Cruel Alpha

Chapter 13

Robin run as far as her small legs could carry her, but he still caught up with her easily. “It’s not fair! You are older than me.” She protested as Lucien got a hold of her waist and lifted her up as if she didn’t weigh anything at all. “Life’s not fair, Robin. You’ve got to learn to improvise.” He said and positioned her over his shoulder. Robin chuckled, this was just the thing she needed. 

She threw herself back, making his grip loosen. “What are you doing?” Lucien protested. She pushed him back and jumped away, she landed perfectly on her feet and tripped Lucien as he stumbled backward. She laughed as he fell down. “You are getting predictable, Luc.” Lucien looked at her from the ground. This was their daily routine; a game of catch. It only ended when one of them gave up. Lucien noticed how Robin never used the exact words of giving up so the game was still on. He was just sure of his victory and had let his guard down. 

“Very good, Robin.” He said and Robin nodded. “I know, I am very strong.” She boasted as they walked back towards the Alpha House. Lucien laughed, “For a 9-year-old, maybe.” Robin looked up at him. “But?” Lucien smiled, “But for the future Beta, you still need to train hard.” Robin sighed knowingly.  She wasn’t even of training age yet but the prospect of having to train harder already tired her.

“You also need to train harder,” Robin said after a moment of silence, Lucien nodded. “Exactly. I need to train for the future Alpha.” They neared the Alpha House, Robin was sure her father was in there somewhere, helping Alpha as a good Beta should. “Sounds like we have a lot of work to do,” Robin said with a tired defeat. 

Lucien chuckled and lightly pushed her. “Giving up already?” Robin looked at him with glints of anger in her eyes. “Never.” Lucien nodded with satisfaction. “Good. We have to train hard and learn a lot.” He said and extended his hand to her. “But we will do it together.” Robin shook his hand with the same determination and promise in her eyes. “Together.” Lucien smiled and pulled her in for a hug. 

2 months later, The Great War started. 

Robin looked at Lucien’s extended hand and his face. His eyes were the only thing about him that was the same. Even his voice changed. “Gods and Goddesses,” Robin mumbled. She accepted his hand, giving it a light shake, and was immediately pulled in for a hug. This is his move. He always did that. She wrapped his arms around him. “You… you are alive. Oh my gods you are alive.” Robin said and Lucien laughed. “I had the exact same reaction.” They pulled away and looked at each other in surprise. “You look old,” Robin said with a chuckle. Lucien laughed. “Your hair is longer, and straightened.” He put his hand on her hair. 

Robin felt weird, out of all the possibilities, she never expected this. She has accepted the fact that everyone she loved was dead and suddenly, one of them wasn’t. She had so many questions and sensing this, Lucien sat down, pointing her to one of the couches. “You would have to forgive Derek, he was acting on my interests.” He pointed towards Declan, Robin looked at him in confusion. “Yes, Alpha Lucien wanted to be careful. So, I had to act like Professor Declan to get you here.” Robin nodded, his different talking voice now made sense. He was just acting like a smart Professor but in reality, he was just Derek. 

Lucien dismissed him with a wave of the hand, and Declan-Derek-nodded before leaving. He turned to Robin. “I think we have a lot of catching up to do,” Robin chuckled and sat forward. “I think, you have a lot of explaining to do.” Lucien’s eyes shone brighter than before, but he smiled and spoke. “Where should I start?” Robin got comfortable on the couch and said, “Everything that led you here.”

So, Lucien spoke of the night of the attack, Alpha, his father, ordered pack members to get Lucien out of the pack. “I looked for you, they had to drag me away, in the end.” Lucien looked down, “All these years I thought, I left you there to die. But it seems like you survived just fine.” Robin hated thinking of that night, but maybe sometimes, she had to indulge in memories. “I hid away in the Pack House, I sneaked away and when it was finally over, they had to drag me away from the fallen column of the dining hall.” She said with a bitter chuckle.  She never thought of looking for Lucien or anyone for that matter. She heard enough screams and bombs to close her eyes and just wish for a painless death.

Talk of survival was replaced by the talk of the future. “Our future,” as Lucien put it. “is back on track, Robin. I was going from pack to pack, trying to get enough information about the war and what happened with Oak Tails survivors when I stumbled upon your artwork, in that River Banes museum.” He smiled as he looked at her. “Robin Oaks. Suits you well.”

Robin listened carefully to every bit of information that Lucien shared. He asked Derek to get in contact, Derek had to bring Robin here with the pretense of historical research. “I needed to make sure that it was you, I didn’t want to get my hopes high, but when you started managing that teams and even yelled at a few…. I knew it was you, your anger never changed.” Robin chuckled, “I am taking this as a compliment.” 

“I wanted to get you here, to your rightful place, so we could revive the Oak Tails legacy,” Lucien said and got up. “I have looked all across the northern forest, seems like we are the only survivors from the high ranks. Our parents, the Gamma House, all dead.” Robin remembered how she felt when she realized that she was the sole survivor, she couldn’t even imagine how Lucien felt after all of his searches proved to be fruitless. 

“All the wolves you saw around the pack, they are all Oak Tails members, newly sworn in. I gathered them from all around the states, they are nearly done with making the Pack House functional again.” Robin thought of all the ‘upgrades’ she noticed around the high-rank houses. Things were getting fixed. The dead pack was coming alive. This felt unreal. All of the past hour filled Robin with so much new information and anxiety that she wasn’t sure of anything. Maybe she was still asleep.  

“Oak Tails was one of the strongest packs, it was ambushed and torn away by the war. But we have a chance of fixing this. We can make a comeback, bigger, stronger and prove that true legacy never dies.” Lucien said and turned to Robin. “I am an Alpha by blood just as much as you are the Beta.” Beta, Robin hasn’t been called that in years, she has learned to be just a pack member, but her strength was always more than the average wolf’s.

Lucien stretched his hand towards Robin, he looked full of hope. “We can do it, like we always did. Together.” Robin looked at the stretched hand and at the face that looked different yet so familiar. She was here, in Oak Tails, in her home, and for the first time she didn’t feel pain when she thought of her home. She took his hand and got up. “Together.”