Chapter 151 We Still Have Numbers
Alpha Norman's POV
The first report comes in wrong. It has to be wrong. This is way too fucked up. Thats the only way I can explain it.
My chest tightens when the runner stumbles into my office. He is pale and shaking. His eyes refused to meet mine.
"Say it again." I snarl as I'm one second away from taking my claws and ending this guy's life.
"R r river P p pack. A-a-Alpha Renaldo is dead." he stammers as he looks down towards the floor.
The room tilts. I feel my head becoming dizzy. I slammed my fist into the desk, hard enough to split the wood. "Impossible. Renaldo is fortified. He had." I was saying before he interrupted me.
"His his th-throat was t-t-tore out alpha." The runner blurt out. "Elder Travis has already taken control." he continue to say as his eyes still locked on the ground.
The words don't register right away. They bounce around in my head. Alpha Renaldo Dead. Gone. I paced back-and-forth. Back-and-forth. My claws scraping against every surface that meets my eyes. I'm partial shifted as my claws are already out. My chest is heaving. And breathing way too hard.
Fuck! "No" I growl "No. That's one pack. One bad night." I seethe as I'm still pacing back-and-forth.
The second report hits before I can finish another thought. Another runner. He comes through the door hesitantly. "Alpha Norman" he says as his eyes don't meet mine.
"What the hell do you want? Are you here to tell me that was just a joke? You all are trying to be funny. Hah! Tell me. Spit it the fuck out!" I growl as my wolf almost came forward.
"Alpha Arnold of the Dark Sea Pack." he says, and he pauses. "What boy. What! Are you going to tell me he's dead too. What did they cut off his dick and feed it to him." I scream as my face already turned to beet red.
"I I I don't know about that, sir. Alpha Arnold, he is dead. He took an arrow through the eye. Hell, they even ripped out his heart." he said, as I guess something is fucking interesting on the floor as that's the spot everyone seems to be staring at.
I howl. My wolf finally taking over for a brief moment until I could regain control. Furniture goes flying. A chair explodes against the far wall. Papers scattered throughout the room.
"They weren't supposed to move yet! They were supposed to wait five days. Five fucking days, that's it." I shout to no one in particular.
The third report is the one that breaks something in me.
Dark Fang. Alpha Edward Beheaded!
I stagger back a step like I've been physically struck. My lungs are burning. My vision blurs.
Three Allied packs. They are all wiped out in just one night.
I completely lose it.
I tear the map off the wall and shred it with my claws. I overturned the table. I roar until my throat aches. Until my wolf is clawing at my head, screaming at me that we are exposed.
Reality crashes down hard and ugly.
It's just me now. Me and the loyalists.
The door opens again. Slower this time. Darrell, my beta, steps in first. His expression is tight. He has his jaw clenched. Nathaniel, my gamma, follows close behind. His eyes are sharp even now.
"Alpha" Darrell says carefully. "You need to hear this." he says as he comes closer to me and stops. He looks around at the destruction I caused. Everything is a mess.
"I've heard enough!" I snap. "Unless you're about to tell me those reports are lies. That those runners were full of shit. That all of this is all one big ass sick, fucking joke." I scream out, breathing and panting hard.
"They weren't. It was all the truth. But there's more." Nathaniel says flatly as his eyes are fixed on me. I freeze meeting his gaze. Just the look on his face has me intrigued.
"Go on" I say with one brow raised.
"The survivors from the three packs tonight. The ones that were loyal to their alpha's. They started pouring in a hour ago." he said as his eyes never left mine. My eyes opened wide. I'm not believing what I'm hearing.
"How many?" I ask.
"Atleast a hundred. Just from those three packs alone." he answered.
Something cold and sharp slides into my chest. It's not relief but leverage.
"And the others. How many are they?" I ask he hesitantly.
"The remnants of the other packs. About the same, maybe a little less." Darrell says.
I start breathing again. Numbers matter. Numbers win wars.
I turn back to the map. Well, what's left of it. I start piecing it together in my head. My own warriors, the loyalist. The angry and displaced wolves with nothing left to lose.
"We still have good numbers." I mutter.
"We also have motivation. They all want revenge. They all want blood." My beta nods his head.
"They took their alphas. That unites people faster than any speech could." Darrell adds quietly.
I straighten slowly. Fury hardening into something sharper. They think they cornered me. They think cutting off my allies weakened me. I bare my teeth in a humorless grin.
"They just made my army desperate."
I press my palms to the desk as I lean forward. My reflection in the polished wood looks feral. I look up at Darrell and Nathaniel.
"We go for their queen!"