Chapter 4

The night air feels crisp and fresh, there’s a small chill on the breeze that feels refreshing, I can hear crickets chirping all around me and the small birds call out to each other in a beautiful chorus that takes me back to my childhood, to the long summer nights that I would spend hidden in the gardens of the pack house or roaming the forest searching for something, anything that would protect us from Alister. Summer is almost over and the autumn nights will set in fast. The waxing crescent moon hangs perfectly in the cloudless sky, bright twinkling stars fill the black void, giving it warmth. The smell of pine and wet grass mixes with the fresh water and moss from the rocks that line the bed of the small stream that runs along the small dirt path joggers and dog walkers use during the day. Droplets of rain still linger on the vibrant green leaves that hang above me, I feel them dripping onto my black fur as I move beneath the thick, ancient trees that surround me. I can almost feel the history and the magic that once consumed this land thrumming from them deep within me, like a beating drum calling me home. Leaves bristle against my legs as I brush past the bushes that fill the forest floor along with tall grass and bluebells. The sweet scent fills the air, but it does nothing to hide the small rabbit scurrying into its burrow to avoid me. Bats fly around above me looking for their prey. I can hear their wings as they flap frantically.

The sound of an old bell clanging echoes in my ears. It sounds broken, more like a clank than a chime. Something dashes past my right. It makes the leaves of the bush rustle and the dry twigs on the floor snap. I stop and dart off after the thing. My paws hit the soft ground, sinking in and leaving my trail as I followed the chiming of the bell ahead of me.

*I can’t get a scent on this thing!* Micha, one of my best friends and my future beta, says through the mind link that I share with the wolves from our pack. Every wolf can do this, it is how we communicate when in our wolf form, but we can only mind link with wolves from our pack. I can see his wolf to the right of me, a large brown brute that looks strong and fearsome. His powerful muscles push him forward after the thing we are tracking close to our territory and even closer to our home.

*It's fast. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything this fast before.* Eric, my other best friend, and future gamma added.

His wolf runs to my left, a large black and white beast who is fast, nibble, and intelligent, a perfect combination for my second and third in command.

The creature we are currently chasing has been stalking women across the country. I say creature, because this thing is definitely supernatural, we just don’t know what type of supernatural. It has been making its way closer to the town that our pack inhabits. We have heard whispers of it from different packs all around the country. This thing is roaming the UK searching for something or someone and is leaving a trail of terrified young women in its wake, and now the local news is reporting on it, showing CCTV of the blurred creature as it stalks its target, petrifying them whilst moving around unseen. Not a single person who has fallen prey to this creature can describe what it looks like. The news has begun to call it The Shadow Stalker and, to be honest, I think that’s what it could be, a shadow that disappears into the night unseen and unknown. No one from our world knows of its existence, or what it could possibly be, but tonight is the first time we have managed to get close enough to almost find out. I knew it was only a matter of time before it made its way to us, and now it falls on our shoulders to stop it and protect the humans from its sinister motives.

The sound of the bell disappears, and I know that whatever it was we were just chasing is now long gone. Vanished into the darkness of the night.

*We lost it. Let’s head back home.* I decide.

I slowed down and came to a stop. I see Micha and Eric turn around and make their way home, but I want to make sure that the creature really has gone first. I scan the trees and the bushes surrounding me, wondering what the creature wants and why it’s here, before turning and catching up with my friends. Micha and Eric both live with me in the penthouse at the top of an old house. It used to be a home for old miners, but it was sold and redeveloped a few years ago, and it was my big break. I managed to buy the old home and with Micha’s and Eric’s help, we redeveloped the building, keeping the penthouse for ourselves. It was perfect. The pack house wasn’t that far away, so if we were ever needed, we didn’t have far to go, but it was far enough that I didn’t have to worry about running into my father all the time. Alister, even thinking of him, makes my fury surge; the mighty Alpha of The Bloodclaw Prowlers. He was a ruthless and merciless man; he ruled the pack with his barbaric and brutish ways, and he was adamant that I make it on my own first before I became Alpha of his pack. I was fine with that. Alister is a dick. The less time I spend with him, the better. My mum is the only reason I’ve not killed him, because she has something with him, no other wolf has, something that seems to be a fairytale now, told to children to give them hope. A true bond. I have never heard of any other wolf having a true mate bond, given to them by the moon goddess, but my father, the dickhead, did. This meant that their lives were intertwined, making them one. Meaning, that if anything happened to one, it happened to the other. Many believed that the true mate bond had died out years ago, that the moon goddess had forsaken us, but I knew that wasn’t true because the goddess had given Alister a fated mate, someone she thought worthy of him, but he chose to abuse and diminish her self worth, making her become a shell of herself. Alister is adamant that the true bond has died out because wolves have diluted their bloodline with the humans, if anyone from our pack tries to take a human mate, my ruthless beast of a father slaughters them, he makes the wolf watch as he rips the human limb from limb before killing the wolf brave enough to take a human mate. It kills me to see how he has broken the faith the pack has in him as alpha, and in me. They all see me like him, but I will be damned if I end up like him.

I’ve been tempted myself over the years to take a chosen mate, plenty of the she-wolves from the pack have offered, but then I think of the woman who fills my dreams every single night. Her face is that of an angel, and it haunts me. Her eyes are a baby blue. They look like the deepest ocean but surrounding her pupil is a light purple ring, it’s like the colour is leaking from the black spot creating what looks like a beautiful flower floating on the ocean of blue. Her lips look so sweet and full, I ache to taste them, her body is voluptuous and sexy. I’ve spent many hours picturing myself exploring every inch of it. Her hair looks like velvet; it falls over her shoulder and down her back in thick and luscious light brown waves. I try to forget about her and allow myself the pleasure of other women, but they never really satisfy my needs. It always feels empty, and the pleasure is short-lived. I find myself longing for someone who isn’t real except when I am in the land of dreams.

We race through the trees, weaving between them and pouncing over the large rocks that lay in our path. Both Micha's and Eric’s wolves are large and strong, but my wolf is bigger than both. All alpha wolves are large, but mine happens to be larger than most. Even Alister was impressed with how large my wolf was. We reached the small box that we stashed our clothes inside; the forest happened to be next to the house which was perfect for us. It’s large and beautiful, but it’s also open to the public, so we have to be careful when in our wolf forms, it is extremely popular with joggers, dog walkers, and local kids wanting to get drunk, or scare each other silly with ghost stories of the old witch that supposedly lived in these woods hundreds of years ago but we make sure to take extra care and have never been caught by any of the humans. We also have the sanctuary of the pack house and its grounds, but Alister has made sure I never feel safe or wanted there. If the forest is ever busy though, and we need to let our wolves out, we always have the option to go there, I just make sure to avoid Alister like he has the bubonic plague. The land surrounding the pack house is a part of this forest, the trees seem thicker and older though, the closer we get to the pack house. All the land that the pack house sits on is privately owned by my twat of a dad, so we are safe from humans seeing us. I enjoyed running through the gardens at the pack house as a young wolf, but now the whole area feels oppressive. Alister made sure I always felt his presence whenever I went home, which is one of the reasons I avoided it as much as I could.

As I dress, I can’t help the feeling of dread that has begun to wash over me. Something deep in my gut is telling me something is wrong. The air feels electrifying, as if a storm is brewing and about to unleash its fury on us.

Micha and Eric are silent as we walk back to the house. I can sense their unease, and I feel the pit in my stomach turning more and more the closer to the house we get.

“Boys, it’s about time you got here!”

Waiting outside our building, leaning against his classic black Porsche 911 930 turbo, is the man who sucks all the life from the room when he enters it. His presence is suffocating, and his superior attitude leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. He treats everyone around him like a piece of shit he’s just stepped in. His eyes ran over all three of us as Micha and Eric dropped to their knees. This is not how most people greet an alpha, but he demands that everyone bows down to him. He has to compensate for not being born into the position like me, but given his title through marriage. Not many wolves know that my mother is the rightful alpha of our pack, Alister forced her out and made her give him the title, leaving her to raise me and my sister, and then when he finally had the title he so desperately craved, he tossed her to the side, and made her life a living hell.

I’m unwilling to submit to him. I look directly into his dark soulless eyes which pisses him off more, but I’m not afraid of him, not anymore.

“Alister!”

He stands up straight and scowls at me. I can see his glare of disapproval because I refused to bow down.

“What can we do for you?” I asked, letting my irritation fill each word.

I want to spend as little time as humanly possible with him. The sooner he’s gone the better. He looked at me like I was nothing, just a waste of his time. He never cared for me. All he cared about was his cars and fooling everyone into believing he was powerful. His title is what he truly cared for, and he made sure we knew that.

“I believe we have had a sighting of the creature terrorising our country. I have told the council we will deal with it. I need you to find it and bring it to me, so I can end its terror.”

“We’re already on it.” I snarl and stalk toward the front door, needing to get away from his insufferable presence before I lose my shi ­t and do something unforgivable.

“Don’t walk away from your alpha!” he roared.

I stopped walking and froze in my place, not because he demanded me to, his demands didn’t work on me, and he hates that, but because he was pissing me off, and I was trying to calm myself down. Not only did some of the wolves from the pack live in the building, but a few humans lived in the flats as well and they would have heard him and his big fucking gob. I hear him walking up behind me and feel all my muscles tense in apprehension of what’s about to come. I don’t fight him or flinch but take his punishment. It’s the only way I will get the pack and free them from his tyranny. He will never give me the pack if I fight him on this. My absence pleases him, I’m a constant reminder that his power will be taken away. I brace myself ready for him.

“Don’t you ever turn your back on me, son!”

The way his voice sounds when he says son makes my skin crawl, it drips with hatred and loathing. I’m positive if it wasn’t for my mother he would have killed me as a child so he could keep his title.

“You’re pathetic. You think you will ever be a mighty alpha!” He growled into my ear as he kicked the back of my leg, pushing me down onto my knees.

Fury roared through my mind, engulfing me. It felt suffocating, but I was used to his loathsome words. I clenched my fists together and let his words slip over my head as I readied myself for his blow. I could hear his feet shifting behind me in the gravel. I felt his claws raking down my back and tearing my shirt. This didn’t hurt anymore, I was used to his fury. I stood up and turned to look Alister in his eyes. I stepped forward, towering over him, and saw his anger spark in his eyes.

“Stand up!” I growled.

I knew Micha and Eric would know I was talking to them. I wasn’t going to have my beta and gamma bowing down to him anymore.

“That is the last time you will ever touch me.”

I turned and walked into the house, with Micha and Eric behind me. I was furious that Alister had come to my home to humiliate me in front of my beta and gamma, but most of all, I was furious with myself for allowing him to continue doing it. I stormed up the stairs and threw the door to the penthouse open, tipping the table over as I stormed in, smashing it to the floor. I picked up the picture of myself, my mum and my sister that sat on the sideboard near the front door and threw it against the wall, which had a large mirror hanging on it. The sound of glass breaking echoed in my ears, but all I could see was pure blind rage.

“Why do you let him do that to you, Callan?” Micha asked.

He had to obey my dad, but me, I was an alpha in my own right. I was strong, and I let him rip my back to pieces to appease him, all so I could get what was rightfully mine. I looked at my friend as it hit me. It wasn’t just so I could get the pack from him, I did it to protect my mum. I had learned a long time ago that if I angered Alister, he would hit me instead of her. If I let him take his fury out on me, then she will live another day without his assaults. I have done this since I was 9 years old. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I could hear them arguing. I was terrified of Alister, but I loved my mum deeply. Her soul was pure and full of love and kindness. I could hear her sobs and cries for mercy along with the pounding of flesh as he beat her senseless, so I did what any son would do. As I walked into the room, I saw something that made my blood boil. I saw the man who was supposed to protect us beating the living shit out of my mum and I learned fast that if I angered him at that moment, I could take the beating in her place, he would leave her alone for the rest of the day. Now it was just second nature to me.

“I will get Alison to come and clean this up tomorrow,” I said and walked off to my room, slamming the door shut behind me.

I tore the remains of my shirt off and threw the scraps into the small waste bin in my room. I wasn’t going to let Alister throw his weight around anymore, if I was going to be a better alpha than him, I had to start now by putting an end to his abuse and figuring out how to take back what was never his to begin with. I had to figure out how to take the pack without killing my mum.