The Rogue Alpha

Chapter Two

Alpha Jack had somehow managed to survive his wife’s death, something that most werewolves rarely do. It had taken many years, but he had finally found a way through the pain and remarried, giving himself to one of the unmarked women from the pack. He was open about the fact he was not marrying for love, only doing it so that the pack would have a Luna, but he swore that he would never love another.

He had mated and marked his new wife the night of their wedding, before moving her into the room next to his, refusing to allow her to sleep with him in his marital bed, the bed that belonged to Carol. If he wanted release, he would go to her room, r****h her body in any way he saw fit, using her harshly before getting up and leaving, returning back to his room and memories of his mate. The new Luna had accepted her position silently, understanding that she was nothing more than a replacement, never allowing the pain of her existence to show to others.

Over the years the two brothers had seen the blood of so many Rogues flow down the steps of their pack house at the hands of their father. The pair had been forced to stand as children and watch as their father cut through Rogue after Rogue in front of his pack members. He had soon become unsatisfied with just punishing those that wandered onto his land, sending out warriors to round them up and bring them into the pack lands.

Alexander and Archer had both relished in the punishment, each body that was flung from their father’s grip was another piece of retribution for the death of their mother. Alexander held the same hatred as his father, blaming the Rogues for the loss of his mother, relishing in the anger as much as Alpha Jack did. The same glint that flickered in their father’s eye burned brightly in Alexander’s, but as time went on, Archer’s flame for vengeance started to flicker and dull.

After five years, Alexander now seventeen, Archer a boy of fifteen, a family were hauled in front of Alpha Jack, the warrior’s throwing the father down at their Alpha’s feet as his wife sobbed in terror, clinging to her small daughter that looked to be only four years old, the tiny child’s bottom lip trembling as she hid her eyes with a small stuffed rabbit that was gripped tightly in her fist.

Alpha Jack snarled down at the trio, anger bubbling within him, ‘you dare to step foot on my land dog?’ he asked as he kicked the man in the face, the Rogue whimpering but keeping his head down.

‘I’m sorry Alpha, our daughter, she roamed too close, we tried to stop her’ he whispered. ‘Please, we will leave and never return’ he added desperately.

Jack laughed humourlessly, ‘of course you will, I’m sure you were just passing through, you mean no harm right?’ he hissed, radiating his Alpha aura and making everyone bare their necks.

‘I swear, we mean no harm Alpha, please, let my wife and daughter go, keep me, punish me, but let them go’ the Rogue begged as tears fell from his eyes, splashing onto the stone steps in front of him.

‘No Jasiah, I’ll take the punishment, Isla needs you’ the woman cried out desperately, reaching out a hand to her husband, who took it and squeezed it tightly in his grip.

‘It’s OK Molly’ he whispered softly, raising his gaze to his wife who was now weeping openly, ‘if you live, then I can rest easy.’

Archer, watching from his place between the guards, studied the family, his gaze flicking to his father’s face and back again. He could see that the Rogue was sincere, he was willing to die for his wife and child. Surely his father could see that too.

Jack smiled as he crouched down, looming over the Rogue male who looked up before quickly dropping his gaze, ‘you want to protect your mate?’ he asked softly. The Rogue nodded immediately, ‘and your child?’ Jack whispered as he held out a hand to the little girl, smiling warmly as the youngster hesitated.

The Rogue looked between the Alpha’s hand and his daughter before nodding at her to take it, his body shaking. ‘Yes, I want to protect my child’ he admitted quietly, pleadingly, taking a deep shaky breath as Jack pulled the little girl gently to his side.

‘I understand that . . Jasiah? Is it?’ Jack questioned softly, his hand running down Isla’s hair almost lovingly, ‘I understand the desire to protect those that you love in any way possible.’

Jasiah swallowed, nodding again, his hands clasped in front of him as he knelt on the floor in front of the Alpha. Jack looked at the little girl who was peeking at him through the teddy, her innocent eyes staring into his as he watched her.

‘Isla? Is that your name?’ Jack asked quietly, a small smile playing around his lips as she nodded shyly.

Jack pulled her closer, both his hands, finding her face, making her look up at him with big brown eyes that gazed at him in confusion.

‘I understand that desire, Jasiah, the feral need to do anything, be anything, if it means that the ones you love will be protected’ Jack continued, slightly louder, his voice carrying across the crowd.

‘I failed my mate Jasiah, failed to protect her when I let a Rogue enter my territory’ Jack added, ‘and I paid the ultimate price for that weakness.’ Looking down at the cowering man, Jack shook his head slowly, almost as though he was apprehensive, but when he spoke again, his voice was strong and deliberate. ‘I will never make that mistake again though’ he added, before tightening his grip and pulling Isla’s head sharply to the side, a resounding c***k echoing through the silence before the tiny frail body of the four year old fell to the ground.

Her mother screamed in anguish, scrabbling toward her child as two guards held her back. Jasiah howled in pain, his fingers elongating as he tried to reach for the Alpha, who merely stood up, dusting off his trousers, stepping around the male Rogue, extending his own claws and ripping through Molly’s neck.

Turning back to Jasiah, Jack grabbed his throat, lifting him from the ground and turning him to face his dead child and his mate, who was taking her final breaths, crumpled on the floor.

‘You can’t protect your family, Rogue’ Jack growled dangerously, ‘because you are what they needed protection from, you made them into what needs to be eliminated. So look at what your mere existence has caused, YOU are the reason that they are dead’ the Alpha hissed cruelly, ‘and now you may join them’ he added before crushing his fist around the Rogue male’s neck, cutting off his air supply until the bones snapped under his fingers.

Dropping the body, Jack waved disinterestedly at the ground, ‘burn them’ he ordered, before turning back to the pack house and walking inside, his sons falling into step behind him, though Archer looked back at the bodies, his eyes unable to move from the lifeless child as a warrior picked her up and carried her away.

Looking over at his brother, Archer shuddered to see the same cold, emotionless expression on his face as that which was evident on his father’s. His childhood had been plagued with the desire to avenge their mother, the Luna of the Black Opal Pack, a desire that had been fuelled by his own father and brother, the pair encouraging the hatred that burned within them to burn within him too. Taking a last look back as the doors to the pack house swung shut behind them, Archer felt something else though, something other than anger and grief, he felt . . . injustice.

Striding behind his father, his footfalls matching Alexander’s against the highly polished marble flooring of the foyer, Archer, for the first time since the day he had been forced to watch his own mother’s death, started to think that what they were doing was not about the protection of the pack or about revenge of a fallen Luna.