Chapter Six: The Shift.

"There's a spy in my room," Rendall yelled and Helia froze.

"Why do you want to get me killed?" Helia regretted why she had visited him.

"Do you think I will let my visitor get killed?" Rendall smirked. "My room is soundproof so you do not have to worry. I was only pulling your legs."

Helia sighed in relief. She frowned when she saw that Rendall had begun to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I never knew Helia could get scared."

"I'm Helena, not Helia and Helia... I mean Helena can never get scared."

After saying this, she left the room and Rendall did not try to stop her. He knew she would stand her ground no matter what.

Immediately she left, Montague walked into his room.

"The Alpha demands that you grace his presence this very moment," Montague announced.

"He locked me up and now he wants me to see him. Pathetic!" Rendall scoffed.

"You would have to see him."

"I'd only be leaving this room to find a way to break Nyx's curse. I refuse to leave this room to see an Alpha who is happy to live a cursed life."

"Rendall," Montague called out sternly. "Being a werewolf itself is a curse."

"I see it as a blessing," Rendall snapped. "The curse here is the one placed on us by Nyx and we are doing nothing about it."

Montague studied Rendall for a while and then he sighed.

"Well, the Alpha should be the one hearing this not me. I have little chance to decide in a situation like this. The Alpha on the other hand has a greater chance. This might be an opportunity to let him know how you feel."

"I think it is."

********************

As Helia walked down the hall, she saw Alpha Janus walk out of his room. She noticed how cautious he was so she hid from him and watched him without him noticing. 

After looking around to be sure that no one was following him, he went to the garden and Helia followed him. In the garden, a masked man was standing, probably waiting for him and when he saw the Alpha, he genuflected before him.

"Found her?" Alpha Janus asked with his head raised high, radiating an intimidating aura.

"No, Sire."

Alpha Janus clenched his fists. He was visibly annoyed but the annoyance was immediately masked. He maintained a poker face.

"You are becoming incompetent." Alpha Leander's voice was hoarse. 

" F...fitting in is n...not very easy, s...sire." His voice quavered as he spoke.

Alpha Janus took a deep breath. He was trying to restrain himself from snapping the head of the young werewolf before him off his body with his bare hands.

"And how about the weapons?"

"Almost ready."

Weapons? What weapons? What were the weapons for? Was it for the werelions? Helia was beginning to get worried. What was Alpha Janus up to? He was looking for a female. Was he looking for her? Helia knew that she had to find out what was going on. She was running out of time and she had planned to leave earlier but before leaving, she had to know what Alpha Janus was up to. She had to hang around a little.

Helia looked at the way that led to the exit. She took a deep breath and began to move away from the exit.

*******************

"The Council of Elders of Wulfe finds Rendall Lyall Connor guilty of breaking the land's rule which states thus; ‘No werewolf is allowed to cross the border of Wulfe without the permission of the Alpha King except during the night of the full moon’."

Rendall scowled at the short, plump man with a scroll that was talking. He looked at his hands. They were chained as if he had committed a heinous crime. He was treated like a criminal when he was not. He looked at his father's face. Alpha Janus was putting on a smug smile which annoyed Rendall. He was enjoying everything.

On a normal day, he would have watched everything nonchalantly, without saying a word but now, he would give them a piece of his mind.

"The punishment to be..."

"Enough!" Rendall barked interrupting the man. Everyone present began to murmur.

"This is outrageo..."

"Zip it!" Rendall commanded. His voice was husky and intimidating and the plump man cowered in fear. The murmurings were hushed too. He began to walk toward his father who was seated across the room. When he got to a table made of stone, he raised his hands, struck the table with the chain, and at once, he was free from the chain. He walked a little bit further until he was close enough to his father who maintained a poker face. 

"How low will you stoop?" He asked glaring hard at his father. If only glares could kill.

"You broke a rule." Alpha Janus' tone was flat. "Do not think you would escape punishment because you are my son and the heir of Wulfe."

"Stupid rules are bound to be broken," Rendall scoffed and everyone gasped. Alpha Janus frowned. "Why will you stop a werewolf from doing what he was created to do? It's stupid."

"You are crossing the line," Alpha Janus warned.

"Crossing the line?" Rendall smirked. "You're the one crossing the line here. I am trying to do what you should have done a long time ago but you're stopping me. Stick to having the tea parties you had chosen to always have and leave me to break Nyx's curse since you are not interested in doing so."

"RENDALL!!" Alpha Janus called out angrily. He was so infuriated that he had raised the spear in his right hand to strike his son.

Suddenly, a commotion was heard and a young werewolf rushed in, interrupting Rendall's ‘trial’. Apparently, a werelion was in the Alpha's court.

Knowing who the werelion was, Rendall rushed out of the trial room to where the commotion had come from. A large crowd surrounded the werelioness he had seen at the forest. He looked at the werelioness’ amber eyes. They were defiant. He admired her courage but, he knew that if he did nothing, she would be killed. Even before Nyx's curse, nothing pissed werewolves off than a werelion in their territory. It was less brutal before Nyx's curse though. Just glares and that was it. No attempt to hurt was made but Nyx's curse intensified the aggressiveness greatly. Now, a werelion found in Wulfe would be killed on spot. As Rendall looked at the crowd surrounding Helia, he knew that nothing ordinary could stop them from killing the werelion their eyes had fallen upon.

Rendall knew that the only option he had was to distract them so Helia could escape. Rendall knew one thing that could distract the crowd. He saw the Alpha joining the crowd but he refused to let this stop him from doing what he had in mind.

He took a deep breath and claws came out, white hair shot out of every pore, his clothes began to shred and bones broke. With all his strength, he gave a guttural howl as he fully shifted to his wolf.