Payment To the Alpha
Chapter 38

James' POV

I was sitting in the dining hall with Sebastian and Natasha. We were eating, and Natasha was telling me about how she and Sebastian knew each other,

"My father needed allies amongst the werewolf kind, and so he reached out to a few different packs. The half-moon pack was one of them. Madeline didn't know anything about him at the time and wanted to go along with his offer; however, Sebastian here didn't. He sensed that my father wasn't a person you wanted to be on the same team with, he also came asking this pack, but your parents refused, however a pack of this magnitude and strength was exactly what he needed, and that's when I came in the picture.

He refused to leave the pack alone and was ready to start a war against you. When Carlos told me this I decided to pay you a little visit and the second he knew that I was apart of the knight family he began plotting and planning. Sebastian was going to help him,"

"Forced to help him." He corrected. "They were going to ambush you and Crow was going to hem my magic so that I wouldn't be able to help, however, he changed his plans suddenly, I don't know why, but Sebastian and I got into it because he knew Derick, they were cousins. I and Sebastian just Never got along and when I found out who he was I realized the reason.

We both lost someone we loved, and we both lost him to my father, we were each other's memories of him and I guess neither of us could handle it."

I looked at Natasha who seemed to feel guilty, and Sebastian wore the same feelings, however now we all have the same enemies so we must work together or we are all fucked.

"Hey!" Avery and my brother came walking into the dining hall and grabbed some food before coming to sit with us.

Hey Blade, does Alex seem weird to you?

'He seems upset.'

What happened?

A long silence followed before Blade answered me.

'I don't know, but I think it's best we don't ask him. A lot of things are happening right now, James, but the worst has yet to come.'

You're being cryptic again.

I said in annoyance.

I didn't get an answer. Blade was ignoring me.

"How is everything?" Avery asked in her sweet honey-laced voice, making me want to take her and lock us in the bedroom alone for eternity. God, I love her.

"Everything is good. I'm truly sorry about what I was going to do." Sebastian answered her.

"It's okay, really, you didn't have much of a choice."

"James, I was wondering after we have eaten if you have time to take a walk with me?" Avery asked as she placed her hand on mine, Alex looked at me with worry, what the hell is going on?

"Of course." I simply answered any time spent with Avery is time well spent.

She smiled and continued eating before anyone could say anything else Amber stormed in looking furious. " we need to talk!". Everyone turned their attention to Amber and we all got up on our feet, except for Avery who had a mouthful of potatoes and chicken in her mouth. She looked upon everyone, and then locked eyes with me and shrugged.

"I'm hungry." I smiled at her cuteness before placing a kiss on her cheek.

"You stay here and eat, I'll be right back." Avery nodded and ate her food while the rest of us walked towards my office.

To my surprise, when I walked into my office, Sofia was standing there, her hands cuffed behind her back and a guard by her side.

"What the hell is this?" I asked, looking at Amber.

"Sofia has been talking to Crow." Amber answered. Sofia looked scared and startled all at once. She shook her head frantically.

"No! I swear I haven't!" She tried defending herself, I tried thinking rationally but both me and Blade were on a thin thread and ready to kill anyone who has any information or any participation in the thing happening.

I looked over at Amber who was seething, her face was red and her fists were shaking.

"Explain." I said using my alpha tone.

"When Avery and I got back home, I heard Sofia talking to some other she Wolves, she got a phone call and walked away, I followed her and heard that she was talking to him, they were talking about an attack, and about Avery." She said and when she said Avery's name I could sense Stella surfacing and Amber took a step forward.

"SHE'S LYING!!" Sofia screamed and Amber's eyes were now glowing, Stella had control.

"She's lying I swear that's not what the call was!" Sofia said again looking mad as hell and Amber started walking towards her.

"ENOUGH!" I roared, making everyone freeze and causing Stella to stand down.

I looked over at Sofia who was shaking, I couldn't take any risks.

"Take her to the dungeon." I said and Sofia once again started shaking her head as she tried to free herself from the silver cuts on her wrists.

"No! You can't do this! I will kill you!" The guard dragged her out of my office and before they made it over the threshold I saw Sofia's eyes turn yellow, she was trying to shift, however, it was meaningless, and she wouldn't be able to shift with silver, containing her wolf.

"James I will kill her." Amber said and I looked over to Alex and the others who were standing there, the only two people who weren't mad but looked rather confused, were Natasha and Sebastian.

"Something is wrong." Natasha said as she looked towards the door.

"I don't understand, why would one young she-wolf do this to her own pack?" Sebastian asked looking at me as if he was expecting a certain answer.

"Because she's in love with the Alpha." Alex answered.

I looked at Sebastian, he was still looking at me, expecting an answer and not just an answer but the answer, what was he fishing for?

"You believe she was set up." I stated and apparently, that was the answer that Sebastianian was waiting for.

He took a step back and gave a slow nod before looking over to Natasha.

"You have a traitor within your pack." Natasha said and everyone's guard went up.

We knew we had a traitor, we just thought we sent that traitor to the dungeon, but it seems that we didn't.

Avery's POV

I had just finished my third chicken leg and felt like my stomach was about to burst. I guess working out really makes you build up an appetite, I had never eaten this much in my entire life.

I exhaled and rubbed my belly with my hand, I looked at my wrist to see what time it was and if James is held up with the meeting, I have time to take a twenty-minute nap.

An omega came and took my plate and while I was sitting there, contemplating on whether or not I could stand without falling over, a hand was put on my shoulder and I turned around quickly, seeing Michael and Amanda standing there.

"Hey, um, we were wondering if we could talk to you?"

"Sure, have a seat." I said and gestured with my hand for them to sit.

"No, this table is for ranked members." I looked at Amanda funny after hearing her words but decided not to go against the order around here, and so we walked out of the dining hall and into the community room. We sat down on the couch, and I was starting to worry that this conversation wasn't just a normal one.

"Have you heard about Sofia? Amanda asked me, and she looked as if she was pushing back her tears.

"No, what's going on?" Has something happened to her? Why were they asking me about this? It's not like we're friends?

"She was sent to the dungeons because the Gamma believes she was working with some wizard." Amanda said while flapping her arms.

"Well, has she?" I asked, trying not to sound too confident, they don't know anything, and I can't spill it to them.

"No! Of course not, she doesn't know any wizards or witches except for Natasha." Amanda quickly defended.

"Look, Avery, I know that you and Sofia aren't on the best terms but could you try and see what the hell it's all about? She would never betray her pack or her Alpha, and regardless of her feelings towards you, she would never harm you, she wouldn't risk getting banned or killed even." Michael said, and I started to wonder what had happened, Amber would have never punished an innocent member, which must mean that there was proof of Sofia's betrayal.

"Look, I understand that you guys are worried about your friend, but she would have never been sent away had there not been any proof." I looked at them with pity, because I understood the charges Sofia was facing and that they worried about her, but there was nothing that I could do.

"We understand that, but if you-"

"Hey, what's going on?" We all turned our heads towards the voice and saw Chase walking in.

"Have you heard what happened to Sofia?" Amber said as she ran up to him and grabbed his hand.

"Yeah, I heard, serves her right don't you think?"

"How can you say that?" Amanda said on the verge of tears.

"I think we all know that the alpha would never have sent an innocent pack member away like that, there was proof, the Gamma heard her, and because of that, Sofia was caught before she could do any damage to the pack." Michael stood and looked angrily at his friend. "Damage to the pack or to Avery?" He asked.

"What!?" I stood to my feet and looked between Chase and Michael.

"The Alpha is protecting our pack, and just because you're friends with that bitch you're blind to what she's doing!" Chase screamed, and Michael jumped over the couch and got up in his face. "Watch your fucking mouth, you were friends with her too." Michael seethed.

"You're eighteen aren't you?" Chase asked as he looked at Michael with a smug grin.

"So?"

"And Sofia turns eighteen in a few weeks, missing that mate of yours do you?"

Only then did it dawn on me, they're mates, no wonder Michael was being so protective and worried.

Chase crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at Michael, something tells me that this will end badly if nobody intervenes, but what can I do? Amanda is standing there looking like she's enjoying the drama, she's looking at chase with such admiration.

"I said, watch your fucking mouth!" Michael's claws were extended and his canines were showing, he was shifting, what the hell do I do?

"Michael calm down!" Amanda tried warning, but he wasn't hearing her, she was holding onto Chase's arm, I have to do something.

I have to think quickly.

What do I do?

Oh fuck.

I quickly got around the couch and went to stand between Chase and Michael, I held my hands on his chest, feeling his speeding heart rate.

"Michael, Michael listen to me, listen to my voice, you can't shift here, you know that, calm down and we will talk." I tried conversing with him but it wasn't working, it was to no avail, it was as if he didn't hear me.

"MICHAEL!" I screamed, but still nothing, he was responding, like he was blocked.

His eyes started to glow and his breathing became harder, he is going to shift, I was certain of it, but then, a loud ass growl was heard all through the house, the windows shook and fear struck everybody, including myself.

James entered, his eyes were black, his jaw ticked and his breathing too was hard, fast, and ragged.

"Your luna is standing in front of you and you're about to shift!!?" He growled loudly as he took slow, calculated steps towards Michael, I didn't know what to do or how to act, I froze.

"Answer me." He demanded as he got closer.

"Alpha, I'm sorry." Michael said as he bowed his head and clasped his hands in front of him.

When James got to us, he took his hand around my waist and pushed me behind him, I complied not knowing what was about to happen.

"Look at me." James demanded and Michael slowly rose his head and looked at his Alpha. James stared at him, his eyes were pitch black, Chase stepped back and so did Amanda, his alpha aura alone was enough to make others move away, and then James' aura on top of that was, magical in some twisted sense. Who was this man?

Everyone was completely silent, you could barely hear them breathing, and it wasn't a comfortable silence, but a deafening one. And then the Alpha spoke,

"Shift."

"What?" Everybody said as they looked at James in horror.

"I said, shift. Don't make me tell you again" He said, he was giving Michael the option to shift willingly.

"Alpha, with all due respect, why?" James' eyes were now glowing and I knew that Blade was speaking.

"You were going to shift and risk harming your Luna, now you can shift and face your Alpha."