The Silent Alpha

***Zane*** 

"Awar killed my son," Sebastian replies, a numbness in his voice as if he had recited these words until they became his truth.

"A war started by the man you now align yourself with."

"Y-you lied...Y-you lied all these y-years!" I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Y-you said i-it was Ravenstone!"

Around me, the wolves on either side stare at the old Alpha in shock, unable to comprehend how he could ever harm his own child.

"You will never understand this,"

Sebastian snarls.

"You’ve been kept away from all the war, all the blood, all the death your entire life.You will never understand the sacrifices an Alpha has to make for their pack but I do!"

"H-he was innocent!"

I cry, unable to believe his justification.

"There are no innocents in war!"

Sebastian growls.

"Only blood, be it the blood of your enemies or the blood of your family.War does not know right from wrong, it only knows strength and being strong enough to do what needs to be done and take what is yours!"

"Yy-you’re a monster," I whisper.

"lam not the only monster here,"

Sebastian sneers, his eyes narrowing to slits as he glares at Toran.

"This war began because a mate bond was not honored between my brother and his wife.That man," he snarls, pointing at Toran.

"That man destroyed my family but it was not enough to take my brother," he laughs cruelly.

"No, he went and had my wife killed...He made me feel her death.I felt the pain shattering through me, burning my lungs, my flesh, my soul! I felt her slip away until all that was left was this cold, emptiness.I felt everything that night, but it was not enough for him.No, he then took her from me.He took her and kept her hidden from me all these years, mocking me...He bought her love, no doubt...tricked her into thinking he actually cared for her...But Ravenstones...they are incapable of love."

Beside me, Tylen looks like he might tear Sebastian to shreds but Toran has a satisfied grin on his lips.

"My, my.How little you know, Seba,"

Toran sighs, shifting into his human form.

"But no matter, you will eat your words soon enough,"

Toran teases.

"I love my wife.I have for the past 20 years and despite knowing that it was I who hurt her, Elenore loves me too, freely and willingly.We are not fated, but every day she wakes up, she chooses me, over and over again.She has raised my son and my pack alongside me like a true Luna, and she has never once lived in fear that I may hurt her like you did.In all our years of marriage, the only time I have ever touched her, was because she begged me to.Not once have I ever forced myself upon her, because unlike you, I actually cherish my wife.After what we just witnessed, can you say the same? Did you ever truly love that woman or were you just satisfying your wolf?"

He snarls.

"Elenore was the only good in my life!"

Sebastian snaps.

"And yet, you destroyed her,"

Toran growls.

"But by the grace of my Goddess, she does not know who you are or what you did to her.Moon Goddess gave her a clean slate to start over with and I thank her every day for that because she will never remember that it was you who took her pup, that it was you who broke her son, and that it was you who shattered her heart every day with your cruelty."

"Do not act so righteous, Toran! There is blood on your hands as there is blood on mine!"

Sebastian bellows, trembling with rage.

"We are no different!"

"You are wrong, my dear Seba," Toran replies.

"There is no innocent blood on my hands.I did not kill those children at the daycare.I did not kill my own son for the benefit of war.I did not hurt my own family.AND I DID NOT KILL BRE!"

"LIAR!"

Sebastian screams and I realize he has been fighting this war based on lies and deceit.

"Y-ou don’t know abou-about Bre," I murmur softly, Sebastian’s face hardening.

"Of course I know about Bre.That bastard killed her when he found out she was mated to my brother," Sebastian scoffs.

"And then he killed my brother."

Acruel smile lingers on Toran’s face and with one look, he asks me to show Sebastian the truth of that day.I look around at the Scarlett wolves, their faith in their Alpha already faltering.

Do not pity them, Grayson snaps.

They deserve to know the truth behind the war they have been fighting for almost 30 years.

Closing my eyes and putting down my walls, I let Toran’s memories flood my head, sifting through them until I find the memory of that fateful day.

again, a beam of light flows through my

"Toran! Toran!"

screams through mindlink, Toran running faster until he reaches a small

"I’m coming!"

racing inside.His breath hitches when upon entering the cottage, he sees

softly as Cyrus turns

supposed to be

Cyrus chuckles to himself.

spell

leaving Toran to face his dying wife

cradling her head

on her stomach, a river of blood

at him as a little blood

out, wiping the blood

"We're mates."

"Don’t speak,"

to lift her in her arms, but Breanna

to get you to the hospital.They'll

"N-No," Breanna protests.

stay here with me.Just hold my hand," she says through

"Please.”

they can

Breanna shaking her head

please let them

"I love you, Toran,"

coughing

"P-please be strong...without me..."

"Bre-"

Breanna’s eyes slowly fading

murmurs, lifting her up so he can sit down and cradle her

he adds, rocking back and forth long after

to sleep and in the morning, it'll

be an eternity, holding his mate and

streak his cheeks but there is

Anger and hatred.

"No,"

in disbelief, disrupting the

it cannot be! Toran killed Breanna.It

brother took my

not my envy.He tricked you, he tricked you all into believing Breanna was his mate but it was just

unwilling to believe what he’s

"No, no.He’s lying!"

his wolves

"My-My father said-"

believe that man after everything he’s done?" Toran

been afraid your son would tarnish your

what

Sebastian snarls back.

did what you

Toran snaps.

approval.Now when it matters, you’re all alone, Sebastian.Cyrus is dead andAlexander can’t help you.Face it, White, the only one responsible for your crimes here

death! I stare at the Scarlett Alpha, the world he created with terror and cruelty crumbling around him.He looks so pathetic as he kneels before the

Sebastian snickers, a challenge in

can’t face me like an Alpha.An Alpha would have killed me without hesitation! And yet you won’t.You just stand

of my childhood, one by one, showing him the fear I

my fingers trembling with every flip of the page of my book.I show him all the

sting of the whips and belts on my back from every beating I got for the mistakes

did to the heir he chose, how Caine pissed himself in fear before he shot himself in the head for hurting my mate.I show him the aftermath as Talia was wheeled into a hospital room and force him to feel the anguish I felt as they fought to bring her back.I show him the fear in Dakota’s eyes as he screamed for his mommy, and the agony in my heart as I waited for news on my mate.I show Sebastian all the torment of my life before Talia and Kota made it fade away, but I do not share

not deserve

Sebastian shaking his head as if to remove them from his mind, but I hold him hostage, wanting him to see for himself everything he did to

stammers, his eyes flickering as

"Oh Gods!"

am," I whisper , towering over the coward I once

Thorne and the son of R-Rionna Ravenstone.I-l am mated to Ta-Talia Ramos and the f-father of our son, Da-Dakota Ramos.I-I am an Alpha with a st-stutter and the b-boy y-you were so ashamed to call

floor as I fill his mind with my screams and those of

"S-shut up!"

the veins on his temples

detail, the memory of him telling my mother that her beloved pup was now dead, never to grow up to be the Alpha he

"M-make it stop!"

at his own eyes, his nails tearing through

teeth, snarls at the deplorable Alpha, "Be aman, Sebastian and face what

in agony on

"Did I stutter?"

me back control

hold back, Grayson

Because he never did.

with Tylen and Toran, selecting memories to show Sebastian how

him watch my mother wake up from her coma and slowly

with rage, unable to stop the memories of her saying ‘I do’ to another man and smiling happily as her new

the dock in hopes of ending his misery, but

forms across his forehead, blood spilling from the wound and trickling down his nose and temples but it does not stop him from hitting himself again with his

revealing to him