Setting things up

Setting things up
In the city of Portico, inside Yoldes palm.

The Nightclaw pack members gathered in their full numbers, all of them armed with several weapons as they were prepared for the long awaited raid. They had axes, knives, metal bats and all other sorts of weapons. Their eyes gleamed with determination and conviction to fight.

The slightly balding Alpha of the pack, Alphonse, stood at the crown of the stairs looking at Nicole whose hands were held in his tightly. The latter seemed gloomy and sad about what Alphonse was about to do.

At least, she wanted to come along with him, however, Alphonse just wouldn't let her.

" Don't worry, Nicole. We'll return victorious. Trust me," Alphonse asserted in a deep convincing voice, caressing the back of her hands as he looked into her eyes affectionately.

Nicole raised her gaze to look at Alphonse and nodded severally, still not convinced but not trying to stop him from going any longer.

She had already made several preparations with the higher-ups in the city. Nicole after having made such arrangements didn't believe that anything could really go wrong in their plan.

However, there was this feeling of dread in Nicole's heart about this. And she only wished that Alphonse wouldn't be so stubborn and would listen to her.

Nonetheless, " okay" Nicole said and donned a stern expression." You can go, but return to me alive!" She demanded seriously.

Alphonse smiled and nodded his head slowly. He leaned in to kiss Nicole gently and turned to face his pack afterwards.

" Nightclaws! Tonight, we strike!" Alphonse announced in a loud bellow that rang through the local pub.

" Huu!" The whole pack roared in unison at this.

" Let's move out!" Alphonse urged and returned with Nicole to the guestroom while the others rushed out of the pub, howling and roaring.They were ready to fight in their war with the Moonblood pack.

Outside, and all around, they all rushed towards bikes and cars that they would ride on in their raid to the Moonblood pack residence, readily prepared to die.

Amidst them was a young man whose thin high-cheekboned face was highlighted.

It was Erik!

He had a nervous expression on his face as he had no idea just what he was doing. He looked towards the old man by the bar counter in the rapidly emptying pub with a grievous expression.

The old man shook his head at Erik, as though to discourage him.

However, the latter just smiled wryly and mouthed, " I have no choice" he then left behind the other pack members.

...

Paige arrived in the middle of the clearing where the tall cabin stood a bit late into the morning.

Although she had been here before, it was still hard to find her way around the woods to get here. However, with her tracking skills, she was still able to make it.

Amidst the lush silence of this part of the woods, Paige stood behind a tall tree watching the desolate cabin with an hesitant expression.

She was scared!

Paige knew that if Darren saw her, he'd most definitely skin her alive. After all, she was the reason behind Kyley's disappearance and it's only natural that Darren, being her lover, would react in a hostile manner towards her.

However, Paige didn't have a choice now.

Pushed by the need to set herself free from Jason, the only person whom she thought was capable of this was Darren.

She didn't know if Darren was really what she thought he was but those claw marks she'd seen back then when she was still in search of Kyley was something she was most certainly sure of.

Paige knew that if Darren had shifted into such a huge beast, then there was no way that Jason would stand a chance.

Hence, she moved from behind the tall broad tree where she hid and calmly walked towards the cabin. Cautiously looking around as she feared that Darren might suddenly pounce at her from any angle in the clearing.

Arriving at the porch of the cabin, Paige swallowed nervously when nothing happened just yet. She slowly approached the door, feeling a tense suspense in her throat, as though she was walking on the thin edges of a dagger.

Knock! Knoc-

She raised her hand to knock on the door, however, the wooden piece creaked open by itself.

It was unlocked!

Paige expressed a brief moment of surprise as she just stared at the door for a long while. She couldn't help but wonder if Darren was really home, and if this wasn't a trap to lure her in.

Nonetheless, she persisted and gently reached to push the door even more wide open and step into the cabin's foyer.

" Hello..." Paige called out, however, the only answer she got in response was silence as her voice echoed through the desolate cabin.

Paige slowly walked further into the living room, and she was surprised to find that it was just as she'd left it yesterday.

The pillows were scattered all around and there was a knife in the floor in the corner.

It was the same knife with which Kyley had tried to stab her with in defense of herself.

Also, there were pieces of tables and other furnitures that Kyley had thrown at Paige as she tried to escape from her on the floor, crashed all over the place.

Darren wasn't home yet!

Paige frowned and began to panic at this as she raced in her thoughts as to what to do next. She couldn't leave without having found a way to ask Darren for help and make him fight Jason and kill him so that she can finally be free from the latter.

Again, Paige didn't care about having the hots for him anymore!

She didn't want to be turned into a mindless torture pig by Jason!

' Wait, since Kyley is technically being held captive by Jason... Wouldn't Darren come to save her if he knew of this? If he suddenly finds his way to the pack residence, he'd surely have a face-off with Jason in a bid to save Kyley... That's it!' As her eyes darted about in thought, Paige suddenly came up with an idea after a while of aligning her train of thoughts. She instantly reached into her pocket to grab her cellphone.

She clicked on it several times and once she was done, she searched around the place as if looking for something. Then her gaze caught sight of something in the distance.

It was a piece of paper on the countertop in the kitchen.

' Bingo!' a small smile appeared on her face.

...