Chapter 49: An Alpha's death

Benjamin’s POV

“No!” I screamed out as I leaped above the rogues to try and stop Mina from killing herself.

I thought back to all of the moments that had led me here, to her and everything that could’ve gone wrong.

If a minute ago, the young rogue hadn’t appeared out of the woods, I would’ve waisted my time going through the ranch.

If an hour ago, Craig hadn’t decided to tell the truth, I would’ve been nowhere near Mina.

If a week ago, my sister hadn’t followed her intuition, I would’ve never began my search for her.

At every turn, someone else had stepped up for Mina, but this time, it was my chance to finally prove myself to her. I threw myself on her body with all of my weight and knocked the knife out of her hands. I looked down at her tired face as tears rolled down on my own. I wasn’t too late and she was still alive.

I could hear my men arriving a few seconds after me and a vicious battle between them and the rogue wolves erupting. We were outnumbered, that much I noticed quickly, but my warriors fought against worst odds before and won. Amidst the fighting, Mina was the only thing on my mind and getting her to safety was my main priority. I picked her up as she remained in and out of consciousness, but before I could run off with her, I came face to face with the rogue Alpha and an older woman.

“I believe you’re trying to steal something of mine, Alpha Benjamin.” He said to me with a smirk.

I could feel my anger reaching dangerous levels. He had been taunting me for way too long and his fraudulent claim on my mate was sending me over the edge. A burning desire to see him perish in the most horrible ways took over me and clouded my thoughts. I wanted to skin him alive where he stood and display his flayed body to anyone who would dare challenge me and attack the ones that I loved.

***Ryan!*** I mind-linked my Beta who appeared in a flash next to me completly bloodied.

***Take her to my truck and go home. Don’t stop for anything and guard her with your life.*** I ordered my second-in-command as I placed Mina’s beaten body in his arms.

***No problem!*** He replied before running out of the woods.

The enemy Alpha took a few steps after them, but halted in his tracks when I ferociously snarled at him.

“Take one more step towards my mate, rogue. I dare you.” I growled through my teeth.

“You just had to have everything, didn’t you, cousin?” He remarked snidely as he hesitated between attacking me and running off after Mina.

Before he could even make up his mind, the woman standing next to him decided for him.

“Forget her, Micheal. Kill him. Kill him now!” The rogue she-wolf shouted at him visibly upset by my presence.

Like her, I wanted absolutely nothing more than for him to attack me and leave my mate alone, but to our dismay, Micheal chose Mina. He took off in her direction, forcing me to chase him though the trees. The Alpha was faster than most rogues I had encountered and it took all of my strength to catch up to him and tackle him to the ground. He managed to get up swiftly from under me and send a boot to my stomach. He tried to repeat his move, but I grabbed onto his leg and sent him back to ground. I got on top of him and landed one punch after the other on his jaw. A need for vengeance had tunnelled my vision and as I focused on pummelling his face, I failed to see the tiny switchblade that Micheal had retrieved from his pockets. He stabbed me repeatedly in the flank until I crashed next to him and no longer had the upper hand. My wolf seized control of my mind and forced a shift before I became too shaky to sustain it. I didn’t resist and let Silas come forth as he was our best chance to get rid of the rogue and protect our mate.

While it was usually painless, my exhaustion paired with my injuries made the shift almost unbearable, but my body managed to transform into that of a large and angered black wolf. I snarled and barked at my enemy who, in no time, had done the same and shifted into a large reddish-brown wolf. In this form, Micheal looked awfully like Jaya, Roxanne’s wolf. It was an odd reminder that this deranged murderer was actually family.

I pounced on the rogue Alpha to rip his neck off, but anticipating my assault, he jumped to the side and violently pawed at my face. His claws nearly tore out my left eye as he dug into my skin. Silas pushed me to the back to use all of my remaining force and I watched as he charged into the bastard, sending him flying into a tree. I could hear his bones breaking on impact and before he could get up again, Silas ran towards the rogue and plunged his teeth into the rogue's neck. He was about to deepen his bite to kill him when another wolf tackled him from the side and made him lose his grip. The second wolf was female, older and weaker than the rogue Alpha. She was no match for Silas and he didn’t hesitate to attack her for protecting our mortal enemy.

It didn’t take much effort for my wolf to subdue the other rogue and as he readied to end her life with one breakneck strike, the Alpha jumped in front of him to protect her and received the fatal blow in her place. The claws ripped the flesh off of his neck and clipped his jugular. His large body fell onto the ground as blood shed from him profusely. The female wolf let out sorrowful long howls and whimpered in distress next to her dying rogue Alpha. As he gurgled blood and wheezed with every breath, I could tell his death would be slow and painful. Without understanding the pity I felt, I came back to the forefront and ordered my wolf to break his neck. Silas pushed the grieving rogue out of the way and with his canines, snapped the bones of his neck. Micheal let out a final gasp before he died.

The she-wolf had disappeared in the forrest and as much as my wolf wanted to chase after her, the ongoing battle between the rogues and my pack took precedence. We ran back towards my men to help them fight off what was left of the hostile group of mutts. The grounds were covered with giant paw prints as the wolves trampled and flattened this part of the woods. Blood and dirt mixed together to form a thin battle mat where broken tree limbs laid all over between each slaughtered mutt. It was truly a nightmarish sight. We joined the fight, taking on as many of them as we could.

***Alpha! Help!*** I heard the plea through the mind-link as I tossed a rogue into the air.

I was unable to recognize the voice calling for help and struggled to have a look around as the rogues kept appearing out of nowhere. From the corner of my eye, I could see Anderson’s wolf latch his mouth onto a rogues’ neck as he fought off another with his hind legs. The voice called out for me again and I whipped my head back towards Casey who was wrestling three of the foul beasts at once. I tried to hurry to her position, but was rammed on the side by another brute. I watched in horror as the jaws of two rogues plowed into Casey and ripped her skin off bit by bit.

***Casey, no!*** I screamed in disbelief as I howled my anger out.

All of a sudden, everywhere around me, my warriors wailed their pain for our fallen friend. A blind rage took all of us over and we doubled down in our efforts to win once and for all. We fought hard and ruthlessly until all of the remaining rogues died at our hands. By the time we were done, their corpses laid one next to the other, savagely beaten and mauled. Our own furs were saturated with blood, making it harder to assess our injuries.

***Is every one here alright?*** I asked the Blackwoods wolves surrounding me.

***Yeah.***

***Yes, Alpha.***

***We’re good.***

***Okay. I need two of you to bring Casey’s body back to the cars. The rest of us will go to the ranch.*** I ordered my men, fighting my emotions.

Two warriors who fought under Casey volunteered to honour their leader as the rest of us darted towards the remaining pack members. When we arrived, I was glad to see that Sheila and Jason had complete control of the abandoned base of command. There were lifeless rogues piled up in front of the cleared out, desolate house.

***We had some prisoners at first, but when we heard about Casey… we couldn’t control ourselves. Sorry.*** Jason explained tearfully through the mind-link as Sheila paced behind him.

***Don’t worry, I understand. Let’s take a tour of the place and make sure there are no more rogues lurking about.*** I said in a final order.

When we were done scouting the entire ranch and its surroundings, we retrieved back to the main road, shifting into our human forms in the process. There were plenty of back up clothes to wear in the cars and as we were getting dressed, I asked Anderson to hang back with me for a while. I sent eveyone else home while we went back to where I had left the rogue’s body. The mutilated Alpha laid on the dirt, his fur matted with blood and his face frozen in anger. It was finally over. My enemy and Mina’s abuser was finally dead. I expected to only feel relief, but his eyes made me feel something else.

“What’s wrong?” Anderson asked me concerned.

“I don’t know. He was my cousin, Andy. He was family.”

“No, he was a killer. He wanted our entire pack destroyed.”

“I know. I just can’t help but think that this could’ve been me. A few strands of DNA, that’s all.” I stuttered, unable to understand the slew of mixed emotions.

“You’re nothing like him, Benji. You know right from wrong.”

“Do I?” I asked staring into my Gamma’s eyes. “You’ve seen how I treated her. Can you honestly tell me that I’m any better than him?”

“You’ll find a way to make this right.” He tried to reassure me.

“How?” I questioned him again, bringing my eyes back down to the dead rogue.

“I’m not sure.” He answered back in a low voice. “But I know that standing here is not gonna’ help. Let’s get you back to your mate, okay?”

Anderson patted me on the shoulder and I reluctantly agreed to move. I wanted to see her and be with her, but I didn’t know how I could ever face her again.