Thirty two

Damien halted as soon as he realised he had arrived at Kira's doorstep. He still didn't know why he suddenly had the urge to come here but then again, he had way too much on his mind and she was reasonably the only person who had any knowledge about his questions and would give him answers to them.

For days now, he had been pondering over the entire issue on ground and he had barely gotten any sleep all through. A good number of the male pack members kept dying and leaving their mates in abject misery and now, a lot of them have gathered in front of the fortress gate to beg and plead that he stopped the killing before all of their husbands are wiped out before their very own eyes.

The people were of the belief that the men were getting murdered by rival packs but Damien knew that wasn't the case and he felt too ashamed of himself to tell the people that he still hasn't seen what the actual murderers looked like.

Draco had told him to do as Kira suggested since that seemed like the only logical suggestion but the fact that he'd have to involve Kira completely in his pack affairs didn't really sit well with him. Of course, he didn't have anything personal against her and he had a different opinion about her now compared to what he had before but he still didn't think it was right of him to put her in his people's business completely. He had already promised himself that no matter what happened, he would always try to protect his people from any possible threat and no matter how trustworthy Kira was, she was still an outsider and a possible threat to his people.

Just as he was about to knock on her door, he stopped himself and took in a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Suddenly, he heard a howl that sounded like that of a desperate wolf and when he turned around to look towards the woods, he could have sworn that he had seen something move swiftly into the woods.

At that moment, Kira came out of her room as the howling she heard had gotten her attention. She was surprised to see Damien in front of her door and she furrowed her brows slightly with a confused look on her face.

The moment Kira opened her door, Damien turned to look at her with a questioning look. "You heard that too right?" He asked and she nodded her head slowly, still trying to understand what was happening.

"We should check it out," Kira suggested and Damien immediately agreed with her.

They both looked at each other with curt nods before making their way slowly towards the woods that surrounded the guest quarters where Kira resided.

The guest quarters where Kira was kept was an isolated part of the Silvermoon pack and it was a part that unknowingly led the former hideout of an already extinct pack; the Crystal Moon pack.

Damien and Kira took cautious steps as they went further into the woods, following the sound of the howling wolf.

Then they heard another sound but this time, it wasn't the sound of a desperate wolf howling, it was more like a growl and a dangerous one at that. Both Kira and Damien looked back at each other briefly as if sending a message to themselves before running into the woods to find the location of the wolf that growled.

They both decided to go separate ways at a point during their pursuit in order to get to the wolf much faster. Damien was the first to see the wolf and it turned out to be none other than Rogan himself, Draco's younger brother.

Rogan was lying tiredly on the ground with his breathing heavier than usual and his hands pressed on his neck that seemed to be bleeding profusely.

"Rogan, what happened to you? Who did this to you?" Damien growled desperately as he bent towards his friend's brother before tearing up his shirt and using the piece of clothing to press on Rogan's neck.

Rogan found it hard to speak as his chest heaved up and down.

"I'm begging you Rogan, speak to me. Tell me who did this to you," Damien pleaded in desperation as he slowly removed Rogan's hands from his neck to check what could be causing so much blood loss.

His eyes widened in shock as soon as he realised that Rogan had a bite mark and unlike the typical ones, this one looked way deeper and much more painful. Damien could already guess that this wasn't done by a wolf. With his years as an Alpha, he could definitely recognise any mark created by a werewolf and this definitely wasn't one of them.

"A...a weird cre... creature came at me and he p...put h...his teeth in me," Rogan whispered with difficulty as blood poured out of his mouth.

"Creatures cursed by the sun," Damien muttered to himself, pressing his hand on Rogan's neck even more to stop the excessive bleeding.

"You don't have to say anything else Rogan, just try to breathe slowly and calmly. I'm begging you Rogan, don't die on me, please don't die on me," Damien pleaded desperately as the fear that he could actually lose Rogan started to cloud his thoughts.

Besides the fact that he would never forgive himself for watching his best friend's brother die in his arms, he also needed Rogan alive as Rogan was the only one who had seen the creature cursed by the sun and he could actually help in describing them.

Thankfully that moment, Kira came running and as soon as she saw the scene in front of her, she froze.

"What in the world happened to him Damien?" she asked, noticing the hand Damien had on the victim's neck and the blood that kept pouring out.

"It may seem as though he was bitten by the creatures cursed by the sun Kira and the worst part is, his injury doesn't seem to be healing like it should. Just who the fuck are this people and why doesn't their mark heal!" Damien spat out in anger, with his eyes laced in tears of desperation and powerlessness.

It hurt him to see his pack members die everytime when he still had no clue of who they were or what they even looked like. It made him more annoyed because such deaths didn't ever occur in the past when he hadn't taken over as the alpha and now that he did, the dying wasn't stopping and he still isn't competent enough to find a face or an actual name of whoever was behind the mass murder.

"Do you know who he is?" Kira asked, thinking he could be a guard since he had access to the Alpha's fortress.

"He's Rogan, Draco's younger brother," Damien replied and Kira's face fell.

She could not believe that she had to meet Draco's brother in such a state. A lot of thoughts went through her head at that moment and a feeling of powerlessness and anger engulfed her as she realised there was nothing she could do to save the life of her dear friend's brother.

"Do you think he can get up? Can we carry him?" she asked.

"We can't let go of his neck cause the moment we do that, he'll bleed to death," Damien replied and Kira hissed.

"We can't just sit here and watch him get worse Damien. We need to do something. You know what, how about we do this? Change into your wolf form and carry both of us on your back and while you're carrying us, I'll hold on to his neck and try my best to minimize the bleeding. How does that sound?" she suggested.

"Can I trust you?" Damien asked in a shaky tone and Kira could tell by his tone that he was fighting hard not to let down the tears he had in his eyes.

"Listen to me Damien, now is not the time to ask me such stupid questions. Trust me, I understand how you feel and I know you're desperately trying not to let go but just as you care for Draco and your people, I do too and I'd do anything to save the life of his brother or anyone else's life. Now, get up, get yourself together and change so we can both get out of here and help this boy," she instructed and without second thoughts, Damien takes Kira's hand in his and carefully places it over an unconscious Rogan's neck.

As soon as Kira's hands were in place, he stood up from where he sat and without bothering to pull his clothes, he changed into his wolf form.

"I'm trusting you Kira. Don't let him die on you, I beg you," he pleaded in his wolf form and Kira nodded slightly before taking a deep breath and carefully, she lifted Rogan with one hand, placing the other hand tightly on his neck before placing him carefully on Damien's back.

"Let's go," she instructed as soon as she successfully climbed on Damien's back and without wasting any second, Damien headed full speed out of the woods and back to the fortress.