Chapter 28 #2
When he appears, he keeps his enforcers close. There are six of them I can see and more in the woods out of sight.
“Son?” he asks warily. “What are you doing here?” He sniffs the air, and his eyes light a little, probably because he can’t scent Aubrey on me. “Are you here to atone?”
“For what?” I scoff.
“For defending a human.”
I suppress a growl. I can’t lose control now, it’ll ruin my and my sister’s plan. But I want to hurt him for spitting the word human like a curse. Soon. “Why would I need to atone for that?” I bait him.
My father’s lip curls. “Look at him,” he says to his enforcers. “My son, the human lover. You know, I raised you right. A real son of mine would never consort with a weaker species–”
“Enough.”
He bares his teeth at me, realizing I just gave him an order. As an alpha, he should be able to resist me. But he can’t.
Because I’m stronger.
It’s time I prove to him that I’m not his son any more. I reject him and his toxic worldview, once and for all.
A cold wind blows through me, bringing me to that empty place where I feel nothing. I know what needs to be done, and I’m ready. “Call the pack. All of them. There’s something they need to see.”
His face grows red as he tries to resist the alpha command in my voice. Then he barks the orders to his enforcers. “Call everyone.” He stomps his feet, wanting to make the decision seem like his idea. But we both know what happened: I gave him an order, and he had to obey.
The pack gathers quickly. They’re used to being called to this spot to hear my father’s rants.
“I’m here to pass judgement on William White the Second. My father. You are no longer fit to be alpha.”
My father rocks back on his heels. “What?”
“You heard me. You need to answer for your crimes.”
“My crimes?” My father’s teeth are sharpening and growing too large for his face.
His wolf is taking over in his rage. “What about yours? Consorting with a human. I saw you.” He points at me and turns to the pack to accuse me of my so-called crimes.
“He picked her up in a limo. She was in a dress, and he was in a tux. He was courting her.” My father spits this like it’s the worst crime imaginable.
My wolf is on high alert. He saw me with Aubrey. The night of the gala, he must have been following me. He’s known I was with Aubrey for longer than I thought. If I missed that, what else did I miss? Something niggles in the back of my mind, a premonition of what’s to come.
“My own flesh and blood,” he rants. “And now he thinks he’ll challenge me? Take over my pack?”
“No,” I interrupt his raving. I need to get us back on track. “This isn’t about me. I have no intention of leading this pack. I’m just here to stop you, once and for all.”
“You want to fight? Prove that you’re stronger? That human has made you weak.”
I almost laugh in his face. Aubrey makes me stronger. I need to be the best version of myself just to deserve to breathe her air. “We’ll see just how weak I am.” I shrug off my jacket and toss it to the ground. We’ll fight as wolves.
My father won’t win.
And he knows it. So does the pack. Everyone’s watching closely, the mated pairs, the greybacks, the enforcers. Mothers hold their pups close, shushing them when they’d make a fuss. There’s an energy in the air. Change is coming.
My father stops ranting and turns to me. His voice turns whiny. He’s trying a different tack. “I tried, you know, son,” he says. “I tried to take care of the problem for you. I thought if the human was gone, you would see reason, but–”
“What are you talking about?” Goosebumps break out on my arms. “What did you do?”
“I did what needed to be done! I did what you’d do if vermin overran your home. I hired an exterminator to take her out!”
The world goes black for a moment. When I come to, I’ve crossed the clearing and am holding my father by the throat. Everyone’s shouting, but all I can see are the whites of my father’s eyes. If I just squeeze a little harder–
“Billy,” my sister’s voice is calling. “Billy! Stop,” her voice takes on a tinge of alpha power. The command rolls down my arms, making them weaker.
“Not like this,” she says. “I know you want to kill him, but there’s a right way to do this.”
I drop him and step back, and my sister orders everyone to step back. They all do although the enforcers don’t look happy about it.
My gut feels hollow, like I’m going to be sick. My father was a bigger threat than I thought. I missed it and almost lost my mate.
“Is this true?” my sister asks my father. “Did you try to harm Billy’s human friend?”
“Mate,” I say, needing to publicly claim Aubrey. “The human is my mate.”
A murmur ripples through the watching wolves. Half the pack looks stunned, but some look curious. This seems to incense my father.
“Harm her? I tried to take her out! She poisoned his mind.”
The hitman in Monaco. Sentience wasn’t behind it. Luka’s pack wasn’t, either. My father was.
My own father tried to take my mate from me forever.
“How?” I ask. “Where did you get the money?” He’d need a hefty amount to hire a hitman.
“He bankrupted us,” one of the elders speaks up.
She’s a stooped, grey-haired woman with gnarled hands resting on a carved wooden cane.
“He’s been draining the pack funds for his own personal gain for years, but it’s been getting worse.
And a few days ago, I discovered he’s cleaned our savings out. ”
“Is this true?” Boudicca asks gently. The elder nods, and a few others murmur agreement. The pack seems to drift closer to my sister, looking to her for guidance. She confirms a few details and then looks back at me, “I knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”
“You shouldn’t even be here,” my father snarls at her. I can’t even look at him right now. If I do, I’ll tear off his head. “You’re exiled, you traitor–”
“Be silent,” Boudicca says. She gives the order without even raising her voice.
My father’s mouth snaps shut. He looks surprised that she can command him, but much of the pack doesn’t.
A few of the enforcers start to move towards her, and she says, “No,” the power rolls out of her, stopping the enforcers in their tracks.
“Alpha,” the elder murmurs. Everyone stares at Boudicca. My sister sighs.
If it were any other moment, I’d say “I told you so,” to my sister. I knew she had the alpha ability. But I’m not in a joking mood. Not when I’ve just realized my father tried to murder Aubrey.
The wind shifts again. It’s time.
“Today is a day of reckoning. It’s been a long time coming.” My sister faces our father. “William White the Second, I now declare that you are unfit to lead this pack as alpha.”
“I second this,” I say. I’m following protocol, so no one can dispute the way we removed our father from command.
But I can’t stop myself from adding, “You are cruel. You’ve tortured humans and your own children.
You’ve exiled good wolves and brought out the worst in this pack.
” I see some heads nodding slightly. Many of the pack members don’t think it’s right that Boudicca was exiled. They still think of her as pack.
“You think that weakness should be punished, not protected,” my sister says. “You’ve confused cruelty for strength.”
“You’re a bully,” I add. “And it’s time to show you how pathetic you are.”
I kick off my shoes, continuing to disrobe.
“Billy,” my sister says. “Let me–”
“No. He tried to kill my mate.”
Her blue eyes hold mine. She wants to be sure I’m willing to take on the burden of fratricide. She’s protecting me even now.
That’s why she’ll make a great alpha.
“You’re the true alpha of this pack,” I say. “Not me. I belong with the Blackthroats. But first…I want vengeance.”
“All right.” She steps back to give me space. At some point, a black wolf came to her side. I recognize the wolf as her mate, Kali. The black wolf presses against Boudicca’s legs, and my sister rests a hand on her head.
I turn back to my father. “Face me like a wolf,” I tell him. “It’s time for you to die.”
My father’s face turns red. He wants to argue, but he can’t. He fights the compulsion, but he’s not strong enough to resist my softly spoken command. In the end, his eyes roll a little with fear.
It’s a little sad.
I wait until he undresses, and then I call my wolf and surrender to the change.
The fight goes quickly. Two wolves sparring. But my father is old and grey, and I’m snow white and fast. I slam my shoulder into him, and he goes sprawling. I’m on him in a flash, and from there it’s the work of a moment to sink my teeth into his soft belly and rip out his guts.
Then I shift back, and order him to shift, also. He morphs into human form. He’s sprawled in the dirt on his back, wheezing, trying to hold his organs inside his body. Trying and failing.
I feel no pity. No sorrow. This is simply a job that needs to be done.
I take a knee and clamp a hand around his neck.
“There’s something you should know,” I say. I speak softly, but I know every shifter can hear me. “I love my human mate. I will fight every day to deserve her. She makes me a better wolf, and I will love her to the day I die, even if she never thinks about me again.”
My father’s eyes widen. He tries to speak, but can’t do much more than gurgle on his own blood. I don’t let him speak. I will not allow my mate’s name to be soiled in his mouth. I choke him until his eyes grow glassy, and his body stills.
Power passes through me. I feel it. Everyone in the clearing does.
But it doesn’t rest on me. It moves through all of us–the power of an alpha–and settles on my sister. Her eyes flare bright blue, and then it fades.
“Alpha,” I greet her.
“Alpha,” the rest of the pack murmurs. One by one they begin to kneel.
It’s like I told her earlier. She always fought for this pack.
Protected the weak. That’s because she was meant to lead.
She was always an alpha, and it’s time for her to take her place.
It won’t be easy. Some of the enforcers will challenge her or leave.
But she has more allies than she thinks.
And she has her mate at her back. I’m learning that a wolf can do anything if they have a strong mate.
This execution should’ve been done a long time ago. But I didn’t do it for me or my sister, or even the pack.
I did it for Aubrey. Now, she’ll be safe.
And now I can go home.