A smoke surprise?

I smiled, took off my jacket, and waved it in the air, showing my regards to their applause before I took my respective seat on my throne.

A smile lingered on my lip, and the hall became quiet after the applause died down, and the speaker resumed his sermon.

Messages and texts began popping into my phone, prompting me to retrieve it from my pocket, and I did.

As I scrolled through the recent messages in my phone, I noticed that it was compliments of my outfits all over from my numerous friends, and more were still popping in.

They continued blabbing about how good I looked on stage, and I smiled, knowing they could see me, but I couldn't see them because of the crowd.

Everything was going smoothly, blissful, and the atmosphere and event promised a memorable day and a better future.

I felt extremely happy; a leader couldn't leave his subjects listening to a sermon in hunger, despite that the indoors festival was a humorous and interesting one.

Everyone held smiling faces, and children dressed in stunning outfits were loitering about, making the place more lively.

To top it all, refreshments were going on, but my mother would be passing through pains while we were merrying. It made me feel a wave of sadness, but I refused to be sad; it was a normal thing for us.

Loud music was blasting from the speakers, and everyone was busy, chatting, eating, and the speaker just rounded up his sermon.

Everywhere was peaceful, or so I thought, until I began seeing thick smoke outside as though houses were on flames.

Before I could understand what was happening outside, the roof began leaking out thick smoke.

I remained seated on my throne, watching with squinted eyes. Could this be a surprise? A smoke surprise? I was confused.

I couldn't understand what was going on.

Smoke leads to fire, and by the looks of things, I'm the only one who has noticed what was happening.

Others seemed oblivious to their surroundings, and fear gripped me, but I made no move to do anything.

My eyes scanned the hall speedily to see if anyone else has also seen what I was seeing.

Then a soldier ran through the stage and whispered something into my dad's ear, and my dad's face drained of all existing color.

It made me wonder how bad whatever news which was passed to him was, that could produce such an expression from my dad's always stoic face.

"We're under an ambush," I read his lips, and the next thing that followed was a blast of bombs exploding, startling both me and everyone present in the auditorium.

We all turned to the stage, only to see the dead bodies of our gammas lying lifeless on the floor, the stage lights directed to their bodies.

Murmurings and grumbles filled the hall, and I turned to where I had found our Alpha seated some minutes ago, but he was no longer there.

The blasting music suddenly turned off, while my eyes repeatedly darted from the still smoking roof to the stage where the dead bodies of our gammas were laid.

I know the roof was on fire, and it would soon break open and kill us all, burn us alive.

My heart continuously drummed in my ears, my chest obviously rising and falling, fearing that we were truly ambushed.

But where was my dad?

He was some distance away from me some minutes ago, but after a little distraction, he's gone.

Could all this be an act?

I totally hoped for it to be an act, because I've never imagined running if a war ensued in my pack, and I refuse to imagine it now.

With my heightened wolf hearing ability, I heard the creaking sounds of woods up, and I whimpered, knowing that the ambush would come from the smoking rooftop.

But wasn't the roof on fire? I could sense life on the roof, making everything clear to me.

Gasps filled every corner of the auditorium, and the screams of people made me divert my eyes to the stage, but was welcomed by the sight of a sword tearing through our Alpha's neck.

It wouldn't be a lie if I said I had died and resurrected as I watched my dad's lifeless body drop to the floor.

His head was still hanging in a man's grasp, while the other hand of the man held the blood-dripping sword.

Blood continuously spewed from my dad's neck, and I watched my dad in horror, my mouth hanging open.

My gaze lingered on his lifeless body, before it trailed on the blood which painted the floor, to his hanging head, then to the man's hand which held my dad's head.

I couldn't see his face, but he was a young man, very hairy, and good-looking, just like my dad.

But he just beheaded an Alpha as if it wasn't a big deal, and it wasn't just any Alpha, it was my biological dad.

"Welcome to hell," sounded his velvety but cruel voice which made chills run down my spine. In a twinkle of an eye, he sliced his sword through my dad's head, dividing it into two.

Screams and yellings filled everywhere, and everyone began running for their lives, trying to save themselves.

We all knew what this meant, it meant war.

I still remained standing, too shocked to move a muscle, but those who were running pushed me down, stepping on me as they ran, but I couldn't cry.

To them, their Alpha got beheaded, but to me, it wasn't only an Alpha that got killed in front of everyone, but my dad, the only one whose presence made me bold whenever I was frightened.

The music was suddenly turned back on, but this time it was too high, and it overpowered the screams of those caged in the auditorium.

The next thing that followed the blasting music was the breaking of the auditorium roof, and woods on flames began dropping like stones, burning people, and the screams of everyone made me feel like I was already in hell.

It wasn't only fire that fell from the rooftop, but our rivals, armed with swords and guns.

A heated war was going on in front of my eyes, people were dying, flames were consuming both children and adults, but I remained on the floor.

Who would blame me for being naive? I just witnessed my dad's terrible death.

When the heat became too much and the fire dropping like leather burnt me, I crawled into a dark corner.

Tears ran down my eyes, blurring my sight of what was happening in front of me.

Could this be what my instinct had been trying to warn me about? That the day I thought would be the happiest day of my life would suddenly turn into something else. A terrible nightmare which would haunt my memory forever.

My pack gammas were trying to defend us, but our rivals were winning against us and killing us all.

We were only at a festival for the arrival of our pack heir, and didn't expect a war.

We were taken unawares, so how could we win over them?

It was only in some fantasies that I read that the protagonist wins over the antagonist.

I wish it could happen in my reality, but reality was unfolding before my eyes, and it was the opposite of my wish I was seeing.

Some of our pack gammas also wore gowns, so how could they fight in gowns?

Only if they had joined me in wanting Luna to conceive a male child, they would have been dressed in a free outfit like mine, but they needed another female who could act as the barbie girl of the mansion since I wasn't anything of such, and right now they were finding difficulties with fighting for their pack.