Fangs and Roses

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Red Fire

Sapphire Nightborne

My eyes franitcally searched through the trees as we waited around the Southern edge of the pack lands, just before the forest line. It had been twenty minutes since we were alerted of the breach, and there had been no word from the border patrol since. I had sent a few more groups of warriors, but no report came.

Xander was stationed at the Northern edge, Jared at the Eastern Edge, and Kalma at the Western Edge. We were Shadow Mountain's last line of defense, and it was our duty to prevent them from reaching the stronghold.

The silence that enveloped us was deafening as we waited with bated breath, the bells that had alerted us of the intruders had too gone quiet, unsure of what was about to break through the tree line. Xander, Jared and I decided that it would do us no good to send more teams into the forest where Damien's pack had the advantage of moving around us undetected, the forest providing them with more cover than the vials already did. We stood a higher chance if we fought them in the clearing where they had no space to hide.

The Werecats kept as close to the stronghold as possible so that they could drag their members into the dungeons should they be poisoned. I expressed my concerns if they could not reach the dungeons fast enough, but Kalma assured me that the pride already had agreed on other arrangements to assure the safety of both their pride and the pack.

The sound of paws against the earth caused me to turn around, my body stiffening at the huge beast in front of me. It looked exactly like the monster Xander had turned into when he went into rut, only the one standing in front of me was coated with a thick layer of dark brown fur, and was smaller than the behemoth Xander had shifted into, but still considerable large nonetheless. It looked down at me and tilted its head to the side.

*"Hey, Sapph."*

"Angel?"

Her black lips pulled back against her teeth, displaying two rows of sharp fangs, in an attempt to smile.

*"We decided it would be better for Shadow Mountain if we fought in Lycan form. Mother and father went to join Kalma and Jared respectively."*

I nodded and looked down to see that she was wearing silver rings on each of her long clawed fingers. They were fitted around the first knuckles of her fingers, and had exact replicas of her claws attached to them which covered her own. She caught the direction of my gaze and splayed her fingers to allow me to get a closer look.

*"These were made from pure silver, and each member of our family has a set that was made specifically for them, and cooled in liquid wolfsbane. They cut through our kind like butter, and prevent them from healing."*

Our conversation was interrupted when I heard screams coming from the forest. My warriors started to move towards the forest, but I stopped them. They opened their mouths to protest, but I raised my hand to silence them... I did not want them running into an ambush. The screams stopped as soon as they started, causing the forest to fall quiet once more.

*"Jared, Xander and Ophelia, report your status now."*

*"The Eastern edge is clear."*

*"The Northern edge is clear."*

*"The Southern edge is clear."*

What was Damien waiting for? The time between the first breach and now should have been sufficient for him to storm the clearing, but yet we stood here on our own.

A breeze blew through through the forest, towards the clearing, causing all of us to growl. The wind carried the stench of death and blood straight into our nostrils. Angel's tail swished from side to side as she sniffed the air trying to catch the scent of anything besides the stench that blanketed everything. Her ears twitched as she tried to pick up any sound, that would betray the position of Damien's forces, from the forest.