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."

I have wondered why my mother never left Sebastian, believing perhaps their bond

I’ve come to understand the fear of someone hurting your child.I was hidden away partially

mother feared I would be hurt without Scarlett Haven’s protection...just

I recognize my mother’s strength to choose me over

not have been an easy

the things that I need and nothing more,"

worry, I don’t expect any of your money to help me raise him.You never treated him like a son anyways, so why

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

memory drifts away, I hear the most blood curdling

turns the other cheek and runs in the opposite direction, jumping on a Ravenstone wolf

understand howSebastian could abandon his mate when she

her scream," I mumble, fighting back the angry tears that so desperately want to escape

mind-linked y-you for

voice trails off as I

could have lived a good life with just my

back emotionlessly, not an ounce of regret for what he did to

"She was Wyatt’s responsibility,"

retorts in

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

through to the surface, taking over control

the bullets in

horror as his hands move involuntarily towards his bleeding

"What- No! No!"

through gritted teeth, attempting to disobey the command but failing, his fingers plunging

with strained agony, blood pouring from the

"Areal Alpha doesn’t scream,"

face seething with rage

what you always say

holds back his screams the further he pushes in the

step back to

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

like y-you," I whisper

I close my eyes, once again finding myself in the depths of

are cruel and vile, but I stumbled

this an heir?" my grandfather, Alexander, snarls as he looks

"It can’t even speak."

in the presence of the old Alpha, his face contorted in disgust and

a name," my mother snarls, pushing me behind her to shield me from my grandfather’s

well to teach that b***h of yours how to address an Alpha," my grandfather

want me to do

is terror in Sebastian’s eyes and a twitch in his hand, and I make a realization.He feared his father...just like

mother yelps as the sting burns across her face but she keeps her body in front of me

spoken to," Sebastian growls, turning

wife's behavior." My grandfather only grunts in response, an unamused look

it

"Yes sir,"

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

come here," my grandfather's voice booms, my mother

my mother’s wrist and yanks her away from me, hissing in her ear,

as

younger me opening my mouth

he snarls, tears springing

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

eyes glow turquoise, the look on

scream, my little hands clawing at my

"Father- Sir, please,"

floor, writhing and kicking from the agony burning across my

begging Alpha Alexander to let me go and pleading with

"I-I’ll fix him,"

says, getting on

him.Just

younger self suddenly stops screaming, passed

at his

YOUR KNEES, BOY!" my grandfather

never kneels,

walls rattle with his booming voice, and he turns

see that

better be fixed." The memory fades away into mist, morphing

sits in her rocking chair, nursing me while little Jonathan plays with

the old cottage by the waterfall, away from

himself onto his feet and crawling over to his father to

taking Johnny to the

his shoulder, my mother nodding

forgotten there was once a man under all his bitter hatred.I follow them on their

road and by the time Sebastian sees them, it's already too late.He swerves off the road and into a ditch, the truck

completely shattered and the smell

the truck, blood trickling from

back seat, little cuts on his

wolves circle the truck, snarling and growling at

quickly discovering that it is stuck

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

himself out of his belt, breaking a window

from his nose, he presents himself before his father

earning him a slap from

of this mumbling s**t," his father snarls, Sebastian nodding and standing