Chapter 2

Arsen

"Are you ready, son?" my father smiled at me and I nodded.

My father is from an ancient bloodline of alphas. We are not just powerful. We are all powerful. The true alphas. We rule all the packs. Alphas to the alphas. Tonight I was next in line for the transference of power. My father, Alpha Valerio, was proud to have me as the next Alpha of Black Dessert Moon Pack. 

I stood tall and proud and I watched the wolves gather around to watch the ceremony. After tonight, I will be the true alpha. Shouldering the same responsibility, my father was entrusted with by a long line of strong male wolves. A smirk formed on the corners of my face as I watched all the wolves nodding in acknowledgement. 

I looked at three wolves that stood under the ancient stone covered in the ancient symbols on their naked arms and chest and torso. Fierce men who were next in line for the titles of beta, gamma and delta. They were standing by me in submission and support of the authority I will bestow on them. Just like me, they will partake of the power.

'I can see how smug you are, my alpha.' Corey mind links me but keeps his face stoic as he looks ahead. 'I, for one, can't wait to go into combat with you first thing at dawn.'

'Challenge accepted beta,' I responded, and watched him suppress a smile.

"Let the ceremony commence!" Elder Rufus shouted, and the pack howled.

I watch my mother walk to the ancient stone slab holding a knife. The same knife that has been used for generations for the transference of power. The knife blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. Tonight she is not just a mother, she is Luna Sabina. Acting accord as she hands the sharp knife to the elder. She takes a step back and stands in front of us as she unties the ribbon from her waist and holds it out for us with her palms open.

"I, Luna Sabina of the Black Dessert Moon Pack, stand as witness to my mate and true Alpha Valerio of the Black Dessert Moon Pack as he transfers his heritage to his firstborn son and next true alpha Arsen of the Black Dessert Moon Pack." She speaks without pausing before looking up. 

Everyone else looks up after her. The moon that was once as white as snow darkens. The color of red forming. It won't be long before the moon is crimson red. I smile. If the moon had not changed, it would have been alarming.

"Luna Sabina," Elder Rufus nods, "You may continue."

"Please open your right palms up and on top of the stone." We both do as she asked. 

"Luna Sabina, you may take the knife," Elder Rufus nods.

She walked to get the knife from the elder before she stood in front of us. She looks up at the sky and so do we. The moon is almost red. I smile and nod.

"The Goddess is pleased," Elder Rufus smiles, "Luna Sabina, you may continue."

I have always heard of the next part from my father and tonight I was experiencing it. I watch the sliver of the knife shine under the moon. My mother is going to make a clean cut on my father's palm first before making a cut on my right hand palm. After that, our palms will join. My blood will be mixed with his and the transference will begin. I will feel the power of my ancestors infused in my blood.

I will stand and all submit in their human form, including the former alpha and luna. After I will shift to my new form and they will all rise. My beta, gamma and delta will shift first before the rest and howl in their novel forms. The rest of the pack will do the same and I will lead them on my first run as the alpha as they howl for the entire continent to hear. All the packs will hear and recognise the call and response in submission and howl to me. The moon will shine brightly once again and the pack will celebrate with a large feast.

"I'm no goddess and I oppose," a female voice crackles.

There are gasps.

"Who dares say such words?" Elder Rufus shouts.

"I do," the female voice is near.

I can only hear the footsteps before a snarl comes from my father as his eyes glow. I look in his vision and see the woman holding the knife my mother had seconds ago on her neck. The woman smiled and looked at my father.

"You dare challenge me, witch," 

"Yes, I dare you alpha," she mocks.

"Let the luna go," I snarl and my eyes turn obsidian. My wolf was ready to surface.

"You mutts and your tradition," she clicks her tongue, "Luna?" she cackles again. "She is your mother, is she not?"

"I will give you once chance,"

"No," she challenges, staring at my father before she whispers in a foreign language.

The moon turns dark, shocking everyone. It was a diversion that hurt the entire pack because the strong link of the luna was gone. The pack felt it. Agony is what I heard, but it was as if it was gone when the moon instantly brightened.

"So this is the Black Dessert Moon Pack," the witch mocks and whispers in the foreign language again, and glances at my father. "You are a powerful alpha."

All the wolves could not move or feel the loss of their luna. Our link was blocked. I could not speak to anyone. The witch looked around, smiling.

"Speak," her voice vibrated in a whisper and I heard choking and grasping.

"State your business."

"Do not command me alpha," the witch whispers something again that makes my father wail in pain.

The alpha. My father. The strongest of the strongest wolf wail. Something happened to his wolf because he wailed. The scent of fear swirled around the pack. I never imagined one person. A witch would do something like this.

"Stop!" a growl erupted from my lip, making the witch snap her head at me.

"Know your place, young mutt," she waves and I'm suspended in the air, looking at everyone. "Do you see?" she cackles, looking up at me. "No?" she taunts and moves my body higher. My body crushed on the ground. "You will tell them all soon, mutt."

A chill ran inside of me. A distant feeling of shame and weakness that was beaten out of me before my first shift as a pup, but I shake it off. I should never cower, and I could not afford to. The second strongest wolf was me. I refuse to be held captive by her. The Torgan Hunters surrounding us will touch no one. They might be notorious and ruthless with a goal to make us extinct, but this was the strongest pack. They never dared before and they were going to realize what a mistake they made. The witch looks at me and whispers. I feel a painful sensation that makes me drop to the ground. 

"Don't fight me or the pain will continue to grow." I hear her take a huge breath, "Alpha Valerio, you may speak," she shouted louder and I hear movement from her as she cackles. "Keep fighting me and you will die before I finish my conversation with the alpha." She suspends me again, drops me on the ground.

"Who are you?" I hear my father and turn my head and see he had the witch in his grasp. "Tell me before I break your neck."

She whispers something, but it is not working. I see a challenge before she wickedly smiles and touches my father. The contact makes him hiss and release her. I cannot fathom the magnitude of such power that has rendered all of us mute, powerless, and stiff. I know I am strong, but I can not move a muscle. 

"I am Ophelia. Where I come from does not matter," she looked down at my father on the ground, "What matters is something else. Something that will make you my magnificent warrior."

She grips the sides of my father's temple. Her eyes go pitch black. She is not whispering anymore. Whatever she was doing to him looked painful. Something happens because I can move. I took the chance and shifted quickly and jumped with my canine aiming at her neck. She does not fight back even after I bit her hard and drew blood. I'm in human form, which makes me frown. 

I gasp and look around to see my father clutching his head and weeping. I have never seen my father shed a tear before. His wolf howls, and he looks at me. He shakes his head, looking repulsed by me. I know by the look he gives me when he shifts. He is about to fight me. 

"Exsolvo," 

I watched my father turn human, but he seemed to fight. I remember the folklore one elder taught me when I was a young pup about the danger of being a true alpha. If the human side and wolf wrestle, they are on the verge of insanity. The wolf will turn feral and stronger and kill. All sense and pack bonds are lost. No living thing will stand and live.

I watch the witch as darkness swirls in the left arm before a shining orb materializes in her hand. She walks and whispers, nearing the dark orb in the palm of my father. I watch the droplets materialize and move from his palm and into the orb. The moon turned red again. She goes silent and looks up her eyes turning into different shades, and instantly stops.

I can move and so does everyone. The link is open and wolves are on standby to fight. My father's beta is beside him, gnarling at the witch. The witch stands and smiles, looking at me. I can hear her eerie energy moving in the air. The darkness that consumes her swirls over the wolves that are ready to fight. 

"The Torgan Hunters have us surrounded," I shout.

"They are under my command and will kill all of you unless you surrender."

"Never!" I shout, about to shift.

"Very well." She nods, whispers, and I look around. "This is going to hurt." she looks at me and blows something that enters my body and I crouch down. I can feel their deaths. Not only can I feel it. I know who is dying, and it's the young pups. All wolves are standing still again.

"What did you do to me?" I clutch my chest and feel more death. "STOP!" I growl.

"That was me killing them all. I have not released my command on the hunters."

"What do you want?" I ask, getting up my wolf ready to surface.

"I have the power of the alpha in my orb." she cackles. "The Torgan Hunters are mine to command." she pauses. "What you felt was a droplet of the power of a true alpha." She blows at me again and I feel different. "That is my power. I can heal them all." I look at her and feel the link between the pups again. 

It must have been an illusion. Deception?

"You must take me for a fool with your spells. Pretending to kill the pups." I gnash my teeth. "That power is not yours to take!" I snarl.

"It's not yours either, mutt," she smiles wickedly. "I will show you."

"NO!" I heard from my father for the first time. "I will do it."

"Very well," the witch ignores me.

"What is happening?" I ask as we all stand watching.

"Something that my sister started." 

I watch the witch move and stretch her hand. He gets up and nods. The witch touches my father's temple, briefly whispering something before he turns wolf. She murmurs more words and closes her eyes before opening them again.

'Can you all hear me?' she cackles and glances at me.

I am just as horrified as everyone I believe because the witch is not only in our heads. She has been bonded with my father. I stagger. My head twists to where my dead mother lays. I look at the wolf that is curled like a ball on her, feeling confused. The bond is sacred and a blessing from the Moon Goddess. This has never been heard of. 

How could a true alpha agree to this?