Kendra woke up with a splitting headache, groaning softly at the uncomfortable pain. It was bad, but not as bad as yesterday’s had been. The last thing she remembered before the pain had become too unbearable was struggling to prevent her wolf from taking over.
No wait.
Her wolf had taken over.
Kendra shot up with a start when that thought registered in her head, a weird feeling of trepidation completely taking over her as she touched herself all over to see if she was okay. She was. She tentatively felt for her wolf in her head,
MM, SATED.
The she-wolf sighed deeply in relief, but for some reason she thought of Killian giving her a very disapproving gaze. He had warned her about all of this after all— told her that her decision to continue with this quest was quite reckless and stupid, but had she listened?
No.
She found that she needed him around her to balance her impetuousness out. He was always there for her to prevent her from making reckless decisions after all… but this time her need for space and desire to be as far away from the mate bond as possible had caused her to reject his undoubtedly biased, but nevertheless sound counsel.
And now she was paying the price.
But what exactly was the price?
She was putting herself in some heart quickening situations, but so far everything was turning out okay. Everything had turned out quite alright after all even with her major slip up, so why had she even been so worried?
A smile broke out on the dark skinned beauty’s face as she climbed out of bed, somehow her wolf had brought her back in before morn, she just hoped no one had noticed what would have definitely been a strange sight. She hated the fact that it had happened, but there was really no need crying over spilt milk, what she could do now was just try to think up possible outcomes and figure out ways to deal with them. And so she laid her makeshift bed, and went about the tent, tidying up. She noticed her pair of breeches and the tunic she had worn the night before, but they were all ruined.
Completely ripped to shreds.
Scoffing slightly, she muttered softly to herself saying something about how by the time she would complete this darned quest, she’d have no clothes to wear.
Kendra tried to rack her brain for memories of last night, but it was all blurry. She couldn’t really remember much. She recalled drinking water from a small lake in her wolf form, and then she remembered standing atop one small hill and howling in contentment, but that was just about everything she remembered. The she wolf passed by the small vanity mirror Alaric had gotten her on one of his impromptu scouting trips to go find some clothes to cover her nakedness, but she saw something from the corner of her eyes… something that had her backtracking to the mirror again.
A soft gasp escaped her lips as she observed herself in the mirror.
Blood.
It was obviously not hers, but there was no mistaking it, she was definitely covered in the substance. Her mouth, her fingertips, hell there were a few smears on her chest!
What had she done?!
The female Beta tried to calm herself down.
She had probably hunted down some hare, or deer last night, there was nothing to worry about? Right?
But what if it wasn’t an animal?
What if her prey had been human?
No.
No.
Kendra brushed those thoughts away. There was no way she’d do that. Her wolf had gone wild a couple of times before, but never had she ever hunted a human down in her state of wildness.
Everything was going to be alright.
A loud bell began to ring suddenly, and Kendra heard what seemed like a noisy commotion, all coming from outside. She was curious, but going outside with the way she looked— hair a tangled mess of curls, completely naked, save for her pantaloons, her mouth stained with blood— was definitely a no no, and so she took the next few minutes cleaning up, albeit at inhuman speed. She was just about to step out of her tent when she heard someone call out her fake name in a shout. “Lady Artemis! The General wants to see you.”
She stepped out to meet a lanky, youthful soldier dressed in their usual horrible, red ensemble, his face completely covered in freckles and acne. He bowed when he saw her, gesturing for her to follow him, “Any reason why he wants to see me?” The she-wolf asked inquisitively, “And also, I heard a bell ring. What was that about?”
The young lad didn’t reply her many questions, all he said was, “I was just sent to deliver messages, my lady… I was told not to engage you in any conversation of any sort.”
Wow.
What did that even mean?
Could it be that they were finally on to her?
Did it mean that she had to make a dash for it while she still had the chance?
As these thoughts flickered in the female beta’s mind, she didn’t realise that they had arrived at their destination— one of the grounds where the soldiers trained at. Everybody in the camp was gathered there… over a thousand soldiers, and then there were the cooks, the maids, the general and then herself.
What in the hell was going on?
Now she knew that Alaric Macintyre was intimidating, but today, standing in front of his troupes dressed in his usual dark ensemble, he looked even more intimidating than usual.
It was so obvious in the way the soldiers bowed their head in submission, in the way the cooks and maids looked like this was the last place they wanted to be, hell, even in the way Kendra felt the hair at the back of her neck bristle in wariness.
“I would say good morn, but there is nothing good about this morning,” He started, his face a handsome brick of impassiveness, “Yesterday, we had a break in. One of the werewolves sneaked into our camp, my guess is to gather more information on us and know our numbers. One of our soldiers spotted it, and what did he get for his troubles? He was completely mauled to death for that.”
Kendra gasped softly from where she was standing beside the young lad.
Oh no. She had killed someone yester night!
But wait.
What if another wolf had broken in like they were implying? What if she wasn’t the one who was responsible for this grievous situation?
She chided herself for that absolutely ridiculous thought.
The probability of another wolf making it into the Curers camp was very low if not practically non-existent. No wolf in their right mind would attempt such a feat, not unless they had some kind of death wish. The question now was,
Why would she kill someone?
“You see, this is what I’ve been ceaselessly talking about— the vile nature of the werewolf… why they need to be completely annihilated.”
Kendra observed with bated breath how he worked the crowd with his words, how he fanned their anger and indignation, how he made it seem like the werewolves really were the bad guys.
Wow.
He was good.
Pretty good at working crowds to do what he wanted; even Kendra felt like maybe she needed to pay for her crimes after all.
But that was just the thing.
Something wasn’t quite adding up. Kendra didn’t think her wolf too far gone like that to commit such a vile act.
“We’re going to attack Arjun next,” Alaric continued when the shouts had ebbed a bit. “We’re going to make sure that Samiel’s death is avenged… we’re going to make sure that everyone we have lost is avenged, and we’re doing this tomorrow night!”
A deafening cheer broke out among the crowd, soldiers and maids, and cooks alike jubilating at the seemingly sanctimonious words of their savior. Kendra felt sick to her stomach. Unable to take it anymore, she sneaked away, meaning to head back to her tent, but she heard two maids talking on her way, “Yer know, Vero said it saved her life!” One whispered excitedly to the other. Now on a normal day. Kendra would have stayed far away, hidden and listened in, trusting her supernatural hearing to do the job for her, but she didn’t have that kind of patience this time.
“Are you talking about the werewolf that broke into the camp?” She asked loudly, taking huge strides to close the gap between them. The two women’s eyes opened wide in fear at her approach, but she didn’t care, she needed answers. “I believe I asked you two a question,”
Apparently that was all she needed to get them talking.”
“Aye milady, we talk abouts the werewolf. One of the other maids said it saves her life.”
“You have already said that,” She cut her off, ignoring the many mistakes, “Saved her from who?”
The other maid, a slim, buxom redhead answered this time. “From the soldier that was killed, milady… she say he raped her, and he had almost finished killin’ her when the wolf appeared out of nowhere. She say it growl angrily at soldier, but soldier tried to shoot it with his pistol, and it attacked,”
Kendra’s soldiers slumped in relief at that.
She had always known it.
She was no killer?
She was an avenger. He had deserved his death, and so now she did not feel guilty anymore. A bright smile lit up her face as she thanked the two maids for sharing the information with her.
“I don’t know what you two think, but in my opinion, that soldier got exactly what he deserved.” She said with a smirk and walked off, leaving the two maids staring at her retreating figure in silent wonder.