Chapter Eight
1747 Words
Alex POV
“Blood. “ My wolf says, the copper smell filling my nostrils as I jump forward. I pause to take my surroundings in vast forest and tall, old trees. Our lands spread all the way down to the shore. Then I break into a run. I have always been fast, trusting my wolf to guide me.
A few moments later, I am standing over the dead body of the deer. It is brutally ripped to pieces, blood soaking the ground.
“Whoever did this was leaving a message,” my wolf speaks to me as I stand over the body. Anger begins to overtake me.
We were so close to saving him this time….
That’s the third time this week that I have found a dead body. The corpses are always left very close to our border with the small pack, neighboring our territories to the south.
I look up at the sky- it has started turning grey. Did I spend the night in the woods again? I have to get back to the main house and tell the others what I have found. I reach it quickly, take a quick bath and try to mind-link my beta. No success.
I go directly to his room, slamming the door open.
“Damn it, Kyle,” I groan as I see the woman’s naked body, wrapped around his. My beta and the woman are entangled in such a tight knot that if his body were not covered entirely in tattoos, I would not be sure where he ends and where she begins. Kyle is my closest beta, but he is also the biggest womaniser in the pack.
I just turn around when he finally wakes up.
“f**k. “ he hissed, but I was already walking away.
“Just put your s**t together and be in the main hall in half an hour.”
I instructed him without turning to look at him. Kyle doesn’t argue and just mutters an “okay.”
I proceed to the main hall, and my other beta – Jeremy- catches up with me.
“Morning, Alpha.” He teases, and I glare at him.
“Stop calling me that. “
Jeremy grins.
“But you literally are the Alpha.”
“Why is everyone so obsessed with titles and everything?”
“Because you look like you don’t care at all?” Jeremy lifts an eyebrow.
I abruptly stop walking and face him.
“What I care about is finding out who the f**k kills on our territory.”
Jeremy nods. “Yes, Alex.”
I became the Alpha of the Shadowcrow pack nine years ago. I had just turned twenty, and I thought I had all the time in the world to prepare for it. But both my father and brother were brutally killed in a territorial dispute, and I took over the pack sooner than planned. I know my wolves think I am obsessed with control and making sure our lands and the pack are safe, but I have all the reasons in the world to be.
We get in the room. Jeremy sits in the nearest armchair, and Kyle comes in shortly after, still fixing his clothes.
I tell them what I found earlier this morning.
“We are going patrolling tonight again.” I say, “I will need both of you and maybe…”
“Patrolling!?”
My sister was standing at the doorway, arms folded. She looks pissed.
“Oh, hi Claire.”
I try to sound casual, but she won’t buy it. She storms in.
“Hi Claire!? Seriously?” She snaps, “ I told you I want to come with you for the patrolling!”
“You are still recovering from your injury.”
I say evenly, stating facts, but she won’t let go.
“Let me decide for myself if I am ready to go back to tracking or not, shall we?” Claire puts her hands on her hips. She is my younger sister, just turned 19, but she acts like she is all grown up.
“Yeah, well.” I shrug, “Last time we did this, you almost got killed.”
She glared at me- my sister knows I am right. Her eyes flash.
“Oh, shit.” Kyle puts his hand on his mouth because we all know my sister is ready to fight me, even if she stands no chance. Especially not now. In our pack, women are hunting and fighting alongside men. Claire has always been a good tracker but also a reckless one.
“You heal first, and then you are welcome to come back. Okay?” I say.
“Fine,” she spits back the answer.
“Is this what you came for?”
“No,” she says smugly, “ I came to remind you that Mom is waiting for you. “
“Luna Henriette? What for?”
I ask, confused. The three of them are staring at me like I have lost my mind.
“The Alpha ceremony?” Claire asks, “ Remember?”
“Um… No.” I admit, and she gasps.
“You can’t be serious…”
“I’m dead serious.”
“Hello?!” She waves a hand before my face. “The Ceremony of the Alpha of the Bloodflame pack? The big event you are supposed to attend?”
“Right,” I finally remember. “Well, I’m not going. “
“Yes, you are.”
I search Kyle and Jeremy’s faces for support, but they just shrug.
“You need to go out sometimes,” Jeremy says, hesitantly.
“I go out all the f*****g time,” I say, slowly.
“Yeah, for beating the s**t out of rogues and tracking down some rabid wolves. “
“So? This is still going out? Besides, we already went there, once was more than enough.”
“Have you heard of something called 'social duties'?” Claire asks, “That’s also part of the duties of the Alpha?”
“Here we go with this again,” I think, irritated.
“And after the whole drama last time- I kind of want to see what’s next.” Kyle lifts an eyebrow.
“You are terrible. “
“You’ve been kind of…” Kyle begins, waving a hand.
“What?”
“I don’t know. After we came back from what was supposed to be the Alpha ceremony,
you’ve been more grumpy than normal .”
“I’m not grumpy.” I glare at him, and he lifts his hands.
“Yeah, you can just kill me with that gaze. You don’t even need to summon the shadows.”
“Very funny.” I mutter.
Last week, the Alpha ceremony in the Bloodflame pack was interrupted, and the Alpha announced a new Luna out of the blue. But for some reason, my wolf was restless the whole time, clawing at me. It was crowded, and there were so many wolves I don’t care the slightest about - so I don’t know what caused it, but he’s been acting really weird ever since then.
Kyle stands where he is. Making me go there the first time was bad enough- I sure as hell was hoping I would not need to attend a social event for at least another year. I wasn’t so lucky - who would have thought they would make an even bigger ceremony this time?
“These guys have nothing better to do. “ I say in the end.
“Come on, there will be alcohol.”
“As if that would help.”
“It will be fun, “my sister picks up. “Maybe you can meet some females?”
I roll my eyes.
“I am not having this conversation again. “
As you can guess, though, I had this exact conversation again the same day. With my mother. And this time Luna Henriette did not even listen to me, and she wasn’t as patient as she normally is.
“I don’t see why I have to be there. Again.” I argue, “Our pack is the strongest it has been for years.”
“Yes. That’s the point. You have to go. We were officially invited. You are well aware that we have to pay respect to the Bloodflame pack and their future leader.” Then she shifts in her spot. “And his new Luna. “
The Shadowcrow pack have always been the type of pack the rest of the clans stay away from - mainly because of their conspiracy theories that we are connected to the shadows.
Well, in a way, we are connected to them - but we’ve never used the dark crafts unless it was inevitable. It is rare that someone enters our lands, let alone to hunt without us knowing. Not all wolves in our pack can communicate with the Shadows. Usually, the ones who can are from the Alpha family, but occasionally, some betas can. Jeremy can. My brother could as well. Each shadow is different, the way each wolf is - so every connection is different. But everyone outside of our clan fears the Shadows because they don’t know them. They only see them as an enemy. Something ancient and fearful. My brother always said not knowing the dark is what makes it scary.
My brother…
“Dad never attended those,” I say, clearing my throat and pushing the memory of my brother away.
“Of course he did.” My mom says, “ And you need to settle down.”
“No,” I say coldly.
“You are 29, Alex. You absolutely have to.”
As if… I think as I go to prepare for whatever this is.
I take Jeremy and Kyle with me. But I am absolutely not planning on staying for too long. Maybe if we leave in a few hours, we still have a chance to check the borders. The rogues won’t expect us to be back so soon.
“Are you thinking about work again?” Kyle asks, and I respond with a grunt.
The place is huge- the Bloodflame pack really likes to be flashy. I can’t stand them, but here we are. “Social duties”, right?
Just as my eyes roam the place, the dread of being here grows with the fires burning everywhere. I see her behind the flames. And my wolf awakens.
- Writer
