Il Corvo's Lupa Nera

Fenrirra opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling as flickers of her dreams settle into her mind. Flashes of silver, mixed with blood, fur, and bodies lying all over the field. Her brow furrows, realizing rather suddenly that the ceiling is wrong; it’s not the palace one. Shifting her body, she groans in pain and collapses back against the bed, knowing she is not going anywhere.

A door opens, and she turns her head, watching an elderly lady wander into the room, carrying a tray in her hands. Gentle brown eyes, crinkled with crow’s feet at the edges. Lightly greying hair and sloped shoulder, wearing a worn hoodie and cotton pants, clearly meant for comfort rather than style. “Good afternoon, dearie. How are you feeling?”

“Sore… What happened? Where am I and who are you?” Fenrirra shifts closer to the wall, warily watching as she places the tray down on a table near the bed.

“I imagine. You have been unconscious for about a week, what with the wounds that you took during the battle. Caleb left you here, felt it was safer to split up, just in case that bastard tries to track you down.”

“You know what happened?”

“Of course, dear. Everyone in the wolfen community knows. But don’t worry, my husband, Lenny, and I, we were always outcasts to the crown. He won’t find you here.”

“And you are?”

“Oh my. Right, I am Estella, but most just call me Stella.”

Fenrirra nods, her thoughts flashing to the constant dreams of death and fur she had before the coronation. She drifts back to the event, sitting with Trent, watching Caleb step forward to take his place in the sacred circle, when chaos erupted. Gold Pelts attacking their own. Dark wolves swarming the ceremony. Magnus turning into his wolf beside them and lunging at Roxy before attacking the others on the stage.

She remembers shifting, trying to reach her friend, only for Linus to step into her path, then the darkness that swallowed everything after. “So it wasn’t a dream, then.”

“A nightmare is more like it. Magnus and his posse attacked the throne, killing most of the shifters there, including the past king and queen.”

“Caleb survived if he dropped me off here. What about Roxy? Trent? Conri?”

“I am assuming Roxy is the other young lady with him, but judging by her condition, I doubt it. Trent, assuming it was the young man with Caleb; torn up, but in better condition than the pair of you. As for Caleb, it will all depend on whether the silver damage festers. He was essentially a walking zombie, but wanted you to be safe first.”

“Conri?”

“Not with him, so I cannot say. Because we are outcasts, in a sense… no, more reclusive I suppose, than actual rogues who attack the crown, I did not feel the battle as others did. Only the deaths of the king, queen and our wolves.”

“What?” Fenrirra pushes herself up and reaches inside for Candra, finding only silence. ‘Candra?’

Estella places a hand on Fenrirra, seeing her expression change as she reaches inward. “You will not find her, dearie. The imposter king stole our wolves’ voices. They have been gone since the battle.”

Fenrirra blinks, feeling tears spring to her eyes at the emptiness inside. “How?”

“I don’t have the answers to that. Now, you should eat. I brought soup.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Estella exhales gently, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “I understand. You need time to process. I’ve had a week and I still haven’t processed it all. While you’re at it, decide on what you want to be called, because Fenrirra is not safe. Magnus has put out wanted posters for your body, and I don’t know any other Fens it would apply to.”

“Why are you doing this?”

She smiles, giving her hand a squeeze. “Let’s just say I owe Caleb a favor, and this is me repaying it. Part of that is not having you starve to death, so the food is there.”

“How do you know him?”

“Business world and its dark side. My son thought he would try his hand at it and was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with the cruel side of that world, putting us all on the streets. I don’t know exactly what happened, but Caleb stepped in and put my son in his place. Kept him off the radar of others who were tearing him down. Because of him, we live comfortably now, and he’s only part-time in business and focuses the rest on hockey and pack stuff.”

“Yes, that’s Caleb for you. If your soul is good, he will help anyone that asks, unlike his brother, Magpus, on the other hand, who is a piece of work that should be six feet under.”

“Magpus. I like that name for him. Suits him completely. Nothing but a festering wound that he is bleeding into the rest of the shifter world. Currently, he is calling all the alphas who opposed him in the takeover. Some are answering, and of those, he has killed half of them.”

Fenrirra gasps, shock radiating through her core. “What? In a week? He will destroy the kingdom.”

“It’s already destroyed. He is king and is proving his power that way. He is also seeking those who escaped his grasp, like you and Caleb, along with others I do not know.”

“Will your Alpha turn me in?”

“Dearie. We are the Alphas and have not been an active part of the kingdom in a very long time. Magnus, or Magpus as you called him, is not finding you.”

“Wait,” Fenrirra rubs her temples, clueing in to her earlier statement about being outcasts. “So you are rogues?”

“In a roundabout way, yes, but we were still tied to the king and queen. Is that a problem?”

“But rogues are evil and kill for the fun of it.”

“Not all rogues, just like not all royals, are pure of heart. There are good and bad in each.”

“I suppose that is true.” Her thoughts drift to Magnus and what he was doing, knowing being of the royal line, he should be pure like the rest of them but clearly has a taint in his heart. “Caleb never mentioned a rogue pack.”

“Why would he? We are not a threat to him. We live on the outskirts of a city and have incorporated ourselves into the human world since before you were born. He would have made a smart king.”

“I’m sorry. I just… Every rogue I have known has tried to kill one of ours, so we hunt them.”

“Indeed, the feral ones are. We kill those here too. Ones that think they can infiltrate our pack without consequence.”

“How big is your pack?”

“There are just over a hundred members.”

“And they will all keep my secret?”

“There are only five of us who know where you come from and who dropped you off. Pick a name, learn it, and familiarize yourself with it. Answer it, and no one will be any the wiser. Now, this old lady has tied up too much of your time. Eat your soup and rest. You need it. We will talk more once you are better. After all, this is the first time you have woken up enough to speak since the incident, and you have a lot to process.”

Fenrirra slumps into the pillows and closes her eyes, giving a slight nod, her thoughts drifting to all that they talked about. Caleb left her with rogues and fled with the others, wondering if he dropped Trent off and buried Roxy somewhere. Tears creep down her cheeks at the thought of Roxy’s death, knowing the woman was right. She had seen Magnus tear Roxy in half. Yes, not much could kill a shifter. Silver, decapitation but using silver claws to rend a body in two. That could do it.

That didn’t even count that her father was there, and probably dropped alongside the others. It’s doubtful he would let the king’s gamma and beta live, meaning her mother and her younger siblings will be eradicated too, especially if he’s killing Alphas. And she has no way of knowing, because their connection to their wolves and the crown is gone.

She listens to the door snap shut on her room, allowing sobs to escape her at what Magnus had done. Her mind runs through scenarios of what they should have changed to stop his assault, but there is nothing. She had seen the visions, gone to Caleb. They each approached his parents, informing them of their suspicions, but they brushed it off, saying Magnus would never interfere with the goddess-given ceremony. That the most he would do is throw a tantrum and sulk for a few days.

A tantrum indeed. No, it was worse than a tantrum. His full-blown evil side had come forth, and you could see it in his eyes: royal violet drowned in red, darkness pooling in the iris like something alive, one he clearly welcomed into his life. It was apparent, as she stared into his eyes, that he fed the night’s hunger, rather than the moon’s gift.

Her chest tightens as she gingerly lifts a hand to brush her tears aside, knowing that there is nothing she can do about it now. All of them too injured to face him and his underhanded ways. Fucking lining their claws with silver because he knew there was no way he was defeating Caleb without it.

Who knows where Caleb landed, and no one is finding any of them thanks to Roxy, Caleb’s sister. Computer whiz.

She recalls sitting in her room after they made plans, watching her fingers fly across the keys as she set things up to erase them all from existence, just in case. Setting a code in place to run, with or without prompting depending on the time someone entered it.

Laughing wryly, she recalled questioning her, asking if this was really necessary and hearing Roxy’s voice in her mind.

‘It’s Magnus. We can’t trust anything when it comes to him. This way, we are sure. I don’t want that asshat touching any of our assets. Besides, if I am right, this will piss him off further if the assets disappear under his nose since I am certain he just wants the money and power tied to Caleb. He’s always been a jealous bastard. Pretty sure he has all seven sins brewing in his body.’

Now she wonders if that actually succeeded, since Roxy was not there to complete the coding. She exhales softly, knowing she will need to check once she is able to, and the only way to do that is to get better, like Estella said.

Pushing herself up carefully, she lifts the bowl of soup and settles it on her lap. She takes a spoonful, smiling when she realizes it’s chicken noodle, one of her favorites, wondering if Caleb had mentioned it.

As she sits there, she reaches inward again, searching for her wolf Candra, finding that Estella is right when she cannot find her. She can feel a presence, but it’s like she’s lost in the mists, and everywhere she turns, there is nothing. ‘Candra, I hope you are alright.’

Hearing silence, she stares at her bowl in dismay, her heart tightening at the loss of her wolf, only to feel the hot tears once more slipping down her cheeks, knowing if she ever sees Magnus again, she is killing him. It doesn’t matter if it’s Caleb’s, Roxy’s, and Conri’s brother, or that he’s the ruling monarch right now. He’s a dead shifter walking; it’s just a matter of time.

Fenrirra finishes most of the soup and takes a sip of the water sitting there, lying back down and allowing her body to lull her back into slumber.