Two Alphas, One Mate
Ashes

Damian

I was falling.

I wasn’t sure how far I fell until I heard her voice calling out to me. She kept calling for me, but I was paralyzed. She was in danger and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t protect my pack and now she was gone.

How could I allow this to happen?

By the time I awoke, she was gone, far away, far enough that our connection was severed.

I couldn’t protect my family and now there is death all around me.

As I came to, I felt drunk, I felt woozy, I felt incapable of shifting, let alone running after the trail.

What was I poisoned with? How long until I would be able to get my strength back to replace her? How could I be looking for clues when she was out there… with him.

My brother.

I stood in front of the collapsing building as Eric pulled out the rest of the remaining bodies that didn’t make it in time.

Was this a sick joke to him? Was this all a game?

He could have killed me, but he didn’t.

The fact that he was this close to succeeding was making the pain worse. My heart was struck, it was wounded, it was shrunken.

It was all because of him.

Now my Luna, my mate, my unborn child was in his filthy hands.

The thought of her being touched by him made me want to….

EXPLODE.

“Alpha? You, ok?” Eric tapped on my shoulder as I stared into the ashes of the Pub. My dads favourite place to go to, now, ASHES.

It was all because of him.

I felt warmth trickling down my hands. I looked down to see blood from my tight grasp of my protruding claws. I hadn’t realized how hard I was containing my beast. He wanted to leave and get her back, he wanted to kill every Crimson warrior – men, women and children that he could replace and rip them all to shreds.

All in front of their Alpha.

I wanted to plaster their heads on sticks and surround his house.

I wanted to taunt him as I burned fire to his entire pack.

His entire life, in ashes, just like mine was.

Eric’s voice was distant. My head was somewhere else right now.

I’ve lost, I’ve suffered grief, but I’ve never experienced the emotion I was feeling right now.

It was unexplainable.

But I couldn’t be like Holden. I couldn’t kill the innocent. I just had to kill HIM.

I was going to kill him.

I was going to make him suffer, I was going to show his pack how weak and pathetic of a leader he was.

I was going to get her back, but for now, I had to strategize. I couldn’t do this by myself. I wasn’t an idiot. I couldn’t let my impulsive beast rage on their territory solo. I had to calm myself. I had to get a handle on everything. I couldn’t risk her or my unborn child getting hurt.

“Don’t worry we will get them back.” Eric stood beside me as the rest of the building crumbled.

It was already dawn; the sun was coming up and the rest of the smoke was almost evaporated.

“She’s pregnant.” I kept my eyes on the building.

“What? Are – are you serious?”

“Yes, she just told me, right before the ritual. Eric promise me something.” I turned to him and placed my hands on his shoulders.

“Of course, what is it?”

“Whatever happens to me, just promise me, PROMISE ME YOU WILL KEEP HER AND MY CHILD SAFE.”

“What – what are you talking about Damian?! Nothing will happen to you and we are going to get them back! Don’t talk nonsense!”

I held onto him tighter and looked into his eyes, “PROMISE ME ERIC.”

He stood silently, his mouth widened, and his eyes, full of worry and concern. “I would never let anything happen to them. I would die protecting them.”

....

“You think they are back on their territory?”

“Hard to say. I got my guys tracking the scent to see what direction they were headed, but I think its safe to assume they are probably heading to Crimson territory. It’s strange our border patrols didn’t pick up on the scent. I can’t believe they got this close…” Eric placed his hand in a pool of blood by Phyllis’s body.

It was beyond recognition.

Her head was missing. The only way we could identify her was from her polka dot shirt and the smell of her blood. I cringed when I first stumbled upon her body on the sidewalk.

After pulling out the rest of the pack from the burning building, we realized there were more dead bodies on the street. Two guards, and Phyllis. Her head was found on display, along with the door that was torn off the building. I took the head as quickly as possible before anyone could see it and rested it against the body.

“Who ever did this, did it while she was unconscious. She wasn’t able to defend herself.” I kneeled down beside Eric trying to analyze the scene for any clues.

“I smell Hippolyta, but she’s missing along with Diana.” Eric lightly sniffed the blood on his hand.

I could see distress in his eyes. The last time they spoke wasn’t on good terms. I’m sure this was eating him up inside.

“Where are they?!” A voice was screaming behind us. Etta was running towards the bloody scene. Her eyes were gushing tears while her black makeup leaked down her cheeks.

“Etta, no, turn back you don’t want to see this.” Eric held his hands up trying to block her from walking any further. Her movements were frantic and frazzled, which made it hard to try to prevent her from coming any further. She already saw the body laying on the ground.

“Where are they Eric?!” She yelled and pounded on his chest. He pulled her into his body to try to keep her calm.

“I can smell them. They were here. I had to use the washroom and left Phyllis with Diana. They were going to speak to Hippolyta outside. I could have helped them!” She planted her face into Eric’s chest as she sobbed.

“Shh. It’s not your fault. No one could have predicted this.” Eric held her tightly, turning her away from looking at the gruesome scene.

While he was doing that, I decided that was going to take the body away so no one else could see it. I didn’t have the time to wait for someone else to do it, and besides, I was responsible for all of this. If I had to personally dig the graves of each and every one that died by Holden’s hands, I will do it.

I was trying my best to keep my raging beast at bay, but it was getting harder to do so the more I thought about Di. I wanted to run with the trackers, but Eric insisted that they would be able to track just as well, and we needed to stay here if there was another attack.

He was right.

The whole pack was crippled from the drugs we drank and the fire to the bar. I had reserved troops that were ready to fight, but I was in no condition to lead them.

I still felt so weak.

“I’ll take the body… and the head.” I mind linked to Eric. He nodded in response as he held the crying girl in his arms.

I cringed at the sight of the body as I knelt down beside it.

I felt her pain as I touched it. I felt her last moments alive.

She was my warrior and I failed her.

I failed everyone.

The blood splattered to the ground as I picked her up. She was stiff as a board, and her skin already ice cold.

Her blood oozed out on my bare skin, staining me with my failure.

My failure to protect her.

Her head was the last thing I needed to move.

I felt the anger starting to take over as I looked down at the emotionless head sitting on the pavement. I knew this was Holden’s work, only a coward would do this. A big fucking coward that took my mate.

I picked up the head in one hand and looked at the damage that was done. There was a large bite mark, along with several gashes, leaving her face, unrecognizable. The skin from the gashes were hanging off her skull like drapes covering a window. The only thing on her head that seemed untouched were her eyes that were shut closed like she was in a peaceful sleep.

I wondered if she felt the pain in her last moment alive.

My hands were covered in near black blood, still dripping all over the pavement. A trail of blood formed as I made my way towards the forests to replace a resting place for her.

My warrior deserved a better death then this. She couldn’t defend herself. She had no idea she was going to die-like this. I could hear the echoes of Etta’s cries in the distance as Eric tried his best to calm her down.

As I walked calmly in the dark forests, I strategically planned what I was going to do.

I wouldn’t let the anger take over.

I refused to let me emotions dictate what I would do. The pack depended on me to survive, and for her to survive.

I will get her back, one way or another.

But one thing kept replaying in my mind, if Holden got so close why didn’t he personally finish me off?

....

“Where did you leave her?” Eric hovered over the map on my desk as we both strategized what our best course of action would be.

“Somewhere safe in the forest, we will have to dig proper graves, but in the meantime, she is resting where wolves belong. In our forests.”

“Etta is devastated, but she will be fine for now.”

DING

Eric’s phone vibrated. I hadn’t realized where mine was, maybe it was lost in the fire, but right now I could care less.

DING

The vibrations wouldn’t stop, but I could tell Eric wanted to ignore them.

DING

“Who is the hell messaging you? Check it.” I refocused myself on the map laid out in front of me.

We were in my office, and I still hadn’t found time to wash up and change. I needed to strategize. I couldn’t do anything else then plan out what I was going to do to get her back.

“Uh...” Eric peered into his phone and his eyes widened. He quickly closed it, hoping I wouldn’t catch wind of what just happened.

“What is it?” I looked to him and he immediately looked back to the map.

His hands trembled.

“Nothing.” He muttered under his breath.

“DON’T FUCKING LIE.” I slammed my hand hard onto the desk.

He bolted up and held his phone tightly in his hand, “It’s Holden.”

“What do you mean its Holden!? How does he have your number!?”

“I don’t know, it looks like he hacked into our network while he was here, I’m not sure how he did it.”

“AND…?” I stood up.

Something wasn’t right. I could read Eric like a book.

“No.” He kept his phone back away from me.

I felt my beast pushing through, I couldn’t help it, I was losing control fast.

“EXCUSE ME? ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO PULL THIS SHIT WITH ME?” I grabbed hold of Eric and pulled him over my desk. My hand was no longer human, and my claw ringed around his neck.

“You don’t want to see it.” The look in his eyes told me everything. Something in that phone disturbed him.

I lifted his body and slammed him back hard into my desk. I was surprised the wood didn’t shatter from the impact. All the while, he kept his phone tightly in his hand.

“SHOW ME!” I roared so loud I could hear the birds outside my window fly away.

What the hell was I doing?

What was I becoming?

I trusted Eric, he was my most loyal friend, and now I had my hand around his neck as I pinned him to my desk.

“Please just don’t – " He held the phone to me, and I quickly snatched it away before he could finish his sentence. “Don’t do anything you will regret. We still need to recover from the drugs.” He gasped.

The more he spoke, the more I became worried.

What was he so concerned about that I will see? What was it?

The curiosity had me shaking as I pulled his phone in front of my face.

“What is this? An email?”

“No, it’s a folder he has created in our network. He has access to it at all times, and he can upload whatever he wants to it.” Eric stood up and brushed himself off, “Look I’ll block it off, it will be easy, just give me the phone back.”

“NO, I need to see what he left.” I turned around to face the wall so I could see for myself.

What horror was behind this folder?

The screen showed a file folder, and underneath it was labelled D.

I held my breath as my finger hovered over the file icon.

Here goes nothing.