105 - The night of the great chaos, Pt2
105 - The night of the great chaos, Pt2
Josh
Past
“He can’t be serious, right, Steven?” I mumble to my dear friend and Alpha, looking at Alex as all color leaves his face and his eyes dart flames off them like a bloody dragon.
“Right, Steven?”
Steven doesn’t even blink. This time, his pain-in-the-ass brother has gone too far. Without a word, he races in the direction where Charles just left the hall. Patting on my friend’s shoulder, I get up and follow them. It’s not too hard to track them despite their fast pace, as their shouts would echo all around the pack house if it wasn’t for the loud music and the buzz from the chatter of so many people.
“You gotta be kidding us, Charles.”
“What do you want… brother?” he answers, emphasizing the latter mockingly.
“Why are you doing this?”
Steven is usually very calm, but he’s almost gone feral at the moment.
“Doing what? Why don’t you enjoy the celebrations and let me run my pack as I wish? I did us both the favor and avoided challenging you, as daddy dearest requested. I was a good boy. Why are you hunting me down in the corridors of my own pack house, Steve?”
“It’s just us and Josh here, so drop the act. All you ever did was for your own benefit. You dodged all risks of getting defeated and humiliated, Charles; found a weaker Alpha and confronted him, knowing you’d win instead of coming for me with an unpredictable outcome. Now we’ve had this conversation over a million times before. It’s not what I’m asking. That girl, Frida… You already know who she is, don’t you?”
“She’s my Beta’s sister. I believe I said that earlier in my speech. I don’t comprehend your aggravation.”
He answers indifferently, but his eyes tell a completely different story. Of course, he knows what Steven is talking about. He’s simply trying his best to dismiss the conversation.
“Why would you want to prevent your own sister from living a happy life with her mate, Charles?”
His half crazed laughter resonates in the empty corridor. He almost bends over, holding his belly, while his face lines get deeper with all the tension he’s undergoing. Not that he was a hundred percent sane at any point of our acquaintance, but at this moment, something has seriously damaged his mental health even further.
“Always the charitable one, huh? So your sole concern is her happiness? Let me guess, it’s got nothing to do with her mate being from your pack.”
“What? You’re surprised I found out? What did papa use to say? Even the walls may hear what you speak of…”
“Of course you don’t find this a wonderful chance to correct his cowardice and bring her back to the Black Moon pack. Oh, and let me guess… It’s also completely irrelevant to the prophecy… Who are you kidding, Steven?” he spits in his brother’s face.
“As you said, it’s just you, me and Josh here. We can all drop our masks. Nobody here is gonna buy your act. She’ll stay here and get deactivated by getting into a sham marriage to my Gamma, who will make sure she doesn’t procreate. This should correct daddy’s mistakes. I may be gone, but I’m still fixing your clan’s issues, all the while you prefer to ignore them.”
Prophecy? I’ve heard nothing about a prophecy included in the story of the lost half sister.
“Deactivated? Our sister is not a bomb…”
“Stop calling her that, will you? Since when is she your sister? If she’s anyone’s sibling, that’s Marco’s. To you and me, she’s just a young female of my pack. What difference does it make if we share some genes? You grew up next to me and you never even once cared about what you could do to avoid ruining my life. Do you think I will believe you are so interested in a sister you weren’t sure we had till after you became an Alpha?”
“What went so wrong with you? You were always a competitive young nuisance, but I didn’t realize you’d grow to be such a bastard. Keep in mind that I will do everything in my power to prevent this mating.”
“And you keep in mind that if I so much as suspect your intervention in this matter, this means war. You don’t get to have a say in my pack’s internal issues. I am the Alpha of the Golden Moon, not you, Steven Blackwell.” Charles says when we’ve already turned and begun walking away.
And with this he leaves, moving further off from the hall where the celebrations have started and the loud music is dominating all the building. Both of us numbly follow him till he’s out of sight.
“What prophecy was he talking about?” I ask Steven as we, too, start walking back.
“Pfff…” he scoffs. “It’s just some old gossip, nothing more.”
He’s trying to sound casual, but his nervousness betrays him.
“And what was this gossip about?” I insist.
“After the witches left, there was a lot of chitchat about the child’s potential strength. But you know how rumors work in a pack; one tiny ant crossing the corridor could be called a dragon attack in the end.”
“What are you not telling me?”
I know him better than anyone else. I doubt if even his mate can understand when he’s lying with the same ease as I.
“When Charles and I were investigating, we discovered who her mother was. She was a mighty creature, the next one in succession as their coven leader, and she was exiled because of our father and the child. They were fated mates. That’s why the chatter expanded like a forest wildfire on a hot, windy summer day.”
“He ditched the kid he had with his fated mate?” I ask incredulously.
“I think it was his peculiar way of protecting her. The coven was…”
He stops mid-sentence when we come face to face with our friend.
“Alex…”
He’s there, before we even enter the gigantic room. With his hollow eyes and haunted expression, he’s aged ten years in some minutes.
“What did he say?” he asks, staring at Steven, who doesn’t meet his glance. Then he turns to me.
“What did he say, Josh?”
“Don’t shout, Alex. We’ll figure it out somehow.” I answer, but it sounds feeble even to my own ears.
Like a lightning bolt, his mate materializes out of nowhere and launches herself into his arms. They squeeze each other tightly, not daring to let go, afraid this will be their last embrace. She’s crying with loud sobs rocking her shoulders.
“What will we do, Alex?” she repeats like a mantra between her weeping gasps.
“Come with us.”
“We can’t do that. Charles will start a war if we take her. So many lives are at risk. Let’s not rush to a decision,” retorts Steven.
“Then, let’s leave!” he answers and we all turn to him. “What are you all staring at? Don’t you see there’s no other way out? I take Frida this very instant and we disappear. Nobody gets to find us ever again. I’m not about to sit back and watch my mate get engaged to someone else.”
He doesn’t hesitate to face his Alpha in the eyes. They are close friends, all three of us have grown up like brothers, and this comes before the hierarchy.
“Alex, this is suicide. That’s exactly what he would expect you to do. This way, he’ll just have a convenient excuse to kill you and rid me of my best fighter. You’re smarter than that. Please think before you act,” he urges.
“My brother could help us.”
Frida’s frail voice is barely heard.
“He’s good at making things happen. He will have some idea about what to do.”
Steven, Alex, and I exchange a worried look. Including Charles’ Beta might not be the wisest plan to prevent him from finding out about our plans. We can’t be sure about his intentions. After all, he’s much older than Frida, which means he was old enough to perceive what happened when their parents first brought her home. They may appear like siblings, but he’s beyond all doubt aware that she’s not his biological sister.
“He’s my brother, and he loves me. There’s nothing he won’t do for my happiness,” she says boldly.
Why does it seem like she heard our unspoken conversation?
“We can leave. He’ll figure out a way to get me out of here with utmost safety,” she adds after some more reflection.
I study the two men I consider my brothers. Their interests clash right now. One has to stand for his pack, but the other’s chance of happiness is at stake and I need to pick a side. This is sheer madness, but when was I ever one to be logical? The pack will find a new Beta, but my friend’s life may be in danger without me, because I know that once they both agreed to leave, it’s a one-way road. We’ve crossed the point of no return and we’re all about to be judged for our choices.
“If you two think you stand a chance, I’ll join you. You’ll need all the help you can get.”
Steven is under the influence of a deep shock. Our entire lives have turned upside down in a time span of not even one hour. We were supposed to walk side by side till we grew old enough to become a grumpy Elder council, and now our roads separate for what could be forever. Sadness fills his eyes, but he realizes there’s little he can do.
“I can’t give away your plan if I know nothing about it,” he finally utters and comes to embrace us before he leaves the building with no further words…