Gray Valley

s i x t y - s i x

"YOUR MATE?" He could feel the anger radiate from his father. "That mutt is your mate?"

Michael growled, as Martyn did not respond.

"Are you not ashamed that your mate is a Brown Wolf mutt?"

"I'm not." Their eyes met. "I'm not ashamed that Bryan is my Soulmate.... We don't choose our Soulmates. It is fate... Fate chooses our Soulmates. And fate, would not choose Soulmates we would be ashamed of."

"We do not choose our Soulmates," he muttered to himself. "That's right... We do not choose our Soulmate."

I stared at him in confusion, as tinges of silver seeped into his black eyes.

"F..." Martyn hesitated. "Father...?"

He was shattered out of his trance at the sound of his son's voice.

"It doesn't matter," he told him. "This is my plan... It doesn't matter if that Brown Wolf is your Soulmate." His eyes became black. "He will die."

He turned his head towards the Brown Wolves, who, now, stopped fighting and awaited his command.

"Kill the mutts in their Pack!"

Mutts...

My eyes widened with realisation.

Michael not only wanted to kill Bryan... He wanted to kill Anna and Blayze.

His plan...

I remembered how determination he was, as he demanded that I command the Gray Wolves in the Luna Pack, to shift.

Was that part of his plan?

Did he need shifted Gray Wolves to fight against shifted Brown Wolves?

No.

There was no doubt that he knew how that fight would end. Unless...

It was his plan to kill all Brown Wolves.

"Alpha..." I glanced at a man from my Pack, who I did not recognise. "What should we do?"

The bleeding gash on his shoulder caught my eye.

"Can you fight in your condition?"

"It's not a matter of whether I can or not, Alpha," he told me. "Regardless of my condition, I will... I will fight." He gestured at the wounded members of the Pack standing behind him. "And so will they."

"It is our duty to protect Brown Wolves who are on our side of the war." My gaze returned to the Brown Wolves from the Bronze Pack. "But..."

They way they approached us... It was the way Wolves would approach their prey.

"Your command, Alpha?"

Command?

I faltered.

What command could I possibly give them?

"Distract the Brown Wolves as the Alpha helps both Bryan and Blayze out of the cave."

My eyes fell on Martyn.

Both...

"That's not possible."

I could help one of them out of the cave. But not both...

"Please... I know its not possible for you to help them both, Weslyn. But..." He looked at the Pack in desperation. "If one of you could help them out of the cave, with Alpha Weslyn, we could protect them both... It is our duty. Please..."

There was silence.

"Genesee?" the man with the bleeding gash on his shoulder asked the woman behind him. " There's no way you could fight the Brown Wolves in your condition. Could you help them... Genesee?"

She stared at him.

I froze.

The woman behind him, Genesee, was pregnant.

"L-Luis."

But that was not why I froze.

I froze because of the tears that fell from her gray eyes.

"No."

Why?

"Please..." Martyn whispered. "Bryan... He's my Soulmate. Please..."

"Your Soulmate?"

He nodded.

The tears stopped.

"I will h-help them."

"I'm grateful, Genesee." His eyes returned to me. "Weslyn, what is it?

"Won't the Brown Wolves follow us?"

"They won't," Martyn assured me. "The Brown Wolves are commanded by Michael... They won't separate themselves from him. As long as he is in this cave, they won't follow you."

I took a deep breath to prepare myself. "Alright."

And with that, I approached Blayze's unconscious body.

"By Luna...." I turned to see Michael smiling at me. "Do you plan to run from me... Alpha?"

Martyn gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare speak."

"Run, Alpha. Run." He taunted. "You can't run forever."

He was right.

You can't run forever.

"And when you can't run... Turn into a monster, Alpha Weslyn."

And even as I lifted Blayze to support him with my shoulder, Michael's words resonated within me.

You can't run... Turn into a monster.

I frowned.

You can't run forever.

The shifted Brown Wolves would stay in the cave.

But what would happen when they attacked unshifted Gray Wolves?

Run, Alpha. Run.

What would happen to my Pack?

"A-Alpha."

Genesee was beside me.

You can't run.

They were in danger.

Turn into a monster.

And even though, I knew it was part Michael's plan...

"SHIFT!"

I became a monster.