Moon Child

The Alpha Is Here

- Calum Beckett –

“aaghh, please, spare me” The man squirmed in my hand as I held his neck mid-air.

“where is she?” I asked again

“Wh – Who are you talking about... I - I really don’t know anything, I swear” the man pleaded. But I am done. The sound of his bones shattering echoed as I closed my hand on his neck. Another wild goose-chase. Great.

I lit a cigar as I waited for my beta along the alley. It shouldn’t take too long for them to round up this town. It’s a small town after all. I breathed in the scene before me. Almost half of the houses were burned down. There were bodies lying lifeless on the ground. Market stalls broken in pieces. I saw a young girl’s toy and picked it up. The silver child. Or the moon child as people would call her. Was the reason why I am here. Why my family was brutally killed. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Engraved in my memory, was how the north and west pack joined forces to bring our pack down. Accusing us of hiding the child and harnessing its power. Everyone knew we did not have the child with us. Yet they scorned us and pushed us to our death.

“Calum” Alex called out as I saw him walking towards me from my side - stirring me from my trance.

“Found anything?” I asked, knowing the answer to my question.

“No… but I did find this” he grinned as he held up a bottle of whiskey in his right hand

I glared at him. “I thought I made it clear, no drinking while on the job”

“But we’re done” he stated as a matter of fact as he pointed at the wasted town behind us.

“Fine” I muttered.

We headed back to the camp we made just outside the town. The fire burned and it provided enough heat for us to last the night. I sat in one of our make shift chairs as Alex took out two glasses from his tent. The nights here are cold I thought as I unconsciously rubbed my hands together. At least the people of this town wouldn’t feel cold anymore. In fact, they wouldn’t feel anything at all. And that’s not such a bad thing.

“Here” Alex handed me a shot of whiskey and sat beside me.

“Aren’t you tired?” he asked

“I barely lifted a finger” I said, not answering his question.

“I mean...” He stared at the fire, wondering if he should continue. “hunting this girl, this silver child. Aren’t you tired?” He asked again.

“You know the answer to that question. You know better than anyone else, Alex” I answered as I downed my whiskey. Alex and his family were also a member of the fallen southern pack. His father was my father’s beta just as he is to me. After the great divide, the whole Europe is divided into four territories and was governed by eight packs. Two great packs governed each of the four cardinal directions. The Schmidt and Weber packs rule the north, Dimitrova and Andersen packs in the east, Roux and Girard packs in the west, and the Thorn and Beckett packs in the south,

Decades later, the Beckett and Thorn packs joined together as the Alpha of the Thorn pack, Julius Thorn, became the beta of the Beckett pack, my father – Maximus Beckett. Disrupting the balance of the long honored division of territories. After hearing this news, many believed that my father acquired the power of the silver child which enabled him to subdue the Thorn pack. The other packs began to fear him. And fear brought the worst out of these people. Connivance. Betrayal. Manslaughter.

“It could all be a myth you know? We might be wasting our time right now” Alex said, bringing me back to the present.

“But it could also be real. Then we find her… and kill her. It wouldn’t be such a waste of time then, right?” I looked at him sensing there’s more to him bringing up this conversation again.

“What’s bothering you” he jumped at my sudden interest in his thoughts.

“Are you, are you sick?” he said as he patted my forehead like a child. I hissed at him and he laughed at my annoyance.

“Alpha, the only things you should be worried about in me is if I have enough women on my bed and enough whiskey in my glass” he jested as he held up his glass for a toast. 

“Besides, the one we should all be worried about is you”

“Me?” I asked accusingly. I can’t believe the pack would ever be worried about me. I can literally kill all of them if I wanted to. Not that I do. But that’s the difference between our blood lines. So why the hell would they worry about me.

“We’re afraid you’d just go crazy if we later find out that she’s just a myth” he looked at me concerned. I opened my mouth to rebut him when I was cut off by Adam.

“Hey! Not fair boss!” He shouted from afar as he rushed towards us. James and Gunner were not far behind him.

There’s always the five of us whenever we go out for a hunt. They are my most trusted allies. Alex Thorn is my beta, he has been my friend ever since I could remember and I can bet my life on his loyalty. Adam Briggs was from a fallen family of the east pack. He was sold to me as a slave but he proved his worth in combat. Now he goes where ever I go. Even when I want to leave him out for being such a loudmouth. James and Gunner Pierce are brothers who I met a few years ago while I was rebuilding my pack. They have been with me since then and are the ones I rely on to ensure our win in any negotiation. They are the smartest ones on my pack and their strategies are unbeatable.

I drank again. Alex’ words tasted much more bitter in my tongue. So, what if she’s a myth. I will carry the blood of all the lives we took. I was prepared to take this gamble. I readied myself since the day I made a vow to take vengeance against everyone who took everything away from me. Starting with the silver child.

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