Chapter 40: The Attack Ten Years Ago and The Message From Her Father

'Your parents were badly outnumbered when we got there.' Fang's eyes were haunted as he spoke, as if he was transported back in time and was at the scene of the tragedy again. 'The attackers had killed Omi and Pora already. They would have slaughtered Mus right then too, if we hadn't appeared.'
He pulled his hands from his plastic coffee cup. He had squeezed it too tight and the coffee and dripped all over his hands. Fang stared at the coffee like it was blood. He laughed bitterly.
'The Alpha of Cassiopeia killed him when he tried to protect your father later on. So our arrival changed nothing.'
'That's not true,' Ran whispered. He looked up, suddenly remembering she was listening. He blinked and then smirked.
'It was twelve of them against the five of us. Acamar didn't think there would be so many attackers after a border patrol, so only three of us were sent, but later on I realised the entire raid was a ruse. Your father was the real target.'
'I fought harder than I had ever trained before. I came of age that year, do you remember? I just pledged to defend Eridanus with my life two days before. The youngest Gamma leader ever. I was berserk with fury and eager to prove myself to your father.'
Ran covered his coffee-stained hands with Starbucks serviettes. He stared down at his hands like they didn't belong to him.
'But he pulled me away. He told me he was going to die, that if I wanted to keep my vow to defend Eridanus, I had to survive, I had to leave the pack and go to Ursa Minor. I had to memorise his words for the Eridanus werewolf that came my way.'
His chin trembled. For the first time, Ran noticed there was brown fuzz on his chin. She distracted herself from the pain by wondering why he had not dyed his beard blonde as well.
'I told my Alpha there was no way I would let him die. That I would die for him. That, was how I wanted to defend Eridanus. Your father said exactly what I told you. He said he was going to hide a tree in the forest. That the fate of the entire pack rested on my shoulders. But I could ignore his request and do as I liked.'
Tears sprung to her eyes. 'That's my dad,' she whispered, covering her mouth with both hands. 'That's Father alright.' Her voice broke and the tears fell. 'Why is he so dumb?'
'Of course I couldn't ignore him when he put it like that, even though I wanted to. I wished later on that he made it easier for me by giving an Alpha's order. Then I wouldn't have to bear the guilt of his death on my shoulders for the rest of my life. He didn't have time to tell me everything though. He only mentioned that he wanted Eridanus to be like Ursa Minor and therefore I should become a member of their pack. I objected. That's treason. But he said that only a traitor could save Eridanus. I was to stay there and serve my new pack, never leave New City, never tell anyone I came from Eridanus.'
Ran wiped the tears from her face, her mind whirling. 'So what's the message?'
Fang sighed and scratched the side of his blonde head in frustration. 'He told me to say this exactly: The future of the werewolf is humanity. We must become like them and never taint them with our curse. We cannot forge our own path. We must join them. The Red Moon is only the beginning of the cure. The rest of it is—'
Ran leaned forward, almost knocking her coffee over. 'The rest of it is?'
Fang's dark eyes were grey whirlpools of regret. 'That was when Alpha Celphus knocked me off my feet and began ripping me to pieces. I was too busy trying to memorise what he said word for word. You know we werewolves are no good with brain things. Your father defended me. Told me to run. It was an order this time. I ran. Some of the attackers chased me. They almost killed me by the river but I fell in and got washed away.'
He lowered his head.
'That's how this cowardly traitor survived to tell the tale.'
Ran frowned and picked at the wood grain of the table. 'You're not cowardly.' She lifted her fierce black eyes to glare at him. 'And you're definitely no traitor.'
Fang laughed self-deprecatingly. 'You don't have to be nice.'
'I'm not being nice,' Ran replied gravely. 'Thank you for being alive. Because of you, I now know the reason behind the attack. Thanks to your bravery,' —she emphasised bravery— 'I know how I should lead Eridanus.'
Fang dipped his head respectfully. 'You are too kind, Beta of Eridanus.' Then he tilted his head and sipped his now-watery coffee. 'Hang on, does this mean you're not going to hand over the position of Alpha to Acamar? You're going to give it to that backstabbing mongrel's son instead?'
Ran smiled at him triumphantly and leaned back in her seat. 'No. I'm going to become Alpha.'
Two tables down, behind a conspicious sheaf of newspaper among the tech-savvy New City residents, Caph almost choked on his own coffee.