Hammers in the Shadows

Part Two: Hammers in the Night - Chapter Fourteen

"So far, I haven't heard anything from Forest Depths, but I can't discount them completely since they also suffered casualties at the Battle of Blackwater." He admitted to me. "We have enough people here to keep Midnight Forest from making a play on us, but the fact of the matter is that I would rather have the Alpha here to deal with this."

"I can understand your trepidation Alex; indeed, I would feel about the same given the circumstances, however as much as I would love to lend you some assistance I can't because of that damned indoctrination that the previous leader of your group has instilled in your people." I growled, I hated the idea that I really couldn't do much but right now with the way that Alex's wolves felt about felines I knew that providing any kind of material or physical assistance would frowned on by his people. "I can provide some monetary assistance, but I have a feeling that conceding the funds to Midnight Forest may not be in your best interest."

"I agree, and talking to Alpha Zane he also agrees on that point Mark, but he isn't here right now." Alex reminded me. "I mean in the last three months he's been trying to work with us to change the attitudes of those most ingrained with the Old Alpha's point of view, but it will take some time."

"Alex, I have a feeling that soon your Alpha will be coming down, and I'm not talking about Zane, instead I'm talking about Adam. He's the Alpha of Wild Valley, and by extension, Ice Lake, be honest with him and explain the situation to him." I told him, taking another sip of my drink.

"I will do that, but can you please call them and tell either Zane or his Alpha to come here soon, I am holding on by the skin of my teeth, and I do need one of them to consult with me on some decisions that need to be made regarding the current situation." He asked me, a slight hint of desperation in his voice.

"Of course, Alex, I can make sure to pass this information on to Adam the next time I talk to him, but perhaps a better idea would be to call the Alpha yourself, after all that is why he's left you there in charge eh? Now you go and work with your people... I know there is a lot of work for you to do, and thank you for finding those remains for us, we gave all of them a decent cremation as they deserved." I told him as I recalled the small ceremony that we'd held for the six cats that had died at the hands of the previous Alpha of Ice Lake. The sheer indignity of having their heads mounted on the wall was wrong. Everyone deserved a proper funeral, be it a burial or cremation it was the right way to deal with it. The poor cougar who'd died defending her cubs, and even worse her cubs she died defending showed what a shit head the Alpha had been. The little skeletons of her cubs who had never done anything wrong to earn the fate that they'd been given showed it. When I saw those damned heads on their mountings I knew in that moment that it was a very good thing that Zane had handled Ice Lake for me because if I'd seen those things in his office I would have torn the Alpha apart with my own bare hands. I knew it was wrong to think that but in a way Zane was nicer yet also meaner than I was.

I knew that Zane tended to be a very abrupt individual. He would kill though he didn't like it. When he did it was a quick death for those who deserved it. I tended to be more emotional and had the urge to rip the offending party apart. Chances were it was probably due to how Zane had been changed.

"They didn't deserve that Mark, they may not have been wolves, but nobody deserves what he did to them." Alex said, and I could hear the sorrow in his voice. "Pulling those cubs from the ground..." He broke off, and I could hear the sadness in his voice before his mate spoke up.

"Nobody, deserve what he did to them. They were innocents" Summer Song said and I could tell that she was hugging her mate tightly as he grieved for those three cubs that never had a chance. The youngest had only been a baby, while the oldest had been a sub-adult, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, not yet old enough to shift to a Were-Form yet.