The Predator's Invincible Heir

Chapter 11: The Alpha's Son

Liam's POV

The massive iron gates of the Blackwood Pack house loomed ahead, cutting into the late afternoon sky. As I stepped onto the gravel driveway, a strange sensation washed over me, like a nagging itch in the back of my mind. I stopped dead in my tracks, blinking at the empty space next to the porch.

Then, a small smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I remembered. Right. No keys in my pocket.

I hadn't driven my car to school today. In fact, I hadn't driven it in weeks. The very first time I had offered Aria a ride home, she had nervously declined, looking down at her shoes as if she didn't belong in my passenger seat. So, I simply stopped driving. I left my keys on my dresser and started walking every single day, just to ensure I could walk her safely to her doorstep. If walking in the freezing rain meant spending twenty more minutes by her side, I would do it every single time without hesitation.

Shaking the thoughts of her sweet, tear-stained face from my mind, I walked past the front security post. I offered the guards a warm smile and a sharp nod, which they returned with respectful salutes.

But the moment I crossed the threshold of the front door, a familiar scent hit the back of my throat. Pine wood, rich earth, and a sharp spark of lightning.

My eyes widened. Dad.

He was finally home. He had been away for what felt like forever, traveling to a distant, rugged pack near the Indian borders to settle a territorial dispute. Excitement flared deep in my chest, and my inner wolf let out a happy yip. I picked up my pace, my sneakers squeaking against the polished marble floor.

I couldn't wait to see him. Our reunions were always loud and full of life. My favorite thing to do was to sneak up behind his massive frame, jump onto his back, or throw a playful, heavy punch right at his chest. Dad would always gasp, clutching his heart with mock agony, pretending I had broken a rib while groaning about how his old age was finally catching up to him. I always laughed and told him I was way too old to fall for his dramatic acting, but the truth was, I loved it. I missed my father. I missed his booming laugh and his solid, unshakeable presence.

But as I rounded the corner toward the grand formal living room, the playful energy drained from my limbs. The air in the hallway grew thick, suffocatingly heavy with a cocktail of distinct scents.

I smelled Fred, my dad's loyal Beta, whose scent always carried the calm aroma of old leather. But mixed in with his was the bitter, dusty scent of Elder Marcus—Tanya's father. And right beside him sat Tanya herself, her cloying, overly sweet floral scent making my stomach turn.

The atmosphere in the room was entirely wrong. It wasn't a happy homecoming; it was a trial. I could practically see the smug satisfaction radiating off Marcus and Tanya from across the hallway. They thought they had a weapon to use against me.

I took a deep breath, squaring my shoulders, and forced a bright, bright smile onto my face. I broke into a small jog, unstrapping my heavy school bag and letting it drop carelessly onto the floor by the doorway.

"Dad!" I called out, bursting into the room. "You're back!"

I slid across the marble floor, stopping right in front of his grand leather armchair in mock seriousness. I crossed my arms and pouted. "Why didn't I notice your scent from the driveway, Papa? Perhaps it is because I have missed you so much that my senses are completely broken."

Before he could answer, I dropped onto one knee in front of him, mimicking a loyal knight. I playfully rested my hand on his knee, looking up into his handsome, weathered face with a wide grin. "Welcome home, Papa."

For a split second, the heavy tension in his eyes fractured. A warm, genuine smile broke through his strict Alpha expression, and the thick, angry aura in the room evaporated just a bit. Across the room, Fred chuckled softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I had missed Fred too; he was like a second father to me.

"William," my father spoke, his deep voice echoing off the high ceilings.

My smile faded slightly. My posture went completely straight. He only called me William when the jokes were over and the Alpha duties had begun.

"Yes, Dad," I answered, pushing myself up from the floor and standing tall under his piercing gaze.

My father leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His dark eyes locked onto mine, completely ignoring the visitors in the room. "What is this rumor I am hearing about you and a wolfless girl?"

The question hung heavily in the air. Before I could even open my mouth to explain, Tanya piped up from the sofa. She leaned forward, a triumphant, malicious gleam in her eyes. "She isn't just wolfless, Alpha. She is completely weak. Too weak. She is entirely a human liability."

I snapped my head toward her, my eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. The protective anger I had suppressed all afternoon flared back to life. "Have you ever actually met a human before, Tanya?" I asked, my voice dangerously calm.

Tanya lifted her chin, a boastful smirk crossing her face. "Yes, I have, actually. When I went to the city with my parents last summer. The city is crawling with them."

"Good," I countered, taking a slow step toward her, letting my dominant aura press against her skin until her smirk began to wobble. "So, you know exactly how a human smells. They smell flat. Empty. Like nothing but dust. Tell me, Tanya, look my father in the eye and tell him the truth. Would you honestly say that Aria smells like a human?"

Tanya opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She sputtered, her cheeks turning a bright, embarrassed red. "I... I mean... she..." She looked toward her father for help, completely trapped by her own lie. Anyone who had ever passed Aria in the hallway knew her scent was intoxicatingly unique—rich, complex, and pulsing with a hidden warmth that no ordinary human could ever possess.

"Liam," my father interrupted, his heavy voice drawing my attention back to the center of the room. He looked at me with genuine concern, his brow furrowed deeply. "You are the future Alpha of the Blackwood Pack. You cannot afford to take a weak mate. Our people need a strong Luna to protect them."

"She isn't weak, Dad," I said firmly, my voice echoing with absolute conviction. "Her wolf is just sleeping deep inside her. We are trying to figure out how to wake her up. But even if she never shifts, she is my mate. She was chosen for me and given to me by the Moon Goddess herself. She was given to me for a reason, and I will not reject her."

"Yes, she may be fated," Elder Marcus chimed in, his old, raspy voice dripping with judgment. "But powerful wolves have severed their mate bonds before, Alpha. The Goddess understands when a leader requires a better chance—a stronger breed to secure the lineage."

I let out a harsh, bitter laugh, clenching my fists tightly at my sides. The pure disgust I felt for these politicians was making my blood boil. But I knew I couldn't win this argument by shouting about love and fate to a room full of traditionalists. I needed to shift the focus to something they couldn't ignore.

I turned completely to my father, my expression turning deadly serious. "There is something far more important we should be worrying about right now, Dad. Something is hiding in our woods. A massive beast. A lion, or a mighty Lycan."

"What?" My father's head snapped up. He instantly looked over at Fred, his Alpha instincts putting him on high alert. The relaxed posture he had held vanished in an instant. "What are you talking about, Liam?"

"It roared two times last week," I explained, stepping closer to his chair. "A roar so massive and terrifying that it literally shook the ground beneath our feet while we were walking. The trees were trembling, Dad."

My father and Fred exchanged a deeply worried look. The air in the room instantly shifted from political bickering to pure, tactical survival.

Marcus, however, scoffed, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "I heard the roar myself from the pack borders, Alpha. It was loud, yes, but it must have been nothing more than a stray, overgrown lone lion passing through the mountain trails."

"It is no ordinary lion, Marcus!" I snapped, glaring at the old man. "Aria and Tiffany encountered it face-to-face that day. They couldn't even see it at first because it was completely invisible. It didn't even blink when Tiffany charged at it. It just swiped its massive hand and knocked her out cold. And Aria said it has a conscious voice. It spoke directly into her mind. It can talk."

My father suddenly launched himself out of his chair, his face turning completely pale as he stood at his full height. "A Leorix!" he shouted, the sound of the ancient word ripping through the quiet room.

Fred stood up right beside him, his hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of his hunting knife. "This is bad. This is very bad, Alpha."

Elder Marcus blinked, looking utterly confused by their sudden panic. "A Leorix? Sire, those are nothing but children's bedtime stories. A myth from the first generation. They don't actually exist."

My father turned his piercing gaze onto Marcus, his voice dripping with authority. "You actually heard the roar with your own ears, Marcus, and you are sitting here calling it a myth? Fools ignore the warnings until the fire is at their doorstep."

Dad walked around his desk, his posture stiff and unyielding. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Marcus. I will look into this matter regarding the wolfless girl later. Be rest assured that Liam will only ever marry a strong breed worthy of our pack. But as for right now, you and your daughter will have to excuse us. We have Pack business to attend to."

The dismissal was absolute. Elder Marcus swallowed hard, realizing he had overstayed his welcome. He bowed his head tightly, grabbed a glaring, tearful Tanya by the arm, and hurried out of the living room to see themselves out.

I cast one last, warning glare at Tanya's back as she disappeared down the hallway, making sure she knew that if she ever touched Aria again, a simple dismissal would be the least of her worries.

The moment the front door clicked shut behind them, my father turned to Fred. "Lock down the borders. Double the patrols around the eastern ridge." He then looked at me, tilting his head toward the heavy oak doors of his private office. "Liam. In here. Now."

I followed my father and Fred into the inner chamber. The room was lined with old books and strategic maps of the territory. Dad slammed the door shut, locking it securely before turning to face me.

"Are you absolutely certain of what you are saying, Liam?" he asked, his voice dropping into a tense whisper. "An invisible beast that speaks into the mind?"

"Yes, Papa," I said, dropping the playful title and matching his serious tone. "I didn't want to say too much in front of Marcus, but I took a squad of our best soldiers into the woods to track it. We found the clearing, but there were no footprints, no scent, nothing. We couldn't find a single trace."

My father exchanged a grim, heavy look with Fred. The silence in the room was deafening.

"Go on," Dad commanded, pacing the floor. "Tell me everything."

"The girls were entirely shaken after the encounter," I continued, remembering the sheer terror in Aria's eyes. "We had to carry Tiffany back. When we took them home, Aria's father was there. He heard the roar from his porch, and he also said it sounded like an ancient... a Leo... Leor..."

"A Leorix," my father finished for me, his jaw clenching so tightly I could hear his teeth grind. He stopped pacing and turned to Fred. "Sam is stationed at the western post today, correct?"

"Yes, Alpha," Fred replied smoothly.

"Call him," Dad ordered, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "Tell Sam to take three of our strongest, most trusted guards into the deep woods. Tell them to bypass the main trails and bring me Morrigan. Now."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Morrigan? The witch?"

"Yes," my father muttered, rubbing his temples as if a massive headache was brewing beneath his skull. "She is the only one living in these lands old enough to tell us what this creature really is, why it has awakened, and what it wants from us."

Fear, cold and sharp, began to worm its way into my chest. I had never seen my father look this unsettled before. "Is it really that bad, Dad? What exactly is a Leorix?"

My father stopped and looked at me, his eyes filled with a heavy, ancient dread. "It is worse than bad, Liam. Ten strong werewolf packs fighting together would be no match for a single Leorix. There is no recorded history of one ever being killed by a wolf. They possess powers that defy our understanding—they can blend into the wind, becoming completely invisible to the eye and the nose. A Leorix will only show its true form to you if it explicitly wants you to see it."

My heart stopped. The blood in my veins ran completely cold as his words echoed in my mind.

A Leorix shows itself only when it wants you to see it.

Then... it deliberately chose to show itself to Aria.

A suffocating wave of protective panic crashed over me. What could a mythical, unstoppable beast—a creature that had my own Alpha father terrified to his core—possibly want with my sweet, wolfless Aria? What connection did they share?

"I'm not going anywhere, Dad," I stated firmly, walking over to the leather sofa in the corner of the office and sitting down. I crossed my arms, my jaw set in determination. "I am going to sit right here until Sam brings Morrigan through that door. We are going to figure out this mystery together."

My father looked at me, seeing the unyielding look in my eyes, and simply nodded. We sat in the heavy silence, waiting for the witch to arrive, while the dark shadows of the forest seemed to press against the office windows.