~Kalen's POV~
My cold gaze slowly moved across the gathered wolves again, they all seemed to be having conflicting thoughts.
"Regarding the issue of my mate...I will not tolerate any further interference." I stated clearly, they bowed in unison and I nodded.
"Now moving unto other matters...is there any other issue the pack wishes to raise?" I asked, the clearing was quiet for a while before a voice sounded out.
"There is, that is if the Alpha feels it is now my turn to speak." The young wolf from before said sarcastically, I raised a brow, resting my gaze on him as he stepped forward.
"Within a wolf pack...the Alpha should naturally be the strongest wolf, however it has been years since our Alpha last shifted, it has me wondering if the rumors that our Alpha has lost his wolf side are true...." The young wolf trailed off and silent murmurings began spreading through the clearing, my gaze darkened slightly as I understood his intentions, I wasn't surprised, I knew this issue would be raised sooner or later, after keeping it under wraps for 13 years...it was time it came to light.
"That issue, now is not the time or place to discuss this." Aiden intervened quickly, signalling for the young wolf to stop his questioning.
"It is our right to know....our Alpha shouldn't withhold important information like that from us....he owes us a clear answer!" He insisted, trying to motivate the other wolves to insist on questioning me, no one responded and I nodded in approval.
"If Alpha Kalen decides to withhold it, it will surely be with good reason, we aren't in the position to question his decisions." One of my warriors spoke out, my pack members echoed their agreement, however I knew they still wanted to know the truth.
"Alpha Kalen, the dark moon pack members might be too scared of you to request for a clear explanation but I'm not, the rumors, are they true?" The young wolf asked again, I ignored him, looking to my pack members.
"The details of this issue....if you all wish to know it, I will answer." I said in an indifferent tone, my pack members deliberated among themselves for a while before a few of the most respected wolves stepped forward.
"Naturally we all have heard this rumors, it is quite popular within and beyond the pack, the whole were community infact... the fact that Alpha has lost his wolf...if you are ready to speak to us about it...we will listen." The pack doctor said, the wolves echoed agreement to his words and I nodded.
"This rumor...it is infact true... for the past thirteen years, I have been unable to take my wolf form." I replied in my usual tone, pandemonium broke out at my words and I let them digest the shocking news.
"So you've deceived your pack for 13 years?!" The young wolf exclaimed in outrage, there were also the select few who seemed to agree with him, taking on the furious stance while the rest calmly accepted my words.
"What is the way forward Alpha?" Was the question the wise ones asked, I was glad to see that the more prudent ones completely overshadowed the fools who numbered to only ten wolves, throwing accusations at me.
"What way forward? He deceived us... what gives him the right to remain as our leader...a werewolf without a wolf....an Alpha without an Alpha wolf....Dark Moon pack will become the laughing stock in the supernatural world, how can you all be so comfortable with this?!" Another of the ten foolish wolves asked in outrage.
"Stand down!" Wren ordered in anger at their disrespect to me, moving forward threateningly. I raised a hand to stop him.
"Deceive? I never once denied the rumors, neither has anyone confronted me about it and I said otherwise, I have no responsibility to come to you all and explain myself, if you had something you wished to know...you only had to ask, saying I deceived you when you never even asked for the truth... isn't your IQ a little too low for wolves?" I asked calmly, they growled, barring their teeth threateningly at me.
"You still dare cover your deceit, how are you qualified to lead us? Step down this instant!" The young wolf demanded.
"Step down!"
"Step down!"
His supporters echoed, I raised a brow at them.
"Step down? For who? You?" I asked him in a cold tone.
"I'm definitely more qualified than you are! We all are a better choice than an Alpha without a wolf!" He threw back and I chuckled within myself, my fury curled within me, waiting to erupt, like a volcano that had been dormant for too long, eager to cause mass destruction, I restrained myself as much as I could, keeping a calm and cold visage, my internal struggles were known only to me.
"You wish to over throw me? You should know the due procedure. Step down? Where is that done?, To over throw a living Alpha, you must win the challenge...a fight to the death." I replied calmly, he sneered at me.
"Asking for you to step down is to preserve your own life, a challenge without a wolf?, It seems you do not value your life." He replied.
"Wolf or not... you're no match for me." I stated simply, his gaze turned furious at my words.
"Still so arrogant? We'll see how long you can keep that up, you asked for this so don't blame me for being ruthless!" He said in a furious tone, I shrugged.
"My words exactly." I replied casually, his expression turned ugly at my reply which meant I was also telling him to not blame me for being ruthless.
"I issue you a challenge for your right to the leadership of dark moon pack Alpha Blade." He said darkly, I nodded in approval.
"Challenge.... accepted." I responded in a deadly tone, as my battle trained body immediately got ready for a kill.
The pack immediately rearranged themselves effectively, creating a huge space in their midst where the fight would take place, the wolf arrogantly walked to the center and stood there confidently, waiting for me.
"Is there anyone who also desires to challenge me?" I asked the crowd, one wolf wasn't enough to satisfy my blood thirst, I wanted to know all the disloyal ones now, I wouldn't give them the chance to back off when they realized that even without my wolf, It would be impossible to take me down, I was a Blade after all, we never relied solely on our wolves for strength, rather they were an added advantage that made us invincible, from a young age, I had been trained to be every bit as deadly as a wolf, my human form was a killing machine.
A few other wolves stepped out and I nodded, in a wolf pack, it was always the fight of the fittest, the strong ruled over the others, we valued strength over much else as the pack wanted to be assured their Alpha was capable of protecting them and exceeded the standards of other Alphas, that way they didn't have to be concerned if he would loose a challenge to another Alpha and let the pack fall in the wrong hands.
"What? Scared now?" The young wolf in the circle taunted, I raised a brow at him before dashing off the platform. He gasped in shock when I appeared before him in the blink of an eye, showing clearly that my unmatched supernatural speed was still intact, the wolves around all began murmuring the moment they saw that and I raised a brow again as different emotions flickered across the young wolf's face.
"You... without your wolf.... how are you able to move so fast?" He questioned cautiously, I shrugged.
"I only said I couldn't take my wolf form, I never said I lost the benefits." I stated, his eyes widened in horror as Wren chuckled darkly from behind me even as the fight began, his voice rang out as I took out the attacking wolves one by one, each unable to even withstand me for over a minute.
"Our Alpha took it upon himself and lead all the packs of the were community on the purging, after leading us to victory and completely annihilating the rogues conspiracy, our Alpha having expended all his energy was stabbed in the heart by a dagger of pure silver....we all remember this story, it was the times when we all feared we would loose our Alpha who had risked his life to bring us the peace and safety we've enjoyed for the past 13 years. Now it seems you've all forgotten his sacrifices, ungrateful wolves, I am embarrassed to call myself your beta. Wasn't it already a miracle our Alpha survived the silver dagger to his heart? No one has ever survived that, the dagger was completely pure silver. Our Alpha fought desperately to return to our side, once again bringing us victory by defying death, however it was preposterous of you all to assume he survived and was perfectly okay all round...not when he is the first to live after an attack from a dagger of pure silver. As you all must have guessed, it was indeed during this event that our Alpha lost his ability to take his wolf form....he lost the greatest pride of a werewolf for our sake, and yet here we stand, throwing accusations at him. I am truly ashamed to be one of you. If it had been truly that our Alpha had lost all connection to his wolf, you all would have cruelly allowed this challenge take place, forcing him to his death and forgetting the fact that the very reason we all stand here alive and well, our families safe is because of Alpha Kalen Ronan Blade. Unluckily for you all, Kalen only lost his ability to transform, all other abilities like increased strength, heightened senses, higher stamina, his Alpha command etc. Those abilities not only remained but grew twice as strong than it formally was. Our Alpha is actually now twice more powerful than he was when he led the purging as the strongest Alpha, this is without his wolf, and when Alpha is finally able to shift again? I don't even want to begin to imagine his strength then." He said, at this point I had beaten down all the other wolves who stepped forward apart from the young wolf himself, I wasn't merciful to them, ensuring to completely snap all limbs in odd angles.
"So....you mean there is still the possibility of recovering his wolf?" A warrior asked in shock, Wren nodded.
"The details of this, I cannot reveal it as of yet but rest assured, that possiblity is high." Wren responded.
It seemed all the wolves had suddenly gained enlightenment, from hearing Wren's words and watching me fight, they realized with awe that I was indeed stronger than I had been 13 years ago. They all collapsed to their knees, bowing their heads in apology for all their doubts and actions, I didn't pay them any attention, my gaze fixed on the young wolf who was now shaking in fear and I hadn't even touched him.
"A challenge is a challenge... you cannot back out." I informed him clearly, his eyes widened in horror but he swallowed down his fear realizing he had been the one to get himself into this, there was no going back now, a challenge had been issued, a fight to the death... and I had already accepted.
Knowing he either had to attempt to fight or die standing, he shifted into his wolf and leaped at me. His wolf was admittedly a little big, not nearly as much as I had been but a reasonable size for a warrior wolf and he also had the built and ferocity a warrior wolf should have. I spun out of the way, letting him fly past me, he landed on his paws, turning quickly and letting out loud growls as he circled me, I stood quietly letting him search for a weak point which he would never find, he also seemed to realize this and threw caution to the wind, leaping ferociously at me, I kept taking the defensive, continuously dodging his attacks effortlessly but not retaliating, the wolf seemed to be getting agitated as his growls became furious.
I toyed with him for a few minutes, before raising a bored brow as he leaped at me again, I dodged again letting him fly past me but this time I spun around quickly, catching him by the tail and halting his movements, I flung the wolf in the other direction and he slammed against a tree with such force I could hear the sound of bones snapping, I moved towards him in a flash before he could rise, placing a hand on his neck, I pinned him down, slowly cutting of his oxygen flow, he tried flipping over to paw at my hand but was unable to, he had landed faced down on the forest soil and my hand pressed him down further into the soil from the back, his paws couldn't reach me and he desperately clawed the ground, whimpering as his life was squeezed slowly out of him, he tried tilting his neck to the side to indicate submission but I held it in place.
"You don't get to submit that easily.... and don't you dare shift." I said in a cold tone when I noticed he wanted to transform to escape my grip, my voice was coated with my Alpha command and he couldn't resist it, unable to shift or counter attack, the wolf could only whimper in pain and regret as his life force left him.
Wren's thoughts whilst passing Aiden a subtle look: why don't you interfere now Aiden, I thought you had some bravado, didn't you always believe Kalen loved you most?
Aiden's thoughts: Don't give me that look Wren, interfere? Not a chance, I don't have a death wish, besides I can't test Kalen's feelings for me like that, I believe him without him having to prove it to me!"
Wren's thought: you're truly too shameless.🙄🙄
I released the wolf just as it was about drawing it's final breath, it immediately shifted, coughing and taking in huge gulps of air, I stared coldly at his pathetic form as he regained his regular breathing pattern, he avoided my gaze, keeping his head down shamefully, I turned away from him and glanced at the rest of the wolves who were still on their knees, they lowered their heads immediately, I passed a dark gaze across their submissive forms.
"The next time this happens, I will leave no one alive." I said coldly before turning around and heading home, Johan, Wren and Aiden behind me.
Wren's thoughts: The pack really offended the Alpha this time... how are we ever going to pacify him...why is our life so hard?😩😩
Aiden's thoughts: .... Kalen looks quite cute when he's mad don't you think...? 😉😉
Wren's thoughts: He'll still look quite cute when he's killing us🙄🙄
Johan's thoughts: Get me away from this fools!!!!!
~Author's Note~
Votes and comments are truly appreciated.😊😊