Alpha's Surrogate

3. The War.

2 years later

As the night sky began to brighten with the colors of dawn, the tell tale sounds of battle that had consumed the Ardara Moon Pack for the past five hours were finally coming to a conclusion. Kiara sat huddled in the middle of her room, her eyes as wide as saucers with fright. She had not slept at all last night, instead she had prayed to the Moon Goddess for the violence to end. Yet when the quiet finally came she could not ignore the feeling of apprehension building in her stomach.

“Kiara,” Luna Martha knocked on her door.

"Mom!" Kiara flung open the door then tightly wrapped her arms around her mother. "you’re bleeding. We need to patch you up quickly.”

“We don’t have time for any of that.” Martha pulled her arm out of Kiara’s grasp as she began gathering some of Kiara’s clothes from different drawers and packing them in a suitcase.

“Mom, what’s going on? Why are you packing my clothes?” Kiara had never seen her mother act like this before. All she could do was stand there in shock as Martha methodically tucked all of her belongings into the suitcase that she might possibly need, be it her passport, a credit card, cash, and anything else important her mother could think of.

“Mom, you need to tell me why you are packing my stuff.”

“You and your sister are leaving this pack right now,” Martha announced.

“What?! What do you mean?” Kaira stood there in stunned silence as she continued to watch her mom pack her things. “Why would you send Adira and I away?” None of this made sense to her. She must have been mistaken in thinking that Adira had been allowed to join the battle. “Tell me why I need to leave?” Kiara lost her temper at the unexpected news that was made without her consent, causing her to raise her voice at her mother. Everything about the situation screamed that it was unfair.

Her father, as well as the majority of her pack, had ignored her existence since birth, operating under the belief that she was bad luck. There had been a series of events over Kiara's life that had seemed to cement her father's resolve in this belief. Kiara was the youngest of her siblings, but unlike the others, she was unloved by her father. In complete contradiction to that she had a loving, supportive relationship with her mother and older sister.

“Go straight to my father’s pack,” Martha placed the suitcase in Kiara’s hand then quickly dragged her out of the room.

“No!” Kaira pulled her back.

“What are you doing?! You need to go!” Martha gnashed her teeth as she glared at her obstinate daughter. “The Sirius Bright Pack is already here.”

Kiara could not contain her gasp at the mention of that particular pack. The Ardara Moon Pack had a long-standing feud with the Sirius Bright Pack, which her ancestors had opted to lay to rest for the sake of the pack. In a sense, there was still a cold war in effect between the two packs. They were neither allies or adversaries, but long-held hatred was a hard thing to relinquish. Kiara had been raised to believe they were pure monsters.

“Mom, we’ve lost the battle, haven’t we?” Kaira was able to hazard the guess based on the anxiety in her mother’s eyes. The stillness that she had noticed as dawn broke had not been filled with the sounds of joyful celebration, there had only been silence indicating the stark anguish of their defeat.

Martha fisted her shaking hands. She was unsurprised when Kiara was able to put the puzzle together even though she had been locked in her room during the battle. She was proud of her intelligent youngest daughter. She just wanted her to flee before she had discovered just how pathetic her parents and pack truly were after their defeat.

Kiara knew that her mother’s silence, her refusal to reveal the outcome of the battle, and her ordering Kiara and Adira to flee the pack could only lead to one conclusion: the Ardara Moon Pack had lost.

“What about Lewis?” Kiara inquired about the well being of her twin brother who was only a few minutes older than her. Her mother had not mentioned him once and he had joined the battle. Kiara could see the loathing in Martha's eyes when she asked about her brother.

“Mom, where is Lewis?!” Kiara began to panic; she realized her twin was dead. That was why her mother was trying to save both of her daughters. Helping them to escape was the only way Martha could think of to keep them safe. Kiara could not understand why those monsters had killed her brother. He had been completely innocent.

“I’m sorry mom, but there is no way that I’m running away like a coward,” Kiara declared, tossing the suitcase aside then putting all of her clothing back in the drawers.

"What in the world are you doing?" Martha tried to dissuade her. “Yes, we lost the battle and Lewis is dead. He is the one to blame for all of this, the awful battle and our imminent demise,” Martha admitted with no small amount of indignation over the actions of her own son.

“Why are you blaming Lewis?” Kiara was confused.

“Lewis and a group of his friends attempted to steal a woman’s innocence. As if that wasn’t deplorable enough, they ended up killing her in the struggle. Lewis was so terrified of your father’s wrath after committing the crime that he tried to conceal it from everyone. What he failed to anticipate was the Sirius Bright Pack attacking us in retaliation within a few hours of what they’d done. The woman they attacked was a member of the Sirius Bright Pack,” Martha paused for a moment, closing her eyes tightly before she continued. “Lewis was the first casualty of the attack. He died instantly. He was lucky to receive such a merciful death. I still can’t believe that your brother was a monster…that I raised a monster.” A tear slid down Martha’s cheek when she exposed a truth that she could no longer hide.

"What?" Kiara placed her hand over her mouth at the horrifying revelation. The battle that had bathed her pack in blood had not been Sirius Bright’s attempt to claim their territory, it was a fight for honor.

“I’m sure there would have been consequences no matter what, but unfortunately for your brother, the woman he and his friends murdered happened to be the Alpha’s cousin. The Sirius Bright Pack’s reasons for attacking us were completely legitimate, but I refuse to allow you and Adira to die along with us. The rest of our fates have been sealed, yours have not,” Martha explained.

“Mom, what do you expect me to do?” Kiara’s mind went blank. “You want us to just run away, leaving the rest of you here to die? How do you expect us to go on living with the knowledge that our family and pack are gone? Aren’t families supposed to stay together no matter what? Isn’t that what you always taught me? So why are you insisting that we need to flee? If the rest of you are going to die, then I will join you.” She wiped away her mother’s tears. Martha was both touched and frustrated that her daughter had taken everything she had taught her to heart.

“Everything was different then, the situation has changed now, Kiara.” Martha quietly took Kiara’s hand in hers. “We won’t be able to protect anyone now, but I don’t have it in me to watch another of my children perish. You must escape with Adira before they reach the packhouse.” Martha’s gaze bore into Kiara, trying to make her realize the severity of the situation. “I know that we have lived through battles before, but the might of our opponent this time has washed over us like a mighty tidal wave leaving destruction in its wake.”

“I’m still not going to leave you,” Kiara claimed.

“Why the hell aren’t you listening to me?” Martha slapped her obstinate daughter across the face to help her see the reality of the situation. “You’re going and that’s the end of the discussion.” They did not have the luxury of time that getting emotional over the situation would require. Neither did Martha want her daughter to sacrifice herself for a family and pack that never showed an ounce of affection towards her.

“If you were in my position and I ordered you to leave this family and your pack so that you could escape, would you have listened to me?" Kiara inquired, leaving her mother speechless. “You wouldn’t run away, am I right?” Kiara asked rhetorically. “Then there’s no way that I’m leaving either,” Kiara announced, deciding that it was no longer necessary to explain her answers to her mother, who seemed completely defeated.

A loud crash came from the main floor of the packhouse as the front door was smashed in.

"Alpha Xavier Lincoln," Luna Martha whispered under her breath. It was already too late for her daughters to escape. The Sirius Bright Pack must have surrounded them by now.

“Alpha Xavier?” Kiara curiously repeated the name. She had never been permitted to attend any function where other packs would be present. So she had never seen his face, only heard his name and the rumors surrounding it. One of the rumors even said that saying his name was akin to summoning the devil himself.

The commotion coming from the main floor of the packhouse indicated to the women upstairs that the fighting had not ceased. Alpha Xavier would not consider justice served until the corpses of every Ardara Moon Pack member had been laid before him.

“I need to go,” Luna Martha told her daughter. She had to stand beside her mate, Alpha Sawyer, when he faced Alpha Xavier.

“Mom, wait for me.” Kiara tried to accompany her mother out of the room, only to have the door slammed shut in her face. It was quickly followed by the click of the door being locked from the outside. Kiara realized that she had underestimated her mother’s determination and speed.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

“Don’t even try to get out of that room. You’ll be staying right where you are.” Martha hurriedly walked away. She was worried that in the furor of carrying out their retribution that Sirius Bright would execute the same crimes that Lewis had on that poor woman. She’s already imprisoned Adira in her bedroom. This was the best she could do now to safeguard her daughters.

"Mom, open the door! Mom!" Kiara kept banging her fist against the door. The fear that she might have just seen her mother alive for the last time clouded her heart and mind. Shoving down all of her emotions, Kiara turned around to start searching for the key that should be hidden in one of her drawers.

“Where is it? Did mom take it with her?” If that was the case, then there was no way that she was getting out of this room. The only window in her room was tiny, barely enough to allow fresh air into the room on a hot day, there was no way that she would be able to crawl out of it. She continued searching until she heard the scrap of a key sliding into the lock of her door. The door swung open, revealing who had unlocked her door.

“Adira?” Kiara sputtered in surprise.

“Come on, let’s go.” Adira flung the door open wider, grabbing her hand. It had been their secret, Adira had access to a master key. In the past, she had used it in similar situations, so that both of them could escape their rooms.

“We need to go downstairs,” Kiara advised. The sounds of violence drifted up the stairs. She could not help but wonder if her parents were already dead. The sisters stealthily ran down the stairs, coming to a halt close to the living room. When Kiara’s nose was assaulted by the scent of fresh blood, she ventured to glance around the corner into the room only to find a dead body lying on the floor. It was Alpha Sawyer’s Gamma. This meant they had begun executing individual members.

“Where are mom and dad?” Kiara stood there in a panic, searching for her parents among those in the room. When she found them alive, she knew that it would not be for long.

"You can't go in there," Adira stated firmly. Alpha Sawyer avoided so much as seeing Kiara’s face, this was one of the reasons why she was not permitted to pass by or remain in any room where he resided.

Kiara had no other choice, she had to take control. Using a wall to conceal her body, she peeked around the corner into the living room. With her first inhale, a mysteriously unique aroma teased her nose, it did not belong to any of her fellow pack members.

“What was the source of this smell?” she murmured under her breath. It wasn’t something that she could ignore.

“Let us f*****g go!” Noah, Kiara’s oldest sibling, screamed at someone. He was the son that was trained to take over their father’s Alpha position in the not-too-distant future.

“Who is Noah yelling at?” Both Adira and Kiara wondered. Kiara glanced around the wall into the other room where a man with his back to them that had broad shoulders sat on a chair as if it were a throne. She couldn't see his face, yet she was sure that he was the Alpha and the source of that tantalizing scent.

“Noah is just making the entire situation worse,” Kiara commented.

Despite the fact that she could not clearly make out what was being said in the next room, she was certain that her stupid egotistical brother was just exacerbating the whole situation. For whatever reason, he was stubbornly refusing to accept defeat and to make matters worse, their father was supporting him in this decision. Their Luna mother, on the other hand, was attempting to knock some sense into Sawyer in spite of how pointless it seemed due to the sheer size of his ego. Alpha Sawyer would rather die than submit to another Alpha, never mind an old enemy.

"Kill them all!" Kiara heard what she could only assume was the velvet-wrapped threat that was Alpha Xavier’s voice. The Sirius Bright Pack members stalk towards the remaining members of Ardara Moon's Alpha family.

Kiara’s clenched fist rested against her heart as she prepared to witness the brutality of her pack being massacred. The majority of her pack had already been killed, and it appeared that the remaining members would be joining them shortly with the Moon Goddess. She needed to help them, but what could she do? There was no way she could stop them. From her hiding spot she watched the Alpha get up from his chair to leave the packhouse, slowing for a moment to deliver his final order.

"As for the Alpha and his family…" the Alpha paused a couple of seconds to build tension before continuing, "Behead them all!"

“Behead!” Both of the sisters’ hearts dropped, leaving them practically paralyzed for a moment at the news.

"Stop!" Kiara ran headlong inside the room, breaking every rule she’d been given since birth.

The Sirius Bright Pack members were shocked into speechlessness as they watched a young woman yell at their Alpha. When Xavier slowly turned back around, he discovered the graceful figure of a 5’7 woman daringly standing before him.

His forest green eyes connected with Kiara's chocolaty brown ones.