Cruel Alpha

Chapter 15

Robin felt dizzy as yet another palm was cut and a new voice pledged alliance to the Oak Tails. It was Monday evening and they have been doing this for the last 3 hours. Pack members stood in a line and by turn stepped forward. Lucien cut their palm and they chanted the ritual words; I pledge my alliance and life to the Oak Tails pack and its Alpha.” Robin never remembered having one of those alliance pledging sessions, not in Oak Tails and not in River Banes as well. But Lucien informed her that since she has been born into the pack she didn’t need to pledge anything, it was already in her blood. And since Robin never renewed her pledges with a new pack or cut her ties from Oak Tails, she was still part of the pack. 

Alliances and pledges were a tradition of old times, some packs have stopped doing the palm cuts and blood mixing and moved to official papers of housing, choosing to make it formal in human laws rather than in werewolf. But for Oak Tails, it was a holy ritual. They would pledge alliance to the pack name and Alpha and since all the higher ranks are of pure blood, they feel the connections with their pack members and every new pack member was an added energy the Alpha would feel and can call upon when he uses his Alpha tone. 

Even though Robin was Beta and all this affected her slightly less, she still felt every single palm cut and speech affects her. First, it was easy, just another whisper trailing back to her mind. She felt their energy stronger. As if their wolves were closer to reach for her. As if she could call on them for anything and they would have no choice but to obey. 

By the time they reached the 50th person, it started feeling just exhausting and nothing more. So Robin stood there, her posture straight with her usual angered expression on her face and she counted how many members were left until she could go and sleep. Derek was even worse in concealing his boredom and sleepiness, Robin had to shot him a look every few minutes to make sure that he was still awake. He is embarrassing the pack name. 

“Pull it together,” she growled, her face turned towards Derek, he jumped awake and nodded. Good, this will scare him to not fall asleep in the middle of a ceremony again. Robin looked down the line of members, it looked shorter now. 10 more to go. 

6 more to go. Wilder thought as he finished yet another lap around the pack area. He had set himself a goal of 10 laps around the pack, hoping this would tire him enough to not think about his miserable love life.  Wilder thought that nothing could top a sudden break up over the Moon Goddess-related matters, but apparently, it got worse. Because now Axel wanted to speak with him about the fight he had in the pack area. 

I didn’t even get to fight but still, the news reached him. Wilder grumbled as he completed another lap. 5 more left. He thought about what he was going to offer as an explanation to Axel. A voice in his head begged Wilder to speak the truth and not complicate his life any further. For once in his life, be truthful. Wilder scoffed which turned to a violent cough as he was getting out of breath and he still had 3 rounds left. The truth would only hurt him, Axel wouldn’t be able to help anyways. What was he going to do? Kill Edward? But then again, that would also hurt Lauren and she would most likely get depressed for the rest of her life. Mate bond was that petty, it would harm you even if you cut it away, it would come for you even in death. 

Wilder took in a deep breath and rushed forward, it was the last lap. He finished it and laid on the ground, breathing heavily. f**k the truth, Wilder thought, and f**k the Goddess that doesn’t speak it. 

The next morning, Wilder was seating in his usual chair in Axel’s office. He was in a rush but Axel seemed to behave like he had all the time in the world. “So, the fight?” Axel finally asked. Wilder sighed, “Do I even look like I would start a fight?” Axel chuckled. “That’s exactly why I asked you to come. What would make you start a fight?” Wilder rolled his eyes. “Hurtful, but I will look past it. Technically there was no fight. The big guy, Edward just got a hell lot of angry over my words.” Axel sighed and leaned back on his chair. “Who is to blame Edward for wanting to punch you over your sarcasm? I fight the urge every day.” He said sarcastically, Wilder shot him a fake smile. 

“Pack members said, there was someone else that got involved,” Axel said as he looked through his papers once again. Here it goes. “Yeah, Robin came down, apparently the loud noise woke her up and she got angry enough to dissolve the fight,” Wilder said and Axel looked up from his papers. He shot Wilder an interested look. “So, Robin stopped the fight, or did she fight in your place?” Wilder groaned and leaned his head back. 

“She just yelled at pack members, Edward, and me to stop this and go back to our duties. Then she proceeded to tell me that my stance was wrong and Edward was going to break my leg.” Wilder gave a quick recap, wishing for this to be the end of the discussion. Axel nodded with a chuckle. “A year later, and she still has to get your a*s out of the problems, unbelievable,” Axel said and looked at Wilder. 

Robin and Wilder’s act against Goddess was one of the few things Axel actually respected about Wilder. At least, he could succeed in something if he put his mind to it. But he couldn’t understand why would Robin come to help someone she fought so hard to get away from. Their relationship wasn’t easy to understand. They were close friends and were part of the same friend group, but they also refused to keep their bond and let it blossom to something bigger. They refused the Goddess’s gift of love and for what? 

Axle sighed, clearing his head from all the extra thoughts, and narrowed his eyes at Wilder. “Why was there a fight in the first place?” Wilder wished for there to be a wall where he could hit his head and die. This was too much. “Was it something about the mate bond situation, if so, I should really have a talk with Edward.” He offered his support and Wilder was surprised by his brother’s generosity, Alpha or not Axel always had a hard exterior and didn’t offer his help a lot. Wilder shook his head, “it’s nothing really, just a manly disagreement.” Axel narrowed his eyes but Wilder wasn’t going to speak any further. No truths were coming out of his mouth. Not today. Not ever.