ZINA
"Do you not think that it is ti to run away from everything? To go away to sowhere else... with ?"
Zina paused in her steps, knowing that attempting to escape Falcon was futile from the beginning.
"I think you’ve done more than enough for the region and the pack. It is ti for you to take care of yourself." Falcon said in a voice mixed with worry and a choking emotion that Zina couldn’t exactly interprete.
Zina sighed inwardly, the thought of delving into the sa old conversation with Falcon greatly tired her out. Perhaps it was the lack of experience, or perhaps it was the fact that in truth, Zina had never had any actual dealings with matters of the heart... but she had never been good at expressing herself well.
Maybe because there was no need to.
"I have duties." She muttered the sa old long excuse, turning to leave. However she didn’t get a step away when she felt his hands wound up against her waist, and his breathing fanning her neck as his face was buried just at the crook of said slender neck.
Zina stiffened, and annoyance flared within her at his act. "And you’ve responsibilities too, Alpha Falcon." She said easily, not bothering to mask the ire in her tone.
Falcon didn’t release her, if anything, his hold on her tightened. And while Zina guessed the gesture was supposed to be intimate and evoke a feeling of desire within her, all Zina could feel at that mont was how her bruised body strained even more under his stifling hold.
"Say the word, and I will set you free of this torture and tornt." He whispered against her ears.
Zina sighed, attempting to pry his body away from hers. She could hardly push away the wall of a man, but sensing her displeasure, Falcon released her imdiately.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons why Zina implicitly trusted him even when Seraph was not accepting of him. Falcon knew when to step back and not cross the line... at least, most of the ti.
Zina faced him squarely, deciding to address the unspoken thing that hung between them. "Speaking of torture, it seems to both of us that you’re in so much of it. You know it better than I do that you will never abandon your responsibility to family and Pack. So you may as well stop torturing yourself with an ideal that is impossible."
That seed to shut Falcon up as he said nothing while Zina turned and took her leave under the guidance of Seraph.
After that day, the following days started to roll by with a quickness that Zina never anticipated. The next day saw Theta Bryle sending the amount Zina had requested, and the information on Xalea Borne.
Without much thought at the fact that in addition to treason, she was committing corruption, the money was quickly, albeit discreetly, sent to West, the Thralgor Spy who was a master of coins himself.
West was a forr bookkeeper for a mid-ranked pack that later frad and betrayed him. Officially he was executed and dead, unofficially, he was rescued by Zina who could relate to his story in more than one way.
West used his ans to change the money into higher Grams Gold Coins that were bigger in size in comparison to the pebble sized gold Brams. One of the main reasons for the change was to avoid anyone tracking down that the money belonged to the IceSavage Pack.
Using half of the amount, Zina discreetly slipped in her help to the common people as the hunger salvaged even more terribly. While there was relief food that was shared everyday, the rations had beco smaller and almost nonexistent as more werewolves affected by the war migrated to the Arctic North as refugees. Although it was no excuse since the tax that Eldric collected only spiralled higher and higher.
No more news about the war had been received except for the fact that the rogues were pressing harder against the Army Without An Alpha. Many anticipated that Daemon would finally be crushed under them for the leader of the rogues, Sinner Madlea Sofyr, had mandated his maniac son, Zorick Sofyr to lead the war in his stead.
While Madlea, fearso rogue he is, was applauded as a smart and patient rogue, such sentints did not hold true for Zoric, his son, who was applauded as smart alright, but was also impatient, and temperantal.
The defeat the Sofyr’s suffered under Daemon three years ago at the NorthWestern borders was a sha they could never shake off. But while their numbers were shaken, they were quickly replenished as even more pack outcasts joined them.
Sa couldn’t be said for Daemon’s Army Without An Alpha. Recruiting more werewolves to fight under him was hard, hence why the war had dragged out for that long. Zina had thought the scale of the war would finally be tipped with the newly acquired help of the GreenLands Packs, but it didn’t seem to be true.
Rumours that carried with the wind said Daemon’s army was failing, in fact, a more preposterous rumour had it that Daemon had been absent from the war camp for one week.
It was one thing to fight the war, but it was entirely another thing to fight the war without the one man chanted as the saviour. Zina could only imagine the thrill Eldridge was feeling at the fact that maybe Daemon’s absence ant the man had dropped dead.
"Xalea Borne. Forty-Five years old. He was a Wolf Enforcer working for Brestom IceSavage until six years ago when he was recruited by the Alpha King to serve in the Special Werewolf Army. He rose to beco a Lycan Shifter just five years ago, approximately a year after he started working for the Alpha King."
Those words were the summary of Bryle’s report on Xalea Borne. All Zina could think of as Seraph read them out was that Xalea Borne was truly a peculiar man. Serving as an enforcer ant he had great stealth and could go on secret missions. Now serving under Eldric’s special werewolf army of not more than fifteen mbers ant the man’s original skills had been sharpened and honed to a point where he was practically invisible.
The fact that Eldric felt confident Borne would be able to take Daemon’s life reaffird all that she thought about the man... and yet, sothing felt off about the whole arrangent.
Zina didn’t believe it was exactly a secret that Borne will be among her travel retinue. Which made Eldric’s plan all the more suspicious. Was his intent really to eliminate Daemon using the Borne? Or was there sothing else in play that Zina wasn’t aware of?
The knighting ceremony rolled by with much flair throughout Vraga, and less excitent on Zina’s side. Werewolves baring their fangs against each other in a show of strength was an affair that didn’t interest her much as she could not, after all, see the action playing before her.
But it was true that Zina could hear flesh tearing, sll blood pouring, feel the ground beneath her reverberating from the strength of powerful paws, and heat the excited cheer of the various Packs that gathered for the event.
In the middle of it all, the voice in Zina’s head whispered, "Have you ever thought of what it could feel like to have a wolf?"
The self loathing question dispersed from her mind when yet another cheer erupted in the air. Even Seraph who sat by her side wouldn’t stop clapping and screaming at the sight of new and old shifters engaged in a battle of whose wolf was superior in strength.
It was there that many werewolves were ranked according to what level of shifter their wolf belonged to. Many werewolves joined prestigious Knight Houses like the Temple Knights and the Knights of the NorthSteed Pack. At the end of the event that Zina had zoned off for a better half of it, she was called onto the podium to perform the ritual where all the packs reaffird their loyalty to the united banner of the Arctic North under the leadership of the NorthSteed pack and the great Arctic Wolf.
Each Alpha created a cut on their palm with the osmore sword of loyalty, spilling their blood into a bowl of water which they all later drank from as a symbol of their loyalty. Zina proclaid them loyal vassals even when she could see their greed and treason for all it was.
Zina only hoped that when she left, even if she never ca back, that Eldric would have a taste of betrayal as he did his brother. Realising that only the common people would suffer if a violent uprising started at that mont, Zina shrugged off the thought.
Yet again, she was being incurably selfish and conceited.
Falcon later won one of the prestigious matches as Zina expected of him. And the request he made of Eldric as his winning prize was a chance to accompany the Theta to her now widely talked about journey to the GreenLands.
A journey that was said by all was an act of Eldric’s goodwill.
Surprisingly, Eldric accepted Falcon’s request without any seeming objection on his side. And before Zina knew it, two weeks rolled away like nothing giving way to the day she would start her journey to the GreenLands to et the man whom she destroyed....
....and who might just destroy her in return.
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