Alphess: An Angel of Death

The Concubine

I peered around the expanse of the loading dock, looking for any guards. I saw two on the opposite side from me. They were prowling around the kennels, occasionally kicking them to rattle the girls or leaning down and sneering at them for sobbing. I felt a growl rise in my throat, but I forced myself to push it down. Not yet. I told myself, or rather, the wolf rising to the surface. She was angry I hadn’t killed the other two earlier, whispering to me that I had left witnesses. But I knew what I was doing – I wanted to avoid the bloodshed if I could. I didn’t get my wish, because what I saw next pushed both me and the killer inside of me over the edge.

One of the guards had dragged a young girl out of her kennel by her long dirty blonde hair. She was so weak she barely put up a fight. He yanked her to wobbly feet and I could see her face was red and puffy from crying, blue eyes rimmed in red, the tear tracks now dried but still evident on her face. She was barely older than a child, her cheeks still round with that innocence and her body barely developed. I wagered she probably had only shifted once in her young life – barely making it to puberty before being sold here. The wolf yanked her into him, whispering something in her ear that made fresh tears fall down her face. She squeezed her eyes shut and I could tell she was quivering in fear. He ripped off her shirt, exposing her breasts. She whimpered as he kneaded her chest, rolling a n****e between his fingers. He started laughing at her, one of his massive arms moving across her chest to hold her into him while the other hand shoved its way down her pants. He began to push her over to bend her over the kennel she had been in, starting to pull her pants down her legs. She didn’t even put up a fight, and that’s what broke my heart the most.

The wolf inside of me rose to the surface just as I began to call her forth – this wouldn’t stand. I had wanted to spare their worthless lives, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. I surged forward through the door, shifting midair and landing on four paws. I let out a loud snarl and saw the guard snap his head toward me. He started shouting at his companion, who shifted and started coming toward me. I was seeing red, the familiar copper taste filling my mouth. Blood. Blood. Blood. I didn’t take my eyes off of the one with the girl in his arms. He had a massive hand on her head, pressing her cheek into the metal of the cage. I stalked forward, about to pounce. At the last second, I snapped my head toward the other wolf and intercepted his attack. He had lunged for me, front paws outstretched. I rose up to catch him in the air, knocking us both to the ground. I shoved him under me as we fell, hearing his head crack on the ground as he landed. I leaned down and closed my jaws around his neck, yanking back hard and shaking my head like I was a dog playing tug-o-war. Blood poured out of him and I heard his last gurgling cry as I shoved him away from me. It wasn’t enough – I needed more. I needed one more kill.

The one assaulting the girl had wide eyes now, somehow trying to calculate how a she-wolf almost half the size of his companion had so easily killed him. He moved away from the girl, getting ready to come toward me. I shifted back to my human form – I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to look into my eyes and know who I am. I wanted to feel his life drain under my hands as I choked him to death.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he snarled at me. There was a twinge of fear in his voice, despite his bravo. “You think you can stand a match against me? Who the f**k do you think you are?”

I scoffed at him, making my way between the crates toward him. My hair swung at my shoulders, partially covered in blood. I could still taste it in my mouth, still feel it as it dripped down my throat from my lips. I roughly ran a hand over my mouth, but I know that probably just smeared it everywhere. I didn’t have time to think about it – I just launched myself at the r****t. He wasn’t quite ready for that, and we toppled over to the ground. I sat on his chest, but he managed to unseat me and shoved me under him.

“You know,” he whispered in my ear. “Anyone will do.” He moved to start shoving my pants down. I let him for a moment, waiting until he was preoccupied before surging upward and ramming my forehead into his.

He fell backward, stunned. “You f*****g b***h!” he shouted.

I leaped back to my feet in an instant, aiming a sharp kick at his jaw. I saw his head snap to the side, heard the crack of breaking bone. He screamed and I shoved my foot into his face again, this time to slam it into his nose and shove him back onto the ground. Blood spouted from his broken noise and he spat out a mouthful of reddened saliva. I leaped onto his chest again, taking his head in my hands and raising it up, only to slam it into the ground. I did this repeatedly for a moment before gripping him by his hair and yanking his head up. “Look at me, you son of b***h,” I growled.

His eyes were wild and dazed, trying to focus on anything.

“I said look at me.”

He finally managed to look at me with half a sense for a moment. He tried to form words, but blood was gurgling in his mouth.

“How’s it feel to look the Devil in the eyes and know you’re going straight to Hell?” I hissed. With that, I slammed his head one final time into the concrete, watching as the back of his head burst open like a watermelon. I stood up, knowing when I turned around I would probably face a dozen of even-more-terrified wolves. Instead, when I raised my head, I heard clapping and happy sobs. Well, at least they wouldn’t take any convincing to run away with me.

My first priority was the girl that had been selected by the corpse below my feet. I turned to her, pulling off my own shirt and offering it to her, leaving me in a sports bra. “Sorry for the blood,” I commented.

“I-its o-o-okay,” she whispered, taking it and pulling it on.

“I’m going to be sure no one believes they can do something like that to you,” I said to her. I turned to the room at large. “To any of you. Everyone – listen to me. There’s a group of wolves that are here to help you. I’m going to open all of these crates, and then you’re going to find Taryn. She’ll help you find the rest of the way. Just run east, toward the gardens. I’ll be right behind you.” I looked at the girl who was standing there shivering in my shirt. “Go. Run as fast as you can.”

She hesitated, looking at everyone around her, before nodding and darting out of the loading dock.

One coming in hot. I mind-linked to Taryn.

Got it boss.

With that, I went to grab the bag I had brought with me and pulled out bolt-cutters. I started taking off the giant padlocks one-by-one, encouraging the malnourished wolves to get going. Occasionally, I’d hear an update from Taryn that a band of them had been intercepted by her, then from Nora or Vanessa in the gardens. I was just beginning to crouch down to let out the final she-wolf when a voice from behind me made me spin around.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” It came from a young wolf who was leaning against the doorway, lazily swinging his tie in his hand. His dark brown hair was messy and unkempt, his suit just slightly big on his thin frame. He was tall, with high cheekbones and a smirk playing over his lips. Something about him seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“Who’s going to stop me?” I spat, challenging him. Did he not see the two brutes on the ground? He was fit like any wolf was, but he was lean muscle and rather gangly. Still growing into his paws. He didn’t stand a wisp of a chance.

“Oh, I can smell them,” he said. Smell them? I took a moment longer to study his face, realizing his eyes were glossed over in milky blue. Blind. A blind wolf? “I’m not going to fight you. I’m just saying…that girl was slated for the Olympia Pack’s Alpha. I don’t think he’ll be too happy, and his punishment is worse than death.” The strange wolf pointed to his eyes, insinuating he knew from personal experience.

I was curious about that – how a wolf could go blind when we healed from so many things so quickly. But I didn’t have time to dwell on that. This girl was the concubine of my home pack’s Alpha? My blood had run ice-cold. My father would never do something like this. He was in love with my mother, his mate and Luna, and her generosity was so poignant that she didn’t allow him to treat omegas unfairly. If it was Kingston that was Alpha now...how could he? I didn’t believe that. There was no way.

“Anderson Cromwell would never do that,” I said.

The boy in front of me laughed. “How out of the loop are you? Anderson Cromwell is dead, along with his Luna.”

“Kingston—”

“Also dead.”

My head spun. My father, mother, and brother were all dead? How could I be this uninformed? I knew I distanced myself from reading or hearing about the Olympia pack, a personal blind spot I had allowed myself to keep from hurting. But to have not heard of their deaths…I was going to be sick. “Who then?” I said. “Who is the new Alpha?”

“Titan Barnes and his beautiful Luna, Abigail Cromwell, rule now.”