ALPHA LOGAN

Chapter 2

A whip lashes on Logan's back before he even made it to the entrance where master Ephraim stood.

“Where were you?” Ephraim asked with a calm voice as he stared at him in disgust.

He stood with a torch and a whip still in his hand and a guard was behind Logan.

Logan was silent and refused to utter any word, then another lash landed on his back and he winced in pain.

“I was hunting, and there was a wounded man in the forest so I helped him. “ He mumbled slowly.

“A wounded man,” Ephraim echoed after him with his mouth twisted. “Words can travel fast boy. The whole territory already knows what happened, Alpha king Cassius Blood moon was attacked last night by hired assassins and a slave boy saved him.”

Logan was silent.

Ephraim struck him with the whip again.

“You fool what you have done, you don't act without taking permission from me, don't you understand the implications of what you have done?, the assassins would hunt for you now, b****y moron.”

“But, I could…..”

Before Logan could complete the statement, horses neighed behind him and the sound of hooves pounded on the ground in frenzy.

Five Royal guards approached them from the gate, then suddenly came to a stop in front of master Ephraim and his guards.

They held lit torches and armour and were heavily armed.

A rider among them who wore a fine coat and golden Knights helmet came down from his horse and approached them. With him was an unfilled scroll bearing the King's seal.

“By order of Alpha king Cassius Bloodmoon the boy known as Logan Westwood Is purchased and freed from the service of warlord Ephraim, payment has already been made in full.”

Ephraim’s face went pale and his voice rose slowly and carefully. “This is an insult to me and my personality, why In the…”

“The King's seal countered that and you can have your payment.” The guard cut him short and tossed a heavy pouch of gold at Ephraim's feet with some of the content spilling on the floor.

Ephraim was suddenly silent, he couldn't say anything, who could take a fight to the Alpha king?

The riders left without Logan and this left a question hanging in the air.

Was this actually a real freedom or freedom on a piece of seal?

And this means that if Logan had nowhere to go no pack would claim him.

Because he was a lone wolf with no name, no history or no blood line, Ephraim's roof was the only place he had to stay.

***********

That night, Ephraim saw Logan laying in a stable and deep in thought.

“Hey loser.” He called. “Free men don't sleep in my barn, but I doubt any pack would want a dog without a master like you, and remember the king seal doesn't feed you, I do.” He said smiling for the first time and banged the door on him.

Logan stayed that night but something changed in him, he would no longer be someone's property, he would be free, even if the world was yet to believe that fact.

*******

Several weeks passed then turned into months.

Logan usually visits the Royal Palace when he could slip out of his master's house.

He was always summoned quietly through a side gate.

Alpha Cassius was getting weaker and paler but his mind still remained on the promise, he had fulfilled his own part, it was left for Logan to fulfill his.

“A sword is different from a hunting knife.” Cassius told him one afternoon after adjusting jos grip on a sword.

“You're still holding the sword like you're afraid of it, I want you to hold it like a personal belonging.”

“But it doesn't belong to me.” Logan mumbled.

“It will be soon.” Cassius said with a steady voice and smiled.

“According to the pack law the strongest voice in the room isn't the loudest, learn how to read a room before you utter any statement and men will fear you before you even speak.”

Logan took note of every lesson, he paid attention to the fullest and made it the air he breathed.

He was taught to want more than survival, and to be desperate for control because that is what he will grow to become.

Cassius is dying and fading but he wanted to be certain he left his legacy in a competent hand and that he will not doubt Logan, because he knew the threat ahead.

*******

Elena Bloodmoon was every man's dream, she was tall, slender and had long curly jet black hair, at eighteen she was already taller than her father, and now she was twenty three she held on to her father's responsibility while he was fading.

Every healer had been called and every magician but none could prescribe a cure for her dying father.

They uttered one single statement.

“The poison has spread and it will take its due course when time is up.”

Now while her father was getting weaker behind closed doors, she was the one handling every pack affairs.

She reviews trade reports the council of elders avoided to read. She overruled two Lords who tried to raise taxes on farmers during bad harvest.

She also trusted no one because she believes everyone around her wants something from her father's throne.

She was riding back from the eastern fields with her guards one evening when her horse spooked at a fallen branch in the road.

All of a sudden the horse lost control and started running down the field.

She was thrown down and she landed in the dirt while her horse bolted.

Suddenly a stranger got to her.

She didn't even realize where he came from, because her guards were still far behind.

He was tall, muscular and quiet and he moved like he didn't want to be noticed.

He held out his hand without asking any question.

"You're hurt" he announced.

"I'm fine." She took his hand anyway.

He pulled her up like she weighed nothing.

For a moment both of them were silent.

There was something in the way he looked at her.

It was not fear, or mockery, it was just a plain kind of attention nobody at court ever gave her.

"You're not from the royal houses," she said observing him and it was not in a way of asking a question.

"No, I'm not"

"Then why help me?"

"Would you rather I hadn't?"

She almost smiled.

Then she saw her horse's reins from one of her guards who came running with a stable hand approaching her. She also saw her other guards coming in large numbers and screaming loudly.

“Princess are you okay”

The horse had outran them while they were with the princess and lost control.

By the time she turned back, the stranger was already gone.

She didn't even ask his name.

The guards quietly placed her on another horse while they held on to get the horse and they proceeded on their journey back to the palace.

******

Three days later the full court gathered in the palace Hall over a trade dispute between two border Lords.

Alpha Cassius was insistent on attending, even after his healers begged him to test.

Logan stood near the back of the Hall. He was wearing a plain dress and was ignored.

Elena sat beside her father's throne and handled the dispute in front of her father, her father stared at her and smiled.

He was proud but exhausted, he was exhausted that she was only a lady and she got married to Logan the promise would finally be sealed.

But he worried how she would be able to accept Logan.

Suddenly Cassius rose to speak but he swayed immediately.

“Father!” Elena screamed, rising to her feet instantly.

Cassius gripped the arm of his chair and his knees tightened.

The whole hall suddenly went silent and panic ran across the entire area.

Guards came running forward.

While Ephraim who was seated among the lords watched with a sincere interest.

“Someone should please get me the healers” Elena screamed and caught her father before he landed on the ground.

Cassius held her wrist and his voice began to c***k, the poison had begun to take its effect.

Logan was only able to slow it with the leaves but it was already in him before he administered the cure.

Cassius became scared of dying without finishing what he started.

“Elena, my dear” He gasped and tightened his grip on her wrist the entire Hall was silent that even a pin drop could be heard.

“The boy…. Logan Westwood… he saved my life and in return you have to marry him, that's my decision… it already….”

He didn't complete the statement before he collapsed.

The Hall erupted into sudden chaos.

Elena slowly turned and found Logan standing near the back wall, frozen with a scared look.

Every eye in the Hall turned on him immediately.