Chapter 60 The first son
Mara and Zevran raced through the palace. Down stairs. Through corridors. Out into the streets.
The market district was chaos. Buildings on fire. People screaming. Running. Dying.
And in the center stood three figures. All tall. All dangerous. All with those same red glowing eyes.
"Finally!" one of them called. A woman with long black hair. "We were getting bored waiting!"
"Who are you?" Mara demanded.
"I am Sera. Elara's second child. And these are my brothers. Dante and Marcus." The woman gestured to the two men beside her. "Mother sent us to test you. See if you are worth her attention."
"Tell your mother she can come test me herself!"
"Oh, she will. But first, you have to survive us." Sera smiled. "And that is not going to be easy."
She raised her hand. Dark energy shot toward Mara.
Mara dodged. The energy hit a building behind her. The entire structure exploded. Collapsed. People inside screamed.
"No!" Mara ran toward the rubble. Trying to save whoever was trapped.
But Dante appeared in her path. Blocked her. "Where are you going? We are not done playing."
"Get out of my way!"
"Make me."
Mara called on her power. The dormant energy inside her. It responded. Golden light flared around her fists.
She punched Dante in the face. Hard.
He stumbled backward. Surprised. "You actually hit me. How rude."
"I will do more than hit you if you do not move!"
"Ooh, scary. I am so frightened." Dante wiped blood from his lip. "Your turn, Marcus. I am bored already."
The third sibling stepped forward. He was bigger than the others. Muscular. Covered in scars. "This is the Moon Wolf? She looks weak."
"Then test me," Mara growled. "See how weak I am."
Marcus charged. Fast. Impossibly fast.
Mara barely dodged. His fist hit the ground where she had been standing. The impact created a crater.
"Too slow!" Marcus taunted.
Zevran attacked from the side. His black wolf form crashed into Marcus. They tumbled across the street. Fighting. Biting. Clawing.
"Zevran!" Mara tried to help.
But Sera blocked her. "Your mate can handle Marcus. Probably. Maybe. We will see. But you and I need to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you!"
"That is unfortunate. Because I have much to say to you." Sera walked closer. "Mother is obsessed with you. Talks about you constantly. The Moon Wolf who ruined her plans. The slave who became a queen. The human who defeated gods."
"I am not a queen."
"Not yet. But you will be. Mother sees the future. She knows what you will become. And she wants to stop you before you reach your full power."
"Why tell me this?"
"Because I am not like my siblings. I do not blindly follow Mother. I think for myself. And I think killing you would be a waste."
"So you are helping me?"
"No. I am giving you information. What you do with it is your choice." Sera stopped walking. "Mother plans to attack in three days. With all twelve of us. Plus her army of void creatures. She intends to destroy this city. Kill everyone you love. And force you to watch before killing you last."
"Three days? That is not enough time to prepare!"
"I know. That is the point. She wants you desperate. Unprepared. Weak. That is when she strikes." Sera turned to leave. "Good luck, Moon Wolf. You are going to need it."
"Wait! Why help me at all?"
Sera looked back. "Because Mother needs to lose. She has won for too long. Done too much damage. Someone needs to stop her. And you are the only one who can. So do not die. Please. I would hate to see her win again."
She vanished. Just disappeared like her brother Kael had.
Dante stopped fighting Zevran. "Oh good. Sera is done talking. That means we can leave. Come on, Marcus. Mother said not to kill anyone today. Just scare them."
Marcus threw Zevran into a wall. "Fine. But next time, I am fighting for real. This was boring."
Both brothers vanished too.
Mara ran to Zevran. "Are you okay?"
"Fine. Just bruised." He transformed back to human. "What did Sera say?"
"Three days. Elara attacks in three days with all twelve children plus an army."
"Three days is nothing! We need weeks to prepare!"
"We do not have weeks. We have three days." Mara looked at the destroyed market. At the injured people. At the fear in everyone's eyes. "We need to call an emergency council meeting. Right now. Get everyone here. I do not care what they are doing. This is life or death."
The council assembled within an hour. Every important leader. Every alpha. Every representative.
Mara stood before them. "Elara is coming. In three days. With twelve powerful children and an army of void creatures. She plans to destroy this city and everyone in it."
Silence. Then chaos.
"Three days?"
"We cannot evacuate everyone in three days!"
"We need to run! Hide! Scatter!"
"QUIET!" Mara's voice boomed. Power behind it. Everyone went silent. "We are not running. We are not hiding. We are fighting."
"That is suicide!" Marcus protested. "We barely survived Oblivion! How are we supposed to fight a witch queen and twelve warriors?"
"By being smarter. Faster. Better prepared than she expects." Mara pulled out maps. "We have three days to turn this city into a fortress. We dig trenches. Build barricades. Set traps. Arm every civilian who can hold a weapon. We make Elara regret coming here."
"And if we lose?"
"Then we die defending our home. But we do not lose. We refuse to lose. Because losing means everyone we love dies. And I will not accept that."
Luna stood. "I am with you. Tell me what you need."
"I need warriors. As many as we can gather. Send word to every pack. Every ally. Call in every favor. We need fighters here in two days."
"Done." Luna left immediately to send messages.
"What else?" Brutus asked. He had been quiet until now.
"I need the vault gold. All of it. We use it to hire mercenaries. Buy weapons. Whatever we need to win."
"You want to spend everything?"
"Gold does us no good if we are all dead. Use it."
"Understood." Brutus left too.
"Kieran. I need you to create barriers. Magical defenses. Anything that can slow down void creatures."
"I will do what I can. But my magic is limited against Elara. She is too powerful."
"Then make barriers against her children. Against the army. Every second they are delayed is one more second we have to fight."
"I will start immediately."
One by one, council members left. Given assignments. Given purpose. Given hope.
When the room was empty except for Mara and Zevran, she collapsed into a chair.
"Three days. How did my life become three days until the next apocalypse?"
"Because you are the Moon Wolf. Apocalypses follow you."
"That is not funny."
"I was not joking."
Mara laughed despite everything. "I am scared. Terrified. What if we cannot win? What if three days is not enough?"
"Then we make it enough. We do what we always do. Fight harder than anyone thinks possible. Refuse to give up. And somehow, against all odds, we survive."
"You make it sound easy."
"It is never easy. But it is possible. That is all we need."
A messenger ran in. "Moon Wolf! Another one is here! Another of Elara's children! He is at the palace gates! Asking to speak with you!"
"Which one?"
"He says his name is Kael. The first son. The one who delivered the message before."