The Ghost Mate

A Howl For War

The Border of Blood Creek Pack

6 Years Ago

Salem

I had just turned 19 three months ago, and I was suddenly tossed into a war that I should have known was coming. My father had been preparing to make me Alpha once I met my mate, but when I turned 18, she wasn't part of our pack, so I hadn't found her. Unfortunately, there was no time to look for her because, as I was graduating high school and preparing to ascend as Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack, the strongest and most fairly ruled pack, my father was having secret meetings with a beta family seeking help for their own pack. All of this was information I was kept in the dark about until about three months ago, when my father told me there was a she-wolf who would be turning 18, and mating with the Alpha of the Blood Creek Pack, regardless of mate status. Appalled as I was, I did not feel this was our problem. It was one girl and she knew about this mating at this point, so she obviously was fine with whatever was happening, even if it went against the wishes of our Moon Goddess. It felt as though this should be an easy option. That pack was willing to live with whatever consequences came with breaking the bond from the Moon Goddess to her intended. Either way, here I was next to my father, Alpha Jonathan, supporting him in extracting this she-wolf, under the moonlight of what the Goddess had provided us that evening.

"Son, while we wait for our signal, there is more you need to know," my father whispered under the cover of the brush next to me.

"What else could there possibly be, that would make this situation any better?" I was clearly annoyed at his most recent war tactics.

"I kept this part secret to protect our own pack until the very last minute. It is not just about this Beta she-wolf, Salem. It's about her entire pack and what evil they face if we do not provide this distraction, and war."

"I don't understand, father, you said we go in, get the girl, and get out. I agreed to help you with this beta family and their inability to follow through with a contract they willingly signed because you asked me to, but that has nothing to do with the rest of his pack."

The fact that my father and I were having this conversation directly before going into what would be the biggest battle I had ever faced, was irritating as it was, but now there is more information that is detrimental, but makes our willingness to aid a better excuse? I don't know why my father found this information was important to save until the last minute, but I didn't appreciate it. However, I was trained to have adaptability in these situations, so here I was ready for whatever curve ball it was that my father would throw my way. At least, I thought I would be anyway.

"The future of all women in that pack is at steak. Do you remember my childhood friends Kaylee and Laura?"

Confused as to how this is relevant to the current situation, "yeah, and you lost contact with them when they both went to Blood Creek."

"Well, Kaylee was murdered by Baron, her mate. Laura is the only one left. She signed this contract with Baron in order to protect her family until she could formulate a plan. She reached out to me recently with her husband Patrick, and begged for help. Baron wants to make all the women bend to the whim of his child and future alpha. He's seeking ultimate power and thinks pushing his son and his beta's daughter to mate, will help him accomplish that, while also making it repeat throughout the generations, remaining specifically in HIS own pack. We are here to help Laura's daughter run, and to take away ALL the power this Alpha has. Baron thinks he is so mighty that no one can take him down. He has managed to either place so much fear in the people he knows so they don't argue, or he's managed to disguise his true personality and made people love him to the point of believing everything he says."

Shocked by this information, I realized there was far more to this story than I originally realized. I had heard about Alpha Baron, and from my understanding, you were either his alliance or you were against him. Somehow, we managed to maintain our peace treaty with them that was created by my great grandfather, but something tells me this will not last much longer. It makes sense now, why we had to go at the last minute and without backup. If anyone got a whiff of this operation, we would likely have had many packs coming for our death. The plan ahead would be enough for us to pretend we made an honest mistake, until we were able to spread the word of the truth and take the Alpha down forever.

I nodded to my father as he clarified the plan in mindlink with our warriors, and no longer felt as though this operation was pointless.

We wait for the warning howl from two wolves, a male and female, as our signal. We are to go in, help distract the guards and convince them that we are coming in peace. We were celebrating the transition of Alphas by going on a pack run when we mistakenly came up to their borders out of our excitement over a new era. We do not fight unless we absolutely have to. This is to be a distraction away from their southern border. If you see someone heading south, do everything you can to stop it. I don't care if we have to go in like a herd of elephants to make it believable that we were too caught up in the change of leadership to notice we crossed borders. There will be a beta male and female at the northern border attempting to cross to our lands and you will allow only those two to pass through. Does everyone understand the plan?

As everyone responded in understanding, my stomach clenched in worry, and my wolf Stavros started pacing in anticipation of the war ahead. We sat for another twenty minutes when the howl for war rang out and we all stampeded towards the northern border. We immediately heard screaming for us to back off the land, so we all shifted to our human form to give off the vibe of peace. The captain of the northern border immediately came up to us.

"You have two minutes to leave our land or we will take all of you down. How dare your pack attempt to cross into our land!"

His anger was obvious, but we all raised our hands in surrender.

Now is your time to act like an Alpha, Salem, my father mind-linked me.

I stepped forward and cleared my throat.

"I apologize, Captain, I am Alpha Salem of the Blood Moon Pack. It seems in our haste and excitement of my new leadership, our traditional leadership transition run seems to have veered off course. We mean no harm and will be heading back to our pack land as we speak."

He seemed to be accepting that response when there was a snap of a twig coming from his west side. I had hoped that he hadn't heard it, but he turned his head immediately and spotted the betas who were supposed to be escaping, and their daughter? This was enough for them to be suspicious.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. Is that Beta Patrick and Laura I spot attempting to leave our land, and after curphew? You thought that we would be distracted by these foul mutts enough to help your dear daughter escape her promised mating with the Alpha's son!"

The captain was clearly angry and turned towards us then.

"I knew this was some ploy. Unfortunately for you, Blood Moon Pack, your time ends now. Warriors! Attack! And don't let Sara get away!"

At this moment I knew it was do or die, but we had to make sure we got Sara out of there. Our warriors fled forward as all of theirs came to us. Slowly, we saw more making their way from all directions of their boundary, and I knew they were right where we wanted them, even if it meant the war would start now. Suddenly, Alpha Baron made his appearance, and headed towards the betas who were fighting tooth and nail to get out. I started to smell blood and death so much, my nostrils burned, but then I heard the scream of anger come from the Alpha of Blood Creek. When I looked over, I watched him start to ram into the side of his beta, and knew it was time to help them. As my father and I approached them, we heard the alpha screaming.

"WHERE IS SHE!? You think I am a fool and won't find her?!"

He was beating Beta Patrick, and before we could stop him, Alpha Baron took his claws and slashed his beta's throat. His wife Laura howled in pain, as I searched for a way to stop the Alpha, when it suddenly dawned on him that this was indeed a distraction from the escape of the daughter.

"She's not here you idiots! They used a spell to make us think she was with them! Who is guarding the other borders?!"

Alpha Baron's screaming caused all his warriors to whimper and bow their heads as the captain from earlier spoke up.

"Sir, w- we were outnumbered earlier, so we called all our warriors here. Th- there is no one on the other borders."

At that instant, the Alpha slashed his captain's throat and turned to Laura. My father jumped in front of her to protect her, but it was useless. Alpha Baron anticipated that movement, and sprung to the other side, catching her by the throat.

"Oh Laura, such a pity. You would have created me many more powerful babies now that your husband is gone, but you let my possession go free. My son would have been the most powerful being. So this is your last chance to live. You tell me where Sara is and I will let you live. If not, I have a message for your husband in the afterlife. He would never have been able to protect his daughter from me. So what's it going to be, Laura, dear?"

She looked at him and spit in his face as a response and I watched him just as quickly slice her throat open. Shocked by what was happening before my eyes, I looked at my father, who had now squared up with Alpha Baron.

"Right now is not our time for war, Jonathan. I have other problems to deal with, but mark my words, I am coming for you and your useless pack for attempting to take something that belongs to me."

The amount of disrespect that came from Alpha Baron, just for addressing my father the way he did, made me fume with anger, but my father signaled for me to stop. Alpha Baron was right. Now was not the time. We had to inform the other packs of what was happening, and clearly, his warriors needed more training. We had already killed 50 of them with the 20 men we showed up with.

"Alpha Baron, it will be a pleasure to watch the earth swallow the blood of your body when that time comes, but you will not find that girl, and the Moon Goddess will weep at what has occurred here tonight. She will not allow you to have access to that child. When you have given up on that fight, we will be here, waiting for you. Unfortunately, it looks as though some of your warriors need some tending to first. We will meet again, Alpha Baron, and when we do, I hope to the Goddess that you will have found some grace and repentance for the crimes you plan on committing against our kind."

With that, my father and Alpha Baron both turned away as if we hadn't just been in a gory fight, and my father signaled for us all to retreat. As we were walking away, I faintly got a whiff of roses mixing with the scent of blood, but just as fast as it had arrived, it disappeared. When I got home that night, I fell into my first of many horrifying dreams that would occur during the next six years of war that was ahead.