The Alpha's Pendant

chapter one

Christmas and Christmas eve had always been Simon's favourite days of the year. He had loved it ever since he was a kid. The snow, the gifts, the merriment, the joy. There was not a better holiday than Christmas to Simon.

This year's was different though. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the chickens in his poultry farm had not been laying eggs well for the past months and he was losing money badly or the fact that after long court proceedings he had lost custody of his two kids to their mother. Perhaps because it was going to be the very first Christmas he would be celebrating alone. He didn't know which. All he knew was that he felt so gloomy and empty inside it was almost like he had lost a loved one. He was definitely not feeling the Christmas spirit this year.

As he drove down the single lane road he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the rock and roll music coming from the stereo. He wasn't actually listening to it. His mind was far off. Far off in a distant city with his two children; Ivy and Andrew. Had everything been fine he would have been celebrating Christmas with them.

He would have walked into the house with a bottle of wine and they would have rushed to hug him and then they would have had Christmas eve dinner together and he would have popped the wine and they would have made a toast and later on, gone to church for the carols and then the next morning on Christmas Day, he would have bought them gifts and their grandma would have made Christmas sweaters for them. They would have been happy together as a family.

Dang! He felt like punching something. This was why he didn't like letting himself dwell too much on how messed up his life had become in such a short time. It always ended up leaving him seriously frustrated. Had someone told him at the beginning of the year that his wife would serve him divorce papers for no valid reason, he would have to part with half of his property, his children would be taken from him and by December he would be celebrating Christmas all by himself with nothing but a bottle of beer, some cigarettes and a couple of antidepressants before bed he would have never believed.

His heartbeat got a little faster and the veins on his arm stood up. He tried to calm himself with a few deep breaths. It took very little to set him off these days. He couldn't let that happen or he would be risking high blood pressure.

He let his mind drift off and he slackened his grip on the steering wheel. He could have dozed off right there and not have even worried about it. There were hardly any other cars here. It was all just a straight road in the middle of a mass of forest.

After about five minutes of driving, Simon got to that familiar sign board that led to the town he lived in. He took a left turn into the road that led to the small town he had called home for ten years now, Hillston.

Hillston had always been a quiet and peaceful town. With a small population of just a little above five hundred people, a great number of which consisted of old and retired people and families who owned farms on the land and lived in small bungalows, there were hardly any crimes, conflicts or the usual hustle and bustle you'd find in your regular large towns or cities. The adults went to work every morning in the larger towns over the hill while the kids went to the town's middle school. You knew everybody and everybody knew you. There were no McDonald's, no shopping malls, no gas stations. The inhabitants liked it just like that.

Perhaps one of the things that made the town of Hillston to be the way it was was the woods. Hillston housed a large forest. Coniferous forests. With the forests came a large variety of wild animals; Bears, deer, bison but most especially, wolves. It was general knowledge in the town that there were several wolf packs living in the woods, some of them were up to fifty strong in numbers. Periodic nightly howling was considered a usual occurrence and one would come across wolves from time to time. Mostly though, the wolves kept to the forests while the humans kept to their side of the town.

Hillston was different today, however. The usual tranquil town was filled with singing and jubilation and merrymaking as Simon drove in. He was at first confused. Hillston was never usually this noisy. Then he let out a melancholic laugh. Of course! It was Christmas eve, everyone wasn't going to be gloomy as he was this evening, were they?

In the distance you could hear the melodies of the Christmas carols from a church. Almost every house had their decorations set and Christmas lights blinked from all directions. Men sat in the local pub, drinking beer, laughing loudly and playing cards. Children ran around,wearing Christmas hats, playing in the snow, making snowmen, having snow ball fights, sledging and shrieking with laughter.

Simon parked in front of his house. A small wooden cabin he got for himself a few months ago. He preferred it these days, to the big empty house he had once stayed with his family a little way down the road. He had rented that house out after he got divorced.

The cabin in contrast with the other houses surrounding it, looked glum and dank. No Christmas lights or decorations adorned it as Simon had not had the time or the mood to set decorations up this year.

"Welcome Mr Simon, Merry Christmas." One of the sledging children said.

Simon waved at the child without saying a word and walked to the door. He reached for his coat pocket for his key but didn't find it. He searched his pants pockets it wasn't there either.

There was a beginning of a feeling of dread as he rushed back to his car, opened and searched it. He withdrew a few minutes, enraged and cursing under his breath, his fear confirmed. He had forgotten his house key in his farm.

Simon leaned on the car, took out a cigar and lighted it. Smoking, he stood thinking for a while. He had to get back to the farm but the car had very little gas and it had barely been enough to bring him back home. The only thing he could do now was to walk back his farm, a distance of almost a mile away.

He remained leaning on the car for about fifteen minutes. He sighed and smiled ruefully to himself. He didn't have much of a choice, did he? It was either that or he would have to spend his Christmas eve night sleeping outside in the snow.

He put on his coat and winter hat and took a flashlight from the car. The good thing was that at least he had found a shortcut to his farm through the woods a few months back. If he took that route he would be able to reach his farm in about fifteen minutes.

He crushed the cigarette in his hands, locked his car doors and walked, past the children who were sledging and screaming in delight, towards the woods. He passed the church as he walked down the road, the carol was still in full swing. He felt a pang of longing for his children. Had they been here with him, they would have been together among the congregation of the church right now.

The music coming from the church grew fainter until he could no longer hear it. He switched on his flashlight as he entered the dark and silent woods.

A light snow began to fall. He rubbed his hands together for warmth. He still had his winter coat on but he had left his gloves behind. Night was falling fast. He had to move quickly. He didn't very much fancy the idea of walking alone in the night in this wolf-infested woods.

A funny tingling sensation at the back of his neck made him feel like he was being watched. He whipped back but he saw nothing. He thought he had heard something rustle in the undergrowth. Perhaps some rodent? He tried to control his heavy, nervous breathing and frenzied heartbeat. He had been in this forest several times, hadn't he? Why was he suddenly being anxious?

He walked on, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling that he was being watched and followed. He could not help glancing back severally every minute. Perhaps he should not have passed this route? Perhaps he should just go home and sleep on the porch for the night? No! He thought forcefully, chiding himself. This is silly. He had passed this place before several times. Why was he feeling fear then?

As soon as he had that thought, there was a sudden howl. He froze in horror, his heart beating madly. It was not like he hadn't heard a wolf howl before, infact he heard wolf howls nearly every night. The thing was that he had never heard one so loud and close.

There was a rustle in the bushes and Simon instinctively reached for a stick on the ground. He raised the stick, poised to strike whatever it was that was approaching but he was surprised when it was a woman who emerged from the bushes. She had a baby strapped to her chest with a baby carrier.

She had seemed not have noticed him. She had her hands on her knees, panting for a minute then she turned and gave a small yelp when she saw Simon with the stick raised.

The woman stared, wide-eyed at him, her chest heaving. Simon let down the stick slowly.

"Who are you?" Simon asked.

"Who are you?" The young woman echoed.

They contemplated each other. The woman was rather young, she couldn't have been more then twenty. She was tall and slender, had long, blonde, almost white hair and thick eyebrows. Simon noticed a sort of locket on her chest that seemed to glow green in the dark forest. She had seen him looking at it. She shifted her dress up, and the locket disappeared out of view.

"What are you doing so deep in the forest?" Simon asked.

"I suppose you must be a human." She said, her thick eyebrows knitting.

"Wha……of course I am a human!" Simon said indignantly.

"If you know what is best for you, human." The woman whispered. "You'd better leave here as fast as your human legs can carry you……"

She stopped abruptly. Simon had heard it too. Another howl, even closer this time, had rent the silent night again. Without another word, the young woman turned and ran, disappearing between two bushes.

Simon stared after her for a second. He was absolutely confused. What in the world was that? The way she had called him “human”, as though she wasn't?

He didn't have much time to brood on what had just happened because he suddenly heard footsteps of something running towards him. He managed to dive behind a tree before, a split second later, about six wolves ran into the clearing he had just been in.

They stopped and sniffed the ground. Simon's heart beat frantically. He was beginning to wish he had just slept on the porch instead. All he could do was pray and hope with all his might that they would not discover him.

"I think she went that way." Simon thought he heard a strange snarling human voice say.

Simon dared a peep from behind the tree. There were no other people around, just the wolves sniffing the ground. Who had spoken then?

He heard footsteps again and he dared another peep from behind the tree. The wolves were running off in the same direction the woman had taken.

Simon's taut body relaxed. They had not found him out. He would go back home. He didn't have the heart to continue this journey to the farm anymore, not with wolves running all over the place. He would just sleep outside.

He was about to turn back when he heard a small yelp in the distance and some excited howling. He paused in his tracks. That must have been the woman he just met. Did that mean that the wolves were after her? He didn't understand. Of all the plentiful prey in this place, why would the wolves go after a woman with a baby?

His instincts told him to just ignore it and go back home but he couldn't. He seemed glued to the spot. How could he leave an innocent woman and her child to get mauled by wolves?

So he followed as quickly and quietly as he could. It was hard keeping pace with the woman and the wolves but he managed to keep them in sight. His insides squirmed unpleasantly as he imagined what it would be like if the wolves tried to eat the woman or her child. Why would the wolves even try to eat her? There was plenty of prey in this place for them to hunt.

He heard a high pitched scream and a thump as the wolves finally caught up with their quarry. Abandoning all pretence of stealth, he ran, full breakneck speed to where the woman lay still clutching the weeping baby in her hands and surrounded by wolves.

Simon crouched down again behind a shrub, his heart beating a tattoo and a painful stitch at his side. He tried to quickly think up a plan to try and rescue the woman. Perhaps if he could get a stick or a machete he might be able to scare the wolves away? Or would there be time for him to run back to town and get a g*n?

He stood still, staring, his mind was racing but the wolves neither tried to attack the woman or her child. They stood there, merely looking at her writhing on the floor. Simon squinted at the young woman. He was a little surprised that she didn't seem afraid by the fact that she was surrounded by six wolves intent on eating her. Rather her face was frowned and her teeth clenched in defiance.

One of the wolves walked forward. Something strange seemed to be happening to it. Its limbs were elongating, its claws were turning slowly to fingers, the fur drained from its body and face. There was a horrible, choking sound and within a second, where a wolf had stood, there now stood a tall, black man, wearing a coat. Simon's mouth dropped. The wolf had transformed into the man? How? Did that mean………no! It could not be. The idea was too absurd to even bring into thoughts.

"Well, well, well, Bertha, where did you think you were running to?" The man said. He had a raspy, cold voice that sent shivers down Simon's back.

The woman, Bertha, did nothing, except maybe clench her teeth harder.

"Not trying to escape the rule of alpha Lucas now, are we?" He said with a mock smile.

The woman let out a mirthless laugh.

"You are a fool Ragnick. Lucas is not alpha. He didn't pass through the usual process of becoming alpha. He will never be alpha of this pack." Bertha snarled.

"Bertha, Bertha." Ragnick said, still smiling coldly. "You of all people, as the Beta of the pack should know that rules and protocols sometimes have to be … ah, twisted or dodged for the benefit of all."

"Benefit of all?" Bertha spat angrily. "Lucas killed my husband, the alpha, murdered half the werewolf ruling council and sent the pack into a confused frenzy and you call that 'benefit of all'?"

"Sacrifices sometimes have to be made for greater good." He said, smiling broadly and showing uneven, yellow teeth. "But I am not here to banter words with you.

Ragnick brought out a pocket knife from his coat pocket and caressed it, almost lovingly.

"You see you are right in a way, saying Lucas will never be alpha because indeed he will never fully be alpha. We actually do not care if you and your child leave the pack. What we actually need is the thing you are in possession of that will complete his status as alpha."

Ragnick stretched forth his hand slowly. The smile had vanished from his mouth now.

"Hand over the pendant, Bertha."

"I'd rather die." Bertha snarled venomously. Simon saw her clutch the locket on her chest tight.

"See, you don't have much of a choice Bertha. You could just give us the pendant, you and your child are free to leave. We promise we will never bother you again. If, however, you try to prove stubborn, my men will tear you and your child apart, and we will still take the pendant anyway."

"I said, I would rather die!" Bertha shouted.

There was a short pause as Ragnick looked at Bertha who was still lying on the ground and clutching the locker defiantly. He seemed as though he was contemplating what to do with her.

"Very well." Ragnick sighed. "Let no one say I didn't give you a chance at life."

The wolves started inching closer to her, baring their teeth and growling. Simon had to bite his tongue to prevent himself letting out a yelp of fear. If he wanted to save the woman it was either now or never, but he didn't even know how he could save her. His brain seemed strangely jammed with the absurdity of it all.

"If you won't give us the alpha's pendant peacefully," Ragnick said. "Then I guess it is the right time for me to say….bye bye forever, Beta Bertha."

The wolves all leaped at her together. Simon could not watch. He turned away and shut his eyes, waiting for the screams and the snarls as the woman got devoured.

There was silence. Simon opened his eyes slowly. What had happened? He turned and peeped from behind the tree.

The wolves were all suspended in midair. It was as though they had jumped on an invisible bubble around the woman.

"What…." Ragnick shouted, his mouth opened in astonishment. Bertha rose slowly to her feet. She was stil clutching the pendant. It was glowing green. She smiled at the look of stunned incredulity on Ragnick's face and made a sweeping movement with the pendant. The wolves were thrown off to the ground.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ragnick." She said. "But I will be the one saying a goodbye to you."

"NOOOO!" Ragnick screamed as the pendant glowed a bright green again, growing brighter and brighter until it practically blinded everyone in the vicinity.

By the time the light died down, Bertha had already disappeared with her child.

Ragnick let out a shriek of rage while the wolves howled in similar expression of anger and frustration.

Simon was still slumped in the bushes, his heart beating hard and fast, his eyes wide and his mouth open wordlessly, his mind full to the brim with everything he had just seen.

*********************************************************

Fifteen years Later

Callistan walked down the hallway lit by torches of fire towards the throne room, his footsteps echoing on the wooden floor. His eyes were red from tiredness and lack of sleep. He had been working almost non stop for the past two weeks, using every iota of intelligence and cunning and knowledge he had in werewolf tracking and finally, he had good news to deliver to the alpha. Finally, perhaps, the alpha would order his removal from solitary confinement in the dungeons with a sentence hanging over his head.

The distant entrance to the throne room became clearer in the dim, evening light as he approached. The large door was flanked by two grim-faced guards holding spears five foot long. They stared hard at him as he got closer and crossed their spears as he got to the door.

"I……I request to see the alpha." Callistan stuttered, eying the glinting head of the soldier's spear nervously.

"He is busy, as you should have guessed, with the werewolf ruling council." The guard replied.

"Sorry, but I've got to tell him what….."

"Whatever you have to say can wait, I am sure, Callistan." The guard said firmly.

"It can't." Callistan insisted. "It is about the pendant, see?"

The guards hesitated for a moment, they looked at each other for some seconds as though engaged in a silent conversation, then slowly, they pushed open the large doors leading to the throne room.

The muttering coming from the room died down as all fifteen members of the ruling council and the alpha looked in the direction of the slowly opening, creaking door to see who had interrupted them. Callistan walked into the large throne room and the large doors slammed shut behind him. The light in here was even dimmer than the one in the hallway. The windows were draped with tall curtains and the only source of light was from small torches of fire hung high up in the ceiling.

"Callistan. You had better have a good reason for disturbing my meeting with the ruling council." A cold voice echoed down the room.

Callistan gulped and walked forward. He couldn't help trembling slightly. He had to squint to see his way through the semi darkness of the throne room as he placed one frightened foot after another. This place always seemed to instill and radiate an inexplicable feeling of fear. How many of his friends and even family had he seen executed in this throne room? How many had been thrown into the dungeon on a single order from the alpha, never to be heard from again?

He finally reached the throne. On it sat a tall man with long dark hair that reached his shoulders and green eyes that stared coldly as he approached, a merciless sort of stare as though he was imagining how it would be like degutting him. He was Alpha Lucas, the evil tyrant who had seized power of the silvermoon pack fifteen years ago. His expression reflected cruelty and perhaps, disgust. He wore a long, black cloak and a ring rested on his finger. Seated around him on lower stools were old, bearded men wearing white robes and three wolves all staring at him. They, he knew, were the werewolf ruling council.

"M…….my Lord." He stuttered, bowing deeply. "I……..I……." he gulped and tried to steady his heavy breathing. "I have news about the pendant. Well, about the boy actually."

The attention of every member of the council seemed to be roused by this and they all sat up straighter.

"What about the boy?" The alpha said.

"I have, after several nights, finally been able to track him down."

A muttering broke out among the council. Alpha Lucas peered down at Callistan. Callistan however, fixed his gaze on the tiled floor. He glanced up at alpha Lucas for a moment but looked back down again, quickly as though his eyes had scorched him. You could not have been able to tell whether alpha Lucas was pleased or unpleased with this news. His face was completely devoid of expression.

Alpha Lucas raised his hand and the muttering of the council immediately died down.

"And you are sure about this?"

"I am, my Lord." Callistan replied.

The silence wore on for several minutes. Callistan stood still, still staring hard at the floor and rubbing his sweaty palms together. Alpha Lucas said nothing, but continued to stare at him. The council started muttering again.

"Yes." Alpha Lucas said finally, and the muttering died down again. "Once I have that boy, getting the pendant should be easy." alpha Lucas whispered. He seemed to be talking to himself than anybody else.

"Very well" he said after a short pause. "Prepare two of our most seasoned soldiers." He said to one of the wolves. "We will send them tonight to get the boy."

The wolf bowed to alpha Lucas and then ran down the full length of the the throne room, out the door and out of sight.

"Dismissed!" Alpha Lucas said, gesturing that Callistan should leave.

Callistan however, stood there looking up at alpha Lucas and trembling slightly.

"Well…" alpha Lucas said coldly, his eyes widening maliciously. "What else do you want, Callistan?"

"M….my Lord, you said…..y…you promised…." Callistan stammered.

"I promised what?" alpha Lucas said.

"You said if I were able to track the boy down. You'd…..you will release my wife and child back to me. You said I would be released." Callistan said, tears streaming down his eyes.

"Isn't it enough, Callistan," alpha Lucas said, getting to his feet and making Callistan flinch. "that I allowed you to live? I could have killed you when you tried to escape the pack."

"I… I know my Lord…" Callistan said, trembling as alpha Lucas walked slowly down the steps, his long cloak dragging on the floor behind him.

Alpha Lucas came to a stop right in front of him. Callistan stared on the floor. He could feel the alpha's eyes on him. He could not breathe properly. It was as though the alpha's stare choked him.

"You are an ingrate Callistan. Have I not been generous enough?" Alpha Lucas whispered.

"I…know…but my Lord….. please…mercy…." Callistan said in a shaky voice.

"Guards!" Alpha Lucas shouted.

Immediately, the doors creaked open. Two guards ran inside the throne room and bowed to alpha Lucas.

"Take him back to the dungeons." Alpha Lucas said.

The guards seized Callistan under the arms and dragged him away.

"No! No! Please! I just want to see my wife! I just want to see my daughter,please! I will do anything." He screamed, kicking and struggling to get out of the guard's grip.

The doors were shut with a bang and Callistan's screams died off. Alpha Lucas walked back to his throne. He opened his mouth to speak again but this time around he said in a feminine voice quite different from his; "Luke! Wake up!"