The Rise of the Alpha

22

(Third Person POV)

**that same day**

With the funerals out of the way, the gloomy members of River Falls were trying with every ounce of their strength to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and press forward. Everything was still so raw! The poor pack, as a whole, were baskets filled to the brim with heavy emotions, and the goings on around the pack had slowed to a crawl. Some of the members walked around in a total daze wondering how they would possibly carry on without the wisdom and guidance of their Alpha and Luna, while others kept strictly to themselves in favor of mourning either in solitude or with their select others. Leila's friends seemed to be hit the hardest, for they had withdrawn into themselves and mourned grievously.

The pack was so rattled by what had occured that after the closing of the services, Amos and the new patrolmen officially marked a perimeter around the territory. From then on, neither man nor woman or child would dare to freely explore the grounds, and concerned parents forbade their little ones from playing in the forest without at least one of the freshly-appointed guards entow for supervision.

Then, there's poor Cyrus. The sweet and humble, eternally-scarred fae was in shambles over his losses, but even more so troubled by his adoptive niece's demise. The glaring, undisputed fact remained, though – each of his attempts at locating her had failed, and he knew in his gut that it was going to be up to him to fit that frustrating piece into the tragic puzzle. All of this was enough to send him on a tailspin into the desolate depths of depression, and though he knew that much in his heart, he hoped and prayed that the inevitable monster would stay at bay for as long as it possibly could.

Hours were spent in his room, wrapped in Lucy's old, faded quilt while reading away and trying his luck with his looking glass, too, sparking theory after upsetting theory as to who was behind the visions falling through. Long ago, he'd sworn to protect his adoptive pack with every fiber of his being, and as of right now, that same vow was his driving force to uncover the truth regarding the questionable demise of his beloved family, despite how increasingly upsetting each failed attempt became.

*****

~the next evening around dinnertime~

As one might expect, the dining area was half full and mostly quiet, for not many of the pack members had much of an appetite. The diners filled the chairs at the tables and chatted in hushed tones amongst themselves, each of them equally down in the dumps.

"I miss her so f.ucking much, you guys," someone overheard Jory say to her table of friends.

"Yeah. s**t's just not the same anymore, and it never will be again," Aubrey choked out, sniffling and fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over, in turn making the rest of the friends' eyes go watery, too. Poor Aubrey had held up strong during the services, however the total absence of her father has, without a doubt, scarred her for life.

***

Nearing the conclusion of dinner, a visibly-shaken patrolman approached a chattering Amos and whispered something into his ear, consequently having Amos and a couple of the guards fleeing the dining area, leaving the remaining pack members puzzled and murmuring speculations amongst themselves. A short while later, the men came back sporting similar horror-stricken looks, and one of those men was clutching hold of a dirty, slightly-torn duffle bag.

"Wait a minute! That looks like Leila's old duffle!" an onlooking Jory whispered to her friends, gasping as an unwelcome wave of fear washed c.ompletely over her.

Amos, in particular, appeared especially distraught, and as soon as he returned to his table, he clinked his teaspoon against his teacup with the intention of gathering the people's full attention. Once every pair of eyes were on him and the chatter had d.ied down, he instructed them to j.oin him in the Reception Hall the moment they were finished dining. Though more murmurs and whispered questions then arose from the crowd, they understood their orders, and a while later, they reported to the Hall to find out what all the fuss was about. In the meantime, they picked one another's brains to see if anyone could possibly make heads or tails as to what was going on.

***

A short while later with the Hall full of pack members and guards, alike, Amos and the off-duty patrolmen made their way through the sea of confusion in tense silence to take the stage. The beta was holding a tri-folded piece of paper, and what was soon to fall from his lips was sure to rip open the collective scar over the pack's crushed heart.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began to announce, "what I'm about to show you is … well … it's utterly devastating, to say the very least." On that note, he motioned for the one guard to step forward with the duffle in hand. That guard f.ollowed orders, promptly tossing the battered bag dead-center at the head of the stage. Mumbles arose from the crowd instantly thereafter, and confusion was written all over the people's faces…apart from Jory and her friends, that is; they were all kinds of worked up!

"This can't be!" cried Hannah to her friends, pushing Jory to wrap her arms around the girl and soothe her to the best of her ability.

"During dinner … while mostly everyone here was either eating or in the pack house … I was informed of the presence of rogues near the border," he continued, "but they were nowhere to be seen once the guards and I arrived, for the on-duty patrol had already chased them away. They left this behind, though…" With that, he averted his gaze briefly down to the bag then quickly back up to the crowd and added, "Upon further inspection, I realized to whom it belonged." Apart from the gasps coming from a few people and the sniffling of Leila's friends, no one in the Hall uttered a word, prompting Amos to press on. Clearing his throat, he picked the duffle up and presented it to the onlookers so that those toward the back could get a better glimpse of it. "This dirty thing is Leila's property, and it was found about a mile outside our border. It contains her belongings and carries her scent plus that of some rogues. Even more unfortunate, irrefutable proof of her demise, I'm afraid."

Indecipherable chatter and even more gasps arose then, and several people (Jory and her friends included) began sobbing where they stood. That bag was it – the soured icing on top of the cake of unfortunate events.

"Everyone, I understand that this has only reignited your fears, but I can assure you that I will do everything in my knowledge and strength to rebuild the ripped-apart pieces of this broken pack and make us even stronger together." On that note, he unfolded the paper and presented it to the crowd. "This right here's a document signed long ago by Mark, Lavinia, and myself, and it declares their wishes for me to step into Mark's role should something ever happen to him before Leila became of age. This is his will for this pack, you all, and I feel that it is my duty to both you and to them to humbly f.ollow my calling and be your Alpha. Should anyone hold any objections to this, you may speak now or forever hold your peace."

Much to his expectation, the crowd exchanged glances and rattled off questions to both him and one another, prompting him to take a few additional moments to lay down his thoughts and ideas concerning the pack and their moves going forward as a whole. His gentle approach proved to be fruitful, for it seemed to lessen most of his pack's rightful apprehension. Of course there were those who, for one reason or another, did not wish for him to lead them, but they were few and they kept their sentiments to themselves so as to avoid any future ostracism.

Amos scanned the faces of his fellow men onstage to read their expressions, and given that each of them nodded in both acknowledgement of his words, he then turned his gaze to the crowd and said with confidence, "Very well. We shall make it official tomorrow at noon. Come and be a witness, and we shall f.ollow it up with a celebratory feast afterwards." A light round of applause ensued, f.ollowed by the continuation of chatter and conversation as the hastily-called meeting wrapped up and Amos departed from the crowd, eager to retire to Mark's office for a bit.

Meanwhile, Cyrus was next to nowhere to be found, for he had been standing near the back of the Hall and had dipped out the moment Amos began speaking of the impending succession. Everything was happening so quickly, and his fae senses had begun to tingle like they'd never tingled before! He wanted to both escape the crowd before anyone had noticed and make more sense of why he was feeling the way he was…and like everything else he'd been learning thus far, he vowed to keep all of his findings to himself (for now, at least).