The Battle for Springville 2

The Battle for Springville 2
  How obvious of her. I shuffled forward, slow enough that she could track the intent in my shoulders. “I can see your head turning, Becca. You really think you’re walking out of this one alive?”
  Becca’s grin slipped at the edges, but she didn’t drop it. In fact, it looked bored and condescending to the very curve. “You can kill me. You want to, I can see it. But you should consider that if I’m gone, the only information about what that is dies with me. Higan has no clue what he stole, or to be clear,” she looked right into my eyes this time,” Who he stole.”
  Suddenly, I'm back in the forest, at the Stark Mansion, right after my spar with Abigail, learning how far I can see and hear into town. The twisted voice I heard her talking to, the one that bled through my ears. The moment it all started.
  How had I missed that? I assumed it was a Melbringer, but I had never encountered what sounded so wrong so far, not even when I broke into her home.
  A muscle in her cheek twitched once more. She didn’t say more, knowing well enough she didn't need to. I could feel Ethan’s gaze boring into the back of my neck, and the heat of his worry heavy enough to be annoying.
  I hated this. I hated that there was more to care about than ripping her apart!
  “You’re shaking,” Ethan whispered behind me, something I didn't want to acknowledge.
  I didn’t bother lying. I was shaking from how much effort was draining out of me to not crush her windpipe right then and there.
  “Not yet,” I murmured, half to Ethan and half to myself. Not yet. I’d gut her when it mattered most. I'd kill her when there would be nothing left for her to cling to.
  “Let's go,” I urged Ethan, and he nodded.
  Shortly after,  he rumbled the orders that had every back straightened. “We're moving.Lorcan, knock that thing out.”
  The second, Lorcan's palm hit the back of Becca's neck, and we moved in a quiet descent down the slope.
  No one wasted breath on small talk, especially not with the sky blackening ominously. The path back to Springville felt longer than it should’ve with roots clawing at my boots as the rotten stench thickened with every dash through the woods.
  By the time we broke through the last row of trees, Springville’s outskirts felt like the gateway to a hell of its own. The streets were desperately crowded with frightened people rushing into the woods.
  Eyes passed us with indifference as  werewolves and humans alike ran further away. The way out of Springville was still blocked by Melbringers, and someone must have figured that out.
  “Stay on guard, we're joining the Moonstones,” Ethan rumbled deeply as his authority cut through the tension.
  My wolf stirred in response to him tickling my bones for a shift. Ignoring the frantic crowd, we proceeded forward regardless.
  The more we approached the eye of the storm, the more the Shapes littered the old road. Werewolves in odd dilemmas and Melbringers with animalistic wounds. They're mostly Crescent werewolves from Alpha Hariss' generation. And despite our history, my heart stirred.
  Smoke hissed up from half-burnt rooftops. The air huffed with a pressure that felt like a rotting force was sucking the oxygen straight out of the trees.
  “The fight has moved,” Tyler sniffed out with a bitter edge in his voice. I looked over to my right to see his eyes burning yellow and white fur tearing out of his upper torso.
  I was in awe of his control over his wolf, but it wasn't the time to admire that. I stared down at my hands and my claws. That was all I could do so far, and I hoped it would be enough with my sorcery.
  Full-on shifting prevented me from using sorcery despite the advantage in strength.
  “Don't act so disappointed, it's a gift,” My sorceress counterpart stirred with excited vigor that confused me.
  We dashed past the initial path with Ethan leading the way like a knife cutting through the air. I could feel he was holding himself back in some way, but I let the question bubble in my chest, knowing he could feel it.
  A scream resonated into the air over the rumble of the clouds. My head jerked to where it came from, and it pulled me closer to it.
  I saw Higan first. The Alpha that used to strut through this town like it belonged under his boot stood, pacing a ragged circle in what used to be the empty lot behind the gas station.
  We slowed just enough to take in the horrifying scene.
  Werewolves ringed the clearing, some Crescent Moon holdouts, but the Moonstone held the numbers. Most were battered and pinned down, seemingly weakened in the presence of Higan?
  There was no sight of Abigail nor any Moving Melbringer. I would have liked to take it as a good thing, but I doubted they were all dead.
  My eyes shot back to Higan himself, peering past my limits to really see him.
  In that circle, there was a thing. It writhed behind Higan like a half-formed storm, twitching tendrils of something I didn’t want to probe. The more I stared at it, the more my eyes hurt, and I felt my chest buzzing where my necklace sat on my collarbone.
  Whatever it was held a ghastly amount of dark sorcery that silently promised to eat away at anything.
  Becca’s unconscious form jolted on Lorcan’s shoulder like it wanted to wake just to laugh at us. I somewhat wished she would, and I’d welcome the excuse to snap her spine.
  “That's new,” Khalid commented, and for the first time, I could hear his unease in his tone.
  Higan’s voice cracked over the wind as he barked at his pack. “Back up! BACK—”
  His head whipped around like he was trying to hold back whatever he'd done. His eyes were wild as they darted between the thing behind him and his town. He looked smaller than I’d ever seen him. His mask was completely peeled off.
  Whatever he’d done terrified even him.
  “Our pack,” my wolf whined in need to protect them. I'd sworn to take them after all. They were the only remnants of the family I had never met.
  I shifted to move forward, to get my pack out if possible. Whatever that was, we needed to take a step back before it'll come alive completely.
  But that only prompted Higan’s gaze to find mine, and for a seemingly small second, I saw just a boy. A desperate, terrified boy.