Alcateia - The Alpha's Nightmare

CAPTER 2 - BIG BAD WOLF

It has been two years since Xander lost his mother. I never saw my friend and Alpha acting so ruthless. He was fighting the vampires as no one ever did before.

We were in an abandoned warehouse, somewhere in the darkest corner of New York. I was naked, rotten blood drooling from my mouth. In front of me, a huge black wolf was crashing bones with his powerful bite; tearing apart dead flesh with a scary pleasure. Even if I try, I can’t recognize Xander.

Before, he had a scary gaze with a soft heart. Now? He’s just scary.

“This… this is breaking the Alcateia’s rules, right, beta Kai?”, asked me Jack, one of the werewolves of our pack.

I nod, “Yes, but for a good reason”.

Jack was just twenty, but was already a strong warrior. But wasn’t ready for such a m******e.

“I don’t know. We killed innocent creatures…”

I try to keep my formal and distant posture. “Not creatures, but vampires”, I say. “I know they’re just surviving with their crazy s**t, but… in the end… they’re evil… And they’ve been killing our brothers and sisters”.

The young wolf sights, not very convinced with my answer. I swallow. What the hell are you doing, Xander?

“Nick, Carl, James!”, growls Xander returning to his human form. The other wolfs approach him. “Hunt every son a b***h! Search for them! I believe there are some more around here!”

I see how the wolves exchange worried looks. I know what they’re feeling. They just don’t want to hunt innocent creatures and break the vows they made as kids. Even if we are talking about vampires, we’ve no right to kill them if they don’t harm us or another innocent creature. Evil or not, if they mean no harm to us, we should not harm them. That’s the rule of the Alcateia. But… Xander doesn’t seem to care.

“Alpha… They did nothing wrong. We cannot kill them, or hunt them…”, says Carl, a big boy, with ginger hair and brown eye.

I see Xander walking towards our brother and I tremble, asking God to hold his beast instincts.

“I’m your Alpha and I’m giving you an order. Do as I command, Carl”, Xanders voice gets into me as a cold winter’s wind. What the hell was he doing?

The other two wolves walk back to the shadow, leaving just Xander and Carl under the yellow light of the old warehouse lamp. I feel their fear. Their friend was in danger and they could do nothing to stop it. After all, Carl was confronting an Alpha.

To be clear, Alpha wasn’t just a status. Or a question of richness. No, nothing like that, my friends. The Alphas had a very strong energy and were naturally larger and stronger wolfs. In their human form they could still crash someone’s head with just the strength of one hand. And their wolf bite? Could break iron.

Secretly, I’m wishing that Carl accepts the order.

“I’m sorry, Alpha”, says the man and growl.

It was all too fast and too bloody. After Carl growl, Xander took his neck between the fingers of his right hand and squeezed. Carl turned into his wolf and attacked the Alpha, that had shapeshifted too. The ginger wolf jumped over the black one, growling, trying to bite the dark fur. And, with a simple movement, he lost his head.

I saw has Xander bite Carl’s neck with his powerful fangs. The sound of breaking bone filled the air and was followed by a macabre scenery. The black wolf was tearing the flesh of the ginger wolf into pieces. Fresh blood drooling through his jaw, covering the floor in a cloak of deep red, and his silver eyes burning like stars.

I took a deep breathe, my eyes wide open. Slowly, my best friend was turning into a seek monster.

Looking at my right, I could see how the other wolves were trying to hold their tears. The pain in their complexion was too obvious. I could feel it in the air. It hurts me too. Carl was also a brother. He was a member of Endless Night. How could you, Xander?

Xander turns again into human. Every inch of his skin covered in blood.

“GO! HUNT THEM!”, he orders in a ferocious growl.      

“Yes, Alpha!”. Nick and James don’t waste time. They start running, obeying. I know they just want to crawl in the floor and cry, but at the end of the day, they’re some of the best warrior of our pack. They’ve the strength to swallow their pain and fight one more time.

Xander starts walking towards me and I can feel how Jacks hides behind my back. Under the shadows, Xander is even scarier. A demoniac look painting his silver burning eyes.

 “Jack. Go get some clothes for us”, he orders.

The young man nods respectfully, but he’s not able to hide his fear.

“Yes, Alpha”.

When the poor Jack disappears, I stare right into the eyes of Xander.

“You overstepped every boundary this night. You broke a sacred rule…”, I growl threateningly. But he doesn’t react. “How can you be our Alpha after this, Xander? You’re supposed to protect us. And now… you’re killing us!”

Jack is back. He’s wearing a pair of jeans, a black hoodie and a pair of old sneakers. He lends us some clothes. I take mine, avoiding the crazy look on Xander’s eyes. I put a long-sleeved black shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants, followed by a pair of white sneakers. When I look to Xander, he’s already in a formal black suit and leather shoes.

I don’t recognize him. I tried, but I can’t.

“Kai”, he suddenly mumbles when we are walking our way to the car. “Prepare your bags”.

I look at him, shocked. Was he expelling me from the Endless Night pack?

“What…?”, I’m not able to hide my nervousness. I open the cars door and enter, sitting on the passenger sit.

Xander takes the driver sit. As he puts the seatbelt, I can see Carl’s blood being soak by the fabric of the white shirt under his blazer. The smell is making me nauseous.

He turns on the vehicle. It’s a black SUV.

“Tomorrow we’ll be going to Europe. Our first meet will be in Sintra, Portugal”.

I don’t lie. I was relieved to know that I wasn’t being expelled from the pack. But my concerns increased.

Was he crazy? Europe?

Yes, yes. We, here, in the United States are big guys. Big strong man and werewolves. But in Europe things are different. The Alcateia is stronger there. The packs are very well organized and those who try to break the rules immediately killed. Portugal was not a place of big werewolves. They’re actually the country of small wolves. But, damn it. Those small shits know how to fight and their packs have large number of werewolves. And Sintra’s pack? The famous Jóia Branca pack? More than two thousand wolves. So well organized that they’re ruled by three Alphas; Alpha Mário Sá, Alpha Ricardo Castelo-n***o and Alpha Pedro Castro.    

I take a deep breathe.

“You’re going to get us killed”.

Xander laughs, but I can feel his anger.

“Since when are you such a p***y?”, I hear him say. But I do not answer. I’m too tired and shocked.

I think I’ve lost my friend.