Battle Drums

I didn't get it.

I stood there, looking at her, wondering what the difference between Liam and Alpha was in the wolf's head.

Agitation was building up quickly inside of me, instead of worrying about her nerves I started paying more attention to my own. This semi-monologue with the white wolf was going nowhere, and the brown wolf was running out of time.

The best thing to do right now was to have her walk beside me until we reach my bike, I'd call Liam without having to worry about leaving her behind, he would get someone to take care of the wounded brown wolf and I'd give her a ride back wherever she wanted on my bike.

In her human form. Of course.

I'd also get to know who she was then.

I placed my hand back over her shoulder slowly, she didn't recoil away. "Can you shift?" I asked her, staring deeply into intelligent eyes that saw right through me.

She yelped aggressively this time, a firm no. She didn't want to shift.

What a stupid thing to ask her to do while she was literally standing in a vampire's coven! I eyed the darkness where Raven was, waiting for me.

"How about walking with me there then?" I pointed towards the darkness with my free hand, "You can either shift or stay the way you are while I call Alpha Liam, okay?" Her eyes had to be much better than mine, I hoped the human inside understood where I was going with all of this.

I looked in the direction of my parked bike, squinting, the clouds that piled up over the moon in the sky were not helping my vision right now.

Then I felt my own eyes widening; a gigantic black wolf was easing out of the trees right where Raven was supposed to be, he moved like a ghost, stalking slowly, heading right towards us.

I recognized him from the garage fight that day.

Before my mind was even able to put two and two together, four more wolves followed, each two a step behind the ones preceding them. When more wolves kept emerging out of the darkness, I started getting territorial out of nowhere, the feeling twisted and turned inside, telling me that this was not their place.

They had no right to be here.

Something brought my eyes back to the middle, a distinctive color falling out of place, not matching with the pack's neutral tones that were mostly browns and greys.

A red wolf.

He clearly wasn't following the pack's formation — he was born to lead.

Growls and snarls filled the night. 'Liam... Liam...' The pack almost had one mind and spoke with one tongue. But only one stood out.

A brown wolf that had just emerged out of the darkness immediately whimpered when it looked in our direction.

The black wolf in the middle barked, 'go', he ordered.

When the whimpering brown wolf ran in my direction, my body wasn't geared up into a defensive position the way it did naturally when it felt danger approaching. It was probably because of the same training that went on for years, I evaluated external threats clearly before I took action, and the wolf's eyes were on the one lying motionless on the ground still, he wanted nothing to do with me. He whimpered with each leap he took as if something was physically hurting him, my eyes scanned his body for something stuck in his paws or for perhaps some hidden injury, but there was nothing there.

When he reached us, I noticed how his fur was almost identical to the unconscious wolf, I prepared myself to push him away if he attempted to move him.

He was even more careful than I was.

Coming to a full halt next to the unconscious wolf, he started smelling him and then paced around anxiously more than once, he finally howled long and loud into the sky. Crying.

When it finally hit me, I hated how dense I had been. The brown wolves next to me could be no other than the Johnson twins.

The Liam every wolf was talking about was not the Liam that belonged to me.

I cursed under my breath as Elijah's wolf looked at me, his green eyes were not much different than his human ones. I crouched next to him. Desperate to save his twin now more than ever. My friend stood there breathing heavily, producing multiple screeching sounds that meant no words, he was only hurting for his twin.

The unconscious wolf didn't have much time left. I was about to beg for my brother's help or anyone else's for that matter, but the vibes of the entire place changed dramatically in one short instant. Stopping me.

When I turned around, I saw them behind the pack's formation, they stood closer to the mansion and had their backs to it, I didn't even notice how or when they got there, they came out of nowhere.

standing in his black cloak with his head uncovered, his face was the epitome of impassiveness. Looking every bit like the monster he was. It was nauseating, like using one of these apps that showed you what you'd look like when you get older. I fixed my eyes on my enemy,

Our resemblance was undeniable, and I hated it all over again.

He wasn't alone this time, right beside him was a figure in a white cloak, they were standing shoulder to shoulder. I couldn't see his features clearly because he had his head covered, casting a shadow that reached half of his face under the moonlight that shone brightly again. My best guess would be that he was the second king, Elizabeth's father. But I couldn't be sure.

I could've sworn he was smiling at me. And it just didn't add up. What was funny about a dying werewolf and a nearby confrontation? I could almost hear the war drums.

My eyes drifted over to the white wolf who had flanked the black one to his left. My brother's red demon flanked him to his right.

'Alpha', she kept telling me a while earlier. She kept telling me that her back Alpha was coming.

I gave her pack another look.

The red demon was without a question the biggest, he was now one of them, their formation taking the shape of a perfect v. An uninvited question came to me right then and there.

If I was to leave the brown wolf and go stand there right now. What side would I be on?

The wolves' side? The pureblood kings' side?

Something told me they left me out of their confrontation on purpose. Perhaps the mythical creatures knew I was a freak who belonged nowhere in particular.

That question would've been easy had my brother been standing alone, I would've stood next to him in whichever shape or form. Brothers should always stick together, that was how we were raised. But the red demon was clearly on the wolves' side, though his color stood out from the rest of them, he somehow belonged.

I shook my head, clearing it.