Chapter 20: Of Schemes and Hidden Desires

[Abe]
“The world is unfair.”

Abe said to his audience in a low impassive voice, “so it’s up to us to make it fair.”

He paused and an evil grin spread across his face. “We’re going to take down the Whispering Moon Pack and divide their lands fairly between us.”

The Alpha of the Silver Claw Pack, a lanky lad with a messy undercut, revealed a condescending sneer and said, “You do know that Cole’s mutt has been sniffing around.”

“I know.” Abe was slightly irritated by the tone.

The young Alpha creased his brows in contempt, “Cole’s an idiot for letting that smiley thing attend all meetings for him. Are we a joke to him?”

Liking what he saw, Abe raised his nose with the air of a king and smirked, “He has a wife now so he'll be busy.”

“That silver hair freak?” The young werewolf threw his head back and laughed.

Wiping the tears in his eyes, he said, “Your plan is wicked, Abe. That’ll teach him not to turn his back on the Goddess.”

“Shushed!” Abe glanced around warily for any hidden eavesdroppers.

His young ally rolled his eyes at the older werewolf’s face. “Who would be listening, old man? We’re in the middle of Hopeless Desert - it’s called Hopeless for a reason. Look around: it’s empty.”

Abe shot an annoyed glance at the noodle-like body bent over like a wilted flower, laughing hysterically. If he had a chance, he would find a more poised ally.

But young Oscar Flann is the most insane and power-driven Alpha in the group who is not picky about the methods as long as he achieves his goals.

Their weekly hunts are wild parties of extravagant supply of fresh beef and the best ale. They would exchange praises about themselves and their past glories, gloat on the misfortunes of all who were beneath them and curse those who were above them.

When Oscar complained about Cole, Abe told Oscar about his pack's secret abandonment of the deity. The young Alpha was furious. He immediately joined Abe’s mission.

The fierce icy winds rolled across the parched barren land and crashed against their skins as if forcing their evil tails out of the way.

Ignoring the rising irritation in his chest, Abe said calmly, “You must get Wesley on our side. His agile troop will add value to our side.”

“Alright, alright,” Oscar continued with a dismissive tone, "Quit the nagging, old man.”

“You sure?” Abe raised his nose like a king at the cub leader.

Oscar cast a deadpan look and snarled, “I’ll tell that sly thing about Cole's secret and then our plan. Did I get everything right?”

Abe nodded approvingly. Oscar rolled his eyes, turned and walked away, holding his stomach in another unnecessary laughter.

Abe was disgruntled when he shouted, “Stick to the plan and don’t throw your temper at Wesley!”

Once alone, a sour remark slipped from his twitching lips, “Crazy mutt.”


******


[Dove]
I'm sure there was silver on the candle.

If I could prove it, then someone had used a candle with silver to weaken the pack before the battle.

But I couldn't even find the time to visit the cave after Cole left - every day I'm at Connie's from morning till late noon and then with Patrick till night.

So Megan suggested the crack of dawn.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Megan whispered.

“Yes, Megan,” I took another step forward, “this is the fifth time you’ve asked.”

“I want to be careful you know,” Megan said softly, “I mean, I haven’t even mated with Jude yet.”

I spun around with shocked eyes.

Megan was confused, “What?”

“We haven't mated,” I heard my tiny voice rang softly in the dimly lit space.

“What?" Megan breathed. Then, her eyes widened, "Cole hasn't marked you?”

I shook my head in realization. We have kissed, hugged and cuddled, so why haven't we mated? Ignoring my flushed cheeks, millions of questions sprouted in my head. When will we mate? My eyes started wandering aimlessly until they caught a red candle fragment next to Megan’s feet.

I quickly pointed to it and Megan stiffened.

“What is it?” Her eyes rattled in fear.

Stifling back a chuckle, I said, “Nothing. It’s just a candle.”

After a string of creative profanities, Megan stepped aside, looked down, saw the broken red stick and bent to pick it up when I cried, “No!”

Her fingers froze and she turned to me with enlarged eyes. I moved over and pushed her away from the object. “The last time I was here, I picked up a candle fragment like this, and I was burned with silver.”

Megan gasped, “Oh fuck!” She backed a few steps and tripped.

“Megan!” I swung around and saw her on the ground, a smoke of dust blown up above her. Ignoring the fear in my chest, I lunged forward, grabbed her wrist, gave a tug and then a hard pull, and she scrambled to a stand.

“I’m gonna die!” She sobbed, her face covered in ash and sand.

I wiped her eyes and mouth as my soothing voice said, “You’re not going to die.” There was no strange sour smell. I sighed a relief.

There was no redness on her arms too.

“Are you alright?” I asked as she blinked furiously until she finally opened them.

“Y-yes,” she croaked and then sniffed, “Thanks, Dove."

The cave was brightening up in the growing sunlight; the folks will be up soon. Remembering the red candle, I abruptly loomed over the black ground as my eyes searched for it.

“Are you looking for the candle?” Megan asked.

I nodded, “I want to bring it back. You know, look at it closely.”

“Does it have to be that particular one?”

I straightened and looked at her, and saw her pointing at something outside the cave - more candle fragments were strewn on the ground.

“We’ll come back again. Let’s go,” I hastily pushed Megan towards the hedges.


******

I turned to Megan and asked, “Are you sure it will work?”

Megan nodded with a deadpan look.

With a sharp inhale, I crushed the beet in my hands and purple juice dripped over the candle fragments. Megan came beside me. We looked at each other and then squatted to take a closer look.

Squinting my eyes, I asked, “Is it supposed to take this long?”

“No,” Megan shook her head and added in a whisper, “chemical reactions usually happen immediately.”

Without taking her eyes off the candle, Megan nudged at me. I nodded and squeezed the beet harder.

More purple juice rained onto the candle fragments and then…

White specks appeared.

My eyes bulged at the sight of them, the size of dust. Turning to my left, I faced Megan’s astonished expression.

I dropped the beet, lunged over and wrapped my arms around Megan as she did the same. We jumped and shrieked with excitement. Remembering that we were in a supposedly dangerous cave, we stopped and scanned the area again.

It was empty except for us.

“They are still having lunch, Dove,” Megan said eagerly. “This is brilliant!”

“Yes, it is!” I beamed at her and asked, “This means there is silver, right?”

Megan nodded and said, “Nitric acid reacts with silver and forms a white salt.”

More white freckles appeared across all the candle fragments.

Megan remarked, “All the candles have silver,” and her smile started to fade. “So when each of them burns…”

“Silver goes into the air,” I finished off.

“Who would do such a thing?”

My hand covered Megan’s and squeezed it gently as Megan said, “Did my parents die because of this? They prayed here every day and before every battle.” Her eyes were turning red, tears were forming in them.

With a tremor in her voice, she continued, “When our temple exploded and we lost the battle, we thought She abandoned us. So we stopped praying to her.”

“But it wasn’t Her,” I said, patting her back. “Someone clearly sabotaged this place.”

Megan turned to me and said, “It must be from our pack. Only members are allowed in here.”

My heart fell into an endless dark struggle. The pack deserves the truth. But knowing it will bring them even greater pain.

What should I do?