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| Damon |
Seventy wolves against fourteen. Damon didn't like those odds, and even with a muto and a kludde, his pack were at a disadvantage. But that was only if they faced Kane's pack all at once. If he could separate them and attack the hostiles in smaller groups, then they'd stand more of a chance. But he couldn't make any solid plans until he knew exactly what to expect.
He looked across the burrow at Julian. Would he be able to get all the information he needed from that kid? He dragged his hand through his hair and watched Jackson talk to Wilson. The last thing he wanted was to let his mate take part in something so dangerous, especially when he was so new to all of this. And Jackson wasn't prepared. He was only beginning to learn how to use his demon ethos, and there was no way that he was ready for a fight like the one that was brewing.
Damon stood up, but before he could make his way over to Julian, the sound of something scraping across the ground snatched his attention. He turned to face the noise, and when he saw Sebastien dragging an unconscious, naked man into the burrow, he frowned strangely. But he saw a symbol burned into the man's upper left arm in the same place all wolf walkers had their pack marks. That was one of Kane's wolves.
"There were twelve of them heading north," Sebastien said once he dropped the man. Then, he shifted into his human form. "Whoever this guy works for was the one responsible for Enola's death."
Julian shot to their feet. "T-that's Kyle!" they exclaimed.
Damon asked, "Who's Kyle?"
"One of Kane's Betas," they answered, moving closer.
Everyone gawped at the unconscious man.
"I killed one of the others, but the second one I grabbed must have been an Epsilon. Some other wolf reacted when I killed it," Sebastien said.
"Hecate was there?" Julian questioned.
"I didn't get any of their names—well, one was called Ellis," the white-haired demon answered.
Damon scowled and clenched his fist. Ellis, the black wolf who came to tell him that his pack needed to vacate the old Nosferatu Consulate.
"Ellis, too?" Julian frowned in confusion.
"What?" Damon asked, stepping closer to them. "What do you know?"
Julian looked at him. "W-well, it's just...Kane only sends his best team out to do things like herd cadejo or divert a pack he's targeting. No offence, but...killing wolves is an Eta job."
Damon glanced at the unconscious man. He might have more answers than Julian. A Beta was much closer to an Alpha than an Omega was, and there was a chance that Kyle knew exactly what Kane was planning.
"Wake him up," Damon told Sebastien.
"Yeah, uh...about that," Sebastien said, scratching the side of his face.
"What?" Damon questioned. "You're a demon."
"Yeah, but not the kind that can just wake people up and send them to sleep." He crouched beside the unconscious man and started shaking him. "This is the best I got, man."
Damon rolled his eyes and looked at Tokala. "Find something to tie him up with."
The orange-haired man nodded and went over to where the pack left their bags.
"Do you think he can tell us what Kane's planning?" Jackson asked Julian.
"I mean...maybe," they answered as Jackson and Wilson stood beside them. "Kyle and Ellis were always the closest to Kane; some of us thought they were even closer than Kane was to his Luna."
Damon watched Rachel and Tokala tie Kyle up with some rope, and once the bindings were secure, the Alpha kicked the unconscious man's face. "Wake the fuck up, you piece of shit," he snarled, and when he kicked his face again, the guy grunted and jolted awake.
Kyle immediately tried to get up, but his ankles and hands were tied, so all he could do was writhe around. He tried using his enhanced strength to break free, but before he could, Damon stomped down on the man's leg and snapped the bone. Kyle winced and grimaced, and when Damon snatched his throat and pulled him up off his feet, the man glowered at him.
"I'll make this nice and simple for you," the Alpha growled as Kyle choked. "You answer my questions, I don't break any more bones. You don't answer them...well, we've got two hundred and five more to go," he warned, glancing at his broken leg.
Damon then slammed the man's back on the ground and leaned into his purple face. He loosened his grip just enough for Kyle to take a few desperate breaths, and then he tightened it again.
"I'm not...telling...you shit!" Kyle growled.
The Alpha mercilessly slammed his free hand on Kyle's chest, and the sound of his breaking ribs echoed through the burrow. "Two hundred and two."
Kyle groaned and choked; he started trying to pull Damon's hand from around his throat, but his strength was laughable compared to the Alpha's.
"Tell me what your Alpha is planning," Damon demanded.
"And don't lie," Sebastien warned. "I'll know."
The man laughed through his struggled breaths, but when he set his eyes on Julian, he scowled angrily. "Fucking traitor!"
Damon punched his face, breaking his nose.
"Fuck!" Kyle spat.
As his pack moved out of the way, Damon picked Kyle up and pinned him against the nearest wall. "Answer me!" he yelled.
"Fuck you!"
"Can I suggest something?" Sebastien then asked. "I mean, he's obviously not gonna say anything no matter how many bones you break, right?" He looked to Julian for confirmation.
They nodded and said, "He's probably had every bone in his body broken a thousand times."
Damon snarled irritably and stared expectantly at Sebastien.
The white-haired demon looked at Jackson.
Jackson frowned in confusion and pointed to himself. "Me? What am I gonna do?"
"You can put those shiny new fangs of yours to use," Sebastien said, pulling him away from Wilson and Julian.
"W-why can't you just use yours?" Jackson protested.
"Because I'm a kludde; I don't have multi-purpose venom and rift travel and whatever. I do spirit stuff," he explained, escorting Jackson towards Damon. "If Kyle here was a ghost or phantom or what have you, then maybe I could do more than carry him away from his pack."
Kyle struggled in Damon's grip, and when Sebastien and Jackson reached him, the Alpha pinned the man on the ground again. He knew what Sebastien was getting at; demon venom was one of the most excruciating things someone could experience, and it might be what got Kyle to talk.
But Jackson frowned unsurely. "I-I don't really know what I'm doing."
"Come on, you got the hang of fire pretty quickly. Venom's a breeze. Just like with the fire, it's all about intention," Sebastien explained.
Jackson looked down at Damon and Kyle. He looked conflicted, and Damon was sure it was because he was worried about messing up.
Kyle grunted and tried pulling free. "Get the fuck off me!"
Damon hit the side of the man's face. "Shut up," he growled. Then, he looked up at Jackson. "Don't overthink it," he said, trying to assure him. "Just like Sebastien said, you've got the hang of things quickly. This will be no different."
Although his hesitant frown didn't fade, Jackson kneeled beside the grunting man.
"Just sink your fangs into his skin," Sebastien instructed. "While doing so, focus on what you want him to feel—that's pain, of course—and all we have to do is watch him squirm until he gives up and tells us what we want to know."
"And if he doesn't?" Wilson asked.
"Then Jackson bites him again," he answered.
Damon snatched Kyle's wrist with his free hand and lifted it towards Jackson.
"Get off me! What the fuck is this shit?!" Kyle yelled.
"Do it," Damon insisted.
Jackson took hold of Kyle's arm, glanced unsurely at the choking man's face, and then bit down, sinking his fangs into his skin.
Kyle screeched and convulsed, and as Damon watched Jackson's black venom ooze into the man's veins, he felt Kyle's strength waning.
It was working.
After a few moments, Kyle went silent and still. He didn't move when Damon let go, but he wasn't screaming, either.
"What did you do to him?" Tokala asked before Damon could.
Jackson let go of the man's arm and wiped the blood from his lips. "I just...wanted him to stop fighting and answer your questions," he said with a worried frown, looking at Damon.
"Huh...nice job, kid," Sebastien said, patting Jackson's back.
Julian then stepped forward. "I, uh...I think we should hurry this up. Kane might send his other Betas to find him."
Damon didn't want to risk that happening. He glared down at Kyle's confused, dazed face. "Tell me what your Alpha is planning!"
Kyle's eyes darted from each pack member who stared at him. "I...what did you do to me?"
"What is your Alpha planning?!" Damon yelled.
The man's eyes locked with his almost like he was compelled. "A-Alpha Kane," he said slowly. "The river...."
Damon frowned. "The river?"
"Divert...here. I...." It was like he was trying to fight whatever Jackson did to him.
"Do it again," Damon instructed, shifting his sights to Jackson.
Jackson nodded and grabbed the man's arm. He sunk his fangs into him, and his venom infected Kyle's veins.
The man tensed up and groaned. He shook his head, grimacing as the veins in his neck revealed themselves, stained black with demon venom.
"Tell me what your Alpha's plan is," Damon growled, gripping Kyle's throat again.
With a pained grunt, Kyle wriggled around. "You killed...our packmates," he answered, his voice quiet and rough. "You...you didn't actually think you'd get away with it, did you?"
Damon tightened his grasp.
Kyle choked and growled. "W-we used the undead to make you cross where we wanted you to cross!"
The pack glanced at one another with confused expressions.
"You put those cadejo by the river?" Tokala asked.
"Y-yes," Kyle answered. "We...needed you in this part of the woods. We...we were waiting. We had to leave a warning...Alpha Kane's warning; we had to let you know that he was coming for you."
Damon scowled angrily. Kane wasn't only responsible for Enola's death, but Alastor's, too.
Wesley suddenly pulled his packmates out of the way so that he could see Kyle. "It was you?!" he growled, the first words he'd spoken since Alastor's burial. "He's dead because of you?!"
Tokala grabbed Wesley when he went for Kyle. "Calm down," the Zeta insisted, holding him back.
"He killed Alastor! You heard him! He led those cadejo to the river! It's his fault!" Wesley screamed, attempting to escape from Tokala.
Bly and Rachel tried to assist Tokala, but Wesley wouldn't yield.
Damon shifted his attention back to Kyle. "What is he planning to do next?" he questioned through gritted teeth.
Kyle tried to fight the venom, but he said, "He's...going to make you all pay! He won't stop until you're all in the ground!"
"S-see! I told you!" Julian panicked. "He's gonna kill us all one by one—"
"And when you two are the last ones left," Kyle said, glaring at Damon and then Jackson, "he'll make you watch as he kills your precious little mate!" he snapped, glowering at the Alpha. "He'll take everything from you; he'll make you wish that you never crossed into his territory."
Damon's anger quickly evolved into fury, and with an enraged yell, he slammed his fist into Kyle's face. "The only one who's going to regret anything is your Alpha," he stated, watching as Kyle spat blood from his broken jaw.
The Alpha then stood up and wiped his bloody hands on his shirt.
"What are we going to do?" Remus asked as he moved closer to him.
Damon glanced at Kyle and then set his sights on Wesley, who was still trying to escape Tokala, Bly, and Rachel. There was no further use for Kyle; they couldn't take him with them because he'd leave a scent trail that any one of Kane's wolves could follow. So, he nodded at Tokala and said, "Let him have him."
Tokala let go of Wesley, who burst forward, and as he jumped over the pack, he shifted into his wolf form and landed on Kyle.
Damon and the pack stepped back and watched as Wesley mercilessly tore the screaming man apart. He tore off his limbs, and ripped huge chunks of flesh from his body, and when Kyle was moments from succumbing to blood loss—after he'd experienced the pain Wesley wanted him to—the Epsilon grasped the man's head in his jaws, twisted, turned, and yanked, and as blood sprayed over the burrow ground, Wesley pulled the man's head from his body.
And that was it. Kyle was dead, Wesley had his revenge, and Damon had his answers.
"Damn," Wilson muttered as everyone watched Wesley back away from the corpse with blood dripping from his maw.
Damon turned his back to everyone and tried to calm his rage. He clenched his fists so tight that he could feel his nails breaking the skin on his palms. Kane was responsible for the cadejo by the river. It was he who orchestrated Alastor's death, and it was he who killed Enola and left her to turn into a monster, stealing her right to return to the Moon Goddess. He planned to kill Damon's pack one by one, and right now, they were exactly where Kane wanted them.
It was time to leave. They had to go back to that river and leave this part of the forest. He had no idea where Kane was, nor did he know where he might have wolves lying in wait. But what Damon did know was that his pack weren't safe here. It made him even angrier that they had to backtrack and cause the mission to take longer, but the lives of his packmates were more important right now.
He turned to face them. "We need to leave this part of the woods. We'll head back to the river and find a way across. Then, we'll find a new path to continue towards Greykin Valley."
Everyone nodded obediently. No one spoke up, either—not even Sebastien.
"However, we now know that Kane isn't going to stop. He wants to kill every one of us, and there is no doubt in my mind that he'll follow us. We can't risk ourselves, nor can we risk the mission. So, we're going to fight. We stick together at all times, and when Kane's next group shows up, we'll be ready for them. We'll send him a message," the Alpha said firmly. "We are the Grey Blood Pack; we don't die easy, and we don't let our packmates die for nothing!"
His pack called their firm agreements.
Wilson then stepped forward. "Can't we just get the Nosferatu or whoever to deal with these guys? Getting to the lab is—"
"You do not speak!" Damon yelled at him. "This is wolf business only!"
Wilson scowled and went to argue—
"Don't," Jackson said, moving his arm in front of Wilson.
"This...this is what the beginning of a pack war looks like," Julian said with a haunted tone. "It's only gonna worse from here."
"They're right," Sebastien said with a sigh and a nod. "The Venaticus or Nosferatu can't get involved even if they had the manpower to spare. But we need to find a way to keep this from affecting the mission."
Damon nodded and then said, "We're leaving". The sooner they left, the more space they'd put between them and their enemies. "Let's go."
He led the way out of the burrow and shifted into his wolf form. His pack followed, shifting as they pulled their bags on. And then they followed him back towards the river.
Battling Kane and making their way to Greykin Valley was going to be hard to do simultaneously. Kane was set up somewhere, and Damon needed to find a place to operate out of, too—a place to wait for Kane's next group of wolves. And that was what he'd do—that was how he'd do it. He'd lay in wait just as they did and take them out. Then, he'd move on elsewhere and repeat the process, ensuring their progress towards the valley. Kane was likely to figure out his tactic eventually, but by then, Damon would have a new approach to taking out his enemies.
However, he needed to get his pack somewhere safe first. Those cadejo might still be by the river, and if they were, he was going to have to figure out a way across.
And this time, he wasn't going to lose anyone.
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