When Will This End? II

Diana’s [POV]

Adronus and I had been close as young pups, and now that was hard to believe. He’d had a crush on me and followed me wherever I went, but now he was a part of Jackson’s clique, and at the top of the list for wolves, I’d love to punch him in the face.

To live was to experience things and change, and he’d changed drastically. He lost his warm friendliness and grew into a bully with a bad haircut.

“Behave,” Dad whispered so only I could hear, but if only he knew that I hadn’t been the one to start anything.

All arguments I ended up in weren’t even started by me. Left up to me, I wouldn’t speak to anyone. I didn’t need any of them for anything, but, somehow, they always felt the need to pester me.

When Jackson and Alpha Colin arrived, a hush fell over the pack.

I watched Alpha Colin while he made his way to the front of the group, and Dad and I exchanged quick glances. Colin stared at everyone, his icy blue eyes making sure everyone was present as if anyone would be foolish enough not to be.

His face was shaken, and his black hair was as low as Jackson’s. Standing at 6’5, Colin was a giant compared to the rest of us, except for my dad, who shared the same height.

I have yet to apologize to Dad about my rant the other night. I honestly hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, but I had. Come Sunday, I planned to take the day off from work and surprise him with breakfast, clean the trailer, and make him dinner.

A day’s pay lost would be worth it because he was always taking care of me, and he deserved a moment to rest.

On Colin’s right, Jackson stood with his head high and his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. The thought of him one day becoming Alpha was enough to make me want to throw up, but I doubted that would happen any time soon.

Colin wasn’t going to relinquish his position to anyone, even Jackson but recalling my run-in with Jackson the other night, I wondered how Colin would react if his precious grandson was struck by lightning.

I shook my head. My thoughts were getting increasingly violent, and I didn’t like that. This person wishing bad for someone else, even though it was someone I didn’t like, wasn’t me. But I couldn’t think of anything other than lashing out at the people who insisted on doing the same to my father and me.

Look where we were, at our pack meeting and standing at the far back as if we had a contagious disease.

“Are you okay?” Dad whispered, and I nodded.

“I’m fine.”

“Ambrose,” Alpha Colin’s voice boomed through the forest, and everyone turned to look at Ambrose, a young pup in his teens.

The boy had curly red hair and freckles that covered his face. His wide eyes looked at everyone while walking forward, his heartbeat pounding in my ear like a jackhammer.

I released Dad’s arm, my jaws clenched while I watched Ambrose approach Colin. Beside me, my father tensed because we both knew what was coming. What had Ambrose done?

“Where is it?” Colin asked when the boy was standing before him with his head down.

Colin’s dominance was like a tsunami, the wave rushing from the front of the pack to Dad and me. We winced and hunched forward, the weight on our bodies almost painful. I fought to look up and saw that several wolves had fallen to the ground while Ambrose was held by the throat.

Colin had the boy dangling off the ground.

“Is it true you’ve been lying about your earnings?” Colin growled with his eyes like glistening gems in the night. “You know the rules, boy! Speak!”

Ambrose continued to choke, and I stabbed myself in the thigh with my claws. The pain was enough to override some of Colin’s dominance, and when I stood up, my Dad grabbed my arm.

He’s hurting him!

Those were the words I wanted to yell, and on the ground were Ambrose’s parents on their knees, whimpering in pain. Colin was hurting a child, a young pup, because of money. Colin had always been cruel, but he’d grown worse since he attacked Silverdawn Pack and lost.

“Hours… cut,” Ambrose choked out, his face red, and Colin loosened his hold enough for Ambrose to stand firmly on his feet. “My boss cut my hours at the mechanic shop, Alpha! I… I’m earning less!”

When Colin withdrew his dominance, a power alpha possessed to help keep their pack in line, a collective gasp was heard throughout the group.

My Dad held his knees, as did I, our breathing labored.

When I looked at Dad, his eyes were cast to the ground but bulging and unblinking, his face red with anger, and I laid a hand on his shoulder. This was what we had to live with, an alpha that abused his power to hurt us.

Ambrose was a child meant to be in school, but instead, he had to be working.

His mother was a bartender and his father a janitor, and being a part of Colin’s pack made regular jobs harder. I’d never had any issues with Ambrose and his parents. They were a few of the quieter wolves, but still, they were forced to work twice as hard by locals who hated the pack, only to be treated like this by our alpha.

Colin threw Ambrose to the side, his claws ripping the skin around the boy’s throat. “I do not tolerate disobedience,” Colin growled.

His head tilted somewhat, and my body grew hot when his lips curved with a smile. Keep it together, I coached myself, chanting the words like a beloved song. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t an alpha governing his pack. This was a man using his status to act on his sadistic urges to hurt and cause suffering.

“Goddess,” I prayed while Ambrose rushed to his parent’s side, “You see all, and you know all, so why won’t you stop this? Why won’t you do something before I’m forced to?”

My father had tried to do things the honorable way by challenging Colin to get rid of him, but perhaps someone needed to become as heartless as Colin, as savage and unforgiving as he was, to win. One day I wanted to pass on and go to the afterlife where I’d be in peace, but maybe, just maybe, going to hell for putting an end to Colin wouldn’t be so bad.

But I couldn’t stomach doing such a thing, so I stood silent and listened when Colin spoke to begin the pack meeting.

I said nothing, making myself as bad as everyone else, and listened.

After ten minutes, a wolf, Ranford, stepped forward. “Alpha, when will we be moving to another town?”

Colin took a breath. “That’s not been decided as yet.”

“We can’t stay here much longer, Alpha,” Ranford said again, although timidly, and several wolves grumbled in agreement. “Our living conditions are worsening, and the locals hate us. We left Wolfcreek eleven years ago, Alpha. Perhaps now we can return.”

I was surprised Ranford had enough balls to speak up, but I was even more surprised when Colin seemed to be considering the old wolf’s words. Everything said was true, but could we move back to Wolfcreek?

Was that even an option?

Colin turned to look at Jackson, who was waiting patiently like the rest of us. When Dad held my hand, I clutched his hand in return, allowing myself a second of hope. Returning to Wolfcreek wasn’t something I’d allowed myself to dream of.

In the middle of nowhere, the quiet town was a paradise where all supernatural creatures lived in peace until Colin had tried to ruin that.

“I’m afraid the decision isn’t mine,” Colin said after some time, and my shoulders dropped. “The decision lies with the pack that protects the town, the pack that ran out of town.” Colin turned to face the pack, but he looked right at me. “The decision lies with Alpha Kaleem.”

Another chorus of whispers echoed through the forest, and my Dad squeezed my hand.

My hope morphed into panic, and I sank my teeth into my tongue. The only people who knew about Kaleem being my mate were my Dad, Jackson, and Colin. This conversation about moving back to Wolfcreek filled me with dread.

“Can’t someone be sent to Wolfcreek?” Ranford probed, and I felt like throwing a rock at his head. I knew where this was going, and damn it, I didn’t want to go there. “Couldn’t that be done? Someone can speak with the alpha there and plead our case to return, right? We’ve lost three members to anti-supers over the years, and yesterday at the bar, three drunk humans started talking about being anti-supers and wanting to make the world great again with creatures like our kind wiped out.”

Ambrose’s parents clutched him to their side with fear.

The anti-supers were an organization built around a common hatred against all supernatural creatures among some humans. They hunted us, and discriminated against us, and although there were laws in place, they worked in silence and still found ways to hurt us.

“Perhaps Diana could go, uncle,” Jackson spoke for the first time tonight, and with a few words, he dragged my fears into reality. “She and Kaleem knew each other.”

Several wolves turned to look at me and my jaws clenched.

Colin hummed. “You’re right,” he grumbled. “You knew each other, didn’t you Diana?”

I didn’t dare answer, but I nodded.

“We can’t stay here,” Ambrose’s mother said weakly. “If there are anti-supers here, it’ll only be a matter of time before they attack us, and we’re a small pack. There aren’t even proper authorities in this town, so we’re free for the picking.”

“You can tell Kaleem we want peace,” Colin said while stepping forward, and I held my ground until he was standing before me. “We don’t want a repeat of the past, but we don’t want to bury any more of our members.”

He sighed, appearing concerned, but it wasn’t genuine. I could see through him like a glass table, but I couldn’t deny we were in danger. Kaleem was the last man I wanted to see, let alone speak to, but this would be for the pack.

I glanced at my Dad because this would be for him.

We’d have a chance at getting our old lives back, and if I could help with that, I’d do it. I’d heard Kaleem’s voice after over a decade, and perhaps calling him had been the wrong thing to do. Like a chain of events, I had unknowingly triggered this entire thing.

His voice echoed in my head, and I closed my eyes for a second. I didn’t want to see him, yet my heart was racing.

“Will you do it, Diana?” Colin asked as if he was giving me and choice, but I nodded nonetheless.

“I’ll do it,” I mumbled. “I’ll speak with Alpha Kaleem.”