The Fallen Alpha

1 | The Alpha of Alphas

Cillian grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and poured it all over his head and neck, letting the sweat and blood wash down his heated body. Cillian cracked his neck from side to side when the door to his office unlocked. He didn’t need to look up, for there was only one man who’d dare to walk in without knocking. 

His younger brother and the beta of his pack - Cole. 

“They are here,” he announced. 

Only then, Cillian remembered that an alpha of the neighboring pack, the one under his protection, had requested a closed-door meeting with him. 

“Alpha Cillian,” the shifter greeted him tersely.

Cillian nodded and pointed to the chair across from him.  

“What brings you here, Torres?” he asked and refrained from acknowledging him as an ‘alpha.’ To Cillian, his authority superseded over others. “Are you not happy with the southern territory?”  

Torres grimaced, masking the growl in his voice. “I would have been happier if I did not have to deal with those high and mighty filthy buggers. Unfortunately, they are fast becoming a problem for my pack, Alpha Cillian.” 

Cillian exchanged an impassive look with brother and then gazed directly at Torres. “So I have been told.”  

“Not only they killed a member of my pack, but they managed to capture a part of my territory as well.” With every word, his temper was rising. “You promised us protection, Alpha.”

Five years ago, when Cillian assumed his position as the alpha, he acceded a few territories to his domain. It included the territory where Alpha Torres ruled at present. As long as he paid his tribute and accepted Cillian as the ultimate alpha, they would enjoy prosperity and protection. Every war need not to be laced with blood and destruction. 

“Let me talk to my council, and I will get back to you.”

Torres wasn’t pleased, but he relented. Then, with the same tightness in his demeanor when he entered the room, he left without exchanging another word. 

The door slammed shut, and Cillian walked over to the shelf to grab a bottle of hard liquor for himself. The residual rush of adrenaline in his veins slowly died, and annoyance replaced his mood.

He simply drank from the bottle and lowered it. “Cole, what’s happening? First, it was one of our enforcers who got killed in their territory and now the lands. They are trying to f*****g expand.” 

“The Crimson Moon mutts.” His brother scowled. “They are like a dog with a bone, Cillian.” Inside the closed door, Cole hardly accosted his brother with his rank.  

“Their power grows by the day, and while I don’t give a f**k about that, I will not sit back on the retribution of the death of my pack member. That asshole Alpha has to pay. He can either bow to us or die,” Alpha Cillian growled. 

“These wolves are so proud of their lineage and strength that they would rather fight and die in a battle than bend their knees.”

Crimson Moon shifters were one of the oldest werewolf packs with extraordinary strength in their genes as compared to other shifters. They were small in number but elusive, proud, and orthodox. They inhabited a considerable portion of the eastern territory, and now they are looking to expand. Except, Cillian was already standing in their way.

“Then we twist their arms and make it happen,” Cillian snapped, taking another swig from the bottle. “Not only will they surrender the captured territory, but they will be forced to accede. We have to look for weakness because everyone has one.” 

 Cole pursed his lips and shook his head. “Not them. Every male shifter is trained to fight since they are mere pups.”

Cillian tapped his finger on the desk and scratched his chin. “Male shifter, you say.” 

“What’s on your mind, brother?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment, lost in the maze of his wicked mind but finally locked eyes with his brother. Eyes that gleamed with dark excitement. “You are wrong. Alpha Jade has a weakness. A weakness in the form of a daughter, the apple of his eyes.” 

There was obvious disapproval in his features. “Cillian, that would be crossing a line. We don’t use the females as collateral damage in our fight,” Cole reminded his brother.

The moral fiber of the shifter wolves was quite thin, but even then, cruelty towards innocents, especially females and children, was barred. They fought on their own strength and power. But Alpha Cillian had his own rules. Only he could make and break them at his own pleasure.  

“Not a collateral damage but a bargaining chip,” he argued. “Besides, her own pack is a bunch of old-fashioned jerks who treats the woman beneath them. So I just merely have to bend her in order for her father to accept my terms. Let’s see how badly he wants his daughter back unscathed from the clutches of a big, bad wolf. You don’t agree?”

Cole was still unconvinced. “It’s a sin to involve the innocent in the eyes of…”

“Don’t you f*****g say Moon Goddess!” Cillian slammed the bottle on the table, spilling a good amount. “There’s no goddess up there in the sky who controls our fate. It’s our strength, unity, and power that matters. I am not going to f*****g listen to this crap.” 

Nodding, Cole hung his head and nodded. “You have your reasons, Alpha.” Yes, he did. Cillian bore various scars on his body to testify that power triumphs over all. 

He quickly clamped down his temper and dished out the orders. “Let us lay out a plan and get this over with. The sooner we bring her to heel, the quicker this thing will go away. I refuse to look like a weak Alpha who can’t afford the protection to the territory I own. The next thing I know, I am fighting the rebels.” 

His brother, his Beta, scoffed a laugh. “The brand of fear you have already instilled in the hearts of other leaders is rich enough to suppress the rebellion for years to come.”

It was true. Alpha Cillian doesn’t merely kill his enemies but obliterates them. 

“And yet you believe that it is the grace and will of the moon goddess?” 

“You disregard her blatantly,” Cole murmured.  

Cillian averted his eyes and gazed distantly. He was known to be a beast, and a beast has no conscience. A jumble of distorted images filled his head, and he forcefully pushed them aside.

“I have fallen from her grace a long ago,” he snarled. “And I have no intention to seek her forgiveness now…or ever. On the contrary, for all I know, I would rather be the devil than her puppet.” 

Having known that this conversation would lead to nowhere, Cole move on to the imminent problem at hand. Pulling out the map of the shifter territories, he perused the topography.

“Their territory is relatively smaller but well-guarded,” he tapped along the lines of the eastern region. “Alpha Jade keeps the patrol on a tight leash so that no rogue wolf can break into their property. Apparently, outsiders are not come welcomed.” 

“I want one of the best sniffers of our pack to pick up the smell of the female—that elder daughter of the Alpha. And then we have to make sure that her smell merges with our own. Send word to the apothecary for the herbs we require urgently.” 

“I am on it,” Cole said, folding back the paper. On his way out, his fingers paused on the knob, and he turned back to his brother. 

“Are you absolutely sure that you want to go through this plan? The retaliation could be fatal.”

Alpha Cillian smirked; his eyes shone with dark thrill. “Not if we managed to bend his daughter.”