119

119

Writer

Damon was back in the pack house, since that message had come in from Bradley, he hadn't received any other one.

He was relieved, at least for now while he made plans to go to war. The bells were already ringing and the time was getting closer.

Uncle hadn't tried to contact him even when he had sent him a message telling him of the threat Bradley had posed.

He didn't want to tell him of the decision to go to war, not yet. He would tell him when he had finished all preparations.

A knock came on his door.

“Who is there?" Damon called out in answer.

“It's my alpha," Xander replied.

“Come in," he told him.

He hadn't told him to prepare for war, not yet. Which made him wonder why Xander was here, had anything new happened?

“Alpha" he bowed in respect.

He stared at him, waiting for him to continue, wondering why he had interrupted his peace.

“You had a meeting with the Whitemore pack" he began. He had known that but hadn't cared enough to go, he was done listening to Loras' bullshit.

“All assists from the pack have been called off temporarily. He just lost a close family member, and rumors say it was his mate," Xander announced with a tone of smugness.

Damon sat upright, the information shocking and unexpected.

“Who killed her?" He asked. His eyes were shining because Xander released a smirk.

“The Blackwoods, under the pretext of a hunt” Xander announced the second blow, though to Damon it was more like a sweetening to the cake.

Damon stood up, beginning to pace his office. The news was wonderful, the opportunity this posed.

He turned to Xander, "Send our condolences to him immediately”

Xander said, "Yes Alpha”

"Have you seen Celeste today?” He asked.

Xander shook his head, "No Alpha, not for a while”

That caused a frown on Damon's face. Where on earth would she be? It was strange, but that wasn't any issue; he couldn't care less now.

Since he had received the message from Bradley, he hadn't been able to sleep and he could feel the way it affected him.

"If anything important comes up, come to my quarters,” he ordered Xander as they both walked out of his office, Damon making sure to lock the door again.

He went straight to his quarters, wasting no time to doze off to sleep.

His senses caught onto it before his mind did, the smell of smoke, prevalent in the air.

He sat up straight in his bed wondering what it was. Had his cook maybe burnt some food?

But the smell was too strong, it wasn't just food. Something more was burning. Damon rushed off his bed and to his door to see what was happening. He tried the handle, but it didn't budge; it was almost as if it was glued.

Using his wolf strength, he tried again, but nothing changed; the door didn't open.

It was then that he began to panic. What was happening? He turned to his window, maybe he could use it to escape when he heard the screams from the other end.

Soulful, painful screams of agony. Damon ached to go in there and save his pack members, he couldn't let them die.

He tried to break the window, butn't work. Another scream pierced through his ear so loud that he turned back around to face the door, to see it wide open.

The hallway was full of smoke, and his pack house was on fire.

He ran out into the hallway, into the main house where the fire was burning with a vengeance.

He could see his pack members fighting, there were intruders.

“Well, well. I did ask you to cooperate didn't I?" He heard a voice say behind him.

He turned around to see who, Bradley Blackwood. A sick smile on his face.

Damon roared in anger, he would tear Bradley to pieces now, he didn't care.

“How dare you" he growled.

Bradley shrugged carelessly, “Because I can"

Damon rushed towards him, his claws aiming for Bradley's neck. Quickly, Bradley caught his hands, and before Damon could breathe, he felt it, Bradley's hands wrap around his heart inside his chest.

“Just what you deserve, after you murdered your parents" he squeezed and pulled away.

Damon's eyes flung open with a gasp, panic rising in his chest. The first thing he did was smell. There was no smoke, no fire burning.

He stepped out onto the hallway to make sure that nothing was happening. It had only been a dream.

He stood in the middle of his room, his hands combing through his hair and his mind racing around.

The dream, it could very well come to pass, he couldn't delay any longer, he had to fight and it had to be soon. Very soon.

He picked up his second phone and typed out a single sentence. “I'm going to war, you're either with me or not"

He didn't care that it might have sounded like a threat.

He headed straight to Xander’s office to tell him.

“Alpha" Xander said with respect as he walked in.

“Prepare our army, we're going to war far sooner than I expected," he ordered.

Xander's eyes widened in surprise slightly but he quickly composed himself.

“Yes Alpha"

Bradley's phone rang out with a notification, he had just received a message.

"He's coming and he's ready” a single sentence from the spy, Xander.

That was his cue; he, too, had to be ready.

The events of the day before were still in his mind. Elias had come back from the hunt, they had killed someone special to Alpha Loras, and he thought that they had done it.

They said the suspicions were that it had been his mate. Bradley didn't know exactly what to do. If Loras had war plans or not.

He had contacted Loras, sent his condolences, and now he could only hope that it was enough to hold him back. For now, until he had dealt with Damon.

The possibility that they joined hands was high now, but Bradley was prepared. He had all the resources he needed.

A knock came on his door, and he didn't even answer before Diana came storming in.

He gave her a look, “What happened?"

She looked panicked, as if she had just discovered something new.

She handed her phone to him, and he took it and read the message out loud. “Damon killed his parents for his gain, all to do with Experiment E"

That was it, Diana observed the look on Bradley's face as he read it, as if he had known.

“I mean, I'm not exactly surprised, his parents died just before he topped that list, all I needed was this confirmation," he looked at the number.

It was a spam number, so someone had found out the truth and had sent it to Diana.

But why Diana? What made her a good choice to expose this secret?

“We have to prepare for war, you've heard?" He asked Diana.

She nodded, she had heard about the death of Loras' mate, she could bet she was his mate and God knew what he would do now.

“The gates have been fortified, the pack is on double security, and you can't leave the house, not even in front," Bradley ordered. He gave her a stern look with it.

He wasn't playing.

She nodded. What choice did she have anyway?

Loras had been locked up in his office ever since that evening; he had kept Roseline's body preserved. He would only bury her when he had buried all those who had done this to him.

A knock landed on his door.

“Come in," he said coldly.

His mother, Celia walked it with Celeste beside her.

Celeste, who was happy inside of her, had gotten rid of Roseline and had sparked the fire of revenge and war, hid her happiness well.

“I'm sorry, darling," his mom said in a fake placating voice. She was about to turn around to hug him, but he stopped her.

“It's fine, what can I help you with?" He asked coldly.

Celia glanced at Celeste before speaking, they had both decided what to say.

“What do you plan to do?" She asked.

“The blackwoods are the ones who did this" Celeste added, trying to make the flames burn harder.

Loras' jaw tensed, his whole body stiffening as he remembered what had happened.

Nobody needed to tell him, he was going to do what he needed to.

He looked up at his family, his mom and sister, with a look of expectation on their faces.

“I'm preparing for war, I've sent word out to my allies, their armies will be coming in soon, and then I'll attack," he said.

He didn't add the other plan, where he would wait for Damon to go first, weaken them as much as he could and he would throw the last striking blow.

Celia and Celeste shared a secret smirk, their plan had worked out just as they had wanted it to.

“I'll help, I'll talk to the council," Celia said.

She couldn't miss out on the preparations.

From the shadows he watched.

The three great and mighty Alphas are all plotting against each other, two against one.

It was a war that only one pack would come out of successfully, and he planned on joining the only successful one.

He had watched for years, observing each strategy.

Loras Whitemore had never fought a war but he would win this.

He had ignored the texts and ca
He was too hot-headed to think, to listen. Too desperate for a woman who was slipping off his fingers.

So he had decided.

Jael Cross would help the winning pack, the Whitemores.