2 Chapter 2:

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Prologue Continued: Revenge

Dawn wasn't late, it just didn't bother to show up this time.

As Hilary, Curt and I prepared to step into the sacred lands, we said our goodbyes to our families and pack members. "I love you son." My dad said, his voice cracking slightly, as he held me in a tight hug . He has been my only real support, training , teaching and mentoring me. He's a low level pack warrior and has taught me all he knows.

Curt is the betas son and Hilary is the head warrior. He took over after the death of his father and he is the strongest, most vicious wolf in our pack, also the most equipped and prepared amongst the three of us.

So many people expect him to be the next moon alpha, his wolf hades is brutal in battle. After his father died in a surprise rogue attack. Hilary took some warriors and went after the rogues, those who had attacked our pack were slaughtered before they reached rogue territory. As for the rest, let's just say there hasn't been a sighting of a rogue around the moon claw pack and the next three packs around us since then.

Hilary hates me and my guts, that much I know, and he has every right to. I still feel guilty sometimes when I recall what happened. But Kraw doesn't care, he never does, he is the real reason Hilary hates me, and he feels no remorse for what he did.

My actions that night about a year ago, would most likely get me killed before whatever awaits us in the forest does. It's also the reason I haven't shifted in a year, I haven't let Kraw out since that night, it started out as his punishment, but later became a safety measure.

The intensity of Hilary's hatred towards me was expressed on his face, he had this hateful glare that made me nervous and totally uncomfortable.

Kraw might be a mad wolf but Hades was a whole other level of mad. " Run along little Seb, I'll give you a generous head start, but it's all you'll get, because the minute I set my eyes on you in those lands, you'd be dead. Let's just say you are a dead wolf running." Hilary smirked at me as he warned me in our mind link.

Kraw was silent and that worried me a little. Usually he would have growled and snarled at Hilary by now. But he silently stuck to the back of my mind. I took one last look at my family and took off into the thick forest.

It felt as if the forest grumbled its approval, because as I entered I suddenly began to feel pressure in my ears as I ran, I needed to put some serious distance between Hilary and myself.

The last thing I wanted to deal with on this quest to find my purpose, was Hilary and his revenge plan. This whole situation was way bigger than one man, one wolf or one family.

I had lost track of time as I drifted aimlessly in the thick forest, unable to find anything through yards and yards of abnormally giant trees that had branches sprouting out from as low as my knees. Others were bent at awkward angles, some produced tree sap, but they were very unusual. Some of the sap were a shiny green color, most were black, others were the color of blood, but the smell wasn't metallic like blood.

The flowers and fruits I didn't recognize, so I stayed away from them, the forest had been pitch black since I got in but my heightened senses meant I could see as clear as day.

It was really odd that I hadn't come across an animal or heard a bird,since I got in. Maybe it wasn't that odd, as I had fallen asleep twice since I came in. I didn't know what to think of the forest, it certainly wasn't the same forest that surrounded my pack.

After a while, I was hungry and tired, I had walked for an obscenely long time and I hadn't eaten anything since I got here. I didn't know what I could and couldn't eat and there were no animals to hunt.

I found a small rock hidden beside an awkwardly crooked tree, so I sat down for some rest. Kraw was hungry that much I could tell, as he rolled uncomfortably deep in the tresses of my mind. It was comforting to at least feel him there even though I couldn't reach him. I knew at some point I would lose him.

I must have slept off at some point, because a low long hissing sound woke me up. I turned to the sound and saw a reptile. It was as big as an anaconda, but it had beautiful and colorful feathers like that of a peacock, its bright orange head was that of a..., what the heck?!! its head was a bright orange panther.

I stared at it in shock as it studied me, before it suddenly roared and towered over me, in a defensive stance. "you are way off your path you need to go. You can't runaway from your problems here alpha, you need to face it head on .". " who said anything about running." I grumbled under my breath.

Then I realized, the creature had spoken to me in mind link. "Y-you can mind link?" I asked. "yes, now get out of here before you stray too far and become a meal for the Reaper king." It warned.

I quickly got to my feet, but didn't know where to go, so I turned back to the orange headed creature. Just in time to see its enormous tail pointing in the direction I should go. "Make sure to get some food, you'll die otherwise. The ugliest, foul smelling ones are the safest and healthiest.. and peel the outer layers before eating !!" it said to my retreating back.

I took off in the direction the orange reptile had indicated, in a haste to finally get some food. Following the foul smell of rotten fruits, I soon found the spot where the smell was strongest.

At first the fruits looked nice , fresh and attractive, but they smelt off. And when you looked closely you'd see they had big fat worms with long shiny fairy like wings going in and out of it, like laborers at a construction site.

I kept on going till I saw fruits that had fallen from trees onto the muddy ground underneath it, looking dirty and rotten and smelt awful, like rotten eggs.

I picked up an arm full and began to peel them. And as predicted by the reptile, the thick skin of the fruit smelt awful, but when I took a bite, it tasted like a dream, it was a curious dull blend of strawberries , orange and English pear with an underlying tanginess of grape, but at least it was crunchy and juicy.

Although the color of the juice was an irritating dull brown, same as the inside of the fruit.

I wondered about the creatures I had seen so far, we had been warned that the sacred lands was not an enchanted place. But what I had seen so far proved otherwise.

I was so deep in thought and distracted by my meal that I didn't hear someone approaching until Hilary snorted at me.

" Boy, am I glad I found you? You seriously are an irritating chump." He spat out hatefully. Then stared me down, but I refused to back down and stared right back at him.

He flicked his wrist and I immediately felt like someone was squeezing my throat in a choke hold, trying to squeeze the life out of me.

" Seb you need to break the eye contact .. " Kraw's distant voice warned in my head, he sounded really tired and distant, like he was really faraway. I realize I couldn't feel him anymore.

I broke eye contact and the pressure on my throat eased. But he was In front of me in the blink of an eye. As a werewolf, his speed is impressive, but as one of the chosen, normal werewolf speed is slow for us. but we didn't'have our wolves here, that meant our abilities aren't as sharp. So how on earth did he do that?

The next second I was flying in the air from an upper cut, and landed a few feet away from him. "When did it become okay to kill? With no recourse to those you're hurting, huh? When? let that stupid wolf of yours come out and save you now, because I will beat you to a freaking pulp then slowly dismember your body, piece by piece".

He shouted the words at me.

"No, Its not okay..It's not okay to just kill someone and No, I didn't do it for fun, I'm sorry I wasn't thinking at the time." I pleaded. "Its too late for apologies fool, he is dead and gone, and you are going to pay for your crime." He said, with a disgusted look on his face.

" I am sorry I truly am." I said desperately, hoping against all odds that he would understand and let this revenge plan go it was useless.

"Your apologies can't bring him back, neither can your tears or blood, pup. But I have vowed to teach you a valuable lesson, so when you meet him you can apologize properly to him, because he might need your apology, but I don't." He shouted at me.

The worst thing about our situation right now was that, the entire werewolf race is counting on us to do whatever is necessary and come out as the worthy moon alpha, thus safeguarding their lives and that of others in the process. But all Hilary wants is revenge. I can't relate to his thinking, but it is Plain to see he has put his family above the entire werewolf race.

I blocked a flurry of blows and tried to take in some much needed air, as he changed tact and tried to attack me from behind. I turned just in time to face him again.

He attacked with another flurry of blows, this time he added slap kicks and even head butted me, it was such a rush and I tried my best to protect myself, but he was way too fast. I spat out blood, my nose was broken and I knew I had been outmatched and wouldn't last long. But giving up was never a part of my makeup, I just needed to find a way to last long enough, and find the right time to strike, that is the only way I Could manage to survive this.

After sometime of me dodging, blocking and good foot work, I'd begun bleeding from my chest, arms, thighs and back and could feel myself getting weaker and weaker by the second. But I stayed on my feet and continued to sway, trying to look unsteady to him. Once in a while my knees would hit the ground and I would make a show of scrambling back up to my feet. Curt had now come to watch the fight.

But what was now clear to me was the fact that Hilary had his wolf hades at the surface, and I didn't have Kraw. How he was able to achieve that was beyond me. I dodged more blows to my midriff, took a slap kick to the head. I didn't see it coming, so I was dazed for a second and my knees hit the ground again.

"Just give up already." Curt advised sounding bored. I scoffed inwardly, then groaned out loud as I felt Hilary's claws dig into my side, the pain was excruciating. I fell to the ground barely breathing. Hilary was on me in a flash, he seemed satisfied with his impending victory, and in a way I was glad for him.

But that didn't mean I was going to let him kill me, so I waited for the only opportunity I would get. He momentarily turned to take a sharpened wooden knife from Curt, I saw my opportunity and struck. I had practiced this move a thousand times in my life and I can't remember the last time I failed to do irredeemable damage in less than two seconds flat.

The move is so difficult I had been practicing it for years, mastering the technique , needed to break a werewolf's chest bone is more difficult than one can imagine. I swiftly broke his chest bone with my right hand and pulled out his heart with my left. It was so fast, Hilary probably won't know he was dead until he finds him self in the after life.

Curt was shocked into silence for a minute before he found his voice. "You fucking idiot, you fucking fooool.!!" I could see his anger getting the best of him he obviously wasn't thinking right now. So I waved the wooden knife In front of him, when he attempted to approach me threateningly. I felt something heavy on my body and I felt way more tired than I was about a second ago. Curt must have felt it because he dropped to his knees clutching his chest as he went down.