Chapter 29

The roaring blaze of the bonfire was warming up the autumn night. Even though our full-bloods didn’t need the warmth, our half-blood and human mates did. From a distance I watched the orange and yellow flames dance together on the carelessly tossed logs.
As the fire raged on, it filled the night sky with an orange glow that reflected off the lake as well. The autumn air was crisp and the heat of the inferno engulfed everyone around it. If you stood close enough to the bonfire, you could hear the crackling, popping and snapping of the twigs and branches.
The festive smell of burning pine wood was very inviting and it had attracted a lot of the pack members. Everyone had gathered near the lake to celebrate the full moon and honour the Moon Goddess. Tonight was also a big night for mating couples. They got to finish their bonding and those that chose to transform, would use the strength of the full moon to do that. Many of these mating couples had already excused themselves so that they could enjoy this private time alone.
Matt and Natalie were one of these couples. Matt had something very special planned tonight for Natalie and it made me envious but I was really happy for them. My heart warmed up as I watched Matt pick Natalie up bridal style and carry her to his car for their romantic night away. I stared at them wishing Clark and I could do cute things like that.
There in that moment of my wishful thinking, Erik had turned up with Olivia. Dad had cornered Erik and explained to him that the bonfire was only for pack members and since Olivia was a human with no knowledge about all this, she couldn’t attend.
Olivia threw another fit when Erik asked her to go home and I had rolled my eyes and walked away. Esther was also ready to transform tonight and Ash was eagerly waiting. He had something cute planned too for after Esther had done her transformation.
Dad and I walked around the bonfire greeting and catching up with our pack members. Even though I was physically there chatting and mingling, my mind was elsewhere. I was subconsciously looking for that face in the crowd, that face that made my insides quiver.
Clark had said he was going to be coming tonight and that he would come to see me when he got here but it had been 2 hours since the festivity started and there was still no sign of him. My heart started to ache a little as thoughts of him not showing up clouded me.
I did one last scan of the crowd before I walked to the stage to give my little speech and there, behind the wonderful scarlet flames was the face I was looking for.
He stood there staring at me with a smirk on his face. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt with black jeans and he had a leather jacket on. His hair was slicked back and he looked hot as hell. I looked him over and watched his smirk turn into a smile as he scanned my body. My heart skipped a beat and I started walking towards him.
I walked around the bonfire dodging people and trying to keep my eyes on him. In my haste, I bumped into someone. It was Samantha, the teacher that was sitting on Clark’s table.
“My apologies Alpha, I didn’t see you there,” she said and bowed her head.
“That’s okay! No harm done. You look like you are in a rush as well” I said and laughed.
“A little actually. If you’ll excuse me” she said and started to walk in the same direction I was going.
*Oh hell no!*Samantha walked up to Clark and grabbed his arm.
Tonight wasn’t the night to be pissing me off and right now she was doing a bloody good job. Kona was whimpering again. She had been very happy since we had met Clark. She was a lot calmer. The last 3 days were hard since we had to stay away but after spending the whole day at Clark’s today, she was satisfied for the time being.
But now after seeing another woman with her hands on our mate, Kona was getting angry and anxious. She was anxious that Clark might not want to be part of our life due to the baggage I had. She wanted us to mate and right now that thought was really tempting. I had a lot of anger bubbling in me too.
Samantha linked her arms into his and touched his face. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and I was shaking. I took a step forward and focused on their conversation.
“Come on, Clark, it’s such a beautiful night. Let’s go for a walk along the lake. I’ll show you this beautiful spot near the rocks on the other side.” She purred and stroked his cheek.
“Samantha please stop. I’ve told you I’m not interested. I’ve found my mate and I don’t want anyone else but her, so please leave me alone” Clark replied back and pulled his arm away.
“But Clark come on....” she whined and clawed on to him.
“I think he asked you to leave him alone” I interrupted them. My voice a little louder and sterner then required. I was standing next to them now.
Samantha turned around and looked at me as if she was ready to tell me off. Her angry face quickly changed when she realised it was me.
“I think if someone has asked you to stay away, you should respect their wishes. Besides, I would appreciate it if you didn’t drive away our new Calculus teacher.” I narrowed my eyes at her and she squirmed with discomfort under my gaze. I was using my Alpha tone and that made anyone I outranked uncomfortable but it meant I was being very serious and what I said was more of an order than a request.
“Yes, of course Alpha.” Samantha ducked her head and quickly walked away.I watched Samantha disappear into the sea of people.
“Fuck, that was hot” Clark’s words pulled me back.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“What you just did, the way you just spoke and scared her. That heavy tone in your voice! Fuck that was the hottest thing I've ever seen”
“Seriously?! How...” I was cut off by my father's voice booming on the speakers.
“Good evening everyone, has anyone seen my beautiful daughter anywhere?” He asked and looked around.
I gave Clark one last look and walked towards the stage.
“Ahh, there you are darling. Come on we gotta start off the rest of the festivities for tonight” he said and handed me the mic as I got on stage.My eyes quickly scanned the crowd to find that handsome face again. This time, two different  girls were standing next to him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe in. Someone was going to die tonight. Kona was getting even more agitated now. My anxiety level was skyrocketing.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Thank you all for coming to another one of our full moon festivities. Tonight the Moon Goddess is among us and strengthens us. It’s a very special night for many of you. Some of you that have found your mate will be completing your bonding, some of you have come of age and will be transforming for the first time and some of you will accept your mates way of life and become one of us. Whichever one you are, I extend my best wishes to you.” I paused and looked back at Clark and now there were two other girls with him.
They were all pressed up against him touching and clawing at him. Clark looked very uncomfortable.
“While all this is happening, for the rest of us, we will start our full moon scavenger hunt. In the forest somewhere we have hidden 5 things. There’s a purple teddy bear, a violin, a case of beers, a storybook and last but not the least, a box containing a secret prize. The first team back with all 5 things claims victory. Jonathon is sitting down by the lake with sign up forms. Please make sure you sign up your teams before we start the hunt, you have thirty minutes. I wish you all the best and may the best team win” I dropped the mic and bolted off the stage.
I was shaking and I was starting to lose control of Kona. I was usually pretty good with taming her but right now, she was furious. After all the mind games Erik/ Roy was playing, Kona wanted peace and her peace would come by mating.
I sprinted out into the forest and finally stopped behind a tree. I paced around the tree and cursed those girls for touching Clark. I was frustrated, sexually as well as mentally.
“FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!” I yelled and punched the tree closest to me. I punched so hard I heard a crack. That noise was satisfying so I started to punch more. I punched as hard as I could, trying to release all my frustration.
The tree trunk was starting to shake harder from my punches and pieces of bark started to fall off of where I was punching. I was making big dents and now where the bark used to be, was a raw trunk with blood patches. I didn’t stop, I kept on punching. The more I punched the angrier Kona got. She was now angry that I had left Clark with all those women instead of going to staking my claim on him.
***Go back Alex. He needs us. He needs to be around us. Please go back.*** angry Kona begged me.
I took a deep breath and stopped punching. I felt sweat tinkling down my face and my back. I looked down at my bloody dirty knuckles. There were bark pieces inside the gashes that had opened up. I wasn’t far from the lake so I sprinted towards it. I quickly washed my hands in the water to get rid of the bark before the wounds healed up. Once I was done, I washed my face and sat down, looking up at the sky.
Clark wanted time to think and I was starting to lose control here. I had to give him time to think, to decide. I couldn’t break the rules that I was meant to be enforcing. I wanted to go back up to the bonfire and drag Clark into a corner of the forest. I wanted to rip his clothes off and let him do all those bad things I’ve only heard about. I wanted it so bad! I wanted to mark him and to tell people he was mine and only MINE!
I closed my eyes and tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down. Just then I heard crunching of twigs and leaves. There was dried autumn everywhere and my wolf hearing went into overdrive. I turned around and started searching for where the noise came from. The light from the moon was all I had to work with but seeing in the dark wasn’t a problem but I couldn’t find the origin of the noise.
The noise grew louder and was closer now. They were footsteps and they sounded more like paws rather than human feet. I stepped back and got myself ready to pounce at whatever was coming. I tried mind linking the perimeter runners for the night but I didn’t get an answerback. What was going on?!
I sniffed the air and the smell had me panicked. It was the smell of moss and rotting animals.
*Rogues.*
My eyes searched for them. I could hear more paw steps now. I tried linking Matt but he wasn’t answering and neither was Ash. They were both busy with their girls tonight.
As I looked around trying to find where they were, I saw the full moon. The panic and fear in me disappeared instantly. They wanted to fight the big bad wolf, they would get a fight.I pulled off my jacket and stretched my muscles.
“Come on, assholes. What are you waiting for? You won’t get a better time to attack,” I said out loud and received multiple growls.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I turned a little towards it, trying not to turn my back on the rest of the open area. From the edge of the forest, a large dark brown wolf slowly walked out. He was crouching and growling, baring his teeth at me. Next to him, there were 4 others.
How did so many of them get past the perimeter?
Just then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned and Erik was standing behind me.
“What the fuck are you doing here?! Go back to the packhouse Erik, it’s dangerous out here” I yelled at him.
“I’m not going anywhere.” His voice was different. The way he was looking at me with a smirk on his face and a menacing expression.
“Roy....” I said.“I knew you had figured it out,” he growled, taking a step closer to me.My nose filled with the stench of rotting flesh and wet dog. I gagged and tried to hold my breathe.
“First Largo disappeared into thin air. I knew that mutt was unworthy of trust but it wasn't until I spoke to Big Tony about your visit his garage that I knew you had capture Largo. I figure it wouldn't be long before you tortured information out of him.”
“I tried following you around a little in the hopes that if you had Lago, I'd be able to get him out of your claws, but I was out of luck and time. I knew it was a matter of time before you figured out what was happening around you was black magic and not fate.”
“I started hanging around Olivia more and more so that you'd get jealous and demand Erik to mate with you but for some reason, that idea seem to backfire. You weren’t jealous at all and that raised my suspicious. Aren't you teenage girls suppose to be territorial? Why did that not happen?!” Roy yelled in my face.
“You going into heat gave me hope. I figured you would cave into your hormones and I would successfully proceed with my plans. But, your lack of interest in your so called mates dick raised red flags for me. The level of security to make sure I stayed away, there was no way you didn't know. A female on heat should be jumping into her mates arms to be wooed, but not you.” Roy started to walk around me very slowly.
“So, I changed my plan and pretended to be more interested in Olivia this morning when I saw you were in a rush to get out of the house. I figured whatever it was, I could use to my advantage. One of my boys followed you and to my disgust, you were canoodling that stupid Calculus teacher. No way you would be snuggling with another man unless the magic had worn out and you couldn't feel the connection anymore.”
“I knew it was a matter of time before you tried to stop me and I had to move fast. So now, I’m going to do what I should have done earlier. Whether you like it or not,” He stopped in front of me and grabbed my neck and squeezed it.I felt the pressure of his hands around my throat, but there was no pain.
He may be a powerful witch doctor, but Erik wasn’t a werewolf therefore he wasn’t strong enough to hurt me.I grabbed his arm and twisted it, pinning it behind him.
“So you thought a full moon was a good time to come piss me off? How stupid are you?” He cried out in pain as I pulled his arm more.
His 5 wolves came running and now stood in a semi-circle in front of us growling loudly.
“Yes please, growl as loud as you like, tell everyone your here. Within minutes there’s going to be warrior wolves surrounding you ready to kill!” I spat at them.
They took steps back but didn’t stop growling.
“Eh, bane tu lasoso” Roy said and cried out louder as I pulled his arm harder.
“Your spells can’t work on me anymore asshole! You really aren’t very smart, are you! It’s called a protection spell. I have tricks up my sleeves too” I wrapped my arm around his neck and squeezed as tight as I could. He started choking and put his arm out to ask the wolves for help.
One of the small wolves growled loudly and the larger brown one leapt at me. I let go of Roy to grab the wolf. I grabbed his neck and a handful of fur. The moon was giving me more strength then I usually had. I squeezed his neck, twirling him around and tossing him as far as I could. I had him whinge in pain and howl.
When I turned to grab Roy, he was gone. The smaller wolf had grabbed him and he was now on its back.
“This isn’t over Queen. I’ll be back for what’s mine” he said and they were sprinting away into the darkness.
Finally I heard the warrior wolves. They sprinted out into the clearing and I pointed towards the rogues. They quickly turned and started chasing them. I heard loud growling and howling coming from the forest. 
I went looking for the large brown wolf. He lay crumpled up on the ground. I could hear his heart still beating. I slowly got closer and reached out to grab his muzzle. His eyes shot open and he jumped at me pinning me to the ground.I grabbed his muzzle and held it together tightly trying to stop him from biting me. He was viciously growling at me and using his paws to stomp down on me.
I kept twisting and pushing using all my strength to push him off but he had my shoulders pinned down and was taking turns with his paws to stomp on me. Every time he did my grip on his muzzle loosened. He lifted his paw and took a swing at my face, scratching me. I could feel blood tinkling down my cheek.
Kona couldn’t take it anymore. I tucked my legs on the wolf’s belly and pushed him hard and as soon as his paws left my shoulders, I burst into my wolf. Throwing him off me from the sudden transformation.I looked up at the moon and let out a loud howl. I was infuriated!
The wolf scrambled to his feet and started running and I was right behind him. He dodged the trees and headed towards the cliffs. I pushed Kona and we moved faster. I snapped at his tail trying to grab it with my mouth.
He must have missed a low branch because his hind leg got caught in it and he tripped, tumbling over and landing on his face. I jumped on top of him and this time I was pinning him down. I sunk my teeth into his neck and squeezed hard. My weight was crushing him as well and I heard him cry out in pain as the pressure of my mouth squeezing his neck cracked some bones.I was so angry I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let someone attack me and live to see another day! I wasn’t a scared little girl. In one swift motion, I snapped his neck and pulled it off of his body tossing it to the side.
The horrible salty, metallic goo plagued my taste buds and I could feel the blood dripping down my muzzle. I was sure my pure white fur was now stained bright red.
I felt the headless body twitch under me before going limb. If you die in your wolf form you stay in that form. As your body releases the human soul, it doesn’t have the energy to bring your body back to human form. I got off the lifeless body and stood there staring at it. He wasn’t the first person I had killed, but he was still a person. Rogue or not, every life mattered. I couldn’t justify what I had done and now neither could he.I heard footsteps again but the voices that came with it I recognised. It was dad and some of the other warriors. I turned in their direction and I saw torches shining through the dark.
Soon they all emerged out of the trees and when they saw the blood on my muzzle, they stopped. Dad wasn’t far behind. I saw his eyes widen when he saw my face.He closed the distance between us and patted the side of my face.“I’m so sorry Hunny. I don’t know how this happened!” His voice held concern. Ethan came running out of the crowd that had now formed. He held out a shirt for me to take.
*here Alex, go change* he said.
*Oh now you can hear me! Where the fuck were you 20mins ago asshole!* I yelled at him in our mind link.
He hung his head *I’m sorry! I was with a girl and I didn’t hear you. I’m sorry**go put the shirt over there* I motioned twirls a tree with my muzzle.He walked over and left the shirt behind the tree and walked back to dad.I went behind the tree and let my bones crack and form back into my human self. I quickly put in the shirt.
“SOMEONE TELL ME RIGHT NOW HOW THE FUCK 5 ROGUES GOT THROUGH THE PERIMETER!!” I yelled as soon as I got in front of them.
They all looked at each other and hung their heads.
“Where the hell were all of you?!?! Where were the warriors that were doing perimeter duty?!? You are so lucky that only one of them attacked me! I was outnumbered and I had NO HELP! I’m seething for more blood right now and I swear if I don’t get answers this full moon will end with more deaths! I can’t believe it! The strongest fucking pack in the southern territory. Your Queen was just attacked you fuckers! How could you let this happen?! I want you all out there NOW! Go trace the smell and tell me which way they fucking went! I want them FOUND!! That mother fucker is out there and he will come back for me. Before I start ripping more people apart, GO FIND HIM!!!” I was shaking vigorously again.
My blood was boiling to the point where you could see the veins on my forehead. I couldn’t even explain how angry I was.We prided ourselves as being strong and having the best defence but here we were, 5 rogues just waltzing into our land!
Everyone in front of me quickly scattered. Most of them transforming into their wolves there and sprinting past us.
“Hunny I’ll have all the warriors on duty tonight questioned immediately. Ethan get this mess cleaned too ” dad looked at Ethan’s an pointed to the limp corpse.
“Dad I gotta go calm down before I speak to anyone. I’m still seeing red and I will break more necks” I said and rubbed my face.
“Clark’s in your room sweetheart. He was talking to me when we heard the commotion. So to keep him safe I got him sent to your room and told him to stay there. Go see him. That is all that will help right now”I nodded at dad and sprinted towards the packhouse without hesitation.
Dad was right, Clark was all that I needed right now...