Chapter 26
Braxton
“You’re going to regret this,” Horace sneers.
“Regret what?” Alpha Lightfeather roars. With the speed of his wolf, Alpha Lightfeather is in front of Horace. His mighty hand reaches out and grips Horace’s neck, then lifts him off the ground. “Don’t make me regret not killing the both of you? I can still make it happen,” he growls. With his feet dangling in the air, Horace’s face reddens as he fights to get out of Alpha Lightfeather’s clutches.
“You know I am a fair and peaceful Alpha, Horace but when my family and my Pack are threatened, the peaceful side of me no longer exists,” Alpha Lightfeather says. “Not only has your son disrespected my daughters but he had the audacity to threaten me as his Alpha. Now, you want to throw out your own threat?” Horace gasps as Alpha Lightfeather shakes him like a rag doll. “Thank you for making me realize that if I let you live, there’s a possibility for you all to return for retaliation.” He closes his eyes, holding his head back. In a wild tone, Alpha Lightfeather yells, “Pack members shift. It’s time for a hunt.”
All standing around begin to shift into their wolves. Horace frantically fights more, pounding on Alpha Lightfeather’s arm to no avail. Alpha Lightfeather lowers his head and opens his eyes. The eyes staring at Horace are that of his wolves. He grins wide with his canines extracted.
“This is the fair part of me,” he tells Horace. “I’m going to give you and Corey a thirty-second head start, to the house. After that, we will start hunting you. If you make it to the house without getting caught, I’ll let you leave peacefully but if you’re caught, well you know what happens, Horace. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this. It just so happens that you and your son are now the prey.”
Alpha Lightfeather eases up on his hold when Horace tries to speak. “Noah, don’t do this! I take back what I said. Corey and I will leave, and you will never hear from either one of us again.”
“It’s too late for that,” Alpha Lightfeather says, letting Horace go. “You should really try and wake your son up.”
Horace slaps Corey several times in the face before he starts to come around.
“Get your ass up,” Horace demands. “We’ve got to get the fuck out of here!”
Corey shakes his head from side to side trying to focus. You can see when reality hits his ass as he notices all of the wolves.
“Daddy,” he whispers in a shaky voice.
“Don’t daddy me. They are about to hunt us because of your greed and ego,” Horace screams as Corey stands next to him. “You need to shift now. We need to make it to the house before they catch us.”
“But,” Corey starts.
“No buts!” Horace shouts. “Shift now! We only have thirty seconds before they come after us!”
Horace says no more, shifting into his wolf, then taking off into the forest, leaving Corey. Corey finally follows his father’s lead and shifts, running off behind him.
Alpha Lightfeather lets out a bone-chilling howl before shifting into his large black wolf. His wolf turns his head to me, Nyah, and the others then grunt. We happily let our wolves take over.
I, for one, didn’t like the idea of Horace and Corey walking away Scott-free. They would eventually come back and be more trouble for the Midnight Pack.
When the thirty seconds were up, Alpha Lightfeather took off towards the forest. Knowing he is the best tracker from our Pack, I nudged Levi in the side to circle around to the right. He and Kenia sprint off. Father and James’ wolves stand behind me and Nyah’s.
Nyah gets ready to follow the others, but I jump in front of her. Through our mating bond, I tell her, “We can take our time. They won’t make it.”
“But how do you know?” she inquires.
“Just trust me,” I reply.
She hesitates but then says, “Okay, but if they make it to their house without getting caught, I’m holding you responsible.”
I huff. “The only thing I want to be responsible for is their demise.”
“Then I think we should head out to be a part of it or at least witness it.”
My wolf bows its head before I say, “Then let’s join the others. You know these woods, so we will follow you.”
Nyah yelps, running towards the tree line with us trailing behind her.
It doesn’t take long for us to find the mob of wolves biting into the air. We make our way through the angered wolves to find Horace and Corey back in their human forms, begging for their lives. Levi and Kenia wolves are to the right of them echoing the others. Alpha Lightfeather’s wolf is standing on the large trunk of a tree that has fallen over.
“Noah, please. I’ve been by your side for years and never questioned any of your decisions, but this one is not right,” Horace cries. “I beg of you to let me, and my son go.”
“That option has long passed,” Alpha Lightfeather responds.
I gawked at Alpha Lightfeather in awe. There are some things that confuse and shock me at the same time. Hearing Alpha Lightfeather speak while in wolf form is one. I’ve never heard my father do it.
“Yes, I can,” father says through his wolf, causing me to jump. I guess he must have sensed my curiosity.
Well, damn. Now I’m going to have to see if it works with my wolf.
Lowering his muzzle, Alpha Lightfeather tells his Pack, “The prey has been caught...now do what we would normally do.”
The Pack wasted no time attacking Horace and Corey. Their screams are mixed with the sound of the wolves tearing into their flesh. After a while, their pleas were silenced as the wolves backed away. Limbs lay on the ground, not knowing which body they belonged to. Although the wolves had blood around their mouths, none had eaten the flesh of Horace or Corey considering wolves do not eat their kind.
Alpha Lightfeather shifted back into his human form. Luckily, only a mere part of the Moon cascaded on his face and upper torso, not his other body parts.
“Guards, take what is left of them and bury it in the field we use for our enemies since they have become such.”
The guards shift back and begin to pick up Horace and Corey’s mangled body parts. While they are doing that Alpha Lightfeather addresses the rest of us. “Before all this went down with the Alpha challenge, and other bullshit, I had just put two young wild hogs on the smoker. With the time that has passed the meat should be damn near falling off the bone. So everyone, let’s get cleaned up and meet back at my house for a late dinner.”
The wolves howled with appreciation before scattering off. I took that as our cue to go back to the house for Nyah to get changed and to find me suitable attire, but as we started to walk away, Alpha Lightfeather stopped us.
“And where do the two of you think you’re going?”
Nyah glances at me before looking at her father, then clearing her throat. She hides her nakedness behind me. “We were going to get cleaned up before helping to serve the Pack,” she replies.
Alpha Lightfeather bends down and picks up a wide blanket. He wraps it around his lower torso, covering himself. As he makes his way down to us, I don’t know where Kenia got them from, but she is holding out robes for me and Nylah.
Once we have them on, Alpha Lightfeather jumps right into his interrogation. “So, you have mated with my daughter?”
“Yes, sir,” I unapologetically replied, taking Nyah’s hand in mine.
The center of Alpha Lighfeather’s forehead creases. “Our customs on the bonding ceremony are no different than your Pack in Texas, so why would you differentiate from our customs?”
I could lie to the man and give him a bunch of bullshit excuses, but I chose to keep it real with him.
“Honestly, Alpha Lightfeather, the only concrete answer I can give you is that my wolf and I recognized Nyah and her wolf as our destined mates. We might have bumped heads on a business level but that didn’t stop the pull of our bond. And when she didn’t deny me, I knew I had found my true Alpha female.” With the teeth of my wolves showcasing, I’m hoping it’s enough to get the Alpha off my back.
To my surprise, Alpha Lightfeather chuckles. “Don’t worry, son. You won’t be a part of the Pack hunting...” his smile drops. “Unless you break my daughter’s heart.”
Shit, I knew exactly what he meant, and I already knew I wouldn’t end up like Horace and Corey.
“Yes, sir, “I humbly responded.
Alpha Lightfeather then puts his focus on Kenia and Levi. “I haven’t forgotten your announcement either. We have a lot to talk about, so I hope you will have your answers together by tomorrow. My secretary will text you with the time for us to meet here.”
I would have thought Father would have interjected but knowing how strict he was with our Pack laws; Father wasn’t going to argue with Alpha Lightfeather regarding his Pack laws.
“We’ll be ready,” Levi says, stepping forward.
Alpha Lightfeather’s eyes scan Levi from head to toe before responding, “For your sake, I hope you are.”
Kenia and Levi went into the house to pack some of her things while Nyah and I stayed outside with Alpha Lightfeather, my father, and James.
“Nyah, how are you feeling?” her father asked with concern.
Nyah gave a small smile, patting her father’s hand. “I’m okay, daddy. I hate that it had to come to this, but at least we now know whose loyalty belongs to you.”
Alpha Lightfeather smiles, moving his head up and down. “Yes, that is a good thing, but what I’m really asking is how are you feeling about the way things turned out with Corey. The two of you were close at one time.”
Nyah looks at her father with an expression without any remorse or care. “Corey made his decision and had to pay the consequences for it. I will miss the friend I had years ago but not the person I had no ties with.”
Nyah walks away to the house, leaving us standing there. Once she goes inside, Alpha Lightfeather says, “She and Corey had been close since childhood, so to find someone you looked at as your friend turns out to be your enemy can have a significant impact.” He places his hand on my shoulder. “Give her some time, Braxton.”
“I will,” I return.
“Good,” Alpha Lightfeather responds. “Since the hour is drawing late, I would like to invite you all to stay here at my cabin. There are enough rooms to accommodate everyone, and I won’t take no for an answer. We’re family now.”