My leg bounces the closer our group grows to Pine Moon. So many awful memories from the fifty-six years living in that hell hole have begun resurfacing, memories that I wished would have stayed gone forever. I was an only pup until I turned twelve. Was trained to take over the Pack in case my mother could not have any more pups at the ripe age of one hundred and two. Then everything changed.
The Pack had thought that my mother was unable to conceive after having me due to her and my father being middle-aged by werewolf standards, but then Valor was born. I went from being the heir of my Pack to nothing but a she-wolf who would provide strong pups one day, provide spares in case Valor couldn’t produce a pup himself.
I was ridiculed when I said I wanted to continue my Alpha training by my father when Valor turned five. I was seventeen when that happened, a year away from being considered an adult and able to sense my Mate. My father told me being an Alpha was the male’s job. That if I were to Mate anyone, I would either be a Beta she-wolf helping the Luna take care of the Pack in a maternal way or become a Luna myself. I would never amount to anything else.
And so I trained in secrecy with no one the wiser.
I would sneak into the training room under the Pack House and practice by myself. Would work out and beat a punching bag till my knuckles were bruised and bloodied. My mother had caught me once late at night when preparing for a banquet. She had come down to make sure the equipment was in proper shape when she walked in on me practicing. At first I thought she would have yelled at me, but her and her Beta, Lori surprised me by joining me in the ring and teaching me proper form.
From that night on, my mother and Beta Lori would meet me every night in the basement training room and teach me everything they knew.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Gale whispers, his lips next to my ear. I jump, not expecting my Mate’s closeness in the small van, and blush when I spy his amused expression.
“S-sorry.” I mutter out, turning to look at the farmland outside the window.
“It’s fine, love.” Gale says with a small chuckle, taking my hand in his and pressing a soft kiss to the back of it.
“I was just worried about you.” I sigh, finding myself leaning against Gale as I continue to watch outside. The vans were moving faster than expected and I estimate we will be back in Pine Moon soon enough.
“I’m sorry for worrying you, hun.” I start, closing my eyes and trying to shake the images of beatings and scoldings I received from my father all because he blatantly favoured Valor.
“It’s just some memories of the past surfaced.” I continue with a soft sigh. Gale hums in understanding at this and unclicks my seatbelt. Without warning, I am lifted onto his lap, the Omegas driving us pretending not to notice our interaction.
“What brought the past up this time?” Gale asks, his voice low and gentle. This is why I love him, why I never want to lose him. Gale was the third son of an allied Pack. His brothers were chosen to become Alpha and Beta of his familial Pack while he was left to do as he pleased. Because of this, he became close with his mother, Luna Mavis. He learned how to budget Pack expenses, how to plan new vegetable fields, and when to plan each crop.
My father had been happy when he and I met at that very same banquet in Pine Moon and learned we were Mates as Gale was four years older than me at the time and had yet to meet his Mate. His father was pressuring him to take on a chosen Mate, but Gale refused. If he hadn’t been so “rebellious” we would have never realized we were fated.
“Just returning to the Pack that made life Hell.” I admit, taking a deep breath.
“How I was beaten by my father for, and I quote, “being disrespectful to the future Alpha”. How Valor made sure we would never be the Beta pair due to you preferring being a homemaker. How he blatantly kicked out Brynlee for the whore that now carries his spawn.” I continue, a frown on my face.
“I know Brynlee and Rune can handle the stress of running a Pack but part of me believes Pine Moon should be destroyed completely.” I finally admit, feeling lighter after revealing what I have been thinking since Valor’s allies sent wolves to spy on Crescent Phoenix. Since that day they attacked us without warning.
“If that Pack was destroyed with all the pawns under Valor killed, the world would be a better place.”
“Would you really be able to watch Pine Moon be completely erased?” Gale asks after I finish speaking, the question cutting me off guard. Would I be able to see it completely erased, maybe?
“I am just worried that the darkness inside that Pack will harm Brynlee and Rune.” I finally answer, fiddling with the buttons on Gale’s shirt.
“From what I have read in the history books of Pine Moon, not one Alpha has been a good one.” I smile sadly as I think back to the library in the Pack House. How I used to spend my days reading about the History of Pine Moon and the many Alphas that ruled over it for one thousand years. Every Alpha had led with an iron fist, putting their wants and needs above that of the Pack. At first, some would protest this treatment only to be slaughtered, but soon everyone accepted the norm that the Alpha’s word was law.
It wasn’t until three hundred years later when Luna Abigail had started to take over more traditionally female roles that things shifted. The Alpha still demanded things go their way, but Luna Abigail had started the movement of creating farmland and making sure the pantries were full of meat from hunting. The Pack grew steadily with only a handful of executions happening every so often, and even then those started to subside when the next Luna and Alpha pair took over.
“How bad were some of these Alphas?” Gale asks making me chuckle darkly.
“So bad that their sons would kill them and take over thinking they could do better.” I answer, the Omegas in the front becoming so surprised that the van swerved for a moment.
“Sorry, Alpha Asteria.” Tommy, the wolf driving, apologizes right away.
“Don’t be.” I shrug, smiling.
“Anyone would be surprised by this revelation.” I add, getting a chuckle from Gale.
“May we ask how Valor became Alpha?” Miles, the Omega in the front seat asks, turning around to face me.
“He killed my father after a hunter had poisoned him.” I answer, closing my eyes. I can still picture that day vividly. It was just before Rune was born. Clairice had begun nesting knowing she was due soon when my father was carried into the Pack House, his wounds smelling of silver and wolfsbane. Valor was coming from his office at that time and watched as our mother rushed upstairs when she smelt father’s blood. She was hysterical, pleading for Valor to call the Pack doctors but he stood there silently watching on. Then he struck.
Valor’s hands had turned to claws and without hesitation, he had clawed our father’s head clean off from the base of his neck. Everyone was stunned to silence at that scene, even me, yet I kept as calm as I could considering the abuse both he and our father inflicted on me.
After killing our father, Valor told everyone that he was a dead man anyways and this was just ending his suffering before grabbing Clairice and climbing the steps.
“I made a deal with him that I would not do anything to take the Pack from him nor would Gale and I become the Beta pair if he left my mother alone.” My voice breaks as I think about my mother. She was the epitome of that word. Was the kind and caring mother and Luna a Pack needed. And she nearly died that same day. When Valor and Clairice became the Alpha and Luna, my mother moved into my and Gale’s house. She died just before Chase was born after self-isolating herself from everyone.
“So now the cycle continues with Rune preparing to kill his father.” Tommy whispers, his tone so soft I can barely hear it.
“Not quite.” Gale states, his eyes staring out the window beside him.
“Just like the Alphas before him, Valor killed his father in cold blood. Alpha Leo would have lived had a doctor been sent for him.” My Mate explains, catching everyone’s attention.
“Rune is killing him to protect those he loves. That’s what makes this situation different.” I smile at these words and feel myself relaxing. Gale is right. Rune is nothing like the power-hungry bastards the past Alphas of Pine Moon were. Valor tried to mold him into that role. Tried to make Rune as power-hungry and misogynistic as he is. But Clairice had planted enough of her warmth and love into Rune that things turned out differently than what my little brother had wanted.
“And to be honest, I don’t think the darkness that Pine Moon has will affect Rune or Brynlee.” Gale states, a loving smile on his face.
“Those two have too much hope for the future to allow the past to drag them down.” I can’t help but agree with this observation about our nephew and our goddaughter. I know that in three days these two will take down Valor and change Pine Moon for the better.