Blood Lust

Chapter Five - Preparation

‘How dare they threaten my pack and try to take my sister’ raged Jason as he stormed around his dad’s office, Halle curled up on the sofa in her mothers embrace sobbing as Justin tried to placate the furious young man.

‘Calm down Jason’ Justin ordered exasperatedly, ‘they are not going to get their hands on your sister, this pack will not allow them to get within a twenty metre radius of the pack house.’

‘I’m going to rip that Vamps spine out and use it to beat his minions to death’ Jason growled angrily as he sat down next to Halle and pulled her out of their mothers embrace and put his own arms protectively around her.

‘Don’t let them take me Jas’ Halle whispered as fearful tears rolled down her face.

‘I won’t little sis, no dirty blood sucker is getting near you’ Jason promised holding her tightly to him as if keeping her against him would somehow ward off the danger.

A knock at the door broke the family’s moment, entering the room, Leo bowed to each of the Alpha’s family respectfully before walking over the Justin and taking the seat proffered.

‘Alpha, we have arranged teams that will stand outside the barrier as a first line of defence against an attack, second teams within the barrier and then a final defence that will hold arms outside of the pack house’ he relayed quickly.

Nodding his understanding, Justin replied, ‘excellent, we also need all the ill, elderly, pregnant and young to be taken down to the fortified basement within the pack house, Halle will also be held there’ he added glancing at his frightened daughter. ‘We will need at least two warriors to stay with them and I would prefer a few of our fighters to take position within the pack house foyer, the more bodies we can put between this Vamp and Halle the better.’

Leo made a mental note of the orders before continuing, ‘Graham has already asked to be one of the guards within the basement, he knows he is one of our strongest fighters but with Felicity very near to giving birth he is anxious to stay with her’ Leo added hesitantly.

Thinking over his Beta’s words, Justin slowly nodded his head, ‘that is a good idea, not many wolves want to come up against Graham at the best of times but he is a whole other level of dangerous where Felicity is concerned, no-one will be getting in that room with him there.’ he mused, ‘also ask him for some ideas for deterrent ideas to put around the basement, he’s pretty resourceful’ he chuckled.

Bowing his head, Leo rose from the chair and made his way back out of the door to continue with the defences.

Looking over at his family, Justin rubbed his temples as he took in their worried faces. Hazel broke the silence standing up and pulling Halle up with her, ‘We are going to go and make sure that the basement is well stocked with provisions, you two find every way possible to protect my baby’ she ordered before grabbing Halle’s hand and pulling her toward the door.

Once the office door shut Jason stood up and made his way toward his father, plonking himself down in one of the empty visitors chair.

Studying his fathers face dejectedly he sighed heavily, ‘where do you want me dad?’ he asked

‘Probably in the pack house son’ Justin replied, ‘you are supposed to be leaving to find your mate not getting into a war.’ he grumbled to himself.

Shaking his head, Jason lent forward in his seat, ‘Dad, I am not hiding in the pack house, this is going to be my pack one day, my place is out there with our fighters just like yours. How will they respect me if I'm sat behind a barricade while they fight for my sister’s life?’ he demanded.

Studying his son, Justin smiled despite himself, ‘stubborn just like your mother’ he muttered as Jason laughed.

‘I think she would say I get my stubbornness from you’ he replied with a smirk.

‘Not a chance kid, that stubbornness is all the Luna’ Justin said with a grin. ‘OK, you will take up position with the second flank just inside the Barrier and I will stand with the first, if you see me back through the barrier you know they are pushing us through.’

Giving a nod of understanding, Jason stood up and excused himself, heading back to his room to try and get some sleep before the next day’s battle.

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Viktor called together the heads of his clans, seated around the long oak table that dominated the meeting room, the leaders waited silently for their King to speak.

Rising from his chair, Viktor swept his gaze around his underlings, taking in their unwavering devotion to him and his legacy.

‘Friends’ he started slowly, ‘it is good to see you here again within my home, though it saddens me that it is under these circumstances. I have visited the witch and she has shown me the best possible female for your future King to take as his partner and lead our people.’

Lowering his voice, he continued, ‘unfortunately, this woman is not going to be easy to obtain and her family are reluctant to let her go’.

The room filled with hisses of anger at his words before one of the leaders spoke up, ‘who would be insolent enough to feel that their offspring should be refused to our imminent King?’ he growled, his eyes glowing red, ‘they should be thanking the blood lord that their child has been chosen for such an honour! They should be kneeling at your feet in thanks.’

The other leaders rumbled their agreement, each member visibly angered by a refusal to their King.

Raising his hands to calm them, Viktor gave a grimace, ‘unfortunately my friends, his destined other is not a witch or a human, she is a Werewolf’ he said quietly.

Outrage broke around the room as leaders jumped to their feet, ‘a savage dog has been chosen to lead our people?’ One roared in fury.

‘There must be a better option than that of a feral mongrel’ demanded another.

Raising his voice over their uproar, Viktor shouted, ‘silence!’ waiting until each member took their seat. ‘I have taken council from the High Coven, I am assured that the best option to match with Vallance and produce what could be one of the strongest heirs our kind has ever seen, is the child of the Alpha of Oak Ridge pack. I was also unhappy with the news that our future lies with the Werewolf species, but even I am not of the position to defy the will of the Blood Lord.’

‘How do we go about obtaining our future Queen?’ a Vampiress asked hesitantly.

‘I have approached the Alpha and made a request, he decided not to be accommodating to our predicament, I then gave him 48 hours to change his mind, that time is up at midday tomorrow. Every available member of our clans will descend upon Oak Ridge and take our Queen by force, any Werewolf that gets in our way will be slaughtered.’ Viktor replied evenly.

‘What of the barrier your Highness?’ another Vampire asked, ‘this is why a lot of our clans have not attempted to create problems with Oak Ridge.’

Waving his hand carelessly, Viktor sighed, ‘the barrier is not issue to us, I have obtained a way to cross, it will take us time but we will get within their territory and we will take our Queen from their grasp.’

Nodding, the leaders looked at each other determinedly as one raised to his feet, ‘we will get his Lordship Vallance’s wife for him your Majesty and we will m******e any wolf that tries to stop us.’ he said resolutely as the other leaders hissed in agreement.

‘Thank you my friends, I knew that our family would rally to support their Heir’ Viktor replied with a cold smile. ‘Now go, arrange with your clans, I want every able Vampire at the Oak Ridge border at noon tomorrow, if their Alpha does not step out with our Queen we will destroy their pack.’

Each of the leaders stood from the table, their chairs scraping back on the floor as they bowed to their King before transforming into their Bat counterparts and taking flight into the nights air toward their clans.

Watching the cloud of black move toward the horizon, Viktor gave a loud sigh, ‘I hope you are ready Justin, we will get our Queen from you, it’s just how many of your people you are willing to lose before you realise handing her over is inevitable.’