The Revenge

As we sat in the tree, I scanned the packhouse grounds. The slaves were working on the fields but not much had happened. Despite wearing a thick jacket, we were both soaking and I began to shiver. The cold began to claw itself right into my bones. I only imagined how cold the slaves must have been. Sin didn't seem too bothered.

Thanks to the rain, everyone remained inside the buildings. Only the guards stood outside making sure the slaves behaved.

Memories flooded my mind of one particular year. I was left working on the field all day and long hours until night. Everyone else was in the warmth of the building after their work finished.

It was nearly winter and the rain was particularly freezing. I remembered shivering so badly my teeth trembled against each other. I couldn't feel my entire body from the harsh freezing temperature. And the reason for the punishment was because I rolled my eyes at one of the she-wolves. She hated me more than anyone else and looked for any excuse to punish me.

When Sin noticed my shivering, he jumped over from a branch next to mine. Not paying him much attention, I thought he just changed his position for a better view. Suddenly, I felt him behind, pulling me into him gently.

Taken aback by his behaviour, I froze and my eyes widened. I felt his chest glued to my back, gently moving while he breathed. One of his arms rested over my shoulders and collar bones while the other around my waist. I felt his breath on the side of my neck. To me, it was a very intimate moment. I began feeling the warmth radiating from him through my wet clothes instantly. I let out a shaky breath, feeling a bit nervous about this situation.

“You’re freezing” he whispered into my ear “I'll warm you up”

“Ok,” I mumbled nervously after clearing my throat quietly “thanks”

I didn’t expect this from him, it was very intimate and I liked the feeling of him being so close. Warmth spread across my chest realising he actually cared for my well being.

My stomach fluttered, the only other person I had this feeling with was Luca. I missed affection like this. When Luca took over my mind, I couldn't shake the feeling, I was betraying him. My heart belonged to him and I hated the way I could hurt Sin. I never intended to.

Soon after, the rain stopped, Sin let me go. We sat there for the rest of the day but nothing happened. The Alpha must have been inside because I didn’t see him, not even once. Here and there I got a glimpse of slaves running around and the odd werewolf, what looked like, helping with the preparation for the celebration.

Once dark enveloped us, the clouds cleared and the nearly full moon with twinkling stars adorned the inky sky. The slaves were now in their slave quarters and I could hear music coming from the packhouse. To my surprise, no guards were patrolling the grounds. Everyone was inside enjoying the party.

We waited for about two hours and then moved a bit closer to the house. I crouched behind a big bush. I had a good view of one of the rooms from where I was hiding.

Sin squatted behind another, a bit smaller bush not far from me. We tried to eavesdrop but all I could hear was the loud music.

My eyes caught the Alpha mingling with others. Then he left the room and went towards the staircase, followed by his Beta.

They must be going into his office.

I remembered very well which window was his office. It was burned into my memory. After all, it was there, where he used to force himself upon me. All I did was gazing out of the window, trying to disconnect myself from the situation.

Needing to get closer, I carefully scanned around to make sure there was no one around.

As I was about to move I heard Sin's silent voice “where do you think you’re going?”

Ignoring him, I quickly moved crouched to the ground as much as possible until I stopped by the wall of the house under the window. The office was on the first level in the back of the building. After checking no one saw me, I moved towards the back.

I felt Sin on my tail as I reached the back of the building. Once I found the window I was looking for, I turned to Sin “stay down here, keep a watch” whispering as quietly as I could.

Not waiting for his reply, I began climbing the drainpipe silently. I heard Sin's faint voice protesting but I blocked him out.

Once reaching the first level, I jumped onto the window sill that was right next to the drain pipe. As I held on to the window sill, my body hunger down, then quietly I jumped onto the next window sill and the next one was the one I wanted to reach.

Once I was at the window, the decorative panelling enabled me to stand right next to the window as I held onto it. I leaned in just enough to see that the Alpha sat in his chair, his back facing me. His Beta sat on the couch alongside the diagonal wall.

“Was she there?” I heard the Beta asking.

“No, but her clan was destroyed, she will pay for running away from me” Alpha's voice was cold.

What clan is he talking about? Who else run away from him and became a vampire?

My eyes widened upon realising who he was talking about. He attacked my clan. The celebration which he held was for killing my clan.

Undescribable fury seeped into every cell of my body. I leaned my forehead against my arm and started taking quiet deep breaths to calm myself down. It did nothing to help me. History repeated itself and everyone I cared about was dead again. I looked down at Sin, once he saw the anger was written all over my face he knew something was up.

“So where are you going to attack next” Beta's voice disturbed me.

“I’m thinking of going to to the west of Europe then go north. Those leeches have no chance against me.”

“When are you planning to go.”

“As soon as possible, the element of surprise is to my advantage and I need you to come with me this time. ”

“I will but what about the packhouse, you’d leave Luna and your son unprotected?”

“Of course not, I’ll leave some warriors behind and don’t forget, Diana is a warrior, she’s well capable of protecting herself and our son. ”

After a few seconds of silence,

I heard “what are you planning to do with that slave when u catch her”

“First I thought I’d kill her for running away from me, but when I saw her at the ball-.... I need to have her” he said possessively.

Upon hearing this, my anger only intensified. Only the thought of his touch on my skin repulsed me. At that moment I craved his death more than anything.

Deciding I heard enough, I jumped off the building and landing on my feet right next to Sin “we have to go” I whispered urgently not even looking in his face.

“What happened?” He asked his black eyes filled with worry, his eyebrows created a straight line across his forehead.

“Not here” I whispered while meeting his eyes. Then I grabbed his hand and began running towards the forest at our supernatural speed.

After a few minutes, we passed the border of the pack. Once we were far enough from their territory Sin suddenly stopped grabbing my elbow.

“What did you hear” his voice was sharp, commanding.

I let out a sigh "He attacked our clan" I felt a warm tear rolling down my cheek as the anger ebbed away.

His black eyes widened in horror. “No, this can’t be happening”

I looked to the ground, more tears escaped my eyes as guilt began bubbling inside of me. Each second my guilt grew stronger until I was drowning in it.

The beast was after me, it was my fault they were killed. Everyone was killed because of me.

This time Sin grabbed my arm and we started running back towards our home. We ran through the thick forest, with the moon our only source of light. Both of us processing the news about our clan being attacked and both drown in our thought, neither of us made any noise. A sense of dread began accumulating inside of me the closer we got. I couldn’t help but think that more people died because of me. The beast ripped my life apart again. All the people I ever cared about were dead.

At that moment something snapped inside of me. I promised myself I would never stop until he was dead and everyone he ever loved. I would destroy everything he ever built. I would no longer be scared of him.

The sky was still dark when Sin all of a sudden stopped.

“Why did you stop” my voice barely was a whisper as I stood right behind him.

“Listen,” he said concentrating, his eyes scanning our surroundings.

I focussed on the sounds around us, the river flowed nearby, the cold wind flying around us, the owl hooting, and then I heard faint barely noticeable footsteps. It sounded far, but getting louder ever so slightly by the second, someone was nearing. I was amazed by his hearing, I would have missed it.

Sin was already staring in the direction of the footsteps when I looked. He quickly grabbed my elbow and jumped high into a tree above us.

Once we landed on a thick branch we waited, anticipation and fury filled my body. I was sick to death of werewolves at this point. It wasn’t long until we heard thumping sounds, suggesting that someone was running in our direction.

Seconds later, six werewolves emerged right under us. They were sniffing the ground, then the air above them. The mixture I made to mask our scent must have worn out. Their glowing golden yellow eyes bored into us.

One of the werewolves shifted into his human form and got dressed right there not bothering to hide behind the tree. When I saw the others shifted into the human forms too I knew they weren’t a threat. They could still attack, but they were stronger in their wolf forms.

I had my bow ready when I jumped off the tree couple of feet in front of them with Sin beside me. His throwing knives were in his hands, ready to attack.

“Leave us be if you don’t want to die” I sneered, glaring daggers at them.

“You don’t exactly have an advantage here” stated what looked like to be the leader with his arms crossed on his chest. He was about the same height as Sin but with a bit more muscle. His dirty blonde hair flowed around his face. His brown eyes stared at us and a short beard adorned his face. His entire upper torso and arms were covered in ink.

“We’re not here to attack you,” a man said next to him calmly but cautiously. He was the same build as his leader, had short auburn hair shaved on the sides of his head, dark brown eyes and a long braided beard.

“What do you want” asked Sin next to me. I was still holding my bow aiming at the leader. This could have been a trap.

“To talk,” the leader said flatly.

“To talk?” I raised one of my eyebrows then laughed out loudly and shook my head in disbelief in the process.

Sin’s anger radiated off of him. “Last warning” he sneered with his teeth clenched together “leave or you’ll be killed”

“We need to talk, it’s important,” said the redhead, his eyebrows furrowed.

“I don’t trust anything you say, mutt.” I hissed through my clenched teeth.

“We have the same enemy,” the leader said cautiously. His eyes lingered on my aiming arrow.

I cocked my head in confusion.

“Our only enemy is your leader,” said Sin accordingly.

I glanced at Sin “this could be a trap”

"It's not a trap," said the red-haired werewolf.

“It’s not a good idea to talk here in the open,” the leader said “our packhouse is a few hours away”

"And what makes you think we'll go with you," my voice was cold.

"Because you need us. Your clan is dead and we are your only allies. The vampire leaders are too afraid of Torben to kill him." the leader spoke.

How do they know our clan was massacred? We're they there?

I looked at Sin, my eyebrows furrowed, my lips in a tight line, doubt written all over my face. His tense body loosened up and he lowered his weapons, placing them back on his belt. His black orbs found mine. Then he turned towards the werewolf leader "fine, I'll hear what you want to say"

I shook my head, not trusting them at all but lowered my bow.

They changed into their wolf forms and began running through the forest with me and Sin behind them.

After three hours of running, the sky began to change its colour. Orange hues were spreading across the scattered clouds.

We crossed the border and were greeted by two werewolves. They just looked at me and Sin cautiously but didn’t try to do anything.

Once we arrived, the house was a lot smaller than Torben's packhouse, it was surrounded by a lake and fields with forest. A bit further away from the house were smaller family houses.

We stopped in front of the house where a woman stood with clothes in her hands. The werewolves shifted into their human forms and got dressed quickly. I looked anywhere but them. I wasn’t used to so much nakedness. I glanced nervously at Sin. His eyes were boring into mine “We’ll hear what they want to say and leave”

“Ya, I don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary,” I said cautiously, biting my inner lip. We needed to return to what was left of our clan.

The two men that talked to us earlier approached us "who are you" I glared at them, still not believing this wasn't a trap.

“I’m Alpha Erik,” he said smiling, his eyes seemed sincere.

The man next to him introduced himself as Beta Gunnar and we nodded to both of them.

“Sin” he stated then pointed at me “Reine”. They both nodded "we know"

“What do you want to talk about,” I asked impatiently, itching to get away from the place. Too many werewolves made my skin crawl.

“Let’s go inside,” said Erik

Once we got into the house, it looked bigger than from outside. It had a homey feel to it with dark furniture floors and stairs. It was very quiet inside being very early morning. He led us into his office with Gunnar walking quietly behind us.

All four of us entered the office. Erik gestured for us to take a seat, but I was still hesitant. I decided to stand and Sin as well. We were both looking at them waiting for them to start talking.

“As I said before, we have the same enemy. Alpha Torben.” Stated Erik.

“And you want us to work together,” my voice sharp, one of my eyebrows raised.

Both of them nodded in agreement.

“Why is he your enemy,” asked Sin as he held his chin with one hand and the other over his chest.

They looked at each other “we don’t agree with this war, we want to stop him.”

Me and Sin looked at each other.

“How did you know where we were,” I asked suspiciously, my eyes narrowed at the Alpha.

This time Gunnar answered “we went to your clan, but we were late. Nearly everyone was killed.”

“Nearly?” Sin asked raising an eyebrow.

“A vampire woman was still alive when we came but she died minutes later.” Answered Erik.

My body tensed and my fists curled in frustration. “Did you get her name?"

“Isobel,” Erik said looking me in the eyes.

Tears started filling my eyes but I blinked them quickly away not wanting them to see me vulnerable. I looked at Sin, sorrow flashed through his eyes for a second before it disappeared.

“She told you where we were?” I mumbled.

Eric nodded.

I turned to the side, I couldn’t look at them at that moment. I knew they didn’t kill our clan but it was their kind who did it. My body filled with rage and frustration for not being there with Isobel in her last minutes.

Sin noticed my distress and placed a hand on my shoulder. When I felt his touch a little bit of the anger subsided and I was glad he was with me. I would crumble if it weren't for him.

”Why did you come to our clan in the first place,” asked Sin, letting go of my shoulder.

“We need allies if we want to stop Torben,” said Gunnar, his demeanour very calm.

“Why our clan, there are hundreds of clans in Europe.” Sin's voice became harsh, suspicious.

"We were looking for the one who Torben is obsessed with” both of their eyes landed on me as Erik said it. Under their gaze, I began feeling smaller by the second. Nervous, my hand reached for the necklace around my neck.

After eavesdropping on Torben I knew he was obsessed, that wasn’t news for me. But why were they looking for me?

“You mean Reine?” Sin's wide eyes met mine, eyebrows high in his forehead.

“yes” I heard Erik's voice and my eyes snapped to him.

“How did you know he’s obsessed and why were you looking for her,” Sin's voice commanding almost possessing.

“Well to answer your first question, my cousin is his Luna, she told me everything,” Erik said

My jaw dropped to the ground, eyes wide even more at that revelation. I was speechless, not expecting that.

He continued ”to answer the second question, we hoped you’d want to kill him,” he said looking at me.

“Ok I think I’ve heard enough,” I said “time to go”

Sin was about to stand up from the chair he was sitting on when Erik said. “You can stay, you have nowhere to go, your clan was destroyed”

I turned around to him and looked him dead in the eyes ” thanks for reminding me”

“Look, we haven’t fed in twelve hours, we need blood or someone will end up dead. And that’s not me threatening anyone, that’s me being very hungry” stated Sin, slightly opening his mouth to show his fangs.

“We have blood, and your room is ready,” said Gunner, eyes widened slightly at the sight of his fangs.

Me and Sin looked at each other contemplating whether to stay or leave. All of a sudden my stomach started making loud noise and we both looked in the direction of my belly. Then he turned around to them “ok we stay”