Gray Valley

s i x t y - f o u r

"THE ENEMIES ARE HERE! If you can fight, move the wounded where they will be safe and help me fight," I commanded. "FIGHT TO PROTECT OUR PACK!"

I turned back to the forest.

I could sense it... The hostility. Sense the hostility of the Brown Wolves that approached the caves.

"There's a Gray Wolf," Martyn told me. "There's a Gray Wolf approaching the Safe Place... With the Brown Wolves."

I nodded.

I could not recognise the Gray Wolf. But, they could only be one of two people... Maryanne Grant, or...

"Alpha Weslyn... We meet again."

Taking a breath to compose myself, I turned towards the entrance of the Cave, and found the owner of the voice, with a group of unshifted Brown Wolves...

Michael Grant.

The caves were supposed to be a safe place. They were supposed to be a place, where those who couldn't fight and had nowhere to go, would be safe.

But with Michael there... It was no longer safe.

"Father..." Martyn whispered from beside me. "Why?"

"Why?"

"Why are you here? Why are you with the Brown Wolves? Why are you fighting against your Pack?"

"This Pack..." His voice was barely audible. "Is not a Pack I belong to."

"You hate Brown Wolves, don't you?!" Martyn screamed. "You hate Brown Wolves! But you've allied with them... You've allied against your pack, Father! Why?"

"You wouldn't understand, Martyn."

His pain was evident in his voice.

"And whose fault is that? My fault? Is it my fault that I don't understand you?" He paused. "If you had actually been a father to me... I would understand you." Michael was silent. "But, you hadn't been a father... It was mother, who had been both a mother and a father, to me."

"I've had enough, Martyn..."

"You've had enough?"

"I've had enough of merely listening to you. Listening to you... As though, it is my fault you don't understand me."

"You may not be at fault for that, Michael..." At the sound of my voice, his attention returned to me. "But both, you and Mary, are at fault, for this war. And..." I closed my eyes. "I am also at fault."

Martyn was quick to intervene. "That's not-"

"It is," I insisted. "My position as the Alpha, is the reason for this war."

"You may be the reason for it, Weslyn... But you aren't at fault for it."

"I am at fault for this war, because I am the reason-"

A laugh interrupted me.

I glanced at Michael. "What are you laughing for?"

"It's your fault? You're the reason? How could this war be your fault, Alpha Weslyn? This war would be your fault if it was between Gray Wolves and Brown Wolves... But it's not, is it? This is a war between Gray Wolves... In which Brown Wolves die. A war that I wanted."

"A war that you wanted?" I repeated incredulously. "Wars don't start because people want them to start... Wars start because people want to kill people." I paused. "And Mary started this war to kill me."

"She knows you're under the Angel's protection... She knows she can't kill you."

"She wants West to become the Alpha"

"Do you think that West, as he is now... Would become the Alpha of the Luna Pack?"

"No..." I hesitated. "He wouldn't do that to me."

"Do you think Mary wouldn't know that?"

"Then..."

"She started the war because I told her to start it... Because I wanted it; it was part of my plan." There was no happiness in the smile on his face. "So... What do you think, Alpha Weslyn? Who is the reason for this war?  Is it you, Mary... Or me?" "

"Why?"

"Just as I told Martyn..." His fingers morphed into a claw. "You wouldn't understand."

"How do you know that I wouldn't understand your reasons...?"

"Because..." Within seconds, he was behind me, with his claw grazing my neck. "You are Wesley's daughter."

"Weslyn!"

"No, Martyn. Wait..."

There was silence.

"What do you want, Michael?"

"Listen... I may not be able to kill you, Alpha Weslyn, but I can hurt you."

"I know that... What do you want?"

"Fight... You wanted the members of the Pack to help you, didn't you? You wanted them to fight to protect themselves, didn't you?"

"I..."

"Then, make them fight... Make them shift into their Wolf form."

"What?"

"Make them shift."

"Why?"

"To fight... To protect..." his voice trailed off. "You know why."

"Are you trying to help me?" I asked.

"Help you?" Michael laughed again. "No. Did you think I planned on helping you?"

"But..."

"It does not matter to me if I help you. But my plan... My plan does matter to me. So..." I flinched at the feeling of his claw on my neck. "It does not matter to me if helping you becomes part of my plan."

His eyes met mine.

"Make them shift, Alpha Weslyn."

I responded at once. "No."

"No?"

"If the Gray Wolves shift into their Wolf Form... The Brown Wolves will be killed."

"And that matters to me, because...?"

"I am not a monster, Michael Grant."

"What?"

"I won't kill Brown Wolves in a war between Gray Wolves."

"So, you won't make them shift?"

"No."

His claw retracted. "I had a feeling that you would say that."

I turned towards him.

"You are Wesley's daughter, aren't you?"

I stared at him in confusion.

"Of course I am."

"Wesley was not a monster," he told me. "But he loved his Pack... And he would have become a monster to protect his Pack." I did not know how to respond. "I know you would, too."

Liam. West. Anna. Bryan. Martyn.

I would... I would become a monster to protect them. I would become a monster to protect my Pack.

"I exchanged blood with the Brown Wolves."

I knew it.

"And if I make them shift... The Luna Pack would be in danger. And if they were... You would become a monster, wouldn't you, Alpha Weslyn?"

I froze.

"I know you would... Your father would."

"No, Michael..." My voice was a mere whisper. "Please."

"Subcinctus."

Almost at once, Brown Wolves began to shift into their Wolf form.