Chapter 10

• Tyler’s POV
• “I can’t be your mate, Tyler, I am not perfect for you.” Kaya’s words struck my very core. It was surprising how her words infuriated me and at the same time made me long to protect her. The surge of emotions I felt was frustrating, I needed to be around someone who cared for me to help me think straight so I headed home.
• As I reached, I walked up the stairs towards Lily's room, knocked lightly on the door to announce my presence and opened it. Lily was by the window, painting a picture of the pack. She turned around and spotted me and furrowed her eyebrows.
• "Let me guess, another attack by the outlanders" she speculated.
• " Yes," I replied her making sure to conceal the emotional turmoil I was going through.
• "What else is bothering you Tyler? she asked seeing through the facade.
• "I could tell you are brooding," Lily added.
• "Yeah… the strangest thing happened, I found my mate."
• Lily stared at my face as I told her that I had found my mate.
• “Tyler, that’s great news!” Lily exclaimed when she heard the news but her face contorted showing confusion and then worry.
• “She doesn’t want you, does she?” Hearing Lily spell it out knocked my breath out of me. My mate didn’t feel she was right for me. It was rare for a wolf to reject his or her mate as the connection between two wolfs is always intense. I felt drawn to Kaya no doubt but did she feel the same way for me? Did my touch circulate sparks through her body as hers did to mine?
• “Who is she?” Lily’s voice drew me from my thoughts.
• “Her name is Kaya. You wouldn’t know her.”
• “No… tell me about her.” She said.
• “You remember the Prophesied day of Atrocity?” Lilly nodded to confirm she did.
• “Delta Julie gave birth to Kaya before she passed on.” Recognition showed on her face as she recalled what happened.
• “Kaya..." she said
• "Her birth was indeed strange, do you think what was prophesied about her is true, could she be the prophesied Katára? ” Lily inquired echoing my worry.
• “I have no idea. She was born on that day and the same day, the pack lost an important member of their militia”. I responded.
• This made me think about the past and what I recalled about that day. We lost a valid member on the Day of Atrocity, Wolf Julie, our fastest Delta died. The pack mourned her intensely. Dad said we lost a great warrior and after that, Zerx the former Alpha started waging war on neighbouring packs. Using sorcery, he garnered power from every high-ranking wolf in neighbouring packs.
• Dad said all wolfs followed him for fear of not going against their Alpha’s command. But years later, Zerx grew more paranoid. He killed every strong wolf in the pack that dared to challenge him. Dad who was his next in command planned with some other wolfs to take him down but Zerx somehow knew of this; sadly, they walked into an ambush and all lost their lives. I lost my parents that day to Zerx and vowed to the moon goddess to revenge on him myself damning the consequences.
• A few years ago…
• After my transformation, I trained every day in the woods. I made sure to enlist in the militia to enhance my fighting skills and also study Zerx’s fighting techniques closely; his weaknesses and strengths. I had no idea Lily knew of my suicidal mission, she watched my every move and trained as well in secrets to fight him. On that fateful night, it was a full moon. I felt a surge of power like never before. it was as if the moon goddess was on my side. As I made for the Alpha’s house, Lily fell into stride with me. I tried to talk her out of fighting with me but she adamantly refused to step down. Regrettably, I had no choice but to go through with it.
• Zerx was very confident with his power, he felt he didn’t need guards so it made things easy for us to break into his room. He had let his guard down and was fast asleep giving us the chance to land the first lethal hit. But in seconds, things escalated. Zerx attacked us with full force giving us no room to heal. The fight broke to the outer part of the Parkhouse and subsequently outside the packhouse.
• It was surprising how strongly we stood our ground and fortunately for us, no member of his militia interfered. They stood by to watch out for the outcome of the fight; it was almost as if they were rooting for me to win the fight. I applied all the tactics I had learnt and made sure to use his weaknesses in the battle against him and it worked in my favour. Zerx was indeed lethal in battle but he was huge and slow, giving Lily and me an advantage.
• My eyes caught a silvery object that reflected a beam from the moon secured around his midsection. It felt like the moon goddess drew my attention to the object. I slid down to avoid a blow from him and caught hold of the object while Lily distracted him. He paused in the middle of the fight like he felt the object leave him and turned towards me.
• “The apple truly doesn’t fall far from the tree.” He said giving me a sinister look. He turned around to glance at the gathering crowd.
• “ How ungrateful you all are! All I have done is try to cleanse our pack from evil.
• Ah!! Don’t pretend now you all haven’t heard about the prophecy.” As he spoke, murmurs erupted from the crowd.
• Don’t blame this on frivolities Zerx. Your time is up, stand down! I said mustering all the courage I had.
• It happened in a bleep. Zerx lurched towards us so speedily shapeshifting in the unexpected process. As he did, the silvery weapon glowed like he was tapping power from it. Just before my jaw welcomed his claws, Lily jumped in the way and his blow sent her about 15 feet away. Fury consumed me as I pierced his heart with the object. In an instant, streams of light escaped his body and entered mine while I pierced the object deep into his heart. I felt an extreme surge of the power envelope me while his body grew weak.
• He lurched towards me in an attempt to snap my neck but I ripped his heart out with my bare hands before he got a chance. He collapsed to the floor and pools of blood escaped his body.
• His last words still resonate in my mind. “Katára lives… the power, it must be taken, else calamity would reign on us.” With this, he took his last breath.
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• Putting all pieces together, it is undeniable what the truth is. Zerx said Katára lives, that means that it had to be Kaya and not her circumstances around her mother’s death. But what puzzles me is why Zerx did not take the power for himself when he found out she was alive.
• Tyler, what do you think? Lily asked. I turned towards her and said what I feared was the truth.
• “ Kaya is Katára!”