The Alpha's Shield

Chapter 2- THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

“I must say, you surprised me earlier. I was not expecting you to bow your head and apologize but then again, you’ve always been that way,” Saxon said, starting a conversation with Leon

The council had ended and with all nine elders gone, only Saxon and Alpha Leon was left in the room.

“A soft answer turns away wrath. A heartfelt apology should always be the first choice in dire situations,” Leon replied.

“Certainly, but I think you should cut back on your modesty and act a little more dignified or you may get taken for granted,” Saxon advised, looking dignified himself as he sat erect opposite Leon with legs crossed.

“I hear you brother but I couldn’t care less about that right now. I’m more concerned about why I slept in for so long. I have never been one to oversleep, so why?”

“But then again, you’ve never had this much responsibilities in your life. You might be fatigued and your body is struggling to keep up,”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. It’s only been a week since I became Alpha, why would I suddenly be weary? It’s too soon,” Leon retorted.

“It’s not sudden. You’ve been cutting back on sleep. Besides, a week is enough time to leave you exhausted,” Saxon argued.

Leon drew a deep breath, probably a sign that he been defeated.

“Don’t let it bother you brother. You just started a new phase, you’ll get used to it in no time.”

Leon smiled. “Thank you.”

“Now, go get a proper clean up and of possible, sleep some more. You look like you’re struggling to stay awake.”

“No I’ve had my fill, but I do need to take a bath,” Leon said, standing up.

Saxon stood up too and they both left the Plague together. Leon left for his room and Saxon headed someplace else.

Inside his room, Leon slowly took off his shirt and pants, standing before a mirror. Clad in nothing but underwear, he gazed at himself and before long, he fell into deep thoughts.

Saxon had always been better that him at everything. Saxon was smarter, stronger, taller, better with words, hands and weapons. He also had better looks, hair, beards, eyes and a better build. The only reason he was here, above Saxon as the Alpha, was simply because he was the elder and nothing more. Despite surpassing Leon in every aspects, not once did Saxon rub it in his face. He was truly a brother Leon did not deserve, Leon thought to himself.

Wiping his eyes, he rid himself of thoughts and went into the shower. Much later Leon stepped out, clad in only a towel, hair and body soaked. A little while later, he dried himself and put on a new pair of underwear, but as he stood before his wardrobe, hands akimbo, eyes searching for what he would wear, he was hugged from behind and a pair of soft, gentle hands wrapped round his average abs. He smiled, turned around and smiled even more, seeing his guess was correct and it was who he thought it was. Standing before him was Emiliana, the love of his life, his fiancée and the only woman he had eyes for.

Emiliana, twenty six years old was truly a beauty to behold. With her hazel eyes, lips coated with red lipstick, blonde straight bob, fair skin and a blissful smile, she could cause many men to stumble.

Six years ago, during the reign of Alpha William, both Emiliana's parents were killed. The werewolf society is currently in warring times. It comprises overambitious packs constantly at each others’ neck with the intention of expanding their territories by attacking and subduing or conquering other packs. For this reason, packs were constantly attacking and suffering attacks. During these harsh times, a pack with the name Raging Canines had it’s eyes set on Nocturnal Pride. They launched small attacks at their borders one after another. A good way to gather information while attacking and set fertile ground for a large scale invasion. Nocturnal Pride however, resisted vigorously but not without a few loses. On one of those attacks, Nocturnal Pride lost ten guards at the border to a surprise attack by approximately thirty soldiers from Raging Canines. Half a dozen soldiers were awfully injured too but they all survived. Ten border guards lost their lives that day and two of them happened to be Emiliana's parents. This particular attack was the final piece that completed the puzzle of a mad Alpha William. Infuriated by the occasional assaults, he put together a unit of sixty elite soldiers within a week and divided them into two groups to be led by Captain Albrecht and Captain Alexander. Thirty soldiers under both captains attacked the borders of Raging Canines from different directions. Although they were both powerful units led by powerful captains, sixty soldiers was nowhere near enough to take down a whole pack but Alpha William wasn’t stupid.

Both units dealt considerable damage at the borders of Raging Canines. Seeing the state of things and having already lost fifty soldiers at the border to the attack by both units, the soldiers of Raging Canines realized that both thirty man units attacking from different directions were elites. This meant that if they were killed, it would be a huge blow to Nocturnal Pride, therefore they decided to put all of their efforts towards wiping them out. Sixty soldiers were sent after both units to surround and slaughter them. A total of one hundred and twenty soldiers from Raging Canines, divided into two for both Captain Albrecht and Alexander’s unit. It was going to be a sixty versus thirty man battle, or so they thought. At the time, Nocturnal Pride, possessed a number of four hundred soldiers while Raging Canines, an inferior number of two hundred and fifty. Hence, the reason for the small attacks they steadily launched. It was to chip away at Nocturnal Pride forces while keeping damages to their own at a minimum rate. Alpha William however, didn’t know this.

Raging Canines was led by a ruthless and greedy Alpha named Geri. He killed all he ever attacked. Occasionally however, he would let surrendered enemies go but not without implanting different false figures of soldiers to his name. Followed by the clever manipulation of information within his own pack, this resulted in inconsistent statements about the number of the soldiers in his pack. Hence, no external existence knew of the correct figures but it mattered not to Alpha William. He suspected that Raging Canines would have fewer soldiers and devised a plan.

While the Raging Canines devoted a total of one hundred and twenty soldiers to take down both units led by Captain Albrecht and Captain Alexander, Alpha William together with another unit of sixty soldiers launched a third attack. The borders outside the ones being attack were guarded with very few soldiers as most of them had gone to protect the Alpha and others had gone to battle both the first and second units attacking their borders. It didn’t take very long before Alpha William and his unit breached the border guards and started to advance deep into the Raging Canines. With this new turn of events, all soldiers sent to battle both units led by Captain Alexander and Captain Albrecht units were asked to withdraw and come push back Alpha William’s fast advancing unit. Although they had eighty soldiers as reserves, they knew it wouldn’t be enough to fight back Alpha William’s sixty man unit.

The soldiers battling the units led by both captains immediately turned around and hurried to the centre of their pack to fight off Alpha William and his unit but as they turn their back on their enemies, both Captain Albrecht and Alexander had their units tear them from behind. Some scattered and fled but both units were able to deal a significant amount of damage, then they proceeded to the centre of the pack. In a matter of time, Alpha William and his captains surrounded all of the soldiers of Raging Canines at the centre of the pack. Although, Nocturnal Pride was outnumbered, they were considerably stronger, their morale sky-high and with their enemies in disarray, they killed fifty wolves in the heart of Raging Canines that day. The battle would have continued but Alpha Geri surrendered after losing so much soldiers. Then came the final moment, Alpha William had gone through all this trouble, lost men and came all the way out here but he did not kill Geri. This touched the hearts of every werewolf there that day. On that day, Alpha Geri pledged submission but Alpha William rejected so they formed an alliance instead.

As for Emiliana, losing her parents at twenty left her scarred. Even though Alpha William paid visits to all relatives of the deceased and had them taken care off, it could never erase the pain they felt. Emiliana battled her pain with alcohol. From excessive use of alcohol to extreme s****l indulgence, she became the very image of debauchery. Before long, she was a s*x addict. Emiliana did go on this way for three years, until she met Leon. Leon fell in love with her even though he was fully aware of her depraved lifestyle and they’ve been dating ever since. Three years in a relationship with Emiliana and Leon remains sure that she’s the best thing that’s happened to him. Even when people said a girl like her could never changed, he loved her without limits and he changed he. As long as he was concerned, Emiliana is no longer the person she was three years ago.

“Hello darling,” Leon said and kissed Emiliana on her cheek. She reciprocated but on his lips instead.

They maintained contact for a while, then Leon broke away. He had always been exceedingly decent since he was a boy and though he tried to keep up with her wild side, he still remained incapable of premarital s*x, even though she was his fiancée. In all of the three years he had been dating Emiliana, only once had he laid with her. Back then he was trying to rehabilitate her and things were going well but one day, she sunk into depression and insisted she drinks. Leon did refuse her many times but failed, so he decided that rather than leaving her to herself, he would try to comfort her by drinking with her. Before long, he became fully drunk and was only half awake. He lost control of himself and laid with her. This was the story Emiliana told him by morning. Leon was very upset with himself but Emiliana told him not to worry adding that it wasn’t his fault. Rather, it was hers for making him drink. She promised not to be seen in a state as bad as she was that night ever again.

“Still as shy as ever, I see,” Emiliana teased.

Leon stayed silent.

“Seriously, it’s been three years and you can’t even give me a proper kiss. When will you stop acting like a boy?” she questioned, obviously irritated.

“You know I don’t like to speak about this,” Leon sighed.

“But you have to, you can’t evade this issue forever.”

“Look, we’ll be getting married soon anyway. I only ask that you be patient till then and then you can do whatever you want with me.”

“Whatever I want with you? Do you realize what that sounds like? I’m starting to feel like you don’t want me as much as I do,”she said and dashed out of the room.

“Babe! Wait......”

Leon attempted to run after her but stopped, seeing he was only clad in underwear. With a deep sigh, he sunk into his bed and fell asleep still only in his underwear.