White Fur

Chapter 22

Skyler’s POV

I waited with Sally until her ride got here. I pulled her in for a hug. “Text me when you get home ok?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to share a ride with me?” She asked with slightly slurred speech.

“I’m ok, my apartment is in the opposite direction of your hotel. Besides my ride is about to pull up.” Sally nodded and then slid into the car. My ride pulled up not much later.

I asked the driver to drop me off a couple blocks away from home so I could walk a bit. I needed to clear my head to think and walking always helped with that. I kept thinking about what Varus said. Did he know about werewolves or maybe it was coincidental wording. Maybe he was a werewolf, he was almost as big as Kanto, or maybe he just works out.

My mind kept racing through the possibility when shouting interrupted my thoughts. I could recognize the voice just a a massive wall of worry hit me. A light breeze came from behind me and the shouting stop. I turned the corner to see Kanto and the two stalkers. I took a couple of steps before I was engulfed in Kanto’s arms. He was hugging me like he thought he never would again. I wanted nothing more than to melt in his arms, but my frustration wouldn’t let me.

I pushed Kanto off of me. “You. Upstairs now.” I saw my two stalkers trying to sneak away. “No no no, where do you think you two are going? You’re coming upstairs too.”

I stormed to my front door, my stalkers were frozen shifting glances between Kanto, me and each other. I let out a groan of frustration “What are you three waiting for. I said upstairs. Now.”

All three of them sulked into the elevator, I stood there arms crossed, fuming. I swear you could feel the heat radiating off of me in that dead silent elevator. I sent Sally a quick tex to let her know I made it home before we got off the elevator. I walked down to my apartment when we got there. “In. Then sit.” They carefully walked in and all three sat on my couch, Kanto sitting at the end closest to my bed. It took all my effort not to laugh at the sit of three grown and very big men looking like children about to be scolded.

“Why have you two been following me?” My attention on my stalkers. They both leaned over to look at Kanto with the slightest hint of concern on their faces. “Hey hey, no mind-linking. You don’t need his permission to tell me what you two were up to. I’m his mate I have a right to know. So tell me, why have you been following me?”

The man in the middle shifted, I recognized him as the one who has been following me the longest. “For your protection, Lu— ma’am.”

“My protection? Protection from what?” My question was followed by more silence. I was getting irritated. “Alright, who ordered you to follow me then?”

The middle person continued to speak. “Al— Kanto, ma’am.” I looked over at Kanto who was just staring at the floor, I could see the concern and worry on his face. At that moment I also felt those emotions, I decided I needed to finish interrogating these two so I could talk to Kanto alone.

“What are your names?” I asked.

“My name is Colton, ma’am.” The man in the middle said and slightly bowed his head to me.

“I’m Dustin, ma’am.” He followed suit and bowed his head as well.

“Colton. Dustin. From here on out, stop being so creepy. At least come up to me and talk to me instead of stalking me like I’m prey.” An embarrassed look crossed both of their faces at my nickname for the two of them. “Kanto and I will discuss how much longer that will be for. As for now, you two can go.”

They both looked at Kanto for a second to confirm that they could leave, which Kanto gave the slightest of nods. They both got up and left my apartment closing the door behind them. Silence once again filled my apartment.

“Skyler, I—“

“No.”

“But Skyler—“

“No”

I didn’t want to listen to his excuses yet. I needed to calm myself down before I would say anything I can’t take back. Also I still had some alcohol in my system, I wanted to let that work through just a bit more.

“You look beautiful tonight.” Kanto said barely audible. I almost caved right there, I wanted to kiss him and wrap myself in his arms. But I needed to stay focused.

I took a deep breath before speaking again. “I’m going to get changed and wipe this makeup off. When I get back, I want you to tell me everything. Not a selection of what you think I need to know. I mean everything.” He nodded. I walked over to my dresser and got out some pjs. I paused in the doorway to my bathroom and turned back to face him. “Thank you for the compliment.” I tried to sound as sincere as possible before going into the bathroom to change. I took another deep breath, giving myself a moment to calm down. Am I ready to hear the truth?

Kanto’s POV

I sat there running my hands through my hair. Earlier I felt like something wasn’t right, so I thought maybe it was Skyler. My heart stopped when she said she was at a club with no protection. I drove from the pack house as fast as I could to make sure she was ok. I gave Colton and Dustin an earful when I saw them just sitting outside of her apartment. What calmed me down was when I caught her scent. I was just so happy she was safe. But I could feel how angry she was.

I told you, you should have told her sooner. Zenith was being as annoying as possible.

Shut it. Zenith chuckled at my admittance of defeat.

You have to admit though, little mate looked damn good earlier. My mind instantly went to how she took charge of three full grown werewolves and got us to listen to every command she said. Even I struggle with that sometimes, I’m lucky because I could always use my Alpha tone.

Yea seeing her step up and take charge was impressive. Just like a true Luna. And she didn’t even scold them too badly, I don’t know about us though.

No, no, no. You’re right she looked good as Luna, but that dress. I knew what Zenith was talking about. The whole time Skyler was talking to Colton and Dustin, Zenith was chomping at the bit to pounce on her and mark her right there. He was also growling at the thought that she looked that delicious in front of Colton and Dustin.

I pushed Zenith to the back of my mind, I couldn’t be distracted by his dirty thoughts right now. I needed to focus on what I was going to tell Skyler when she got out of the bathroom.

You’re going to tell little mate everything. Zenith snuck in before leaving again. He was right, I can’t hide anything from her.

I heard the door click and perked my head up. Skyler came out in an oversized sweatshirt and shorts. She may have looked good in that dress but she looked beautiful in this too. She paused for a minute in the doorway before walking over and sitting on the couch just out of my reach.

“What’s going on Kanto?” She said without an ounce of anger in her tone, more like exhaustion. I needed to come clean about everything.

“Skyler, I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Just promise me if it becomes too much to tell me so you can take a break. And just know I’m not going to let anything ever happen to you again.” She nodded so I continued. “I’m not just a regular pack member, I’m the Alpha of my pack.”

“Yea you’re Alpha Kanto. You’re in charge of your pack, basically the top dog. Then you have a Beta and a Gamma after as second and third in command, respectively.” Her face was calm, but I was in shock.

“You know I’m an Alpha?” Making sure I wasn’t imagining it.

“Yea… that night Dr. Garcia came over he called you Alpha. And just a second ago Colton almost called you Alpha too. I’ve seen enough nature documentaries to know that the Alpha is the wolf in charge of the pack, so I just assumed the same held true for werewolf packs.” I still sat there shocked. “Why do you think I kept prioritizing your pack work so much?”

Damn, our mate’s smart. Zenith was just as shocked as I was.

I cleared my throat but was still in disbelief. “Yeaaaa…uh…and you are my mate. As my mate you would take over the role as Luna and you would help me run the pack.”

“Is that a good idea? Letting someone who just discovered the supernatural world run a pack of werewolves? Isn’t there someone more qualified.” Now Skyler’s face matched the disbelief that mine has a minute ago.

“As my mate, it’s your role to take. We will teach you everything you need to know. And if you’re worried about qualifications, you just made 3 fully grown werewolves cower and listen to your every word. You are smart, caring and responsible, I don’t have any doubts that you’ll make a wonderful Luna.” I gave her a reassuring smile.

She nodded her head slowly like she was trying to process her new title. “Ok, but that still doesn’t explain Stalker 1 and Stalker 2.”

I held back a laugh at the nicknames Skyler gave Colton and Dustin. “As my mate and the Luna of the pack, you become a target. If people want to get to me, they could use you.”

“So that’s why there was one person of extra protection, but why two?”

“Remember on our date when I had to mind-link one of my pack members?” She nodded her head yes. “My Beta informed me that a picture of us at dinner was sent to everyone in the pack. So that night they knew what you looked like, there was no way I could keep the information hidden anymore. So on Sunday I informed the elder council, then I officially announced to the whole pack that I found my mate on Monday.”

“And because they knew, it’s possible the news spread to your enemies.” Skyler said connecting the dots. “I’m sorry, but in the human world people don’t usually have enemies that harm or kill anyone just to get to their target. It happens sure, but not to the casual level you are making it seem. Who wants you to suffer so much?”

I let out a sigh knowing it was time to tell Skyler about how I became Alpha. “Every once in a while, werewolves from all over the country, sometimes the world, gather at a Summit. It’s an opportunity for us to know what’s going on as well as handle any pressing matters that might need multiple pack involvement. When I was 16 my father, who was the Alpha of our pack, took me to one of these summits, to help train me in pack relations. This wasn’t my first time, but since I officially shifted into my wolf my dad thought it would be a good idea for me to start taking on some of the responsibilities Alphas have when they go to these summits. That year the Alpha of the Steelridge pack had a proposition he wanted to make to all the other Alphas. His idea was that supernatural beings were far superior, werewolf being the most powerful. He proposed that we attempt to turn all the humans into werewolves, then they either join us or die. He wanted to make an army of werewolves to eliminate the humans and dominate other supernatural beings.”

“Why would he want to do that?” I could see terror on Skyler’s face at the potential thought of the human race being wiped out.

“Unfortunately, about a year before the summit, the Steelridge pack’s Luna was killed by human hunters. It was widely known that the Steelridge Alpha’s mate was a chosen mate and he only care about having an heir, but it gave him an opportunity to have a reason for war. He ended up killing that hunter and those who were with him, but the Alpha didn’t want to stop there. He went to the council and proposed his idea, which immediately got shot down. Changing humans into werewolves was made illegal years ago, many packs lived peacefully along side humans some even had mates that were human.” I paused and smiled at Skyler, she gently smiled back. “My father was the most vocal about his opposition to the plan, and many Alphas rallied behind him. He was very well respected.” I felt sad talking about my father, Skyler must have sensed it because she moved closer to me on the couch to grab my hand.

“Obviously, the Steelridge Alpha wasn’t happy about the outcome. Even his main allies were wary of his plan. He left the summit almost immediately after. Many pack wrote him off since his pack wasn’t too big and they thought that since he didn’t get support he wouldn’t do anything. But my father was suspicious, so he kept an eye on the Alpha and the human town nearby. About a year after the summit, humans started disappearing from the town, dead bodies were turning up on the outskirts. My dad gathered support from nearby packs and went to confront the Steelridge pack. But when they got there everyone was either gone or dead, they must have caught wind of the other packs coming. When investigating the house, they came across vials of experimental materials to transform a human. The amount of humans they experimented on was easily over 100, according to my father and others reports. But there was a clear warning left behind for the packs who went to investigate. A sign read ‘I will get my revenge Boterea’ which meant he was going to target our pack.”

I took a deep breath before continuing. “Not long after I turned 19, my dad was coming back from a meeting with an ally pack in the East. I stayed home to practice running the pack while my mom was there in case I needed support. We hadn’t thought much about the Steelridge Alpha since the pack was disbanded and there has been no sign of him since the day my father went to investigate. One day my mom and I were walking down the hall, talking about how I might want to travel to find my mate, when she frozen. She clenched her heart and started screaming in pain. I grabbed her to help, her head shot up at me with tears in her eyes. She said one word, I’ve heard her say it a million times but I’ve never heard her say it so painfully. She said ’Aldric’, she said my father’s name and I knew exactly what happened.” Skyler moved closer so she could hold onto my whole arm, trying to comfort me. “I took my future Beta and Gamma along with 10 other warriors and heading towards the path my dad planned to take home. When we got closer, all I could smell was blood. I froze at the sight of all of our fallen pack members, but my world began crashing down when I saw that my father was one of them. We were too late.”

I felt all the anguish I felt that day reappear, I failed my Alpha that day, I failed my father. I should have been there to protect him and the other pack members. I looked over to my mate, she had tears in her eyes. She maneuvered her way under my arm and wrapped her arms around my waist. I pulled her onto my lap and held her in my arms. All the pain I was feeling again was slowly melting away as we embraced each other silently on her couch. She didn’t push me to continue the story, she patiently waited until I was ready.

After a long while, I continued my story. “I became Alpha that day. And my first order as Alpha was to find the Steelridge Alpha and take him down. They didn’t make any attempts to hide that they were the ones who killed my father, it was easy to gather evidence. After only a couple months of searching, we found him and if it weren’t for my Beta, I would have killed him right then and there. Instead we formed a high-court and had a trial. With the murdering and experimenting on humans, killing their own pack members, and killing the Alpha of another pack, the court sentenced him to death. Before they executed him, he kept shouting about how he would be avenged. And unfortunately, he was right. His son was there for all of it, he went to that summit, he followed his father when they fled the Steelridge pack lands, there was evidence of him being at the scene where my dad died. He was learning to be an Alpha like his father. And recently we think he has made his way back. We think he’s been attacking the pack.”

Skyler was still curled up in my arms, but I could see on her face that she was processing everything I said. She lifted her head and looked into my eyes for a moment. “I have three conditions before I move into the pack house.”