Rise of the Alpha

by Jessica Snow

  Morrigan pounced, Melanie's final shot going wild as she was tackled, her head banging against the carpeted floor, her head spinning, the world going gray.

  * * *

  "Flank the far side!" Keith yelled as he saw the Humvee torn apart by the Bradley's 25mm chain gun. Instead of exploding in a gigantic funeral pyre, the vehicle bonged and rattled with rounds puncturing its thin aluminum sides. "Well, there's a good reason to use diesel instead of gas."

  "You're telling me," Thornblood fiercely grinned, blood running into his right eye from a shrapnel wound. "I'm just glad I got the last of those fucking grenades launched before that Bradley turned me into cheese."

  Keith nodded and turned towards the main threat. It was supported by at least another fifty troops, and he estimated that at best he had fifty or sixty wolves left still able to fight. The attack had been swift before all of his Lockwood forces could be assembled at the estate. There was only about thirty or so Lockwood wolves, the forty Alphas, and their bodyguards. Even a few of the children had joined in the fight, recognizing the level of threat. While that meant there were at least two hundred fifty werewolves, the attacks had been swift and deadly, the initial air strike taking out at least a dozen wolves, and the ground attack killing another thirty or forty more. With some wolves having to remain behind to defend against the air attack and wounds crippling others at least temporarily, their numbers were severely depleted.

  Climbing to his knees, Keith prepared to charge, when suddenly he was struck with a blinding pain in his gut. Doubling over, he checked himself carefully before focusing.

  "Oh my God," he groaned, his eyes going back towards the estate. The few men there were firing into the air, as the Huey helicopter descended towards the northern gardens.

  "What is it?" Thornblood asked, his eyes wide. "The house is empty. Let them blow up the fucking thing, you have enough money to rebuild it!"

  "Not empty," Keith said, turning. "Melanie. My son calls to me."

  Thornblood turned his gaze back and nodded. "Then go Alpha of the Lockwood Clan. I have communication with my wife, we will coordinate the attack. Save your family."

  "You have my gratitude," Keith said, bounding away from the pitched battle. Putting everything he had into his sprinting, he hurdled the bodies and wreckage on his way back to the estate house, not even noticing as the rounds from the Bradley tore up the turf and grass around him. His wife was in danger, and he had to get to her. Now.

  * * *

  Melanie could feel herself being carried, and for just a moment, she thought perhaps it had all been a dream. Valeria's death, the attack, Kimberly going tumbling down the stairs, it had to all be just a dream. Then she felt her feet sickly strike a door frame, jarring her, and she realized that it was no dream. She could hear the sounds of the battle raging outside, and nearer by, the unmistakable whup-whup-whup of a Huey helicopter, familiar from a childhood of military action movies. She struggled, only to have her arms squeezed tightly.

  "Don't fucking move, or else I'll kill you now," Morrigan Thornblood said, her face grim. "If you're lucky, the Silver Bringers might just let you live a while before killing you."

  "You realize you're a dead woman too, right?" Mel whispered, her voice barely audible. Morrigan laughed.

  "Yeah, I know. If I even get out of this shit alive, I'm going to be hunted by Silver Bringer and werewolf alike. But you see, it doesn't matter. As long as I know you're dead, I can deal with the consequences."

  "What did I ever do to deserve your hatred?" Melanie asked. "You had so much promise, so much potential. Valeria told me what she knew about you from the time of your birth. You were smart, smarter than me for sure, maybe even smarter than Kimberly. You would have made a fine Alpha Female."

  "Perhaps. But you robbed me of my one chance to help my Clan," she said. "The word quickly spread through the Clans, and I saw as soon as we arrived, Keith will never take a Second Mate. His heart and his Clan rest only in you. And no other Clan would accept me as a First Mate since I would be merely a rebound case. So, it doesn't really matter now, does it? Of course, I do have my regrets. Should I have agreed to the attack? No. I understand that, and I know that my Clan is out there dying along with yours, and many others. But, if I am to be condemned to the fires of Hell.... well, at least I'll have company."

  "No," Melanie said, her voice calm and assured. "When you die, Morrigan Thornblood, you die without honor."

  "As you wish. Here are your new.... caretakers," she said, kicking open the rear door of the estate and carrying her into the garden. The Huey's rotors still spun, ready to lift off at any time.

  "I have your target!" she screamed into the rotor wash, casually holding Melanie over her head. Melanie held very still, knowing that a fall from this height could easily kill her baby.

  "Bring her here!" a loudspeaker on the Huey boomed, and Morrigan ran, hunched over, carrying Melanie like a child towards the cargo door. Setting her inside, Melanie could barely struggle before she felt four strong hands grasp her around the shoulders and ankles.

  "Now call off the rest of the attack!" Morrigan hollered at the commander, a tall man with sunglasses covering his gaunt cheeks, even in the darkness of night. "You swore that my Clan would not be destroyed!"

  "We make no deals with evil," the man replied, pulling his .50 caliber pistol and firing it into Morrigan's chest. The recoil knocked the girl back, laid out on the lawn to gasp into the air as the Huey started to lift off. As it was clearing the ground, about forty feet in the air, Keith came sprinting towards the helicopter, his face written in a mask of rage and anger.

  "No!" he cried, leaping towards the helicopter. Even as he did, he knew he had been too late. With a chilling slowness, he saw every detail as he rose towards the chopper. He could see Melanie, her eyes awash in fear and hope, reaching out with one arm while three men struggled with holding her back. He could see the dim blue lights that controlled the radios and other equipment in the cargo area of the Huey. He could see the moon reflecting off the sunglasses of the cavernous man in the doorway. But most of all, he could see the barrel of the .50 caliber handgun pointed right at him, and the hammer rising to fire a round into his head.

  Chapter 23

  Kimberly felt hands under her shoulders, lifting her upper body gently. Squinting her eyes, she blinked, the world swimming in her vision. "Shhhh," a soft male voice said, supporting her carefully. "You've had a rough tumble, and I think your right arm may be broken, but you'll be all right."

  Kim blinked again, to see the young man with reddish black hair kneeling next to her. He looked familiar, and it took her a moment before she placed him. Kensuke Thornblood, Morrigan Thornblood's younger brother. "My mother?" she asked, as soon as she could make words.

  "The honorable Dame Lockwood is dead," Thornblood said sadly. "My sister has betrayed us all. My mother had dispatched me to stop her, but I was too late."

  Kimberly accepted his help as she got to her feet, looking back up the stairs. Just visible over the edge of the first step was the soft furred body of her Mother. Swallowing her rage and sadness, she focused on her duty as Alpha Female of Clan Lockwood. "And my Sister?"

  "I do not know. I just arrived, and I found you at the bottom of these steps after seeing your Mother's body."

  "Then let's get to tracking," Kimberly replied, woozily taking a step up the stairs. She must have been struck her head harder than she realized, she thought, as she was exhibiting all the classic signs of a concussion. "Damn. Can you lend me a hand?"

  "Of course," Kensuke replied, throwing her unbroken left arm over his shoulders and helping her up the stairs. Reaching the landing, he pointedly kept his body between Kim and her Mother's, sniffing the air. "That direction," he pointed, "I smell Morrigan's blood in that direction."

  Kim nodded gratefully, aware that in her current condition she couldn't really discern anything. Making their way down the hallway, Kimberly could feel her body's healing processes take effect, her
right arm tingling as the bones slowly knitted. Reaching the servant's stairwell on the far end of the hallway, she could stand on her own, and led Kensuke hurriedly down the stairs.

  Distressing to Melanie was the repeated empty cartridges she saw on the carpeting as they hurried. Whatever had happened, firearms had been involved, which meant Melanie. "If your sister has even harmed Melanie, I swear....."

  "You'll have to get in line behind me," Kensuke replied, hurrying as they heard the thumping beat of the Huey landing in the northern gardens. "I give you my word, I will stay by your side until your Sister is safe."

  The two werewolves sprinted towards the back door, bursting out just as they saw Keith leap into the air after the lifting off Huey. Kim could see the look in the Silver Bringer's eyes as his pistol pointed at Keith and the lick of flame that erupted from the barrel as he fired. Her throat worked, and a primal scream ripped from her lips.

  "Nooooo!"

  Chapter 24

  "No!" Keith cried, leaping towards the helicopter. Even as he did, he knew he had been too late. With a chilling slowness, he saw every detail as he rose towards the chopper. He could see Melanie, her eyes awash in fear and hope, reaching out with one arm while three men struggled with holding her back. He could see the dim blue lights that controlled the radios and other equipment in the cargo area of the Huey. He could see the setting moon reflecting off the sunglasses of the cavernous man in the doorway. But most of all, he could see the barrel of the .50 caliber handgun pointed right at him, and the hammer rising to fire a round into his head.

  So this is what it is like at the moment of our death, he thought, before a shot from below struck the barrel of the fifty caliber pistol. It wasn't much, just enough to nick the barrel out of the way, and Keith could feel the round strike him in his upraised left shoulder rather than in his head. The impact was enough to throw him off, and his claws scrabbled for purchase on the skids of the helicopter before slipping, and he had a moment to watch the helicopter pull away from him before the ground rushed up, slamming into his back and knocking the wind out of him. He lay there, stunned into immobility as the helicopter pulled away.

  He didn't know how long he lay there, but the next thing he was aware of was a weak jostling of his shoulder. Turning his pounding head, he saw Morrigan Thornblood. She was obviously dying, but the pistol in her hand was still smoking. On her hands and knees, blood poured from the holes in her chest, pooling underneath her torso. "Good," she said, barely audible over the rush of blood in his ears. "You are alive."

  "Wh.... why?" Keith asked, still unable to move his limbs. He guessed he had shifted back to his human form after his fall. He must have fallen unconscious at least momentarily. It was the only way, other than death, that he would have reverted back involuntarily.

  "I was wrong," Morrigan said simply. She coughed, a fine mist of blood splattering her hands and arms, which were trembling with the effort of keeping herself up. "I'm still going to hell, but.... I was wrong."

  Before Keith could reply, she convulsed, her eyes rolling back before she collapsed, dead. Keith lay there, staring at the sky, willing his limbs to move. It felt like forever, and he could hear the battle that was occurring just a few hundred meters away. Slowly, feeling started to come back, first with pain in his left arm, then in tingling that started like pins and needles that moved down his limbs. Groaning, he barely was able to roll to his side and then sit up before he saw a figure walking towards him. "Lady Thornblood," he said painfully, recognizing the statuesque Asian woman. "I am sorry, your stepdaughter is dead."

  “As is my husband and son," she replied, helping him to his feet. "The enemy has fallen back, their mission it seems is a failure."

  Keith looked up into the sky, where he could hear the Huey retreating, just at the limits of his hearing. They had to be over three miles away, or else his hearing had been damaged by the fall. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, he could have blown out an eardrum with the impact. Still, Thornblood's voice sounded normal, so he didn't think so.

  "I am not sure of that," he said, wheezing at the pain in his ribs. He wasn't sure, but he thought something could be broken, or at least some ribs sprained. If it wasn't for the amount of muscle and strength in his back, he was sure he'd have shattered his spine as well. "They have my Mate."

  "Then it is time for us to talk," she said. Kneeling down, she placed her hands underneath Keith's armpits and lifted, helping him to his feet. Keith barely restrained a groan, weaving slightly as the world spun in front of his eyes before steadying. "But first, let us get medical care for you and the other wounded. My clan's physician is attending others on the battlefield right now."

  "Then let them be treated first," Keith replied. "My injuries are not life threatening. What do you know of casualties?"

  "The armored vehicle was a slaughter," Lady Thornblood replied. "Before he died, my husband gallantly destroyed the light machine gun, but the larger gun did not stop until it ran out of ammunition. I have the few uninjured members of my clan gathering the information you seek now."

  "Thank you, Lady Thornblood. Your husband was a brave and noble wolf."

  Thornblood nodded her thanks. "I also have bad tidings as well. As I came through the house, I found your sister and your mother. Lord Lockwood, your mother is dead."

  Keith felt like he had just been punched in his injured ribs, and it took all the steel in his personality to keep it together. He wanted to fall down on his knees, screaming his pain and anguish, but he was an Alpha Male. Sometimes, that really sucked. "And my sister?"

  "I believe she was attacked by Morrigan when she was in human form. She was found at the bottom of a stairwell concussed, but she should be fine.”

  "Then take me to the main hall, or whatever the hell is left of it. I must see to the rest of the Council." Keith made his way painfully towards the main hall. He was halfway there before he remembered he was now naked, his clothes shredded tatters left in the woods after his transformation. "Do you happen to know where I could get a pair of pants?"

  "I have an uninjured attendant, I’ll have him get you some,” Lady Thornblood replied. "In the meantime, I’ll gather the rest of the Council. Lord Lockwood, about my stepdaughter...."

  "I don't care about Morrigan's actions, insofar as the impact they have on relations between our clans," Keith replied, cutting her off. "Your husband more than made up for that with how honorably and bravely he fought, as well as the other members of your Clan. What I’m concerned with is my Mate, and getting her back. Those were the Hunters, both in the attack and in the helicopter. They have her and my child. Until I get them back, nothing else matters.”

  "I understand, and I agree. I will assemble the Council."

  Keith nodded and removed his arm from Lady Thornblood's shoulders. "Thank you, Lady Thornblood. I think I’ve recovered enough from my fall to walk on my own. I’ll wait for the Council in the main hall."

  As it was, the main hall was a gigantic glass and shrapnel covered mess. Bullet holes pocked the walls, and some of the hundred-year-old wooden panels had been blown fully out of their frames, with only splinters hanging in front of the stone walls that they had covered. The few wolves who were uninjured were either the very old or the very young, those who had been hustled into the catacombs beneath the mansion in the chaos of the battle. A young boy, a Lockwood clan member who couldn't have been older than ten, brought Keith a chair. "Lord Lockwood, I'll bring something for your arm," the boy said, turning to run off.

  Keith put his right hand on the boy's arm. "Just a moment. What's your name, son?"

  "Jerry Greenwood, sir," the boy said.

  "Where is your father or mother, Jerry Greenwood?"

  "My mother is at home, sir, looking after my little sister. My father is.... injured."

  Keith could see in the boy's eyes what he wanted to do. He noted that despite the desire he had to check on his father, the boy was doing what he could to help others. Keith made a men
tal note to remember this boy's name. The Lockwood Clan would need young members like him in the future. "I admire your devotion to duty, Jerry, but go to your father. He needs you more than I do."

  "He will be fine, sir," Jerry said bravely, his lip quivering only slightly. "He was hit by some shrapnel in his leg. I took him to the medics myself, him cursing the entire way. He wished he could have joined the fight, and I think my mother will be upset with him for the language he used while I was helping him."

  Keith smiled and patted the boy on the shoulder. "There will be plenty of honor to be had in the following days. I’m sure your father will make a great account for himself once he is healed. I tell you what. My sister is also being cared for. Could you please go check on Lady Lockwood, and if you happen to see your father on the way, give him my regards. Tell him I think he has a fine son."

  Keith could see the boy's chest swell with pride, and he nodded, running off without another word. Keith watched him go, a grim smile on his face.

  "A fine show of leadership, Lord Lockwood," a wounded wolf to his right, who had most of his face covered in a quick bandage that looked like it had once been a t-shirt, said. "That boy will be able to tell that story for years at his family gatherings. The day that Lord Lockwood himself praised him and his father."

  Keith nodded. "Apologies, friend. Your bandages cover enough that I can’t recognize you."

  "No apologies necessary. I am Peter Alces of the Kenai Clan. My Lord and Lady were both killed in the attack. When Lady Thornblood said there would most likely be a Council meeting, I was the highest ranking member of my Clan still mobile."