The Silent Alpha

***Zane*** 

The Elders are brought in almost immediately and I undergo the uncomfortable procedure of venom extraction for the transfer of power.

"Just breathe through your nose,"

Toran instructs me as I am forced to bite down on a glass jar so that my canines protrude while an Elder squeezes the base of my jaw.

Tiny droplets of dark venom spill into the jar until I produce enough to fill two vials with my venom.

My jaw aches by the time I’m finished.

Tylen arrives with the pack tablet made of black stone with two wolves and a moon carved into the face of the stone.

Between the two peaks of the crescent moon, is an indentation with runes along the edges leading up to the carvings.

I get a good look at Tylen, the rightful heir to the title, but he does not seem the least bit concerned about the title going to me instead.

"Don’t worry about me," he says when he notices me staring.

"I’ve never wanted this. I hate pack meetings and diplomacy."

He pats my back to show no hard feelings and takes his place beside the other pack members in the tent.

"Are you ready?" Toran asks, his eyes flickering with confidence.

My mind drifts off to my mate and our pup.

Talia has no desire to be Luna again and I promised we would make this decision together when the time came.

The circumstances have changed, Grayson says, his tail flicking back and forth with pride.She Anows we will worship the very ground she walks on should she ever take her place beside us as Luna.She knows we will value her expertise and her guidance regarding all matters of the pack and she will understand why we came to this decision without her.

Trust her.She deserves our trust.

With Grayson’s reassuring words, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and nod.

"Then let’s do this," Toran smiles.

He leads me to the table where the tablet sits and the Elder begins the ceremony.

There is no time to waste so he gets right to the point.

"Zane White, repeat after me: I, Zane White, do solemnly swear to preserve, to protect, and to serve the members of the Ravenstone Pack.I swear to put the needs of the pack before my own and to uphold the values of this pack.I swear to lead with strength and courage to the best of my abilities and to lead by example and stand with my fellow wolves through times of hardship and times of prosperity.I swear to guard the lives of every member of my pack until my final breath, so help me Moon Goddess."

I do my best to speak slowly, replaying Talia’s words of encouragement when I stumble through some of my words in order to calm my racing heart.

No one seems to notice or care about my stutter, reiterating that it was my father’s own prejudice that stood in my way, not my own capabilities.

When I’ve finished reciting my oath, the Elder takes a vial of my venom and injects it into the tablet, the green venom flowing through the runes to the carved wolves.

Toran then takes a dagger and slices the palm of his hand, a pool of blood quickly forming in his cupped hand.He pours a few droplets of blood into the small indentation and then hands me the dagger.

Without hesitation, I slice my own palm, watching as the blood travels along my fingers.

My heart pounds in my ears as the blood spills onto the tablet and into the indentation, mixing with Toran’s blood.

This is it, I sigh.

My time as Alpha has come.

Together, Toran and I press our bloodied palms against the carvings of the wolves.

in my ears for a second before the mindlinks between all the pack

is overwhelming at first, my temples throbbing from the overstimulation but the pain very quickly fades away, a sudden calmness

look up at Toran and the other pack members, a look of pride washes over them and they salute me with an

they say, kneeling down

welcoming me, but their song is

around me, all of them

now, Alpha?"

look down at the map of the

we take Scarlett

***Sebastian*** 

up our guns around the perimeter to keep the Ravenstone mutts away while we figure out

my plans to attack the East have failed as

to keep the bunker a secret from us, blocking one of

the channel and the inner island only proves my theory that the bunker lies somewhere in between and that my Elenore is very

off the coast all this time.I have thought of her all night since discovering her existence, unable to understand how I could not have felt her all these years.I had felt her death, I had felt my soul

about it, the

savages on the night of their attack and virtually no bodies were able to be identified, many torn to shreds or burned before we could recover

corpse roughly her size and shape and having felt her fade away,

wrong I was.But

is alive and I

my boat where I am currently waiting

the channel?" I snarl menacingly, Earl shaking

the boat tightly, Earl stepping back in

we have been unable to break through Ravenstone’s lines of defense.The other channels are mine fields of gas canisters and explosives and we can’t seem to

I search the map for any other clear paths to the center of the island

Raven tunnels via sonar but layers of

the main entrances to the tunnels.It’s

as I’m about to order the scouts to start yet

and I wonder

come to a halt, leaving me to wonder if

space, equally puzzled by the sounds of what appear

could Toran be celebrating? I think

hostage.I don’t have time to think about this

Beta," a soldier says, bowing his

- uh - we found James, sir.His body was floating by the docks.My condolences, sir," he adds,

nothing, but I notice the tremor

Weakness, Arden sneers.

the witnesses nearby.Several of the soldiers reported seeing James fight with a silver

must have been that bastard Toran or his

or the heir.Many witnessed General Taryn fall to her death so we believe this to be a fourth silver

the soldier who shifts nervously under my

and few in between, but I also highly doubt Toran has

 "I don’t pay you

at

silver wolf is and bring him to me.I

off the boat

as Earl struggles

died with honor," I mutter, a bitter taste filling my mouth when I remember Caine’s own

the

to help my Beta and I let

I sigh, walking over to my bar and pouring out

my words, your son’s death will not be in vain.We will take Ravenstone if its

we hear howls break the silence, this time much closer to

immediately on edge and I storm out onto the docks to find

who it is