The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Noah-

"They're coming," Vera says in a panicky voice.

It takes me a minute to wake up fully and understand what's happening. I grab her face between my hands; she's crying.

"Noah, they're coming. Many thousands of them, I couldn't see the end of the line. I... I..." She's hyperventilating.

"Who's coming. Vera?"

"Alistair and an entire army!"

She gets off from the bed and changes her clothes, quickly; It prompts me to do the same. I know better than to not believe her by now.

We both step out of the room; it can't be past two in the morning right now and the castle is deserted as we make our way to the council meeting room. I knock on several doors on our way, waking everybody up.

Everyone follows us, looking grumpy and disheveled.

When about twenty of us have gathered, I begin.

"We have reason to believe Alistair is mobilizing now, with an army of thousands. We have to prepare the castle walls, call back all of the warriors that are out. With those numbers, our only chance will be to protect the castle and plan the attack from within." Everyone stares at me incredulous. One of the warriors raises his hand, yawning and scratching his beard.

"Uhm, excuse me, boss? How do we know this isn't just a ploy to get us to retreat our people from the outposts? It would give them the chance to advance without intervention."

"Vera saw them."

They all look at her and she gulps; she's visibly still shaken by whatever she saw, enough to cause me to be on edge.

Eli and Lucas give me a look, both increasingly concerned now that they know the information is coming from Vera. Nobody else here would understand what this means, but Lucas and Eli have both witnessed Vera's powers first hand; more importantly, how accurate her visions are.

"I'm sorry, boss, but she hasn't been outside these castle walls, how would she know?"

"Shut up, boy!" Eli yells angrily, slamming his hands on the table, "We have no time to waste. Vera, tell us exactly what you saw; reference points, number of soldiers, time of day, everything you can remember."

Vera begins telling every detail of her vision, and from what she tells us, Alistair is very close; two hours away at best.

"Do you know if the soldiers are lycan or human?"

"Most of them are human, but many hundreds of them are lycan," she says, shivering as she recounts her vision.

"Alright, you all know what to do. Let's go!"

The meeting room is cleared in only a few seconds, only Eli and Lucas stay behind.

"We have to close all of the entries to the castle. If they manage to breach it, we are f****d," Lucas says.

"I'll go talk to Elden. There's only one way Alistair disappeared and he might use that same way to come in," Vera says.

I grab her hand,

"You don't have to, you can stay here with us. Eli will go talk to Elden."

Eli nods but she frees her hand,

"No, no. Thanks for the offer but the last thing I need right now is to be idle."

She leaves the meeting room, hugging herself against the chill of the night.

"Lucas is right, which is why we have to prepare a plan in case they do breach the castle. We need guards in the secondary entrances at all times to inform us if they breach," Eli says.

"We have to reinforce the main gates, too, they might try to breach through there as a distraction, Lucas says.

"Our main goal should be to make this battle as short as possible, and in order to do that we have to go after Alistair himself," I say.

"Yes, of course, but knowing him he will be hidden in the sea of people that accompany him," Eli points out.

"Which is why we need someone on the inside."

"I'll go." Lucas offers.

"No, he knows your association to me, it has to be someone he would never suspect. Someone who can blend in."

"I've been working on one of the guards that stood by him," Eli says, "let me talk to him, see if he's up for it."

I nod, and with that, the meeting is over.

Thanks to Vera, they no longer have the element of surprise. Had that been the case, we wouldn't have had time to reinforce the entrances to the castle or call back our warriors and we would have really been f****d. Now, we actually have a fighting chance. I run through the castle walls, barking orders and taking one last look at all the main entrances. Then, I go up to one of the towers, where I can see miles in every direction. Eli is already here, with his arms crossed and staring out in the direction Vera pointed us to. "Anything?" I ask.

"No, but I suspect they're not far. I sent out the mole, as you suggested, let's just hope he finds Alistair, fast."

"Good. Now, we wait."

Even with our lycan vision, today is a new moon and therefore it's very difficult to see far in the darkness.

Several minutes pass before we hear the commotion.

"Your Highness, you have to come see!" One of the guards comes into the tower with wide eyes.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Eli and I exchange a look, he nods and I follow the guard down to one of the foyers while Eli stays behind. Two guards are holding up a third who seems to e unconscious.

"What happened?" I question, coming closer to them. I recognize him as one of the guards assigned to the outposts.

"We found him near the castle as we were retreating, as you ordered, he says they're coming, they attacked his outpost. He was the only one to survive."

"What outpost was he guarding?"

"The southern one, Your Highness."

I frown. southern one? Vera saw them coming from the east. All of our efforts and strategy is based off of Vera's vision.

I shake my head,

"Get this man help, quickly."

The two guards carry him into the makeshift healing room we have set up.

"My King, if he's coming from the southern border, then maybe your mate was wrong; we should rethink our strategy."

The fear in his tone is evident. The last thing I need is the warriors to start second guessing our strategy.

"We stick to the plan." I say sternly.

"Ye- yes, my King"

The guard bows and leaves. I trust Vera with my life, I know she's not wrong. But then this can only mean one thing. Someone in here knows our plan and that we are aware of Alistair's eminent attack; and that someone has also managed to inform Alistair from within the castle.

I clench my fists.

I'm going to f*****g kill her myself.

I walk to one of the guards,

"Get me Liam and Mason, now."

After a few minutes, both Liam and Mason join me.

"Mason, I'm afraid you were right." I say through gritted teeth, throwing daggers at Liam.

Mason takes a long look at Liam, who stares back at us in confusion.

"I'm sorry man, I had a hunch that Harriet was the mole. I'm afraid I was right."

"What? How can you say that?" He takes a defensive stand as he vouches for his mate, "she swore to me, to us, that her allegiance to Alistair was over after you took the throne!"

"She's the only one who knew about the plan, besides us, only she didn't get the update where Noah wasn't coming with the scouting party. That's why Alistair is making a move. He thinks Noah isn't here."

**All* of us were in on the plan! What makes you think the others didn't snitch?!"

"Because none of them are *here*. None of them know that we are aware of the attack and that we are preparing for it. Alistair sent a guard from the southern border, which means someone here* alerted him to our knowledge of their attack. He's trying to make us doubt our strategy, making us believe they're coming from a different direction," I explain to him.

If this wasn't his mate, he would understand the obvious connection. Not only did she tell Alistair that I would be gone, but now that she realizes her mistake, she's giving him updated information on our plan and everything going on in the castle. Liam clenches his jaw. He's furious.

"And what makes you think that little mate of yours isn't lying, huh?! She's a wolf! Who knows what Alistair did to her when they were alone! For all you know, they -"

I don't let him finish talking. I come down on him with such force that I hear some of my bones begin to crack, preparing to let my lycan free. I punch him in his stomach first, and then his chin. He falls to the floor, shaking. I crouch down beside him, my voice husky as my lycan lies just below the surface.

"I suggest you go find your mate, Liam, because if I find her first, I will break her neck myself."

Liam stares back up at me, defiant, but doesn't dare say a word.

He knows what this means. He knows how us lycans treat a betrayal of this magnitude. I am giving him a chance to run away with his mate, if he so chooses.

I walk away, leaving Liam nursing his stomach and chin as Mason follows closely behind me.

"What do you want to do about the potential attack from the south? The warriors believe the guard from the outpost, it's making them have doubts."

"We stand by the original plan. If the army is as massive as Vera says, they won't be able to redirect their attack in time. They have to stick to their original course." "Understood."

Mason leaves as I make my way to Beta Caleb's chambers, where I will no doubt find Vera and Elden.

When I open the door, I find both of them helping Beta Caleb get dressed.

As I lock eyes with Vera, the war horn sounds above us and all around us.

They're here.