Divided

The Ex- Alpha

The three men piled into a SUV, and drove off. Jake was driving, the Alpha was in the front passenger seat, and Robert was in the back. They didn’t say much as they drove, Robert just let them know where they should turn.

Jake was still sure that he would find out what was wrong with Ella, then he would fix it. Then she would mate with him, and they would be happy. He wanted to be happy with her. She would be a full werewolf again, and she would know he was her true mate. Her wolf knew it, he wasn’t sure if her human half knew it.

“Turn here,” Robert said as they passed a sign for Lonesome Lake Campground. “It was closed to humans about 20 years ago,” Robert told them. “Since it’s on neutral land, all packs can use it peacefully.”

“I’ve heard about it,” the Alpha said.

Jake just grunted as they drove along an old dirt road. He stopped when they came to an old wooden cabin, covered with graffiti. He turned and looked at Robert, with a questioning look.

“We can walk from here,” Robert said. “I always use the same site. We come here every year, although Ella doesn’t like to come here, so we leave her home.”

Jake glanced at the Alpha. Can I kill him?

No. The Alpha answered as they got out of the car.

They followed Robert down an old dirt path, into a dark damp forest. They walked for about a half hour, then came into a clearing on a cliff. A campfire ring was in the middle, and some old picnic tables, with initials and drawings carved into it.

Robert walked to the cliff and took a deep breath. He then turned back to his two betters.

“We were here for two days, when Ella disappeared. Down that path,” He motioned to a dirt trail. “There are some outhouses. She said she was going to the washroom, and walked down that path. When she didn’t return, I went searching. I followed her scent past the outhouses, and up a hill.”

“Let’s go. Show us,” the Alpha commanded.

They walked about five minute, to a set of three old outhouses. The smell was over powering. Robert shrugged, then led them past the buildings, and started climbing a hill. He stopped at a large silver boulder.

“This is where I lost her scent. So I back tracked, thinking she wouldn’t have climb the hill. This is also where I found her the two days later.”

Jake stood there, looking around, sniffing. He smelt something strange, but it wasn’t really a scent. He looked over at Steven, who was sniffing too. Robert smelt nothing.

“Let’s continue,” Steven ordered. They continued to climb up the hill, which got steeper and steeper. The finally the came to a clearing.

In the middle of the clearing was a cabin. An old truck was parked beside it, and smoke was coming from the chimney. “Someone’s home,” Steven said.

“I had no idea this was here,” Robert said. He started to feel very guilty that he hadn’t searched for his daughter properly. That he had taken away his love for her when his son was born.

Steven walked towards the wrap around porch, he stepped up then knocked on the door. Jake took his place right behind him, and Robert stood back at the bottom of the stairs. When the door opened, Steven took a step back, right into Jake, as he looked at the large man who answered.

“What?” The man asked.

Steven just stared. It was as if he was staring at Jake, 40-years into the future. They had the same build, the same nose and mouth. The man’s eyes were black, where Jake’s were a golden brown. He glanced over his shoulder at Jake, who was staring as well.

“So you found me?” The man asked. “Now what do you want? I have nothing for you.”

“We just want some information,” Robert said as he came up on the porch, he had no idea why the Alpha and main Beta were just standing there. Until he looked at the old man. “Crap, you look like Jake.”

The old man looked at Robert and frowned. “You smell weak,” he said.

“We are sorry to bother you,” Steven finally spoke. “My name is Steven Pike, I am the Alpha of the Northern Wolf Pack. We just have some question about a missing girl.”

“I have seen no one for weeks.” The old man said.

“This was about eight years ago.” Steven said. “She was missing for two days, when she was found, she had lost her wolf. We need to find out what happened to her and her wolf. She is very ill right now.”

“Why do you think I would know, Alpha of the Northern Wolf Pack?”

“We checking with everyone in the area.”

“I am the only one in the area,” he growled.

“Please,” Jake finally spoke. “She is my mate, and she needs help. I have to figure out how to help her.”

The old man looked upon Jake. “You came here for this reason, not to find me?”

“I don’t know who you are,” Jake said.

“You can come in,” The older man said as he opened the door. The three wolves walked into the one room cabin. A table with four chairs was against the right hand side, then a kitchen at the back, and a large bed beside the wood stove. A loft was over the bed, then in the other corner was an old TV with rabbit ear antenna, and an old green recliner chair.

“This girl that went missing,” The older wolf walked over and sat down in the recliner. “What was her name?”

“Her name is Ella,” Jake said.

The older man nodded and frowned. “Big blue eyes? Happy child?” he asked.

“She was, before,” Robert answered. “I’m her father.”

“Oh really?” the older man tsked. “She doesn’t like you. Or she didn’t back then.”

 “So you do remember her?” Jake asked. “What happened to her?”

“I may be the reason she has no wolf,” he leaned back. “I found the child, wondering around. She told she hated her family and had run away. It was close to dark, so I told her to stay the night here. I was planning to shift and find her family at first light.”

“You’re a werewolf?” Robert exclaimed. Steven and Jake looked at him like he was an i***t.  “You don’t smell like one.”

“He’s hidden his smell, he’s an Alpha,” Steven told Robert. He then turned back to the wolf. “Please continue... I don’t believe we caught your name.”

“Eric.” The older werewolf said. “Anyway, I fed her, and made her bed. She told me she really liked it here, and wanted to stay. That I could be her new father. I told her I was too old. Then she made her honorary grandfather.” Eric closed his eyes.  “In the morning, I went out to get some wood for the fire. I must have scared her or something, because she shifted and her little wolf attacked me. I knocked her off, and she hit the wall. Then I told her that if her wolf ever attacked me again, I would kill her.”

“You told her, or commanded?” Steven asked.

“To be honest, I’m not sure. I haven’t been an Alpha for a long time, but I was angry.” He spread his hands. “I’m sorry. She shifted back to human form, and left shortly after. I never saw her again.”

Steven looked at Robert. It was making sense to him now. She lost her wolf, she became sad and lonely, because she was away from her pack. What ever happened between her and Eric, he became her Alpha, and he became her pack. This explained why his commands never worked on her, not because she didn’t have a wolf, but because he was not her Alpha.

“When I found her she was cold and wet and shaking. She was sad and scared. And wouldn’t tell me or her mother what happened.”

“So she left here in the morning, then you found her?” Jake said.

“No, she was gone for two nights,” Robert said.

Jake sat down on one of the chairs. A ten-year-old girl had her wolf commanded away, then spent a day and night alone in a forest. No wonder she was so scared. Scared that her wolf would be killed by this old Alpha, and whatever scared her that night. He was angry now. He looked up at the old Alpha.

“I am sorry, my son,” Eric said as he got up from his chair. “I didn’t mean to hurt the child.”

“You did more than hurt her,” Jake said. “And don’t call me that. I don’t know you.”

“But he knows you,” Steven sat down beside his friend. “I think we can solve two mysteries here today. Eric, are you Jake’s father?”

“I am.”

“How do you know?” Jake asked.

Eric went over to the fridge and took out some beers and handed them around. He went over and sat back down in his chair. “My throat is sore, this is a lot of talking for me.”

“Please tell us your story, “Steven asked.

“I was Alpha of the Tundra Wolf Pack, until my son,” he paused to look at Jake, “My eldest son, over threw me.”

“Why did he do that?” Robert asked.

“He was upset that I took a new mate, after his mother had died. He was more upset that she was a human. When she got pregnant, he gathered all the Beta’s together, and they attacked, over taking me, holding me down while my son beat me up. Once I was bloodied and broken, my son claimed her had fought me himself, and that he was now Alpha of the Tundra.”

“Why didn’t you fight back?” Jake asked.

“What was the point?” Eric shrugged. “He would have been Alpha one day. He hated my mate, and she hated living in the same house as him. I packed us up and we left. We travelled for a few weeks, until we came to small town, which was not on any wolf’s land. I bought this cabin, and we moved here.”

Eric sighed as he thought of his lovely human mate. She was so happy when they first arrived at the cabin. She was glad to be free of his son, and being a Luna. She planted had planted gardens, flowers in the front, and vegetable patch in the back. She had started ot hand make cloths and a blankets for their baby. Then near the end of her pregnancy, a few months after settling, she changed.

“She was no longer happy,” Eric continued his story. “She said she hated living here alone. Hated me for bringing her here, and making her into a werewolf and a mother-to-be. I hoped it was just the baby jitters, but it wasn’t.” He looked over at Jake. “You were born, on May 7th, at around 2 p.m. in the afternoon. She was so happy to hold you, to feed you. I thought she could be happy again.”

He remembered how she fussed over the baby, laughing and playing with his little toes. She didn’t even care when he woke her up in the middle of the night to feed. They had six months of happiness, then she started to get sad again. Once again, Eric hoped it would pass, but it didn’t. He finally gave up when he came in from cutting wood to find her trying to smother Baby Jacob with a pillow.

“I puller her off you, Jacob,” Eric continued. “And held you in my arms to keep you safe. She kept screaming that I was a horrible beast. That I wasn’t meant to live, that me and my kind should all die. I put the baby to bed, and tried to talk some sense into that crazy woman. Jacob needed a mother.  I finally thought I had calmed her down, until I woke up the next morning and both of you were gone.”

Eric had panicked when he found the baby and his wife gone. He had shifted quickly and followed her scent to the main road.  It disappeared, which meant she had gotten into a car. For weeks he wondered, trying to find them, until finally he came upon a familiar scent. He followed it, and it lead him into the Northern Wolf Pack main compound. He waited until night fall, then sneaked in, and followed the scent to the main Pack House. It was there that he found his son, in the arms of a very beautiful, very pregnant woman. It didn’t take him long to figure out she was the Luna of the pack.

“When I realized that the Alpha and Luna of the pack had taken you in, to be raised as their own, with their children, I figured you were better off with them, with a safe pack, then locked in a cabin with an ex-alpha.”

“My mother?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know. I never found her. Our link is broken.” Eric sat back down.  “Is this all you wanted to know?”

“Yes,” Steven said.

“We have to get back to Ella, to help her.” Jake said. He looked at his father. “You are her Alpha, you are coming.”

“No, son. I cannot invade another Pack.”

“You will be our guest,” Steven said. “There is nothing wrong with a visiting Alpha.”

Eric sighed.  He had to admit he was getting lonely. He nodded.