Rise Against Tyranny

Kiarra

The five of us crawled out of the panic room, and Aidan kept me close.

I didn’t know what I was about to see, but as my eyes surveyed the Apex grounds, I took in the carnage.

“Aidan?” I gasped, “What happened?”

“I did what I needed to get you, Kitten,” he pulled me to him.

From the look of things, our pack had laid waste to all the Apex clan.

I hopped on Aidan’s back, and we ran. Weaving through dead wolves, we reached the container that held the prisoners.

“What’s this?” I whispered as I watched them filing out, beaten, broken, suffering.

“What kind of Alpha does this?” Aidan roared.

I felt the flame of his anger.

“The kind who knows what’s best for a pack!” a voice came from behind us.

One that I knew all too well.

The five of us turned to meet the voice of the oppressor. There in all his glory was James Kendrick, still smug, still feeling justified by his ugliness.

“Kitten, what do we do with the prisoners?” Aidan asked quietly, not taking his eyes off Kendrick.

“Let them fight, or not.” It wasn’t much, but it was a choice. The one thing they’d been denied all too long.

Before I could blink an eye, I felt the rush of bodies pass me. They were all heading our way.

They wanted James’s head.

It was like the five of us weren’t standing there. It was as if we were spectators in this show.

“Kitten,” Aidan growled, staying close.

Aidan knew I wasn’t going to shift. I was a liability. It stung that I couldn’t take care of myself the way they could.

I stood there with my mate, who had sacrificed so much for me, watching the Apex Pack in utter chaos, and I was lost for words. I had never been this close to a conflict like this; it was alien to me.

Melody had long shifted and joined the fight. Many of the captive wolves who still had strength attacked the Kendricks and what was left of their clan.

It was a bloody mess.

I got it. The Kendricks were evil. They had been at this torture conversion shit for decades! They deserved everything they got, but hadn’t they caused enough death?

Why did all these wolves need to die because of two maniacs like them?

I summoned all the strength I had inside of me. I took a stride toward the center of the battle. Aidan grabbed me instantly, “Kiarra! No! No fucking way!”

“Aidan, let me go! I’m the only one who can stop this!”

“I said no! You’ll get slaughtered! Stay here!” he growled.

I hated that he was right.

I closed my eyes. My breath was slow, steady.

There had to be a way to get them to stop.

~“Apex Pack!”~ I sent out a mind-link to the pack.

I wasn’t naive. I knew that it was probably not going to help. Why the hell would they stop?

But it was worth a try.

Anything was better than this! ~“Back down!”~

Rose appeared beside James. For a moment, I froze as they stared me down.

“You have no power here, girl,” James Kendrick sneered.

I wasn’t scared of him. I refused to give the fucker the satisfaction.

~“Apex Pack! So many are dead? For what? For love? What kind of pack does this shit? What are you dying for today?”~

I kept my eyes stubbornly on the Kendricks.

Rose was starting to lose her cool. I saw it in her eyes.

“If you don’t get your wolves out of here, Gold, I will have all the territories make sure you’re wiped out! I’m the alpha here!”

“This is war!” Rose yelled beside him, red-faced, “War!”

~“Apex Pack, you have lost enough! Stand down!”~ I pushed, unwilling to budge.

Suddenly, the chaos was gone, and silence swallowed us all up.

Some wolves backed off; some kept fighting to the bitter end.

***

The fighting stopped, just like that.

Like magic.

I knew I’d never forget the look on the face of James Kendrick. No one had ever fought back, and now, suddenly, the Apex Pack was free from his tyranny.

Melody decided to stay with us, at least until the luna ceremony was done.

I loved that.

I knew it would take time for us both to get used to the idea of each other, but it was knowing someone else out there in the world who was like me.

The morning of the ceremony, my nerves were going wild, but also, I’d never been as happy as I was at that moment.

“You look stunning, Kiarra,” Melody smiled as she watched me close the last buttons on the front of my silky cream dress.

“Here,” she got up to meet me, the crown of roses and baby's breath in her hand.

“You’re more than welcome to stay here,” I hesitated.

I didn’t know the right words. “You know… if… ”

I sighed.

She laughed. “Because I’m a wayward child now?”

“No! No! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“No harm done,” she smiled warmly, something I was still getting used to. “I need to get out there, though. I need to see what life is like without ~them~.”

I considered her words and weighed them against the situation we’d just fought our way out of.

On that final day, many survivors of the prisons fought back, running the Kendricks out of town.

Neither one of us wanted to say it, but now the Apex Pack had changed; they had no Alpha.

“I’ll be back; you won’t even have time to notice I’m gone,” she teased, but I wasn’t sure that was true.

“Well, you know where to find me,” I said, grabbing the phone on the table. “We are going to be late if we don’t haul ass!”

The weather had started to turn, and clouds were forming in the sky as we ran to the clearing in the woods.

When we arrived, we were met with the audience, gathered pack members waiting for their luna.

I took my place in front of Aidan, making sure I took the time to drink in every detail of his face.

Dressed in a midnight black suit and crimson shirt, he looked good enough to eat.

“Kitten,” he smirked, “took you long enough.”

I stuck my tongue out. “You know I’m worth the wait.”

He laughed and looked down.

When he looked back up, he took my hands in his. “I will be your Alpha for a time, but your mate for always. Will you, Kiarra, be the luna to my pack? Will you guide and protect this pack by my side?”

I didn’t know why, but my cheeks flushed. Something about this was so final, so safe.

I had finally found the home where I belonged.

I looked to the members and then to the love of my life.

“Forever and ever, babe.”