Chapter ten

The door opened and a guard walked in. Alpha Loki stopped pacing his room. He turned to face the guard.

"Your orders have been carried out, Master." the guard informed, standing at attention.

"She's locked up in the lowest dungeon?" Alpha Loki asked the guard.

"Yes sir." the guard answered.

Alpha Loki nodded in satisfaction. "Let's see how Brian would get to her again. Before he ever reaches down there, I would have had him surrounded." the alpha chuckled darkly.

The guard nodded in agreement.

"Then, I will find out exactly what he came to find in my pack that day. And his interest in the wretched girl." he spat out the last two words with hate.

"Maybe… her parents… could it be?" Alpha Loki paused, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Suddenly, he whirled on the guard. "I need more security around the wretched girl!" he commanded forcefully.

The guard left to carry out the orders. At the door, Alpha Loki made him stop.

"Prepare her for interrogations too. I need to know exactly what her deal with Brian was. Where's Dexter?"

"I think he went down to the wretched girl, sir."

The alpha nodded in satisfaction. "Let her get as much torture as possible. Traitors to the pack are not condoned."

The guard nodded and left. When the door was closed behind him, Alpha Loki resumed pacing the room.

"Maybe I should kill her." he muttered to himself. "The blood of a traitor runs in her veins. And I don't really want to go to war with Brian when I have not found it."

At this statement, Alpha Loki walked to a pad sized moon almanac on his desk. He flipped through it, and his face scrunched up in confusion.

"Yes. Eve should have passed on by now. But where is she at the moment? I don't want Brian to find it before I do."

___

On the streets of Blood Depth pack, there was general fear in the atmosphere. People could be found whispering in clusters all around.

One such cluster was near a bar. It consisted of three men, and a single woman.

"I heard tell she was the cause of this new decree too." the lady said, casting around furtive glances, as I hiding from someone.

"Well, she was!" a man insisted.

The woman sighed. "I just don't know what came over that girl. Estella Carter, the beloved daughter of our late beta, now everyone's worst enemy."

"Why wouldn't she be?" the same man asked. "She killed her parents for goddess sake. Who has ever heard of that? Who does that?"

"And then, she had to try seducing the alpha's son. She really has no shame at all." the other man who had been silent added.

"And when that failed, she tried assassinating him!" the first man added.

Everyone there, apart from a man in a biker's jacket gave a huge gasp, even though they had heard of it before.

"But what I don't understand," the woman said, lowering her voice even further. "was how the Winter Reign pack came to be involved in all these? How come Alpha Loki suddenly declared them enemies?"

The first man lowered his voice too. "I heard the way it happened is that she was really working for the lycan king. Wonder what he offered her, but she agreed to help him take over power. That's why she killed the beta, and also tried to kill the alpha's son."

The faces of all there displayed shock, except once again for the man in the biker's jacket. He merely showed interest and amusement.

"Was it true the lycan King tried to break her out of the prison?" the woman asked.

The first man nodded vigorously. "Yes. And he also tried to kill Dexter, though he only succeeded in crippling him. That was when Alpha Loki declared them enemies. We're to have no contact with them whatsoever, or we would be tagged traitors as well."

At last, the man in the biker's jacket spoke. "This is all a very interesting tale."

The first man whirled on him in anger. "You don't believe me? If you know so much… " the man paused, his mouth hanging open. He gaped at the man in the jacket.

"I have seen you before… " he stuttered. "you're from Winter Reign pack!"

The man in jacket gave an awkward laugh. "Come on, man… ". He never for a change to complete the sentence. The first man raised his voice and screamed.

"We have a man from Winter Reign pack gathering intelligence right here!"

The man in the jacket made a run for it.

___

In Winter Reign pack…

Alpha Brian paced around his room. He walked from one end to the other, the back again. Suddenly, he stopped in front of the mirror and smashed it with his fist.

The glass fell in a glittering shower to the floor. He kicked them away from him.

The glass wasn't the only thing that was broken in the room. There was a broken vase at the far corner, a broken desk just beside the mirror, as well as various other broken items.

"Fuck!" he growled, punching his own palm now. "What am I so afraid of?" he stopped in front of another mirror and asked himself.

A tiny voice in his head answered him. "You know very well what you're afraid of."

Alpha Brian sighed. "You're becoming a coward." he told his reflection once again.

"Yes, you are! You ran from your mate. Who does that?" the voice told him.

He glared at himself in the mirror once more. Then he walked out of the room with determined steps.

"Call my beta for me!" he ordered a random servant that delivered him a package.

Some moments later, the man in the biker's jacket entered, breathing heavily. Alpha Brian had been waiting for a little over an hour already, and was ready to burst.

But he held it in. "Ethan, I want you to do a thorough scout of Blood Depth pack. What would I need to break in and retrieve her successfully?" he asked his beta.

The beta looker shocked. "I would advise not, alpha." he warned. "it's dangerous." he added.

"How dangerous could it could it be? I could take on Loki, anytime, any day!"

"Yes, you can. But can you take on a whole pack? I'm just coming from Blood Depth pack. Alpha Loki has managed to use propaganda against us. Every person in that pack is out for our blood. I would suggest waiting till everything has cooled down, sir."

"Really?" Alpha Brian asked, surprised.

"Yes! He has already declared us enemies." Ethan informed him. "I think he's preparing for war."

For a moment, an unfathomable emotion showed in the alpha's visage. Then his face hardened.

"I checked the almanac. Eve must have passed on now. It's time to seek her out again." the alpha said in a grave voice.

The beta nodded in understanding.

Moments later, the alpha was in his room again, untying the package. It was an audio CD. When he slotted it into his CD player, he saw Dexter defiling Estella with his fingers.

Rage boiled in his heart. He picked up his bedside phone and called his beta.

"Fuck it. We're storming Blood Depth pack tonight."

He listened to the protests on the other end. He only chuckle darkly.

"Listen well, Ethan. Those are mere werewolves there. That's my mate there. And that's an order here!"