Marcus sensed Elliot as soon as he entered the periphery. He was busy flirting with Priya and talking with Helena inside his abode.
"What's wrong?" Priya noticed Marcus's smile turn into a frown.
"It's him!" He left the tent and the two girls followed him outside.
Elliot was walking in front of the two guards whose senses were on high alert.
"I come in peace." Elliot said to Marcus who was about to lunge forward but Helena stepped in between.
"Please listen to what he has to say before you make your decision." Helena pleaded with a hand on Marcus's heaving chest.
"The decision has already been made." Marcus announced.
The giant werewolf moved quickly out of Helena's reach and landed a huge kick to the front of Elliot which sent him flying backwards.
Soon the other pack members, young and old, had gathered around the scene. Elliot stood up, coughing up blood, and raising a hand.
Marcus's roar tore through the camp as he clotheslined the vampire. Elliot flew in the air before landing with his face in the dirt.
The Alpha pulled Elliot's face up."Any last words?"
Suddenly, a piercing screech cut through the air, silencing the camp. Helena's ears pricked at the sound—a haunting melody that began as a crystalline trill before plummeting into a guttural vibrato that resonated in her chest.
The call hung suspended in the twilight, neither hawk nor owl nor any woodland creature she'd encountered in her eighteen years. It was both seductive and primal, like the song of a predator that lured with beauty before it struck.
The blazing figure landed behind Marcus and Elliot. The flames withdrew slowly to reveal Jenna in the flesh.
Could this day get any worse? Helena thought.
Jenna was about to make a speech when Marcus lunged at her, but with a flick of a finger, he was thrown backwards and flew into his tent.
Jenna's whole body shimmered with flames that licked across her skin like liquid gold, never burning her flesh but dancing over it in hypnotic patterns. The fire crested behind her shoulders, unfurling into massive, feathered wings that shed embers with each subtle movement, leaving trails of dying stars in the night air. Heat radiated from her in waves, distorting the very atmosphere around her form, making her appear both ethereal and terrifyingly powerful.
Suddenly, her flames disappeared revealing her bold outfit choice. Every pack member noticed her eerie resemblance to Helena. Even Priya was taken aback by the likeness.
"I am Phoenix!" Jenna announced as Marcus returned holding his head in agony. "And I have a story to tell."
**
Long ago, Jenna was the daughter of middle-class human parents. But she was always interested in magic owing to her maternal aunt being a witch. Her parents tried to discourage her but Jenna was adamant on becoming a witch herself.
One day, she read a tome her aunt had left behind after the latter's death. She found out her real destiny was to become the harbinger of peace between the two foremost supernatural species namely werewolf and vampire.
She was to become the Phoenix.
First she turned into a werewolf, then got bitten by a vampire, becoming a tribrid. Her next step was to find her fated mate. But she loved two brothers and got caught up in a love triangle.
When she had a threesome with the brothers she did not foresee making both of them werewolves. Then she was burned alive, as the prophecy had foretold, only to rise again as the Phoenix.
**
"But wait." Priya said. "Why do you need a fated mate?"
"Not only for love, my darling." Jenna replied. "But the Phoenix and the fated mate will save the world together."
Stephen and Damien were also near the camp fire. It was the night of the full moon and Elliot had still dared to venture into the camp. The flames flickered and reflected off the beautiful eyes of Jenna who was wrapped up in a shawl.
Damien scoffed. "I'm having none of this."
Everyone turned toward him. The crew gathered near the campfire were those aforementioned four, along with Helena, Nina, Marcus, and Shawn.
"Wait, brother." Stephen held his sibling's shoulder.
"I get the fated mate part." Damien explained. "But I can't figure out the love triangle bit. I'm clearly more desirable than Stephen."
Everyone laughed.
The laughter rippled through the group like a healing balm, easing the tension that had wound their muscles tight and set their jaws on edge. For a brief, merciful moment, the weight of prophecy and bloodshed lifted from their shoulders, allowing them to breathe freely beneath the watchful gaze of the full moon that hung like a silver medallion against the ink-black sky.
Helena was worried about this prophecy. Because she too, was caught up, in a love triangle.