Chapter42: Mercenaries' attack

KELLY THOMPSON'S POV A few hours later... "Your Majesty! There's an attack going on outside the palace. It's mercenaries apparently commissioned by our arch rivals of the North pack," shouts a guard in a total panic as he bursts into the council venue. Jason is the first to stand up and to rush outside. The council members and I immediately follow him. The day, out of a sudden, plunges into a cacophony of snarls and the metallic scent of spilled lifeblood. Shadows danced under the baleful glow of the moon as howls tore through the veil of darkness, each one a jagged edge ripping at the fabric of calm that once draped our land. My nostrils flared, the pungent aroma of war-a mélange of fear, fury, and open wounds-filled the air, setting my senses alight with a primal urgency. "Forward!" I roared, throwing myself into the fray. My claws found purchase in the flesh of an enemy, one of the rogues under Alpha Biansky's command, his intent clear in the vicious glint of his eyes. The clash of