A Gold Alpha For A Silver Alpha
Moon-Colored Eyes Chapter 22

If you looked up the word panic in the dictionary, you'd probably get a picture of my half-brother's face right now.

It's not like I don't understand it either, when you have my mother just a few inches away threatening

-I don't have to tell them anything.

That was Leonardo's answer, and it didn't even sound very convincing.

My parents shared a long look until Mom looked away first, Dad let out a heavy sigh full of sadness. -Then you leave us no choice," my father spoke, and in the distance the howls I identified from Logan Footsteps were heard approaching, Leonardo watched my father in disbelief as he shook his head. -You can't send me there, I'm wounded!

ke your existence miserable anyone goes into despair.

nnia, "They'll be coming to pick you up shortly. Rae is right, a few days of Noctem Castra will do you good to reflect.

-You are blood of my blood, with Julian's help I have no doubt you will be completely healthy in a couple of hours.

My parents held each other's hands in support, Julian finished bandaging his wound before separating from Leonardo.

-I gave him a piece of advice that you didn't ask for but I'll give it to you anyway. Don't try to run away prisoners don't like noise. My brother tells him as he approaches Jace, who is just watching in shock.

-You can't do this to me, I'm your son! Leonardo shouts as he tries to stand up with difficulty.

I raise my eyebrows at the cynicism he had when he said that.

-You don't treat us like your family, why should we treat you like family? I tell him with obviousness.

Leonardo looks at me with shock, swallows audibly and looks uneasily in the direction Logan and Dannia are coming from.

-Why can't they just let me go, just forget I exist? He asks with a pleading in his tone and even I feel a little sorry for him.

-Since you decided to become a threat not only to our family, but to the whole pack, you lost any choice you had," said my mother licking her lips, "You see Leonardo, we will have many faults, fights and arguments, but for us family comes first, and if you don't want to be part of it, that's fine," he raises his chin in defiance, "But what's not fine is lying and hurting us. We gave you two options, you chose, now accept it.

Dannia and Logan enter at that moment through the main door, my mother's beta is full of blood while her delta is covered with dirt, both have cloudy looks and funereal countenances.

-Are the preparations ready," my mother asked sadly.

-Yes Alpha, the families have been notified and the bodies of the warriors are being prepared for burite morning.

-Make sure they lack nothing," my father orders and they both nod solemnly. We pause in respect for our deceased warriors before returning to the original business. "Now, Leonardo has decided to spend some time in Noctem Castra, make sure you take him there and make sure he knows all the rules.

-I refuse to set foot in that place you heard me! I shouted as he backed away.

-Take him carefully, Raphael just hurt him badly and I wouldn't want the wound to open up again.

-As Alpha ordered. Both wolves started to approach my half brother, my partner let go of my hand to pull me into a hug.

-Don't touch me, LET ME GO," but both wolves didn't even blink as they pinned him down and led him in the direction of the exit, "It's okay, I'll tell them, I'll tell them everything. I shouted with uneasiness.

Instantly Logan and Dannia stopped carrying him and turned to look at my parents.

Dad motioned for them to release him and my half-brother didn't miss the opportunity to get as far away from both silver wolves as he could.

He hobbled with trouble to the nearest couch where he plopped down exhausted.

-Don't leave out any details puppy, remember that your future is hanging on the story you tell us. Rafael holds me tighter as Leonardo lets out a long sigh.

-I was born in the confines of a dreary and abandoned room, not that I remember it much but that's what my mother told me. After mom had me we spent the rest of the time in the highest part of the fortress. We were not allowed to leave unless we were told to, although the upper floor belonged entirely to us, so we could prowl all over the place.

-Where is that place, do you know? My mother asked but Leonardo denied.

-I never knew exactly, on top of a mountain, the only part I liked about living there were the sunsets," he paused while intertwining his fingers, "I have never seen, nor will I ever see sunsets as beautiful as the ones you could see through those windows. I spent years in those walls, in those corridors I learned to walk, to run, with the library books my mother taught me to read and write, I spent a lot of time getting lost between the pages imagining a world beyond everything-.

-You said they were not allowed access to other areas except when they were called. How often was this? Dad asked, taking advantage of the pause.

-Every full moon- was Leonardo's answer after a moment of hesitation- a different vampire went each time, but the procedure was the same, the days there was a full moon mom would put me in a bathtub and give me a deep cleaning, she would dress me in light clothes and tie my eyes; she would take my hand tightly to walk through the corridors down the stairs to the second floor to the dining room-.

I closed my eyes not wanting to hear what was next, I hid my face in my partner's chest and he gently stroked my hair to calm me down. Leonardo took a deep breath before continuing.

-Do you know how long the road feels for a ten year old without being able to see, do you have any idea, no, well let me tell you, it's eternal. Then they would sit me in a chair and the only thing I knew about what happened next was that my arms, my legs, my neck were burning. I would hear mom sobbing across the room, always whispering to me to be strong, that it was all going to pass very soon. I remember them laughing and sharing anecdotes, it's not like I could understand them anyway since they were always speaking in another language- Leonardo cleared his throat- Sometimes I cried from pain, sometimes from fear, sometimes from both. And just when I couldn't take it anymore, just when I wanted to die the most, they would stop. They would stop so that I wouldn't die and I would just faint, waking up the next morning in the arms of my mother who never stopped apologizing for not being able to protect me-.

Finally I dared to separate from Rafael and look at my half brother, his expression of suffering will be one of the most painful things I will see in my life I am sure.

-She was telling me how she was the son of one of the strongest Alphas in the world, how you were surely looking for me even under the rocks and that very soon you were going to replace us. How one day I would open my eyes and you would be there, waiting for us, waiting for me to take us to your herd, to our home-. He said that last part with hatred.

-Leonardo, I never wanted anything bad to happen to either of you. Dad's eyes were full of tears.

-But your good intentions never did anything good for us, did they?" He ran the back of his hands over his lips to wipe away the blood that had come out. "Anyway, when I turned fifteen I begged mom to run away, I was convinced we could go anywhere if we just tried. But she refused, again and again, she was afraid she could never leave that place, but she was even more afraid to fight for her freedom. Or at least that's what she gave me to understand, so despite her begging and crying I still tried. I waited for the next full moon and when I was walking the usual path I attacked the vampire that escorted me, I hadn't transformed yet but I was getting stronger.

He paused to cough and surprisingly my mother disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and returned with a glass of water that I handed him. Leonardo finished it in less than a breath and kept playing with it, passing it from one hand to the other.

-I took him by surprise, so I knocked him out easily, even though he was determined to regain our freedom, he was scared to death of what they would do to us if we killed one of his people. It was on that night where I was the one who held mom's hand as we ran for our lives - I let out a broken, unfunny laugh - We had no idea where we were going, but we hoped that when we turned the next corner, when we opened the next door, we would replace our way out. Although they were just useless dreams that did not last long, what we thought was the way out was quite the opposite, each time we went deeper and deeper into that place, we ran until luck disappeared and we entered where we should never have gone-.

The glass crunched in Leonardo's hands when he squeezed it with excessive force.

A hand-carved oak double door with lion-shaped plates forged in gold, I did not hesitate to open it wide, thinking it was the main entrance. But how wrong I was, it was the meeting room of those damned bloodsuckers, of that damned family- The glass burst into hundreds of crystals that jumped in all directions and embedded themselves in his palm- As you can imagine they were not the least bit amused that we were there and not on our way to the great feast and before I could blink the doors closed leaving us trapped with those creatures. They circled around us as if we were cattle that needed to be herded, I put mom behind me to protect her while she cried and begged them to let us live- she made a choked noise with her throat before clearing it and continuing her tale- It was no use, in a couple of moves they separated us; They put me on my knees immobilized while I watched them cut out my mother's heart. They did it in one move, her blood splattered everywhere, even my face, they hit me in the back of the head and the last thing I remember after that is her blank expression-.

-Your mom was many things, but she was a werewolf, why didn't she ever transform to take care of them? Mom asked after giving her a few moments to recover.

-She couldn't, she had a necklace made of iron thorns that would tear her throat the second she tried. She spent all those years without being able to transform, I never knew how much it hurt, how it was slowly killing her- she arranged her hair in a desperate attempt to keep her hands busy- When I woke up I was in the dungeons, chained, the vampire who came to see me made it very clear that what had happened was completely my fault, that I alone was responsible for my mother's death, and that if I ever tried to escape he was going to torture me in ways I couldn't even imagine. Four years later, when they thought my soul was broken enough to try to escape again I tried again, I would die seeking freedom but not in that damn hell.

Dad approached him sitting on one of the armrests of the armchair and placed his hand on his shoulder by way of consolation.

-By some miracle of heaven I got out of there, more dead than alive, but I got out. I wandered lost in the woods for what seemed like years, I fainted from hunger, lack of sleep, wounds, basically everything, and when I opened them again...".

-You were with us," Rafael interrupted and I turned to look at him, he was the most serious I had seen so far, "We found you on the verge of death near a cliff, you were showing signs of torture and pain. Max didn't have the heart to leave you and begged Diana and me to do something, to save you. So we spent the next days taking care of you, feeding you, helping you- He swallowed saliva and his chin trembled with contained rage- Do you remember what you said when you could talk again, what we answered you- Leonardo looked away ashamed- You said thank you, you told us how you were alone and had nowhere to go; so we said you could stay with us, that we would be a family. Max taught you how to use the bow, Diana how to hunt and me how to fight, we all got up in the morning and went to sleep together at night, we took care of each other. A whole year Leonardo, a year before in our hardest season, in the coldest winter, where Max got sick and Diana was injured you took all the supplies and disappeared, why did you do that, how dare you turn your back on us when we needed you the most?

-I panicked. He muttered under his breath and Rafael had a nervous twitch in his cheek.

-Tell me, what were you so afraid of as to stick a knife in our backs like that?

-One day while I was hunting I got too close to the edge of a herd, I was desperate to replace some food so I didn't even realize where I was. I heard the guards talking to each other, they had just been attacked by a group of vampires, apparently they were looking for something because they didn't leave a single place to scavenge. I knew it was them, they hadn't forgiven me for leaving, I went into despair, and I begged them, I begged them to go further away, but they didn't want to, so I let myself be carried away by fear, I knew they would be fine, they always managed, I took everything and left, and you know what Rafael, I did it without looking back once, because you know better than anyone that when you want to survive you do things you're not proud of, but at least they keep you alive!

-If you had told us we would have left, if you had told us even a little bit of your past we wouldn't have judged you, we would have supported you and looked for a way to get out of it together, because that's what a family does, we help each other, and that's what we were Leonardo, we were, until you betrayed us, damn you!

Leonardo raised his face and pressed his lips in a tense line.

-I did what I had to do, and I'm not going to apologize for it. After all, we are all still alive, aren't we? He said stubbornly.

-You're a... Rafael started to say and I put my hands on his chest to calm him down.

-ALPHA, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! Noel's shout was heard from outside the house and everyone's attitude changed to one of alertness.

My parents flew out the door barking all sorts of orders as they transformed.

I turned to look at my brothers, Julian disappeared up the stairs while Jace went out the back door.

Raphael let out an angry growl as his eyes morphed into his wolf's and he inhaled deeply.

-Vampires. Was his verdict after a moment.

We both looked at Leonardo who shook in denial.

-It wasn't me, I promise.

-Well, you better hope they don't replace you then," I barked irritably.

Juliet

Yes, mother.

I need you to guard the housing area, do you think you can go with your partner?

One look with Rafael and I knew we were both ready to kill some bloodsuckers.

Of course I can, mother.

I nodded to my mate to follow me.

-Try not to get yourself killed, and if possible, don't run away again. That was all I said to my half-brother before running off in the direction of the herd houses.

On the way Rafael and I adopted our wolf forms to get there faster.

I let out a roar that echoed throughout our territory, and those of my family could be heard responding.

Rafael gently nudged me with his snout to show me he was there with me and I watched him with all the affection I had.

The vampires had messed with the wrong pack and were about to replace out.