Fighting The Alpha's Bond

Chapter Five

More than thirty kilometers north of the great river, in the thickest part of the Grimshore woods, was the main head of the region. Fortified by large trees and guarded by warriors more fierce than bears, the pack called the ‘mighty northern stronghold’ was collapsing from the inside out, like an empire going through its decline. The northern pack was starting to fall.

In the main cabin, much further away from the pack grounds, alpha Lucius was fighting to keep his composure as his right hand, Lou, briefed him on the situation at hand, a fight that he would lose at the mention of his uncle. Clenching his fists together, so tightly his knuckles became white, Lucius looked at Lou with eyes lit with rage.

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that, save it for Silas”, Lou said.

“I would, if the bastard would only show his face”, Lucius’ voice was pressed.

“So, on top of refusing to cooperate and follow the laws you imposed, he is also nowhere to be seen? Great”

“The less I see of him the better, but his frequent disappearances are starting to scare me, so I sent someone to follow him discreetly. ”

Throwing his head back, Lucius took a few good breaths to regain control of his emotions. Losing his temper over someone like Silas would make him a bigger fool, and he would be damned if he became a bigger fool than him.

“Let’s focus on more interesting matters, shall we?”

“It's your call.”

“What’s the status of the poisoned we sent to the river wolves, have they healed them yet?”

“We’re going to receive some representatives, probably by noon, they’ll tell us what’s going on.”

“That doesn’t inspire confidence.”

“It’s the best we’ve got.”

Getting off his seat, Lucius stood in front of the window with a view of the grounds. The dark sky and foggy atmosphere set the mood for what was going on, their darker days.

“Your stress levels are high again, Lucius, I can feel them.”

“Can you blame me? Everything is starting to fall apart and everyone is against me. Someday or later they’re going to replace me with Silas.”

Staring at his reflection in the window showed exactly what Lou was talking about, the dark circles under his eyes, his pale skin, and dead eyes proved he was indeed stressed beyond normal levels, but he never denied he was.

“This is exactly what Blythe was talking about. You’ve got to get a hold of yourself or the real chaos will start”

“I can barely handle the trial run, what makes you think I’ll handle the real deal?”

Lucius looked at Lou through the reflection, her face held much frustration and he could sense her scolding coming at any minute. Backing away from the window, Lucius gently tapped Lou on the back for damage control before leaving the room, the last thing he needed was someone else telling him to step up his game, he had received enough for a lifetime.

Taking the back door to avoid being seen, Lucius stepped out to take in the cold air deep into his lungs, it forced his brain awake. The backyard was once just a part of the cabin, one Lucius rarely visited, but after the events that happened and the aftermath that followed it became his favorite place to think, his favorite place to hide.

A big rock sat beside a pond behind a few trees, that very spot was where all of Lucius’ frustrations came out, he spoke to the trees more than he spoke to Lou. Taking his place on the rock, the cold breeze embraced Lucius as a long-time friend would, but it hadn’t been long since he visited. Looking straight ahead, Lucius sighed out loud, his shoulders felt heavy as he dropped them to sulk, not one thing had gone his way since he opened his eyes that morning, and it would only get worse, he knew it would because it always did.

Ever since the problems started, being optimistic was thrown out the window, and being hopeful for something good to finally happen only triggered the universe to make something bad happen instead. One could only wonder why the pack that stood firm suddenly started crumbling to the ground. That question always led Lucius to one answer and it was the pill he had the most difficulty swallowing.

Coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t the suitable alpha to run the pack was not only humiliating but disheartening as well. Fighting against his uncle Silas for the position only to end up not doing well at it surpassed a bruised ego, it was more like a final blow. But why did he have to fight for his birthright? The concept did not make sense to Lucius, as the alpha’s son, it only made sense for him to take over after his father so why then did Silas not only nominate himself for the role but force his way into power? Was it because he anticipated Lucius would mess up or because he was indeed the better choice?

Jumping off the rock, Lucius paced the ground angrily, he couldn’t believe that his thoughts would go that far as to think Silas would be a better alpha than he was, all pride aside, his uncle was as cunning as he was manipulative, a man without moral or shame couldn’t possibly lead the northern pack, not the way his father did.

Lucius’ stream of thoughts was interrupted by a presence coming up behind him, swiftly, he turned to face the annoyance, it was his informer, Mike, or as he referred to recently, the bearer of his bad news. Lucius could not hide his disappointment, and he didn’t try to either, Mike had not brought him a single good report in months, it’s all been terrible news and he was about to do it again.

“Alpha?”

“Yes, Mike?”

“I have some bad news”

“When do you never?”

The brown-haired boy took a moment before delivering his news

“I’m sorry alpha, it’s just that the number of poisoned has increased in the west”

“By how many?”

“Over forty as we speak”

Lucius whipped his head round to look Mike in the face, the young man’s face held regret.

“It wasn’t nearly that much yesterday, what changed?”

“They're not sure, representatives are scrambling all over the place trying to keep the situation at bay…I don’t think we’ll know anything until much later”

“I don’t have until much later, I need answers now…damn it!”

Picking up a rock from the ground, Lucius put his anger into his wrist and threw it, the rock pierced through the air and disappeared far into the trees beyond. His mini outburst would only build the more he spoke to Mike, he knew it wasn’t the boy's fault but he couldn’t help how frequently he had lost his temper in recent times.

“Thank you, Mike, I’ll be waiting for any new updates”

“Okay…sorry”

Mike left Lucius’ presence in a hurried step, when he was gone, Lucius looked up to the sky, and the daunting gray clouds looked back at him. Though he anticipated something would go wrong it didn’t help lessen the blow, but at the point he had reached, nothing would help lessen the unbearable load he was carrying, nothing and no one. Remembering this, Lucius took a breather and returned to the cabin.

*~*

The day had gone by like it usually did, Lucius spoke with Lou for hours, drawing up plans and ideas but it all led to nothing. Lucius tried his hardest to not lose his cool every time an idea did not add up but the more they discarded them the fewer options they had, it was like they backed themselves up into a corner and couldn’t find their way back.

“Come on, think boy, there’s only one logical thing to do here”, Lou said as she strutted back and forth

“Your logic makes no sense whatsoever, in case you forgot there are bigger issues than Silas at the moment”

Lou’s main solution was for Lucius to ‘be strong’ and she suggested it to him more than once, Lucius did not understand her and refused to keep listening to her.

“All problems lead to Silas, you do realize that, right?”

“Not right now they don’t, there is a widespread disease or whatever that is, running through the region, you want me to blame it all on Silas and put all my focus on fighting him?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all, it’s like you’re refusing to listen to what I’m saying”

The two's personalities began to spark, they had been together for far too long.

“You’re right, Lou, I don’t want to listen to any more of what you have to say, please leave my house”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, out, now”

Her shock turned into anger as she realized he was serious, eventually, Lou left in a fit of rage, and Lucius remained, looking at the ceiling, waiting for a sign to drop out of heaven to tell him what to do.

The sign did not come but word of the river wolves did, Lucius was told by Mike that the representatives had finally arrived and were awaiting his audience. Leaping to his feet, Lucius gave a gentle pat on Mike’s back to thank him for the first good news he had received in forever. It had also come conveniently after his fight with Lou, all that he hoped for was they would at least tell him something sensible.

As Lucius progressed to the room where his guests were, he felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere, like there was a draft and it was pulling him. Stopping in his tracks to properly analyze what he was feeling only made the sensation stronger, sense told him to be conscious but the biting urge coming from inside told him to run forward and he had no other choice but to do it.

In the living room of his cabin, two women and one man stood, the man was of average height with a medium build, he wasn’t the warrior type. The woman to his left had blonde hair and gleaming blue eyes, her frame was much smaller than her other female companion. The first two people that Lucius laid eyes on were not the ones pulling him, the one responsible was the woman on the far left, the one with chestnut brown eyes, black hair, and amber brown skin, the one that Lucius could never forget.

Lucius stared at the woman for what could have been an eternity, and she stared right back, not breaking contact, not even to blink. Her gaze was powerful, the more he looked the deeper he was lost inside her eyes, they brought out an urge in him, one that grew the more time he spent just breathing the same air as hers.

“Alpha Lucius?”

For the first time in a long time, Lucius’ mind was distracted, the mind that only had his pack's best interest was devoted to the woman he could not take his eyes off.

“Yes, I’m sorry…welcome”

“Thank you, we apologize for the wait”

“Don’t worry about that, I know your journey was long and tiring, please, sit”

All three guests accepted the alpha’s offer, two sat on the sofa, and one on a lone stool

“So, how’s the situation?”

“It's unlike anything we have ever seen, and we’ve seen a lot”, the man spoke

“I can imagine, it’s not something I’ve ever seen before either, which is why I sent them over to you, if anyone can figure this out it’s you guys”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, alpha Lucius”, the blonde woman began, “but we’re as baffled as you are, we’ve tried everything and still haven’t been able to identify the problem”

“The best grandmother could do was put them under a deep sleep, she did so to stop the torment they were going through”

Lucius sighed, he had hoped for at least a reason or cause to give him an idea on how to move forward but the river wolves’ information was decent at best.

“At least they aren’t going through any pain, but I don’t understand how even you can’t find the problem, I sent the poisoned to you specifically because your grandmother sees all”

“We never thought it would be possible but even grandmother could not see what the problem was, she said she was being blocked from seeing”

“Blocked, by whom?”

“She doesn’t know, it’s the strangest thing”

The whole time Lucius spoke he could feel eyes on him, unlike her colleagues, she said nothing, all she did was look at him which made him very conscious of her presence.

“That’s fine, any news is helpful at this point in time, thank you very much”

“You’re welcome, but we’re still very sorry we couldn’t be more helpful”

“You’ve done plenty, putting them in a deep sleep so they don’t feel pain was some fast thinking, I am grateful you still tried”

The cool exterior he had on could only last for so long, being seen as a sensible man while on the inside, a beast was fighting him for dominance was a skill Lucius was proud of, but he didn’t know how much longer he could contain himself.

“Your journey was long, please rest here for the night”

“We appreciate your hospitality, we hope we won’t inconvenience anyone”

“Not at all, my friend Mike will attend to you soon”

And just like was said, Mike ushered the blonde woman and the man to the cabin door, the blonde woman addressed her companion before leaving

“Laila, for us, this is farewell, we will be gone very early tomorrow morning”

“Thank you so much for your help, Samantha, I won’t forget you”

Lucius became curious about their arrangement, only two would go back to the south while she would remain, his curiosity grew as he wondered why she chose to stay, in his cabin. His questions would soon be answered after they were alone.

With everyone gone, Lucius was alone with the woman of his dreams, how she was standing right in front of him was a mystery. Three years ago was the last time he set his eyes on her, and he thought he would never see her again yet there she was, motionless in front of him, not saying a word. Her lack of reaction puzzled Lucius, it was as if she too was processing seeing him again but the truth was much different than what he thought.

The eternity of silence was about to be broken but not by Lucius, he awaited anxiously to hear her voice and know her thoughts. With a poker face, she delivered a line that was so unexpected it physically shook him:

“You low down dirty bastard!”