A Werewolf Fantasy
Chapter 50

At this point, Erin was convinced that she was a cat with nine lives because she escaped death once more. Her father-in-law came to her rescue, knocking his brother off of her just when he was about to sink his fangs into her face. Although she was badly wounded, she knew her injuries weren't fatal, so he got to her feet and stood beside a tree to catch her breath.

"You killed my son?" Vak screamed at his brother.

"Yes, and I shall kill you too!" shouted an unrepentant Nikjin. "It is my turn to become the Alpha King of werewolves!"

The brothers began to wrestle ferociously, swiping and snarling at each other. It was more than just a fight for survival - it was a fight for respect and honor.

The fight was so brutal that within minutes, they were both covered in blood and seriously wounded. As the fight intensified, Erin became worried.

She wondered if she should jump in and target Nikjin who was attacking his brother wildly like a wolf on drugs.

Without warning, Vak knocked his opponent to the ground, pinning him in place with his paws. Nikjin struggled to break free but his brother wouldn't budge.

"I have you where I want you now," Vak said victoriously.

"You are wasting your time," replied Nikjin. "You cannot kill me. I am immortal!"

His claim was so ridiculous that the Alpha King laughed in his face. "You are raving mad," he said.

"Zokman lied to you," Erin informed him. "You are not immortal. He deceived you into killing off your descendants so that none of them would come after him after he kills you.

"It was his way of taking revenge on you for stealing his ambition to become the next Alpha King of werewolves."

"You lie!" Nikjin yelled in denial. "I am immortal!"

"We shall see about that now, shall we not?" said Vak. "This is for my beloved Olna Raven, and my dear son, Danshak."

He sank his teeth into his brother's neck, ripping the skin and muscles viciously. Nikjin continued to struggle even as his blood poured out of the open wound.

Vak stepped away from him as he gagged and choked on his own blood. "Let us see how you will survive that," said the Alpha King.

Right before their eyes, they watched Nikjin drown in a pool of his blood and die. His eyes remained open with a look of surprise frozen in them. He had indeed believed that he was immortal and could not accept his defeat even in death. "Let us go and get the others," said Erin but as she stepped away from the tree, she felt a sharp pain in her side that made her gasp. It was the spot where Nikjin had struck her.

"You are badly injured," said Vak. "Can you walk?"

She nodded. "Yes. We need to set all the others free. I have some women helping me but I do not know if they have successfully unlocked all the other cells."

"How do we leave this place? How did you come in?" Vak asked, searching for the exit, as the portal had since closed after Erin and Nikjin entered the cell.

She grabbed a fistful of the magical powders and blew it in the direction that she'd come through. Instantly, a mist developed there and spread open.

"That is the exit," she told her father-in-law and he wasted no time running through it. She picked up the bag and followed him out of the cell.

To her delight, she saw that Weruona and the warriors had been set free. They were all filled with joy when they saw their supreme leader, free and alive. Monah, the head warrior was the first one to reach Vak's side. "My Alpha King! What a relief to see that you are alive," he said.

"I could say the same about you, my friend. Are you well?" said Vak.

"Yes. Tired, but well. Where is that traitor, Nikjin?"

"He is dead,” replied Vak. "I had no other choice but to kill me in self-defense."

"Oh, you do not need to explain your reasons to me, my king. You are completely justified, my lord."

"Edvana, where is Danshak?" asked Weruona.

Erin's face fell. "He died two weeks ago," she said sadly. "Nikjin killed him."

There was a collective gasp of shock in the crowd and everyone's morale dropped instantly. It was a hard blow to take, knowing that the Prime Alpha had lost a son and his wife within the space of a month. "I am so sorry to hear that," said Monah quietly.

They heard noises from behind them and when they turned to look, they saw a bunch of werewolves approaching them with open hostility.

"Who are these?" asked Vak.

"They are Nikjin's loyal subjects," replied Erin.

"Where is Lord Nikjin?" asked the grey wolf in front of the pack.

"He is dead," Vak announced. "I killed him."

"Attack!" the leader wolf yelled and his compatriots ran forward to attack the Smallchief clan.

"Get behind me, Edvana," said Vak, and Erin obeyed immediately.

Another round of battle ensued right then as werewolves on both sides clashed with each other. Erin, who was initially happy that the newcomers were outnumbered became worried when she saw the black beasts coming to join in the fight. She stayed firmly behind her father-in-law who was barely fighting because his warriors were in front of him, doing the real work.

Just then, Zanisck and her father showed up with a fresh batch of werewolf warriors and Erin finally heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that there was no way Nikjin's fighters could win this battle anymore.

"Edvana! You are injured," said Zorraya, coming to join her in her hiding spot behind Vak. Erin hadn't seen her coming in with the others.

"Zorraya!" she exclaimed happily. "You are alive."

"Of course, I am," Zorraya snorted, then smiled. "It is good to see that you are alive too, but you look terrible. Who did this to you?" "Nikjin. He tried to kill me."

"That evil beast! Where is he?"

"Dead. Father sent him to the great beyond nearly an hour ago.

"Good. He did not deserve to live after creating this chaos. What a vile creature he was."

"Zorraya, are you strong enough to carry Edvana home?" Vak asked her.

"Yes, Father," she replied promptly.

"Quick, take her home and have the village physician treat her wounds. I do not want her to bleed to death here after surviving Nikjin's vicious attack."

"Not yet, Father," Erin protested. "I want to see how this war ends."

He smiled at her through his furry face and said, "Very well, then. But you must let Zorraya take you home as soon as this is over. Your wounds need to be cleaned and treated as soon as possible."

"Yes, Father," she said and returned her attention to the fray of claws and fangs going on in front of her.

It soon ended because the opposition was easily overpowered and subdued by the strong warriors of Quandagh, led by Chief Anamak. Erin couldn't be more proud of her father.

"And that ends the senseless war started by my step-brother, Nikjin Whitehound," Vak Smallchief announced when all of his enemies were finally dead.

"Today shall be remembered in our history as the day regained my honor and my status as your supreme leader, the Prime Alpha, and the Alpha King of all werewolves.

"Now, to honor the memory of all those we have lost in this fight and as a salute to every survivor here tonight, we shall howl seven times to the moon. It has provided us with the light we needed to see and defeat our enemies."

There was a cheer amongst the werewolves at the Alpha King's speech. Vak lifted his face to the moon and let out the first howl. Everyone else, except the humans in their midst, followed suit and howled to the moon. After the seventh howl, there was jubilation in the crowd and everyone was eager to return home.

Timah and Rowana came to embrace Erin and express how happy they were to have survived the night and been permanently free from Nikjin's cruel reign of terror. Zorraya shape shifted into her wolf form and carried Erin on her back, as she could see that her sister-in-law was growing weaker by the minute.

She had lost a lot of blood and was in urgent need of treatment if she is to survive her ghastly injury.

By the time they reached Denai' Vena, Erin was completely worn out from the long journey and eager to rest. She could feel herself nearing unconsciousness but she didn't want that to happen until she was in her room with the dream stone under her pillow.

Her work here was done and it was finally time for her to return home and allow Edvana to live her truth.

"Please, take me to my bedroom," she whispered to Zorraya.

"Of course," said Zorraya, dashing into the longhouse that housed the room that belonged to Edvana and Danshak.

She changed to her human form and gingerly laid Erin on the bed and adjusted the cloak on her shivering body.

"Wait," Erin said weakly as Zorraya made to leave the room. "Please, look inside that basket of clothing. You will replace a small pebble there, bring it to me."

Zorraya obeyed wordlessly and found the stone almost immediately. "Is this the dream stone?" She asked.

"Yes," replied Erin tiredly. "Please, put it under my pillow."

Once again, Zorraya obeyed her sister-in-law without asking questions until the dream stone was safely tucked under her pillow. "Will that be all for now?" "Yes, Zorraya. Thank you."

"I will go and fetch the physician right away," said Zorraya. "Please, try to stay awake. We have come too far for you to die now."

Erin smiled weakly. "I shall try," she said.

As soon as Zorraya left, Erin leaned back on the pillow and closed her eyes. "It's time to go,” she whispered to herself. "Dream stone, please, take me home."

***

When Erin woke up, it was morning and she was inside her room in Fairbanks. She squealed with delight and jumped out of bed like a little child who had just woken up on Christmas morning.

"I'm back home!" she laughed happily. "I made it back!"

"What's all the racket?" her mother called from downstairs. "Are you ok?"

"Better than ok," she yelled back, and then she ran to her full-length mirror to check herself out. She was wearing the same pajamas she had worn the night when she first slept with the dream stone under her pillow. "Wait, how long has it been?" she wondered aloud.

She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and she was glad that she had a proper toothbrush to complete the task and not a chewing stick. She was instantly grateful for all the basic things that she used to take for granted.

Oh, how blissful it was to live inside a proper house with heating instead of a hut with a crude lantern to provide warmth and light. How precious it was to have a comfortable bed with the softest duvet to cushion her body instead of a lumpy wooden bed with smelly animal fur for covering. Thank goodness for civilization!

When she got downstairs, her mother was loading the dishwasher while her father was folding up the morning newspaper, about to leave for his trading post.

"We thought you'd never wake up," her father said with a chuckle. "You looked pretty knocked out when I checked on you earlier."

"Oh, Daddy," she said and hugged him, and then she kissed him on the cheek. "I love you so much!"

"Someone's in a good mood today," her mother remarked with a curious glance.

"I love you too, darling," her father said, hugging her back.

She walked over to where her mother stood by the sink and hugged her from behind. "And I love you too," she said. "I promise to be a good girl and be the kind of daughter you have always hoped for."

Beatrice Brown was touched by Erin's statement. "You are a good girl already, darling. You don't have to change and be anyone else, you know.

"I love you and I am super proud to be the mother of a brilliant young woman like you. Just do me a favor and tone down the weird dressing a little, ok?"

They all laughed. Erin was relieved and overjoyed to be back home in a familiar domain with things and people to whom she could relate to. It felt so good to be back.

***

Farida was surprised when Erin finally showed up at work later that morning. "Hey, I was about to call you. I thought you wouldn't show up today."

"I am so sorry, Farida," she apologized. "I woke up super late."

"You should probably invest in an alarm clock then," laughed Farida. "I hate mine but it does what I bought it for."

"I will take your advice," said Erin. "Is Devon in?"

"Yeah, he's in his office. Why?"

"I have something of his that I'd like to return."

"Well, go right ahead then. We have a lot of work to do today, ma'am."

"Sure, I'll be back in a jiffy!"

She raced to the first floor, climbing the steps two at a time. She couldn't wait to see her mate and confirm that last night's experience wasn't just a crazy dream.

When she saw him through the glass walls of his office, thumbing through a sheaf of papers, her heart swelled with love and yearning for his touch. "Danshak!" she called out to him.

Devon looked up at the sound of her voice and when he saw her, the papers slipped from his hands and floated to the floor. "Erin, there you are," he said with a look of relief. "I thought you wouldn't come back here. I thought that I'd probably scared you away with my weird tales of the past."

"No," she breathed and walked up to him. He was even more handsome than she remembered. "Oh, my love. I am so happy to be reunited with you."

"My Edvana," he said and embraced her. They held onto each other, happy and fulfilled to be finally reconnected after many centuries.

Erin broke the embrace and brought out the dream stone from her pocket. "I believe this is yours," she said, offering him the smooth pebble.

"Keep it," he said with a smile. "Let's call it a pre-mating gift."

She laughed. "Pre-mating indeed. What a wild ride last night was. I was trapped in another era for months."

"I was there for years until Nikjin killed me," he chuckled.

"That was awful. I always wondered what would happen if I died there. I'm glad you made it back safe and alive," she said.

"Nothing you saw in the dream was new. They were all memories of what had happened before. The outcome would have been the same in the end because you can't change the past." "But we can change the future."

"Exactly."

"I wonder what happened to Edvana that night."

He gave her a sad look. "She died before Zorraya could return with the physician. They said she lost the will to live because her mate was dead."

"How do you know all these?"

"Like me, my family has been pretty curious about our werewolf ancestry, so they did quite some digging and found these stories of the past that have been passed down verbally from generation to generation." "We should have our history properly documented, I think," she said passionately. "It could be hidden as a work of fiction, but only we werewolves would know for sure that it is true."

"Sounds like a brilliant idea," he agreed.

"So, you think that I'm brilliant?" she asked with a cheeky smile.

"Erin, you are beyond brilliant. You are phenomenal."

"How phenomenal?"

He smiled seductively. "Let me show you," he said and lowered his head to kiss her on the lips.