The Last Spirit Wolf by Elena Norwood Novel Full Episode

-Noah-

Arriving at the clearing where we'll meet the rogues, we all pause.

I give them a signal and Eli, Mason, and Ethan disperse, scouting out the area. This is just a precautionary measure, of course, but I can't risk the rogues double crossing us or the Council finding out about this meeting. If there are any spies, I need them flushed out right now.

Only about thirty minutes later, to our surprise, Liam enters the clearing, with his arms raised. "You Your Highness," he says, looking afraid.

I immediately catch on. He's faking his fear so that the rogues don't suspect he's really one of my warriors and friends.

I growl at him, still in lycan form. From the trees, Ethan, Mason, and Eli come back, flanking me. "Our leader requests to have this meeting in human form, Your Grace," he says.

I'm going to have fun teasing him about this once this whole thing is over.

I turn to my human form, putting on a pair of sweats I brought with me; behind me, everyone does the same.

"Ah, now we can finally meet," someone says behind Liam.

Someone whom I believe to be Sadira, their leader, walks out of the tree line, followed by at least a dozen of her men.

I raise an eyebrow at this.

"Oh, it's only fair," she says, "Afterall, you made *me* come to you. I must say, at least Alcott had the decency of coming to my turf."

Sadira steps closer to us, and so does the rest of her party, including Liam.

Now that I can see her up close, I can tell she's a lycan just by her physical build; human women or even she-wolves are slightly smaller and less built. She has wild red hair that falls to her hips. She's wearing high rise boots, pants, and a masculine, over-sized shirt. She can't be over forty years old.

"Sadira, I presume?" I ask her.

She simply nods.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Noah. This is Eli, Caleb, Ethan, and Mason."

They each nod at the mention of their name.

"Oh, I know who you are, Your Grace," she says, "is this the totality of your party?" she asks. "Yes," I say.

She nods at two of her guys who quickly turn to their lycans and run into the forest, no doubt to check if I'm lying.

In a few minutes, they've come back and nod at Sadira, confirming that it is in fact, just us.

"Good, Your Grace, a man of your word," she says.

"Always," I reply.

She smiles, but it's humorless.

"What do you want, Sadira?"

This takes her by surprise as her smile drops.

"Very direct. Very well, we want to tear all of this to the ground," she says, extending her arms.

"I see, and why if I may ask?" I ask, unimpressed by her claim.

"Why? Because the entire system is broken, Your Grace. None of it works. Not the Houses, not the Families, not the tax system and certainly not the Crown."

"Ouch." I say, "but we've only just met."

"Nonetheless, you have not been able to deal with the Families, and believe me, if you don't, we will."

"Be my guest," I say.

She cocks her head to the side, frowning.

"You want to get rid of them? I won't stop you. I've had half a mind to do that myself," I confess.

"And yet you have been sending soldiers to guard their lands," she says, narrowing her eyes.

"I have not. My warriors are all accounted for within the Castle. Any soldiers that have been guarding their lands have been hired by the Families," I explain.

One of her men approaches her, whispering in her ear. She stares at me while she listens to him.

When he's done, she nods.

"Your Highness," she begins, but I interrupt her.

"Noah, please," I say.

"Noah. You tell me that you wouldn't stop me if I started taking out the Families, correct?"

I nod.

"And you also wouldn't stop me if I took their land?"

I shake my head.

"Then, I don't understand, if you don't care about them at all, why haven't you gotten rid of them yourself? As weak as they are. I can't imagine it would be too much of a struggle for you."

"I don't plan on starting a war. It's not worth the lives of my warriors," I explain.

"Your... warriors?" she asks, incredulous.

I shrug.

"Even one casualty is unacceptable to me, unless absolutely necessary."

She stays silent, regarding me with a serious expression.

After a few minutes and no one saying a word, I finally cave. I've recently learned that honesty is often the best policy, and it can't really hurt now, can it?

"Sadira, my real intention here is to get rid of the Council. I am *tired* beyond belief of their antics, they don't care in the slightest for the people their policies hurt. They recently raised taxes from what I heard, completely unbeknownst to me. They go out of their way to hide shit from me, and they have tried to manipulate me to do as they say more than once. They're a disease, and I need that limb cut off. The only reason why I'm here is because Alcott reached out to you. I'm not here to ask you to support me or fight for me, I just ask that you don't do it

for him, either."

She stays silent for a few seconds, considering my words; or rather, considering if she can trust

me.

"Done." she says.

Beside her, I can note the apprehension on her people's faces, but she spoke clearly.

"Take this as a favor to you, Your Highness. Once you deal with your pest, we will talk again." she says, turning around to leave.

I turn to leave too, but beyond the tree line, I hear a ruffling coming towards us. Liam and Mason quickly shift to their lycans, standing in front of me. Out of the corner of my

eye, I notice that Sadira is also looking this way with her men flanking her. Judging by their reaction, I think it's safe to assume this isn't them double crossing me.

So, what, or who, in the world is coming towards us?

The ruffling gets louder, Caleb and Eli have now shifted and most of Sadira's men are also in

lycan form.

Tumbling out of the foliage, Lucas's lycan comes rushing in.

I raise my hand, letting my guys, and Sadira's, know that it isn't an enemy.

"Lucas?" I ask.

Quickly, he shifts to his human form, panting.

"Noah, you have to come quickly, it's Vera," he says.

The words haven't even processed in my head when I'm already shifting to my lycan form and

sprinting towards the Castle.

I get there in record time, rounding it so as to avoid the tunnels altogether; they're too small

for my lycan and I need to know what's happened right now.

When I approach the entrance, I see a large group of warriors gathered in a circle. In the middle, Violet and Cassia are nursing an injured man.

Ryker.

I take a good look at him. He's injured, his leg being heavily bandaged by Cassia.

When he notices me, he locks eyes with me, his gaze telling me everything I need to know.

I run.

Faster than I have ever run before.

I know the route they were taking to get here; I know where to begin looking for Vera.

A million scenarios are running through my mind like silent movies; in none of them is Vera dead. I would have felt it, right? According to other lycans I know that have a fated mate, such a thing as the death of one of them would be felt by the other.

I quickly lose track of how many hours I run or how man miles I am from the Castle. I'm desperately willing my sore legs to keep moving faster and faster.

Suddenly, I stop.

*What the fuck?* I think to myself, looking at the trees before me. It's as if they've been sliced

in half, their remains scattered across the ground, making it impossible for me to keep running

in this direction.

This is the exact path they would've taken. What happened here?

I keep walking in this direction, knowing I'm certain to find something, a clue at least, if I keep

heading this way.

I jump over fallen tree after fallen tree, noting each is getting cut lower and lower.

None of it makes sense, what could have caused this?

Then, I stop, reaching what seems to be a giant hole on the ground. If it wasn't because us

lycans have such good night vision, I wouldn't have spotted it and I would've fallen in it.

It looks like a crater.

I stare down, trying to figure out what's inside it, when I hear a loud grunt.

Without thinking. I jump in, sliding through the ground and elevating a mountain of dust

behind me.

When I reach the bottom, the grunt gets louder. Guided by the sound, I move withing the

massive hole.

"Noah?" I hear someone croak.

I immediately shift to my human form.

"Ezra?!" I say, recognizing the voice.

I find him buried in the rubble and quickly remove a tree trunk from his chest. I briskly look at

him, evaluating his injuries. There are bruises all over him, and judging by the way his legs are

placed, it's safe to say they're broken.

"Where's Vera?!" I ask.

Ezra looks at me, regretful.

"They took her," he says.

"They who?!"

"I-I don't know who they were, I only recognized one of them," he looks grim, "it was Harriet."

And just like that, something inside me just... snaps.

I turn into my lycan once again, compulsively, and let out a deep, guttural howl.