Obsidian Night Pack

70

"This is not a good idea. What are you thinking? Weapons?! What do you need weapons for? No, no, I knew you weren't feeling very well, I'll take you back to the packhouse right now." Brett mumbled on as he grabbed me by the forearm, trying to drag me back the way that we had come.

"Hold on! Hear me out!" I yelled as I struggled against his grip.

"Think about it! I can't even shift yet, I need something to protect myself for when Vincent attacks again." Brett stopped pulling me.

"What do you mean, when he attacks again?" I took a deep breath in, thankful that he had stopped and was listening to me.

"I mean there's a high chance that he is going to attack again. Think about it, if his goal was to destroy the Obsidian Night back, there would have been more damage done during his first attack. Instead though, his wolves were easily taken down, at least in my opinion. There was no strategy, no backup plan, nothing. They just came in and raged havoc!" 

"Which I can conclude to mean that he doesn't want to destroy the pack, he wants to destroy Alaric. He did that through threatening him for years, kidnapping me and.... torturing me, and finally returning me. Everything that has happened has been a blow to Alaric, personally." I turned around to face the training grounds and began walking towards them again.

"His method is always to shatter the playing board, but no one ever expects the pieces to put themselves back together. He didn't plan on Alaric and I forgiving each other so quickly or the fact that you had captured Iris to regain my wolf. Most of all he would never expect us to hold an initiation ceremony the day after an attack. That's just a blow to his pride." I kept walking forward as I explained everything to Brett, who watched me closely as if he was analyzing my every word.

"You knew this from the beginning, didn't you. That's why you wanted Alaric's approval on the ceremony in the first place." I couldn't help the small smile that crawled onto my face.

"When you say it like that, it kind of makes me sound evil. But no, I didn't know this from the beginning, though I definitely had my suspicions. Having some time to think about it clearly though, without Alaric breathing down my neck has helped though."

"I'd still call you an evil genius, even if you didn't plan this ahead of time. I don't think I know of anyone who would think this far ahead. But still..." He trailed off, and I knew what he was thinking.

"I know, still these are all just my guesses. These aren't actual facts, but that's the funny thing about power. It's the people that take their guesses of what could happen and turn them into reality, my the pieces not only fix themselves but also make the moves for you. Vincent will come, I'm sure of that, especially now with this ceremony. It's basically a decoration of us moving on and starting to live our happily ever after. And he won't be on the sidelines for something like that. This is his worst-case scenario." I glanced over at Brett who had a worried look on his face, as he refused to make eye contact with me.

"No matter what you think, I truly want this initiation ceremony to be a wonderful thing, and to take the opportunity to see the pack members with my own eyes and them me. There's just also a high chance that we will be invaded."

"Clover this is crazy, he literally just attacked us, it would be reckless to invade again. Besides, security has never been this tight. If anything he should be preparing for the fight to come to him." I shook my head as Brett opened the door to the training grounds building.

"That's exactly why he would do it, the Obsidian Night pack's reputation has kept almost every enemy from even considering an invasion. Not for Vincent though. He spent years accumulating rogue wolves to create a fake pack, for this specific moment. I'm sure he would love the chance to go back to his pack house built on the blood of many wolves, but he won't get the chance. He's a calculating type of person, but he also gets angered very easily. Provoking him is nothing, it's the strength one needs to have in order to deal with the consequences. That's the real issue." 

"I bet he's waiting to see the Obsidian Night pack fall into despair at the horror their Luna caused them. Waiting for his moment to come running in and "save" the pack, but once he gets the word about my grand apology, he'll snap. He'll come full force, ready to fight, but I can't do that without weapons." There was a long and quiet pause as Brett and I walked down the stairs to the armory.

"Have you told Alaric?" I knew he would ask that, and sadly Brett knew what my answer was even before he did.

"No, but I am going to when we return in, what do we have left? Fifteen minutes?" I tried to joke, but after everything I had just said, allowed, it was trying to make someone laugh at a funeral.

"This needs to happen, this ceremony needs to take place, I need you on my side, when I tell him, Brett." He sighed as he passed the isle of weapons, almost carelessly dragging his finger from shelf to shelf. Though he wasn't really looking, he didn't need a weapon. In a matter of seconds, he could shift and be his own living breathing shield, sword, and armor. I wonder what that would feel like... I had been told that it was painful to shift, but now that I had been cursed and broken the curse it would be even more painful. Honestly, I think there's even a chance I could die from the pain, but that's a worry for another day.

"You really are an evil genius... you thought this all through, even got me alone, just like you wanted in order to persuade me to be on your side." I didn't say anything as I made my way to the silver section of knives. Knives were what I knew now, they were then told the fit in my hand like gloves.

"You even shared pieces of yourself that I'm betting Alaric doesn't know yet. Like how well you know our enemy, it's like you crawled inside his brain and lived there this whole time." I selected two that seemed like the perfect side for me.

"If where I staid was his brain, then I would hate to see what facinorous things live in that man's heart." 

But I think we'll find out as soon as he comes.

"I'm not completely evil you know, I do not plan to sacrifice the whole pack just to get Vincent to come out at play. Everyone will be waiting for the ceremony to start well before it even does. I'll take the stage an hour early and then right after all the women and children will be escorted to the bunker for protection. Then queue Alaric to explain the situation to the male warriors, or maybe Sander would be a better choice... hmmm... trivial details. In the end, we will be prepared."

"I hate to say it, but you've really grown into a fine Luna, and most definitely the Luna that this pack needs. I'm on you're side, I'll back you up when you tell Alaric." A small weight was taken off my shoulders, yet again by Brett. He was truly becoming the friend that I needed.

"Thank you, I really do appreciate it," I said as I picked up the two knives with their cases.

"This needs to end, it's been going on long enough," Brett replied.

"Longer than we even realized..."

I had a feeling... a gut feeling...that something was going to burn. Us or him I couldn't tell, but the wood in the hearth were stocked, someone just needed to light the flame.