar turned to the girl
" I'm sure you know not to say it like that " she mumbled exasperated and the girl nodded
" Of course she knew –"
" Yes I know leave her be " she didn't see how that would help but she was not willing to argue not when she would be doing enough of that very soon
" Should we go" she asked and she huffed
" I wish I didn't have to " she mumbled
" Why do you dislike him so much" Sia asked her as they stalked across the hall
" Have you met the man. He's the most boorish annoying pain in the ass" she huffed and they entered the hall.
" Alpha Zavi you're welcome" she said, as he walked into the room, .
This was the man on who we were depending on for our survival, she wanted to cry.
" Evening alpha Briar, I heard that all you wanted to say . I can give you time to get it out " he muttered sounding smug as hell she winced saying nothing. But the crazy person was having the time of his life, he looked her dead in the eye
" Well I guess if you need those warriors you're going to have to backtrack huh"