Shadow of The Wolf Ch. 09

She'd overhead them talking of leaving on a raid...something about alphas and mates. Only two minions would be left behind to guard them. Their fiendish leader had been noticeably absent for some time, she had not smelled his foul odor permeating the underground jail.

Blinking rapidly, she sent a prayer for strength. She would not waste this chance that God had seen fit to give her. She would escape...and kill if she had to.

******

After making sure that Luc was being taken care of in the pack clinic, and the rogue wolves taken down into the basement, Alex and Rance went to the mansion to face her waiting brothers. Rance would let Alex decide how much they would reveal. She knew her brothers better, and he trusted her judgment implicitly.

The tension was so thick in the sitting room, it was almost palpable. Jake and Andrew stood on one side near the panoramic windows. Their usual sphinxlike features now displayed a myriad of emotions ranging from irritation to outright hostility. Devon, on the other hand, was looking with uncurbed interest between her and Rance and his two brothers. It was clear that Andrew had already shared with Jake what he had seen in the woods, although at the moment, neither Rance nor Alex were certain to which conclusion Andrew had arrived.

Rance stood next to the lounge chair where Alex had been ensconced since entering the sitting room. Her mate was exuding calm and comfort, trying to alleviate her anxiety. She was not ready to divulge their secrets yet, but her two brothers were bristling with suspicion and aggression, all directed at Rance.

The tautness of Jake's and Andrew's features almost made her afraid, but she knew her brothers were only looking out for her, since they knew something unusual was at play, more than her getting seriously involved with a man, which was unusual for her. Alex knew it was really up to her to make them understand the situation, that Rance was by no means a sinister character from whom they needed to rescue her.

Her lips twitched as she thought of Rance in his hybrid form appearing before her brothers. They'd probably think him a monster, grab her and start shooting, no questions asked.

Not helping here, Rance gently chided, snapping her out of her reverie. Your brothers are waiting for an explanation and the more we make them wait the more belligerent and unbelieving they will be.

Glancing up at Rance, she thought at him, Oh right. She bit her lips and shook herself. It was not time to be scatterbrained.

Andrew crossed his arms across his chest and waited for Rance or Alex to speak.

"Aren't you going to at least sit down? I'm getting a crick in my neck looking up at you." Alex tried to interject lightness into the otherwise seething tension in the room. Waving her arms toward the seats in front of her, she encouraged her brothers to sit. After both sat down, albeit reluctantly, she tugged her mate's hand and patted the space next to her. "Please?" Rance looked down at her and sat.

"Now that everyone's seated, would any of you want anything to drink or eat?" Alex asked.

"Let's cut to the chase Alex," Jake replied. "What happened earlier? That's what we want to know."

"What do you mean?" Alex hedged.

"Quit dodging. We all saw how Rance here seemed to know what was happening to you. And sis, don't even try to deny it." Andrew trained his gray eyes on her. "I've noticed even during Mom's birthday that you two seemed to communicate without verbally speaking. And when Rance just blurted out the word ambush, I knew right away that I was right in my suspicions." He looked at Rance, "Who, and what are you, really? Is this some kind of cult that you've embroiled my sister with? Alex, are you being coerced or forced to stay here?"

"No!" Alex vehemently denied. "I'm staying here -- with my fiancé -- of my own free will." She grasped Rance's hand and twined their fingers together.

"What in the hell is going on? And why am I the only one who missed all of the excitement?" Devon interrupted. Served him right for listening to his older brothers. He should have followed them and not stayed. Now, he was the only one who was in the dark.

"Yes, Alex. What is going on? Please enlighten us," Jake said bitingly.

"Well" -- She looked at her mate and with pleading eyes, asked his consent to fully divulge their secret. Seeing how anxious Alex got, Rance steeled himself and gave her a curt nod of his head. Rance then kept his gaze trained on her brothers to gauge their reactions to what she would say.

Biting her lower lip and meeting her brothers' gazes head on, one by one, Alex breathed in deep, gathering her thoughts. She knew what she was about to reveal would be too fantastical for her pragmatic brothers. And Devon... well, she didn't even know how he would react.

"You see...ahm...it's kinda hard..." she trailed off.

"Stop dithering. It's not like you to mince words," Jake snapped impatiently. "Just tell us already. If what you claimed is true and you're not involved in anything sinister, why the reluctance to come clean?"

"Okay, okay," Alex threw her hands in the air and swept her eyes over all three brothers. Here goes nothing... she thought.

"Just a warning though. Please keep an open mind. Not everything you believe to be true is really correct. Remember that every day new discoveries are made. Species we might think extinct or mythical sometimes still exist....ACTUALLY EXIST." She locked gaze with Andrew.

How am I doing? she asked Rance.

You're doing fine. Although the way Jake's frowning, I believe he thinks you're once again giving them the run around. Andrew, on the other hand, is staring intently at the both of us.

"You're doing it again," Andrew murmured aloud.

"What the fuck are you talking about now?" Jake said, looking at his brother.

"Those two are talking." Andrew nodded at Rance and Alex.

Devon looked incredulously at Andrew. "How? Like ESP? You're kidding, right?" He looked at his sister and raised his brows in inquiry. "Well? Is Andrew right or wrong?"

Rance couldn't help but admire Andrew's astute observation. He was glad he wouldn't be forced to ensure that Andrew and the rest of her brothers were kept quiet forever about their existence.

"All mated pairs have the ability to communicate telepathically. And since Rance and I are mates, we can talk over great distances. Rance being the alpha also put me in a position of authority in the pack," Alex tried to explain matter-of-factly.

"Backtrack a little bit," Jake scowled, puzzlement clearly expressed in his brown eyes. Even Devon had a funny look in his face, probably thinking that she was crazy or something.

"Mated? Alpha? Pack?" Andrew burst out incredulously. "Does his cult believe themselves to be animals then? Is that why wolves are freely roaming in his woods? Wait...." Andrew's eyes bored intensely into hers. "Don't tell me you're buying into all this. They're clearly delusional." Steel crept into his voice as he said, "Alex, if you think we'll leave you here, you're sadly mistaken."

Rance had had enough. If her brothers thought they could take her away from him, then they were the ones who were delusional. No one would come between him and Alex, even her brothers. His wolf paced back and forth inside him, antsy at not being allowed to do anything to these men who threatened to take away his mate. The growl vibrated in his chest and his eyes narrowed in warning at the brothers.

Alex looked at him with alarm. Clutching at his arm, she smiled conciliatorily at Jake, Andrew, and Devon.

"What's wrong with him?" Devon asked, unease making nerves skitter up his spine. Rance looked feral and brimming with suppressed violence.

"It's okay," Alex tried to soothe Rance's aggression by sending him loving thoughts and assurance through their link.

"It's my fault. I'm botching up this explanation....there's no easy way to say it. So here goes." She paused and took a deep breath. Smiling reassuringly at her brothers, and casting a wary glance at her mate, "You see we're all shape shifters." Her brothers regarded her with varying degrees of bewilderment in their faces. Shrugging she clarified, "Werewolves to be exact."

A stunned silence ensued for a couple of seconds, as her incredulous claim registered. Jake and Andrew stood up abruptly and took a step forward. Rance stood to meet the brothers, not certain what their intent was, but unwilling to let them get near Alex while he remained uncertain. Everyone started yelling and pandemonium ensued.

The brothers grappled with Rance, thinking that he was trying to keep them from their sister. Rance tempered his strength, not wanting to inadvertently hurt the brothers. Jake swung at Rance while Andrew tried to grab both his arms to incapacitate him. Devon stood next to Alex, not really knowing what to do. Rance pivoted on his heels and dodged both brothers while using his palms to strike them where it would not hurt too much. The brothers staggered away, determination etched on both their faces.

"Bring it on," Jake snarled, as he and Andrew lunged at Rance.

The sudden opening of the sitting room's closed door distracted Rance enough for Jake to land a blow to the side of his face.

"Hey! Surprise! What did I miss?" Everyone in the room froze, except for Alex who let out a shriek of happy surprise.

"Pam! You're back!" Alex jumped up and ran to her friend.

With her hand on the doorknob, Pam zeroed in on Alex, completely ignoring the tableau of combatants in the room. Rushing in, a huge smile plastered on her face, Pam rent the air with an ear splitting scream. Alex and Pam met in the middle of the room, hugging and shrieking their joy at their reunion while the men stared in slack jawed stupefaction.

******

Rance and Damian stood facing the one way mirror, grim-faced. They'd persistently interrogated the detainees since those rogue wolves regained consciousness. The betas took turns beating them again and again, but they remained tight-lipped, belligerent and spat scathingly at them. Rance got tired of watching them defy the betas, so he finally had them chained, dangling from the ceiling in solid silver manacles. The silver burned their skin and sapped their strength, keeping their bodies from healing and regenerating. Splotches of bruises mapped their skins, blood oozed freely from cuts and gashes they sustained from their beatings. They deserved worse than that, but he did not want to damage them so much that they could not tell him the information he needed.

Rance had learned from other Alphas that a coordinated attack was launched, apparently by the rogues, the day before. Most of the female mates of the other shifter Alphas were ambushed. They did not single his pack out apparently, as he thought, but attacked all the large packs, clans, tribes and prides. Fuck if he knew how they managed to learn the schedules kept by the mated female Alphas. Most of the rogues were dead and a handful of the betas were injured.

Thank Luna that none of the mates were taken or killed. Just thinking of what happened yesterday made him want to go in there and just kill them all. His wolf had the same idea, especially since they'd also targeted Alex. Unfortunately, the need to find the head of these rogue shifters became more imperative. They needed to learn the identity of this Pretender before the violence escalated further and got the attention of human authorities.

Still, the reason these rogues gave their loyalty to this Pretender baffled him.

That different rogue shifters had evidently banded together under this Pretender -- lupine, ursine, and felidae -- was something met with dawning horror and anger. This became clear to the Alpha Council in the aftermath of the attacks on the alpha mates, as they apprehended and killed rogues of different species. Some of the rogues that Rance now held housed in the Pack's underground jail were just like the abominations other Alphas encountered. The only reason that made any sense for the rogues' allegiance was that they truly believed the Pretender was the Promised One.

One thing they all could be thankful for was that there were no new killings of shifters or humans that they knew of. The Pretender did all that in the beginning to get the attention of the Alpha Council and propagate his claims. He probably thought that the peace treaty would disintegrate. And once it happened, he could come in and reign in place with his rogue army.

The Alphas were now busy interrogating their own captured rogues. Although the Task Force met to share all information they extracted, they were not any closer to discovering the rogues' lair. Rance and Damian had a theory that they were not holed up in only one spot. They believed the rogues kept several hiding places. Finding one would be a great break in their investigation, and put them a step closer to finding the identity of their nemesis.

Turning his back in disgust, he left the room. "Call me if they disclose anything useful. In the meantime, have the betas continue the search for clues in the pack land and the surrounding areas. They must have used some form of vehicle to get onto our land, if not, then they travelled here as wolves. They would have left a scent trail that we could track." Damian walked with him on his way to the elevator. "I'll join you later when everything has settled down with Alex's brothers."

"How did that go by the way?" Damian asked. "With all the tumult, and Luc being injured and unconscious, I forgot about her brothers."

"Better than expected, I suppose. Pam showing up kept it from devolving into a clusterfuck. Her brothers, in their own way, were just trying to protect Alex, which in hindsight, I could not really fault." He stopped by the elevator and faced Damian.

"Pam's arrival made the brothers stop interrogating Alex. I believe they don't want to involve Pam since they are not aware of how much she really knows. After Pam left, I showed them my wolf. Of course, she also let them know that being my mate, and an Alpha, she also is now a turned wolf shifter, although she did not get into details about how it happened. She thought it best not to shift in front of her brothers, to mitigate the shock of finding about us and give them time to adjust to her being one of us."

"And?" Damian asked, eager to know how the brothers reacted.

"The two older brothers were pissed and alarmed, while Devon was clearly astonished and fascinated. Alex assured them that we're not ruled by our animal half, that she truly loved me and was not being forced into staying. Andrew was quite vocal in his persistence that she needed to leave with them. Alex lost her temper and what happened next was quite unexpected."

"What do you mean? Did she bite them?" Damian asked half-jokingly.

Rance grinned at his friend. "That would be priceless. No, she did not. What happened was, with one look, she sealed their mouths and pinned them both to the wall."

"Huh?" Incredulous eyes met Rance's mirthful ones.

"Honestly. And without touching them either. She just trained those gray eyes on them and zapped! They flew across the room and were pinned to the wall. All of us in the room were shocked immobile. Alex more so."

"Wow..." Damian stared speechless at his Alpha.

"Yeah, wow." Rance smiled at his friend. "At least now I'm confident that Alex can protect herself with the help of the baby inside her."

Shaking his head, Damian thumped Rance on his shoulder, "Well, this tells us that Alex is really carrying the Promised One. Even in the womb, he or she is already exhibiting more power than any shifter."

"True. I never had any doubt after Luc showed us the sign of the Promised One in the Sacred Books of Luna. The tattoo on her belly was an exact copy of the rendering in Prophet Simeon's prophecy. Anyway, after that, her brothers didn't have any choice but to listen to her. So we've called a truce... sort of. They gave their word that they'll behave, they'll closely watch and observe how we truly act and live here on the estate. I have nothing against it, this'll give them a chance to gauge my devotion to their sister. By the way, how is Luc doing? I have not visited him yet with all the excitement going on."

"He's fine. He regained consciousness early this morning. Armand said it must be due to severe blood loss and trauma. If you had not commanded him to shift, he would have died then. He's still in the clinic. Armand wanted him to rest longer, but you know Luc, he's already raring to go and get back to guarding Alex."

"I figured as much. I'm just relieved that he pulled through. Alex would have been devastated. I'll let him know that he needs to follow Armand's orders. I'll go up there now to visit him."

Pushing the button on the elevator, Rance spoke quietly, "Once you're done here I want you to come see me later in my study. We need to strategize on covering more areas in hunting the rogues' den." Rance's voice grew taut with frustration, "We can only hope that Luna will show favor by guiding us to find them."

******

Alex was ready to pull her hair out. Her brothers were being major asses, with the exception of Devon, of course. They'd dogged her steps throughout the day, watching her with eagle eyes, and unnerving her with their silent scrutiny. She conceded that learning about the existence of shifters in the world was not your everyday regular kind of secret. Still, she wondered how long it would take to sink in that they were not monsters ready to devour people and cause undue mayhem to the population. They were just a unique race of people with abilities to shift... and to heal fast...and well... to live long lives. Plus, they knew her; even after the change, her brothers couldn't believe she was a monster, could they?

It was a surprise for her to discover that the ability to will things to happen, as she'd done in the woods, was not just a fluke. Finding this out by pinning her annoying brothers to the wall was shocking to say the least, but the opportunity to let them have it without them talking back was something she did not squander.

And boy did she talk fast in that initial silence. She told them of how she earnestly believed that she was destined to be Rance's mate; that although werewolves were portrayed as evil man-eating monsters in Hollywood, it was not at all true. Alex told them that just like any other race, Weres were also human but for something extra in their DNA, with the same emotions and values, and capacity to be good or bad. That like everyone else, they just wanted to be left alone to live in peace.

Of course, Devon asked tons of questions. Andrew and Jake, pinned on the wall and unable to talk, were forced to listen and cool down. Rance, on the other hand, sat next to her and answered Devon's questions with her.

Most of the questions from Devon, the future doctor, were scientific. He wanted to get a chance to study the unique DNA structure of the Weres. How they were able to shift from human, to wolf, to hybrid? How were they able to lose mass and add mass when shifting, et. cetera, et. cetera.

Rance patiently explained to him that their shifting was magical and had nothing to do with science at all. They had coexisted with humans in the beginning of time and Luna, their Goddess, saw it fit to gift a chosen few with the ability to shift into their animal counterpart.

For now, they'd been pacified. She was certain that Jake and Andrew were still ambivalent about Rance and the whole pack. That they were staying, hopefully, would provide them with the opportunity to truly get a feel and understanding of how the pack lived, and hopefully persuade them that she was not in any danger from Rance and the pack at all. Well, not counting the deranged leader of the rogues, of course.