Chapter 9: Another Attack

"Alpha, rogues, are coming from the north," Marco informed me, one of my top warriors through our mind-link.

My eyes narrowed, and I was filled with hostility.

"Defend your position and ensure they will not enter the perimeter. I'll be coming along with our warriors in a minute," I told him as I prepared to go towards the mouth of our territory.

This bunch of stupid elders doesn't know how to give up. But they're wrong if they think I'm just a scared puppy that will surrender with my tail between my legs. Submitting is out of my dictionary as that is for the weak. Besides, I must fight until the last of my strength.

As soon as we reach the borderline of our territory, hundreds of rogues are marching up. When I inspected them, I smelled something unusual. Rogues don't band together. They prefer being alone and avoid stepping into a pack's territory. This is odd!

I wasn't feeling good when I woke up this morning. The warriors assigned to guard the rogue and the human were found dead. They are shredded into pieces. Everyone was clueless as to how the two ended up like that. Their bloodies remains' were everywhere like it was intentionally scattered. It was as if they exploded for some reason, leaving me astonished and puzzled.

My plan to interrogate them when I woke up was now useless. I tried to sniff the air to catch the culprit's scent, but it was clean. How could this be? This is impossible! My sense of smell is sensitive, so I should have smelled their scent, but what the hell is this? It was as if there had never been someone who sneaked into our territory. So how did these two die? Did they explode on their own?

"Alpha, they're growing in number," Kaydon spoke while preparing to shift.

"Look at their eyes," I whispered.

Kaydon stared at the rogues marching toward us.

"Can you see their changes? Their eyes aren't normal as they used to be; it's as if they're almost black," I added.

He nodded.

"It's like they are under a spell. Does the king have the ability to cast a spell? I don't know if he has this power inside his sleeves," I asked in uncertainty.

He shook his head and said, "werewolves can't do this thing, but I know some species who can cast a spell."

I kicked off my shoes and prepared to attack, questioning him, "what is it?"

"Skinwalker," he replied.

I abruptly looked at him. "Skinwalker? What are they?" I questioned curiously.

"To humans, they are called witches who can shift to anything. But to us, we call them skinwalkers. They can copy and imitate our appearance to deceive or enslave us without realizing it. Legends say that vampires and skinwalkers are enemies. It also says that they became extinct after the war between the two races. That happened before Selene created werewolves," he explained.

Now, it makes sense!

"Could it be that the king carries the blood of a skinwalker?" I uttered.

"That's impossible, alpha. They went extinct before we were born!" he interjected.

I didn't have time to reply as the rogues were attacking us. I immediately shifted into my white and black wolf form. Claw has been itching to fight and has been bugging me since earlier. I give in to her and give her this fight.

Claw instantly went into her killing machine mode. She killed without hesitation, but a part of me was asking if they were worth killing for. As I said, they are probably under a spell. Everything is wrong as if someone is controlling them. But what choice do I have if my pack was in danger?

"Leave it to me! Cast your conscience aside, Raven. If we don't kill them, they will kill our pack. Think about it," Claw said. "It's about saving our pack and our name. There's no room for mercy," she added.

I closed my eyes and let her do the job. She's right, and I have to harden my heart this time.

As the war ignites, I can tell that rogues will easily outnumber us. They are thousands in numbers while we are only a hundred, but I believe in my warriors. Rogues must pass on my hand before they can touch my pack.

I lost count of how many rogues died in Claw's hand. I was blinded by the pool of blood and dead body everywhere. My forces are desperately trying to hold their ground. Some of them are heavily wounded. If this fight continued, I didn't have a choice but- I bit my lower lip. I don't want to surrender, but I will for the sake of my pack! It took me years to secure and get this name. I can swallow my pride and humiliation if I have to face the elders in court one day.

Suddenly the rogues stopped attacking us and were standing frozen as if they were in a daze. And then, a few seconds later, they exploded one by one. My pack and I watched in horror as they were being murdered.

I shifted back to my human form as a strange voice in my mind started to urge me to look around. The voice was telling me to hurry. I was confused, but I followed the voice. I run while sniffing in the air. It did not take long for me to smell an unfamiliar scent. As I ran closer to that strange scent, I started to feel uncomfortable.

"Look at that tree! There's something in there," Claw uttered.

I stopped in my tracks and walked towards the thing under the tree. I saw a black bell lying in there. It has fur on it; I can tell it is wolf fur. It was so small that you wouldn't know it was a bell if you didn't look at it intently. The bell was square that you could hardly see it. I picked it up and tried to ring it, but no sound came. The strong unfamiliar scent was coming from this thing.

"Keep it!" Claw muttered, which is my original plan.