19. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Locke

I found myself back in a time I didn't want to revisit. It often comes in the form of nightmares while I sleep. I'm always in the foulest of moods those days when I wake, but this time—I couldn't control the movie playing in front of me.

Surrounding me, there were rustic cabins and humble huts, forming what appeared to be a quaint village at first glance. Some of the dwellings were engulfed in raging fires, their flames dancing wildly in the air, while others now stood as mere remnants, resembling nothing more than empty husks. The scene was filled with the crackling of burning wood, the acrid scent of smoke, and a lingering sense of devastation.

Surrounded by thick smoke, I sensed the scorching heat of the raging flames grazing my fur. The pungent odor of burned timber and flesh overwhelmed the air, suffocating me. With each beat, my heart throbbed in my chest. What was left of the pack stared at me in horror—their faces pale, their bodies burned, broken and no longer healing. I observed the ruins before me, a harrowing sight that instilled fear in those around me.

They all deserved it, well most of them, except for the ones I let go free. These wolves deserved to suffer. I felt it with the very core of my being.

I stumbled forward, my eyes darting around, scanning the remaining wolves concealed in the shadows. The once bustling village now lay in ruins, engulfed in an eerie silence that hung over it like a heavy shroud. As I cautiously navigated through the wreckage, my foot abruptly collided with a small metal object, causing me to teeter on the brink of falling to the ground.

Looking down, I saw a glint of metal buried in the ashes. With trembling claws, I brushed away the debris to reveal a small pendant, its surface scorched but still recognizable. It was hers - a token of our bond that had obviously meant nothing to that whore.

I held the pendant in my paw and bent the metal, letting it topple to the ground.

The Blood Rose Shadow Pack was vicious. If pups appeared weak when they were born, the pack disposed of them, throwing them into the forest where wild animals feasted upon them. Any sickly or old wolves were shunned to the edges of the pack, the first to be eaten if there was ever a breach. The elders did not rest. They still worked weaving baskets, cooking for the warriors, and the healthier ones often hunted or gathered.

Our pack had no time to take care of the weak. If any could not take care of the pack or themself, then they would be dismissed and have to find another pack.

In those days, it was hard to find a willing pack to take any member of Blood Rose. Parents had instilled viciousness in their children. They trained day in and day out and fought for their right in line for rations. The best fighter got the bigger portions, the best meals. Most parents encouraged brawls with the siblings to teach them to fight for themselves, to show who was the stronger sibling.

All were taught to obey the gamma, beta, and most of all, the alpha. The alpha was law, giving out duties, punishments and unjustifiable deaths, to his circle. That didn't mean that the alpha didn't do a lot of the work himself.

I doubt the king of the shifters understood what went on, but as long as the alpha put out the strongest warriors, maybe he didn't care.

These wolves were the most untamed compared to the majority of the realm. But, they were the strongest, most cunning and the largest in size, second to the King of the shifter's guards. Although they did not get along with others, the alpha and the king taught them to obey them alone.

You would think everyone would want to leave a loveless pack such as this, and you would find that to be wrong. Wolves love power. They received praise for their aggression and were constantly tested on their strength and training.

The king would often take the strongest from the Blood Rose pack to use in his armies, for rogue missions. Wolves were treated better with the king, and everyone wanted a taste of being next to the strongest of all the shifters.

The alpha of Blood Rose was a bastard. It was as simple as that. Before Alpha Mordecai, this pack used to be prosperous. It had traditions of taking care of mates, raising children in the ways of the gods, and caring for many shapes and sizes of wolf shifters. They did not have the recognition of the king, but this pack flourished.

Mordecai saw unlocked potential. He wanted to seep his claws into the ripest fruit.

Beating his pack into submission and raising a new generation of wild wolves, was his thought of a good idea. He wanted to be seen and heard, to get into the King's good graces, and hoped he would soon become part of the king's inner circle.

That day would never come.

His day of reckoning was here.

Now, I stood before him in the nightmare that I'd dreamed so often; risen above him in my lycan form. The first Lycan in over a thousand years.

"And what magical entity helped procure this form for you, because surely you didn't do it yourself?" Mordecai spat as the flames of his pack danced around us. "I bet you have no strength, no power to defend yourself, that it is all but a ruse to scare me off." Mordecai clenched his fist and took a step forward.

Snarling, my grip tightened around the flaming torch, its searing heat radiating against my palm. With a fierce motion, I hurled it towards the neighboring hut, its crackling flames illuminating the darkened night. The acrid scent of burning wood filled my nostrils, mingling with the distant cries of the outraged family who had dared to pilfer from our elders.

"Isn't this what you wanted? A powerful male to take over Blood Rose? Isn't this what you planned all along so you can advance to the king's side?" I crooned. "Now you have it, a son that has risen to a power stronger than the great Alpha Mordecai. I've been beaten and tormented by you, for years. Now, you will get a taste of your own training. But first, I think we should tell what's left of your pack how you have come to your position—illegally."

Corpses burned in the dirt, the rest were ash or already being picked by the buzzards. Soot and ash covered the remaining bodies. Those who were left had hardly any fight left to give. They had lost, they knew they had sided with the wrong wolf. They had their chance to follow me before this massacre began.

Those who had decided to follow me in the end; I let them live. They had scampered off already fulfilling their duties, as I required. The rest here will die. But I had to monologue, and to monologue to just one person was boring.

"You liar!" Mordecai's heart skipped a beat.

I snarled, my claws extending and clinking against one another. I cautiously stalked around him. My lycan form towered over him, boasting elongated limbs and sinewy muscles that rippled beneath my thick fur. The air was heavy with the scent of primal power, a heady mix of sweat and dominance. Rows of razor-sharp teeth glistened in the dim light, ready to tear apart anyone who dared to challenge me. This vessel, this embodiment of my true nature, was so flawlessly designed that it almost felt cruel to unleash its destructive force upon him. Especially now, as the sting of rejection from my mate still lingers fresh within me.

"You forcefully mated with my mother, the true alpha of the pack. She was not your true mate. You raped her, forced her to mark you so you could claim this pack as your own. To defile it, to use it against all things sacred to the bonds. You, along with every other damn leader like the king, planned to destroy all traces of holiness, traditions of the wolf and mate bonds." I snarled. My arm rose back and sliced across his chest.

He roared in agony.

"You wanted mates for status and glory, not to calm your souls!"

I let out a guttural roar, the piercing sound echoing through the stillness of the night. As I howled, my laughter erupted, a cacophony of eerie amusement filling the air. I gazed up, witnessing my breath materialize into delicate wisps, intertwining with the darkness of the night sky. The crisp chill of the air prickled my skin, intensifying the sensation of pain coursing through my body.

I was the product of a forced bond; I wasn't meant to be here. Yet, here I was, one of the strongest wolves, only to eventually die because my mate rejected me for another—one with a higher status.

Well, look where she is now, amongst the ashes of her pack.

Mordecai's eyes revealed the pain and anger, but he knew he had lost the battle. He could feel his own heart slowly giving out. The poison from the wounds I had inflicted was finally beginning to take its toll. He fell to his knees, a snarl still lingering on his lips.

"You're not going to get away with this," he growled, his voice weakened by the blood loss. "Your reign will be short-lived. You will go rabid and die."

I simply laughed, the sound echoing through the night.

"Do you honestly think I care?" I asked, raising my claws high above my head. "Haven't you heard that the truth shall set you free?" My wolf chuckled. "I'm free of you Morti, I'm free of this pack and the toxic wolves you lead."

Mordecai growled and shifted, his body breaking, but before he could fully shift, before he could become his alpha wolf, I pounced on him and sunk my claws into his back. I pulled the meat off his bones, his fur, his hair, skin and muscle were instantly fileted from his body.

As Alpha Mordecai fell, his last breaths fading into the night, the remaining pack members began to scatter, their once unwavering loyalty now faltered in the face of something more sinister.

I stood tall, my lycan form engulfing me as I roared into the sky, signaling my dominance over the Blood Rose pack. The wolves that remained, the ones who had not yet been banished, now fled.

My animal took over while I shut the human part of me away. Sick, evil, menacing wolves raised by an evil alpha were all that was left of Blood Rose. They would not survive, they would not continue through the night.

I watched in the back of my mind as my animal ripped apart more pieces of bodies before me. He threw them into the fires of their homes, letting the flames engulf the entire territory. Not one home was left untouched. Each tree that stood in the territory burned to ash to leave no remaining evidence that Blood Rose ever existed.

The only ones who would ever remember it, were the wolves who actually wanted to forget the pack and me; the heir of Blood Rose who wanted to just remember my mother and my sister.