FORBIDDEN ALPHA ROMANCE

Chapter 3

With our fast, agile bodies, fights spanned over impressive distances.

What I wasn't expecting was seeing half of my pack standing in a semi-circle and a single black wolf saunter onto the land. Why wasn't everyone shifting? Why wasn't war ensuing? Never before had I see a wolf strut onto our lands without an invitation and not be confronted.

But something was boiling below the surface. There was a fight waiting to happen, but no one from my pack was making the first move. There was tight shoulders, balled fists, and heavy breathing, but it seemed like they were all frozen.

The wolf, however, continuing to walk on our land like it was his own. I didn't understand. He clearly wasn't a good friend who had shown up unannounced. But they weren't treating him like a deranged rouge either. Frankly, he didn't look deranged either. He was large, massive, in fact.

I had never seen a wolf his size. And he moved with control.

"Dad," I whispered, coming up beside my father who had stopped to be a part of the semi circle.

On the far side I could see Caleb standing beside his own father, the alpha of the pack. But the man I knew to be my leader didn't look like the powerful, impulsive man I knew so well.

My alpha had his head down, his hands were clenched into fists and his eyes kept searching around. He was terrified. But of what? He glanced Over all of us like we would give him the answer, like we were to blame for this wolf's arrival.

"Go back to your mother, " my father ordered from beside me, but he didn't take his eyes off that black wolf. "Tell your little sister to stay in the house."

His voice was much louder than my quiet whisper and it was enough to grab the black wolf's attention when it sliced through the silent and thick air. The massive beast swung his head around towards us and when I saw him head on, I gasped.

Blood red eyes stared back at me.

But something more important snagged the wolf's attention away from me. My trembling alpha decided that it was finally time to speak.

"Hades, what can we do for you?" he asked.

The wolf only snarled as my heart leapt into my throat. Hades.

"Hades isn't real. He's a myth," I managed, feeling like I couldn't breathe despite the fact that I was panting with anxiety.

"Hades, I'm afraid I can't understand why you are here. All of my pack members are wonderful, upstanding citizens." My alpha spoke but it didn't seem to matter. The black wolf continued to move towards him, walking slowly and calmly but never yielding and scarcely flinching when he was spoken to. And my jaw nearly dropped when my alpha took a step back as the black wolf neared him. "It can't be me, that's impossible. You couldn't have come for me. I've taken wonderful care of my pack."

The black wolf just turned his head away from my alpha, towards Caleb. And when his gaze locked onto my best friend his lips curled back, revealing gleaming teeth, and he let out a disgusted snarl.

"No!" my alpha shouted, suddenly leaping in front of his son. All of the fear and concern that had clouded his features just seconds ago faded.

"What's happening?" I whimpered to my father. Once again, my voice was enough to distract the black beast. The large head swung towards me. His lips uncurled and those blood red eyes seemed to be utterly captured with me.

Having his attention on me was enough to make my heart freeze in my chest. As I swallowed hard, I also stepped to the side, moving to be behind my father like the coward I was. If my alpha was terrified of this black wolf and whatever ill-will he brought then I had no right to try and face him head on. I could fight a normal werewolf, but a beast that size was another question entirely.

Just those vile eyes were enough to frighten into silence.

"He's come for Caleb," my father said weakly. I had never heard my father like this. It sounded like all of the life had been taken out of him.

He had always been one to fight, even when he wasn't on the right side of things. He was nothing if not proud and defensive like most wolves. But that wasn't who he was now.

"What do you mean? Why had he come for Caleb? What is he going to do to him?" I demanded, my voice rising with hysteria. But Iknew. I had heard the rumors. I never believed them to be true, but there was no denying the Scene in front of me.

"He's going to make Caleb pay for any crime he has committed. Hades is here for justice."

"Caleb hasn't committed any crimes! He's barely old enough to drink, how could he have done anything to anyone?" I screeched.

This wasn't possible. This wasn't real. Caleb was the sweetest man on the Earth.I had hardly ever heard a cruel word leave his lips. He had nothing to repent.

"He's wrong! Caleb hasn't done anything!" I wailed, now grabbing onto my father's shoulders from behind and trying to shake him, trying to get him to snap out of his trance.

My father's eyes darted to the wolf called Hades, fearing that I had captured the creature's attention once more. But the wolf remained focused solely on Caleb. And my alpha was furious. The man that I had thought was quaking in fear was now throwing himself in front of his own son, screaming and yelling at the wolf who didn't even swivel an ear.

"How dare you come into my packlands like this. How dare you even consider accusing my son of anything. He is a fine young man who is next in line to be alpha. You have pranced onto enough packlands and ruined enough hierarchies. I will not tolerate it in my own lands. If you so much as even growl at my son again you will have a war on your hands!"

My father was always loyal to his alpha. Sometimes to a fault. They had been best friends since their youth. When I became annoyed with how my father would dismiss his friend's wrong doing I would consider how forgiving I was with Caleb. I would go to the ends of the earth to protect him and my father was no different with his friend. He would risk everything just to keep the alpha safe and follow orders. As the beta it was his job.

Not today.

"Enough, Alpha," my father murmured.

He was the only one brave enough to move in a moment when everyone else was frozen.

He stepped into the semi circle and my arms dropped to my sides. Then he was crossing the distance between my location to my alpha in about a dozen steps. His noble leader looked at him with wide eyes, seeming like he was teetering on the brink of a physical brawl or bursting into tears. My father just took his elbow, holding him firmly and steering him away from his son.

He left Caleb vulnerable to this dangerous intruder.

"What's going on?" Caleb demanded. His question was directed at my father, but his eyes never left the black mass of muscles and teeth before him.

"You have to fight Hades," my father whispered weakly.

Most men would've been terrified. Hell, I was terrified for Caleb. This creature didn't look like any werewolf I had ever seen. The way he radiated power was unlike anything I had ever witnessed.

But Caleb just smirked down at the unbothered wolf. In one smooth motion he grabbed the bottom of his shirt, yanked it above his head, and tossed it to the side.

"You don't know what you're doing!" The alpha shouted, suddenly jerking towards his son again.

My father clung to his elbow, holding him as still as he could while the burly man struggled.

"Come on, dad, you taught me how to fight. He doesn't stand a chance," Caleb boasted, his eyes glimmering with the challenge. Such a stereotypical alpha. With one loud grunt Caleb went from being a handsome human being to a thick, muscular wolf on four paws instead of two legs.