Chapter 10 10
Chapter 10 – Silver
I sank down in the corner of my cell, closest to her. I could feel a few broken ribs, but Haze wouldn’t be able to help accelerate the healing while I had silver on. From the corner of my eyes, I could see there were only a few inches of space between us. She was careful not to touch the bars.
“I’m sorry you got caught up in this mess,” she sniffed, keeping her eyes forward.
“It’s not your apology to offer,” I replied, sounding more intense than I had wanted.
Uncomfortable silence washed over us, and Haze urged me to speak to her. If it wasn’t for the silver, my wolf would have already taken control. Her scent had a calming effect on me, and it felt nice, like a shelter in the middle of a storm.
“We thought my father had died years ago when my brother ripped his eye out and sent him flying over a cliff. He was so awful to everyone, the bonds were weak. We didn’t know,” she said, just above a whisper.
“No one knew.” If her brother had known, he would have stopped at nothing to finish the job. “Well, I suppose my father and that traitor Georgios knew.”
“My father took control of your pack… he’s going to use the warriors to attack my pack.”
“Olympus Blood Moon is the strongest pack on this continent. Even if he teams up with Alpha Georgios and combines the warriors from both packs, he won’t stand a chance against your brother.”
“I heard he’s gathered a rogue army to help.” She looked down at her hands. “They want to lure my brother away from the pack by using me, so they can attack the pack and hurt innocent people,” her voice broke.
“Your brother—”
“I don’t care what they say about my brother. He’s the best thing that ever happened to our pack. Everyone from the oldest elder to the youngest pup loves him. He treats everyone with respect and fairness.” I could feel her distress pulsing through her aura.
Her loyalty and love for her brother and pack was fierce. Without thought, I reached my hand through the bars and took her hand in mine. She gasped at the contact. A warm wave of tingling energy flowed between our hands. She made no effort to pull her hand away.
“The bars, they’re burning you,” her eyes looked down to see the place my forearm was touching the silver bars.
“I hardly notice silver anymore. My wolf is strong, he’s able to heal the burns from silver.” I don’t know what possessed me to touch her.
“Will my wolf be able to heal the burn around my neck?”
“You’re Alpha born, your wolf should be able to handle it,” I tried to assure her, even if I knew nothing about her.
Her eyes locked on my chest, looking over some of the scars. “Are those from silver?”
I gave a nod. “My father gifted these to me when I was young before I had my wolf.”
“Seems you have something in common with my brother. Our father was cruel to us when we were young as well, more so to my brother. He lost his sanity when our mother was killed,” she gave me a faint smile.
My father was cruel because being cruel ran in his veins. The irony was comical, for someone named after the God of love, he was unable to love
anyone. At least their father had an excuse, wolves stood a fifty-fifty chance of losing their sanity when their other half died. Yet another reason I didn’t want a mate.
“How old were you?”
“I was four and Dimitri was twelve. We lived through four years of hell. When my brother got his wolf early, we knew it was a blessing from the Moon Goddess. He was finally able to rid us of the nightmare.”
Somewhere deep down inside, I was envious of her brother, The Beast of Greece. “I wish I had killed my father sooner,” my voice was cold. “Rid the pack of him sooner.”
“My father was a monster. When I was eight, he beat me pretty badly, I tried to run away,” she said. The savage side of my wolf longed for her father's blood. “The basement window at the Beta house was open so I crawled through. I hid there for three days before he found me. He accused his Beta’s mate of helping to hide me.” She shook her head and her eyes glistened with moisture. “They had no idea I was hiding there. He beat and raped her in front of us before he killed her.”
Her hands trembled and tears fell from her eyes. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. I was never the sensitive type, but for some reason, I wanted to pull her to me and comfort her. I may have not been able to kill my father, but I wanted to kill hers. To finally set her free from the monster. Haze was growing stronger, snarling, and raging. “Your father is the true Beast of Greece.”
We sat in silence for a while. Lost in our thoughts. My father was working for her father. In some sick twist of fate, I could almost understand why the Moon Goddess paired me with her. But she deserved better than what I could give her. Someone honorable. Someone who could take care of her for the rest of her life. She was born to be a Luna… a Queen, and I had no business ripping her away from a pack and family she loved.
“You didn’t want your pack?” She asked. “Is that why you didn’t challenge your father?”
I felt a wave of shame rush through me. It was in an Alphas nature to lead a pack. That’s why we were created bigger and stronger. I despised pack life because of my father, and because no one stood up to him when he was cruel.
“This place never felt like home.” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I rarely shared anything and now I seemed to be plagued with diarrhea of the mouth.
“You can make it your home. Turn it into what you want.”
The door creaked open again and we exchanged a glance. I released her hand and pushed back a little to give the illusion of space. “Keep your head down and don’t move.” She was still sitting where I could reach someone if I needed to.
I could hear several footsteps approaching. “Odessa!” A female voice sounded in relief.
I looked up and instantly recognized Alpha Dimitri Theodorus, Odessa’s brother. He had a strong resemblance to his father, minus the eye patch. He held a guard by his neck and pressed his face against the silver bars. The female standing beside him had raven colored hair and a strong aura of her own. Another ranked wolf followed in behind her, a Gamma. I was glad when Helena appeared at their side and ripped the keys from the guard as she rushed into Odessa’s cell to remove the silver.
“Thank the Goddess,” her brother stepped into the cell. “Are you okay?” He pulled her into a hug.
A growl ripped from me as Haze burned with jealousy. “It’s okay, this is my brother,” she gave me an assuring smile.
“Who’s this?” He asked her.
“I’ll explain later, we need to bring him with us,” she insisted. “We don’t have time for this,” Alpha Dimitri replied.
“I’m not leaving without him!” She snapped and I fought back a smile. She was a little thing compared to her brother who was about the same size as me, yet she had no problem issuing a command. She intrigued me.
“Fuck!” He waved his arm. “Hurry,” he commanded the Gamma who quickly stepped into my cell to unshackle me.
My aura would be harder to gauge at the moment while my wolf was still suppressed, and I didn’t know how long it would last. Once he removed the silver collar from my neck, I felt Haze growing stronger.
“Can you stand on your own?” The Gamma asked me, and I gave a nod. Helena gave me a quick smile before she took the keys from the
Gamma and rushed to another cell. She emerged with her father, who was limping at her side. The Delta was in terrible shape, and I moved to help her escort her father out.
“What happened?” I asked her.
“Stefanos,” she replied. “He killed Christos and when my father tried to step down from his Delta position, he locked him in the cell. The pack has been overrun by rogues,” she told me.
We made it to the tree line, and I said goodbye to Helena. She was taking her parents to seek refuge in Albania at her mother's old pack. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fight for this pack or let it fall. The only thing I knew for sure, was that I wanted to see Stefanos dead. I didn’t like the idea of the monster living in the same world as my mate.
“We need to get back to the pack before Stefanos does.” Alpha Dimitri said.
I was hesitant about joining them, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave Odessa just yet. It was my father’s warriors that Stefanos had taken to attack her pack. We started running through the woods and Odessa kept glancing at me. Probably to make sure I hadn’t run away yet. I was surprised when she insisted on bringing me along.
“We’re going to have to shift, the car is about ten kilometers away,” Her brother called out and Haze was thrilled at the chance to see his mate.
The others stepped behind trees to undress and shift, I didn’t have much on and stayed in place. I pushed my briefs down and shifted on the spot. Alpha Dimitri stepped out and to my surprise, he was the size of a small horse. I’d heard stories of the Theodorus wolves being big, but this was freakishly big.
Haze was also bigger than an average werewolf and much fuller, but Dimitri’s wolf had almost two feet on me. His teeth were bared, and he moved towards me, ready to attack as he released a growl. A split second later, a black female wolf vaulted between us and bared her teeth at the beast. She was normal sized and adorable with a white bib under her neck.
They stood for a moment mind linking. The giant black wolf huffed before he used his mouth to pick up his clothes and started running. Everyone followed and I moved a little slower so I could run just behind my mate. I had to fight with every ounce of strength I had to keep Haze from sticking his nose under her tail.
We were nearing the edge of our pack territory when the scent of rogues filled the air. Haze was the first to attack, ready to get a taste of blood. There were only five of them and with the help of the others, it didn’t take long for us to finish them off.
After a few more minutes of running, a parked jeep came into view. The others quickly moved behind the jeep to shift and get dressed. I shifted and the Gamma threw me a pair of shorts he retrieved from the jeep.
“Thanks.” I managed to say, just as Odessa wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. Warm waves exploded in my body, and I couldn’t remember a hug ever feeling this good.
“Odessa, I —”
“Please come with us,” she looked up at me and I was stunned.
“I’m not sure I’d be welcomed,” I tried.
“War is coming to my pack. I need you, Hades.”
Holy Hell! Hearing her say my name practically undid me. How was this even possible? A part of me wanted to get to the nearest phone and call Kazimir, to get out of Greece and never look back. The other part of me swelled with pride hearing her say she needs me. I did the only thing I could think of at this moment, I lowered my head to her neck and let her scent soothe the turmoil twisting inside of me.
“Who are you?” Alpha Dimitri growled behind us.
“Can we talk about this in the car? We really need to get the hell out of here!” Odessa snapped.
“He’s an Alpha! Who are you?” He demanded.
“I’m Hades Kappas,” I replied looking him in the eyes.
“YOU’RE EROS’ SON!” He roared and the ground trembled beneath us. I wondered if he was using dark magic. There had been rumors about unnatural talents.
“It’s not what you think,” Odessa told him.
“I’m no threat to you. My father had very little contact with me. My mother was a chosen mate, he never loved her or treated us well. I could care less about him or the pack,” I said. “I just want my mate!”
“Oh shit!” His Gamma whispered, sounding just as shocked as I was when I heard those words leave my mouth.
“Your mate?” The raven haired woman asked.
“Yes, Hades is my mate!” Odessa beamed with joy, reaching for my hand.
“Everyone in the car,” Dimitri barked.
We continued driving south in the direction of Olympus Blood Moon. The tension in the car was thick. To think, I had been in Greece for a few days and was on my way to visit a third pack. The country only had five packs, and I was about to walk into the middle of a war involving three of the packs.
Odessa introduced everyone. The Gamma was Alec, and the raven- haired woman was actually named Raven. She was Dimitri’s mate from the big LaRue clan. Haze was incessantly demanding to know the name of our mate’s wolf.
I leaned in and whispered in her ear, “what’s your wolf’s name?” I knew everyone in the car could still hear with their wolf hearing and I didn’t care.
“Olympia,” she smiled. “And yours?”
“It’s probably Hellion or Hellhound,” Alec grinned. “You know, something to go with the God of the underworld.”
“His name is Haze,” I replied.
“Fire and brimstone create haze,” Alec smirked.
“Goddess, you’re just as bad as Niko!” Odessa rolled her eyes at him. “What the hell happened Odessa? I thought Georgios was your mate?”
Her brother asked while he was driving. A growl rumbled through me at the mention of Georgios being her mate.
“It’s kind of a long story,” she replied.
“We’ve got time,” he said, as he looked at her through the rearview mirror. “No one is leaving this car for a few hours.”
I started first by telling them about my mother. How she was from Georgios’ pack and how my father had claimed her as a chosen mate. I explained my time spent visiting with my grandparents and my friendship with Leo. Raven seemed to know Leo as well. I went on to explain what
happened when I returned for the funeral, that Georgios was working with Stefanos.
“You saw my father?” Dimitri asked. “Yes.” I replied.
“Are you sure it was him?”
“He looked like an older version of you. Wore an eye patch and my wolf sensed the madness of his wolf.” The tension in the car grew heavy and Dimitri’s foot pressed harder on the accelerator.