The Alpha's Fallen Angel

The Takeover

These numbers couldn’t be right.

According to every file and document I could find in this office, this pack was broke, and not just ‘no money for extras’ broke, but ‘in deep debt to the wrong people’ broke.

“F*ck.” I growled, swiping my arm across the desk, sending everything on it crashing to the floor.

“What the hell, Xeo?” Leon, my beta, demanded from the doorway. Frowning at the mess on the floor, he crossed his arms over his chest and propped himself against the door frame. “I take it this little adventure of ours didn’t play out the way you expected?”

“You could say that.” I snarled back, striding over the mess of the smartly decorated office and pushing past him through the door. My warriors were ransacking the mansion, looking for anything that could be used as collateral.

We’d raided this pack just twenty-four hours ago, needing money to keep our own people fed and housed. Pale River pack was rumored to be one of the wealthiest packs in the north, along with one of the most corrupt, which had made my decision to take them for all they were worth easy. Except it was all a lie. The documents and accounts I’d just checked said they were in fact corrupt, the Alpha and his men had blood on their hands, innocent blood, but they were almost as poor as my own pack.

Storming through the mansion, I located the Alpha, Beta and their families, who were all tied up and placed against one of the far walls of the foyer. My footsteps rang through the large room as my men grew still and quiet, watching intently as I advanced on the Alpha, whose bloody face and gashed body told the tale of the fight we’d had and I’d won. Grabbing him by his hair, I dragged the older man through the room, towards the office I’d just destroyed and vacated. His Beta began to growl, while his Luna and daughter began to scream and cry for me to let him live. But Leon was on them in seconds, calmly explaining that if they couldn’t find it in them to stay quiet, he’d help them by cutting out their tongues.

As I drug the older man into the office, I kicked the door shut behind us and dropped him to the floor.

“Now, you are going to explain to me where the money is. And if the answer is ‘there isn’t any’, you aren’t going to like my response.” I explained calmly, as I walked to the Alpha’s well stocked bar and grabbed a crystal bottle of what looked like whiskey. Taking out the stopper, I sniffed it before deciding it would do and tipped the bottle to my lips.

“Screw you.” The once Alpha Topher snarled, spitting blood onto the floor in my direction, not that it got far with his hand and legs bound behind his back and laying on his side on the ground.

“Listen Topher, I can continue the beating you received when I won our challenge, and believe me, I wouldn’t mind that one bit, or you could give yourself a little break and just tell me where you are hiding the funds.” After another gulp of the top shelf whisky, I offered the bottle to him with a grin. “Want some? Might help with the pain, after all you aren’t going to heal very quickly with that wolfsbane in your system.”

“Bite me.” He growled, fighting against his binds, but with the rope wrapped around his neck connected to those holding his arms and legs, all he did was succeed in strangling himself.

“You sure are a masochist, which I normally like, but I hate to say you aren’t quite my type. I prefer my submissive to be less inclined to killing innocent women and children.”

“And here I thought all you required were breasts and a pussy.” My Beta joked, walking into the room with a charming smile on his face. Always the ladies’ man, Leon could charm anything and anyone. Of course, the fact that he looked like Prince Charming’s evil twin brother helped immensely. Tall, well-built thanks to our lifestyle, with shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His tanned skin was covered in black and gray tattoos of wolves, skulls, mermaids, dragons and many other mythical creatures.

“I like to think I’m a little more partial with who I take to bed.” I argued, handing the crystal decanter to Leon as he moved to stand beside me, his cold blue eyes resting on the bleeding and bound man before us.

“Maybe, but not by much.” He sighed, taking a swig of the amber liquid.

“You’re both insane.” Topher grumbled; his black gaze narrowed as he stared up at us. Not that he really had a choice, both of his eyes were almost swollen shut.

“Now, now, name calling isn’t needed.” I laughed as I stepped closer, kicking papers and books out of my way as I advanced on him. “Last chance, Topher. Either way I’m going to kill you, but how fast you talk depends on how long your death takes.”

“Do your worst.” Was his answer, and honestly, I would have been disappointed if he’d given in so easy.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” I don’t know if it was the words or my grin that went with them, but Toper’s eyes grew wide. Or at least as wide as they could with as swollen as they were, and I swore I heard him gulp. Leaning down, I held my finger out and watched as my nail grew inches longer, morphing into a wolf claw. When I was done having my fun, Topher’s blood coated my hand and arm, along with the floor where it was pooling. He was growing weaker, and yet the stubborn man had yet to admit to anything. It was time to break his spirit, his heart, rather than his body.

“I think it’s time for some real fun, Leon. You know what to do.” At my words Topher stilled, his one good eye moving to watch Leon apprehensively as a smile creeped across his face. But as he walked forward, instead of stopping at the bloodied Alpha, he stepped over him and left the office.

“Where’s he going?” Topher managed to choke out, blood seeping from the side of his mouth. He really was a sad site to see, not that I felt an ounce of guilt, he’d brought this on himself.

“You’ll see soon enough.” As I finished the words, screams began in the other room. Hearing the female screeching bled the color from Topher’s face, and I watched with satisfaction as he used what little strength he had left to fight against his bonds when the door opened, Leon walking through with a young woman held in his arms. Regardless of her own ropes, she was attempting to throw her body back and forth, trying to free herself from her captors’ arms.

“She’s a spitfire, Alpha.” Leon joked, laughing when the girl tried to sink her teeth into his arm. Pulling a pocketknife from his jeans, he flicked it up and cut the rope connecting her wrists and ankles and moved to set her on her feet. When she attempted to swing her arms at his head, Leon pressed the knife to her cheek and shook his head. “Bad idea, pup, if I bleed, you bleed. Eye for an eye and all that.”

When she dropped her bond hands in defeat, Leon cut the ties from her wrists and ankles. The moment she was freed, the young woman raced to her father, dropping to her knees before him and crying.

“What did you do to him! You animals!” She cried out, placing her hand gently on her father’s torn and bloodied cheek.

“Well, that doesn’t give me much incentive to be civilized now does it.” Striding forward, I grabbed the girl’s wrist and yanked her to her feet, dragging her away from her father. Ignoring her screamed curses and flailing fists, I flipped her around to face her father, snaking an arm around her waist and one around her neck. Leaning down I held her father’s one-eyed gaze as I ran my tongue along her neck. A shiver went through the girl, and she grew still, a whimper leaving her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Don’t.” Topher whispered.

“You know what I want, all you have to do is give me the information I need and all of this stops. I won’t hurt a hair on her pretty head.” I let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “If you continue to bite your tongue, then I’ll bend her over your desk and let you watch while her screams of fear turn to cries of ecstasy. If that isn’t enough, I’ll bring each of my men in, one at a time, until they’ve had their fill.”

“I’ll tell you.” He’d officially broken, and not a moment too soon. The word of the monster I was may have been spreading throughout wolf world but taking advantage of an innocent girl was too far, even for me. “Let her go first.”

“I don’t think so. Now talk.” I pushed the Alpha’s daughter in Leon’s direction, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought I saw disappointment cross her delicate features. Picking a towel up from the floor, I began wiping what blood I could from my hands and forearms and focused on the man of the hour.

“There’s no money.” Even though I’d seen the bank statements and read through the logs myself, hearing those words still sent my stomach plummeting. “I gambled it all away. I’ve been scrambling to replace it the past year, but I kept losing more then I was winning. Now the hole is so deep I don’t see how I could dig us back out.”

And there it was. Our entire goal for this little overthrow was to fill our own coffers enough to get our people through the coming winter. My own father had left our pack in similar straights when he died, mortgaging off the majority of our packs lands to pay for his gambling addiction. By time he killed himself like the coward he was and left me to pick up the pieces, we were homeless. I’d become Alpha of a pack of a hundred and fifty werewolves, men, women, and children, all looking to me to support them.

I’d managed to keep us together and alive, by becoming ruthless. I took what we needed from packs whose Alphas’ I defeated in challenges, always making sure we left enough for said pack to feed their own while they got their feet back under them. I may be the boogie man of the werewolf world, but I wasn’t a true villain, I wasn’t evil.

When I’d heard of the dark things Alpha Topher was involved in, the evil things he’d done, I’d decided he was the perfect target. Two birds, one stone, as the humans said. I could take down a corrupt leader and feed my people. But while I’d defeated the Alpha, we were in the same boat we were in to begin with.

Time for a new plan. A new way of life for my people. And a new beginning.

“Leon, I think we found our new home.” I spoke into the quiet office. The three faces before me flashed the same confusion. “Gather the packs. Pale River and Crescent Peak, we’ll preform an execution of the Alpha and Beta, followed by the coronation of a new Alpha. Pale River can choose to swear their allegiance to me and join Crescent Peak, or they can follow their Alpha to Selene’s realm.”

It took twelve hours to get everything ready for the transfer of power, and by time everyone was gathered Topher was barely alive. Jumping on the top of one of the vehicles nearby, I faced the crowd before me, saddened to see the difference between my own people and Pale Rivers pack members.

While my men and women were happy to finally have a place to call home, rather than live like rogues as we traveled from state to state, they were dirty. Their clothes torn and ragged, many didn’t bother with shoes seeing as how we lived most of the time in wolf form and shoes were just something else we’d have to carry to the next camping ground.

Pale River’s pack members were clean, dressed immaculately, and clearly well fed. They appeared scared, but as long as they agreed to swear allegiance to me as Alpha, they’d be fine.

“Pale River pack, as I’m sure you have heard, last night I challenged your Alpha.”

“Wasn’t much of a challenge!” One of my men, who’d been there to see the fight, hollered, bringing whoops and hollers of joy from my people.

“Alright, calm down you heathens.” I called out, grinning at the outburst. “Now Pale River members, I had intended on leaving your pack in peace, with your shamed Alpha still in charge. But the further I dug, the more damning the evidence was that came to light.” Letting my words sink in, I listened to the confused murmurs of the other packs members for a moment before continuing. “Young woman and girls in your area have gone missing in droves lately. Human and supernatural alike. Your Alpha and his Beta were the ones behind this. Selling the girls to an outside source to pay for your Alpha’s gambling habits.”

Gasps of shock went up, along with shouts of denial, though the way the Alpha and Beta hung their heads to avoid the eyes of their pack told the members all they needed to know. They were guilty.

“For obvious reasons, I can not allow them to live.” Jumping from the vehicles roof, I strode to the two men bound and kneeling before me. Without another word, I took the hunting knife Leon held out to me and slit first the Beta’s then the Alpha’s throats. My men were in place, ready to fight off anyone who dared to attempt an attack on me for my actions. But Pale River members must have already been questioning their leadership, because no one put up a fight.

“You now have two options. Leave these lands, Crescent Peak lands, or join us, and swear your allegiance to me, here and now.” The crowd began to buzz with conversation. Within ten minutes everyone had made up their mind about their futures. Out of the two hundred plus members of Pale River, ninety-five decided to pack small bags of belongings, and leave. The rest chose to join my pack.

A punch bowl was brought out and filled with wine from the old Alphas cellar. Sliding a silver blade across my palm, I held the bleeding hand above the bowl, saying the words I’d had to use only a handful of times over the years, but never on this big of a scale.

“With this blood, you become my blood. I swear to protect you, to care for you, to love you. My family you become, your father I will be. With this blood, you swear your devotion to me, your loyalty to Crescent Peak pack, and your life in service of your brothers and sisters. Your Alpha I will be.” When a decent amount of blood had mixed with the wine, every member of Pale Moon who was staying, came forward to drink from the bowl and swear their allegiance.

“To you I swear my allegiance as my Alpha, to Crescent Peak I promise my loyalty, my life belongs to the pack till the day Selene takes me.” Each member who could repeat the words did, only a few children too young to speak were exempt, and a list was made to hold a ceremony for them once they were old enough.

By time the entire thing was done, it was incredibly late in the night, and I had a pounding headache from the new members that had been added to the pack link. With time it would be easier to bare but adding almost one hundred new members had taken its toll on my mind.

I was in my new office, nursing a glass of whiskey when Leon sauntered in, the ever-present blade twirling between his fingers. “How does it feel to be the Alpha of one of the largest packs in the world?”

“It feels like a f*****g pounding headache.” I grumbled, emptying the half-filled glass down my throat in one swig. “What do you want?”

“I have our people set up in a variety of places, including the pack house and the outer buildings. Not much seeing as how it’s cots and blankets on the floor of a gym and mess hall-.”

“But it’s still better then what they have grown used to.” I cut him off, lifting my newly filled glass in a salute before taking another large gulp.

“Yeah, true.” He laughed softly, moving further into the room and taking one of the over stuff chairs that faced the desk I was posted at. “Tomorrow I’ll take a few warriors and canvas the pack lands. Discover which houses were abandoned and figure out who can go where.”

“Sounds like a plan. Families get the houses, the unmated can bunk in the warriors’ quarters.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Leon agreed, flicking the knife he’d been twirling shut, the metallic sound echoing through the quiet room. “There’s something else we should discuss.”

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense.” I murmured, leaning back in my chair so that my undivided attention was on my Beta.

“You need a Luna.” He stated simply. I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief as I grabbed my glass from the desk and tipped it to my lips. “I’m serious. I know we’ve discussed this before, but it’s never been more important than it is now.”

“I’ve yet to find my mate, Leon, we both know this. Hell, that’s even if I have one. The Goddess knows what I’ve done, she may have chosen to punish me by not giving me a mate.”

“If the Goddess knows what you have done, then she also knows that you’ve only ever done what you needed to in order to keep this pack alive.” Leon argued, “Regardless, I didn’t mean finding your mate, I meant taking a chosen one.”

“Why do I get the feeling you already have someone in mind?” I grumbled, looking at the decanter I’d been drinking from and deciding there was not enough liquor in it for this conversation.

“Because I do. Topher’s daughter.” At Leon’s words I choked on the shot I’d just taken.

“Excuse me?” I demanded, I was sure he was joking, but the dead serious look he was giving me said otherwise. “Leon, what the hell? She’s a kid!”

“Actually, she’s twenty-two, and yet to find her own mate. Just hear me out on this Xeo. She’s an Alphas daughter, which means she was raised to know the duties of a Luna, and as an added plus, it would be a way of bringing the two packs together in solidarity.” A political move was what he was offering. I had to admit, it made sense. I did need a Luna, because I needed an heir. But I didn’t want just any woman, I wanted a mate. I wanted the bond my mother had read bedtime stories to me about. That I had seen come to life within my own pack.

“I don’t know Leon…” I began but trailed off. I didn’t have a good argument, and Leon’s reasoning was sound. Was I willing to give up on a fated mate? At thirty-two years old it was an anomaly that I hadn’t already chosen a mate and sired three or four heirs by now, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it.

“I need to think about it.” I finally said, meeting Leon’s surprised gaze. “I’m not agreeing, but I’m not disagreeing. I’ll seriously consider it though.”