Taking Down the Alpha King

Reule

I WAS TIRED of moving. As soon as we got settled in and I finally felt like I had found a place, we were gone again. There was never going to be a normal day, and I knew that, but it didn’t make the adjustment period any easier. The men that traveled with my father were hauling boxes that held all of our earthly possessions--once again. He had yet to purchase land or a house, so we were in a camp that hugged the outside edge of a wood. Laughing like it was some grand joke of adventure, he had teased that it would help us be more at home in our natural state.

I begged to differ.

Why was it so wrong to long for comfort and stability? My carton of books that I clung to was propped on Typhus' shoulders, the weight was too much for me, a mere exercise for him. “Where do you want these, Reule?”

Shrugging as I glanced about the empty tent, I pointed to the most inward corner. “There, I suppose.” It would have to do. There was limited furniture. The ground would become my new best friend.

Heaving the box to where I had suggested, he left me alone to fume. Controlling the urges I felt building inside of me, I decided a nice run would do the best good for now. I had made it almost to the edge of the territory when I heard his low growl of warning.

“Where do you think you’re headed?”

Swinging around, I saddled my father with my most unruly expression. “Out.”

“Without an escort? Really, Reule? You disappoint me.” His long black coat stood bold against the snow.

“I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts.” I think in our pack, that’s what most wolves wanted most. To be alone and experience privacy... but no. Every wolf my father turned was at the mercy of his mind-link abilities, ensuring we never knew a secret. It was supposed to be his security, but it ended up my prison.

“You can be alone with your thoughts, just do as I told you.” There was a thin line across his mouth which I read as acute annoyance.

“I don’t have time to do that.” I shot back, wishing he would just let me go.

“I can’t let you leave when we are still lacking a barrier of protection. They would see you and kill you in an instant if they recognized you.” His nostrils were flaring, his pulse rising in my ear.

“It’s not my fault that you’re considered a monster to most of the fae community.” My chin was rising in his presence, my defiance the only weapon I had against his power.

Every word he spoke held its own emphasis. “Get back to the camp now.”

Spinning on my heel, I stalked back to my jail. I was screaming internally, knowing he was listening to every word that crossed my mind. Good, I thought. He needs to know just how much of a burden it is to be Mr. Black’s daughter.

My body still itching for relief, I jogged around the perimeter of the campsite; my legs not burning enough for me to be satisfied. I was doing my best to ignore the countless number of shirtless men around me, but it was near to impossible. All of their levels rose when I was near. Whether it was their internal temperature, or the smell they released, it was nothing less than disturbing. They were so depraved of companionship I looked like the Filet Mignon of girls.

The overcast gray sky above us shed a few sprinkles of snow, covering the already loaded ground. The crunch of the ice beneath my tennis shoes was a somber reminder of where we were. Leaving Oregon to come here was the last thing that I wanted to do. Oregon had become dangerous with too many mythological creatures crowding the streets. You used to be able to walk without seeing the spawn of the world, but that was no more. We were being forced into hiding to continue this business my father had cultivated, and it sucked.

I was studying our makeshift home as I resumed my aimless jog. The green tents back-to-back against each other made me think of those board games you would see people play. We looked like an army camp from the movies, with the beaten snowy paths running wild from slant to slant. We were a group of sixty now, leaving about half of our pack in Oregon to come later.

Rounding the corner of the west side, a faint call tickled my ear. “Help us.” The tinkling came from behind the tarps that were strapped and staked to the ground. They were sitting in the open, no tent to cover them. “Help us.” They were weary and needed the sun lamp to revive them. In this weather they wouldn’t last long.

“Harry!” I shouted, knowing his ears would know me wherever he was.

“Coming, girly!” I heard his reply along with the shuffle of his hooves against the hard ground. Sauntering to where I stood, he looked on with me at our woeful prisoners that were caged and exposed to the elements.

My blood was boiling as I watched their suffering. “They won’t be any good to us if they’re kept here. Where are they to be housed?”

I watched as his ears laid back against his head, his rough fingers stroking his short, clipped beard. “This is a problem. I don’t know who would be so foolish. Help me, will ye lass? Let’s get them up under the lamps so they don’t fizzle their light out.”

We pulled at the stakes, removing the tarps that kept the cold trapped. Taking two carriers at a time, we moved the creatures to the nearest tent with electricity, evicting its inhabitants for the sake of the captives and the income they provided. Turning up the lamps to their fullest setting, we let the fairies absorb what they could, watching as their skin changed from chalky to white into glowing gold.

“Where are their trees?” My eyes darted about the room, wondering if Harry had any knowledge.

“Probably still being unloaded.” Harry was scratching his balding head, a look of rare concern coloring his face.

“What is it, Harry?” I reached to touch his arm, hoping that he would share.

Heaving a sigh, he let the air rush from his body before explaining. “Come out of the tent with me, lass.” I followed him out the curtain, standing back in the snow with him. “Have ye seen any sign of the twinklers here?” I watched as his gaze lifted to scan the woods behind us, his keen knowledge of the fairies telling him where to look.

“I haven’t seen signs of any.” It was usually obvious for types like me. We could smell them before we saw them, and the dust they emitted made them easy to track.

“I’ve read about a type of hibernation that they go through, where they burrow worlds underground during extreme weather. They’re delicate folk, fairies are. The skin that wraps them is paper thin.” His jaw was working back and forth, his lip coming to rest between his teeth. “We’ll have to replenish stores soon, or this whole move will be for naught. Do me a favor, lass, and come to me with any information you collect. It’ll be our lives depending on it.”

I nodded in agreement with him. The fairies that we had would only last us about a month before they needed to be retired. I shuddered at the thought, knowing full well what future awaited them once my father was done.

“Let’s get back to center square.” Harry circled my shoulders with his burly, hairy arm. “Your father will have been looking for you by now, I would think.”

“No,” I admitted softly. “He knows exactly where I am.”