Snowflakes flurried within the shrill whistling wind as it blew through the unclothed forest. The thick forest was divided by a long stretched field that equally split the territories of the Collin Coven and their two allies, Levi and Mitchell.
In the heart of the field, between the sectioned-off woods, Orlando and his advisors ascended down and planted their boots upon the ice-crunching, thick layered blanket of snow that frosted along the field. Upon their arrival, a herd of startled deer scattered off, leaping into the forest that the Collin Coven owned. Orlando sneered his deadly gaze towards the left at the Collin's territory that stretched throughout the forest and beyond, leading directly to Mr. Collin's grand mansion.
Another day passed, and Orlando was still angry at Kai for denying his calls. However, Kai's insufferable behavior wasn't about to dissuade Orlando from accomplishing his purpose. Driven by determination, his path led him into the nexus of all three territories. No one owned the field, making it an unrestricted area for Orlando to bait their awareness of his bold intrusion.
He didn't know why Levi, Mitchell, or the Collins didn't own the field. Nevertheless, he used this advantage for his benefit because he couldn't risk being detained by trespassing on their territories. Unbeknownst to Orlando's awareness, the field is the same place where Tyler and his clan almost detained Jack's son Ian when they attempted to kidnap Lily, Blake's daughter, who is from Levi's clan.
"Now, what's the plan?" one of Orlando's advisors quietly asked him.
"Just wait," Orlando replied while his voice was as soft as the tranquil aura surrounding them, akin to the woods when the wind died down.
His senses were acutely attuned, capturing the slightest sounds. From the wind blowing like a soft whisper through the overlapping tree branches. Down to every gloppy sound of the snowflakes clumping onto the icy blanket of snow on the ground once the breeze discharged them from its current. Not a second later, he discerned the sound of a flimsy stick cracking, followed by one stick snapping in half in the two divided woods, accompanied by several more sounds of twigs cracking.
Merely, in the distance, directly in front of Orlando and his friends, six wolves four times the size of a timber wolf darted out of the woods. The snow susurrated underneath the pads of their paws as they hustled towards Orlando and his advisors.
Towards the right, heftier wrestling noises came barreling through the forest. Six thick-coated brown bears roared as they stomped between the trees. Between the bears and the wolves, they fearlessly confronted Orlando and his friends.
The wolves viciously growled, snapping their chops at them as the bears stood on their hind legs, vigorously roaring as their clawed paws swayed around to make themselves appear bigger.
"Save your pathetic growls! I don't speak mutt or teddy bear nonsense," Orlando scornfully insulted their Shapeshifter Kind.
Levi, who was the center black wolf among his advisors, were all Shapeshifter vampires that could turn into wolves.
Meanwhile, Mitchell and his advisors were Shapeshifter vampires that could shift into brown bears. Not akin to the Beast-horned and the Nightshifters, who were some of the ones that could speak in their beastly form, but it wasn't like that for the Shapeshifter vampires who shifted into predator animals. To anybody else, the Shapeshifters only sounded like the animals they shifted into, but they understood everybody. Insulted, they growled deeply at Orlando's affront about them.
Bones snapped and popped as the six wolves contoured their bodies, standing upright on their hind legs. Their fur folded into the skin as their upper bodies bent backwards and twisted, rendering the jeans that they wore to overlap the fur and unfold inside their bodies. As the fur folded inward, the jackets covering their torsos folded out like their boots. Simultaneously, the bears underwent a similar shifting process. The faces of the wolves and the bears contoured and shrank as they shifted back into a human-like appearance.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming here!" Levi was the first to snarl his lips at him as his eyes glowered into sizzling red pits of doom.
"Trust me, this is the last place I'd ever want to be," Orlando sneered, rolling his eyes at this nonsense.
Alpha Levi and Mitchell are some of Kai's best friends. Their Covens' Headmasters arose from the same planet as them. After the attack against Orlando's Aunt Emily, their Covens were some of the shifters who took Vlad's side instead of Morbius's.
"What are you doing here!" Mitchell snapped, getting straight to the point of his unwelcome visit.
"To warn you that on February 4th, Victoria is being seized by the Vampire Covenant, and Kai will be detained," Orlando informed them, but they snarled their fangs.
Mitchell growled, not trusting anything he said, "You are nothing but a liar!"
"I'm not lying!" Orlando snapped back, getting rather frustrated at them.
"How can you expect us to believe you!" Levi barked in.
They had no reason to trust him. For all they knew, this could be a snare to take Victoria.
"Would you listen!" Orlando bellowed, resulting in the birds flying out of the high tree branches in horror at the resounding rage of his voice echoing away.
"You guys are just as fatuous as the animals you shift into!" he added as they all stood in silence, scowling at him for saying that about them.
"If you insult us one more time, I will sink my bare teeth into your neck!" Mitchell warned, gnashing his fangs.
"Get to the point of what you have to say," Levi asserted.
"Like I haven't been trying," Orlando retorted.
Mitchell inquired, narrowing his eyes with distrust, "Why are they taking her?"
"The rebellion against her is out of control. They destroyed twelve planets," Orlando answered, attempting to explain.
Levi skeptically eyed Orlando, still not trusting him."You said they're detaining Kai, but why aren't they detaining you?"
He didn't understand why they'd detain Kai and not Orlando since he had a history with Victoria.
"I don't know!" Orlando snapped. "But we don't have time for this dispute!"
He didn't have time to go around in circles with them. Yet, here he is dealing with these buffoons.
"When exactly in February will they take her?" Mitchell pressed for specifics.
"I said February 4th, which gives us a week to even the odds," gritting his teeth, Orlando repeated, going in the same circle.
"And how do we plan on doing that?" Levi questioned him suspiciously.
"We must work together by forming an Allegiance. We have to destroy over twenty planets that voted against her." Orlando refuted, seething the boiled anger within. For good reasons, he knew they didn't trust him, and they never should after this truce. Only for the time being, Orlando needed them to work with him to form this Allegiance.
Levi asked as his eyes darkly glared at him, "And how is this Allegiance of yours going to work?"