The Alphas Assassin (Complete)

Gabriels Truth

*Ariella*

I forgot how painful it was to shift when you hadn’t in a while. It had been almost a year since the last time I ran with my wolf at the helm. Mason tried to keep us from shifting as much as possible if we were amongst each other. The more we shifted with one another, the more our individual scents mixed and the more distinctive our packs unique scent became. And if our scent could be traced by skilled wolves, we could easily be tracked and picked out of lineups. Without anyone else around, I’d only pick up the scent of the wet earth and trees around me.

The last time I ran was with Carter, over a year ago. We had snuck out of the house late one night when he and I were itching to run.

I also forgot how amazing it felt to feel the earth trembling beneath my huge paws and the wind blowing through my golden fur.

I had forgotten how much power she had behind her. The alpha blood that ran through my veins powered her entire being. She was large and foreboding but sleek. She was another reason Mason never let me run with others… if people saw her size and her strength, they’d know I was from an alpha family and the only thing that could come from that was trouble.

The beating sound of our paws echoing against the trees that we passed filled my heart with joy. Her energy took some time, but finally started coming back to me. Her aura started to flood back into me, strengthening my body.

She had been quiet for so long within me, her presence ever dwindling in my mind. She quickly recovered from her dormant state, however, and our minds melded once again with one another. I felt almost complete again…

I kept running, dodging trees and boulders, jumping over roots and mounds of dirt and leaves and patches of wet grass. It felt so natural to be with her once again.

My mind began to fog over as our minds swirled together. Her consciousness began to take over me, her strength pushing me to the limits of our power as I thundered through the woods. Weaving and dodging through branches and obstacles without even thinking about them. She let me relax as she took over control of our body.

Soon we reached a clearing, lit up by the stars and a full moon that hung over a crystal lake. The sparkle of the water caused her to break, skidding to a stop at the ledge that sat a few feet from the water.

My breath stopped as she and I stared at the lake. The stars glinting off of the rippling water. Tears flooded into me once again and I could hear her whimper within me before my body heaved in a sob.

Shifting all at once, I found myself kneeling before the lake. The tattered maroon dress draped around my body like rags, the shoulder straps had snapped and my breasts threatened to spill out. I wrapped my arms around myself and crumpled into my body as I wept. I felt the tiny bracelet on my wrist snag tiny hairs where it fell on my arm. I heard the pounding of paws closing in as I sober myself at the edge of the lake. I took in a deep staggering breath as snot and tears soaked my face and sticky saliva coated my throat, making me feel as though I was suffocating from my own cries.

“Ella…” Gabriel’s voice was soft.

“How…” I choked slightly, “How could you talk about murdering people so easily…?” I sniffled.

“Ella I…” he paused, I heard him sigh. His footsteps neared. “Alpha Arlo…”

The name made my skin prickle. “Don’t!” I interjected, “Don’t… say his name!”

I heard him sigh again before he came to my side, sitting beside me, letting his legs dangle from the edge. His previously perfectly tailored black suit was tattered, his pants hardly holding together. His suspenders hanging at his waist, his watch somehow survived the shift, but his maroon shirt and blazer were torn to shreds.

“Waning Moons Alpha… was a liability to the wolf race.”

“Alpha Arlo was a good man.” I hissed at him through my tears.

“He… was…” Gabriel agreed with a nod. He put his hand through his dark hair and looked out to the water before us.

“He… he loved his family… and his pack… and…”

“He was going to expose the lycan and werewolf races to the humans…” Gabriel finally interrupted.

“I… what?” I paused and looked up to him.

He let his shoulders droop and he looked out at the water as his lip quivered. “Full Moon… had been in alliance with Waning Moon for years… my grandfather… my dad… And then… Alpha Arlo went off the deep end… nobody knows why… but one night, at an annual meeting… someone overheard him talking about taking our race to the humans… exposing every single pack in North America…”

“N-no that can’t be…”

He nodded. “It… would have caused an all-out war… hundreds of thousands of humans and wolves, innocent bystanders, children… no one would have been safe once the humans knew of our existence… the council made the decision to nullify the treaty we had with Waning Moon… and they retaliated… it left Full Moon no choice…”

“B-but…”

“My father… he and Arlo grew up as Allie's… if you asked him… He’d say that he and Arlo were best friends… Esen and I both had friends in that pack…” Gabriel looked at me, his sad eyes gazing into mine. “But… he was left with no choice but to… but to…” he paused as if his throat had caught and a gentle sob left his throat but he sniffled as a sob escaped me and swallowed hard. “My father… he felt so bad, he hid himself away for years, I didn’t see him until he became too sick to lead the pack.” he let out a half hearted chuckle. “Even then it was only so he could denounce his position as alpha… I haven’t seen him since.” he looked back out onto the lake and I watched him wring his hands on his tattered pants. “My father drank himself into almost complete liver failure in the span of 9 years… he’s too far gone for any treatment to help… My mom says he’s started to develop dementia… sometimes he brings up his time as a kid and teen with Arlo, as if it’s the only memories he has… and it breaks his heart every time she tells him he isn’t alive anymore…”

There was a long pause between us as I dropped my head down to stare at my hands. Tears still flowing from my now swollen eyes.

“I didn’t mean… to make light of the situation…” he finally said after a minute of silence. “I just… I don’t want a new Ally Alpha to see weakness in our pack… if I hadn’t gone along with it, who knows if Roman would have thought me weak… or questioned my pack's authority… we are bigger but… but we still have to be careful… if any Alpha senses my or my packs weaknesses… they could challenge my power…” Gabriel paused again. Then he let out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry that it upset you… it was never my intention to… I didn’t know that the subject of war was sensitive to you…”

I held back for a moment, trying to calculate my words. But after a moment, I looked over to him and caught his eyes again.

His warm, soft hazel eyes that held so much emotion behind a hard, authoritative exterior.

“It… was my pack…” I whispered, almost hoping he wouldn’t hear.

“W…What?” He asked.

“Waning Moon… was… my pack…” I repeated in another whisper.

“Ella…” his voice was a harsh hiss in the quiet of the night. “What do you mean? You’re… you’re a Waning Moon pack member!?”

“I was… until they were all slaughtered…” I breathed. “I… I’m Alpha Arlo's Daughter…”

“You’re… Ariella…?”

“ALPHA!” I heard Esens' voice shout as his body launched from the tree line, shifting into human form and sporting a similarly tattered appearance. Beth fell from his back as he shifted, she had a bag in her arms. Alpha Roman and Beta Nathan followed close behind him with Emily close on their tail. Beth hadn’t shifted, which meant she would have had to tell Esen… and despite the circumstances, I gave her a small smile and she shrugged shyly.

“Gabe, are you okay?” Esen began.

“I’m fine…” he gritted.

“Ella…” Beth ran to me, handing me a large sweater. It had to have been Gabriel’s. It smelled grossly like him and was huge on my body. She handed him sweat pants and a tshirt but he rejected them. She tucked them back into her arms and gave me a worried look.

“Are you guys okay?” Esen asked, “What happened?”

“I just…” I paused.

“We needed some fresh air, that's all…” Gabriel interrupted. “Let’s… get back to the pack house…”

He shifted quickly and stepped up to me. His wolf matched his hair, dark and stunningly smooth. His hazel eyes stared up at me expectantly. He couldn’t give me orders but I could tell he was telling me to get on.

“I’ll walk myself…” I responded as I dodged him and walked around.

“Ella… you should…” Esen paused as a low growl emitted from Gabriel. “Ah… yes sir…” Esen shifted again and lowered his body to the ground. Beth climbed onto his back and looked back at me with a nervous glance.

Roman, Nathan and Emily all followed suit as they dashed back through the woods away from us. Then Gabriel shifted back. His eyes lowered at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me…?” He asked, taking a step up to me. His huge body towered over me.

“I… didn’t find it necessary…” I responded in a quiet voice.

“You didn’t find it necessary to let me know you’re the lone survivor of the Waning Moon Pack!?” He growled.

“It’s not my job to tell you where I came from!” I raised my voice in response.

“You entered my pack as a guest.” He seethed, “I allowed you into my home thinking you had just integrated into human life naturally…”

“Well, guess you should have done your research, huh?” I chided back as I stepped away from him and headed back toward the woods.

His hand caught my arm again, and when I turned back my other hand raised and connected hard with his cheek. His head snapped to the side with the blow and his nostrils flared before he looked back down to me.

“Stop grabbing me!” I fumed as my teeth bore to him.

“There’s no other way to get you to stand here and talk to me.” He growled back.

“If you’re going to kick me out, then do it so I can f*****g leave and go home.” I tried to pull my arm from his grip but he only tightened his fingers around my arm.

“I’m not kicking you out of my pack, Ella!” He argued.

“Why?” I screamed, “I lied to you! Your pack killed mine!” I furrowed my brow as I yanked my arm, still trying to get away from him. “I’m no better than a loonie! Just like Nathan said!” I tried to push my fingers beneath his to loosen his grip but it only got tighter. “I’m no better than a f*****g rouge!” Tears erupted from my eyes again. “Just let me go!” I struggled against his hand as I cried. “I want to go home! Let me go!” My voice shrilled against the quiet air around us.

“Ariella!” He screamed back after I fought his strength for a while longer. “I’m not kicking you out!” He screamed.

“Why!?” I exploded.

“Because I love you!” He snapped.

All at once, I stopped struggling against his hand and his arms loosened.