DOMINIC
This is demeaning.
I am a fucking alpha of a pack that has stood for over three centuries and here I am.
Hiding in the dark, like some pathetic trading wolf
I shouldn’t be doing this
It is beneath me.
But what choice do I have when the wolves who are supposed to be doing this are below average?
Should I just kill them all and start afresh?
Hmm… now that is an idea.
But for now…
For now, I am here, lurking in the shadows just beyond the borders of Rowan’s settlement, waiting.
Patience is something I have not perfected over the years, and tonight is no different.
I can literally feel the tension coiled in my muscles, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice, but for now, despite my desires, I remain still, my eyes scanning the scene before me.
From my vantage point, the buildings are little more than shodows against the night sky, dark and silent like tombs.
A sham compared to my pack’s buildings
How can she want to remain here?
A flash of anger burns through me at the thought of Rowan.
The bitch.
Even after everything she has done, I still offered her a chance and she spits on me.
For that bastard Viktor.
The whore
If not for my need for a heir, I would kill her again
What does he even see in her?
A wolf less waste of space.
It is not surprising though.
He is just as weak as I have always known he was.
Moved by a skirt.
Pathetic
I wonder… what would they do once they hear what I am about to-
A movement catches my eye- breaking my train of thoughts- and I focus in on the figure moving at the edge of the settlement.
My eyes narrow as I watch him step carefully along the perimeter, sticking close to the tree line.
He is trying to stay out of sight, but he. is not as skilled as I am.
He is sloppy, careless, and I recognize him immediately.
Martins
One of mine.
One of the wolves who ran.
The coward.
The thought is bitter in my mind, the taste of betrayal sharp on my tongue. My anger quickens and a familiar rage stirs in the pit of my stomach as I watch him.
So… this is where they ran to.
How dare he show his face here? After everything I did for them+ after everything I sacrificed to protect the park- he and the others had the audacity to leave? To abandon me? And to a rogue settlement at that.
They chose Louisa, a rogue, an embarrassment to the wolf community, over me.
An alpha.
Ungrateful bastards.
They think they’re better off without me?
They think they can just walk away, leave the park behind, and start over somewhere else?
They think they can just be at peace after that?
No.
Oh no.
They are wrong.
They are all so very wrong.
No one escapes me.
No one leaves, unless I let them leave.
No one walks away without facing the consequences.
And he is about to find what those are quite fast.
I move swiftly through the trees, my footsteps light and silent as I follow him from a distance.
The shadows cloak my movements, the darkness hiding me as I close in on him and unsurprisingly, he doesn’t hear me.
I watch him for a few more moments, studying him, my anger simmering just beneath the surface.
And then, when I am close enough…to strike.
With lightning speed, I lunge from the shadows, my hand grabbing the back of his collar and yanking him backward with a force that sends him sprawling to the ground.
He hits the ground hard, the air knocked out of his lungs in a wheezing gasp, but I don’t give him a chance to recover.
I am on him in an instant, my hands gripping his throat as I slam him into the ground, my face inches from his as I snarl, my teeth bared in fury.
“Did you really think you could just walk away?” I hiss, my voice low and dangerous, dripping with venom. “Did you think I wouldn’t find you? That I wouldn’t make you pay for your betrayal?”
“Alpha!” He gasps for air, his hands clawing at mine as he tries to pry my fingers from his throat, but I tighten my grip, cutting off his breath. “Alpha… ple… please…”
His eyes bulge in terror, and I can feel his pulse racing beneath my fingers.
It is exhilarating, the power I hold over him in this moment.
The life or death decision is mine to make, and I relish it.
“You’re a coward,” I growl, my voice a deadly whisper. “A spineless rat who ran at the first sign of trouble. After everything I did for the park, after everything I did to protect you, you abandoned me. And for what? Because you were scared? Because you thought you could find a better life somewhere else? And for all that wisdom, you chose a rogue settlement?! The very one I was trying to destroy?! How dare you?!”
“Al- Alpha-” He tries to speak, his voice coming out in desperate, choked gasps, but I don’t let go.
I slam him against the ground again, my hand pressing harder against his throat.
I want him to feel it, the helplessness, the fear.
I want him to know that no one walks away from me without facing the consequences.
“You disgust me,” I spit, my voice thick with contempt. “All of you. None of you deserve to live after what you have done. You are all nothing but traitors, and you will all die like one. Starting from you.”
I drag him up to his feet, throwing him against a nearby tree with enough force to rattle the branches and he slumps against the trunk, gasping for air, his eyes wide with terror as he looks up at me.
I close the distance between us, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and slamming him back against the tree again. My face is inches from his, my breath hot against his skin as I snarl, my voice dripping with malice.
“You are going to pay for what you have done. For the insult you have flung on me,” I hiss, my voice low and dangerous. “And I’m going to enjoy every second of it.”
I raise my fist, ready to strike, ready to end this pathetic excuse for a wolf once and for all.
But just as I am about to bring my fist down, he screams.
“Wait! Wait! I know about Louisa! I know about her… and her daughter!”