Chapter Twenty-Six

Elijah

I found myself gazing out the window, my eyes following my father as he trained the warriors. Our relationship was tense, to put it mildly.

I knew it couldn’t have been easy for him, being demoted from first beta to a mere trainer. But he had no one to blame but himself.

If he had just killed that hybrid instead of bringing her here, everything would be different. She wouldn’t have been able to worm her way into our lives. We all fell for her, including me.

My Uncle Gabriel fell the hardest, and now where was he? Probably dead.

Our family started to crumble after Alpha Zagan took my brother. Uncle Gabriel became obsessed with finding that little half-breed troublemaker.

My parents, especially my mom, couldn’t stand to be in the same room as him. It was uncomfortable, considering he was the Alpha.

Then, after two years of neglecting his Alpha duties because of his obsession with finding her, something in him must have snapped.

Not only did he let her human brother live, but they both disappeared to the human side of the border. It was like the pack didn’t matter to him anymore.

Everyone thought my father would take over. He was first Beta and more than capable. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the council insisted that I become Alpha, with my grandfather as regent.

My grandfather never really liked my father, even though he was his son-in-law. I was only fourteen, so I was Alpha in name only. My grandfather made all the decisions.

It sort of made sense. He’d been Alpha before and he was a good teacher.

Things didn’t change much for me. There was more training, and at pack meetings, I would announce the decisions that my grandfather had made.

When I turned eighteen, I fully took over as Alpha. My grandfather was there to advise me, but the final decisions were mine.

I chose my Beta. He’d been my best friend in school and was the best warrior in our age group. Nathan was a good friend and a good Beta.

The two Betas that my Uncle had were given different duties.

Murdoch probably got the best job. The council assigned him to go to the different packs and oversee the training of the warriors in preparation for war.

He was to spend six months at each of the ten packs controlled by the council, sharpening their warriors' skills. His tour had just ended. He’d reported back to the council a few weeks ago.

I glanced at my desk, saw the piece of paper on it. My grandfather had brought it to me a few days ago. I just had to sign it. We would only go to war if all of the packs agreed.

My approval was the last one needed.

I was surprised all those years ago that the humans hadn’t started fighting right away. After all, when Uncle Gabriel crossed the border, he would have been hard to hide.

He would have stood out like a sore thumb.

I wasn’t even sure why we were going to war with the humans. I would have been more inclined to go to war against the Blood River Pack in the west.

That was where she was, the root of all our problems. Not only that, but she had killed my brother. That’s what my grandfather had told me, shortly after Uncle Gabriel left.

He’d said the council had spies in the western pack. They had been there for a while. They reported back that she had killed my brother, shortly after she’d forced him to escape from Alpha Zagan.

I’d trusted her once, even liked her. I should have known she couldn’t be trusted. My grandfather made me see that. He also told me more about the Blood River Pack.

How they had encouraged human mates and hybrids, even after the council advised against it. This was the main reason for the purge.

Now we would take it a step further. We could never allow our people to have human mates again, so we would wipe the humans out. One final push and it would be over.

I wasn’t comfortable with it. Wiping out an entire species. The council insisted there was no other way. Not if we wanted to avoid history repeating itself.

Once the humans were dealt with, we would deal with the Blood River pack, and that nasty little hybrid bitch.

When I heard a knock on the door, I sat down at the desk before telling them to come in.

I gave a half-smile when I saw Nathan.

“Your grandfather is waiting to see you, council business,” he groaned.

I rolled my eyes. He’d been pestering me almost every day for an answer.

“Send him in,” I sighed.

Nathan moved aside as my grandfather entered the office. It was less than a year ago and the roles were reversed.

He would sit on this side of the desk and I would be standing on the other side. I realized now that he had been Alpha in all but name since my uncle left.

It was only since taking on the role at eighteen that I learned a bit more. Mostly that the Alphas didn’t really have any power. It was the council that did.

“I need your signature on that document, Elijah,” he demanded.

“Good morning, Grandfather,” I retorted.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

He suddenly looked older to me. All those years while he had been in control, he’d always looked vibrant. Now he looked worn out.

“Take a seat,” I suggested, gesturing to the chair in front of my desk.

Once he was seated, I tapped the document with my finger.

“I’m the last one to agree, I assume?” I asked.

He looked at me and nodded.

“Do you have a problem with it? This plan has been five years in the making. We’re ready,” he stated.

I ran my fingers through my hair.

“The problem I have is wiping out a whole species, and not dealing with the other problem first.”

My grandfather leaned forward.

“I know you’re angry Elijah, and I know you want revenge for what she did, but we can’t fight a war on two fronts. Dealing with the humans will be quick. They are a lot weaker than they were before.

“She...” he hesitated, “She was a prime example of that. Little food has made them weak. Now is the time to attack.”

I nodded.

I picked up the pen and quickly signed my name. Once I’d finished I pushed the document across the desk.

I watched as he picked it up, a frown appeared on his face.

“What is this? You’ve changed it.”

He looked up at me, expectantly.

“Yeah, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll only send my guys into this mess if you promise me one thing. After we’re done with the humans, we’re going after her. And the pack she’s hiding with.”

He let out a long sigh.

“I’ll bring it up with the council. But they’ll need to get the other packs on board. It’s going to slow things down,” he grumbled.

I got up from my chair and shrugged.

“Doesn’t bother me, grandpa. If it were up to me, we’d go after her first. But we all have to make sacrifices. The sooner you get back to the council, the sooner we can get this show on the road.”

I watched him walk out the door. I didn’t give a damn about the time it took, or how we went about it. All I knew was that I wanted that murderous little bitch dead.