Chapter 38: Newly Awakened Beta Bloodline

“It was you,” said Diana. “All this time that you’ve been good to me and my parents, you are a serpent in a wolf’s clothing! And now you want to arrest me?” The corner of Diana’s lips curled up into one sinister grin.

She continued. “Think again.”

            The next thing they knew, Diana was gone. In a matter of a second, Diana’s white tail was the only thing they had witnessed and she was running fast as the wind.

            One should not underestimate a mad wolf with a beta’s bloodline – especially when it had the blessings of a nature witch.

Anger.

Raw and scalding anger. It was all that Diana could feel as she leaped away from the bed chambers of her parents. The loss and the betrayal were too much to bear for her. To think that it happened a day after she had mated with Dylan.

Upon the mere thought of her mate, her subconscious immediately shoved the name at the backmost part of her mind. She was too busy entertaining her rage. Diana failed to realize at this moment that bloodshed was bound to happen because of this action of hers.

After all, she was the future Luna of the merciless and powerful Blood Claws Pack.

“Do not let her run away!” The booming voice of Shananel Ritchell, an elder of the Werewolf Committee, shook the residence of the late beta couple of Crescent Pack.

            “Obey.” The deltas under the tutelage of Elder Shananel said in unison before they dashed toward the direction Diana was heading to.

The deltas transformed midway. With four paws hitting the pristine marble floor, a resonating series of thuds followed the group of werewolf warriors.

            On cue, an echelon array was assumed by the group of delta werewolves. One particular ash-furred werewolf was leading the array; he sniffed the air and marked the scent of Diana Ritchell.

He was the tracker of the team, the best werewolf who could mark senses, and was on par with an alpha’s sense of smell. He was also sensitive to changes in the hunting ground and was second to an alpha when it comes to hunting, tracking, and tracing a smell. The tracker was the apex position of the inverted triangular position called by strategists as the echelon array.

While the tracker was the leader of the hunt which all the members of the hunting team were following, all the other members of the team would leave a marked scent either on the trees, leaves, or stones. With this, they would be able to know if their target would stumble upon their range of hunt.

            The barks and growls of the hunting team sent by the order of Elder Shananel chased the white-furred female wolf. The howls of the torrential wind and the roars of the heavy rain hitting the murky forest floor muted the noise brought by the hunting team. Though they minimized the thumping of their paws, nothing could ever escape the heightened senses even those wolves blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.

            The tracker opened his mind to mind link his team to their course of action.

            ‘Heighten your senses, deltas! We are not hunting a measly rogue or an epsilon. We are hunting a mad female wolf out for revenge! She grew up here! This forest is her fortress so beware! Everything and I mean every little damn thing in here can possibly kill us.’

The tracker of the team emphasized the key points. His voice is low as if he was afraid that even his mind link to his team could be heard by their prey.

No. She was no prey. She was a predator and inside this forest, she was in her natural habitat – something that the tracker was nervous about.

‘Obey.’ The deltas answered.

They knew why the tracker was being extra cautious. They were hunting someone from a beta bloodline and as someone who had the same bloodline of the mighty Elder Shananel. Because of this fact, they also knew that underestimating Diana Ritchell meant they forfeited their lives.

Betas were the second-in-command in the hierarchy for a reason. They were second to only one bloodline – the alphas. When their bloodline was awakened, they could rival an alpha even.

It was something that only a few could do, but Diana Ritchell was blinded with grief and raw anger – anything was within the realm of possibility now. That was why they were this tense. Hunting the beta daughter was also like hunting the almighty Elder Shananel.

            It was at this moment that the left side of the echelon array, which was made up of five deltas, was destroyed in one blink when a sequoia tree fell towards them.

Bang!

            Now, gone was the imposing inverted triangle formation. The leader, the tracker, of the hunting team, immediately reacted and mind-linked everyone.

‘Behind the sequoia tree!’

            They shifted their direction to what was behind the sequoia tree. The darkness brought by the storm and the illumination provided by the zaps of lightning bolts did nothing to help their cause.

They did not know why nature was playing tricks on them during this crucial time. Was this a sign that the Moon Goddess saw their doings as the one in the wrong? But it was the order of Elder Shananel! She also viewed the goodness of people!

            One moment, the zaps of the lightning bolts followed by the ensuing roars of the thunders showed nothing but an eerily blank canvass of the forest. It was too still for their liking.

There was one rule in the jungle. Should the surroundings be silent, no crickets or frogs were making a noise, it only meant one thing, there was a predator in their midst. That was the kind of stillness the hunting team was experiencing at the moment.

The next moment the zap of lightning bolts flashed, the snarling white-furred werewolf was now an arm's length away from the tracker’s face.

Diana’s wolf had its jaws open wide, its intent was not to disarm but to kill – to slaughter even those who she knew under the tutelage of Elder Shananel.

            Furs soaked, the hunting werewolves snarled upon the incoming predator.

            ‘Incoming from the north! Surround her!’

The tracker yelled through the mind link followed by a static noise for his comrades to hear. It went static a fraction of a second later when the command was relayed. The tracker’s head was now flying in the air upon meeting the white wolf’s gleaming canines.

            ‘Surround her!’

            ‘Kill her if necessary!’

            ‘But Elder Shananel did not order us to kill her.’

            ‘It is either we kill her now or she will kill us all. Choose!’