Chapter 113 - 112. Mourning

Everybody relaxed as the man disappeared between the trees. Glen turned to Silphie and thanked her with a nod. He knew it wasn't over but at least, for now, they would be able to breathe and think about everything that had happened. They needed a cool head and perspective to know what strategy to adopt from now on.

Their power was indisputable now thanks to the system which had unleashed them, but their weaknesses were also numerous. There were still too many unknowns. From the origin and the functioning of the system to the number of traps that the enemy has already settled up.

Glen was sure that the Skinwalkers curse, and even the evolution of his curse, was just one of the many traps Light set for revenge.

Indeed, it was unlikely that the witch whose anger had only grown during all these years hadn't planned something else to hasten their downfall. From now on, each unusual event should be handled as a possible piece that the witch moved on the chessboard of her revenge.

The dominant was deep in these thoughts when Silver's voice snapped him back to reality. The alpha turned and saw the leader of Bloodhood with his son in his arms.

"He's just asleep," Silver reassured him when he saw his concerned face. "The same thing happened last time. He felt bad after using his command to force me to stop. I guess he needs his mate more than me right now." He stretched out his arms and the young alpha lifted the body of his sleeping omega to transfer it into his arms.

The head of the young werewolf rested on the chest of his dominant and, probably because Eden had felt thanks to the pheromones that he was now in the arms of his alpha, he started to snuggle against him, his tail wrapped around his leg. Glen chuckled.

"Look at you acting all cute when you're asleep, while you only act boldly when you're awake." He kissed his forehead and looked up to thank the leader for bringing his mate back to him.

"I'm sorry. This is the first time the pack has lost members in such conditions, I lost control for a moment and forced you to endanger yourself."

"It's ok, I can understand. I know that a packmate is part of your extended family. Seeing them die like that, in front of your eyes, must have been something difficult to experience."

The alpha put his clawed hand on his son's head and stroked his fur.

"We have a lot to discuss, or rather you have a lot to tell me. I don't know exactly where to start but I think it's about time we had a conversation about everything that happened. But first…"

He turned to the couple he had spared earlier and to Silphie who was with them.

"I'm glad to see that I was right to trust you and open the door to a discussion between Blue Moon and Bloodhood." When his eyes fell on her, the woman hid slightly behind her mate.

Trevor put an arm around her shoulders to pull her forward. Trevor nodded respectfully at the alpha.

"I let myself be blinded by fear and I made the wrong choice. If you want to thank someone, they are the only ones to thank. Silphie and Ulicia, along with my sister, Tara, opposed Chief Elias from the very beginning." He lowered his head, ashamed. "I don't deserve your thanks," his gaze fell on Connor who was on the floor. "Nor your forgiveness," He muttered.

Trevor, like Wyatt, was among the few who knew about the curse. He had told his twin and his mate about it, provoking fear and resignation from the two women.

However, the Skinwalker hadn't given up. He refused to let his mate be swallowed up by Light's darkness.

When Elias came to him with his cruel and selfish plan, he immediately agreed, not only for his sister and his mate but also for all the rest of the Skinwalkers.

Even if peace reigned today, there was no evidence that it would last forever. Wizards and witches unable to protect themselves in troubled times were vulnerable. They would become prime prey and that fact terrified him.

Trevor had only come to his senses when he felt the fear of losing his mate that Elias had taken with him as a silent threat. To put a Skinwalker through this same fear, even worse, to make him voluntarily experience the loss of his mate suddenly seemed to him an unfair fate for the man who wasn't even aware of his heritage.

The alpha turned to Silphie. He hadn't yet had the opportunity to find out who was the woman who had scared away the one who threatened them, but he suspected her importance in the tribe by seeing how the other two treated her.

The woman nodded in greeting and introduced herself when she felt the alpha's gaze on her.

"I'm Silphie. I'm Chief Elias' wife. It's an honor for us to have a Bloodhood's Alpha among us after millennia apart. I know you have a lot of questions but…" She trailed off and turned her head to look behind the alpha. He swiveled to follow her gaze.

Emerging from the forest. The backup the leaders had been waiting for had just arrived. Werewolves and civilians elite WIA soldiers were walking side by side.

"Both of us need to mourn the losses we have suffered and we would like to do so with dignity."

The alpha thought of the fighters he had passed in the forest on their way, who had been killed by Connor. His heart sank when he thought of the fighters on the ground. In a few seconds, their bodies would be discovered by their packmates and he already guessed the pain and tears that their return to the cave would bring.

Silver nodded silently then looked at the bodies of Elias and his henchmen, still unconscious on the ground after their fight against Glen and Eden.

"Do you need help to take care of them?"

Silphie turned to consider his question and shook her head.

"I think it will be fine. After the losses we suffered, I don't think any other tribesman would want to listen to Elias even if he tried to convince them. We are going to free the inhabitants that his close guard had locked up and we are going to mourn our dead before we look to the future, however murky it is. We have no other choice because we have no intention to let the Skinwalkers die.

I will also start studying our curse. I want to know if there is anything I can do to lessen the effects or remove it."

Without a word the alpha nodded. As he had predicted, the troop had arrived near their packmates' bodies and he heard the shocked reactions. He needed to talk to them as soon as possible to explain the situation and tell them that everything was under control.

Silphie caught his attention one last time.

"With your permission, Alpha, I will come tomorrow morning to meet you. I think I can control my husband but with Wyatt running away, Bloodhood pack, but also you are in danger." She had turned to Greg who didn't react and just stared at her. "I can grant you the protection of the Goddess Talamh and put a defense spell on you.

I would also like to put runes of protection on Bloodhood's cave." she said to Greg. "It would be an apology for what my husband and his men did to you and it would allow you not to be left helpless, should you ever come face to face with Wyatt."

The doctor frowned to answer her.

"If your magic is stained by this dark energy or whatever you're talking about, isn't it dangerous for me to let you put a spell on me."

"I have yet to study this curse to find out if our lunar magic is completely gone, but putting a spell on you won't be a problem. The magic I will use is the one I was born with, that of the Servants of Talamh. I became a Skinwalker through my marriage but originally I was an animist witch. I can still use my birth magic."

The man looked down at his fiancé who just shrugged in agreement.

"In this case, this is where we separate Alpha."

The leader understood that it was time to withdraw and bid her goodbye. As she walked away followed by Connor and Greg but also by Glen who was still holding Eden in his arms, Silver turned to his packmates.

He swallowed hard to get the lump down his throat. A human from the WIA approached him before they reached them.

"What exactly happened here?" asked Bradley Stevenson who was leading the WIA's men.

"Why do the Kids leave with them as if they were good friends? Moreover, what is this massacre?"

The man didn't need an answer for the scene they had passed on their way through the forest. He would recognize his disciple's fighting style among a thousand. He had trained Connor since he was seven years old and knew him perfectly. Silver sighed and watched his fighters gather the bodies of their packmates.

"I don't even know where to start."

______

Silphie put her palm flat on Greg's chest and a light green rune appeared in the middle of it.

environment. The sign glowed for a moment before fading and disappearing. The witch took her hand away and lowered her arm a faint smile on her lips.

"That's all?" asked Greg. The man who couldn't see the energy flows had no way of knowing what the witch had just done.

He looked at his fiancé who looked as skeptical as he did. It was Glen who reassured them before Silphie could. The man who had the screen of his system in front of him had read the message indicating that the man had just acquired a Mark of protection from the Goddess Talamh.

"The mark is powerful enough to keep you safe until someone comes to rescue you. Although I have a feeling Connor isn't going to leave you alone often from now on," he added with a smile to which the light brown-haired man responded with a roll of his eyes.

"What are you going to do now?" the woman asked looking at the alpha, his mate he was holding, and his friends.

"Well for us, all we have to do is get back to the cave. The full moon is going to rise tonight and Eden is exhausted by everything that happened. I'm just going to stick with him until the moment comes."

Silphie nodded and turned shyly to Connor who had turned his head refusing to look at her. Greg took it upon himself to answer for her.

"We're going to take a detour to Black Moon but we're also going back to the cave. If the alpha wants it of course.

I guess the WIA will grumble and would like me to come back immediately but I would like to get rid of this feeling of incompleteness that your man's escape left me, even if only by talking to the Alpha about what they plan to do to find him. Not to mention, I'd feel safer knowing you've got our backs.

"Sure thing, Big Brother," the alpha said with a teasing smile, and Greg chuckled.

Silphie smirked and her gaze fell on Connor who still refused to be a part of the conversation. The woman took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

"You don't have to answer but I would like you to listen to me. I know you have no reason to forgive us, but I'm sorry for everything. This should never have happened. I know you probably don't want anything to do with us, but I want you to know that if you're ever want to open to that part of Skinwalker that's inside you, you'll find a door here to answer your questions."

__________

In the forest, the night was falling. the sky had taken on reddish hues and the atmosphere was beginning to change.

A patrol of werewolves approached the intruder they had tracked for hours. The complete lack of scent was something they had never seen before.

Cornered, Wyatt decided to transform back to his human form and speak to those who would put kill him for trespassing on their territory if he didn't speak.

"If you take me to your alpha, I promise you won't regret it."