THE DINNER PARTY

The serene scene has become a haven of chaos.

Yet, I have my thoughts on one thing. 

To gain the king's trust. 

I know I've failed woefully with him once, but I cannot afford to fail again. Not this time. Not with a chance as good as now. 

Everything is so confusing. It looks as though everybody is fighting everybody, and I find it hard to even know who is a friend and who is the foe. I take one step forward with my Omega, half-formed paw, step back because I'm still so confused, and try to look for a target. 

Looking for one allows me to find him, the king, commanding so much power without even trying to. He is still in his human form with a mighty sword in his hand, swinging it at any rogue that dares to rush towards him with graceful, lithe movements. There is blood on his sword and red on his dark, matte robe, but he doesn't seem to notice it as his sword drops rogue after rogue to the floor, leaving them lifeless in a pile around his feet.

That doesn't deter them from attacking him either.

They keep going for him, snapping and biting, each one of them hoping his jaws will be the one that brings the White Crow to his knees.

The battlefield is now clearer, allowing me to concentrate better. There are several dead bodies here and there, while there are injured too, bleeding. And then...

There she is...

It's hard for me to not know her, the king's sister. She is clad in a robe just as immaculate as the White Crow's,  now marked brown by dust. She also appears to have had something happen to her with all the chaos, something that keeps her from getting to her feet and running with all the other women. Her only attempt at escape is some helpless crawling through the battlefield, with tears in her eyes as she cries for help. 

Her luck is that all the rogues are too focused on her brother to see anything else, as they know that the fight is theirs the moment they get him on his knees. I take a step in her direction, hoping to keep her safe.

Just when I am close, the sound of heavy paws drumming on the ground alerts me to a different rogue rushing towards her, intending to get her. His fur has scars for patches,  his long, lithe legs move at top speed, and with how fast he's going, there's hardly any doubt that he's going to get her. She feels him coming as well, and frightened by how close she is to being harmed, starts to scream at the top of her lungs.

He's so close to her. So close...

Then I ram myself into him, the force of the rogue's bigger body causing me to lose my bearing and roll on the floor. I get to my feet, turn to find him again, and watch as he rears his great big head, his eyes looking for what hit him. Between the both of us is the White Crow's sister, only saved by my action. 

He looks at me and then at her, unsure of who to attack first, and then makes a decision by rushing towards me. His body is huge and intimidating, his canines peeking out of his jaw as the teeth close on the skin of my shoulder, eliciting a yelp of pain from me.

That doesn't allow him to stop there, as he tosses me to one side, where my body crashes helplessly to the ground. I rise to defend myself and keep him busy enough for the White Crow's sister to escape, but he is unrelenting and violent.

The fight is a difficult one for me. I am an assassin, a silent killer who finishes off an unsuspecting target and who has mastered the art of smooth, silent killing. He is a rogue, a wolf used to a rough life and rough ways and even rough deaths, like the one he plans to give me. I fight against him, trying to hold him from doing any further damage, while he continues to bite, yell, and paw at me until it all stops at once. 

It takes me by surprise too-how the rogue wolf that was a terror only a moment before is now frozen and unmoving. A few drops of blood fall from his mouth onto my fur, right before he falls sideways, and lifeless.

With him out of the way, I look up at my saviour, the King's sister. 

His underrating has proved to be his undoing, and I watch as she stares at the sword which she plunged into his back, the hilt buried deep in her victim. His body twitches in a few final death throes, while she falls back to the ground, her chest heaving as sweat runs down her face.

The fight appears to have gone in our favour while we were busy with our one for, and the rogues are running off, our men hot on their trail. My eyes then turn to search for the King, who is marching towards us with his bloody sword in his hand. I watch as he reaches where we are, sink the sharp end into the ground, and then kneels next to his sister.

"Did they hurt you?*

"No," she answers, shaking her head. 

"Then what happened?"

"I twisted my ankle while I was running, and couldn't get away in time. The rogue came to attack me, but she saved me by fighting him before he could."

The White Crow turns to look at me, his pair of golden eyes giving nothing away while I turn from his intense gaze, afraid of implying disrespect by staring too directly at him, and battling my inner wolf that continues to yell from within me. Mate. Second-chance-mate.

At last, he returns his attention to his sister and appears to be examining her leg. It is a really nasty twist, one that has her foot twisted in an unnatural position, and that will require her to beg in bed for quite a while. He whispers words of comfort as he scoops her into his arms and then starts to walk with her when, all of a sudden, he stops and turns to look at me.

"Why are you waiting there? Are you not injured?"

His question reminds me of the burning in my shoulder, where the rogue wolf had first bitten. I look at it, at the skin hanging from where it's opened, and then at him as he stands waiting. Without wasting any more time, I change into my human form and then put my hand over my wound as we start on our way to the Pack Hospital while the sun sets.