Rise of The Phoenix Alpha

Feral

Axton

“Feral? Like I attacked others?” I ask Phoenix. After Dad’s confession, I had left to absorb what he said. I couldn’t sit there with him. He had been so worried and I stood up mumbling that I had to get out.

“Something did happen but I cannot remember it. I was so angry after we shifted. It was storming that night but I refused to wait. I recall Dad asking us to wait until a clear night. I refused and we ran outside to shift. After that, it’s all blank until like a week later.”

I need to talk to Alpha. I’m done with my father keeping me in the dark so much. I go to the packhouse. Maybe I can find Bellamy too before I have to leave. I knock on Alpha’s door and he opens it quickly. “Axton is Xavier alright?”

“Yes Alpha he is resting. I need to know about my first shift. Dad claims Phoenix went feral.”

“Did he tell you anything else?” He sits down and looks tired for the first time ever.

“That he had to get some kind of medicine in me to calm me back down.”

“That is all true. You shifted and Phoenix was so angry. I shifted into Maximus and we tried to Alpha command you to stand down. Neither of you would. He was almost challenging me, but I would not hurt you two. It was your first shift and it seemed like something had triggered him badly. Some first shifts do not go well. Our wolves have trouble with certain emotions. He was pawing at the ground challenging your father too. He didn’t shift, stood there frozen staring at you. I was glad he’d asked me to be there too. We had been sensing the undercurrent of simmering rage from him for a few days before the shift. Phoenix had total control but you didn’t seem to care.”

“Did I hurt anyone?”

“No you did not. You only seemed to be after your father. Before you shifted, you said one word, ‘Mom’. You ripped out of that house and I’ve never seen anyone shift so fast for the first time ever. Axton, do you have memories of your mother or are they all missing too?”

“I only remember her singing to me one night. Tucking me in and singing a strange lyric. I can’t recall the exact words though but the tune. I think I’ve buried her memories.” I frown wondering if Bellamy can help me unlock them. I haven’t tried to think of her in a while either. I wonder if that was to keep our anger at bay. Or those damn herbs did that too.

I want to remember her though going feral is dangerous.

“Can you hum the tune?” Alpha asks watching me thoughtfully.

“I think so.” I start it and he listens. It’s haunting and poignant. I have a feeling the lyrics had some profound meaning and press deep into my mind trying to hear them. I can see her lips moving but cannot make them out. I end it frustrated.

“One more time Axton. I’ve heard that before and maybe if you hum it again, I can think of the words.”

I nod and take a deep breath before beginning again. As I sing, I hear her voice. “Axton, my strong little boy. You will be alright. You will fight….” It’s faint and she was weak. Were those her last words? It seems like it. Pain fans out under my ribs and Phoenix whimpers. I keep humming allowing my mind to search for her. Like sifting through sand hoping to find a memory of her. Suddenly her laughing face floats behind my eyelids. She was tickling me as she tucked me into bed. “Axton, my little gigglebox of a boy.”

“Mommy story.”

“Hmmm ok how about the story of the fire wolves?” She opened a book and started reading. Her face and voice coming alive as she read; her eyes the same as Evan’s. She finishes. “Time to sleep.”

“Second story.” She grins. “I knew you’d try to get two stories out of this. Little trickster.”

She reads again and the memory begins to fade. I stop humming having finished the melody. Alpha reaches over and touches my shoulder. I didn’t even hear him get up.

“Axton did you remember something? You’re crying.” I open my eyes and touch my cheek. I didn’t even know the tears were falling.

“She was reading me a bedtime story. That’s the first time I’ve seen her face in so long Alpha.”

“What do you mean Axton?”

“I realized I really never see her in my memories. I can picture Evan and I as kids. Following Dad around as he works. School, friends but not my mother. We only have one picture of her with us sitting outside. Until you told me about what I said before shifting, I never really thought about missing all her memories. Like I wasn’t even aware I don’t think about her.”

He tilts his head with his eyes narrowed on my face. “Axton, your mother had no family besides you three or I would locate them for you. Talk to your father. He needs to help you with this. Did he say how he gave you the herbs to help keep you sane?”

“Once a week he mixed them in my milkshake on ice cream night.” I tell him. “He said they’re bitter otherwise.”

“We had to sedate you when you were eighteen. It was the only way to get Phoenix to back down after Evan talked you into coming back.”

“Wait Evan had to talk me down?”

He nods slowly. “You went looking for him. Maximus chased you down terrified you were going to hurt him. I knew exactly where you were headed after you caught his scent. Corbin was taking him back to his house and I could tell the minute he passed close enough for Phoenix to scent him. Fastest wolf I’ve ever seen. You were encircling him like he was in danger. I told him what was going on and asked if he could help me calm you. Phoenix wrapped himself around Evan like he was his pup and wouldn’t move. Let us sedate him a few hours later.”

I catch sight of a some family photos on his shelves. One with Bellamy catches my eye.

“Alpha Jacob. Do you know of an Alpha Draynor?”

“Draynor Storm?”

I nod. This was the other item I meant to ask him when I came to him before.

“The Legend of the Fire Alpha. Or the Phoenix Alpha depending on who you listen to. Hand me down tales but it was based in a lot of truth. He was supposed to rise from the ashes one day within his bloodline. His mate, Constance was the werewolf princess and they were meant to rule. Instead, his father murdered him while he was acting as a true Alpha. Saving his people from his father’s madness. He imprisoned Constance after he marked her. Marking her caused a horrible forced rejection causing her soul to become weakened. She was a hybrid witch and wolf. When the rejection happened, the pup she was carrying died too. That broke her wolf’s soul in two. Draynor found her and he carried her from the castle promising to return to her. When he did not and she felt his death, that damaged her irrevocably sending her into a feral witch state. Her wolf was gone but her fire witch powers took over the void left by that part of her soul. Nathaniel Storm escaped briefly. She hunted him down and cursed him before imprisoning him in a fire cage to die slowly over the next year. His soul is said to be cursed forever. Never to find peace. With the Storm bloodline gone and the Hardin royal lineage ended with Constance, it passed to the Hanton’s. They were the cousins of the Hardin’s and Constance herself asked them to take over. As you know they still rule.”

“So there is no Phoenix Alpha or Fire Alpha?”

“It cannot exist as the Storm bloodline never carried on. Nathaniel had tried to have pups with multiple chosen mates but in the end Draynor is all the Moon Goddess allowed to come to exist. A small blessing and gift for us.”

“Constance never had another child?”

“Constance disappeared forever after she took care of the royal lineage and Nathaniel died. She was broken and almost inhuman by that point Axton. The losses she suffered were horrific. A forced marking to break a fated true marking is almost always a death sentence for a wolf. She would have died too had it not been for her witch bloodline. But without the wolf, she lost all reason. There were others who died in her feral rage as she hunted Nathaniel. It was all justified but gruesome.”

I will need to tell Bellamy about that. I wonder why she saw her in that vision. That must have been right after she felt her true mate die.