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“She’s dead,” Danny cut him off, the words out before he could stop them.
Shane’s eyes widened and he immediately bowed his head. “Oh…I’m, I’m sorry mate.”
“It’s fine, just one of those things.” Danny forced himself to look straight ahead, resisting the burn of tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Yet he couldn’t keep the hitch from his voice as the memories flooded his head. “It’s been almost two years now. She just never really got over losing dad that way.”
“Wolf's bane…” The eternal pinning and longing wail of a wolf who had lost its mate and was cursed to waste away to a piteous end. There was no worse end for a werewolf than the slow death of a broken heart.
Just the mention of the ailment sent a shiver through them both.
Danny nodded, one stray tear rolling down his cheek. “Yes. She fought it as long as she could but…well, you know.”
“Yes, yes of course.” Shane raised his gaze and looked up through the woodland canopy to the darkened celestial sky. He’d never really known the details of the mating of the last Alpha and his mate, but their stories were legends amongst the pack’s elders. “May their spirits find each other in the great sky plains,“ he said, reciting the prayer of reuniting lovers with more reverence than Danny would have expected.
“Run far and free...until we meet again,” Danny finished, before turning to Shane, his expression suddenly hard. “What does Erza want to see me for?”
“You came to talk, didn't you?” Shane shrugged, but his grin was absent still and the nonchalance didn’t show in his eyes.
Danny grabbed his arm, stopping Shane in his tracks. “Yes, but that doesn’t explain her wanting to see me.” His hold was like iron around the other man’s wrist, his tone matter of fact. “I’m a son of the last Alpha. With Deckland gone from our lands, I’m the greatest threat to her control of the pack. Other alphas would have me killed on sight. So why does she want to see me?”
Shane wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I’m not supposed to-”
“Don’t give me that shit. You know something,” Danny snapped. “You just said Deckland would be useful right about now. Why? What the fuck is going on? Tell me or I’m gone. I came for answers. I won’t be a pawn in a power game.”
Torn by indecision, for a moment, Shane looked like he might protest further, then the war of his conflicting loyalties swung, and their eyes met. “Ah…alright, you’ll find out soon enough anyway, but you can’t tell her I told you. Alright?” He was more imploring than insisting.
Danny nodded. “Go on.”
“Okay. Things are bad, mate. And not just for us, but everyone. All the packs, and even the rogues in the cities like you,” he sighed. “It’s Wyverns.”
“Wyverns?” The question hung in the air for a moment, then Danny couldn’t help a dry laugh. “Yeah, so what. When aren’t they a problem? When haven’t those sheep shagging thunder lizard shifters been out to devour anyone who didn’t shit scales? They’re just a fact of life, like fleas and humans.”
“This is different,” Shane growled, his eyes lacking any hint of humour. “Look, it wasn’t just your dad who fell on Hengest’s Hill. The old wolf sent a number of Wyvern chiefs to the dark skies that day, and that power vacuum has given rise to a new power across the border. A chieftain named Emyr has been conquering any clan that wouldn’t join him. Last year he marched on the Brecon Beacons and old King Edmundwyfgit Blood Wing bent the knee and surrendered the triple crown of wing and claw to the upstart. Now he rules over all the clans.”
“How do you know this?” Danny asked slowly, disbelieving.
Wyverns were not like the other Paranormals. They didn’t mix with humans, nor integrate into society. They existed in savage tribes across Wales, in a world that hadn’t evolved since the dark ages. Shane was unlikely to have seen their movements on his Twitter feed.
Shane just shrugged again, shaking off Danny’s arm. “Erza. She’s been trying to warn the packs. Some have listened, mostly the older packs with strong ties to the village, but most send our messengers away with their tails between their legs.”
“Well, tell them to try calling first next time.” The witticism fell on deaf ears.
“This isn’t a joke, Danny. They think it’s a trap, a ploy to seize control of their packs. They don’t trust her, the lone female Alpha that unseated Alfred Long Claw’s eldest pup.”
“Well, I can’t say I blame them,” Danny laughed again, his face twisted with disbelief. “I mean come off it and have a day off, this all sounds like a bad Ronnie’s sketch. For fuck sake, if you’d turned up on my doorstep and told me that story, I’d tell you to lay off the strong cheese at night. Wyverns can’t work together. Put four tribes of the buggers together at breakfast, half of them will be dead by lunch. Everyone knows that.”
“Well, everyone is wrong. They’re out there, an army of those winged fire breathing buggers, and if Erza’s right, they’re coming our way.” His eyes were bright with the words, not the fierce bright fury of the wolf, but the fever of a true believer. Whatever lunacy had been going on here, it was obvious Shane believed every word of it. “The fight is coming mate, whether we like it or not, and we’ll need all the packs united together. Mark my words, if we don’t all stand together to meet them, the age of the wolf will be done.” Then he turned on his heel and continued on along the path up the hill.
Danny watched him go.
Wyverns amassing, was it even possible?
Just the thought sent a shiver through him.
The wolf packs had been at war with the Wyverns since they first settled in Wales, long before even the Romans dared to settle on English shores. Raiding parties would cross the border to pillage and burn and occasionally a few of their clan chiefs would band together and attack a pack head on, but an army? A real army of monsters. It was as terrifying as it was ridiculous. There had never been anything of the like. Not one of their Kings could ever have hoped to muster such numbers.
But there had been no lie in Shane’s eye. Had he seen it, witnessed it on the move? What could make him believe in the impossible with such certainty?
He double timed it to catch up. “Look, alright, say I believe you, John Snow, what does this all have to do with me? If Erza wants me to fight, she could have just asked on a picture postcard. What’s with all the secrecy?”
