6

Chapter 6

The forest looked different now that she had nowhere to go. She was now a rogue fox. She was meant to be an Alpha, and she was going to be an Alpha no matter what. She only needed to figure out how exactly. But first she had to find out all there was to know about these gods so she could overthrow them. And she had to do it secretly so she wouldn’t get caught like it happened with the goddess.

“Jake, what do you know about the Gods?” She suddenly asked, turning round to face the junior wolf. 

“Nothing much, only that they’re known as moon spirits”

“Moon spirit, it’s just one. A moon goddess” Jax says quietly. He wasn’t one to speak anyway so it was quite surprising to hear him say something

“Well, if I’m going to do something about this and take my place back in the pack I have to know all about them!” her voice rising steadily to match her growing anger. 

“If I may add, Alpha” she winces as Drake addressed her by her former title “I think what we need to settle is where we’re going to stay while we get our plans in order.”

“That should be easy enough. We’re four wolves here, we can be our own pack”

“Of course, Alpha” says Jake and Jax simultaneously

“You have a problem with that, Drake?”

“Absolutely not, Alpha. But with this new pack, how are we supposed to feed with a female as our Alpha?”

“Don’t you all know how to hunt? How is that any of my business?” She was practically screaming now.

“I’m just saying, wouldn’t it be better to find a place to lay low, save our strengths, and find out all we need to know before we begin ‘bringing down the theocracy’ as you call it.”

She was testy before, but now she is full on furious. She narrowed her eyes to slits and changed to wolf form. All the hair of her grey-black pelt bristled and vibrated as anger seemed to pour out of her in waves “When I agreed for you to be a part of my pack, you were a rogue. I took you in without investigation or question. Now I don’t care what your position was in your former pack before you came to me, but I will not have you speaking to me in that tone. No matter what the gods have decreed, you are still under my charge. Do you understand me? Drake?”

He bows his head in what seemed like remorse, but really just to hide his growing smile “Yes I do, Alpha” 

“Good,” she says slowly transforming back to human form, “Now, let’s find ourselves a territory”

~

“I’m sorry Alpha Thomas, but I can’t find her scent anywhere close. It seems she’s had it blocked or something.” Says the black wizard, in an almost pleading voice

The old Alpha was in full wolf form, almost the wizard’s height even on all fours, and pacing the room nonstop.

“That can’t be, the child is stupid. And she’s a girl! you can’t tell me that a she-wolf cub, still very green behind the ears, not only escaped my grasp but has now masked her scent so well that even a wizard of your pedigree can’t find her.”

“Well, you can’t blame me for that. I wasn’t the one who was too weak to catch her when she was within my grasp,” 

As soon as those words left the wizard's mouth, he regretted them immediately, because the Alpha rose on his hind paws and dug his two front paws on the wizard’s skin. Then he slowly began to drag those paws, as though trying to slide back on all fours. 

“It would seem the protection I have offered you and your kind has given you some sort of boldness to address me as you please.”

The wizard’s face twisted in pain, but he refused to utter a sound. Not even a whimper of pain. “There are other ways to find a wolf when a locator spell doesn’t work” he said through gritted teeth. 

“And what might these ways be?” said Alpha Thomas while still dragging his claws through the Alpha’s skin. 

“We could smoke her out. I can create fires in different parts of the forest that will lead her and her small band of followers to where you can easily capture her” at this the wizard heaved a sigh of relief as the wolf finally landed his front paws on the floor.

“How sure are you that this will work wizard?”

“The fire spell is something babies in wizardry learn. It’s nothing difficult”

“And how will you know where to set on fire”

“A simple trial and error should suffice. If we don’t reel in Alina, we can get you and your pack some prey for all your trouble.”

Alpha Thomas considered this for a moment. On the one hand, he didn’t trust the wizard one bit, he suspected that he was in some sort of agreement with Alina as he was the only one who knew that he was going to ingest the toxins. On the other hand, the wizard has always been loyal to him, why will he break that loyalty now after so many years and to a stupid girl no less.

“Alright. We will carry out these series of locator spells, but I will be going along with you to every one of them. If we catch Alina, I want to be the first to get my hands on her”

~

The woman was gutsy, you had to give her that, and he already knew she had a dark mind. Drake knew that killing the gods was impossible, he was a god himself and he certainly wouldn’t watch himself get killed by a half-human. But her courage amused him. No, that wasn’t courage; that was ambition fueled by a need for revenge. And that quest for revenge would drive her to do whatever she needed to do. He could see it in her. And he would help her do it. 

When she caught his eye, he suddenly realised that he had been staring at her while thinking all that. He didn’t shift his gaze though, he held eye contact and smiled from the corner of his lips at her. Her eyes darkened at his smile and that made him smile all the more. Then she started walking up to him

“Alpha Alina,” he said as he bowed as low in respect

“What do you know about the moon spirits”

“Only what I’ve heard. Some say they see all and know all. Others say they only look upon things that are of interest to – “

“Yes, yes I know all that. I mean what do you know of them? What are they called? Where does one find them?”

“I hear the moon goddess leaves in the temple; she uses a sanctuary for rogue wolves. But I think you must be acquainted with her by now, I hear she caused your dethronement”

“She didn’t do anything to me. The ones who caused it is who I need to find”

“Unfortunately, Alpha I don’t have the answers you seek. Perhaps you should ask another”

“Jake? He’s only a beta, he doesn’t know anything of use to me”

“And I’m a rogue reborn. I don’t think I know anything useful either”

Alina looked at her new “pack” then. They were a measly few, they wouldn’t be able to hold their own if they happened to meet a rival pack. As much as she’d want to refute it, Drake was right. They wouldn’t be able to make it in the forest if the only Alpha among them was female. She needed to increase her numbers and she knew just how to do it. 

“Jake, Jax. Gather your strength. We’re travelling in wolf form from now. We’ll wait here till night”

As she was still speaking, she noticed the sky getting black. She was still trying to figure out what it was when the forest started emptying out. 

Fire. 

One by one, terrified animals started pouring out of the forest as the fire appeared to be burning up everything in its path and fast. It burned pure blue and it looked to be coming straight for her. Her father must have consulted that drat wizard again. 

“Run!” she screamed and started running as well.

She had gotten only a few feet forward when she came to a clearing and saw the wizard still muttering the final words of his spell, and her father with an unmistakable victorious smile on his face. 

“Alina, darling! Where did you think you were running off to?”

“Hello father” there was no need trying to play dumb to him. He already found out who she was when she captured him. “After what I did to you, I didn’t think you’d miss me enough to still look for me”

Alpha Thomas laughed but his eyes held no humour and they were trained on her. She almost laughed. Her father’s height was the only thing intimidating about him. She knew he couldn’t fight, the last time he did was when he was taking up the place of Alpha. He liked to win with magic tricks and put up a front of being all powerful.

She, on the other hand, had no time for parlour tricks. She had trained her arms and legs sore, she knew she could take him. She unhooked her knife from her belt and took up a fighting stance. 

“You think I want to fight you? I won’t reduce myself to pillow fights. Wizard! You know what to do” he started to turn and leave but he immediately did a double take when he heard the sickening sound of a crushed skull. 

He turned to see the wizard dead on the floor, Alina’s knife buried into his forehead.

“What a waste. He was useful”

He turned to Alina, “You’ll pay for that”

“Try me” she said as she ran towards with raised fists. She was going to put an end to this mad man once and for all. The fire had spread and was now a half-circle behind her pack, burning up the trees that marked the end of the clearing. “Perfect” she thought “The fire he created to smoke her out will kill him instead.” 

~

Thomas was beginning to see that he underestimated his daughter. She fought ferociously. He wouldn’t be able to win her if he continued like this. What’s worse, her excuse of a pack was watching him get humiliated. 

He was not going to let a girl embarrass him in front of weak men that would bow to a woman. He grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanked and twisted it hard to distract her. Then he turned to the other boy and kicked him hard.

The kick took Jake by surprise and he fell straight into the fire behind him. Thomas expected the death of a member of her pack to distract her. Instead of rush  to help Jake, he was a lost cause anyway, she kicked her father’s crotch and he fell to the floor, then she dropped and got him in a headlock so she was strangling him. She smiled as she slowly watched the life ebb out of his eyes. He underestimated her till the end, served him till the end. Serves him right.. 

Suddenly she felt her back get rammed to the floor hard. Her father had used his weight to turn her around. She groaned and tried to quickly get on her feet. When she did, she saw her father had run away. 

She laughed loudly this time. He actually tucked tail and ran off in fear. The old man was nothing without his parlour tricks. She was still laughing when she turned. She noticed that Jax was looking at her, shocked because Jake just died. How could he not hold his own, it was just a simple kick. She had to show grief now if not she would lose the only other person who was loyal to her. She hung her head and let some emotion show in her eyes.

“We will wait till the fire dies out completely before we start moving again, Jake doesn’t deserve to be left alone like that. He didn’t deserve to die like that”

Jax hung his head, he looked like he was about to cry for Jax. “Weakling” she thought “I need to find stronger people for my pack”