The Protector

Chapter 7

My father, my birth father, was holding a gun to the back of Brant’s head. Even with the amount of werewolves around them, no one could save our Alpha from a bullet to the head. 

Standing around my father were three rogues with rags that looked like they had once been clothes hanging off of their bony bodies. They didn’t look very strong, but they did look crazy and that seemed even worse. The pack could have taken them out in one swing hell Brant could have probably taken them out by himself. I didn’t understand how they had gotten the upper hand in the situation but maybe it was because of the gun. Maybe I was missing something. I tried to connect to the mind link with the crowd, but everything was so hectic that I couldn’t find a strong foothold for direct thoughts.

You could feel the crowd was angered. Their alpha had been captured and was being held at gunpoint in front of them and not only that but… I think some of the pack members were recognizing the light scent on the blood that covered me. Their Luna’s scent.

The Alpha’s eyes met my own for a second and his mind was suddenly connected to mine.

Run! He had yelled. I should have ran. I was supposed to run. It was an Alpha command. But I couldn’t- and honestly I was surprised that I was able to disobey raw power. I was too focused on the man who was holding my Brant at gunpoint. He moved his eyes to mine, and a wicked grin spread over his face. His eyes were dark enough that from here he seemed possessed by something monstrous. Just looking at his eyes had memories resurfacing but I was careful to keep my face void of fear even as my body tensed and I felt my own eyes darken more.

“Son,” he called out, causing half the pack to look at me. Some had murderous stares that I hoped were just the aftermath of looking at him. Some had sympathy from the rumors of what had actually happened to me. Some had curious looks-mostly the younger kids who thought the Alpha and Luna were my parents as they claimed to be. I resisted the urge to show the guilt I was feeling just then and stared at my father. I clenched my jaw to keep quiet, knowing that a smart ass comment wouldn’t help anyone at the moment.

I spared a quick glance at the Alpha, whose eyes were now glued to my shirt, his own jaw clenched so tight I thought he would crack his teeth. He had realized whose blood was on me and I could already see the effect of her death changing him. Even from this distance I could see his light blue eyes darken so much that they almost seemed to change to a grey.

“You’re looking well,” he laughed, dropping the gun from the Alpha’s head. I expected a rushing of wolves to come forward and seize him, but no one moved. Why wasn’t anyone doing a goddamn thing? “I was afraid you’d never grow out of that scrawny phase.” He stepped forward as two rogues grabbed Brant. He didn’t resist, and I again wondered why. And then it hit me. Tom. I smelt his scent in the air and though it was fresh and knew he wasn’t in the crowd. I suddenly realized why no one was fighting. As heartless as it sounded, it would be one thing if their Alpha was killed, but it was another thing if their future Alpha was killed with him.

They had him. And with him, they controlled the pack. 

“What? Are you not going to speak to me?” He asked with an evil smile. I realized that the pack had moved back to create a little bigger circle-one that I was included in. Trapped there with the man that I couldn’t help but think was practically a reflection of me. “This is nothing personal, you know…” he laughed, gesturing around with the gun in his right hand. 

“How did you get out?” I stalled-hoping someone smarter than me would figure something out. Hoping that I could keep him talking just long enough that this would all end well.

“Ah-that! Didn’t your Alpha here tell you that I escaped a little over a year ago?” My eyes shot to the Alpha’s as my mind link widened to the pack’s. Everyone’s thoughts were well hidden and I knew no one wanted me to hear their personal conversations. Even the Alpha’s mind was hidden from my own then… or maybe he was already crumbling.

A small pang of pain widened in my chest when I realized I had been left out of the loop by my family. They all kept this from me, a secret that I should have been in on. 

Still, I kept my face stone cold even though I had found out that something I had nightmares about constantly had actually come true.

“How?” I repeated. He took a step closer to me, and his scent hit me as the wind shifted towards me. He must have not been in the house- or else I would have recognized his scent. He smelled like old alcohol and a mustiness from not having a proper shower in a long time.

“That is a long story for another time, my son,” he sighed, his face saddening. He then smiled brightly like a crazy old man, before reaching out for my shoulder. I instinctively moved away, causing his eyes to light with a certain fire and then turn a tint darker. I was honestly surprised that I was still scared of him after all these years. Because that’s what I was right then. Scared shitless. 

“Is that fear I see?” He asked me with a smirk. I knew that smirk all too well. It was the one he wore when he was looking for any sort of reaction to bring him joy. Even though it had been years, my stomach still twisted into a tight knot at the smirk on his face. 

“You wish,” I tried to calmly say. I bit my tongue to keep from adding something stupid, but it didn’t help me much.

“Is that so?” He asked, and started to walk around me. “Little Ryder isn’t scared of the big bad wolf anymore?” He asked with his own form of sick humour. I turned my head to keep him in my vision the whole time. I couldn’t help but notice again how sickly alike we looked. We both stood around six foot four, had intense facial features, brown eyes, black hair and a broad build. 

“Since when were you ever a big bad wolf?” I couldn’t help but ask. He stopped in front of me and laughed, the act making the crowd even more restless.

“Please. As soon as you were in those chains you showed your true colors pup,” he spat. Calling someone a pup was a big insult in our pack but I took no offense to it. I knew it was true. I couldn’t help what I was. 

“Let him go,” I nodded to the Alpha. I felt the tension rise in the air from the pack around us. They were going to attack sooner or later, and I needed to be out of the middle of it. 

“Why should I?” He smiled.

“Because you might live,” I answered, forcing a silent threat into my words. 

“Who said I wanted to live?” He asked. Before I could give him a sarcastic comment, he spoke again. “Anyway, I didn’t come here for them. I came for you, my son.” The mood of the pack shifted in a matter of milliseconds when he said that. Their nervousness turned into anger and hate, and it was aimed at me. I couldn’t blame them for feeling that. After all, he just practically said I had put the pack in danger. This was my fault. The luna dying-that was my fault. Everywhere I went, there was death. And that was really, really… pissing me off. How come everyone I loved… had to die? How come everyone I loved had to leave me?

“I’ll say it one more time,” I said, taking a step towards my father. We were the same height so we easily stared into each other’s stormy black eyes, daring the other to back down. “Leave my pack or die,” I threatened. 

“Who are you to talk to me like that?” He screamed, shocking the pack with the raw dominance in his voice. Living with the Alpha and Luna had allowed me to become use to the effect of their voices but I knew these people had likely forgotten my father was just as powerful as an Alpha. A few people drifted back while others shuffled uneasily, waiting for any sign to attack us both. “Who do you think you are?” He yelled again, stepping towards me so that we were so close I could see for the first time where his pupil and iris met. I knew this was going downhill at a fast speed, but my mouth just wouldn’t stop.

“I’m not some kid who you can push around,” I whispered so low that I was sure only he heard it.

“So you think,” he smirked. Before I could even blink, the butt of his gun hit my head, sending me to the ground. “You’re a disappointment, pup,” he spat. I heard his feet moving back towards the Alpha, and I quickly shuffled to mine. He turned back towards me with an annoyed look. “You don’t want to do this boy,” he warned me.

“I am just as prepared to die for my father as I am to kill for him,” I grunted in response. Despite the terrible situation, the Alpha smiled at me, but I was more focused on my fuming birth father to smile back. 

“Then die you shall,” he growled. He tossed his gun to one of the other wolves before stalking towards me. But I had been put through training since I had last seen him and I knew he wasn’t prepared for what was to come. He threw and punched, which I quickly avoided while delivering a blow to his stomach. I used my elbow to hit him in the back of the neck, but he seemed unaffected. Before I could turn around, he took me to the ground with him. We struggled to gain the upper hand-neither of us willing to give it up. 

I didn’t have to look up to know that the pack had erupted into fighting. They were going after the wolves who were extremely outnumbered. I hoped they knew what they were doing. After all, Tom’s life was on the line.

“You brat!” He spat, his spit hitting me in the face as he took the upper hold. He grabbed my neck, but I caught him off guard by punching him in the face. His grip loosened just enough for me to send us into a roll. We were a ball of fists and blocks, each of us not wanting to give up the upper hand. My father and I both had training and even with his mind half gone- he was stronger than me. I wondered just how long I could last.

I was starting to slip and we both knew it. My energy was slowly leaving me, and he ended up above me, punching me. I used all my might to flip him off of me before getting up to my feat. Before I could register what was happening, my face erupted with more pain. I started punching and dodging back, but I was getting weaker and slower with my movements. But he wasn’t even tired. If anything, he seemed to get stronger. It was when I was against a tree, him ready to punch my skull open, that my miracle came.

“Leave him alone,” his voice rang out, sturdy even though I knew he was scared shitless. It was enough of a distraction for me to punch him and take him to the ground. Tom rushed over and helped hold him down before I delivered another dew blow to finally knock him out. It took a few pathetic tries, but we managed to do it.

I looked up and saw Tom staring down at him. It was only then that I noticed that Tom looked like he had been through hell and back. His hair had dried blood in it, his clothes were stained red and torn in multiple places, his face scratched and bleeding. And life… it was gone from his eyes. I hoped to God that it was just an at that moment type of thing. I knew he would know that his mother was dead from the blood on me. I wasn’t old enough when my mother died to carry many memories of her. So I didn’t know s**t about what Tom would go through now. Not a damn thing. When Tom looked back up at me, he was able to give me a small smile; but the light was still gone from his face.

“You look like hell,” he commented. I shook my head, suddenly realizing how much pain I was in, especially my right ankle.

“Well hell must be one sexy place,” I smirked. Tom laughed, but his smile was gone just as fast as it arrived.

“My father…” he trailed off, his eyes searching my own.

“I believe he’s okay,” I answered his unspoken question. Tom visibly relaxed before looking back at my father lying on the ground. “We should get him to a secure cell before he wakes up,” I grunted, some of my bitterness falling through my words.

“Ryder,” Tom sighed, “look, I’m sorry for not telling you about him escaping and all. Believe me, I wanted to, but everyone thought you’d be better off not knowing,” he explained in a rush. I understood, even though I was still mad, I understood what he meant. They just wanted me to forget.

“Yeah.” I shrugged as if it was no big deal. I bottled up my anger until I was sure I could speak without sounding upset. “What happened to you?” I asked, looking up at him. 

“They took me into the woods. Two of them. They had guns, but I guess I caught them off guard.” He shook his head and looked down at his bloody hands. “The worst part about killing them, wasn’t that they were rogues.” He clenched his hands into fists, causing the dry quickly drying blood on his knuckles to crack. “It was the fact that they had been from our pack,” he said. Shocked, I looked back down at my father’s motionless form. I didn’t know they had been from our pack, hell I didn’t even know that anyone from our pack had turned rogue.

I let the silence carry on for a second more before standing up. At least we now had an idea for what my father was doing here. He was with other wolves who wanted revenge. He had said he came for me, but I didn’t really believe that. But it didn’t matter to me right then. All that mattered, was getting back to make sure everyone was okay. 

“Come on,” I said, holding out a hand to Tom. I pulled him up and we both grabbed one of my father’s arms before slowly dragging him, his limp body heavy even with the two of us.

“Why were they here?” Tom questioned.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. We started back up a little hill-one I hadn’t realized I came down- while a stiff silence hung in the air. There was so much to say-so much to discuss, but I didn’t want to rush into any of it. 

“Your mother…” I started, unsure of how to finish saying it. Even as I thought of her, my throat started to burn and my chest widened with pain. I felt an overwhelming amount of tears fill my eyes as I blinked them away, refusing to allow them to escape.

“I know,” he cut me off, his voice raw with emotion. “You know… she was your mother too…” I didn’t speak or look at him, but kept on lugging the body. Before we could say anything else, five or six figures came running towards us, each with only a pair of shorts and a girl with both a shirt and shorts.

“Tom,” one of the guys called out in relief. Two guys rushed forward to take away my father, leaving me to watch the small crowd swarm around Tom.

“We need to get you to the pack doctor,” the girl said.

“Are you hurt?” 

“Did they get away?”

“Where did they go?”

“You’re bleeding.”

“Is that your blood?” 

“I’m fine.” Tom’s voice was firm enough to cause everyone to quiet down, but still gentle enough to be kind. “Where is our father?” He asked, as he started to walk past them. “Ryder and I need to speak to him immediately,” he explained. When no one moved, my heart started to beat harder at their silence. Tom also noticed and turned around, his expression annoyed.

“Well come on,” he called. “Where is he?” He asked. It was the girl who stepped forward and spoke, her head down and tears filling her eyes.

“Tom, I’m so sorry…” she said. Tom’s face changed from annoyance to confusion. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. “Where is my father?” My chest expanded rather largely-so much that I thought I was going to explode. 

“Don’t touch me,” he practically shouted as one of the guys went to put a hand on his shoulder. “Where is he?” He shouted. I started forward, but not to comfort Tom. Tom was speaking the truth when he said Lina was my mother. Well, as close to one as I’d ever get again. And Brant was like my father. I was so sure he was going to be safe. But he wasn’t. And it was all my fault. 

“What the hell are you saying?” I heard Tom yell behind me. I knew the grief would be overwhelming for him. I had lost my mother and slowly I lost my father too. But Tom lost both of his parents on the same day. It was something I would never be able to feel. Tom was alone with his grief. And I- well they weren’t even my parents. A big part of me was screaming in what seemed like physical pain at them leaving me. But another part told me I didn’t have the right to be sad. They weren’t my parents. They were Tom’s. I killed them. If it wasn’t for me, then he would have never come back. He would have never killed them. This was all my fault.

I quickened my pace to a run, ignoring Tom’s cries of agony behind me. I had to see him. I had to see with my own eyes. I had to remember him. Remember that I had killed them. This was all my fault. I deserved every sleepless night and nightmare that might come after this. I deserved to be dead instead of them. But I wasn’t. So the least I could do, was be honest about my sins. 

As tears raced down my face in an effort to show how weak I truly was, one thought circle my mind over and over. 

Why did everyone I love have to die?

And then a loud unnatural noise rang out through the air, making my ears buzz. A single gunshot. 

I turned around and felt the last breath of air I had, leaving my body as I watched the only person I had left, falling to the ground.