Mated to the Alpha Triplets

Chapter 22: A challenge

Tanya POV

I was seething. I stalked back to my room, barely shutting the door behind me before I let out a bellow of rage. I had spent YEARS worming my way into Harry's life, making myself completely indispensible. Jamie and Noah could see right through me so I didn't bother with them but Harry was much more easily manipulated. Anyone could see he was the odd one out in the family, all it took was a few compliments and adoring looks and I had him right where I wanted him. My parents were desperate for me to become the next Luna and I had to admit, the power excited me. All I had to do was get Harry to choose me as his mate, the rest would follow.

I stripped Harry's clothes off and slid into bed between the silk sheets. Burying my head into the pillow before screaming. I could feel my body start to transform, the skin turning to scales and my eyesight becoming blurred as my eyes turned to slits. Before I knew it I'd shifted into my true self, my forked tongue flickering out of my mouth as I slid out of the bed towards a full-length mirror.

I loved my serpent form, it felt powerful and majestic, unlike my weak human form. My mother was half serpent, half wolf, but her wolf form was dominant whereas for me, it was my serpant form that ruled my heart making it more dominant. I had the strength of a wolf but the cunning of a serpant. Nobody in the pack knew as my parents had been giving me a potion to help mask my serpent from everyone I knew for years now. I hadn't turned 18 yet so my wolf wasn't expected and in any case, I had a plan. I was able to make people that loved me do anything I wanted them to do, one of my more useful powers. So far I'd only tried it on my family but once I got Harry under my so-called spell, I would have him kill his brothers, making us the true Alpha and Luna of the pack. Now it looked as if that was all crumbling away from me. I hissed furiously as I slithered back to my bed, my eyes glowing red.

I'd seen Ottilie transform in the woods, my lack of scent keeping me well hidden. I'd been keeping a close eye on all of them the second I'd realised that she was their mate. It was obvious. The three of them couldn't keep their eyes off her whereas just weeks before they'd forgotten she had existed. Well Harry had at least, he'd despised her, never letting an opportunity pass to throw hateful comments her way. Seeing her huge white wolf with glowing purple eyes shocked me, I was still trying to figure out what to do with the information. There was no point telling the current Alpha and Luna, it was obvious their days were numbered. The boys would defeat Alpha Marcus in any battle, their hate had made them weak. I hated Ottilie but I was incredibly careful not to let it blind me. She was clearly incredibly powerful and I was attracted to power, it was the only reason I had tried to get Harry on my side. Seeing her as her true self was exhilarating, finding a way to harness that power, to make it mine, to make her mine had to be my new goal. I hissed with pleasure as I realised what it could mean for me. I just needed to find a way to bring her back here.

Jamie POV

"I Jamie Silver, future Alpha of the Silver Fang pack challenge Alpha Marcus to a duel," I announced loudly, stepping back from the centre of the candle-lit room to let my brothers announce their intentions.

We'd been called to the elders house early the next morning to officially confirm what my father had already told them the night before. It was obvious that they disapproved, it wasn't customary for Alpha's to step down until their next in line had met their mate but that was it, it was just a custom. There was nothing in the rules that said it had to be that way. There were 11 elders in total, sat before us in carved stone chairs, their wizened features twisted with contempt for us.

My father was livid, a vein popping in his neck as he listened to us openly challenge him for his leadership. I felt a pang of guilt as I looked at him and my mother, who was white, her eyes red as if she'd been crying all night.

Noah nodded at me as he stepped back, keeping his eyes averted from our parents. This was it now, there was no going back.

Elder Rothermire, the most senior of the elders stepped forward, his wrinkled hands clasped in front of him. Nobody really knew how old they were, they were a creepy lot and I didn't fully trust them but I knew they would uphold our claim as the new Alpha's when we defeated our parents.

"You have openly challenged Alpha Marcus, the current Alpha of the Silver Fang pack, for his leadership. As such, you will battle for the title, because you are triplets, Alpha Marcus will need to fight all three of you at once. As the challenger, you are able to decide, do you fight to the death or to incapacitate?"

I stepped forward again. "To incapactitate," I confirmed. We'd spoken about this the night before, we might hate our father but none of us could kill him, it wasn't in our nature.

My father scoffed, no doubt unimpressed by what he would consider our cowardice. Showing the enemy mercy wasn't something that he knew how to do.

Elder Rothermire nodded in agreement. "The duel will take place on this day at 4 o'clock'" he said, "the loser or losers will be banished from the pack, cast out as rogues."

My father growled, before bowing to the elders and marching out of the room, my mother hot on his heels.

"Thank you Elder Rothermire, Elders," I replied, bowing to the rest of them respectfully.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he said condescendingly, "the pack will not look kindly on you challenging your own father."

Harry stepped forward. "With all due respect Elder Rothermire, the pack are miserable, my father is hated. Maybe it's time for a change."

The elders looked furious, we could hear them whispering words like 'disgusting' and 'no respect". Harry just smiled lazily, totally unbothered, he'd always hated them.

"Elders," he said, bowing again before stalking out of the room, Noah and I following.

"Bloody fools," he said as we walked through the town back to the packhouse.

"They might be fools Harry but there's no point in antagonising them, we'll need them on our side when we win," I replied, rubbing my eyes tiredly. I'd barely slept a wink that night, Sam, my wolf was pining for Ottilie. So was I for that matter.

"How do you want to play this," said Noah, changing the subject, "he's got no self control so his wolf will come out almost straight away, we have no practice sparring with our wolves."

"We've got 8 hours to figure it out," Harry said grimly. "We'd better start now. Let's head to the old training fields, nobody will see us there."

We hadn't told anyone about the fight. We hadn't wanted an audience but it seemed as if my father had other plans. He'd gathered almost all of his supporters to watch us. His arrogance would be blinding though, he had no chance against the three of us, as inexperienced as we were. Tanya and her family were sat front row and it was strange. Her family, unsprisingly, looked livid with us but she just smiled, almost gleefully. It was unnerving but I couldn't think about that now.

Her father, Beta Saul rose and came to stand in between the three of us and our father.

"You may shift, but no other weapons, understood?" He said, barely looking at us. We nodded and he stepped away, letting out a huge howl to signify the start of the duel.

Immediately the three of us took defensive positions, we didn't want to have to fight our father if we didn't have to, we were hoping to just subdue him, to make him go gently.

"Pathetic," he spat at us, his teeth beginning to elongate, "you don't even have the balls to fight me, where's your pride, where's your honour?!"

Harry growled stepping forward, "we're not the pathetic ones you old fool, look at you, you can barely stand up straight, just submit now before you hurt yourself." He was right, our dad had several old injuries that made standing for a long period of time almost impossible.

"You insolent bastard," our father roared, running at Harry, his fist at the ready. Harry neatly stepped to one side, swinging a foot out that connected with his side, leaving him sprawled on the floor. It was pathetic really, a once all-powerful Alpha lying in the mud. It did nothing but anger our father more though and within a second he had shifted to his wolf Thaddius, a mean f****r that had no respect for anyone.

He lunged for Harry with his claws, taking him by surprise and leaving a large s***h down one side of his face. Noah and I shifted immediately, running straight for Thaddius, our huge paws sending him flying into the air, before he crashed against a tree outside of the boundary line. Harry had shifted at this point and the three of us gathered, waiting to see what he would do next.

Surely he's had enough, mindlinked Noah, he can't go on for much longer. Look at him.

He was right, we'd barely started and already he was struggling, his black furry chest heaving as he got up. He stalked towards us, the crowd he'd gathered cheering as he did so.

He raced towards us again, managing to swerve out of the way of Harry's teeth. Noah however got to him, using his claws to cut him deeply across his belly. Thaddius let out a howl of pain as Noah's wolf held him down by his throat, his eyes swirling from black to silver.

This is for Ottilie, he whispered across the mindlink, as he increased the pressure, trying to get him to pass out. As he began to lose consciousness, Dad shifted back to his human form, his wolf in so much pain he could no longer sustain himself. Blood poured from the cuts on his chest and bruises covered his body. His eyes finally shut and Noah stood, panting heavily, before shifting back to his human form as Harry and I followed.

"Alpha Marcus has lost the duel, Alpha Jamie, Alpha Harry and Alpha Noah are the new Alpha's of the Silver Fang Pack." Elder Rothermire's voice rang out from amongst the crowd. We stood somewhat uncertainly as the crowd before us fell to their knees before us, the silence was almost deafening.

I heard a scream and saw a blur as my mother raced towards us. We thought she was heading for our father who looked like he was in a bad way but realised far too late that Harry was her intended target. As she reached Harry I saw a flash of silver before she plunged a little dagger into his side. Harry let out a howl of pain and fell to the floor, blood pouring out of him. Noah and I raced to stem the blood with our hands, looking at each other with despair as we realised how bad this was. Silver was deadly to wolves.

"Jamie, s**t, we have to get him to the hospital."

Without a backwards glance Noah and I lifted Harry and raced him to the pack hospital, praying to the moon goddess for his survival.