Chapter Twelve

Alpha Zaden

The wolves hesitate, sensing my power but they have the numbers and that deceives them into thinking they have a chance.

I see the moment they decide to attack as one, and my wolf snarls as it rises to meet the challenge.

Destroy them.

I am a whirlwind of flesh and bone in their midst, punishing them with my teeth.

I tear into a wolf’s neck, leaving the bleeding flesh exposed and throw another. He hits a tree and falls to the ground with a whimper.

I grab another by the throat and with a huge jerk of my neck, slam his body into the forest floor, breaking his spine in half.

Two wolves run at me headlong, both aiming for my throat. I make eye contact with them and seize hold of their energies with my alpha power and they falter, losing their traction and falling to the ground in submission. I grab them by their throat and throw them into the distance.

Barely five minutes into the fight and half of their men are losing limbs or are unconscious on the ground as their wounds heal.

I snarl and challenge them to attack but they dance around,  favouring their wounds as they recalculate their objectives. I move to stand over her body again, as she writhes with pain on the ground. They have to get through me to get to her.

But the wolves are no longer so sure they want her.

And then the six members of my pack burst into the clearing. They came in on foot as silent as shadows.

The wolves startle and yelp as they retreat. My pack fans around me, each of them foaming at the mouth at the thought of ripping into the enemies. They only await my signal.

Outnumbered, the enemy wolves turn around and they beat a fast trail out of the clearing.

I wait until the last of them has scampered away and then I shift.

My two feet are on the ground now and I am back to human. My attention immediately goes to the woman on the ground, as Mira and the five other members of my pack shift behind me.

She is making pitiful mewling noises at the back of her throat, catatonic with pain.

“She is going through her First Shifting.” Gerald says, coming to a stop beside me.

I can feel it. The waves of pain cascading from her body is enough to shrivel a grown man down to size. I am not even sure she is aware of us, or her close call with death.

“Yes.” I say.

Her hair is covering her face but there is something about the graceful curve of her neck and the lines of her body through her clothes that is so familiar. It feels like I have seen her before, like I have seen her many other times.

Loudly in the silence of the forest, we hear a bone break.

She curves off the ground and screams in pain.

It is unbearable.

I am immediately in motion, crossing the distance between us and gathering her into my arms. Her pain is intolerable to me, grating, unbearable, even as I just met her. The pain evident in her body is tearing at my nerve endings and I will do anything to make it stop.

She throws her head to the side and her face is exposed. I freeze, kneeling on the floor with her body half-gathered in my arms.

No way.

I would remember that face anywhere and anytime in the world.

Her face is sweaty and contorted with the pain but there is no doubt in my mind that I am holding the woman from the bar.

Behind me, someone hisses out a breath, it is not only me that recognises her.

“Alpha...” Duncan’s voice says hesitantly.

Duncan is the type of man that would only hesitate to speak if the matter was extremely grave.

I look back at him in question.

“That... that is the daughter of Alpha Din. Her pack has been outlawed because... her father is the one that betrayed and killed the Ultimate Alpha.” He says.

My body grows cold.

I glance back down at the woman in my arms, for the first time feeling the discordant energy around her that marks her as an outlaw. How did I not notice it earlier?

“Her father killed Alpha Lor?” Mira asks in a shocked voice.

My hand clenches around her shoulders and she moans in pain.

Her father killed Alpha Lor.

The sentence repeats again and again in my brain, disconnected and unreal.

My pack is watching her and the shift in energy amongst them is obvious. Her pack committed the gravest of crimes.

I take a second more to look down at her face, unable to imagine this woman sharing blood with the one that was capable of such treachery. But she does.

It feels like it was just a few hours ago that I watched her give the performance of a lifetime, that I had my fingers in her hair. as I inhaled her scent deep in my nose.

And now she is an outlaw, and not just any outlaw. Her father killed Alpha Lor.

I drop her to the floor and stand, feeling the cold spread from my chest into my limbs.

Ice creeps into my heart, leaving a trail of pure hatred. Her father killed him in the most dishonourable way possible, by stabbing him in the back like a coward, never giving him a chance to fight for his life and retain his honour. I cannot ever forgive her or her father.

I turn away from her.

“Let’s get back to the pack .” I order.

My pack’s gazes are narrowed on her in hate and at my words, they turn around to leave.

But Gerald hesitates.

“Alpha, she may be an outlaw but we are bound by the sacred tradition of our Folk to protect her or any other wolf during their First Shifting.” He says quietly.

“We have no responsibilities to an outlaw.” I grind out.

Gerald continues to hesitate.

“I would love nothing than to turn my back on her and anyone from her pack but... she was under attack. It would be a blight on the honour of our pack should we leave her here and something happens to her.” He says.

The rest of my pack look to me for what to do next and my teeth are clenched so hard it feels like they might shatter. I clench and unclench my hands, my two needs warring with each other.

I want nothing more to do with her.

But I must protect her from harm while she shifts.

I let out a long breath to calm myself.

“Bring her.” I command.

Gerald moves forward and picks her up, his lips turned down with distaste. He did not convince me to take her to safety because he was pitying her but because it is his responsibility.

I watch him pick her up and a snarl rips from my lips.

He freezes, the rest of the pack freezes and they look at me with wide eyes.

My eyes are laser-focused on his hands on her and I can feel my wolf rising to the surface in protest.

My pack is looking to me for answers but I have none. My wolf wants to rip Gerald’s hands from her body and break his fingers. The strange urge is messing with my head. I have no idea why I am reacting like this.

Mira reaches out to me mentally, trying to get a feel for what is wrong with me and I shut her down.

Forcing my wolf back down, I spin around and race through the forest.

My pack shift to their wolf forms and spread out in formation around Gerald and we race back to our pack.

Finally, we arrive and a good number of my pack are already outside, all of them affected by my shifting mood.

Gerald sets the woman on the floor on the pack territory and as the attention shifts to her, so does the intensity of the hate directed at her.

Everyone can feel that she is an outlaw and I can already hear whispers passing around about her background.

I stare down at her, my hands flexing in anger.

Reedan steps forward and comes to a stop beside me, looking down at her.

We all hear the next series of bones breaking. A guttural scream rips from her throat and I flinch from the sound, hating her the more for eliciting even that much emotion from me.

“I can make it better.” Reedan offers.

As the pack omega, she can channel the pack’s energy to make her Shifting easier. It is the custom process for normal wolves; the entire pack contributes mentally to make their Shifting easier.

“No.” I say.

She glances at me in confusion.

“What?” She says.

I don’t take my eyes from the woman on the ground.

“You are forbidden from helping her.” I say, raising my voice so the entire pack can hear me. “She must suffer through every step of the process.” I command.

The pack is silent as they absorb my words.

I am staring at her body, quaking and shaking with pain and I feel no remorse.

I want her to feel all of it. Every single one.