Chapter 2 2

Lyra and Glen ran through the park and headed down a straight road, they had to cross the forest threshold before they transformed. It had been over 6 minutes and still no sight of Anacostia. They ran until they could see a bridge that led to the forest.

"Lyra! Can we talk." Glen tried talking to her as they ran.

"Not now Glen." She sped up, trying to distance herself from him.

He tried to catch up but she was faster than him. They got on the short bridge and as they got to the end of it, they both transformed into werewolves. Lyra was a light gray wolf, fast and light, while Glen was brown and bigger. They continued running and just as they were about to get past the treeline, a hair-curling black wolf dived at them from the right with its jaws widely open displaying its bloodthirsty fangs, and paws and extended claws reaching for the kill... Lyra pushed forward and the wolf passed behind her while Glen ducked and she went over him. Anacostia was horrifying as a werewolf, it was almost impossible to imagine her as the beautiful human she is.

The Beta stood at the edge of a cliff with two henchmen behind him. They could see a lot of the forest from there, and with their incredible wolf eyesight, they could see past the leaves and branches that covered the forest like an umbrella.

"Boss, don't you think we could just kill the kid and get it over with. Ritual and Anacostia be damned." One of the henchmen spoke impatiently.

"Do you know how Anacostia got her wolf name, Nightbane?"

"Cause her wolf form is as black as the night?"

"No, because she is a plague of the night, a killing machine who hunts in the dark, that doesn't stop nor tire. You wouldn't see her coming right to the moment when she slashes your windpipe. And besides, you have no idea how persuasive I had to be to make Alfred agree to this."

"If Nightbane is all you say she is, why would he agree to letting his son be hunted by her for The Cross?" The other henchman asked.

"Because he is proud, and his pride gives him the image that his son is strong or lucky enough to survive this and become the young wolf who survived Nightbane. Well, we'll see."

Lyra and Glen were now aware of how serious and dangerous this particular Cross was. Glen knew he couldn't outrun Nightbane, she was aggressively fast, so he needed to make maneuvers. Lyra was as fast as her, perhaps even faster, so she needed to give her speed all she's got. Nightbane focused on Glen, she pursued him making several attacks and taking several strikes that he kept dodging by making unexpected shifts, jumps and lane changes. But no matter what, he couldn't shake her off. He was getting scared, he didn't expect Nightbane would actually hurt them, but now, this was going too far. He approached the first cliff, Lyra had already crossed it, he was already going the fasted he could so there was no acceleration to be made, he took the leap and Nightbane also took it, almost immediately with a more powerful jump, she went over him and landed before him, turning to gnaw him as he landed but Lyra bit her out of nowhere and Glen landed safely. They both continued running.

Nightbane was furious, she growled in anger and continued her deadly chase, with much more push in her limbs, a push that was dulled by the pain in the pivotal spot she was bitten by Lyra. She was impressed she almost stopped chasing them out of respect, but they had three more jumps to make. She continued without acquiescing. The duo made the next jump without any interruptions from her, and the one after that. She followed a shortcut like she did when she attacked them at forest entrance and in their moment of relaxed running, she came from the side again with so much alacrity it was almost divine. Lyra was the one in front so she had to pause so as not to get grabbed, yet Nightbane stretched her forelegs and grabbed her by the neck pulling her to the ground. Lyra slammed Nightbane's face with her paw, breaking free of her hold and quickly continued running.

Lyra didn't want to come in contact with Nightbane again, that one contact was the most terrifying seconds of her life, so she put everything she had into her legs and pushed herself beyond all limits to stay ahead of a bloodthirsty Nightbane. She was nearing the final cliff to cross when she heard a loud whimper from behind her. She looked back while running and saw both Nightbane and Glen rolling on the ground, Glen's right hind leg caught in her fangs. He bit her through her thick mane, trying to pull her off his limb but she wouldn't let go... Meanwhile Lyra had made a U-turn, coming at full force toward her. She dove and grabbed her with her fangs, her speed and strength pulled Nightbane away from Glen. Glen got up, and was about to attack when he looked around and noticed that they were alone out here, he hadn't seen any other group doing the Cross.

"What the hell is going on?" He thought to himself.

He rushed into the fight Lyra was losing but holding her own and bit Nightbane's back who in turn let go of Lyra and bit his leg pulling him towards the edge of the cliff. Lyra noticed that all this time, Nightbane had been going after Glen. She thought it was because he was slow and easier to target but now, she's thinking there's more to it. She rushed towards Nightbane and bit the bridge between her nose and eyes, forcing her to let go of Glen, she pulled her and strongly threw her off the cliff. She and Glen ran some feet back and ran towards the cliff again... But Glen was limping, a result of Nightbane's mean bite, not garnering enough speed to make the cross. Lyra looked at him with encouragement and made him push himself. Lyra successfully made a clean cross but Glen almost didn't, he had to grab the edge with his claws, and pull his way up there.

Beta saw their tussle and thin lined escape and he was furious. In all his plotting and calculations, he did not account for Lyra being there, for her being so agile and effective. And like Anacostia, he was a tad bit impressed. Beta was a calculative man, he tries not to dwell on the mistakes he makes and find a solution, and he almost always has an auxiliary plan. He let out a low "Plan B" and then he and the men he was with made their way down the mountain in their human forms but with the speed of their wolf sides.

Glen and Lyra both shifted back to their human skins. There were just two clothes there, and they wore them and continued to the party. Lyra helped Glen walk as they made their way down the path that led to the cottage in the woods. After a ten minute silent walk, they came to the cottage in an open field, and there was no party, or at least they couldn't see one, just a huge campfire and at least eighty people who all arose when they saw them.

"This isn't The Cross." Lyra whispered to Glen.

"Clearly. The Cross is mostly for us young folks. But I see a lot of old folks, plus all the families are present and Alpha's from other friendly packs are also here.

The crowd cleared a path as they arrived, they couldn't still get over the confusion and still wondered what was going on. One of the elders came forward with a lamb around his neck.

"Let him stand!" The elder said to Lyra.

She left him and stood aside. The elder knelt in front of him and placed the bleating lamb at his feet. Beta's eyes opened widely when he saw what was happening, he smiled graciously, Alpha Alfred had used his (Beta) scheme to bolster his son's image to the pack and as thus, he was ascending. But why would the Alpha give up his position, and why now?

"Tonight, you will let go of your innocence and claim your take as a man, tonight you let go of your childhood tether and you become a man, and like your father before you, tonight, you become the Alpha."

"What?" Both Glen and Lyra couldn't hide their shock.