Female Alpha's Choice

The Red Letters

Chapter 10

Darcie

I assessed myself again in the mirror after Ava had left and tried to calm myself. ‘You don’t have to worry Darcie, it’s going to be fine.’ Celeste was trying to be more relaxed than she was this morning, most likely to prevent my anxiety from going into overdrive. ‘I know, I know.. There’s just too many what-ifs for my liking Celeste.’ ‘That’s part of being an Alpha anyway, nothing is guaranteed. You have to be prepared for anything.’  She was right, I needed to get a grip. It wasn’t like we were going to war. It was just some games and meeting other packs. Easy.

I took another deep breath as I headed out of my room and started trekking down the multiple flights of stairs towards the foyer where I would meet my parents, James and his parents. It was quieter than usual, most of the omegas had been keen to go to watch the games and gauge other pack leaders. I had heard some of the younger pack members whispering together and hoping that they would be mated to an Alpha or Beta from another pack. If only I could match their enthusiasm.

It only took a second of seeing my father’s face to realise that something was very wrong. “Darcie, we need to go to the north border,” he said without hesitation, “one of our guards has been found dead.” I was horrified but my Alpha training kicked in. “How long ago was he found? How was he killed without sending out a warning?” I glanced at the faces around me. James was intently staring at me, gauging my reaction and he gave me a small nod in reassurance. Ida and my mother were both teary eyed and Trent looked extremely pale. My father looked murderous as I met his gaze. “He was only just found; I was about to mind link you. Apparently, he was shot in the head with a silver bullet that somehow contained wolfsbane.” His voice dripped with disgust, and I saw his fists shaking in rage. As wolves, one of our only weaknesses were silver and wolfsbane. A silver bullet that passed through the very center our brain was one of the only ways we could be killed quickly and not be able to mind link a warning to our pack. It was rare for anyone to be that accurate though. ‘The wolfsbane must have been an added precaution to ensure he couldn’t heal himself easily.’ Celeste quietly commented. Her sadness and anger at losing a member of her pack washed over me.

James looked thoughtful for a moment, “It had to be long range? He would’ve smelt or heard if someone was close surely?” I nodded silently in agreement with his assessment but directed my question to my father. “When are we going?” All thoughts of the games had left my mind, I was now solely focused on my role as future Alpha. “Now. Right now.” My father looked at my mother, “Rachael, my love, you’ll need to open the games and apologise for our absence. No need to explain why, I’ll address the visiting Alphas before the ball tonight. Trent, you go with her. If this enemy decides to attempt any other attacks today you must protect our Luna.” Trent nodded, still looking unwell. “James- ” “I’m coming with Darcie.” James interrupted, stepping closer to my side. My father looked at me and I shrugged a shoulder. ‘Are you really surprised? He’s my Beta.’ He gave me a half smile and inclined his head. “Yes James, you’re with us.”

We left the pack house and shifted to our wolf forms behind the first line of trees, putting our clothes in bags that we could carry with our mouths. Laris, James’ large brown wolf who was the exact shade of his hair colour, jogged out from some trees a few meters away and headed towards my side and greeted Celeste with a head nudge. We both looked up when my father’s huge Alpha wolf appeared and followed him immediately. Celeste loved to run but she was quiet and reserved on this one, knowing what we were going to find when we reached our destination. The three of us had been running for 10 minutes, when James asked the question I’d been avoiding, ‘Who was it?’. I could hear the pain in my fathers reply, ‘Ben Grender, he graduated warrior classes last year.’ I almost lost my footing and Celeste whimpered, we had known Ben from classes and his sister, Sara, was another good friend of mine. ‘His family…’ Even mentally I was struggling to find the right words to express my sadness for them. ‘His parents and sister know something has happened,’ my father replied sadly, ‘they’re waiting at the hospital. We haven’t told them yet; they think he’s badly hurt but unconscious.’ If I’d been in human form, I would have thrown up at the rush of horror and sadness I felt for them. Wolf parents and children would always share a bond; it wasn’t as strong as a mate bond, but strong pain and emotions could be felt depending on how close they were. My own bond with my father was so close that I could also feel his sadness and I could sense the parental tinge to it also. It wasn’t hard to read, my father was imagining the pain if he was in their position.

We reached the edge of our borders and the smell of blood hit me abruptly. I quickly shifted and dressed out of sight, allowing a minute to take a deep breath and steel myself for the task at hand. I stepped out of the tree line and tried to assess the scene as clinically as possible. This was part of the Alpha role, I couldn’t be weak now, I had to put the pack before my own emotions. I stood next to my father and looked around without looking directly at Bens still form. James moved slightly closer to me, his arm grazing mine in a silent show of support and surveyed the scene also.

 “Which direction did the bullet come from?” Alpha Dylan was in full command mode, strictly business as he spoke to another warrior. “We think over there towards the eastern side of the mountain base. I’ve got three guys out there now checking for any scents. It was long range for sure, they had an advantage from that point.” We started to circle around the scene slightly, James and I going clockwise and my father anticlockwise, looking at anything but the body of the boy between us. There were no strange scents or prints, just the heavy smell of blood and a tinge of wolfsbane. ‘You ok Darce?’ James silently questioned me, not looking over at me at all but instead starting directly at where Ben had fallen. I reluctantly forced myself to look at the dead warrior, his eyes blank and face pale. Blood and bullet wounds I could deal with, but the cold stillness of the young man made me want to shudder in disgust. I was the future Alpha though, it was time to act like it, even in front of my best friend. I turned back away to look into James’ calm blue-grey eyes and replied out loud, “I’m fine. Let’s just get some answers.”

Alpha Dylan

“Alpha! We found something.” I turned my head as three of the warriors returned from scouting out of our borders. “We were right, they made the shot from the base, just up a little on a rock ledge. They didn’t even clean up their gear.” “Who is they?” I growled. I already had a strong suspicion, and I was going to take revenge one way or another. “Rogues,” replied the middle warrior, scowling heavily, “their stench was everywhere. They also left this.” He handed me a red envelope and I instantly knew what it was. Another letter, it’s the same group. Rage swept through me, and the warriors recoiled slightly from the change of my aura. “Alpha, what is it?” I looked over at Darcie as she looked at me and had to control my emotions before she read them in my eyes. This would, surely, be about her again as the previous letters had been, and I was not looking forward to telling her. She would feel guilt and anger, and worst of all, fear. I sighed heavily, I knew I shouldn’t delay telling her. ‘We need to speak, privately.’ She paused before nodding once, tension radiating from her.

“Guards, clean up this scene and take care of Bens body. I’ll be at the hospital to tell his family in 20 minutes and, until then, no one is to tell them what’s happened. James, go back to the games and stand in for Darcie. We need one of our future leaders there.” I saw the future Beta glance at Darcie, but he knew better than to go against my command. “Yes Alpha.” He replied swiftly, nodding at Darcie before he disappeared into the trees. I sighed again before turning to my daughter, “Wolf form Darce. We can’t risk being heard or ambushed out here near the border.” She nodded seriously and moved away to shift. In wolf form we started the journey back to our pack hospital at a much slower pace than when we had rushed to the murder scene.

“Ok Dad, just tell me what’s going on. Don’t beat around it- if you actually trust me to be future Alpha then you have to treat me like it.” I laughed internally at her feistiness but without real humour, “I know that. But it doesn’t mean I like it. You’ll always be my daughter first.” I glanced at her wolf form, Celeste’s eyes staring determinedly forward. “Ok. For the last couple of months, we’ve been receiving threats from a rogue group nearby. They keep threatening to ambush us and give these cryptic warnings, but this is the first time they’ve made a serious move. You know we’ve had sightings but no attacks at all. I thought they were bluffing, which is my mistake. We should’ve upped security.” I felt anger course through me again; I hated feeling like I’d let my pack down. Darcie could sense my tension, “Alpha, nothing would have prevented that shot. Even doubling the guard, someone would still have gotten hurt.” “We’ll need to pull back the border guards though, so they have cover in the treeline…” I mused. I had already started planning changes for security, but I needed to use this time now to warn Darcie. “So what are they after? Just our pack lands? Have they mentioned anything specific?” I stopped walking and faced her. “They aren’t specific in what they want, but they are specific in who they’re targeting.” I looked into Celeste’s eyes again and saw the understanding flash. “They’re threatening you Darce. They think you’ll be weak as next Alpha. They said they’ll strike when you take over.” As I watched Darcie react, I couldn’t help but feel proud. Though I could sense and see her confusion and anger, I couldn’t see any sign of fear or panic. She was ready to be Alpha.

“Alpha, that doesn’t make sense. If they wanted our pack or lands wouldn’t they be happy for a female Alpha? I know I’m strong enough, but they don’t, I’m sure they’re prejudiced like other packs have been. Wouldn’t they want a weaker target? What exactly do they want from me?” I started walking again back as Celeste followed and sighed internally, I had been dreading admitting my gut feelings but I had to be open with her.

“Exactly my thoughts. The only thing I can think of is distasteful and makes me furious, but it’s the only guess I have at the moment.” I paused, not wanting to continue but knowing I owed it to my future Alpha. I felt the familiar rage roll through my body again as I darkly admitted, “Darce, I think some of our pack might be working with them to push you to find a mate or not become Alpha at all.”