Silent Strength: The Female Alpha Leads the Purge

Chapter 7

This was the moment when I would surely die at the hands of my father. My fate was here. I swallowed hard, keeping my eyes on him as he made his way around. I turned my body, somehow managing to rise to my feet, and took a defensive stance. My father’s wolf c****d his head to the side and stopped momentarily, trying to figure out where I learned this action before the realization hit him and he shifted back, towering over me as he yelled. He continued yelling until he ran his hand frustratedly through his hair and motioned for my mother who ran forward to interpret for him. He never even bothered to learn basic signs.

“Who taught you that? Was it the male from the woods?” She signed for him. I simply nodded my response.

“Who is he to you? What have you…” She hesitated before translating my father’s next words, “done with him?” Her face fell to the ground before she realized she would need to watch my hands in order to relay the words to my father.

“Nothing. He helped me train so I wouldn’t be defenseless.”

A cruel smirk crossed my father’s face as my mother spoke the words. He co ckily walked backward, accepting a pair of shorts that he put on before sitting down on the bleachers lining the training field. Resting back and placing his elbows on the row behind him, he lazily lifted his wrist, motioning to the males at the right of him and saying something. I turned to my mother, hoping she would be decent enough to fill me in, but she just quickly left the field, taking a seat next to my father and looking at the ground as three large males came up to me. I looked over, desperately hoping this wasn’t what I thought it was. My father smacked my mother’s upper arm with the back of his hand and she lifted her eyes to me before signing, “Go on. Prove yourself.”

What happened next was a torturous mixture of blood and pain as warrior after warrior came forward to carry out my father’s orders. Each stopped short of actually killing me, but I prayed repeatedly for one of them to finish the job. I laid broken in the middle of the field. I had nothing left. I couldn’t raise myself off the ground as my father’s Beta walked up. I watched him motion at me, laughing at my father. By a miracle, that seemed to spark the ounce of fatherly affection left in my dad since he got up and swiftly knocked the Beta to the ground. Standing over me, he simply shook his head before walking away, my mother in tow.

I rested my bleeding head on my arm. My lungs felt as if they were filled with fluid and the sharp pain which radiated through my body with every breath told me my ribs were broken. I couldn’t move my limbs at all. I began to panic, taking short shallow intakes of air as my body sought oxygen. Warriors stood around, eyes darting to one another as they wondered if the Alpha’s daughter was really going to die right before their eyes. My vision started going dark as several of them made their way toward me.

I woke up days later in my bed in the bunkhouse. Not only alive but bandaged up with food on a stand next to me. I looked around at the faces of the males who usually didn’t give me the time of day. Years before, they were all confused and then irritated when my father exiled me to these quarters. Today though, they looked at me and nodded, acknowledging my existence as they went about their business.

That was the day they accepted me. It was the day I unknowingly started shifting their allegiance from my father to me. I smiled thinking back to it. That day seemed so long ago.

A twig tripped me some, bringing me back to the present where I approached an aging Gabriel. He was as muscular as always, though not as towering or threatening as I remembered. Grey hair peppered his dark, perfectly parted hair and the stubble on his chin. I stopped, crossing my arms at my chest and raising my brow.

“You’ve finally done it I see.” He signed.

“What’s it to you?”

“I believe we had an agreement.”

“We agreed I would feed you in order for you to train me. That was it.”

“We agreed you would care for me if I trained you. Now you are in a position to truly do that.”

“Go away, Gabriel. Any deal I had with you left the day you tried to attack me.”

He grinned and shook his head as if he were arguing with a child.

“I knew what was best for you. The offer still stands. I see you’re unmated. One quick call and we can fix all that.”

He looked over my shoulder where I knew my warriors would be intently watching the exchange. The benefit of signing was no matter how far we were apart, if you could see their hands, you could communicate. If we were talking, they would be too far away to hear.

“Those two males look like they have a vested interest in you. Taking on more than one lover? Maybe you’re more like your father than I gave you credit for.”

Anger flared in my eyes.

“You’re an asshole. Get off my territory or I’ll kill you. You’re a rogue. You have no rights here.”

He took a few steps, closing the gap between us and running his hand over the course hair on his cheeks.

“You’re bolder than you were as a child.” He signed before running his hand down my arm. I snatched it away, glaring at him.

“You’re not a child anymore though, are you?”

It was as if his hand was fluid as it grabbed my arm just as he finished the last sign. He pulled me in close to him, planting his lips on mine as the putrid smell of rogue overwhelmed my senses. I wanted to push him away, but a pain shot through my chest and I grabbed at that instead. Why did my heart hurt? It became hard to breathe, but I managed, shaking myself back to my senses and shoving him backward. I wasn’t the defenseless, wolfless girl he remembered. I was the strong Alpha of this pack, and he would not get away with assaulting me. I growled, giving way to the shift and instantly pouncing on him before he had time to react. I didn’t let up, didn’t give him a chance as I tore into his flesh, taking out all the pent-up anger I held after thinking back to that day in the woods.

When I finally stopped, I was standing over his bloody corpse, panting hard. I turned to the forest, to the inviting smell of pine and the soft floor of filtered light. I took off, knowing I was running to the place where I could seek comfort while knowing I would be denied access. But perhaps if I got close enough, I would feel better, feel like there was still something to live for. I had held on for the last five years because of Rose. Now she was gone and I had no idea how to shift my focus. I ran to the border of the Crescent pack, relieved as comfort and exhaustion washed over me. The source of those, however, was not my five-year-old little sister, but the large wolf standing in front of me as I stepped up to the ridge which defined my territory and his. His expression did not match mine though as anger emanated from him and his eyes bore through me.