The Alpha's Fight

Chapter 4 - A Mould To Break

'How was it for you, spanky?' Hawk gruffled to himself, while I still tried to catch my breath.

'I swear to goddess. You ever call me that again, I'm putting you in a dog pound!' I threatened.

My wolf growled at being compared to his canine relative.

'Yeah, that's what I thought.'

My head gently rocked back and forth on the cold tiles as reality sank in with its bitter taste. This is all it would ever be; a dream and nothing more. I physically missed his touch. I hadn't even experienced it for real and yet I missed it. Goddess, if I stayed here any longer continuing in my pointless fantasies about Taylor, I'd have to relieve myself all over again. Cold showers were becoming less and less effective.

I quickly dried myself down to warm my skin back from the freezing stream and wrapped the towel around me. I wiped the fog from the mirror, ready to comb my hair through, but I stilled at my reflection. I looked just like him, just like my father…and I hated it.

We looked alike but were nothing alike.

I could already tell I would have the same build as Nicholas and I was already quickly approaching his height of 6'6; I wouldn't be surprised if I surpassed it. We shared the same pale brown hair, the same pale brown eyes and most of the same facial features.

I could only hope that I was like my mother, that some part of her lived on within me. Rachel was her name, but I had no photos of her and I couldn't remember her face, though there were times it felt like I almost could. On a rare occasion, I would dream of a woman with pitch-black hair and dark brown eyes. The little I knew of her was that she was a top she-wolf warrior in the pack and that was what sealed her fate. I didn't know whether she had any choice in having me, but I knew she had no choice when I was taken away from her. Any influence that could soften me, my father eliminated.

I noticed that time was starting to get away from me and I needed to hustle and get dressed or Nicholas would begin hounding me, demanding I show myself.

The dining hall that served the warriors, trackers and other members was separate from the main house, attached only by a simple covered walkway. I would normally eat with Scott. He nearly always stopped by so that I wouldn't have to mingle with the others; Jayden was always too self-conscious to come eat here around the warriors and trackers, though on occasion, she did try.

A slight hush descended as I entered the hall before the din of chatter started up again, a reaction I was used to. I quickly surveyed the crowd but found no trace of his dark hair in the masses. As I was about to step into the room and find the quietest spot I could, my father's voice rang in my head.

'Come to our private dining room. We have a lot to discuss with your new training regime.'

Without meaning to, a snarl escaped my lips from my wolf before I could stop him, making the closest table jolt with alarm and inch away from where I was standing.

'I'm in here with them. I just got here, so didn't have time to warn you,' Scott, unknowingly, interrupted my sudden burst of anger.

'All of them?'

'Yeah,' he sighed.

Fucking great. Now I would have to suffer through a meal with not only my father, but the Beta, his son and the Gamma.

'I say we go back to our room and masturbate,' Hawk grumbled, which sent an awkward heat creeping into my face.

But there was no getting out of this that didn't end in a beating. I left the hall and made my way up the wide wood-panelled corridor to where my father's private dining room lay. The scents that hit my nose as I entered did nothing to calm my irritation. The only silver lining was that I had at least one ally at the table.

"Finally! Now I can eat," the would-be Beta grouched, reaching out to grab one of the serving bowls only to have his father's fist slam his hand to the table. I could tell from the sound alone that bones had been broken.

"I don't remember anyone giving you permission yet, boy," his father glowered.

Reid Kash, Nicholas's Beta and his only son, Hayes.

"One thing you still seem to need to learn is you don't do s**t till you're told," Reid continued to press his fist into the back of his son's hand pinned to the table.

Once released, Hayes withdrew his hand with a near-invisible grimace, trying to cradle it surreptitiously to his body.

'Is it bad I wish it was his f*****g face being punched in instead?' My wolf sneered, more to himself, as I took the available seat next to Scott, that unfortunately put my father at my other side also.

Hayes may have had a brutal upbringing as I had, but he enjoyed the pain he inflicted on others. He constantly harassed she-wolves, abused his position of power and willing took part in the torture of prisoners. It was fortunate he was four years older than I or Scott because we had never had to go to school with him. He looked similar to his father, with the same Beta build and stood around an inch taller at 6'5. Where Reid had pale sandy hair and darkened hazel eyes, Hayes's were deep brown with equally dark brown hair, traits obviously from his mother and, like me, he had been raised without ever knowing her.

Scott was lucky to look like his mother, who was genuinely the sweetest woman. Both he and his father shared the same black hair and svelte tall build, but he had the pale mocha skin of his mother, her deep brown eyes and most of her facial features.

"Come now, let's not keep our growing boys from their meals," my father announced, looking on with some warped pride at the display of violence at the table.

As we quietly started to grab up the dishes and load our plates with food, I fought back the shudder down my spine from Nicholas's unwavering stare. This routine wasn't new but it was growing in its intensity. What the hell was he looking for? Why did he scrutinise me in such a way? Did he know? Did he have some inkling that the very son he was raising was the very thing he despised? These questions had eaten away at me and only cemented my resolve to stay away from Taylor…a resolve that crumbled instantly when his sweet rain scent ebbed at my sanity.

"Whatever happened to that pretty girl you were dating, Hunter?" Scott's father and the current Gamma, Ford Clayton, asked out of nowhere.

I narrowly avoided choking on my mashed potatoes at the unexpected question. I could see my father's face out of the corner of my eye, waiting on my answer.

"Bernice was…becoming a distraction…from my training. She wasn't worth my time, so I ended it," I tried to say with a detached tone.

My father chuckled from the side of me, "that's my son, always putting his title as Alpha first."

Goddess, I hated the praise for this man. What would he think if he knew the true motives to my actions?

"Just don't be too hasty, throwing them away like that. Make sure you have your fun first. They make great practice," he tried to advise, as though he was passing on pearls of wisdom.

All his disgusting words did was form a gnawing and nauseous lurch in my stomach. That familiar taste of bile rose once more in the back of my throat as I tried to give a stiff nod to his words like I agreed.

I could never bring myself to use someone in such a manner. I already hated myself for using girls as I did. Like Bernice, the few others before her were just covers; a pretty face to hang on my arm to maintain an illusion. Once they began to get clingy and seek more physical affections, I broke things off. I had never messed around with any of them, it had gone no further than holding hands or them wrapping themselves around my arm. I knew who I wanted my first kiss to belong to and it would not be with a she-wolf I had no interest in or want to be with. I felt horrid and unclean with my actions, but I didn't know what else to do. I certainly couldn't keep it up, as it would start to look suspicious, if it wasn't already. I needed a new approach, to find a she-wolf that would willingly play along. But therein lay the problem. I would need to explain why I didn't want to be intimate.

"You two will be finishing school next year," my father began, between bites. "After that, you'll have a lot of time on your hands for training. So I want you both ready beforehand. I'll be overseeing your training, personally, like I do with Hayes."

"And Hunter?" He continued, with a condescending smile, "I'll be training you myself from here on, as we discussed."

'He can f*****g discuss the fork we put in his eye!' My wolf snarled in outrage.

'Chill. Save it for the sparring ring,' I admonished. Hawk was going to land both our asses in something steaming if he didn't control himself.

“Before we know it, our sons will be challenging us for our titles,” Ford chuckled, which sent a ripple of suppressed laughter between the other two ‘fathers’ at the table.

“Challenging is one thing. They still need to defeat us for the right to their title,” my father gave me a hard stare with his trademark reptilian sneer.

I didn't really know how other packs worked, how they handed their titles down to their heirs. I had never left the borders of our land, I hadn't even ever met another type of being other than a werewolf before, as they had never been allowed to live in our pack. My father always boasted that he defeated his father for his right to the Alpha title and that one day I would do the same. We werewolves lived up to 150 years and at 46, he would still, unfortunately, lead this pack for many years yet. I was beginning to realise that when the time came for me to make my stand, I couldn't simply defeat him, I would need to kill him to truly liberate this pack and it wouldn't happen in a challenge that he dictated. It wouldn’t just be my father I needed to eliminate, it was the Beta, Reid, his son, Hayes, and the Gamma, Ford. There would be no love lost from Scott for his father. Though Ford wasn’t as harsh on his son as Nicholas and Reid were, he was still just as callous.

I tried to hold my tongue throughout dinner, listening to how my training would now be dictated. At least my best friend would be with me through most of it; we would have each other's backs, as we always did. The only problem was that we would have to spend more time around Hayes, which neither of us were particularly psyched for.

‘Look on the bright side. You can punch your future Beta to your heart's content in the sparring ring,’ Scott mind-linked me from my side, trying to suppress his smirk.

‘Future Beta,’ I scoffed. ‘I’d rather have a bowl of potato salad as my Beta than that asshat.’

He snorted into his steak, almost choking. I had to smack his back to help him cough up his food.

“Sorry, just a little eager for my meat,” he tried to dismiss his abrupt choking fit.

I knew my father was looking between the two of us, well aware we were mind-linking. From how his eyes pinned me down, he knew that whatever was passing between us was filled with some form of snide remark. I would pay for it when the weekend came around where I would be at his mercy, or possibly sooner.

Once the meal was over and I finally thought I could have some freedom, my father slammed his arm across the open door, blocking my exit. There were only the two of us, alone. Scott shot me a concerned glance over his shoulder as his own father walked him down the corridor. I shook my head, willing him to just keep going. If he interfered, Nicholas wouldn’t hesitate to kill him where he stood.

“Do you think I’m blind, boy?” He calmly clicked the door closed.

I gulped, fearing what he was about to say.

Did he know?

Had he seen how I stared at Taylor? Or how some of the other guys in the pack had turned my head briefly? Or the real reason why the ‘girlfriends’ in my life lasted only a split second?

My heart beat so loudly in my ears, I thought it had taken up a new residency in my eardrums.

“You and your friend may think you can get away with your little disrespectful comments because you mind-link. But I can assure you, if either of you display that level of disrespect in my presence again,” he grabbed my jaw, squeezing tightly and slamming my back against the door. “I will split your face in two. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” I mumbled through my pain.

“Good,” he dropped me from his grasp. “You are becoming the very Alpha I have moulded you to be. But until then, I am still your Alpha and you will watch that smart mouth of yours.”

Leaving the dining room as fast as possible, I sped walked all the way back to my bedroom. Hawk snarled and grumbled in my head the entire time and hadn’t stopped even when I had thrown myself onto my bed.

‘I don’t care who does it or when, but that f*****g piss-monster of a bastard dies,’ my wolf roared for the thousandth time.

‘We will. But, for the love of the goddess, will you just stop with your rage-fits? My head is pounding,’ I rubbed the space between my eyes. He grumbled and eventually gave up his tirade, leaving me with some much-needed silence.

No matter how hard he pushed, how many bones he broke, I would never allow myself to become the type of tyrant my father thought he was moulding me to be.

If only he knew the truth, that the more he beat me into his mould, the more I refused to fit. And this training that he was so insistent on beating into me personally?

This was yet another mould of my father's to break.