Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Axel shook his head.
“Tonight, the flames will be empty,” he said. “This pyre is for all that you and the other survivors lost. Tomorrow you and the others will go with Alpha Alexander to Summer. I will stay behind and gather the dead.”
“Then his pyre will be tomorrow?” she asked. “I should stay.”
“No,” Axel shook his head. “It’s not safe.”
“But–”
“We aren’t more than a day from Summer. With the number of dead, there will be at least ten pyres. Look to the sky in the evening. You will see the plumes. Think of your parents then.”
Amy nodded, holding back her tears.
“I’ll leave you to your thoughts,” Axel said, turning to leave.
“No, wait,” she called. “There was a reason I asked you to come out here.”
Axel turned back to her.
“What is it?” he said.
“I don’t know if it matters or not, but I heard something yesterday… from my father. He was our Alpha.”
“Okay,” Axel said. “What did you hear?”
“We received gifts, I don’t know from who, but my father said it was a surprise. Our first-class units were each meant to have one,” she began. “Mathew, Eric, Di, and Theo came by the house. My father gave them each whatever it was. And then they took the box to deliver to the rest.”
“Okay…” Axel said. “I can see how that might be suspicious… but…”
“That’s not all,” she said. “Joey, my boyfriend, he was the one you were talking to a little while ago… he told you that it started with just four. It was them. Mathew, Eric, Di, and Theo.”
Axel’s eyes widened.
“And when the others joined… it was the first-class units… Thirty wolves that killed over one hundred.”
The morning came with a heaviness that touched all of them. The survivors looked back towards their home with despondency and pain. Then, they trudged along the road toward Summer.
Alexander watched as Axel hugged and consoled several of the elderly and a few of the teenagers. He had known their parents. Their brothers and sisters. He could offer them comfort. But Alexander had only ever met their Alpha, a man that was torn apart while trying to call for help as his pack was decimated.
Summer was opening their gates, welcoming the survivors into their homes. But Alexander couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t too little, too late at this point.
Jonas limped over to Alexander.
“Looks like that wolf got you good,” Alexander said.
Jonas squeezed his thigh, wincing at the pain.
“A small wound,” he smiled. “But enough to prevent me from following the escort. I return home from here.”
Alexander nodded.
“I’m sure Liara will appreciate that.”
“That she will,” Jonas smiled. “My boys are all ready. They have spread themselves out among the crowd, offering what they can, where they can. Once you meet up with yours, they’ll just run on home.”
Alexander nodded.
Jonas looked at Alexander with concern.
“What is it?” Alexander asked.
“Do you know who did this?” Jonas asked.
“No,” Alexander said..
“Could you have stopped it?”
Alexander sighed.
“Could you?” Jonas asked.
“No.”
“Then stop acting like it’s your fault,” Jonas said. “Ain’t nobody blaming you. You ain’t got a right to that guilt. So, let it go.”
Alexander nodded.
“Thanks,” he said.
Jonas waved him off and turned towards Amy.
“Hello, Darlin’,” Jonas said with a soft smile. “You know, you and your sister are welcome to come back with me.”
Amy smiled. She offered him a hug.
“Thank you, it’s kind of you to offer, but I think we should stay with the others. There aren’t many of us left.”
“You’re a good girl, Amy. Your momma and daddy would be proud.”
Amy smiled. She thanked him again and then hurried off to find her sister.
Once they were ready to go, Alexander and Jonas approached Axel together.
“I’ll let you know what I hear back from my scouts about the other packs,” Alexander said.
“I expect I will have something to share when I return home,” Jonas added.
“I heard from Saul a little while ago,” Axel said. “He only had news about one pack, Frostbite.”
“Do we consider them a pack? They are practically rogues.” Jonas asked with a scoff.
“Just because they embrace the wolf almost as much as you reject it?” Alexander asked.
“We don’t reject the wolf, boy. We just don’t rely on it for our strength.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Anyway…” Axel said, interrupting their bickering. “Frostbite wishes to meet with me. He said they wish to negotiate an alliance.”
“So, they approached you?” Jonas asked.
Axel nodded.
“That ain’t good,” Jonas said, shaking his head. “That means all these secret games you blessed boys been playing ain’t so secret anymore.”
“We haven’t been playing–” Axel began to argue.
“It really doesn’t matter,” Alexander interrupted. “Yes, it means that Autumn isn’t as worried about being found out anymore. So things might start moving much quicker now.”
Axel took a deep breath and pushed it back out.
“So much for a peace treaty,” Axel sighed.
“I’m still not sure how they have worked their way around that,” Alexander said.
“That ain’t hard,” Jonas said.
“What do you mean?” Axel asked.
“It’s simple. I signed that treaty for my wolves. But if one of them decides to follow another alpha, my oath to the Goddess don’t mean nothing to him.”
“So, what? They are taking the packs and leaving the alphas behind? Or killing them off? But wouldn’t killing them still break the oath?” Axel asked.
“Depends how it’s done,” Jonas shrugged. “Let’s take Eclipsed, for example… they turned on themselves. There ain’t nothing wrong with that in respect to the oath. And the others, Whiteridge and Shadowcrest, you said it was a former wolf of Winter that killed them, right? That makes him a rogue. Oath don’t apply.”
“Goddess…” Axel sighed. “What was the point of the damn oath if there are so many ways around it.”
“We didn’t know how bad it had already gotten,” Alexander said. “We thought we still had time. The treaty was never intended to stop the war from coming. It was supposed to slow it down.”
They sat in silence. There was nothing more to say. The blood had been spilled, and the battle lines were being drawn. All they could do now was try their best to prepare for what they knew was coming.
“I’ll return to Winter tomorrow morning. But, tonight, I will honor the fallen,” Axel finally said, breaking the silence.
“Good,” Jonas said. “I’ll have a drink to honor my old friends this evening.”
“And I will ensure that the survivors are taken care of,” Alexander added.
The three alphas said their goodbyes, and each left to go their separate ways.
It was five hours later when Alexander and the survivors arrived at the rendezvous point. The wolves of Broken Crag that had accompanied them separated from the crowd and moved to stand aside while Alexander approached Galen.
“Do we have everything arranged?” Alexander asked. He looked past Galen to see three vans and several SUVs lined up waiting to be filled.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?