The Alpha's Keeper

XIII: Friend Within the Enemy

At that moment, he decided to get a little closer to the cabin, but before he could take a step, he felt the cold edge of a blade on his neck.

Joshua said towards the man he knew well, “Michael! I haven’t seen you for a long time!”

Michael took a deep breath. His movements were clearly restricted.

“I never thought that I would die by your hand!” He replied while smiling.

“If you think I’m going to kill you, it’s because you’re really not the same person I grew up with!” At that moment, Joshua removed the knife from his throat.

Michael stood up and looking at Joshua, his eyes filled with tears when he said, “I’m sorry I came for you! Sorry to be against you! You are my leader, my brother, my Alpha!”

“It is your responsibility. You must be with the pack!” Joshua said with a helpless smile while looking at Michael.

“Like you, Joshua!! What are you doing? I don’t understand why you don’t take your place!” Michael said, frustration laced in his voice. He was releasing the despair that was in his heart all this time.

Joshua looked at him and did not feel any hostility on his part. He was glad to still have a friend in his family.

Still, he was gritting his teeth when he replied, “My father was killed by members of my family! By my own uncle! And you ask me to come back? To do what? Kill them all and regain my leadership?”

Michael was silent and, within seconds filling his lungs with air, he said, “If you came back, I know that many of us would support you!”

Joshua looked at him gratefully and nodding, and then he said, “Yes! Many would! And many don’t… do you understand what that means?”

Michael looked down to plant it on the ground, and Joshua putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder, said before he said, “No! I don’t want the blood of so many members of my family to be on my hands… there must be a better way!”

Michael nodded and, looking at him, said, “Well, you must find it quickly! Jerald won’t rest until you die, and his father… Well…”

“I know,” Joshua thoughtfully said as they continued walking towards the cabin. He added,  “Give the warning after ten minutes! I don’t want you to get in trouble!”

Michael looked at him with a complicated expression. He then said seriously, “If you decide, I will gather those of us who are with you, and we will follow you wherever you go!”

Joshua smiled once more, and looking at his friend, he touched his face and said, “I know you would! But I don’t want to abandon anyone. Do not follow those who don’t want the best for you, my friend! I’ll find a way to bring the herd back together. Until then, stand your ground. That’s fine!”

Michael nodded and watched as his old friend calmly walked back to the cabin obeying his command. He waited ten minutes before telling his companions that he had found the cabin. Still, when the rest of the pack had arrived, Edith and Joshua had already left.

And in the forest far from her cabin Edith and Joshua carefully walked as they advanced through the darkness. The situation could not be worse.

Still, Edith was so tired that, after taking Joshua’s hand, she asked as if she was begging, “Can we stop here?”

Joshua nodded. He calmly put the human on the ground along with Edith’s chest. Those and a couple of books were the belongings that the young woman had been able to save from her home.

This test would be difficult, and until things were restored, she could not return to their normal life.

Joshua sat on the floor, and when Edith was about to take hold, he took her by the hand and sat her on his lap. She looked at him, blushing. Edith could not help but try to get away from him.

However, Joshua’s arms were already tightly wrapped around her, and there was no way her physical strength would match against him.

Edith glared at him. Before she could speak, he gave her a teasing smile, before he said, “It is the only way that the wolves do not feel your essence if it is confused with mine!”

She watched him doubtful. Edith still wanted to get up, but Joshua’s body turned out to be warm and comfortable.

After realizing the benefits of their current closeness, Edith let it go. She placed her head on Joshua’s strong chest while watching the darkness of the forest.

“I have a doubt why they don’t stop chasing you,” Edith muttered.

He smiled and stroking Edith’s head, and then he said with unmasked sadness, “My uncle! The man who murdered my father. He wants to be the Alpha of the pack! But for that, he needs my life. Ingest my essence, so he will be consecrated as the definitive Alpha, and his bloodline will be the one that inherits the position.”

Edith opened her eyes in surprise and asked, “But if you’ve already given up your leadership, doesn’t that make him the leader!?”

“Yes!” Joshua said with a forced smile before adding, “But being the leader and the Alpha are two separate things, being the alpha has its advantages, among them the unconditional loyalty of the pack!”

Edith was surprised. She remembered when Jerald asked for his man to give their life, and they refuse.

She looked at Joshua with a complicated expression before questioning, “How can that be true? Your father was murdered!”

“That’s how it is,” Joshua said with a pained expression, “But he can only be killed by someone from his bloodline, like my uncle, another member of the pack couldn’t try to do something like that.”

Edith nodded and looking at the human who was still sleeping, and then she said, “But if you go, how important is it that there is no alpha... just because of that loyalty?”

“Very important! But the pack cannot be without Alpha if one of them does not take the place of the Alpha and another pack of wolves finds out... well, the Alpha of those wolves will try to proclaim himself as the Alpha of both packs. If that happens, our tribe will disappear! Also, without an Alpha, the moon would not talk to us,” Joshua said with utmost seriousness before he released a heavy sigh.

Edith opened her eyes with that answer and looking at Joshua’s face. She saw how the concern was reflected. There were many things to solve, and every minute, their lives became more complicated.

But even there in the terrible darkness alone and with many enemies, both were happy sharing a hug under the sky of that frozen forest.