Chasing After Ashes

Chapter 8: True Alpha of the Alcatrozz

Tension filled the night air as we gathered in the forest, waiting for it to begin. There were only a few of us, just the earlier bunch: Quentin, Lowell, Mark, Trisha, and a few older members of the pack who were around the city. We were all scattered around the clearing, on the edge of the wide expanse of land that was going to be the place where blood will be shed and a new leader will be born.

Briefly I closed my eyes, breathing in deeply the scents of the werewolves around me, tasting and tasting the worry and the fright they were feeling. But they had no reason to, I thought. Except, they didn’t feel the immense hatred I felt for Hans, ingrained deep into my veins from all his stupidity I had to deal with for the past few years. So of course, they were going to be scared of what would happen during it and what the result may be.

As I opened my eyes, my eyes unconsciously went back into staring at the man who stood in the center of the dimly lit forest floor. His pale blonde hair curling softly around his face, casting shadows upon his eyes, and somehow intensifying the intensity in his emerald gaze. Every inch of his body was taut tight against his white polo, straining with the pressure of the oncoming fight.

His eyes narrowed as Hans appeared at the clearing, an easy smile on his lips that were mockingly saying there wasn’t a question as to who would win this fight. It was him. He kissed Elizabeth who were walking beside him and murmured a few words in her ear before he swaggered into the middle of the clearing.

It was over before it even began.

As I had thought it to be, the moment Hans entered the circle where they were going to be fighting, he had already lost. Not because he dropped to the ground or because Tate had attacked him the moment he entered. No, it was because the first thing out of his mouth was, “You are going to look like the fool you are son, when you lose this match.”

It was as if Tate disappeared into thin air because I blinked and the next moment, I saw him kicking his father back a few yards. Hans placed his feet firmly onto the ground to gather his bearings before moving forward and successfully punching Tate hard in the stomach. Hans shifted his hands into claws in the next second and swiped at Tate’s shoulders, leaving four red slashes on his shoulders own to his chest.

Tate didn’t let the injury stop him as he grabbed his father by his shirt and with his left hand, punched him right in the abdomen. Hans gasped and I saw a bit of blood dribble out of his mouth.

Wait, why? No matter how hard the force behind Tate’s punch was, the chances were a million to one that it would have caused Hans to gag on the blood that suddenly appeared in his mouth. Then I saw it. As Tate threw his father to the ground, the light caught on the reddened pale fur and claws of his left hand.

Hans wobbled as he placed both his hands on the grassy floor beside him, struggling to get up. “I-I g-gi—” he stuttered, the blood on his mouth making it harder for him to say whatever he was going to say.

The seriousness in Tate’s eyes flickered until concern shone. He reached for his father, placing his hand on Hans’ shoulders to help him up.

“How are you going to make a good leader with all this weakness in you?” murmured Hans, a dark grin on his face as he pushed his hand deeper into Tate’s stomach.

Tate staggered back until he fell on the floor, Hans over him, still keeping his hand as deep as he could. There was a sound that barely sounded like a cry in the crowd. I glanced up and saw it was Elizabeth, holding her hands together in front of her, covering her mouth. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she watched her son get mutilated by her husband.

Looking back at Hans and Tate who was lying motionless on the floor, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed at how he was acting. He talked all big that it was time for him to get the position he deserved, that it only had taken him this long because he respected his father too much to take it easily. And now he was fighting to get his position, he was lying on the ground because his father played a cheap trick?

A cheap trick he shouldn’t have even fallen for knowing he was in the middle of a fight and underhanded tricks were usually a part of it. It had been a few long seconds, going on over more than a minute as we all watched Tate lying on the ground, not doing a damn thing. Hans looked confident in his win, watching his son gasping for breath.

We couldn’t let Hans stay in his position. It was too much. He hadn’t done anything right for the pack for years, and who knew if he was ever even a good alpha in the beginning. It was time for the Alcatrozz to have a new leader who would think about their best interest and continuously promote racism against humans. It was time for them have to Tate as their alpha and here he was, lying on the ground because his compassion got the better of him.

Get up, you i***t! I screamed in my head, biting my lip and willing with my all that this wasn’t the end for him. He wasn’t dying. Not yet, I thought. But if Hans continued with what he was doing, Tate would be a goner. Even if I rushed to him right now and fought Hans off, the moment I reached Tate, I wouldn’t be able to completely bring him back.

I couldn’t, wouldn’t, be able to bear seeing him mutilated, lifeless on the floor yet again. He had so much he needed to do to lead this pack, so this shouldn’t be the end for him. As I continued to watch him remain unmoving on the forest floor, the rampant and confusing emotions swirling inside me suddenly burst out into one deafening scream, “Get up, you i***t!”

He didn’t. Seconds passed until I couldn’t hear him gasping for breath and the only thing that could be heard in the night was the soft whistle of the wind. My eyes widened in disbelief. It couldn’t be, could it?

“Wait,” a soft voice breathed out.

I felt like my eyes were about to pop at any moment if I force them any wider, yet I didn’t care. The sound, despite how quiet it was, could only be Tate. Couldn’t it?

“J-just w-wait,” he gasped out and fluttered his eyes opened. He moved his head and somehow even if he was a few yards away, I knew he was looking at me. “I w-was only c-catching my breath.”

It was like I could have breathed again as his breathing normalized within seconds. Tate grabbed his father’s hand that was almost elbow deep into his stomach, gripping it tight until the arm reddened and pulled it out of him. Blood gushed out in a frightening volume that didn’t faze him out as he rolled away and stood away from his father.

I only saw his polo shirt was tattered and the huge hole in his stomach before he quickly moved to Hans, kicking and punching him in a series of attacks far quicker than he had moved earlier. Before we knew it, Tate was behind his father, sharpened claws threatening to be pushed into his father, and his other clawed hand was in front of Hans’ neck. It was dangerously close to nicking him.

“Surrender,” Tate growled.

“Never,” said Hans in a strained voice. He gulped, the movement causing Tate’s sharp claws into slicing a thin line on his neck. “You are making this decision for all the wrong reasons and that’s a weakness. You would never survive this pack if you let yourself be controlled by such a thing as that.”

Tate’s eyes darkened until they resembled obsidian orbs in the darkness as he pushed his claws deep into his father’s back. Hans gasped out, breathing hard at the pain. Then a wave of power spread out from the center of the circle, from where they both stood, and made the watching pack members stumble to the ground.

The power rolled out, thick like a liquid as sweet as honey yet had the tangy taste of nature that was hard to swallow. It tasted like Tate as it rolled past me but I felt how it could have affected me if I was weaker. As I looked around, I noticed most of the older pack members, Elizabeth, and Trisha dropped face down to the ground, softly whimpering at the anger and force behind the power.

Lowell who were a few paces near me dropped to the floor on one knee, his head lowered. Mark and Quentin were on their knees as well, heads lowered in reverence to the power and to their alpha.

“I give up,” mumbled Hans as he choked on the blood in his mouth and the power Tate was forcing down his throat.

As soon as he said that, Tate removed his hands from him, making Hans fall to the floor. It was a sight to see as Tate turned to all of us, bleeding everywhere, his clawed hands dripping with blood, and his eyes void of nothing but power and darkness.

“I am your Alpha.” He didn’t scream or raise his voice higher than usual, but his words echoed in the surroundings before us. It silenced the few critters of the night that had come to life and the night air suddenly became thick with his power.

I could taste him.

The delicious sweet musk of his power was thick in the night. It weighed heavy in my tongue until I couldn’t help but swallow the power—that was the only way I could describe it as I drank his power into me and my blood sang with the power of the Alcatrozz pack. The words came out of my mouth unconsciously, echoed by the werewolves surrounding us and even by those who couldn’t be with us tonight, “You are our Alpha.”

The words felt right. I didn’t think there was a problem when I said it, and I still don’t. However, as I watched the others, even Hans, vow their allegiance and loyalty to Tate, their Alpha, I couldn’t help but wonder why I felt I was enveloped by a warm security blanket as I stood in the chilly night.

Everyone quickly rose to their feet as soon as they had sworn under the new Alpha. Elizabeth and a few older werewolves rushed to Hans’ side, checking the extent of his injuries. One woman, Tonya, brought along a medicine box in which she quickly opened and used to clean Hans’ injuries.

I stood to the side, watching everyone move in a flurry as they tended to their old alpha’s injuries and to their new alpha. I felt warm against the night, surrounded by these people who once had been the monsters who ruined my life and made living here worse, yet I felt secure. Utterly secure in their presence as if the years I had spent with them were nothing but a nightmare.

It was weird. And as I started thinking that, tearing at the fray of loose thread in the secure blanket I was wrapped in, I couldn’t help but wonder what I was doing earlier. I bit my lip, not knowing why I yelled at Tate like a madwoman. But I just knew Hans couldn’t still be the alpha. That was just it, wasn’t it? I thought, watching Tate struggle to smile as his mother worriedly checked him over.

Elizabeth looked away from him and started looking around. When she saw me, she yelled, “Evangeline, what are you doing? Come over here and help him.”

I nodded my head and immediately went to Tate’s side. Lowell and Mark held him each by his shoulder while Quentin and Elizabeth moved away from him to give me space.

The moment I got close enough to see the extent of his injuries, I held back a gasp. It looked far worse than it had from far away. There wasn’t one inch of his body that wasn’t covered by injuries. His insides were opened from the hole Hans had made from his stomach earlier and as I looked closer, his pupils were dilating from the pain of standing.

Yet he was still talking to the others like nothing happened and moving away from Mark and Lowell who was beside him.

Such a stupid guy, I thought as I breathed in deeply before touching him. As I touched him, I slowly cleared my mind of all the negativity and confusion bothering at me, and focused only on healing him. My body felt warm as I felt my power enveloped me until it travelled down to Tate’s body and do its duties quickly, closing, knitting, healing every inch of his body.

A moment later I opened my eyes and saw his body was as unmarred to perfection as it was before the fight. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, smiling.

I nodded my head and left, heading towards Hans to heal him. From last I saw he had worse injuries which wouldn’t easily heal even if you had fast healing. It would take days at the very least, and at most, a week for him to completely heal from this fight.

Tonya, the one who brought the medicine box, looked up as I stepped in front of them. My figure casting a shadow onto Hans’ pale form. The wrinkled lines of Tonya’s face became more abundant as she saw it was me and quickly gestured for me to situate myself in front of Hans. His eyes were closed from the pain, but the moment he felt the warmth on his skin, he pulled away.

He winced as the injuries on his neck and stomach soaked his shirt further. You would have thought he would take all the help he could get right now so he would be up and dandy in no time, but he didn’t. He glared at me as he spat out, “I would rather die than be healed by this witch.”

“Dad, don’t be stupid,” said Tate as he looked over us. He jerked his head to his dad when I raised my head to look at him. I shrugged and turned back to Hans who was gripping the life out of Juan and Tonya’s arms so he could stand.

Elizabeth rushed forward her eyes reddened from the crying she had done earlier as she pleaded with Hans. “Honey please. Just let her heal you. It wouldn’t cost you anything at all.”

“Damn it, woman! I may not be the alpha anymore but I wouldn’t debase myself by allowing this witch to lay her hands on me and fool me with her powers.”

“When will you ever see the fact that I’m not a witch, you old fool,” I muttered under my breath, watching as he staggered forward, taking small steps as he tried heading back to the house.

The moment he had his back towards me, I moved forward and touched his shoulder, quickly healing the worst of his injuries before he pivoted and slashed at me with his sharp claws. “Touch me again and I will kill you where you stand, witch,” he growled, sounding exactly like a pup who was all bark and no bite.

“Sure. If you could move without reopening your injuries.” I raised my eyebrow at him, waiting for a couple of seconds as he breathed deeply in and out. “Still too weak, I see,” and I turned around and started walking back to the house.

They were going to come back any second now but I didn’t really need to wait for them. Even their new alpha had nothing on me if he wanted me to wait for them.

The frogs, crickets, and other animals started their song again, creating a beautiful harmony that filled the night. As soon as we get back, I will be bombarding Tate with questions after questions before heading by myself to the Werwulf Council first thing in the morning. You didn’t make them wait. Nobody made them wait. Yet, I somehow did. So, who knew how much worse it would be if I made them wait longer before I showed myself and addressed their concerns?

Probably life and death kind of worse, I thought, knowing how other werewolves would have been shaking in their boots if it was them who were called to face the Council. I didn’t care. I wasn’t in the wrong in all of the things which happened in the past. Even if they tried to blame me about what happened with all the packs who had been killed by my Rosewood pack, I still wasn’t a part of their schemes.

They were relatives and nothing more. And I was going to make the Council see it from my point of view, no matter how hardheaded they may be.

As I trudged back to the house, almost reaching the courtyard, I saw a flash of red in the trees beside me. I stopped, smelling the air around me. But there was nothing but the scent of the woods. Yet I was sure I saw a flash of red moving to the side.

I looked around a couple of times and tried to scent out whatever it could be but there was nothing. Thinking it was probably the events of tonight taking a toll on me, especially since I was thinking about my family and the horrendous thing they did, I continued walking, not noticing the figure that was watching me from high up the trees.

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To reiterate for those who don't know:

Book 1 of the Rosewood Trilogy - Alpha, Do I Know You

https://www.dreame.com/novel/1964802.html

Book 2 of the Rosewood Trilogy - Chasing After Ashes

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