Mishaps and Wolves (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 37 - Magical Illusions

Chapter 37 - Magical Illusions

The park was quite as shifters made their way to their beloved statue.

It sat right at the heart of their town and was the embodiment of what they were. Wolves. It was a huge marble wolf that stood howling at the sky. Now, their alpha had given them the greatest gift of all to go with it. The Dragon Orb of the First Alphas. Tonight was a night after the full moon, when in their history the ceremony for the making of the first shifter had been completed. This would mark the first time that the orb was with them and from then on, its luck would fully be transferred to them.

The wolf shifters all gathered around the wolf fountain. Their Alpha, Regan, stood at the base of the fountain. In his hands he held a dark cloth that seemed to cover something in his hands. Once they had all gathered around him, a silence fell over the crowd.

"Fellow wolves!" he called out to them, his voice booming loudly and a victorious smile overtaking his face. "Tonight is the night our luck will change. On this night, the Dragon Orb will be ours and our pack will have all the power!" The crowd cheered at his words as he pulled the cloth away and revealed to the crowd the Dragon Orb to the people.

In the light of the moon, the orb glowed golden, swirls within moving as the magic within it coalesced and spun. The sight of it brought shivers to a few shifters that had been waiting for this moment for years.  As Regan spun around to face the statue and place the orb ceremoniously under the paw of the marble wolf, the sound of a rustling bush came from their left.

Regan spun to face the person that was slowly making their way towards them. He held onto the orb, and found a smirk made its way to his face when he saw the small, feminine figure come into view.

"So, what have you got for me, my little pet?" He said, knowing that any true self-respecting shifter would have fought back against him. This wolf was a weakling in his eyes and he was going to make sure that she knew that she was nothing but an ant beneath his boot.

She came closer, her shoulders hunched over slightly and looking just as meek as before. She came to stand right before Regan, looking straight to the ground. "I did it," she said softly.

Regan could hear the regret in her voice and he knew that it had to be something for her to come back here and tell him so. "What did you-?"

At that moment, an explosion went off. Regan looked north, towards the sound of the explosion and saw fire lighting some of the trees. He looked back to the shewolf in front of him. "Which building?"

She sniffed, "The Pack House."

Regan drew back for a moment. He was truly impressed by how far this pathetic shewolf had gone, just to be with her mate. A smile made its way across his face, "Good. You can stay with your mate."

She looked up, shock in her eyes before she was turning around and looking for him. It wasn't long before her mate stood before her and was running to catch her in his arms. Regan let them hold onto each other for a few moments more, wondering at what is was that made people go crazy when it came to their mates. He hadn't found his and if this was what they did to you, he wasn't sure that he wanted one.

"Now that's settled, you can both leave."

"What?" the shewolf spun back around, anger just under the surface of her eyes.

He smirked at them, "Well, you just betray your own pack. How can I be sure that you won't do the same to us? I have to think of the entire pack and its for them that I am kicking you out." The male was visibly angry at Regan's proclamation but the woman didn't look like she felt anything other than the pain of sudden realisation at what she had done. She just grabbed her mates hand and silently, they both ran out of the park. Regan had no concerns about them. They were both weak and after the stunt that the woman had pulled, there was no chance that she could return to her old pack...or any pack for that matter.

He shrugged all thoughts of them away and turned back to the wolf fountain. That was when purple mist started forming around the statue and falling over its sides. A large explosion lit the air and he had to look away otherwise he'd have hurt his sensitive eyes. When he was sure the light had receded, he looked back to the fountain. The blood drained from his face.

There on the edge of the fountain, where he would have stood for the ceremony, stood a figure that wore a dark cloak. From the raised hood, red hair could be seen coming down in long strands. The figure wasn't wide or tall, more slender and feminine. A female. There was only one creature that he could think of like that and he knew that there was a reason for this visit. Especially as nobody had actually seen the Ghuarían in this realm since the magic began to die out centuries ago.

"Where is the Dragon Orb?" the feminine voice boomed. The Ghuarían didn't shout, but there voice seemed magnified to his sensitive ears.

"Who is asking?" called one of the younger shifters from the back.

Regan was one moment away from giving that boy a beating, if the Ghuarían hadn't turned from one side of the gathered wolves to the other, as though searching. When she stopped, it was to look in his direction. Her arm moved up from beneath the cloak and he saw the arms that were no clue those of the Ghuarían. They were covered from wrist to shoulder, where she wore a metal breastplate, in tattoos. The ink was dark against her golden complexion, making them stand out as clear as day.

She pointed directly at him. She looked up and from the hood, a pair of golden eyes glowed back at him, "Give me the Dragon Orb; it does not belong to you." Her voice was evenly paced out and the tone monotonous.

Her voice sent a shiver down Regan's spine. All this time he'd though that he had been doing a good thing and that the Ghuarían would have approved of his actions. But by the way that she asked for her gift to the shifter back showed him that it had all been a lie. His mind turned to chaos and he froze in his place.

"The orb was a gift to an alpha of all creatures. You have chosen to become what the humans have described shifters to be in their tales and forgotten the gift that you were granted. A shifter pack was meant for many, not one. Give me the Orb!" On the last word flames lit up along the exits into the area where the statue had been placed. The flames burned purple and Regan suddenly saw the world shrink as the truths he'd built his life on crumbled to the ground. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak.

The beta snatched the glowing orb from his alpha's hands and came forward slowly, not wanting to offend the Ghuarían, lest she take away their lives, or worse, take away their ability to shift. That was what had rooted most of them to where they stood and kept them from stopping the beta return the prize that they had all followed Regan to reach.

The moment that the Ghuarían touched the orb to pick it up, a loud piercing cream blasted against their ears. Regan held his hands to head, finally moving to protect himself and his mind from being turned into goo and drew as far away from the fountain as he could. He watched the Ghuarían return her arms, and the orb, beneath her dark cloak before more purple mist began to surround the fountain and the feet of the Ghuarían. Then, a bright flash of light as more purple flames erupted in front of the Ghuarían, making the shifter move back and cover their eyes to protect them.

But with all the lights and the smoke, Regan still managed to see a figure move from the corner of his eye out of a hidden entrance to the fountain and a car screech not too long after that.

A/N: So this was done whilst watching the A-team and so were the next two chapters :D Now isn't that inspiration or what?! If you haven't seen the latest one with the amazingly talented crew, the trailers on the side and I think I should probably let you know that I've seen it almost a hundred times since it was released. So I'm addicted, what can I say ;p But this is honestly one of the hardest chapters I have ever had to write so I hope you enjoy. It was sort of rushed but when I get a chance, I will definitely go over it. Can't wait for the big finale!