Hope Springs

After I had finished speaking the mind link was silent for a few moments. During that time I could hear movement from up above us, and cursing. A door slammed and then I heard the clunking of boots on the stairs. I turned my head to stare at the person who had just come to where we were being held. The woman had graying hair and was very well-built. Her shoulders were fairly broad and she had a lot of muscle, more muscle than I would have expected on someone of her age.

The woman also had frown lines on her face and a minimal amount of wrinkles despite being in her sixties. Her eyes were a striking ice-blue color and she looked a bit like Mom did.

“Where is Trinity de Luna?” She asked, her voice sharp. “Where is she?”

“Why do you want her?” Hadley answered in return and the woman glared at her. “What do you want with Trinity?”

“That isn’t any of your business little girl,” The woman sneered, “Where is she?”

Hadley refused to reply and the woman glared at her, her eyes alight with fury. She hit a button on the wall and what looked like water came down from the ceiling and Hadley screamed. I looked panicked at Max. What was happening to her?

They’ve managed to make aconite into a liquid it seems. That's the only conclusion I am able to come to. Max answered and my eyes immediately shot back to Hadley who crumpled to the ground.

“Now I’ll ask you again,” the woman said with a false smile, “Where is she?”

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Hadley whispered and I stared at her, not comprehending why she was apologizing for a moment and then I realized that she was going to tell.

“She’s in the cage with that black wolf,” Alex said, “She’s the smaller one.”

Hadley wasn’t apologizing for her, she was apologizing for Alex. The woman turned her gaze towards me and Max stepped in front of me, snarling at her. She smirked and pulled out a gun. She pulled the trigger and a dart shot out, striking Max in the air and causing him to drop to the ground.

“Trinity de Luna,” the woman mused, “Daughter of Jared and Linia. To be honest, they were quite annoying and I hope you aren’t anything like them, otherwise I might have to kill you.” I just glared at her and she rolled her eyes. “Shift little girl, I don’t have time to play games. We need to have a chat you and I.”

What could we possibly have to chat about? You killed my parents, that was all that I needed to know. I didn’t need to talk with you, I already know plenty about you. The woman sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me.

“Come on little wolf, just shift so we can get this talk over with.” She snapped and I snarled at her. “Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. Shift. Now.”

I growled at her. She can’t make me shift but I was afraid that if I didn’t do what she wanted that she would hurt Hadley so with great reluctance I shifted back, glaring at her.

“Good that’s better,” She took a remote out of her pocket and pressed a button causing the cell door to swing open. “Follow me and be prompt about it.”

I followed her out of the basement and to the first floor where she tucked me away into an office, not allowing me to get a good look at anything. She sat in the desk across from me and I took note that we were the only two in the room and there was a giant window behind her. Maybe I could sneak out but...but then what would happen to my friends? They would end up getting hurt if I somehow was able to escape so trying to formulate a good plan wasn’t even worth it.

“Should I introduce myself?” Clearly it was a rhetorical question and so I didn’t bother to reply. “I suppose I should. I am your mother’s mother, not Linia’s mother but Jeanine’s mother. Samara.”

I tried to conceal my surprise. Samara? Somehow I doubted that was actually her name because it didn’t seem to fit with her appearance and Samara was not really an old lady name. I would have thought her name to be Elizabeth or maybe Samantha but definitely not Samara.

“Surprised I take it,” She commented and I managed a small nod. “Well that’s a point for me then.” She took out a chess board from her desk and I stared at her as she set up all the pieces. “Have you ever played chess?” I shook my head. “Well I trust you know the goal of chess.” At that I nodded. “Good. The white pieces is your pack and the black pieces are Loup Chasseur.” She grabbed a pawn and moved it forward two pieces, “This was your error in capturing Finley, he didn’t know that he was part of our plan and he was. Your king, the Alpha is left vulnerable to attack.” She moved the black pawn that was in front of the king forward only one space, “We left our king protected still and then you played right into our hands, leaving your Alpha completely vulnerable and taken out quite easily.” She moved a white pawn forward two pieces and then moved the black queen diagonally. “Checkmate.”

“What was the point in this colorful illustration?” I asked, annoyance seeping into my tone and Samara smiled.

“I’m glad you asked,” A vindictive smile crossed her face, “You wolves have destroyed families and torn apart relationships. So we are only returning the favor. You could have asked your friend Koda what our plan was, he knew.”

“How?”

“How what?” Samara asked, “How did Koda know? Clearly the Hope Springs pack doesn’t have many strategists. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that our goal was your Alpha and now that we’ve eliminated him,” She shrugged, “I’ll let you try to figure the rest out.”

“But why did you want me?” I asked, “I’m not that special. So why me?”

“Every piece is valuable,” She indicated the chess board, “Even a pawn.”

“So, what? I’m a pawn?” I asked, and Samara didn’t reply. Was that really what I was? Just a pawn? No there had to be some reason that they wanted me, some reason they weren’t telling me. But maybe I was just a pawn, just because I was a white wolf didn’t automatically make me more special than any other wolf. Did it?

No it didn’t. The only difference between me and any other wolf was the fact that my fur changed colors. That was it.

“I think that you should go back to your cell,” Samara finally said, “Clearly you still do not grasp the game of chess. Not yet anyways.”

“So you trust me to go back? All alone?”

She laughed. It was cold and her eyes turned even icier. “Of course not, I’ll take you. Get up and let’s go.”

I was silent as she escorted me down to the basement and back to my cell. She locked the door and stared at me for a moment before striding back to the stairs. I was relieved that she hadn’t said anything else to me but I was also frustrated because I wanted to know what she wanted with all of us.

“What does she want?” I asked, looking at Hadley and Alex. “The two of you have been in here the longest. What does she want?”

“I don’t know.” Alex said, “No one is ever taken out of their cells. This was one of the first times so we don’t know.”

“I do,” a small voice said and I jerked my head in the direction to the left, seeing a cell in one of the corners of the basement. I could barely make out the person’s shape but I recognized the voice.

Raven.

“Raven what does she want?” I asked hurriedly.

“She wants a sacrifice. You’re the sacrifice.”