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Kai knew the situation wasn’t going to be easy. When he had originally heard that Steve had agreed so quickly to their warnings, he thought they would run into another wall of resistance. It certainly seemed that way now, as he stood in the center of the village, waiting to hear the rest of Steve’s concerns.
“Some of the Werewolves are currently out on a quest,” Steve explained, his eyes scanning the horizon. “I can try to get someone to track them down and tell them to return immediately, but there’s no guarantee we will be able to find them all before midnight.”
Kai realized this was the unfortunate reality of Steve’s pack. Unlike Jack’s city-based wolves, Steve’s followers were often out in the wilderness doing quests to increase their reputation and earn a living. This was a hit they were simply going to have to take, some werewolves were going to be caught out in the open, alone and unchained, when the moon hit its peak.
“Then there is a second issue, which is to do with what you said about the 'hunger method,'” Steve continued, his voice dropping an octave. “Although we can expend our energy now and try to spar against each other to make sure everyone is tired and hungry before the moon comes out... what happens then? The Werewolves will be exhausted, they will be starving, and my guess is they will be extremely agitated.”
The reason Steve spoke these words with such gravity was because he had already noticed the shift. Even without the full moon being visible, some of the Werewolves were already acting more aggressive and on edge than they ever had before.
“These guys haven't experienced true, gnawing hunger in a long time,” Steve warned. “I can’t guarantee all of them will be able to show restraint once the beast takes over. And when they finally do eat, according to what you have told me, they will transform. With the rest of us being unable to transform to match their strength, who will be left to stop them?”
Kai gulped as he heard those words. He remembered his own group going through these growing pains back in the modern world, but back then, the scale was so small. It was a limited amount of people he could manage personally. Here, they were talking about two entire packs, hundreds of potential monsters. Then, he remembered a tactic from the past.
“Do you not have somewhere you can chain yourselves up?” Kai asked. “Somewhere to hold you down even if you lose control of your own mind?”
Steve thought about it for a long while, weighing the strength of his men against the local architecture.
“Normal iron chains won’t work,” Steve answered. “They will snap them in an instant once the adrenaline hits. But chains made from beast materials, the kind specifically designed to hold monsters, those would work. At least for the majority of the Pack, it could do something. We don't have enough of those chains here in the village, but the Red Wing Kingdom will have them in their armory. They even have an underground set of tunnels built for sieges.”
Although it was the only viable answer to the situation, Kai knew it meant allowing the two rival Packs to meet up and occupy the same space. It was a recipe for a bloodbath if things went wrong.
“Alright then, I guess me and you have a lot of work to do,” Steve said, giving Kai a heavy, encouraging pat on the back.
“What do you mean?” Kai asked, feeling a bit of dread.
“Well, as I said, the best way to expend their energy is by fighting. So, we’re going to have to spar with them quite a bit. We need to force them to go serious and burn through their stamina. I can’t do that all on my own, it would take too long. And we can’t exactly start a brawl like that inside the Red Wing Kingdom walls, can we?”
Back at the Red Wing Kingdom, similar preparations were being made by Jack and his pack. They had reached the same conclusion: they needed to be underground. They began scouting the dungeon routes, looking for large, reinforced caverns deep beneath the earth.
They worked frantically to find the strongest pillars and objects that could be used as anchors for the beast-grade chains. They needed to make sure that even a transformed Alpha wouldn't be able to break out easily. On top of the physical preparations, Jack had made one more crucial move, Lilly had been sent to Bluebird to be looked after directly.
The situation had been explained to the knight, but Bluebird himself was instructed to do nothing directly. He was to keep his knights ready to act only as a final resort. Bluebird’s sole priority was to protect his family and Lilly at all costs, even if it meant sealing the dungeon doors and letting the wolves tear each other apart.
Soon, news reached the castle that Steve and his pack had arrived. Not wasting any time, Kai brought Steve to the war room and explained the situation to Jack.
“There’s not much we can do but cooperate,” Jack said, his face grim. “We have to accept his Pack as well. The underground dungeons are big enough; there are several pockets of large caverns that can be used. My pack and Steve’s pack can still do this, but we will stay in separate sectors to avoid any territorial fighting.”
It looked like a solid plan on paper, but it made Gary wonder. If they did end up in a mindless rage, who would the hungry Werewolves go for first? Would they sense Lilly, the vampire and their natural enemy? Would they dig upward toward the humans above as their closest source of food? Or would they tear through the stone walls to get to the rival pack in the next cavern over?
Regardless, it was an answer Gary hoped they wouldn't have to find out tonight.
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