The Alpha and The Enforcer [TATE]

Chapter 44

Ellie's P.O.V

The Next Morning...

"We're in the fight of our lives, aren't we?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

Miranda's eyes narrowed on the horizon, her voice calm but grim. Both Jacob and I stood outside her cabin. "It won't just be a fight, it'll be the reckoning of the century."

I leaned into Jacob a little more unconsciously. "The pack is ready to face Kyle. But this... destroyer of worlds? How do you know it's coming?" Jacob asked, sceptical but curious.

Miranda's gaze slid to him slowly, like she was weighing his soul. "Can't you feel it? You're a child of the moon, Alpha. Nature is your realm. Something's shifted. The winds are off, the earth unsettled. There's a pressure in the air that doesn't belong. An imbalance that makes your wolf restless."

Jacob hesitated, just enough to show he did feel it.

"What can you tell us about it?" I asked, pushing past fear to focus on what mattered most: how to stop it.

"That you've faced it before," she said, her eyes locking onto mine, "once"

My brows furrowed. "We've never faced an enemy like this."

"Not the pack," she said, taking a step closer. "You, Ellie."

"I don't understand."

"You were marked by fire for a reason. Fire is wild, destructive, but also cleansing. In many religions, it's sacred. In nature, it gives rebirth after devastation. You think your power is dangerous... but it's the only thing that can defeat what's coming. You are the key."

I glanced at Jacob, heart racing. "Why should we believe you?" Indeed, you can never fully trust a witch. They always have a vendetta, and it's not a stereotype.

Miranda's tone snapped, sharp and impatient. "Don't waste time questioning me. Worry about what I can offer."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"My services," she said plainly. "You need me."

We both stared at her, startled. Miranda had kept her distance from this pack for years. For her to offer help now, something wasn't adding up.

"Why?" I asked, my voice quiet but firm. "Why now?"

"Because whatever is coming terrifies me," she said. "And I don't scare easily."

Before we could say anything else, the wind began to rise. Not with the playful rustle of nature, but with weight. With a warning. I turned my face toward it and felt it. A presence. Wrong. Heavy. Coming.

Jacob met my eyes. He felt it too.

"How long do we have?" he asked, voice low.

"Two days," Miranda answered. "And when it comes, it will follow Kyle's attack, almost immediately after."

Jacob cursed under his breath. "Then we'd better prepare."

In the War Room

Jacob spread a map across the table in the planning room on the second floor of the pack house. We'd gathered everyone first thing that morning.

"Miranda couldn't give us exact coordinates," Jacob started, "but she described a clearing near the southern ridge of our territory, just past the training grounds."

"There's a lot of clearings near the pack house," Carl said flatly.

"True," Jacob nodded. "But she mentioned something distinct, a species of purple flower that grows nowhere else in this region." He marked an X just south of the training grounds.