The Lost Alpha

Bane, Part II

MICHAEL

“She pushed us away.” Xavier repeated inside my mind.

“I’m aware.” I grumbled at him. He was really upset. I hadn’t seen him this upset in a very long time, and him being upset didn’t bode well for me or anyone in my vicinity.

“You’re standing in the way of the mate bond.” Xavier continued berating me. “The longer you keep interfering the weaker both Faolan and I will get.”

“You think I don’t know that?” I argued. “You think I don’t know what happens to someone’s wolf when they can’t have their fated mate? I’ve seen that firsthand!”

I was back to pacing my room. I wanted to rip my hair out in frustration.

“Then stop blocking the mate bond!” Xavier yelled at me.

“I’m doing it for her protection. And yours. You see what Alpha Morris’ wolf turned into after he lost his mate. He’s an Alpha and almost didn’t survive. You and me? We won’t survive that.”

“Then convince her!” Xavier yelled. “Convince her to stay!”

“I can’t do that. If she doesn’t want to stay, I can’t make her. I won’t have her resent me for the rest of her life.” I shook my head. I would not do that to her.

“Then we go with her.” Xavier changed tactics. “If she leaves, we go with her. Like you said, where she goes, we go.”

I stopped pacing. The thought had crossed my mind, especially after my talk with Alpha Morris, but I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to do it. Or if she’d even want me to.

“You need to figure something out. And soon.” Xavier grumbled, but I had stopped listening.

Outside my window, Andy was talking with another member of the pack. His name was Thomas, and just the sight of him made the hair on the back of my neck bristle. I didn’t trust that guy as far as I could throw him.

“Which would be pretty far.” I gave a shrug. Xavier was right, but still.

“Grant.” I called through the mind link. “Grant, you there?”

“What’s up, brother?” Grant’s voice came through immediately.

“I need you to keep an eye on Andy.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Grant laughed. Movement from the corner of the yard caught my eye. It was Grant, watching them from a discreet distance.

“You’re the man.” I laughed. “Thanks.”

“I got your back.”

The alarm on my phone went off. I clicked it and sighed. It was my turn to deal with the rogue downstairs. Bane.

It was ordered by Alpha Morris that Bane not be tortured, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t being mistreated. That was my way of doing things. I found it distasteful.

I stood in the doorway, my hands in my pockets, staring at the dirty, matted mess of a man lying in front of me.

“When was the last time you were able to clean yourself up?” I asked.

The mass shrugged.

“Before I got here.”

I sighed again and looked at the guard standing next to me.

“Get him a bucket of warm water, soap, towels and clean clothes.” I ordered. “And a comb and toothbrush.”

“Those could be used as weapons, sir.”

“So, don’t let him keep them.” I enunciated slowly. “But the man has a right to be clean.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard nodded to me and left the room.

“What about something to eat?” Bane asked, his voice hoarse. I nodded.

“And hot food and water.” I called.

“Right away, sir.”

Bane looked up at me.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” He asked.

“I don’t consider basic human needs as being nice.” I told him.

“I’m not human. I’m a werewolf.”

“We are all born human.” I responded. “What you do after that is up to you.”

“And I tried to free our kind from tyranny.”

“I never said there wouldn’t be consequences.” I shrugged. The items I had requested arrived. I watched Bane look between the washing items and the food, debating which to go for first. He decided food was most important and attacked it, scooping in big mouthfuls with his bare hands.

I stood and waited. I would wait for as long as it took for him to be ready to talk. With this, I had patience. I knew men like Bane. They couldn’t help but talk, and if they talked long enough, they would reveal everything.

I leaned against the far wall as he began to wash himself.

“No privacy, huh?”

“Nope.” I answered shortly. “Apologies.”

“That didn’t sound all too sincere.” Bane quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Sincerity ended when you tried to kidnap a member of my pack.” I told him. “You must have known it wasn’t going to work.”

“It would have. Morris is a creature of habit. He would have done the same thing he did last time had that little b***h not interfered.”

“Don’t talk about Andy that way.” My voice was low, but calm.

“I raised her.” Bane scoffed. “I’ll talk about her any way I want.”

“Not to me.”

“Regardless,” he waved me off. “If she hadn’t interfered, I would have been successful, but her actions stalled my man.”

“Your man?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t think I’m working alone, do you?” He raked his gaze over me. “You’re the future Beta. You have impeccable breeding. You can’t honestly be the stupid.”

“I don’t know what my breeding has to do with anything.”

“You are the result of generations of handpicked mates.” Bane gave me an impish grin. “All culminating in a Beta strong enough to become Alpha. Are you telling me they chose strength over brains? Or is the possibility of there being a traitor in your midst too much for you to come to terms with?”

“So, you have others supporting your cause.” I nodded.

“I have more supporters than you can even imagine.”

“And yet you sit here, dirty and alone.” I mused. “So many supporters, but none coming to free you.”

“They will.” Bane sat back, resting his head against the wall. “In time. All good things come to those who wait.”

“I see.” I crossed my arms while I stood there. Making it obvious that I wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. It only took a few minutes of silence before he started talking again.

“Are you sure you trust everyone in your inner circle?” He asked, his eyes closed and relaxed as if he were asking about the weather.

“They haven’t given me reason not to.” I answered.

“That you know of.” Bane opened one eye. “Funny how your Gamma knew exactly where you were the other night. Or how your father had this grand scheme for his son to take over as Alpha, long before the Alpha ever found his mate.”

I pretended to ignore what he was saying. He was a rogue, just trying to get into my head and doubt those around me. I kept my face passive, not giving him any sign that his words had any effect on me.

“So, I ask again, are you sure you trust those around you?”

“This isn’t any of your business.” I shrugged. “Who I trust is up to me, and no one else.”

“I’m just saying, be careful who you leave your mate with.” Bane gave me another grin.

“I don’t think you’re one to be giving me advice on mates. You chose a mate, and she chose her fated mate over you.”

“That’s not how that happened!” Bane roared. “Mariana was in love with me. Me! She chose me! I rescued her from the prison that Morris put her in. She never wanted him. He forced himself on her because that’s what he wanted.”

“That’s not how I remember it happening.” I shrugged. “All you wanted was her powers.”

“I wanted Mariana.” Bane hissed. “I wanted the woman I loved, but because of Morris, I lost her. The only way to get those powers, to get my revenge was to raise that welp of a pup of hers.”

“And so, you lied to her the entire time about who and what she was. So that when her wolf woke up and her powers emerged, it would be easier to take her powers. She’d be scared and you would have the answer.” I mused.

“I would have gotten what I wanted regardless.” Bane growled. “And I still will. Just you wait and see.”

“I doubt that.” I shrugged and straightened up. “You’re weakened with wolfsbane, under guard day and night by men that answer to me alone. You see,” I knelt down to look Bane straight in the eyes. “I know exactly who I can and can’t trust. That is what it means to have a pack behind you. It means not rotting in a cell alone.”

I stood and walked out the door. I heard it bang closed and lock behind me, and Bane shouting profanities. But I had gotten what I wanted out of him, and he probably didn’t even realize he told me.

Upstairs, I found Alpha Morris in the sitting room.

“How did it go with Bane?” He asked conversationally.

“He claims to have loved Mariana and to have raised Andy for her sake.” I said, cutting right to the point. I took a seat in a chair next to him so we wouldn’t have to speak too loudly.

“That I don’t doubt. They dated for a small period of time, but that was long before she became my mate.”

“He says you forced yourself on her.” I averted my eyes away from his. It wasn’t something I believed, but I didn’t want it to sound like I was accusing the Alpha of r**e.

“I would never force myself on someone who didn’t want me.” Alpha Morris said quietly. “It’s the same reason I am giving Andy the space she desires. I would never make someone stay who didn’t want to be here. Despite how much I wished they would stay.”

“I know that feeling.” I stared at my hands.

“And if she decides to leave, what will you do?” He asked. I shook my head. That wasn’t something I wanted to think about. “Your responsibility is not to this pack, but to yourself.”

“My father would say differently.”

“More importantly,” I looked at Alpha Morris. “You are not your father.”

“Do you trust him?” I asked suddenly. “My father. Do you truly trust him?”

“He is my Beta.” Alpha Morris shrugged.

“Is that reason enough for you to trust him? In everything?”

“It has to be. Your father has protected my back for as long as I can remember, as a true Beta should. It is the basis of the pack dynamic. We trust and protect each other.”

“I’m finding it harder and harder to do so.” I answered honestly.

“You’ve never trusted your father.” I was surprised to hear Alpha Morris say that. “Ever since you were little, you always deferred to your mother. As you got older, that changed to Grant, as it should. But you and your father were never on the same page about anything. Why do you think I gave you your own men to command when you turned eighteen?”

“I thought that was just to get me used to being in charge.” I shrugged.

“I knew you didn’t trust your father or his men. And you needed people around you that you could trust.” Alpha Morris patted my shoulder. “You know who you can trust. You have a good instinct about these types of things.”

Alpha Morris stood and went on his way, leaving me in the sitting room to ponder my own thoughts.