Shadow Wolves: Rise of the Phoenix (Book 7)

Chapter 5 - Life changing decisions.

The atmosphere had turned awkward after their misunderstanding, and Sarah asked Meg to drop her off at the flat. Which now all of a sudden seemed utterly dead! The movers were downstairs busy bringing everything back, but the dark gray couch and glass table that was in the living room suddenly seemed so… Too neutral.

She walked through to the bedroom to get out of their way, and packed the shopping into her cupboard. Just dropping the bags at the bottom of the cupboard, thinking she would unpack later. She wanted to go and make a cup of coffee only to realize her car was still at the office, and the nearest shop only sold fresh full-cream milk, which she wouldn’t be caught dead drinking.

Sighing, she sat down on the edge of her bed with the bags of shopping staring at her. Her flat was full of muscle men putting her furniture back and unwrapping everything again, so she could just as well unpack while she was stuck in there.

“I MESSED UP big time, Fiona. If she leaves, it’s on me, and Luc will never forgive me. I will never forgive me.” Meg sighed.

“Have faith, honey. Today was just the first day. So, we kind of went a little overboard. But that’s just who you are, and usually, people are so stumped they just go with the flow. Who would have thought there was a girl out there that would stop the well-known Miss Samantha Storm right in her tracks? I swear, it looked like a freight train, hitting a mountain at full speed.” Fiona giggled.

“Thank you for that vivid description. I thought you were supposed to be my friend.” Meg felt a bit offended but had to agree with Fiona.

“You know I always tell you the truth. If you want it sugar-coated, ask someone else.” Fiona folded her hands together, putting them in her lap, and they drove the rest of the way to the pack grounds in silence. “Okay, what are we telling the boys, because telling them we don’t know, wasn’t going to cut it.” She turned to Meg when they pulled up to her house.

“Yeah, I know. That will just make Luc run over there again.” Meg raised her brows.

“How about, we are still working on it?” Fiona looked amused.

“Sounds like a good idea. I will speak to you tomorrow.” Meg nodded. On the way to the main house, she kept running what Sarah said through her mind, and she was so right. Meg felt like such an i***t. It had just been the simpler thing for her to bulldoze over people, telling them to do what she wanted. She needed to call the re-enforcements for this one. Someone who understood asking and not telling.

LUC COULDN’T GET HER amber eyes out of his mind, and Rudi was making things worse!

“Guys, these hunting drills are just making Rudi want to run to the pack grounds more!” Luc growled through the pack link.

“Gotta keep it in your pants, dude, we have kids to sort out first.” Matt reminded him.

“I know! That’s why I’m mentioning it. Are there any other exercises we can perhaps do that won’t excite Rudi so much!!” He complained. They both laughed at Luc and Rudi.

“With friends like you two, I don’t need enemies, you know!!” Rudi growled, and he gave him free rein to run. They were on the training course he built for team building to practice wargames. They might be living in modern society, but fighting between packs hadn’t changed, and there were still many places across the world where packs openly fought wars. They might be safe for now, but you never knew who was hiding in the shadows.

Catching up to his son Chris, Rudi decided he had enough of playing nice and pulled his back leg out from under him, making Chris lose his balance and hit the dirt nose-first. Matt grabbed him, tying him down with Ant, giving him an Alpha growl, that told him he had just died. Chris had to yelp in submission to let the others know he was out.

Blake and Christiaan were in the front snapping at each other. Harold and Erik were right behind them, making jokes about how they planned on waiting for the two of them to take each other out, so they could win the game that way. They were so busy boasting about their win that they didn’t even notice Matt and Ant coming from the side. Taking them both out so fast, they got the wind knocked out of them.

Luc ran around the side up the wall of the path, just like the three of them had done countless times, and Rudi pushed that little bit extra to catch up to the two in front. The plan was for him to take both of them out at the same time. Bringing both of them down a notch, when an old Gamma like him brought them down.

He saw Blake wanting to look back, but Blake snapped at Christiaan, who snapped back, but by the time he looked back to see where they were, Luc passed them on their right. Watching them from the secret path on the ridge running by their side… He aimed and jumped…

Ant and Matt came walking with the other three behind them, while Luc sat on the rock picking his teeth with a piece of grass, pretending to pick pieces of meat from his teeth.

“I take it your meal was tasty?” Ant laughed at Luc’s pretend meal.

“Youngins are always tasty, Alpha, especially when they get cocky.” They laughed, and the two boys sat in the dirt in front of him, who started blaming each other.

“That’s it, you two!!! If you had been working together as a team, you would have noticed him. He was running right above you with the wind blowing in your favour! But you were so busy snapping at each other you didn’t see a thing! You are both to blame for your failure. Blake, you are your Alpha’s support and protection. Christiaan, being Alpha doesn’t mean you aren’t your people’s support and protection. We all work together, that is how we took the lot of you down.” Anthony’s Alpha voice bolstered through the mountain.

“How am I supposed to rule when this i***t won’t follow my instructions!!” Christiaan growled.

“I don’t follow the instructions of someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.” Blake retorted. Luc sighed, looking at his Alpha and Beta. If they couldn’t get them to agree soon, he would have to send Blake to boarding school. At least for a while, so that they could keep them out of each other’s hair and nobody got badly hurt.

“Alpha, if I may?” Matt asked.

“Please do, before I wring both their necks!” Ant glared at Christiaan, and he growled, clearly angry at Christiaan more than at Blake.

“So, you both think you are the better wolf. Blake, I understand you not wanting to submit to Christiaan because his birth right makes him alpha.” Luc watched his son lower his head as Matt hit the nail right on its head.

“There is a certain way we do things, and that is just the way it is, but Christiaan, you don’t just become Alpha because you are born Alpha. You need to prove yourself to others before they can respect you. That said, let’s get this fixed between the two of you.” Luc sat on the rock watching Matt, and he just knew where this was going.

“If you two want to prove who is better, let’s fight it out now. Blake, if you want to challenge Christiaan’s rule, you challenge him here and now, or you accept him as your future Alpha.” Matt did the one thing they had all been trying to avoid. Blake gasped.

“How am I supposed to do that? He is a lot stronger because he is a Lycan!” Blake complained.

“He might be a Lycan, but he received the same training you did.” Ant interjected.

“I’m not going to fight him.” Christiaan waved the challenge aside and stepped away with his back turned to Blake, showing him utter disrespect.

“Oh! Why not?” Blake spat.

“Like you said. You will get hurt, and then everyone in the pack is going to be angry at me. I am a Lycan, and I’m not going to hurt you. I refuse. This is a stupid idea.” Christiaan frowned.

“Christiaan, someone might challenge you one day, and are you going to tell them you won’t fight them because you might hurt them? What if they are Lycan?” Luc asked, understanding where Matt was going with his tactic.

“Then I will fight them, but I’m not fighting a werewolf.” Christiaan defensively crossed his arms over his chest.

“What would you do if we were in a war with other werewolves? Not fight them? No, dude, you have to decide now. If you are challenged as Alpha, you either fight or you forfeit and walk away from your pack. Those are the rules.” Luc felt slightly angry at Christiaan’s disrespect. He looked at his father almost gaping.

“He is right, son. If someone challenges you for your position, and you refuse to fight them, you will be seen as weak, and you will forfeit your title.” Ant shrugged but they were all worried. Luc watched them look at each other thinking it over. This is the one thing they had been trying to avoid, but maybe Matt was right. Maybe it was time to let them fight it out and get it over with.

As their parents and teachers, they had discussed a fight between them at length, and the decision was made that should Blake beat Christiaan, the decision would stand as it would in any other pack. The only difference would be that neither of them would be able to kick the other out of the pack, because they wouldn’t be Alpha yet. The winner would simply secure his place as future Alpha.

“Enough!! Blake, are you challenging him or not!!” Harold spoke up.

“Yeah, I’m hungry.” Chris tried to break the tension. Luc had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing at his boys.

“Dude, it’s time the two of you put this rivalry to rest.” Surprising all of us, Erik piped up out of the blue, and walked up to the two boys, sizing each other up. He came to a standstill between the two of them, which was a very dangerous place for him to be. Everyone knew his wolf, Lykos, was the goofy one of the packs but not the strongest fighter of the bunch. Luc half-expected Matt or Ant to step in and stop the situation, but they stood firm, watching the boys.

“Stand aside, Erik, they are right, I’m done playing second fiddle to him! I challenge you for the Alpha position!!” Blake shouted and shifted in a split second. Christiaan shifted at the same time and as they jumped to attack each other, Erik shifted midair, kicking Christiaan to one side and Blade to the other, making both of them slide apart. He stayed in the middle, growling at both of them. His strength surprised them all. They regained their composure, and Luc saw that this was going to turn ugly.

“Alpha… Matt?” He called out.

“Leave them! Nobody has gotten hurt yet.” Ant instructed him. Luc carefully watched the boys, not happy with the current situation. Where did Erik come from? The other two started circling Erik, and Luc felt their anger because he interrupted them. Blake charged and Christiaan followed suit. Erik simply sidestepped them, and they ran right into each other, almost butting heads.

He pinned Blake, biting him on his left front leg, making him yelp. This made Christiaan think that he had won, and he lost focus, ready to shift when Erik jumped him from behind, dropping him to the floor. Barring his canines at Christiaan’s human form lying on the floor, he was growling, and his front paws were on top of Christiaan’s chest.

“Submit!!” Lykos growled.

“WHAT?” Christiaan asked, looking infuriated.

“Submit!! Now!!” Lykos growled again. Christiaan looked at his dad, who just shrugged.

“Fine!! I submit!!” Christiaan slammed his hands on the ground. Erik climbed off his back, then walked over to the injured Blake. Blake submitted without even thinking twice. Lykos looked at Ant, bowing his head, and ran off into the forest.

“Okay… What just happened?” Luc asked, looking a bit stunned that Ant let it happen.

“We just saw the birth of a new Alpha, I guess. Congratulations, Matt.” Ant patted his friend on the back. “As for the rest of you. I hope you learned something valuable today because I sure as hell did. Never judge a book by its cover.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of speechless right now.” Matt stared at the spot where Lykos disappeared into the forest.

“Okay, well, I guess that’s training done for today. Let’s go eat.” Luc shrugged and started walking back to the campsite.