The Aberrant She-Wolf

Chapter 002 - The Deviant

I frown at him, not quite knowing what he means. Is he telling me not to threaten him? Why would I not, he’s here to hurt my brother!

He takes a couple of steps toward me again and I back away, dragging my brother’s feeble body with me. He continues to advance and I become angry, I just told him to stop!

“I say stop! You will not kill us! I will not allow you!” I scr*eam.

Alpha Rico groans and when he recovers, he scolds, “I said, don’t use the Voice on me!”

I close my eyes, my arms tighten around my brother. We need to go. We need to escape. I look at my mother’s shivering body. I will come back for her. She’s one of the pack healers. They will not kill her. Right now, my brother takes priority.

I am about to transform into a wolf when Alpha Rico transforms and bounds into me, trapping me and my brother underneath him.

“Get off!”

He groans again and then growls at my face, temporarily making me fear the powerful alpha on top of me. He transforms back to a human and says, “Look at your friend. You are hurting him. Stop using the Voice or you will kill him. Omegas is not meant to hear powerful sounds like that!”

Then, he goes to my side, giving me a view of the doorway. Alpha Rico points at Nathan and I see my friend on the ground, clawing at the floor and crying. I look at Alpha Rico, then at my brother who’s sleeping now. Then my eyes shift to my mother, who is covering her ears and is in the same state as Nathan.

“Maybe you’re not aware you are using the Voice? Is this your first time awakening it?”

Voice? What voice? Then I remember. My father talked about it before. Only alphas have that ability and not all are blessed with it. It’s the power to command other wolves by using a specific intonation in the voice.

But I am not of the alpha’s brood. I am an average pack member. Don’t tell me I am some kind of a secret child? No! Definitely not! I don’t look like the alpha or the dead Luna!

My eyes shift to alpha Rico again, waiting for more information.

“Seriously, telling your brother to calm down, but you’re the one who’s not calm at all,” he comments.

I am about to ask how to control it when I stop and cover my mouth.

“Calm your emotions, child. I will not hurt your family if that’s what you’re anxious about. I also didn’t call for other wolves,” he pauses and then leans on the wall. “Rather, I made them return when I heard your Voice. I promise.”

I swallow and take deep breaths. He will not kill us, that’s good enough. So will it be expulsion from the pack?

“But there is a wolf dead. I will need to expel your brother. You and your mother, on the other hand, can stay.”

My brother alone as a rogue? Can’t he hear himself!? If my brother shifts again, there will be no one to stop him! And if he didn’t shift, he can’t survive out there! He’s just a teenager! How will he be able to eat?!

I watch my alpha. This is the best-case scenario. But I don’t trust him, like how I don’t trust all the wolves in high positions. My father is an Epsilon, one of the strongest warriors in the pack. But he is a cruel man. He blames my mother for being a weak omega. He laments why he had an omega for a mate. But the mate bond still attracts them to each other, even between all the abuses and pains they give to each other.

Still, they continue to mate in a crazed fashion. But my father doesn’t want another weak offspring especially when both my and my brother’s training results are not on par with what he’s expecting.

So, now I stare at my father on the ground. Dead. But somehow, I can’t find it in my heart to mourn for him. My love for him has been long gone when I realized he will never see me and my brother as his children. It’s been snuffed out the instant he raised his hands against my mother. And it turns into hatred when we need to bring my mother to the pack healers because he destroyed a chair on her already weak body. After that, he asks for forgiveness but never stops putting bruises on her. Be it during s*x, out of jealousy, and when he’s annoyed. And my mother always forgives him until he turns her into this shivering, cowering thin lady.

“I can’t stay. You can expel me and my mother too,” I answer, still looking in the direction of my father’s corpse.

I stand up, gently putting my brother’s head on the ground. Then I go to the only room in the house, to prepare clothes. We need to leave tonight. Alpha Rico follows me and studies my movements.

“That’s fine with me. But your brother has primordial werewolf blood in him. You can control him by your Voice alone. But you need to learn to control its usage.”

My hands froze. “Primordial? That’s impossible!” It can’t be… We are ordinary wolves. Don’t tell me, he’s also a secret child?!

“The reason why I planned to come with the other wolves is because of the primordial smell. But when I heard your voice, I let them return, saying that I smelled wrong. Do you know why?” he asks.

I shake my head and return my focus to the clothes and bags that we need to carry with us.

“It’s because wolves with the Voice are the next in line alphas.”

I pause.

“But you have a son,” I say.

“I do.”

“Will you know if I and my brother are secret children of someone else?”

Alpha Rico guffaws. “Of course not! You are a child of these two. You are as pretty as your mother when she was young. And your brother has the same features as her too. But he also has his father’s features.”

“Then why?”

“Only the Moon Goddess can answer that.”

I zip the bag and proceed to the other. “If I am supposed to be alpha, what will happen to your son?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I ordered the other wolves to return.”

“To avoid complications?”

“You are a smart child.”

I travel my eyes around the only bedroom in the house. I need to look for something that I can sell—anything of value. Our house is just a small, one-bedroom house. It’s not enough for a family like ours. So every time my parents have s*x, or every time my father hurts my mother, I make it a point to leave the house with my brother in tow.

“You’re looking for something of worth? Here, for you to start outside,” Alpha Rico says, placing a watch in my hands. “It’s a limited edition watch and will fetch a high price. It’s enough for your family to live modestly for a few months before you can stand on your own.”

I stare at him. Not knowing what to make of him. Isn’t he supposed to be the big, bad alpha of the Sierra Madre pack who everyone is afraid of? Why does he have this flicker of kindness?

Guessing what’s on my mind, he says, “If my Luna is alive, she’ll do the same thing.” I clench my jaws and enclose the watch in my hands. “And don’t think of returning it to me. It does not have a sentimental value.”

“My father, he–”

“We’ll take care of the burial.”

“What will be the cause of his death?”

Alpha Rico smiles. “How about becoming my son’s Luna? You will fit him perfectly. You will be the brain, my son will be the brawn. He’s an excellent combatant. Better than me. He is getting more and more handsome. You will like him.”

I purse my lips. I know who his son is. Luis Wendell. He is the epitome of strength, but he is also the picture of cruelty. A bully, who always targets the weak, and Nathan is one of his targets.

“Ha!” Alpha Rico smirks. “Look at that. You don’t like my handsome, excellent son.”

“About my question?” I ask, getting back to what’s important.

“He will be listed as one of the casualties of a rogue’s attack.”

“How many?”

“Rogues don’t attack in a team.”

“But my father is a strong warrior. Do you really think a lone rogue can defeat him? Besides, how will you explain our disappearance?”

“What do you propose?”

“How about telling them a part of the truth? Will it be possible for you not to mention my Voice and my brother’s primordial blood? You can tell them that he can’t control the shift, being a son of omega and all.”

“And how about your friend? He knows what really happened here.”

“Nathan will not tell a soul about it.”

Once the preparations are done, changing my clothes and all, I kneel before Nathan. He’s recovered for a bit now, but he is still weak.

“Nathan?” I ask. He looks at me, his gaze is unfocused, but I know he’s aware. “We will leave the pack. Once outside, I will call you. If you don’t want me to reach out to you. Change your mobile number, okay?”

He reaches for my hand and squeezes it. Gratefulness rushes over me and I know, I can rely on him. I smile and respond to his touch. Then I lean forward and kiss his forehead.

“Please don’t tell anyone what happened here. Not even your mother, okay?”

He nods and I stand up. Alpha Rico helps me with carrying the bags and says, “Sierra Madre is a long distance from the road. I can bring your mother and brother to the beach where you can find a ride. You can carry your stuff.”

I nod, getting more grateful to him with each passing second. I return to the house and see my brother, finally awake, helping out my mother to stand up.

I help him and whisper, “We are leaving the pack.”

“Okay,” he whispers back. He lets me carry our mother and enters the bedroom, probably to get clothes.

I walk out of the house where I watch Alpha Rico shift into his black and gray-coated wolf. He’s double the size of my wolf, but smaller than my brother’s. Thankfully, the houses in Sierra Madre are far from each other.

Alpha Rico looks at me and for that single moment, we understand each other.