Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 268

Damon:

The trees weren’t the same anymore.

The air was tighter.

And though neither one of us was Speaking of it, everyone around was scared. You could tell by just looking at them. You could tell that the silence that felt towards by the way they held their breaths, by the way everyone around seemed to be lurking about.

Nothing breathed like they used to. The forest, once alive with sound, chirps, rustling leaves, distant howls, was quiet now. Too quiet. As if nature itself was holding its breath. As if nature itself was preparing for the war that was now inevitable. As if they sensed what was going on around.

Even the ground felt wrong beneath my shoes. Like it remembered something we hadn’t lived yet. Like it saw something that we shouldn’t be seeing. Like it was living through a rough patch that shouldn’t be happening.

I stood at the edge of the eastern border, Carter to my right, Ethan a few paces behind. None of us spoke. Not at first. The silence demanded respect, and we gave it. We’re allowed to mourn the dead. We’re moving. We could feel them. Some even said they heard their screams across the borders I knew that nothing was safe. And now everyone seemed to be on edge.

Then the wind shifted, and with it, the trees creaked. Was it the ground shook?

Something was moving.

Something ancient.

Something that didn’t belong.

Something that was dangerous.

“We need to expand the perimeter,” I said, breaking the silence. “Push scouts farther out. This… whatever this is, it’s spreading. And we need to get to it before they can approach us. We’re going to need to protect the pack at all costs.” Carter gave a curt nod. “I’ve already sent word to Kael. His warriors are ready to assist. They’ve noticed the changes too. Strange weather. Animals fleeing their lands. The birds are flying away as if they know that something is coming and even the fish are aware that there is a shift in the water. Most wolves and wild animals have stopped drinking from these waters at all. It is as if they are warning us that something is coming. They’re warning each other too.”

Ethan added, “It’s not just the land. Some of the packs to the west… they’ve gone dark. No communication. No movement. It’s as if they’ve gone quiet, too quiet for my liking. Running around, even shifting on moons, everything seemed to stop.”

I clenched my jaw. “We’re not losing anyone else. I’m not going to allow anyone else to go in this war, no matter how inevitable it is.”

We started walking again, weaving through the narrow path toward the southern hills. That’s where the ground broke, literally. Cracks in the earth that oozed a strange mist, low and pulsing like veins. The trees that were once there seemed to be rotting, completely dead. Despite it normally taking time, they seemed to be void of life now.

“This isn’t natural,” Carter muttered, crouching to examine the earth. “This looks… cursed. Whatever is doing this, it is stronger than anything we know.”

“It’s more than that,” I said. “It’s a message. They are showing us what they can do and they are showing us that they are around us, that they are surrounding us. They want us broken apart.”

Ethan glanced at me. “From who?”

The kind that was just there telling us that it was counting the seconds.

The kind that told us that it was coming, only was using the element of surprise.

But nature felt. There was no element of surprise when it came to nature.

“We’re running out of time,” I said. “We prepare for war now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. We call for allies now. Those that respond, those that choose to stand by our sides, we will fight till the end and those that stand against us have made their choice.”

Carter and Ethan exchanged glances, but neither argued.

The air shifted again, heavier, darker, colder and void of life.

I stared back into the forest, feeling it pulse. The air around us felt like it was growing heavier, like something was coming, getting closer, like eyes were watching.

“Because right now, us as wolves allying is all we can do together to survive.”