Savages

Mark of War

Narrator's pov

This wasn't a test this time. Growing up, Finneas' father would give him so many different tests to prepare him for his time as Alpha. The most important of those tests were the battle strategies. As an Alpha, it is Finneas' job to keep everyone save. If that means planning and preparing for a possible fight, then so be it. Nobody in his pack will get hurt on his watch.

"Ok, listen up." He said. Finneas leaned his hands on his desk and looked at each and every one of them as he spoke, each of them giving him their undivided attention. "As most of you know, we have a huge problem on our hands. I've already briefed you on the Valerian pack and how vicious they can be. We need this estate on strict lockdown, meaning nobody goes in or out without permission from me. Is that clear?"

Everyone in the room nodded on confirmation as they continued to listen. "Claudia," he said, making the girl stand up straighter. "I need you to gather the witches and form a protective barrier around the estate."

The Head witch nodded once before turning on her heels and speed walking out the door with Evie following after her. Finneas, then, turned his attention to the other three girls in the room.

"I assume you filled them in on what's happening here?" He asked his sister who was trying her best to avoid his eyes. "Billie."

"I only told Ava, Finn, I swear." Billie raised her hands in defense while Ava smiled sheepishly at the Alpha.

Not knowing what else to do, she waved at him."I'm Ava."

"What about you?" He turned his attention to the last of the three girls who has been staring back and forth in confusion since they've entered the big house.

Sierra's eyes widened and raised her hands just as Billie did, in defense. "I still don't know what the fuck is going on."

"Okay I'm just going to be brief because we have a lot of work to do, so your knowledge on everything you're about to know isn't really my concern at the moment. We are werewolves, and another werewolf pack is hunting us down, so we're trying out very best to protect ourselves, okay? Okay. Let's go." Finneas rushes as much as he could out of his mouth before rushing towards the door, opening it, and allowing the girls to follow him out.

"I'm sorry— did he say 'werewolves'?" Sierra whispered in her bestfriend's ear.

"Don't think too much about it." Ava whispered back to her. "You can't tell anybody outside of here, tho. Not even your parents. Okay?"

"I just think it's dope, really." Sierra shrugged and kept walking, making Ava and Billie, who was quietly listening in on their conversation, to look at her with raised eyebrows, think about how surprisingly well the other girl is handling the newfound information.

"Is she okay?" Billie asked as they threaded behind Finneas and Sierra. The girl in question was too busy admiring the mid-Victorian interior of the huge house to notice anything else.

"It's Sierra," Ava said as she scanned her bestfriend, looking for any signs of a stroke. It was Sierra, but even a normal Sierra would at least ask a ton of questions, whereas this Sierra in front of them hasn't asked a single one.

Before they knew it, they were walking across the back of the estate where a few other smaller houses were set up, along with two non-house buildings. Claudia and Evie could be seen standing outside of one of those buildings with the Head witch pointing in a few directions and talking to a few guys, seemingly instructing them about something. Evie caught sight of Finneas and the girls. She tapped Claudia on the shoulder and gestured over to them, causing Claudia's eyes to light up at the sight of her husband.

"What are we doing here in the infirmary?" Billie asked, confused.

"There's something I need to show you." Finneas said, looking back at the three girls behind him. "All of you."

As they entered the infirmary building, Ava immediately noticed the near emptiness of the beds, all except two. The only two beds that were occupied looks to have been the deceased judging by the white blanket that covered their bodies.

Ava gulped and clutched onto Billie's hand as a reflex. The black haired girl looked down at their interlocked hands and squeezed them in reassurance, smiling to herself.

As they approached the dead bodies, Ava realized that the stench of decaying flesh that usually takes over a dead body is replaced by a sweet, floral scent. "Why does it smell good?" She asked Billie, only for Evie to come up from next to them to answer the question.

"It's called a Balm de Flor." She said to Ava as the other girl listened. "It's a preservation spell that keeps the body from decaying."

"Oh."

As they all gathered around the beds with Finneas standing at the head, everybody turned their attention to him as he began to speak. "What you guys are about to see isn't for the faint of heart. If you find any of this disturbing, please leave immediate."

When nobody made a move to exit the room, Finneas nodded to Claudia before the Head witch pulled the white blankets from each of the men's faces, emitting gasps from everyone in the room.

Pieces of flesh were hanging off of bones and the eyes of the dead werewolves were missing. What caught Billie's eyes weren't the torn out pieces of flesh, but the sight of a mark on each of their faces. On their cheeks, there was a mark of a big circle with three little circles inside of it. The mark alone was something to worry about.

"The Valerian pack is more dangerous than we thought. You see how the flesh is falling from their bones?" Everybody nodded as their Alpha continued. "It wasn't just one person that did this. There are witches among them."

"One of them knew how to do the melting spell, which is why you see more bone than flesh." Claudia explained to the group. As she was about to continue, Sierra's voice was heard.

"I'm sorry— a melting spell?" She asked and Claudia nodded with a smile.

"There are many names for the spell that dates back thousands of years, but they are rather impossible to pronounce. Henceforth, the melting spell."

"Cool."

Billie nodded and pointed towards the markings on the dead men's faces. "What are those markings for?"

Finneas sighed deeply and shared a look with his wife who nodded, silently urging him to answer. "They're called kill circles. Some packs mark them on their enemies after each kill. Although, I read something about markings in the Valerian history and they have one marking very similar to the kill circles." Finneas leaned over and pointed to a very faint V mark under the markings. "This arrow, here, gives the whole marking a whole new meaning."

Billie licked her lips before speaking, slightly afraid of the answer she'll get, but she asked on nonetheless. "What is it?"

"It's the Valerian mark of war."