Chapter 117 The Rattlesnake's History
CORMAC
I'm running. Alpha doesn't run. Leaders don't flee. But I'm doing both.
Behind me, twelve enforcers. All that's left of my thirty. The others: dead, captured, or abandoned.
My pack. My authority. My power. Crumbling.
We reach the rendezvous point. Abandoned warehouse. Should be safe.
Should be.
My enforcers are looking at me. Waiting for orders. Expecting leadership.
I have nothing.
The battle exposed everything. My alliance with vampires. My payments from Hermetic Order. My betrayal of wolves for human gold.
Silas revealed it publicly. Everyone heard. Can't deny. Can't explain away.
I'm Alpha who sold wolves to humans. Unforgivable. Permanent stain.
"Alpha, what are your orders?" Beta Marcus asks. Loyal. Still trying to follow. Still believing.
I look at him. At all of them. Young wolves who trusted me. Followed me. Killed for me.
And I led them into massacre. For money. For power. For ambition.
"Don't call me that anymore," I say quietly.
"Sir?"
"Don't call me Alpha. I'm not. Not really." I sit on a crate. Exhausted. "I lost the right to that title today."
Silence. Confusion. They don't understand.
How could they? They don't know the history. The choices. The gradual corruption.
Let me explain. To them. To myself. To anyone listening.
It started when I was seven years old. Childhood. Innocent. Before corruption.
Father loved Callum more. I knew it. Everyone knew it. Callum was firstborn. Seven minutes older. Father's favorite.
Everything Callum did was praised. Everything I did was compared. Never good enough. Never quite right. Always second.
I tried harder. Trained longer. Studied more. Competed constantly.
Still second. Always second. Forever second.
The jealousy grew. Slowly. Gradually. Poisoning everything.
When I was fifteen, I met Mordaunt. Vampire lord. Charming. Powerful. Interested in me.
"Your brother overshadows you," he observed. "That's unfortunate. You're clearly more capable."
First time anyone said that. First time someone chose me over Callum.
I was hooked.
Mordaunt offered advice. Small things. How to undermine Callum subtly. How to highlight his mistakes. How to position myself favorably.
First compromise: I leaked pack business to Mordaunt. Nothing major. Just information. Seemed harmless.
Second compromise: I sabotaged Callum's project. Made him look incompetent. Father punished him. I was praised for fixing the problem I created.
Third compromise: I accepted money. Small amount. Reward for information. Felt wrong but I kept it.
Each choice led to next. Each compromise easier than previous. Gradual descent. Barely noticeable.
By twenty-five, I was deeply compromised. Mordaunt's agent. Parliament's informant. Betraying pack for personal gain.
Father never knew. Callum never suspected. Pack never questioned.
I was careful. Cautious. Maintained the facade.
Then Father died. Heart attack. Sudden. Unexpected.
Callum was supposed to challenge for Alpha. Traditional. Expected. Rightful.
I couldn't allow it. Couldn't be second again. Not after everything.
So I framed him. Embezzlement. Murder. Used my Parliamentary connections. Fabricated evidence. Destroyed him.
Sent my own brother to prison. Ruined his life. Stole his future.
For what? Alpha title. Power. Pride.
Was it worth it?
I thought so. For two years, I thought so.
Being Alpha was everything I imagined. Respect. Authority. Control.
But it was built on lies. On betrayal. On corruption.
And today, it all collapsed. Public reveal. Documented betrayal. Undeniable evidence.
I'm not Alpha. I'm traitor. Sellout. Monster.
Everything I did to Callum, I did to myself. Slowly. Gradually. Completely.
The enforcers are still waiting. Looking at me. Wanting guidance.
"Go home," I tell them. "Back to your families. Tell them I released you from service. You're not bound to me anymore."
"Alpha, we can rebuild. We can..."
"No." I stand. "We can't. I'm finished. Authority shattered. Respect gone. Can't lead when no one follows."
"Where will you go?"
"Somewhere else. Anywhere else. Far from here." I head for the door. "Tell pack I abdicated. Tell them to choose new Alpha. Someone worthy. Someone not corrupted."
"What about your brother? About Callum?"
I stop. Think about Callum. About everything I did to him. Everything I destroyed.
"Tell him I'm sorry. He won't believe it. Probably shouldn't. But tell him anyway."
I walk out. Leave the pack behind. Leave the authority behind. Leave everything behind.
Just Cormac now. Not Alpha. Not leader. Not anyone important.
Just wolf who destroyed himself trying to be something he wasn't.
The jealousy consumed me. The ambition corrupted me. The pride blinded me.
And now I'm nothing.
Walking away from pack. From power. From identity.
Toward what? Don't know. Somewhere far. Somewhere anonymous. Somewhere I can't hurt anyone else.
Maybe that's penance. Maybe that's justice. Maybe that's what I deserve.
Seven minutes. That's what separated us. Seven minutes of birth order. And I let it destroy everything.
Callum won. Not through fighting. Through surviving. Through being better.
While I became monster.
Gradually.
Inevitably.
Completely.