Chapter 2 The Length of a Few Heartbeats

- Kaden -

I came out of the plane two hours ago, and was already through with the meeting. It hadn't been that complicated. Nubinero had refused all our demands. This was the last minute-ditch effort to end things peacefully but their forces and mine were already in position for battle. Weeks of back and forth. I wasn't that invested in the matter, but a few of my allies were, so I did them the curtesy of indulging them a bit.

There were nine packs in the end who stood here today. Warriors and Alphas. The battlefield would not be so far from Monaweard, the first pack to have raised the alarm about this whole mess, but far enough not to put at risk Mariqueen's territory and non-warrior residents. But still close enough to be a respectable commute.

The place chosen was far enough from humans not to notice and get involved, in the nook of a small mountain range that would-along with its extensive forest-defuse the sounds of battle. Not all conflicts have locations this well prepared, but the extent of human society's sprawl is considerable and it has to be taken in consideration, unless you want to trigger the human warning bells and find yourself facing a government's military might, or find yourself locked in a facility of which you'll never escape. It's not only werewolf society that worries about that, but the entirety of the supernatural world. To take blatant risk with humans can have a lot of other species ready to rally against you to take care of the threat. I've been part of such party before.

Thankfully, Nubinero has not pushed us in a situation where we had to readjust on the fly and risk for this to occur. They've been rational enough to know how problematic this could become, but also that making this conflict fought in a more risqué setting could lead to the involvement of others who were not originally willing to be involved, only to stop them from attracting human attention.

On the other hand, it also meant that they were confident enough in their capacity to fight us head on, without land advantages, surprise on their side, or guerrilla warfare, and still have a good shot at winning, or even taking us down.

We had to be careful about this one.

From what we found, the facility we shut down was mostly a source of income, and their victims aimed at the black market. But they had a few groups they controlled on the payroll, like the one that attacked Ghealach. It was mostly what the facility was financing, and those were bringing in what was far more worrisome things to take into account about our enemy. Super-weapons.

That's what a lot of powerful artifacts can become. Their use are sometimes extremely arcane and particular. Some could only be used by a certain person, some at a specific confluence of planets, others may have widely different result depending on who uses it or how. Knowledge about such artifacts is sometimes scarce, sometimes conflicting, and others completely lost to time.

On the up side, they targeted mostly smaller artifacts, in spiritual weight that is. Those were easier to steel and were not as strongly protected. Or so that was the information I had on them. I could be wrong and they could be holding the Lance of Destiny, or the Book of Thoth, or the Cintamani Stone. That would suck for us.

I'd manage to have a partial list of what they may be in possession of-we also found a few artifacts they sold either because they found no use for it, or were too strapped for cash, or in one case, the artifact attracted too much heat to keep it-and so far, nothing terrified me, but it got me very careful nonetheless.

We were moving in long convoys of off-road vehicles slowly on an old path through the thick forest. The hoods were whipped by branches and brush. It was a trail seldom travelled and it was narrower as we went in deeper. We knew we wouldn't be able to reach our destination on wheels, but the closest the better.

I didn't know how long that battle would be, but one thing I knew is that every battle is possibly the most difficult piece of exercise someone can perform, and everyone needed to save their strength as much as it was possible. I couldn't afford to have my men exhausted before we even began.

It was a long endeavor. We had to stop often to take a fallen tree off the trackway, or readjust our driving to the rugged terrain. But we had calculated this in our schedule and would not be late to our final location.

We could have shifted and run in a fraction of the time, but again, I wanted everyone as fresh and rested as possible. And this way we could carry a lot more with us. Weapons, ammo, or medical supplies. We had food and water too. I've faced battles before that has lasted days. Though, those were generally more a series of small attacks over a period of time than a full on army against army type battle. Yet there were still so many unknowns, and especially when magic is involved, things can rapidly take a weird turn. I wanted to be prepared.

Preparedness is one of the best tools for survival.

It took us a few hours and we gain a lot of altitude, but eventually we had to continue on foot. So we set up camps with the trucks and supplies, and finally trekked the rest on foot.

Some shifted at camps, while others piled on their weapons and body-armour.

Jayson, my beta, was at the head of the team that would take the higher grounds. Many of them snipers, others were ready to charge from a different angle. Mariqueen and her husband were at the head of the smaller pack and allies. David stayed at camp, and with a team, was getting aerial visuals and was connecting to infrared cameras some of my men were installing around the perimeter as we spoke, along with an array of sensors and microphones.

Him and the team I gave him, would be our eyes and ears and would help us face any eventualities.

After a little under an hour of walking, teams began diverging. We had prepared for multiple directions assault. Ideally we could surround and overwhelm the enemy rapidly and be back for breakfast, maybe even earlier.

I would lead the main charge with a few of my most faithful men. Ylva was with me on this team, as was Sam and our newest recruit Mishka.

I didn't know the guy much and I didn't trust him yet. So I kept a good eye on him. But so far, he had failed to betray us and has proven himself quite a capable warrior.

The group I was travelling with was much smaller now that the other teams, which were moving toward their designated targets.

"Is everything okay?" asked me Sam in a hushed voice.

I looked at him confused at his question. It took me a few seconds to realize my feet were slowing down.

For a second I thought my health might be falling apart at the worst of timing. But I stopped for a few seconds and gave Sam a signal to wait. He signaled for the others to continue ahead and waited silently beside me.

I closed my eyes the length of a few heartbeats and tried to assess the situation. I moved my attention from my head to my breathing, to my limbs, nothing clicked.

Why was I slowing then?

I don't generally do things like this without a good reason, so I shook my head at Sam and moved my attention to our surroundings. Were we observed? Followed?

Sam got the message and scanned the area himself, trying to catch any sign of an early attack.

Maybe this was a magical attack. I tried to feel the air around me, but magic as never been my strong suit.

I gave a quick comment in my earpiece for them to be vigilant and to send a few scouts ahead, just in case.

I found nothing that could have triggered my instincts to be careful.

I began moving slowly focusing on sight, hearing, and most of all smells. My nose was sharper than nearly everyone here, it could have been that my brain picked a smell that was worrisome, but not strong enough for me to really notice. So I put as much concentration in my task of sniffing the air as I could.

Sam let me track on my own, aware he could throw off whatever I'd find if he got too close, and had stayed behind. But I also knew he was keeping an eye on me. No matter how strong I was, or any of my men for that matter, the rule was you never leave anyone in a disadvantageous situation. Never near a battlefield, would one of mine travel alone, no matter how strong. I was not fond of unnecessary risks.

I was maybe ten meters away from my men when I noticed there was a faint undertone in the scents. Something that didn't fit in this desolated forest.

It was an old smell. Whatever it was, was gone now, and had been so for a long time. I walked a little further, barely able to notice the difference. It's only when I reached a little clearing empty of vegetation, with little other scents to hide it that my eyes widened.

My heartbeat was now beating frantically.

I took a few slow inhales, I needed to be sure I was right.

It reminded me of a drink I tasted in Indonesia. It was made with a rare flower, exotic and not from this realm, the flavours tingling in my mouth. It had been the most tasteful thing I'd ever ingested, yet the flavours subtle, and a little sweet, and intoxicating.

This smell had this faint exoticism to it. Shivers travelled all along my spine, and the hair on my arms stood on ends. My instincts were screaming at me to find the source of this smell and bury myself in it.

My breaths were heavy now.

I found my mate.