by Marissa Teng
“Who is Stellan?” Apollo asked. “You said I have his eyes?” As if the knowledge just hit him, Alpha Luke sucked in a breath.
“You have a son.” Alpha Luke stated to which Lucia nodded. “How old?”
“He is six now.”
“Six? Then how is he able to shift? That is unheard of in our kind, unless,” he looked at Jaxson but Jaxson gave the wolf Alpha a dubious look that told him, no man, your math is way off.
“No, I don’t know how Stellan managed it either. But he attacked Sterling and then my wolf and I snapped when Sterling hurt Stellan. We attacked Sterling and knocked him out long enough to get to a car. We might have gotten caught but Sterling rear-ended us and pushed us off the cliff. We both miraculously survived but only because Jaxson heard the crash with his brother and saved us.”
“I knew right away she was my mate and took her and her son as my own. Sterling knew this and still managed to take the boy. I have twenty-five bears with me right now and we are meeting twenty more at his borders.”
“You mean to start a war?” Alpha Luke asked aghast. “Against Alpha Sterling?”
“I mean to do anything to get my son back.” Jaxson spat. “I don’t know what you claim to have done for the past eleven years while that monster had your daughter but I’ll be damned if my son will have to endure any more time with that madman that I can prevent.”
Alpha Luke looked stricken for a moment. He wiped at his mouth with his hand and let out a shuttering breath.
“I tried many things to get you back, Lucia.” He started. “I negotiated. I paid, I sent spies to try and smuggle you out, but it all failed. I never did the one thing that might actually get you out because I was afraid that it wouldn’t be enough. My numbers weren’t strong after you were taken. Most of the pack fled in fear that Sterling would take over. Most of them saw me as weak for not starting a war to get you back so they left just for that. As much as it pains me to say this…I was scared of what Sterling would do to your mother and younger siblings if I lost the war. You, Lucia, you were the strongest one…I thought— I thought that you…” his words broke on the as he fell to his knees in tears, grief and self-loathing.
“You thought I could take whatever he was doing to me.” Lucia finished for him and she wanted to feel hate but she couldn’t. She couldn’t feel hate for her father because, in a sense, he was right. She could take it. She took it all until it broke her and she snapped. Her free hand clenched into a fist and the other squeezed Jaxson’s hand. She could feel his anger but she was glad he held it back.
“I’m so sorry, Lucia.” Her father said pushing himself back up. “I have failed not only as an Alpha but I have failed as your father. So let me do this one last thing for you. Let me at least try to make things right. I will help you get your son, my grandson back. As my oldest child, you bear the right to the pack of the Silver Wind.” As he said that all forty remaining wolves had surrounded them. None of them held animosity but Lucia still felt Jaxson’s unease.
“Lucia Robin of the Silver Wind pack Firstborn to Luke Robin of the Silver Wind pack, I hereby pass the title of Alpha of the Silver Wind pack to you.” Her father bit open his palm and let the blood flow had he held his hand out in front of him towards Lucia.
“I bear witness to this.” Lukas said with his voice strong and having it carry over everything.
“I bear witness to this.” Apollo also said with a strong smile on his face.
As one, all the wolves knelt down on one knee and bowed their heads waiting for Lucia to make her choice. A choice she never thought she would have to make. But she was certain of one thing, and that was that she needed to get her son back.
Lucia bit her free hand took a step towards her father. She never released Jaxson’s hand because he was her strength right now. Closing the distance, Lucia grabbed her father’s hand with her own and felt the pack instantly. Her and Jaxson both gasped as a shock ran through them much stronger than either of them could ever think of. Lucia would have fallen if it wasn’t for Jaxson who caught her. Luke staggered back as he spoke.
“I…I stand down now, as Alpha.”
“And I now rise…as Alpha.” Lucia said, completing the pack. Now, Lucia and Jaxson had their army.
Fourteen
Tok. Tok. Tok.
He’s Angry.
He’s so very angry.
He couldn’t get her back and I was glad. I was so glad that my Lucia got away. She was never really mine, but, Lucia…she got away. He didn’t fully break her which I had feared.
But me…
I am broken.
I am weak.
I couldn’t even save my own son.
Why am I so damn weak!? Why does he overpower me every damn time!?
I just wanted to save my son and I couldn’t even do that! I couldn’t protect him just like I could never protect Lucia. I can’t even get away from him. But her…she got away and she protected our boy like I never could. All I had to do was keep the damn monster away from them! They were safe and I failed to keep them that way!
I failed.
I failed.
I failed!
Tok. Tok. Tok.
All I ever do is fail.
All I ever am is weak.
Why? Why is that monster part of me?
And now he wants to keep hurting my little boy. Now he has him back and I can’t figure out how to stop him. I don’t want him to keep hurting the only two people who bring light into this dark life that I am trapped in.
I wish I was stronger. I wish I could protect them. I wish I could fight off the beast.
Maybe if I could have, Lucia wouldn’t have gotten a new mate. Now I lost her even in that aspect. Not that I ever did my part as her mate. I never protected her. I never protected our son. I never stopped him from hurting her.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Now he’s angry and he wants her back. He got Stellan back and now he’s going to hurt him.
I have to save him. I have to get him back to her.
What do I do?
How can I save him?
Why can’t I beat him?
Why can’t I defeat…me?
***
Stellan whimpered as he fell once again. His back leg was sprained and there was a gunshot wound on his front paw. But he knew he had to get up and that getting up would be the only way he would escape. He was in pain now but he knew that the pain would only get worse once Sterling came back. Sterling had thrown him into this room and the fled in some sort of frenzy, clutching his head. Whatever was wrong with Sterling, Stellan knew he had to get out before he got back.
Because his front paw was shot, it hurt him more than putting pressure on the sprain. He would have to shift if he wanted to walk. It had been about two hours since Sterling had thrown him in here and no one had come to check on him and he hadn’t felt anyone nearby. Now was a good of a time as any to make his move.
Shifting back into his human form, Stellan inhaled deeply and gritted his teeth against the pain. His left forearm had a bullet wound from where the bullet had grazed his arm all the way from the side of the wrist to his mid arm. It wasn’t as deep as he thought but it was still deep enough to keep bleeding. He had to get it to stop.
Naked as he was, he didn’t have anything to use as a makeshift bandage. Looking around the room he was thrown into he looked for anything he could use. The room was dark but seemed to look like some sort of storeroom. One that hadn’t been used in years. It smelled like dirt, mold and old boxes. Boxes. Boxes had things inside of them.
Now that his eyes adjusted well enough to the dark, Stellan made his way to one of the boxes. He took a step, testing out his sprained foot, finding that as long as he didn’t put too much weight on it, he would be fine. Slowly, he moved to the boxes.
With his good hand he pulled open the top and found rope inside. Coarse rope. Did he want to use that on his arm? It wouldn’t soak up the blood, he needed something like linen, not rope. He pushed
that box away and moved to another box. This one had hats in it. Not helpful.
He sighed, but kept looking through boxes. In one of the boxes he was happy to find a pair of scissors and in another he found a rusted hunting knife. He could defend himself with them well enough considering if he shifted again his front leg would be useless.
Opening a new box, he smiled. Clothes. This box seemed to be filled with what appeared to be uniforms. He pulled out a long-sleeved shirt and used the scissors to cut it and he used his teeth when the scissors didn’t cut enough.
Once he had a long enough strap of cloth, he began wrapping his arm. This was all too familiar. Wrapping his mother’s wounds or his own. The time he had spent with Jaxson showed him that his mother didn’t have any wounds to tend to or wrap. She never got hit when she was with him…and neither did he.
He was stupid to believe it would last. For some reason, he and his mom weren’t allowed to be happy. Was she here? Was she trapped here again like he was? He hoped not. He wished she was safe.
But hoping was for fools and wishing was for idiots.
Pulling the knot tight with his teeth, Stellan looked at his arm. The wrap was good enough. He cut another long strap off the shirt and placed it to the side, then he looked through the uniforms for the smallest size.
He found a size medium and put it on the sleeves were too long and the shirt went down to his knees. The pants were no better. He tucked the shirt into his pants then cut a few feet off the legs. He let himself have enough slack to roll up the bottoms because he didn’t want to walk around in shorts in case, he had to walk out in the cold. He did the same with the sleeves of the shirt and he even found socks inside the box. He dawned two pairs of them and it helped with his sprain.
But now the only problem was that the waist of the pants kept falling. This is where the rope would come in handy. Making his way back to the box with the rope, he pulled one out and undid it then began looping it around his waist to hold up his pants.
Now he was dressed and ready to get out of this place. He needed to get out and see if he could sense his mother and maybe get a mind-link with her. Right now, he couldn’t and that could mean she wasn’t here. Maybe she got lucky and she was still with Jaxson. But Stellan didn’t want to hope only to be disappointed later.
Stellan was surprised to find the door unlocked. Maybe in his frenzy, Sterling forgot to lock it. He inhaled deeply and could smell blood. Sterling’s blood. He had the rusty knife and scissors tucked into the rope belt he had made for himself and left the room.
Masking his scent, something he learned to do at a very young age, he walked soundlessly down the hall following the blood. If his mother was there, she would be with Sterling. If not, then he would try his hardest to kill him.
He came to a set of stairs. They led in both directions, up and down. But Sterling’s blood led down. He could also hear a lot of sounds coming from up above, maybe two stories above. Scents mingled but none were of his mother.
So, he went down. The stairs seemed to never end. The deeper he went, the quieter the sounds from up above got until he could hear nothing at all. Finally, the stairs ended and a small hallway opened at its foot. Now the smell of Sterling’s blood was stronger. He followed it down the hall before he stopped at a door with a complicated lock on it. Stellan closed his eyes and pushed out with his senses trying to feel what was beyond the door.
Sterling was there. He was hurt and he was hurt badly. So badly that he had to be kept behind a locked door? He was weak now. Opening his eyes, Stellan knew he had to get inside. He had to get inside and kill Sterling. Now was the best chance he would ever get.
He began pushing buttons on the pad. Combinations of events he thought Sterling would find memorable. He even went as far as to put his own birthday and his mother’s but nothing opened the lock. Anger laced through Stellan. Anger and hopelessness. It wasn’t fair! He was here and he was so close! This was the only chance he would ever get to kill Sterling and he couldn’t even get inside his damn cage to do so! It wasn’t fair! He and his mother would never be safe! Jaxson would also be in danger Sterling would now kill the only man who was ever a father to him! Sterling would destroy his entire family!
Tears filled Stellan’s eyes as he continued to mash buttons and combinations into the lock. He brought out the knife and scissors at one point and just began mashing them into the lock.
He didn’t remember when he started screaming. He was sure it was sometime after he started crying. He didn’t care. It was all over. He didn’t care that his hand was bleeding again. He didn’t care that someone might hear him. He didn’t care.
There was a beep suddenly then a hiss…and the door opened.
Stellan jumped back blinking away his tears then wiped at them fervently. He straightened his back and walked into the room that smelled ripe of Sterling’s blood.
A Tok Tok Tok sound came from a fan in the wall and there was a cot on the far side of the room. There laying next to it on the floor was Sterling. Stellan held only the knife now. Suddenly Sterling moved and Stellan stilled. A look of shock crossed his face and once again, Stellan felt this wasn’t Sterling.
“You opened the door.” Sterling said but there, again, Stellan felt something off about him. It didn't matter. Stellan looked back at the door. He wanted to run and shut it. Shut himself inside with the monster but then how would he get out once he killed him? "What are you doing here?" “I’ve come to kill you.” Stellan said. He meant it. He wouldn’t leave that room unless Sterling was dead or he was.
Fifteen
Jaxson drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other with his fingers intertwined with his mate’s. They were almost at the border of Sterling’s land and he now had an arm behind him and one waiting for him. He hadn’t expected to be so lucky. But with everything his mate and son had to endure before he had them in his arms, they deserved this little bit of luck that was shining on them.
He hopped that Stellan had at least some luck with him. But if he knew anything about the boy, it was that the boy was smart. If he needed to hide, he could keep himself hidden. Jaxson just hoped that he was able to keep himself safe as he came for him.
“We’re here.” Jaxson said pulling the car up to a patch of grass that looked no different than the one he had just passed a few moments ago in his truck. The lines were never drawn out for anyone to see, they were just there and everyone knew where they started and ended. Now, his side of that line was filled with bears and wolves both willing to fight with him in a war to get back a child who did not belong to him by blood but whom he claimed the right to.
Claiming was such a strong thing in their kind. By right, Sterling, having fathered Stellan, would have had all rights to his son. He had that right by blood. But, young as he was, Stellan denounced that claim. That gave Jaxson the right to claim him as his son and heir until Stellan decided against it.
With his mother now Jaxson’s mate, the claim and bond Jaxson had with Stellan was growing. It was how he knew right now that Stellan was alive. He felt it just as clear as he felt his mate’s heartbeat within his own. It was different than the bond he felt with the pack mates. It was different than the bond he felt with the new wolves. It was stronger and familiar and he felt almost everything Stellan was feeling.
Anger. It was mainly anger and resignation. The two were a deadly combination that no child should feel, not at all the way Stellan was feeling them. He almost raged as he looked at the looming fortress in the distance. Soon, it would fall.
“The wolves bow their heads to you?” A rugged, scarred man, with hair the color of dark bronze and eyes the color of deep malachite, asked stepping forward. His scars were a rare sight. Their kind usually healed all scars. In Lucia’s case, she had been kept from shifting and having a mate which stunted her healing resulting in scars. Now, however, Lucia had healed all the scars on her body thanks to her bond with Jaxson and being able to shift freely.
Slater’s ca
se was different. He received his scars before his first shift. His pack had thought him defective when he had already reached the age of 18 and didn’t shift. They weren’t too kind to him because of it, and the scars are proof of that. But the second Slater shifted, well, there is a reason why he is the leader of his pack now.
“Alpha Slater.” Jaxson acknowledged with a nod of his head then he slightly tilted his head, showing his claiming mark on his neck. In that same moment he protectively pulled Lucia next to him. “This is my mate, Lucia. I believe my brother informed you that she is a wolf.” Jaxson acknowledged the pack of wolves that were now gathering up behind them. “As first born, she had just inherited a pack, given to her by her estranged father. Since she claims me as her Alpha, the pack follows me.” There was more detail to it than that, but Jaxson gave him the gist.
“That’s a lot of power given to a guy who once claimed he never wanted power.” Slater mused raising a scarred eyebrow. Then he shrugged before Jaxson got a chance to snap at the barb. “I guess that’s why people who don’t ask for power are given the most. How many do we have on our side now?”
“We’ve just gained 40 wolves, add that to our numbers and yours that gives us roughly 85. I’ve been told he has at least 100 wolves.”
“Yeah, but they aren’t loyal. You can’t buy loyalty with fear.” Slater all but snarled and Jaxson protectively shifted his body so that he was covering more of Lucia. “I’m a product of that. Once they see there is a war, the loyal wolves will stay and the ones that fear him will run.”
Jaxson nodded. He had figured as much and was relying on it. If they were as scared as Lucia had been or even just slightly close to it, though they never helped his mate, he didn’t want to kill anyone who was being forced to be there out of fear. He wanted to focus on the loyal wolves only. The ones who knew Lucia and Stellan were being held and thought Sterling had the right to do it.