The Alpha's Curse The Enemy Within

Houses burned as the flames engulfed the roofs, blazing a fraction of deep red, livid purple, and amber. Soon, the black smoke swallowed up everything. | paused to scan around, watching expressionlessly as our army darted between the rogues, tearing them apart without any remorse.

The witches were busy prying deep into the minds the of rogues, hoping to find whatever piece of information about the Dark Circle, especially where they were keeping my sister and brother.

With the paled look of disappointment sent my way by Gwen, | knew once again this attack had left us without even the slightest knowledge of where my siblings could be. My wolf released a grueling growl. | felt anger and frustration rise all the more within me as | went for the closest imbecile | could find.

I struck a boot in the puddle of their blood that had formed, flowing endlessly around, tearing apart some rogues, until there was completely nothing left of them. | was about to charge onto my next prey when I realized that one of the vile leeches was still alive. He was still breathing. I strode over to his motionless state watching his sockets twitch in fear and desperation. | couldn't blame him. Even | would cringe at my state and appearance but | stopped caring a while back, and the last piece of sanity that glued me soundly together was gone.

My fingers extended into claws and unapologetically, | dived my claws into the chest of the rogue, gutting out his heart.

We were currently in the East Central, raiding one of the Dark Circle's camps for rogues in hopes we could at least find out a location of where the Dark Lord could be. | knew without a doubt that that's where he had Sheila and Kaiser.

It's been eight weeks already since the attack on the Crescent North Pack and everything turned for the worst. Sheila was taken. Kaiser had disappeared along with her, and Killian. I drew in a sharp breath.

Killian was dead.

Nothing had been the same since. The Dark Circle kept on growing, conquering more packs, covens, and kingdoms associated with the Council. They had successfully wiped out the East regions and West, leaving no survivors behind. And those that were spared were taken in as prisoners.

My icy blue eyes gazed over the destruction of the place. | retracted my claws, scanning through the black ash and foul stench of burning corpses for Morgan. My eyes zeroed in on him, he was across the meadow drenched in blood that wasn't his.

His crystal green eyes turned in my direction, sensing my stare. | shook my head to him and didn't miss the heartbreaking pain that sprinted across his green irises.

“Turn the whole place to dust,” | turned to my Beta, Jenzel, instructing the army from my pack and that of Morgan's to return to base while we left with the Council's army.

1 jumped on my horse, and so did Morgan, without wasting time, we dashed off, riding back to North Central, together with the army from the Council.

We rode with speed on our horse, dwelling in silence as the sun began to withdraw for the day. I glanced over at Morgan, and as usual, he was quiet with his gaze up ahead the path back to North Central.

These weeks have been difficult, especially for him. His pain and loss

could be seen in his eyes. | could only begin to imagine how he must feel, having to witness the death of his only family.

I can't believe | was about to say this, but | never wanted Killian dead.

Regardless of our differences, he was still my sister's mate, and his death would only hurt her. And now, with everything that had happened the last weeks, she wasn't the only one that had gotten hurt.

The Dark Circle attack did lot of damage to the Crescent North Pack. Everyone had lost something in one way or the other, even Valerie. And many would have lost their lives as well if it wasn't for Sheila's outburst right before she was taken. Upon Killian's death, she had lost control of her magic, and only the goddess knew what she had done, but it brought back only a few warriors that had died, fighting alongside us in the meadow.

“What are you thinking about?" | was forced out of my thoughts, hearing Morgan's deep voice.

He lowered the speed of his horse, and we were now riding alongside each other with the Council's warriors up ahead.

“These past weeks," | replied, pulling my gaze to his green stones.

“It's fucking frustrating that once again we've reached another dead end,” | added, shifting my gaze up ahead.

Morgan remained silent for a brief second. “We will find her," he muttered slowly, whispering under his breath, but | could hear. "All of them,” he added, falling back into the unwelcoming silence, and | could feel him getting lost in his thoughts again.

| knew exactly what he was thinking. His thoughts were reflected in his gaze. After Sheila was taken through the portal, we couldn't find Kaiser, and Killian's lifeless body had gone missing too. Our best

guess was they had gone through the portal as well. He didn't say, but deep down | knew Morgan still hadn't accepted the truth that Killian was dead. He clung to this hope that Killian had somehow survived.

Frankly, | never thought a day like this would come when | would find myself appreciating the company of my worst enemy. The last weeks made me realize how much Morgan as well as the rest of his pack cared for Sheila.

It was already twilight as we approached the capital, heading for the Council's castle. After riding for a short time, we reached the Council's court.

1 alighted from my horse. Morgan and | made our way into the court.

The court was crowded and a meeting was in session.

As s00n as we were cited, the loud arguments died instantly, and

everyone's gaze was on us.

“How did it go?" One of the Elder wolves, Elder Walter asked quickly, and 1 shook my head, dropping on one of the vacant seats.

“The witches found nothing in their memories. Those bloody rogues have no idea about the location of the Dark Lord," Morgan filled them in.

There were outbursts of hisses and murmurings. The Council has not been doing great either. After the attack in the Crescent North Pack, Sheila's identity was exposed as my sister and the white wolf. So to say, the Council felt they had the right to be furious at my silence.

They had insisted this tragedy would have been avoided if Sheila's identity was exposed sooner. But | disagreed.

I knew deep down that things would have been far worse if | had exposed my sister to the Council the second | found her. I still didn't trust any of them, and now more than ever, with everything that has

been happening.

Regardless of our different views, the truth remains, we had to work together to find Sheila. She was our priority.

My blue eyes shifted to Zeriyah; she was awfully quiet. | scanned the entire court and there was no sign of Amelie.

“Silence!” Elder Noah halted the deafening whispers around, and Zeriyah stood up from her seat.

“I understand everyone is going crazy with fear, but we must be focused. Amelie had another vision and it's terrible,” I leaned closer upon hearing that.

Ever since Sheila had been taken, Amelie’s visions became more frequent and they only grew worse recently. It was from her vision we learned about the Dark magic that has no origin nor name, yet posed a great danger to our entire realm as it was written in the crystal

stones.

It had been in existence from the dawn of magic itself, and through the years known as the Shota's magic, named after the first ancient witch that had harbored this magic. The old Council had found a way to banish the Shota’s magic, and now, someone was trying to unleash it. We knew it was the Dark Circle.

“What did she see?" My gaze shifted to Felix for a second before moving back to Zeriyah.

“The end of all of us, and the rise of evil,” She bit out slowly, counting her words as the Court broke into chaos.

1 was completely frozen in my seat, speechless. The loud mumbling that rose in the air lingered for a few more minutes before the Court became quiet.

“There must be some kind of way to stop this,” Morgan's cold voice

sounded.

“That's true. We could change this future,” Damien, the demon overlord said.

“To do that, we must find the white wolf and ensure that darkness doesn’t wander free before the Blood moon,” Zeriyah said. "This is exactly what the prophecy had warned us about fourteen years ago.

The rise of the greatest darkness, and the white wolf is the only one that can put an end to this. She is supposed to be here with us. A war is coming, If the white wolf fails, we all are doomed.” | couldn't stop the wild pounding of my heart. And for the first time in my life, | felt fear and even more for my poor sister.

“I can't listen to this,” | heard Morgan mutter to me, before pulling up from his seat, and storming out of the Court.

My eyes fell back on Zeriyah as she locked her gaze with me. "The Blood moon is only a night away; we have to find her.” I sighed deeply. | couldn't listen to this either. | was up from my seat, exiting the Court.

I met Morgan outside, he was already on his horse about to leave, when suddenly, he froze and his emerald green eyes became foggy.

He was being mind-linked.

1 could hear his blasting heartbeat as he broke off from the mind link.

His deep eyes found mine in a haste.

“What is it?" 1 asked quickly.

“We have to get to my pack at once. There's a witch there. And she's asking for us,” He rushed on quickly, making my eyebrows cripple.

“How on earth does that—" | began but Morgan spoke quickly again.

“She belongs to the Dark Circle,” My eyes widened as he voiced.

Immediately, | got on my horse, and we were about to ride off when a voice sounded behind us.

“Where are you both off to in a haste?" | swerved my head around to find Felix's annoying face, staring at us from afar. "Did something happen?” My gaze found Morgan's who looked equally pissed and impatient to get out of here.

“Why don't you mind your fucking business, Felix?" I bellowed over my shoulder, kicking my horse in motion and we rode out of the Council's territory.