Dark Alpha: A Fated Mates Novel

42: THE LUNA DYNAMIC

~VANNIE~

It took more than a few hours to get everything set up. 

When the freshly cleaned and healed Keepers finally gathered at the training field of the palace, she stood in front of them to address them for the very first time. She already told them she wouldn't be following them to the battlefield, and they assured her they wouldn't have allowed her whether she wanted to or not.

That was an amusing thought, imagining all these Keepers trying to keep her away from the gates. They would probably succeed, but she would give them a hard time.

She pointed at a stack of weapons she'd spent all morning and afternoon gathering. "The arrow tips are enchanted and poisoned. Be careful not to let them touch your fingers."

The Keepers gave a collective nod. They'd clearly never fought with fortified weapons. Figured, since they depended on the size and strength of their wolves. Unlike them, when the Zhodians fought, they had to depend on their cunning and enchantments.

"If you channel the hold and position of your nock, you should be able to take down three, if not four wolves at once." 

She felt their excitement grow. Felt their senses sharpen, the heartsbeat fasten, their bodies slicken. She didn't know how she'd gotten access to the pack link, but at this moment, she was grateful for it.

Now, she only needed to get their minds as ready as their bodies. This part, she could do very well. By the Goddess, when she was done with these males, they would be more ready than they'd ever been for a fight. "I'm grateful for your cooperation and support. No one is wondering about how my lack of experience commanding Inlands soldiers will affect my performance, and I really appreciate you all for that. Greer, the women and children?"

She still didn't feel good around the Head Keeper, but for the moment, they were both maintaining a sort of rapport. He bowed to her in response. "All guarded in safehouses. The ones who aren't inside are helping the men with providing water and food for the duration."

Vannie summoned a warm smile of approval. "Are Keepers dispatched the way I asked you to?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Two hundred are protecting the safe houses, fifty are guarding the Court, fifty are with the dungeons, fifteen are guarding the King, and the rest are here. Beth Maeve is also guarding the safe houses."

Time to play. "Great. I want you all to be careful with the runes and arms. Be careful not to let the arrows, bullets, or knives hit who it is not supposed to." A meaningful look to Marshall, the Keeper-In-Training who'd cut Sin's cheek, and he bowed his head rapidly, causing collective laughter.

"I am accountable for all of you. I don't want to tell the Alpha when he gets back that you ended up killing each other instead of the Crínites." Another bout of laughter. Good. Keep them laughing.

"Now wouldn't that be dandy?" Greer spoke up. "The King would bring us right back from the lands beyond to whip our asses."

She waited for their laughter to die down. Then it was show time. She remembered her lines, how she'd spent precious moments trying to discern the right words that would strike a chord in them.

She took a fortifying breath. "Finally, I want to remind each and every one here, even though I'm certain you don't need reminding, that you are the biggest, fastest and strongest wolves in the entire Realms. There's nothing, absolutely nothing, that we'll be facing in few minutes time that you haven't faced, haven't prepared for. So you won't be fighting in wolf forms, but you will be the strongest versions of yourself because of it."

They waited patiently for her next command. She didn't say anything for long moments, simply staring at them and watching as they grew anxious.

Then she said, hearing the strength of her own voice as threads of magick helped it carry across the training field, "I'm not trying to downplay this moment, because it is a major one, one that will go down in the history of the lupine community. The moment where our enemies think it would be easy to dominate a whole territory, simply because they have cut down our Alpha. The moment they will lose their lives over. Because while the Alpha may not be here, we're bigger for it, we're stronger for it, and we'll fight harder for it. If not, our territory will be burned to the ground."

They were enraptured, gazing at her like in a trance. It was working. They were mere words made physical by her position as their Queen, and made fatal by her magick. It pulled them in, till it was time to flip the final ace. 

"I have something to show you. Do I have your attention?"

They nodded, already willing to do whatever she said.

She channeled a vision of a townhouse burning to ashes into their minds. It was tricky, but she managed to have all the Keepers staying present in the moment as their world collapsed in black. 

Little feet were running and the body attached to it was crashing into charred building parts at seemingly every turn. A severed treehouse. A dangling ceiling. The figure ran and ran till something held it back. It couldn't move. What happened? Felt around, till it the piece of debris that was holding her hair. Long hair. The figure was a girl. She turned around to check what kept her from fleeing, and freed herself from a burnt branch. And the screams. All the screams.

All Vannie's screams.

Time stilled in that moment. Deep red blood flowed and mixed with sooty sand.

Vannie didn't release them from that hallucination till their eyes were all glazed over, and a few of them were trembling. She kept them there forcefully, till they became one with that girl. Till they could feel her hopelessness and fear like it was their own.

It wasn't a random visual. It was her life, moments before she was captured and brought the Inlands.

She released them abruptly after few moments, and they looked horrified, disoriented. She pounced at the moment.

"Greer, that could be your daughter." He froze, till slowly, slowly, fear for the little girl he just saw turned into intense anger. "Or one of your brothers, Marshall. It could be any of us. If we let them win."