Alpha Ever After

by Casey Morgan

  “What kind of doubts?” Flint asks.

  “Just about if it’s going to work,” I shrug. “I’m starting to realize it’s a bit of a gamble, attacking the Mathis camp so directly. I mean, we’ve never done anything like this, not for a while anyway.” My time as alpha, while it came with its challenges, hasn’t been marred with a lot of violence.

  “Anson, the plan will work,” Flint reassures me.

  That’s all he says, those four words. Yet, all of a sudden, I’m on board. The doubts I had aren’t forgotten to me, but they are utterly irrelevant. I don’t know what about the plan is now making sense, but I also can’t figure out why I couldn’t see all of this seconds ago.

  “You’re right. It will work. Thank you, Flint. I don’t know why I couldn’t see that before.”

  It’s clear to me now. We’re going to attack the Mathis clan and come back victorious. No one will dare challenge the Staymans again.

  “No problem,” Flint smiles.

  Looking at the man who is supposed to be my trusted advisor, something seems sinister about the way he’s looking at me. He’s always been this way, I think. I can’t really tell because my mind is feeling muddled. It’s like there’s a crack in my field of view, or maybe whatever Luna did to me is continuing to mess with my brain. Whatever it is, it’s gone seconds later.

  I dismiss it as a part of these weird feelings I’ve been experiencing. It must be because Tamir is not here. I’ve never done something like this without my nephews. Pax wasn’t as involved as his brother, but he’s always been here at the very least.

  I just need to get used to this new normal. I’m going to make Flint my new second in command after all of this is over, so I need to be able to put my trust in him. And I need to trust that faith that I have in him. Someone as unknown to me as Luna Mathis shouldn’t be able to make that trust waver with a few words.

  “I’m going to go for a run,” I say. Runs always help me clear my head. It’s exactly what I need after such a long… few months, honestly.

  “I’ll come with you,” Flint offers.

  I feel like if he is there, I won’t be able to get the clarity I need. A few moments alone will do me some good.

  “No, I want to do a solo run, but I’ll see you later to go over logistics for the attack.”

  I leave Flint in the manor and head outside. I shift and immediately start off in a sprint. I’m not taking myself anywhere in particular and end up back in the clearing where I saw Luna’s human form. I don’t know what I expect to find here.

  I walk around for a little bit. There really isn’t anything left, not even a lingering smell. Whatever happened that night is now only stored in my memory, which is probably for the best. Honestly, this is all too much. Luna Mathis isn’t worth all of this trouble. She’s just another random woman who I will never encounter again. Yes, her beauty is indescribable, but that doesn’t mean I need to lose my fucking mind over her. I need to be focusing on the Mathis clan as a whole. That’s what this upcoming battle is about. I have to lead my people in a fight for our land and our lives.

  We’re down to the final seconds, and I need to focus up.

  Chapter Five

  Anson

  It’s the night of the attack, and I can’t even think straight. It’s like my brain is Swiss Cheese; none of my thoughts are able to make significant contact. I can’t lead a battle like this. We’ll get slaughtered if I’m feeling this scattered.

  Plus, Flint is so new here. I know I trust him, but he’s just not as accustomed to our pack as Tamir, obviously. Tamir has been a Stayman since birth. He’s better equipped for this. And I’m better equipped when Tamir is here. Pax would always go on about how averse I was to change. He was mainly discussing my objections to him bringing technology onto the compound, but I don’t know, maybe he had a more significant point to make.

  But there are currently more pressing matters for me to deal with.

  I’m standing at the kitchen counter, holding onto the edge. My grip on reality is slipping, and I don’t know why. All of my senses are more or less working. It’s more like I can’t quite settle into everything that I am perceiving.

  “Are you ready?” Flint walks into the kitchen. He’s the last person I want to see. With each passing moment, I want him to go away more and more, but he’s clearly not just going to fuck off. Either way, there is something I need to tell him.

  “We can’t move forward with this. I can’t move forward with this.” I grip the counter tighter. It’s almost like if I let go, the room will start to spin.

  Flint gives me a disappointed look and crosses his arms over his chest. “We can’t stop this now, Anson. We’re so close to winning this war. We can push the Mathises over the edge.”

  I want to say no, but it’s getting harder to. I don’t know why I can’t say it, but I just can’t.

  “I don’t know, Flint. Something doesn’t feel right. I don’t think this is going to work.” I can't give any reason outside of it's what I'm feeling. It’s coming from deep within my gut, and my gut has always done me well.

  “Anson, you have to trust this will go well. Everything will be fine. Once the battlefield clears, we’ll be standing victorious. That’s what you need to visualize. It’ll all fall into place.”

  He’s right, he’s right. We've been talking about this long enough. The battle plans have been scrutinized. Maybe I have my doubts, but with Flint here, we'll win this thing.

  I nod to signal I’m ready to move forward. Flint jumps into hyperdrive and leads me outside.

  We stand on the porch, the entire pack waiting for my orders. I stand there, feeling like an idiot. I’ve always known what to say in situations like these, but my mind is drawing blanks. It's as if all my alpha instincts have left me.

  “Order them all to shift,” Flint whispers into my ear.

  I do what he tells me, having every Stayman shift in wolf form. We’ve never done such a full-fledged attack before. Most battle plans involved small groups, but this is something else. This has to work. If it doesn’t…

  This is going to work. There is no other option.

  I lead the pack towards the barricades. Flint trots to the other side of the pack to be my eyes and ears over there. It was a suggestion he made, saying it would give us better chances. It made sense at the time. Honestly, not much is making sense to me now. I’m kind of just doing whatever is able to get through my Swiss Cheese brain tonight. Which really isn't much.

  We sneak up to the Mathis’ camp. It’s so strange, they seem ready to fight. I thought this was meant to be a sneak attack, but they stream out from behind trees and bushes, and other hidden spots already shifted. This is not what I was expecting, but it’s too late to run away. We came here to show our strength, and that is precisely what we are going to do.

  I howl for an all-out assault, and we start attacking. I go for the closest Mathis wolf to me, but it’s almost like my power is being drained from my body. These wolves are stronger than us, and I can’t explain why. I know our silver immunity has been stripped away, but it’s not supposed to do anything to our physical strength.

  I’m able to hold off the wolf I’m going head to head with, but I look over the field and see the rest of our ranks not doing so well. Why are they all so much more powerful than us? The fight has never been this one-sided before. Both times we were surprised by them, we managed to pull through.

  Even though the odds seem stacked against us, my pack doesn’t back down. We fight our hardest. If the Staymans do anything, it is give our hardest and our all.

  Things actually start to pick up, and it even looks like we’re turning the tide. I don’t know if we can win this thing, but we might be able to put a dent in the Mathises ranks.

  I’m about to call out more orders to my pack when I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s painful, a kind of pain I’ve never felt before. The pain reminds me of when I shift, but shifting isn’t painful.

  Shift
ing is a wave-like sensation, but this pain is that same sensation turned up to one hundred. It spreads throughout my entire body like something is possessing me. I start to change into human form even though I don’t want to. I try to stop whatever’s happening, but it’s like something is forcing me to change.

  I watch my paws turn to hands and feet. My hind legs change from my deep black fur to my muscular, tanned legs. My body goes against me, and a howl that turns into a scream escapes my throat.

  I stay on all fours for a few seconds before falling onto the ground as a man. I’m shivering from the sweat that has chilled on my body. Nausea causes me to throw up on the grass. That was one of the most grueling experiences of my life. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but it looks like I’m in for a major disappointment.

  After regaining some of my composure, I look around and see that my alpha powers are causing everyone in the pack to go through what I just did. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like the same painful experience, but it’s a hell of a surprise for all of them.

  My alpha powers being deployed isn’t something that happens randomly. Whoever is possessing my body took control of my alpha powers to force this change on everyone. I know this is meant to be a war, but what they’ve done is a cruel and dirty tactic.

  We’re left at the mercy of the Mathis clan who take full advantage of whatever the fuck just happened. Serious injuries start happening. People are being pulled away who can’t take care of themselves. We can’t win like this. If we’re stuck as humans, there is no way we can take down a wolf.

  I call for a retreat. While I watch, making sure that everyone gets out, I see Luna at the edge of the battle. She’s waiting, observing. It must have been her. She’s the one who caused all of this to happen. She mentioned magic when I saw her last time. It has to be what forced me to turn human, and what made us feel weak.

  “Hey! Rolf, Weiss!” They are two of my strongest men. They rush over when they hear me bark their names. “Get that girl!” I point to Luna. They don’t ask any questions, just go and grab her.

  We’re the last ones to leave, and luckily, none of the Mathis wolves follow us. I make sure to have Rolf and Weiss take Luna through the woods where no one will see is dragging her away.

  After this, we can’t survive another major attack. We need some time to recoup. Hopefully, within that time, I’m going to get Luna to admit what she’s done and how to get it to stop.

  These past few days have been nothing but hell, and I am sure she is the one to blame for it.

  Chapter Six

  Luna

  When the Stayman’s alpha had his men grab me, admittedly, I was scared. But it’s what I wanted. I needed to see Anson again. I couldn’t stop thinking of those few minutes we were together in that clearing. He was so confused, and Flint’s influence was all over his aura. It makes sense now. But even with the haze that had dropped over Anson’s being, I could see beyond it that he is my mate. I’m sure of it. That connection, that draw, it doesn’t come out of nowhere.

  There are a lot of obstacles that I’m going to have to get past, though. For starters, my brother. Even without this current war going on, he would have a heart attack about me mating with a rival. But Beau isn’t my main concern now.

  My main concern is talking with Anson and getting him to understand exactly what’s going on here. As long as he is under Flint’s influence, there is no way I’m going to get anywhere with him. When I touched him the other night, something seemed to happen, so maybe that’s the key to all of this. Maybe my touch, as his one true mate, can heal him.

  Once he’s healed, there’s Flint to deal with. Shit! What a long list. I’ve come to the conclusion that Flint isn’t a werewolf, but a demon. He must have done some magic, so he could shift. His endgame has to be killing both packs. War leads to a lot of death, so it would be a great way to thin out the herd until we’re small enough for Flint to attack all on his own.

  But why? What does he want with us? Is there an advantage to a lot of dead werewolves? I’ve read some magic texts, but nothing that would explain a demon’s interest in our clans. I wish I knew more, so I could solve this whole mess! If only magic wasn't so ignored, but that's a conversation for another time.

  I need to get my mind off of what I can’t do and focus on what I can. Anson had those guys who grabbed me lock me down in their basement. It’s not a terrible place to be. It’s enormous and full of a bunch of things. All of them look rather fascinating.

  The Staymans are a much older clan that ours. The Mathises have been around a while, but most of our history is recorded. The Staymans go beyond records. They’re one of the original tribes. I’m pretty sure the Mathises are descended from the Staymans if you go back far enough. Which is another reason why all of this fighting is stupid. Even if we weren't distantly of the same pack, fighting over land has always seemed absurd to me.

  The architecture of the basement even has older vibes. It's impressive that they've been around for so long. It’s probably why they have so much stuff. Beau would go on and on about their horde. I knew it was probably substantial, but I never would have imagined anything of this magnitude. And, before I was thrown in here, I saw that the basement had many more rooms. I suspect it’s a whole tunnel system underneath their orchard.

  I look around the room. It’s full of books and papers and all kinds of things. I'm sure it would take years, possibly a lifetime, to get through everything down here. I pick up a book I’m particularly drawn to. Touching it, I can feel the history it holds in it. I sit down and ever so carefully open its pages. There are magic spells that have been lost to the ages, as well as some text on where they came from. There must be hundreds of books down here like this. If I had the time, I could probably find something on demons, but there’s just too much content to go through. It does look like there is some kind of system when it comes to how things are organized, but I don’t know what that system is. I doubt anyone upstairs would be willing to lend me a helping hand.

  I continue to browse, running my fingers over everything. I touch a rolled-up paper that sends a distinct chill up my spine. It must be important if it would reach out to me like that. Slowly, I undo the twine that holds it together and unroll it. It reveals itself to be a map, a large map. Weirdly enough, it has silver markings. Not enough to hurt me, but enough to be mildly off-putting. It requires a lot of concentration for me to focus and read the map. It’s an interesting choice for werewolves, not one I would expect.

  I go over the markings, and it looks like the map leads to a silver mine on the property. Why would they choose to live near the one thing that is dangerous to our kind? Unless…

  I thought all of the stories were just rumors, but it’s totally possible that the Staymans have an immunity. My whole life, I thought it was some myth cooked up by God knows who, but if they genuinely are immune, that’s crazy. It could be the puzzle piece I’ve been looking for.

  “What are you doing with that?!”

  I turn to see Anson coming towards me. I was so caught up in the map, I didn’t even hear him come in. The silver on it must have dulled my senses. When he snatches it away from me, his scent wafts into my nose. It’s almost intoxicating. The feelings I felt that first night we met start to surface again. I want to reach out and touch him, but he might run off again. I can’t have that. Not before I have a chance to talk with him.

  “Are the rumors true?”

  “What rumors?”

  “The silver immunity. Are you guys immune?” I look into his deep amber eyes. There’s strength in there, but he also looks so lost. I want to help him, but that's only possible if he lets me.

  “Yeah, kind of,” he shakes his head as if upset.

  “What is it?”

  He’s probably mad with me for snooping, but what else was I supposed to do locked up down here? My curiosity has often gotten me into trouble, but that has never stopped me.

  “It’s nothing. I mean,” Anson pauses, giving me a
penetrating stare. “We used to be immune, but not anymore. It’s gone away.”

  “Recently?” He nods. “Why?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugs. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, and I can’t.”

  That’s crazy. I have zero doubt in my mind that it is somehow connected to Flint. I’m not sure how he would have gone about stripping the Stayman’s of their immunity, but I’d probably find some answers at the silver mine.

  I’m more concerned with Anson right now, though. I check out his aura and see all of his confusion. It looks like it’s been building up over weeks with no chances to let any of it go. Flint has his demon claws deep in this man.

  “But that’s not important right now,” Anson mumbles. He rolls up the map and puts it away. “I came here because you put a spell on me, and you need to remove it. Right now.”

  I furrow my brow because I have no idea what he’s talking about. Then it dawns on me that he thinks all of this is my fault. Does he not realize he’s felt this way long before he met me in the clearing?

  I don’t want to, but I can’t help but laugh. People are always attributing strange occurrences to me. I know they all think I’m a little odd, but if they took the time to think, they’d quickly realize I’m not the cause of their hardship.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.”

  I do feel bad because I know it’s probably a scary time for him. When I saw Flint making all of the Staymans shift back to human form in the middle of battle, I was appalled. So many people got hurt. All for Flint’s greed. I don’t know what he wants, but he’s for sure a greedy person.

  “It’s just that I’m not the one doing this to you. It’s never been me. It couldn’t have been.”