Chapter 91 The Final Phase of the Alignment

(Alarick POV)

We received the message of the failed attempt at Dark Moon. Unlike Alexander's pack, my pack was much smaller yet my men were more ruthless. However, the number of rogues outside my territory had me worried. Even with the werebears, the rogues outnumbered us.

My Beta started to do his stretching exercises just to make sure he kept limber. Clearly, he wasn't worried as I was. My Beta liked the odds we were up against. He wanted to prove to the rest of the packs we were just as strong as any.

"Alpha, a car is entering the territory." My Gamma informs me and points to a sleek black sedan passing our gates.

"I told her to stay in New York!" Damn Amelie's stubbornness. If we lose this fight and these Rogues find out she's the new High Elder, they'll tear her into pieces.

The black sedan parks in front of my pack house and out she comes, perfume and all. Couldn't she have at least laid off the perfume for tonight? The rogues could smell her a mile away.

"Amelie, I told you stay in New York. It's not your business fighting a war." I tell her sternly when she walks in the pack house and reaches up to give me a kiss on the cheek. She smiles at me liking how I was being overprotective. She rubs off the lipstick from my cheek and pats it.

"But it is my business, mon amour. Yuri had told me there were over a thousand rogues waiting to attack. I will not sit idly by when two of my favorite men are in the middle of a war." She sits down on one of the big couches in the living room and crosses her legs.

"Wait...you just said two. Where's Jacques?" I asked her. She allowed her son to join the war?! That boy has been in seclusion from wolves most of his life and there's that itty bitty fact that he has never shifted.

"He's with Hope at the fortress." I couldn't believe she said that so calmly. Her son was practically her life.

"Fortress? You mean to tell me he's at The Rogue Lord's fortress?!" I shake my head, stunned. That boy won't last an hour there and I didn't want to see a depressed Amelie again. Seeing her at Arthur's wake was enough. "After we finish off here, we head to Montana." I tell my Beta. He grins and punches me on the arm, happy he gets to kill more rogues.

"Haven't you spoken to Yuri?" Amelie asks me, surprised I haven't gotten in touch with my bestfriend.

"I spoke with him yesterday. He said he was headed to Montana. Why? Is there something I should know?" I ask her.

"Jacques has finally shifted and Yuri is in Montana to protect his King."

"King?" Damn, I don't see my bestfriend for several days and now he has a king.

"Jacques is The Werebear King." Amelie tells me gently while she looks at her watch. "Oh gosh. Look at the time. It's almost time for the final phase of the alignment. We better get ready." She rubs my arm like nothing's a matter.

"Jacques is a bear?!" I shout my surprise. Amelie masked his scent all this time. Even I couldn't tell.

"Oui. So do not worry." She heads out the back and starts waving her hand. Suddenly, I heard a clap of lightning and thunder rumbled close by. "Did you put up the metal poles near the campsite of the rogues like I asked you, mon amour?"

"Yes, just like you asked me." I winked at her.

"Good. Tell your men to stay away from the area. This will hurt."

I looked up at the sky. The clear night sky started to look heavy with dark clouds flickering with small bolts of light.

I hope the rogues are ready for what Amelie has in store for them.

My Beta isn't going to like this. She was going to do a "Hope".

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(Delta of The Rogue Lord)

It's going to rain. I scratch my head in frustration. You can never predict the weather. One moment, the moon and the stars are shining brightly in the heavens above, the next, it's raining.

And what timing, too. The final phase of the alignment is about to start.

My men were ready, itching to enter the territory of the Moon Howlers Pack. We outnumbered them but I needed to be cautious. They killed a third of the enhanced she-wolves that ran through their territory last July and I surmise if they were able to catch all the she-wolves, none of them would have returned to the fortress. They killed one of the strongest high-level she-wolves that night, a feat even my men couldn't have done.

The Alpha and the werebear, I personally knew. The Alpha was former Green Beret while his bear friend was former Russian Armed Forces. They were former friends of mine until I was banished from my pack in the United Kingdom for challenging my Alpha. I thought my Alpha would fight fair, but sadly I was wrong.  He caught me off-guard and threw dirt into my eyes. He then did a "sweep" which knocked me off my feet. When I was on the ground, he sat straddled on top of me and just kept punching my face. Well  I learned some important lessons after that fight. First lesson in fighting, "Protect yourself at all times." Second lesson, "Never underestimate your opponent."

Now, I'm here, in front of a pack who we outnumbered, yet were well-trained in military combat. The Alpha may be overweight compared to his younger self, but that didn't mean he was slow or a lot less deadly. I tried to tell The Rogue Lord it was wrong to separate units to attack separate packs at the same time. I told him we should start with the largest pack and work our way down. He didn't want to hear it and said he'd demote me to an omega if I defy his orders. I think I should've just defied his orders. Then, I wouldn't be here worried about my army of men.

I look at my watch. Several more minutes before the final phase. I need to do some recon near the territory before I have my men enter it. I slowly inch my way to the territory thankful some of the light from the lightning above brightened the surroundings.

Odd. No rain. It was a dry thunderstorm and it looked it was headed our way. I crept closer to the border and saw metal poles sticking from the ground. The metal poles surrounded the entire territory and were just a few feet apart from one another. There wasn't any cyclone or barb wire attached to the poles so it wasn't a fence. What the heck are these poles for?

I was in the process of trying to figure out what the metal poles were for when a bolt of lightning flashed in front of me and hit the big pine tree inside the Moon Howlers' territory. Then it hit me. These poles are going to be used for conduction. I run back to my army as fast as I could to tell them to back away from the territory. The lightning will kill us all.

"Sire, we are ordered to attack after the final phase of the alignment. It is already beginning." One of my men told.

"Sure, be my guest. If you want to be struck by lightning, go right ahead. I won't stop you." I tell him.

"Bears! There are bears!" I hear one of my men scream. When our surroundings lit up from the lightning, I saw hundreds of large bears barreling and clawing their way through my army. Behind them, wolves who were killing off the wolves the bears wounded or knocked down.

"I'd rather take a chance on a bear than a bolt of lightning. Attack!" I shifted into my wolf form praying to the Moon Goddess I would survive the night.

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(Jacques POV)

The thunder had stopped. I couldn't help but notice the lightning from above when we arrived at the compound of the fortress. The outside wasn't well lit. When the lightning started, I was able to take a good look at the rows and rows of the soldiers of the Rogue Army. I estimated over two thousand soldiers and it made me nervous knowing such a large number of soldiers were here while we were so few.

Hope put her hand on my arm to put me at ease. We were connected, her and I, and every feeling of discomfort I had, she could feel. I welcomed her reassuring hand on my arm. It made me feel calm.

"Don't worry about them, Jacques. Focus on The Rogue Lord. We defeat him, we defeat his army." Hope mind linked me.

The final phase was about to begin. I noticed the old man, who was called Butler, move closer to the Black Stone. There was something not quite right about him aside from his black lips and his green skin. I felt a presence inside him. Something dark and manipulative. I had a hunch he was assisting The Being in the Black Stone or he wanted the power for himself.

Time had slowed down during the final seconds of the alignment. The ticking of the clock could be heard in the Great Hall and everyone seemed to stop what they were doing. All eyes were focused on The Black Stone.

Three...two...one... A white light beamed down on The Black Stone creating enough force to break it to pieces. I slowed down time so we could avoid the pieces of stone, but the shards flew to the guards hitting their faces. They screamed in pain, hiding their bleeding faces in their hands. "I directed the shards to hit their eyes." I heard Leia say through mind link.

"What is happening?" The Rogue Lord looks at his guards howling in pain to Maximus and Hope who were unscathed. Before he could get an answer, the Butler spoke in a deep menacing voice.

"My Lord, the vessel you have requested is ready."

"Who are you speaking to? What vessel?" The Rogue Lord growls.

"He speaks to me!" A deep voice reverberates around the Great Hall. The fortress shook with its power.

The Rogue Lord turns around and a tall black figure with horns of a ram, a body of a man, and legs of a horse, emerges from the shadows. Its eyes glowing red, smoke billowing from its nostrils.

"My Lord, your vessel awaits you." The Butler says again. The Rogue Lord stands to grab the Butler, but he is stopped by The Being who maneuvers him to sit back on his throne. The Being transforms to a cloud of black smoke and enters The Rogue Lord.

"I sense a stronger vessel. A child of Aura." The Rogue Lord stands from his throne, his red glowing eyes squinting at the five of us. He sneers, showing The Rogue Lord's dark fangs.

"The one with the golden eyes is here."