The Silent Alpha

*** Trigger Warning: Physical and emotional child-abuse ahead*** 

***Zanet**

 It feels strange to see the man I've feared for so long kneel before me, trembling like all the times I stood before him while I recited my poems.

But even as he bleeds, even as he sits at my mercy, I still see the look of disgust flicker in his eyes when I speak to him for the first time in almost 20 years.

"H-Hello, father," I snarl, my fists clenching at my sides as I fight to contain my anger.

How can he hate his own son so much!? Around me, the Scarlett Haven wolves gawk at me, unable to believe I just called their Alpha, ‘father’.

"You’re....You’re no son of mine,"

Sebastian pants, his brown eyes turning blue as the wolf within takes over.

"You’re nothing more than a weak, pathetic-" I swing my arm back, punching him in the jaw and nearly knocking him flat on his back before he can finish his sentence.

"E-Enough!" I growl, my father’s mouth clamping shut while his eyes widen in shock that my commands work on him.

"T-that’s enough! Y-you think y-you’re so strong and so t-tough? W-well look at y-you now, father! Wh-what good is y-your strength now?"

"How dare you speak to me that way!"

Sebastian roars.

"y-you have silenced m-me all of my life.Y-you do not get to silence m-me before my own p-pack!"

"Your pack?" He scoffs.

The Ravenstone wolves growl at his disrespect, proving that they are now loyal to me.

"My p-pack," I repeat.

"De-despite how little y-you think of me, not only did I-I find a p-pack that accepts m-me as I-I am, but I-I also managed to ou-outlive m-my replacement."

Sebastian laughs and opens his mouth to speak only to be silenced by a slap to the face as Grayson takes over.

"Did I say you could speak?"

Grayson roars, Sebastian’s eyes widening in shock at Grayson’s confidence.

A cold amused smile curls on Sebastain’s lips.

"Pack?" he laughs.

"The man who stands beside you killed your mother and your brother and yet you proudly show your loyalty to him," my father scoffs.

"H-he didn’t k-kill Jonathan-"

That's when I see it, the flicker of fear in his eyes when I mention my dead brother.He's hiding something...Lowering my walls, I allow the river of thoughts to flow between us.He can’t know about Jonathan.

There’s no possible way he would know! I hear him say to his wolf.

"W-what don’t I know?" I ask, my father stiffening with surprise that I know what he’s thinking.

"What?" he asks, bemused by my question.

"I -I said, 'W-What don’t I-I know about Jonathan?"

I repeat, this time taking a menacing step forward.My father tries to crawl back but winces when he tries to move his legs.

"W-What don’t I-I know about Jonathan?" I snarl, dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

My father stares back defiantly at me, refusing to speak so I take matters into my own hands.

Closing my eyes, I listen in to his subconscious, following the voices in his memories.

A coldness envelops me in the darkness before a bright light blinds me for a moment.

Like a movie projection, Sebastian’s memories begin to unfold on the dock in front of him for all to see.

Scarlett Haven and Ravenstone wolves alike fall silent to watch, allowing me to focus on the many rivers of thought trying to drown me.

In the first memory I find, all I see is Sebastian sitting at his desk, staring at a hairbrush in his hand.He does not use it, just carefully caresses it for a few moments before stuffing it into a drawer and returning to his work.

For a moment, he almost looks human...until he carefully hides all his pain behind a mask of stone.I dig a little deeper, unlocking another memory where my father berates Wyatt for questioning him.

"Zane will not take the title because he doesn't have what it takes to look his opponent in the eye and lead his soldiers in war," he snarls.

"He will always be weak...He’s useless...I showed mercy to him as a favor for Elenore.He was her son, but he was never mine."

Despite the venom in his voice as he says those things, I feel a smile curl on my face and a sense of relief wash over me as I realize something amazing.

His words no longer hurt me and I am now free of the chains that bound me to him.We are not family, just two strangers at war.

I continue scouring his memories, stumbling upon memory after memory of him ignoring the cruelty of his own pack against Agnes and I.I travel back many years until I find myself seeing the night of my mother’s death through his own eyes.I stand back and watch my mother leave the car to grab a snack for me, trailing behind Sebastian as they enter the King’s party.

Together they greet guests and slowly make their way towards the snack bar, smiling and laughing like the perfect couple.

To an outsider, they look like your average, happily married Alpha and Luna, but on the inside, I know my mother was screaming.

"’I’m leaving you," my mother murmurs as she grabs a plate of food for me.

"And I’m taking my baby with me."

years, I have wondered why my mother never left Sebastian, believing perhaps their bond was just too hard to break free

hurting your child.I was hidden away partially for fear of me being hurt

my mother feared I would be hurt without Scarlett

sense of pride washes over me as I recognize my mother’s strength to choose me over

not have been an easy

I need and nothing more," she adds

any of your money to help me raise him.You never

the anger seething in Sebastian’s brown eyes and he walks away, my mother turning back in

the memory drifts away, I hear the most blood curdling scream, a scream that both shatters my heart and fills my

only turns the other cheek and runs in the opposite direction, jumping on

howSebastian could abandon

the angry tears that so

y-you for help...and

trails off as I try

Sebastian only protected his mate like he promised to the day he married her.I could have lived a good life with just my mom somewhere far from all the wars and abuse.I could have learned to be happy with myself...but Sebastian robbed

emotionlessly, not an ounce of regret for what he

"She was Wyatt’s responsibility,"

in a low

you to judge me? You stand with the man who ordered her

through to the surface, taking over control as I process my

bullets

Sebastian watching in horror as his

"What- No! No!"

failing, his fingers plunging into the

he growls with strained agony, blood pouring

"Areal Alpha doesn’t scream,"

sneers, Sebastian’s face seething with

what you always say to me,

as he holds back his screams the further he pushes in the

snarls, taking a step back to

the man again, I get down on one knee so that our eyes

am nothing like y-you," I whisper in a calm rage through

never will be." I close my eyes, once again finding

but I stumbled upon one

an heir?" my grandfather, Alexander, snarls

"It can’t even speak."

trembles in the presence of the old Alpha, his face contorted

me behind her to

well to teach that b***h of

to

a twitch in his hand, and I make a realization.He feared his father...just like I feared him.He

her face but she keeps her body

you are spoken to,"

behavior." My grandfather only grunts in response, an unamused look on his

it never happens

"Yes sir,"

father.It’s rather refreshing to see Sebastian cower before another Alpha.I had been too afraid my whole

grandfather's voice booms, my

My father grabs my mother’s wrist and yanks her away from me, hissing in her ear, "If you care about the

as I take timid

snaps, younger me opening

he snarls, tears

"He-hello, gran-gran-grandpa-"

face as the elder Alpha’s eyes glow turquoise, the look on his face that of utter disgust

my little hands clawing at

"Father- Sir, please,"

floor, writhing and kicking from

Alpha Alexander to let me go and pleading

"I-I’ll fix him,"

getting on his

fix him.Just

younger self suddenly stops screaming, passed out

stares coldly at his kneeling son, disgusted

KNEES, BOY!" my grandfather

never

rattle with his booming voice,

that boy," he

fixed." The memory fades away into

her rocking chair, nursing me while little Jonathan plays with a crinkly foil blanket on

old cottage by the waterfall,

and crawling

Johnny

shoulder, my mother nodding haphazardly as she

truck, strapping him into the back seat, excitement dancing in his youthful face.I had long forgotten there was once a man under all his bitter hatred.I follow them on their drive, watching my older brother play with a

of the road and by the time Sebastian sees them, it's already too late.He swerves off the road and into a ditch, the truck flipping over a few times before coming to a

and the smell of gasoline lingers in

around the truck,

seat, little

and growling at Sebastian, daring him to

quickly discovering that it is stuck and

out, Sebastian," the silver wolf snickers as he shifts into his human form, revealing himself to be my

claws himself out of his belt, breaking a window with his elbow to crawl out of

blood from his nose, he presents himself before his father with his

him a slap from his

None of this mumbling s**t," his father snarls,