by C. M. Cevis
“I’m sorry, I was looking for my friend Seth. He used to live in this apartment and I hadn’t heard from him in a few days, so I came to check on him,” Roger said, slapping on his best friendly smile but not moving. The last thing he wanted to do was upset the dog. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would hurt.
“Oh. Seth moved out a few days ago. We had a going away party for him and everything. I’m sorry, I’m not sure how you didn’t get notified, Seth doesn’t seem like the type to leave a friend hanging,” she said.
“Hm, I hope everything is alright. Do you happen to know where he went, or have a good number for him?”
The young woman shook her head and gave Roger an apologetic smile. “No, sorry. He wouldn’t give us even a hint of where he was going, and his phone isn’t working anymore. It’s like he just dropped off the grid,” she said with a shrug.
Roger felt his face tighten as he frowned. “Yes, it is.” He pushed a smile back onto his face and made his tone lighter than the anger that he was actually feeling. “Well, either way, I appreciate the information. I guess I’ll just wish him the best out into the universe and hope that he comes back around eventually.”
“Good luck, and have a nice night,” the woman said before turning to head back towards the large front porch with her dog, who was still staring Roger down from his master’s side.
“You as well.”
Roger made his way back out to the sidewalk and began walking in the direction that he’d arrived from. His mind was going a mile a minute. Had Seth simply moved and not told anyone? If that was all that it was, it didn’t explain why he’d turned off his phone. It really didn’t explain why he’d ghosted Roger, especially after all they’d been through together.
He’d asked Roger what happened to Remi, and Roger had produced a convenient ready-made story for the body in the park that the police had found. It had fit perfectly, and Roger had accepted it without question, choosing to mourn his friend and move on. Or at least that was what Roger had thought. Had Seth simply up and left because he figured Roger would get to him? Roger would get to him, of course, because he didn’t allow people to simply walk away when they knew as much as Remi and Seth did, but Seth didn’t know that. It was concerning that he was out of Roger’s grasp and that there wasn’t much that he could do about it without outside help.
For now, he’d let it go, but only because he didn’t have time for it. Once the bulk of this was over and he was on his way to the seat of power, he’d have the resources to hunt Seth down and make him pay. That was when he’d get his revenge. He could wait for it. For now.
Roger’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked down, frowning at the odd five-digit number that showed on the caller ID. He had more pressing issues to deal with.
“This is Roger,” he said, lowering his voice, though the street was practically empty that time of night.
“We haven’t heard from you in a while. How goes the plan? There has been a lot of talk on the national news of the golden boy missing, but nothing about how the investigation is going.” A female voice purred. The sound of her voice slid around Roger in the most non-sensual way imaginable, tightening around his important bits in a death grip. He wasn’t sure how she did that, but she was one of the few people in the world that truly scare the hell out of him.
“The investigation hasn’t gone anywhere, which is why they aren’t really talking about it. Going on the news and saying that they still have no idea where the hell he is would make them look incompetent on a case that has the attention of people around the world,” Roger replied, trying not to make the nerves from whatever that thing with her voice was making his voice higher pitched than he wanted it to be.
“And the father?” she asked.
“He still trusts me, though the bodyguard doesn’t.” Roger quickened his pace, hoping that it would take his mind off of things enough to talk shop with the woman that he was speaking to and the others that were no doubt listening silently.
“The bodyguard won’t be a problem, will he?”
“Of course not. He’s brand new, and I’ve been around since I was a child. Not to mention that I’ve done nothing wrong that they know of. It’s simply him following his gut, and if he ever happens to find the evidence his gut needs, it will be too late by then.”
“We’ve heard that the Org is involved, and a young female agent who has been a problem in the past,” she purred again. Roger shivered uncomfortably and tried to ignore it.
“A problem how?” he asked.
“She is quite… efficient at her job. More so than any other agent that is out there. So much so that every attempt to kill her has failed so far. If this agent is looking into you as a suspect, you need to be careful.”
Roger tucked that little tidbit away for later since he was pretty sure they were talking about Chloe. “I will be.”
“Good. Make sure that the boy is never found, Roger. Once you hold up your end of the bargain, we can hold up ours.” Her voice released him, leaving behind a very uncomfortable and almost stinging feeling. It wasn’t pleasant, and she knew that Roger didn’t like it at all. That was why she always did it when they spoke. She enjoyed torment more than any other being that Roger had met over the course of his life, and that was saying something.
“I’ll keep my end of the deal don’t worry,” Roger said before quickly ending the call. He was starting to tremble, and that wasn’t something that he wanted coming across on the call. Instead, he turned the phone off, slipped it back into his pocket, and swallowed the involuntary shiver that ran up his spine.
33
NOAH WALKED INTO THE PACK’S building with the intention of gathering everything he couldn't live without and leaving. He wasn't sure where he was going to go but staying there wasn't an option anymore. It wasn't worth it.
“I've been trying to get a hold of Justin for at least an hour, why the hell isn't he answering his phone?” Leo said, bustling up to Noah before he was able to take five steps through the doorway.
“What in the world makes you think I'm Justin's keeper?” Noah actually knew exactly where Justin was. He was dead in a field a few yards from the factory building where Owen had finally decided to stop toying with him and drank enough of his blood to stop his heart. That didn't mean he felt like he needed to tell Leo that though.
“You just came from the site. Nobody's answering their phone, and you just walked in alone.”
“I walk in most places alone,” Noah said, brushing past Leo on his way towards the staircase.
“Stop walking away when I'm talking to you,” Leo said, grabbing Noah’s arm, which instantly pissed him off. Noah was not a fan of being touched without giving prior permission.
“Let me go.”
“You don't tell me what to do, I tell you what to do,” Leo replied.
“Let me go now.”
“Or else what?” Leo asked.
Noah took a deep, slow breath, turned around to face Leo, and brought his fist smashing into Leo's face. The force of the blow knocked Leo back a few feet and into the wall, causing a slight dent where his shoulder hit.
“I'm not a fan of being touched.” They were starting to gather a crowd of others who heard the commotion. And that was fine, Noah had no intention of backing down, let the chips fall where they may.
“You little shit, I can't believe you hit me,” Owen said, holding his hand to the eye socket Noah’s fist had connected with.
“I can't believe it took me this long to hit you,” Noah said, slipping his hands into his pockets.
“Is this really a road you want to go down? Because if you and I are going to fight, it's going to be for the alpha position. I'm sick of your shit.”
Noah shrugged his shoulders. “Fine, if that's the way you want it. Let's go.”
Leo's eyes widened. He probably hadn't expected Noah to agree, and now he realized he was about to have to fight someone who was eons stronger than he was. And in Leo’s long-standing t
radition of his mouth writing checks that his ass couldn’t cash, he made the mistake of making it a fight for Alpha, which meant it was a fight to the death.
“You can't fight me, you are not an alpha,” Leo said, trying to backtrack. Except it was too late by then, Noah was ready to get this over with.
“You're not an alpha that either, so I guess that makes us even.”
Noah wasn't sure what made someone an alpha, but Leo wasn't it. Noah had had a few people tell him that he was the closest thing the pack had to an alpha, but he still wasn't sure what that meant, so he hadn’t seen a reason to tell anyone else.
“I'll meet you at the training grounds in an hour. And you better show up, this was your idea,” Noah said turning and resuming his track towards the stairs.
~*~
AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES later, Noah sat with his legs folded underneath him at the side of the field that they used for training. It was a large, open field on some farmland that the pack had handed down from one generation to another. There was nothing on it other than trees and grass, but it was hidden. It was a place where no one could see that someone could bench press an entire tree.
The crowd from the house had made the trek out to the field to watch the fight. Leo had fallen into the role of alpha, but in the time that he’d taken over nobody had ever challenged him until now, and even this had been his idea, not Noah’s. He’d had been happy to simply leave, but he wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to punch Leo in the face a few times and not get in trouble for it.
Elders from other packs and made the trip out to watch, since there weren't any elders in Leo’s pack. Normally, that wasn't how the situation would be handled, but most things involving this pack weren't normal. Noah wasn't sure how Leo got handed leadership over the pack, but it had been a bad decision all around. Unfortunately, when someone had the title, you couldn’t take the title from them unless it was by force.
One of the elders stepped into the middle of the field and raised her hands for everyone's attention. “The rules of the alpha match are simple. The fight happens in human forms, no intentional shifting allowed. If you do shift, you are automatically disqualified. Should the one who shifts be the current alpha, that is an immediate loss.” She stared at Leo when she said that as if she knew he was the type to cheat. He was totally the type to cheat. “The goal of the fight is to weaken your opponent and cause them to shift involuntarily. Once that has been done, the loser of the fight will be consumed by the pack.”
It was the circle of life. A messed-up circle of life, but a circle none the less.
The elder motioned for Noah and Leo to approach each other in the middle of the field in front of her. Noah whipped his shirt off and tossed it to the side before joining the Elder, giving his muscles a flex just because it was fun to hear the girls giggle. Leo looked pissed about that. It wasn’t Noah’s fault he spent more time in the gym that Leo did.
“This is an honest fight gentleman,” the elder said. Noah nodded his agreement, and after a few seconds of hesitation, so did Leo. They both waited until the Elder was able to make it back to the spot that she chosen to sit in, and then turn to face each other.
Leo's first shot was a cheap shot. He slammed his fist into Noah’s side attempting a kidney shot, except it didn’t really work at that angle. The punch caused some discomfort and got Noah's attention, but that was about it. In return, Noah grabbed ahold of Leo’s outstretched arm and gave is a good twist, feeling the arm pop in the wrong direction from the elbow. Leo screamed, and Noah felt better about his life choices.
Owen had intended to knee Leo in the face, but before he could Owen swept a leg under him, bringing him crashing to the ground on his back. In a blink, Leo was on top of him, raining punches down on his head. They weren't hard punches but there were a lot of them, and sometimes that was all you needed. Noah felt it when a cut on his eyebrow started to bleed and growled regardless of his resolve not to get frustrated. Noah shoved both hands up roughly into the base of Leo's ribs, knocking the wind out of him just long enough to get him to stop punching. Noah pushed him off and got back to his feet, giving him a swift kick in the ribs for good measure.
The fight went on for another fifteen minutes. It was quantity vs quality. While Owen’s punches and kicks landed more solidly and did more damage, Leo's were quicker and more frequent. While Leo didn't have that much power behind them, it didn't really matter after a certain amount of punches, they still did damage.
Alpha fights were more like MMA fights, not boxing matches, meaning there were a lot fewer rules. That was why no one batted an eye when Leo got frustrated, picked up a large rock, and threw it down on top of Owen. That was totally permitted. By the time the two of them started to get winded, Owen was pretty sure he had a cracked rib or two, and Leo had a growing black eye, a broken nose, and an arm that was probably going to need a sling. Both of them had cuts and bruises to varying degrees of severity, and whoever didn’t die was going to need a visit to the doctor.
Noah’s unfair advantage in this fight wasn't his size and strength. In fact, it wasn't that at all. It was something he had noticed yet again when they’d first picked up Owen. It was the fact that he could feel more than Leo could. He could feel that Leo wasn't weakened enough for him to force a change until that moment. He could also feel that Leo had been beating at his beast the entire match, but Noah's other half was too well trained to just pop out because it had been provoked. Leo's beast, on the other hand, honestly felt weaker. Leo had paused to take a breather, and that was when Noah felt it.
He pushed everything he had into that little chink in Leo’s armor and antagonized the hell out of Leo's beast. Noah saw it when Leo started to lose control. His body spasmed as he tried to restrain himself from shifting uncontrollably, and he was able to push his beast back down inside. What he hadn’t done was push Noah out. He wondered if it was because he couldn't feel them in there and if that was the case that was fine.
Noah took a breath and felt around. It almost felt like he could wrap his hand around Leo's beast inside of him. So that's what he did: he wrapped his hand around the beast neck and yanked it out. Leo screamed, his flesh splitting open and throwing thick, jelly-like fluid that every shifter seems to leave behind when they went from one form to another. The shift was always violent, but even more so when it was forced, and Noah hadn’t been gentle. He wasn’t sure that he knew how to be. Leo stood before him a great, shaggy wolf, and it hadn't been a decision that he’d made. It was one that Noah had made for him. That meant that he’d won.
“Congratulations, young one. You are now the Alpha of your pack.” The elder said, coming to stand beside Noah with a proud smile. Had she been rooting for him to win? Was that even allowed? He wasn’t sure. But as he took a heavy breath and allowed himself to sink to the ground for a well-deserved breather, he wasn’t sure that he knew how to be Alpha, nor that he wanted to. It seemed like a lot of politics, mediating, and having to make decisions for people that he believed them smart enough to make for themselves.
“It is time for the former to become one with the earth.” The elder said in a loud, booming voice. That meant that everyone was going to eat him. Noah wasn’t sure why they were acting like this was some mystic, magical thing. He was going to die, and the others were going to eat him. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, Noah was in a bit of pain and not really interested in eating someone.
“Do I have to…” Noah asked, inclining his head towards the barely moving Leo. The elder smiled and shook her head.
“The new Alpha often doesn’t participate, as he is usually hurting. Should I call for a nurse?” Her eyes shone with genuine concern, something Noah wasn’t used to seeing.
“Nah, I just need a moment,” he said with a friendly smile. Those around him were starting to shed clothes and shift for the… noshing, or whatever. Noah just wanted to be back out of spray distance. He had enough blood on him.
Noah made his way to the edge of
the field and sat down facing the spectacle. Just because he wasn’t interested in participating didn’t mean that he couldn’t watch. No one would be paying him any attention until it was all over with anyway. He winced as the cracked rib or two that he figured he had shot pain up his side and he shifted a bit to release some of the pressure on his injuries.
“That was exciting to watch. I’ve never actually seen an Alpha fight before.” Noah turned towards the voice just as Chloe stepped out of the woods and came to sit beside him.
“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to see an Alpha fight since you aren’t a shifter,” he said with a chuckle that made a few more things hurt.
“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t,” she said with a smirk in the moonlight that he couldn’t help but laugh at.
“What are you doing here anyway? No one knows about this place.”
“I’ve been keeping tabs on you. You asked me a question, and I owe you an answer,” she said with a shrug. “I can’t give you an answer if I can’t find you.”
Noah hadn’t expected an answer to what the hell she’d done to him. The fact that she was honoring that meant a lot to him. “Alright, shoot.”
“I… am different. I’ve been trained as a witch, to control the abilities that I have, but there’s always been more going on. One of the weird things is that I can do this kind of energy vamp thing.” She paused and glanced over at Noah, who gave her a confused look in return. Energy vampire? “If I’m hurt, I can take someone else’s energy to heal myself, like a vampire can do with blood.”
“Oh,” Noah said. Okay, the energy vampire term made sense, but that had seemed like so much more than some of his energy. “Chloe, I don’t think you just took some of the pep out of my step. That felt like more, like if you had kept going, you’d have killed me. You took life from me, not just energy.”
Chloe looked horrified as she seemed to think through what he said. “I’ve never talked to someone that I’ve done that to afterwards. I didn’t know.” She almost whispered it. The two of them sat there together, watching as Leo was ripped to pieces, literally.