Little Aria

It rained heavily the night my parents died.

Up till this day, the events leading to their death remain fresh in my memory. It was a night I would never forget.

We had a feast and we invited the Alpha of a neighbor pack, Alpha Demontes. Alpha Demontes was the Alpha of the Black Fur pack, a pack that had been notorious for stealing, raping and killing stray wolves from other packs over the years and I had frowned all through the feast, wondering why my father had decided to invite a man who allowed evil thrive in his pack to our feast. My father, Alpha Michael was the Alpha of our own pack, the Silver Moon pack and he was well known amongst the wolves of the neighboring packs as a strong and free spirited Alpha. He was a blessing to our pack as all through his reign, we grew in strength and numbers and eventually became the strongest pack in the West.

When I looked into the dark eyes of Alpha Demontes that night, I knew that he did not have good intentions. There was something benign about the way he smiled when our gazes met and my father noticed that I was not eating.

“Seems you don’t like the beef tonight, Salvador ?” my father said to me.

My eyes didn’t for a second leave Alpha Demontes’s face and when I spoke, it was with boldness and anger in my voice.

“Why is this man at our table, father?” I frowned. “You know what his wolves have been doing to ours in recent years.”

My father sighed and tapped his fingers on the table. I knew that he knew the truth about Alpha Demontes and I dared him with my eyes to dispute it but he didn’t say a word. My mum came to the rescue however, chiding me with a little tap on my lap.

“You would not speak that way to your father’s guest!” my mum frowned. “One more word like that and you’ll be grounded for the rest of the week.”

“Don’t be too harsh on the little boy,” Alpha Demontes smiled at my mum. “He’s doing the right thing, trying to protect his family.”

“No,” my mum shook her head. “If he is to become the Alpha one day, he should learn that everything isn’t the way it seems. He should learn when to speak and to be silent, to negotiate, to make peace and to wage wars.”

“Fair enough,” Alpha Demontes shrugged and turned to my father. “What do you have to say about it?”

I stared at my father’s face under the yellow light from the chandelier hanging above the dinner table. His face looked flushed and I wondered if I had embarrassed him.

“Salvador ,” he called.

I turned to look at him.

“Alpha Demontes has waged war against us and other packs in the past,” my father continued. “But tonight he is our friend. He has agreed to a pact with us which will prevent him from warring against us for the next five years. That is why we have gathered to dine together tonight.”

“And what of the other packs?” I frowned. “He’s only making this pact because he knows he can’t beat our warriors.”

“Salvador !” My father stood up from the table in anger.

“The boy may not be completely wrong,” Alpha Demontes smiled. “If you can’t beat them, don’t join them. Make pacts.”

“Enough of the war talk,” my father grunted. “We can talk about that later. For now, let us eat and make merry.”

He went back to his food and I looked outside the window at the North end of the table. It was raining in torrents already. I remembered my sand house that I and Antonella, Alpha Demontes’s daughter had spent hours building and I turned to look at her. Our eyes met and we communicated instantly. I had to start eating immediately and finish as soon as possible so that we could go back and save our castle before the rain washed it away. Antonella was eagerly waiting for me, her hazel colored eyes boring into mine, reminding me that our castle was at stake. She had chosen not to eat, claiming she had a minor stomach upset but I knew it was a lie. It was her father, Alpha Demontes that warned her not to eat.

I dug my spoon into the heap of green peas and just as I was about to lift it up to my mouth, I heard a low growl.

“Don’t eat.”

I turned around quickly, wondering who it was that had said those words and my eyes met Alpha Demontes’s. He winked at me and I frowned and went back to my food.

“I said don’t eat!” the voice growled again.

I looked around quickly. It was pretty loud but from the way everyone else at the table concentrated on their food, it was clear that they were not hearing the voice.

“Who are you?” I asked inwardly, not expecting a reply.

“Fur,” the voice grunted back in my head.

“Fur?” I frowned. “Who are you? And how are you communicating with me? And how is no one else hearing you.”

“I’m your wolf,” Fur replied. “You’re the only one that can hear me. Now I repeat, don’t eat that food.”

“Okay this is crazy,” I muttered. “I’m talking to a voice in my head and it’s talking back to me. You’re imagining this, Salvador . It’s not real. You watch too much TV.”

“Don’t be an idiot!” Fur growled. “If you eat that food, we’ll both die. It’s poisoned.”

“Poisoned?” my eyes went wide with shock. “How do you know that?”

From the other end of the table, Antonella was staring at me, a confused expression on her face. She was probably wondering why I was staring at my food and acting surprised when no one was talking to me. If only she knew that I was communicating with a voice in my head.

“Demontes poisoned the food with the help of one of the kitchen servants,” Fur grunted. “That’s why he’s drinking just the wine, and his daughter, not eating.”

I stared up at Alpha Demontes in shock just as he raised the glass of wine to his lip and our eyes met once again. This time, he didn’t wink at me or try anything funny. He stared me down, the way you’d assess an enemy at battle and then I knew it was true. Fur or whoever was in my head was telling the truth.

“And why didn’t you tell me this earlier!” I screamed in my head. “My dad! And my mum. They’ve been eating.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t,” Fur murmured. “I’ve been trying to contact you since the dinner began. The first time is always very hard.”

“Good heavens!” I exclaimed. My mind was racing. I didn’t know how I was going to prove to my father that he was being poisoned without making another scene at the feast. Luckily for me, he helped me out.

“What is the matter, Salvador ?” my father asked.

I stood up immediately seizing the chance to tell him everything. “Poison!”

“Poison?” he asked staring intently at me.

“You’ve been poisoned!” I cried pointing to Alpha Demontes. “He’s the one. My wolf told me.”

My father dropped his spoon on the plate silently and my mother stood up immediately.

“That’s it, Salvador !” She sounded visibly upset. “To your room, immediately.”

I stood up ashamed of myself and as I made my way out of the dinner hall, I heard her cough. I turned around immediately.

“Are you okay Mel?” my father asked standing up from the table.

“I guess so,” she muttered. But I knew she was not okay. Her face was white and her eyes were red. She coughed again, this time accompanied by a few droplets of blood and my father stared in horror at the blood on the ground. He looked up at Alpha Demontes.

“In my own home, Demontes? We agreed that…”

He never finished his statement. A silver sword jutted out from his chest and I looked to see who it was. It was Rachel, our butler.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I had no choice.”

“Get the boy!” Alpha Demontes cried.

There was commotion in the dinner hall already. Antonella was crying. My mum was coughing out blood. The guards were running towards me. Fur was barking commands in my ears. But in all, my dying father’s voice was the loudest.

“You cannot die.”

I didn’t have an idea what it meant but hearing the words “you cannot die” from the most respected Alpha in the West was enough motivation for me to try a few suicidal jumps.

I took one last look at my dying father and then I bolted towards the North end of the hall. I ran with all my strength, dodging some of the guards that stood in my way until I got to the window.

“Even the gods wouldn’t survive such a fall,” Alpha Demontes sneered.

I looked around quickly. The guards were gaining on me. And he was right. There was no way I was going to survive jumping from the window of the tallest building in the West. But it was better than giving him the satisfaction of gutting me.

Not sparing a second more to think, I jumped out the window screaming and the next second, everything went blank.