Part Five

Two weeks later…

We had visited almost all the assignments on our list and we had one last pack left to visit. We were tired and irritated and by now both Jared and I just wanted to go home. I had left Max and Justin with Catherine to help her get settled with the Council and help her choose a new pack.

We were driving down a wooded lane but Axel suddenly flicked his tail and sat upright in my head. I caught their scent a moment later and I turned to Jared who had fallen asleep with his head against the window.

“Jared,” I said loudly.

“What?” he asked me with his eyes still closed.

“I’m going to pull off in a clearing up ahead, get ready to shift, we’re being tailed by rogues on both sides of the forest,” I said to him.

“Shit,” he said wide awake.

It was seven pm at night and we were about five miles from the packhouse of the Goodwin pack. I had no idea why rogues were following us and if Goodwin’s pack had already been attacked. I took my shoes off as I kept driving and threw them on the back seat as Jared did the same. The safety belts came off and our wallets and cell phones went into the console.

I pulled into the clearing and as soon as the car was parked Jared and I shifted into our jaguars and went onto the attack as rogues came spilling out of the forest. They were easy to take down but there were about twenty of them and Axel jumped into action.

He was ferocious and we hated rogues with an insane passion that surpassed everything we knew. It was after all rogues that took my father from me and I felt absolutely nothing as Axel ripped through them discarding heads and limbs.

“Jared,” I said.

“Still here,” he said.

One rogue seemed bigger than the rest and he eyed me carefully as Axel jumped from one tree to the other one circling him from above. Axel pounced and he instinctively rolled over onto his back but Axel jumped off and pounced again biting him in the tender flesh just below his armpit as he tried to protect his neck.

Axel shook his head and ripped away part of his skin and flesh and the wolf howled in pain as Axel pounced again, twisting his agile body and grabbing a hold of his neck from the side. His sharp canines pierced the wolf’s neck and Axel clamped down as his blood spilled into our mouth.

His eyes widened as he realized what I was when my eyes started glowing and I could hear him think the word ‘Carnifex’. He was right in a way, I was an executioner as well. I saw the fight leave his eyes and Axel twisted his jaws to the side and I heard the crunch signifying that his neck had been broken.

We fought for another hour before killing all the rogues and we shifted back and grabbed new clothes from our suitcases and climbed back into the car. We drove the five miles to the packhouse and to our astonishment everything there seemed fine.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jared asked me as we climbed out.

“It’s like we weren’t just attacked by twenty rogues just five miles from here,” I said to him.

“Alpha Woods, welcome to our territory,” Alpha Jerome Goodwin said.

“Alpha Goodwin are you aware that a pack of rogues are roaming the forest about five miles from your borders?” I asked him and that’s when he noticed the blood covering me and Jared.

“Rogues?” he asked me with wide eyes.

“I want all your pack members in the dining hall,” I said to him.

“Of course Alpha Woods,” he said as I slammed the car door closed and Jared and I stalked up the stairs.

“Justine, please show the Alpha and Beta to their rooms where they can freshen up,” Alpha Jerome said and the Omega hurried forward.

In the room I locked the door behind me and took a quick shower to wash all the blood off. My wounds were already starting to heal and Axel was satisfied with our kills today. I felt the marks as they formed on my arm. I counted twelve burning spots and I let the cold water run over them until the burning subsided.

Jared was waiting for me outside my room and I could see that he had healed as well. I saw the new marks on his arm and now I was even more pissed off. Was this Alpha really so ignorant that he had no idea what was going on around him?

“Alpha Woods, I’ve gathered the pack in the dining hall,” Jerome said to me as we descended the stairs.

“Thank you,” I said to him and walked up to the Alpha table and turned towards the pack members.

“I’m Alpha Damon Woods and that is Beta Jared Howell, we are from the Enforcer Pack and five miles outside of your borders we were attacked by twenty rogues. Now I find it hard to believe that a pack of this size has no idea of what’s going on outside of their territory,” I said as I scanned the room.

My eyes caught one man and my breath caught in my throat. He looked me straight in the eye and I saw that he knew exactly who I was. Jared was still standing at the door and he had nowhere to go as I walked towards him.

“You,” I said.

“Alpha Damon, that’s my Gamma Edward,” Alpha Jerome said.

“The rogue turned Gamma,” I said and Jared realized instantly what was happening.

“Yes he was a rogue a long time ago but he’s proven himself to this pack over and over again,” Jerome said.

“Gamma Edward, you are hereby sentenced to death for the killing of Alpha Benjamin Woods,” I said to him as my claws extended and I pushed my hand right through his ribcage.

I pulled his heart out before he could say anything else and I let his body slump down to the floor as I looked at his heart in my hand. Jared touched my shoulder and I let his heart fall to the floor as I walked back to the front of the room.

“Any person found working with the rogues will be executed, step forth and your death will be quick, I will make this whole pack submit if I have to and if I find you myself your death will be long and painful,” I said.

Of course nobody moved a muscle and nobody even dared to say anything about the dead Gamma. I closed my eyes as Axel pushed forward and our powers merged. My eyes shone and I could see that Jared’s eyes shone as well as we pushed our auras forward.

“Rogue sympathizers reveal yourself,” Axel said.

Ten pack members stood up and the rest of the pack gasped as they looked up to see their Alpha among those standing, with his wife and their future Alpha. I released the rest of the pack from my submission and some of the warriors looked at their leader in disappointment.

“Take them to the dungeons,” I said.

The warriors stepped forward and grabbed the ten members and Jared followed them to make sure that the Alpha and his family was locked up. The other members were quick to talk and we killed them accordingly. We left the Alpha family for the Council to deal with as I now had to do a complete hand over of the pack to the Beta family.

“Beta Jack, can we speak in your new office?” I asked him.

“Of course Alpha Damon,” he said and I followed him as he lead me down a hallway to the office.

We stepped into the office and I had to motion to Jack to take the seat behind the desk. He was used to being a Beta and now he’d have to fill the shoes of an Alpha. He poured a drink for us and I sat back in the chair and watched him.

“You will be inducted as the new Alpha of this pack at the Council’s earliest convenience,” I said to him.

“I can’t believe he conspired with rogues and I didn’t know about it,” he said as he hanged his head.

“Surround yourself with people you know, take more of an interest of what’s going on even outside of your territory, make a difference, the Council will send Enforcers for an inspection again in a few months’ time and if there’s no difference they’ll absolve the pack,” I said to him.

“I know how it works,” he said.

“You’ll be fine as long as you don’t let the title go to your head,” I said.

“Why didn’t the Elders realize what he was busy with?” he asked me.

“The same reason you didn’t realize, he was secretive, so now you have to be open with the pack, give them a reason to trust you, this won’t be easy, but you can always rely on the Council to guide you as well,” I said as he nodded.

We spent the next week with Jack as he took over the pack and warriors from the Council arrived to take the previous Alpha family into custody. I had questioned them under submission and gave all the relevant statements and information through to the Council.

We spoke at length with the Elders because the welfare of the pack was also their responsibility and I urged the Council to have more meetings with them to find out exactly why they became so lax in their duties. Jack had a good heart but I wasn’t sure if he was capable of leading this pack, only time would tell.

It came out that the rogues patrolled the areas outside of Jerome’s territory and anything supernatural was free game to them. Jerome didn’t bargain on two Enforcers killing them all and making it onto his territory alive.

Under submission he also confessed that he knew about my father’s death and making Edward a Gamma in his pack had been part of the deal from the rogue Alpha himself to integrate them into this pack. They had also planned on attacking the Enforcer pack and both Jared and I had burst out laughing when he told us that.

“You would have all died a horrible death,” Jared said to him.

“He has almost one hundred rogues at his disposal,” Jerome said.

“And two Enforcers killed twenty of them in a matter of an hour, what do you think a whole clowder of Enforcers are capable of?” he asked him.

“His name is Wilson, that’s all I know, he changes locations and they never stay in one place for too long,” he had admitted to us.

“He can bring all the rogues he wants, what did you get out of this?” I asked him.

“Money,” he said and kept looking at me.

“And now you’re whole family will be eradicated because of your decisions,” I said to him.

“I don’t care about myself but my son…” he said.

“You’re son admitted to knowing what you were up to, he conspired with rogues, he will die with you and your wife,” I said to him and stood up.

“Alpha Damon,” a warrior called out my name.

“Warrior James, the prisoners are ready to be taken to the Council’s territory,” I said to him.

He nodded his head and two more warriors stepped forward and led them from their cells. I wanted to go home and I’d spent more time here than I had originally planned. I had told Iris we’d only be gone for a few days and she wasn’t happy when I called her and extended the trip. Work came first and that was something she’d just have to accept. I was an Enforcer and I’d always be an Enforcer.