TO KILL A KING

TWELVE-AVARICE

KING

There was no grass to be seen beneath the thick mess of muscled bodies that covered the lawn, some still smeared with battle blood, be it their own or another's even they couldn't tell. I couldn't see the bodies, they had probably been dragged off to be either burned or buried. I felt sick at the thought of my people's legacy ending in fire.

It wasn't right. But nothing about this was.

With both our packs combined, we must have had atleast five hundred members. 

-More than any pack in the nation.

Together we would be unstoppable, and for one slight second I let the thought embed itself in my mind.

We could fight over this pack until one of us was dead, but in the process our people would be destroyed because of our own greed for gain.

But... Together.. the avarice inside me whispered that we would be unstoppable. But that could never happen. Would never happen. We would tear out each others throats with our bare teeth before either of us surrendered to the other.

Together we would have more men than any other pack in the land, and not just numbers, but highly trained and skilled killers. Though beside his band of monstrous men those of mine who were not warriors but instead tradesmen and key workers looked more like children than fully grown adults.

Then and only then would we truly be the Kings of the wolves.

-But there could only be one true King, and so far the future looked bleak in this battle for the silver crown.

I knew that he would never agree to a truce, why would he? 

Why would he want to reign along side his brother's killer, and the Alpha he had tried to slay in their sleep, when he could just rule alone and free of the risk of having his throat slit in his sleep.

He would never trust me. -And I him.

Though I knew deep down that this was the only hope I had of holding onto my pack.

Staring over the people before me, I thought to myself that this could truly work. 

If only I could somehow pull it off.

I wasn't sure wether or not he wanted me to speak first as he was silent for so long, just... Staring  at me with those freakishly blue eyes that almost looked as though he could read by thoughts, as the buzzing of the crowd slowly began to rise. 

I had no words, I had nothing to say to these people, only a handful of letters and no idea how to string them together.

I swallowed, trying to hide the low shiver of creeping cold that crawled down my spine and the goosebumps that rose on my skin. 

Everyone was wondering what was going on, even me. What was going to happen to them and their loved ones now?

No one knew, no one except him. The odds were not in their favour, especially not with his heartless bastard in charge.

I lifted my foot to step forwards, opening my mouth to speak, but the Alpha had seemingly chosen this moment to snap out of whatever hate-filled daze had encaptured him as the moment the first syllable left his tongue, everyone fell deadly silent and I fell back, feeling foolish like a scorned child as I waited with baited breath for what he would say.

He began to speak, in a low raspy tone. He didn't need to shout to be commanding. People would listen even if he whispered. But it didn't matter to me, it registered in my mind that he was talking but I didn't bother to comprehend the words as my eyes fixed upon a familiar face.

Elijah looked as though he hasn't slept in days, and his red rimmed eyes hinted at days of salty tears. My heart clenched painfully as the image. Farrah in his arms, clutching at the last strings of life.

"Wolves of Katara." Gritting my teeth I braced myself, my entire body instinctively tensing as if anticipating some great impact as he addressed my people, snapping me out of my trance. I managed to tear my eyes away from Elijah who even now refused to look at me. Did he blame me for this? I understood if he did. In a way, it was my fault.

I glared at the Alpha with every inch of hatred I could muster, hoping that if I hated him enough, then maybe the deathly stare I fixed upon his lips would actually burn him.

Just the frustratingly perfect way his lips slid over every vowel and syllable made my entire body simmer with rage as he addressed my people.

Well, the few that remained. 

In the great mesh of people before us I estimated that only around three quarters of my people where present. The rest were probably either dead or MIA, and with every hateful hissing flicker of his tongue he sentenced the rest of them one step closer to death. "You are not worthy of becoming Grey Ridge."

I should've been entirely focused on his words. His condemning of my people to their certain deaths.. denouncing them as too weak for his band of ruthless killers... 

-But instead I was washed away by the watery waves of a memory of something far less bleak.

Cole.

I had told him to take the rest of the people and run, run far far away. True to his word I hadn't seen him since, meaning either that they were all dead or they had all made it out alive, I prayed for the latter. 

I wondered where he was now. Was he in another pack? Where they safe?

A worried rumble echoed throughout the crowd, they weren't worthy? What did that mean for their already uncertain futures that seemed to be slowly bleeding red, hemorrhaging Scarlett through the black cracks.

I turned around and glared daggers at one of his Beta's behind me that dared to snigger at my peoples fear. 

"Quiet." The Alpha barked.

You could've heard a pin drop, it told me enough about him that even his own people lived in fear of him. I could hear my own blood circulate with every shivering pulse of my heart. 

-Until his sonorous sound shattered the silence. "You are not worthy, unless proven otherwise." 

And there it was, the faintest glimmer of hope shining through the darkness that was our future with just three words. Unless proven otherwise.

But right from the second that I could've sworn I saw the faintest trace of a sly smile creep onto the corner of his lips I should've known.

That this type of wretched promise was far more sinister than initially portrayed, it could never have been that simple. He wasn't that kind.

It was both a blessing and a curse, bound in blood and demise.

"I'm sure that many of you have heard of the Elen trials, but for those who have not..." He paused along with my heart, and for a second I thought it would never resume. 

I swallowed hard, trying to quell the feeling of sickness that rose along with bitter bile in my throat as a sickening smirk spread across his lips, no doubt lusting after the bloodshed that would ensue. 

This was the worst possible outcome. 

They would never survive the trials.

"They consist of three phases."

Nobody dared so even breath as he paced the length of the narrow platform, never once tearing his narrowed eyes from the crowd that stood below him in every sense of the word. 

"Phase one, the choosing... Every household must volunteer at least one member to partake in the trials. They will then have a week to train for the second phase."

Some slight semblance of hope reignited in my chest. A small flame that flickered, growing to burn my lungs and scorch my hoarse throat. I couldn't speak even if I had wanted to. 

Usually, back in his lands, every male was recruited, and every third able bodied female and they had no chance to train. 

Why was he showing my pack such leniency?

It was because he thought us weak, I said to myself.

I wasn't about to argue against his sudden reprieve of lawfulness as if he was lax for phase one, I prayed upon all things holy that he would be more likely to be more forgiving on the other phases too.

"Phase two, the fights." His voice seemed to lower an octave, a deep and booming bass that I felt resonate somewhere deep in the pit of my core. 

"Each of the volunteers will be paired with an existing member of Grey Ridge, and they will fight... Until either one is dead or the other concedes, but if you submit you're out of the pack."

Gasps echoed, taking flight between the worried people like frightened birds from the trees shouting their grief to the sky.

But there was no god above that could save us now.

I could feel my blood boiling within me, coursing thick and hot like fire straight from the belly of the beast.

Elijah's bloody eyes finally met mine, wide and as if he were trying to scream. If he could, I wondered what he might say?

Elijah always knew what to do. Always.

It scared me the most to think that now, in the time's that I was most desperate for council he might not be by my side.

The Alpha didn't stop there, he continued on in his godless growl, amused by the terror of the sheep before him.

Mothers would lose their sons, fathers would loose their daughters and children would be left orphaned. And all for the sake of what? 

Pride? 

Or some sick sense of power?

The worst part was that this was only the second phase. If the few that remained by the end of the second round weren't already broken enough physically as it is the third and final stage would most certainly shatter the last fragments of resolve until every part of their being was fragmented.

The third stage, though not necessarily as violent as the second entailed more of a crushing of the soul, and a breaking of the bond that the gods themselves decreed to bind.

After all these men were sinful and scorned, destined to break every holy law out of their malice for our gods. 

It was said that the original Alpha who founded the morals from which the old ways were formed was rejected by his mate. So he killed her, unable to cope with the pain that she caused him. And forced all of his men to reject their mates in turn, so that they were immune from their own feelings.

He hated the weakness that mates caused. 

He hated their love and he hated the idea that everyone around him was destined to be happy, except him. 

To him, love was suicide and by accepting the bond you were putting the gun to your head and pulling the trigger.

Traditionally phase three would entail in every unmated female being paired off to a warrior. 

It didn't sound that bad except any hope of finding their true mates would be demolished, with both parties sealed for life in the grasps of an unnatural union. 

Any females left unmated by the end of phase three would be either exiled or killed, along with any males who had refused to give up their hope of true happiness. 

They called it culling. Weeding the weak from the population to make the majority stronger. -A natural selection of sorts. But it wasn't. It was murder.

There was a slim chance that they would end up paired off with their true mate, but I had only heard of it happening once before... To the previous Alpha of Grey Ridge.

However though it may have seemed that way, he was not this Beast's father. As like me the man before me who gazed out over the land as if he owned every inch of it had challenged and won against the previous Alpha in order to gain his leadership.

Unfortunately for me, this also meant that almost nothing was known about his and his brother's true origins. Not that any of it mattered now, what little leverage I could've used against him had slipped away along with his brothers life when I sentenced him to death.

"Phase three, the pairing. Every surviving male will choose a female. Males are able to challenge one another for the right to a female, even if either party is already in a mated pair."

I didn't miss the way he spoke of our females as if they were little more than a prize to be won or bartered for. It was hardly fair that women were made to fight and train alongside males, yet even if they won just as fairly as their male counterparts they still had no say in who they were paired with.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I watched the way some of the Grey Ridge male's eyed the women of my pack, like hungry dogs starved of fresh meat. 

A mixture of fear and disgust for the future of my females was what spurred me to step forwards, taking on the role I was to play as I slipped my hand into that of the Alpha's. Fire erupted between us, coursing painfully hot up my arm and I felt Elijah's eyes on me.

"However." I boomed, so loudly that there was no chance anyone could claim they hadn't heard me. "We have decided that females have the right to reject any offers. And that there will be no culling of lone females this year."

I could feel him glaring holes into the side of my face, but strangely he didn't tear his hand from mine. It was warm and soft yet also hard and firm in some strange way. Perfectly soft to make you want more, yet strong enough to remind you that in an instant he could turn on you.

Usually his presence made me felt weak, however this time it only seemed to make me stronger. 

I lusted for his disapproval.

He stared down at me with a look almost akin to amusement, he was taken aback by my dauntless.

Though I knew his humour wouldn't last long. It wouldn't take long for the small smirk to fall from his face and I would be in a whole world of trouble.

For the twitch of his lips didn't meet his eyes, telling me that this was all just a facade. A mask. A front to the crowd. He couldn't let them really know that in front of two packs no less, he had just been undermined and interrupted, by a female no less.

I could feel his internal conflict through the bond.

Mostly anger but somewhere deep down, a strange sense of pride that confused the both of us. His hand tightened painfully around mine as he growled so lowly that only I could hear. Soft lips brushing against my ear.

"You're going to regret that."

***

QOTD- What's your favourite pastime? 

Sorry this chapter is so s**t, I spent days going over it repeatedly but I just can't seem to get it right, the next chapter will be better I promise!

Any thoughts? Theories?

Don't forget to vote and comment!

-TFOA