Chapter 13 Goodbyes

*Alpha Connor*

"Alpha Connor, the wolves are retreating." One of my men comes running towards with me with a bag of clothes so I could shift back to my human form. I hide in between the two cars parked in the Williams' driveway and try to put some pants on. Someone throws me my coat and I put it on. I'll just put my shirt on later.

"Pile up the dead behind the house. We'll burn them there." I order my men. I run into the Wiiliams' residence hoping to find someone alive.

The mother was in the dining room while the father was in the living room, both lifeless. I saw Lockwood's Beta, still in wolf form, making sure no one comes back unexpectedly. "You can shift back. I got archers keeping post." I mind link him. "Here, got you some pants and a shirt." I throw him the clothes as he shifts back. He hides behind the Christmas tree that the Williams were setting up to welcome the new addition to their family.

I head up the stairs and I find Rob on the floor near a gaping hole on the wall. His neck was bleeding out. I take his wrist to look for a pulse, but nothing. I saw some movement in the next room and enter it, the wind howling at me from a broken window. I see Lockwood was putting on a pair of military pants. Must have belonged to Rob.

"Doc Matthews, where are you?" I had sent her inside through the back to take the baby once the wolves break in. I sniff the air. Closet.

I open the closet to find the Doc huddled into a corner clutching the baby to her chest for dear life.

"You can come out now, Doc. All the boys are decent and the enemy has retreated." I put my hands on her arms and help her up. "You okay, Doc?" She was shaking and it wasn't from the cold.

"The gray wolf, he killed Rob." Her lips were quivering. The Doc wasn't used to combat. She was the brainy one, her nose always stuck in a book. Yeah, she did her training, but she was never a good fighter. Couldn't even hurt a fly.

"Doc, look at me. You saved the baby." I rub her arms in an effort to comfort her. After hearing the word "baby", Lockwood quickly approaches us, relief written all over his face.

"You have my daughter? Oh, thank you, thank you!" Lockwood sounded truly grateful. I know he was going to make it up to baby Diana and become a good father.

"Here, Mr. Lockwood. Meet your baby, Diana." The Doc hands him over to his father and Lockwood cradles her in his arms and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"She feeds every two hours and she pees and poops as often. Sleep when she sleeps because if you don't, you'll be completely exhausted." The Doc tries to give a crash course on babies to Lockwood.

"Don't worry. I will take good care of her." I look at Lockwood and his baby. It felt good to see them together.

"Alpha! Come quick! We have a problem back at the territory!" My Gamma calls for me from downstairs. I take the stairs and head back down to find out what was going on. Bad things always come in three's.

"What's happening at the territory?" I see some of my men rushing back into their cars. Some already speeding out of the community.

"Rogues are attacking the pack!" My Beta parks the pickup in front of the house. "Alpha, we gotta go. We got rogues at the territory. They're burning the place down."

"Anything we can do to help?" Lockwood asks as I run towards the pickup.

"Leave town. Get as far away from here as you can. Send me a postcard from wherever you decide to go to. And keep Diana safe. I want to see her when she grows up." I signal to Doc. "Doc, we gotta go. Our pack needs us." I climb in the front seat of the pickup while the Doc takes a seat in the back.

"Lockwood, may the Moon Goddess protect you and your daughter." I wave my goodbyes through the window.

He nods his head and his Beta puts a blanket over him and the baby.

As we drove off, I glance at the rearview mirror to take one last look at Lockwood.

I do hope I get to see you again.

_______________________________

*One*

"Kill all of them and burn their territory to the ground. You do that for me, I'll give you whatever you want." The voice of the other line said.

"Whatever I want?" I ask to confirm if I was hearing right.

"Whatever you want. Money, diamonds, land. You name your price."

"I want to control the crime syndicate in New York City. I need you to allow me and my men safe passageway into the city. Then, I'll do the rest." I tell him.

"Done. You have my word." He hangs up.

One of the most powerful wolves in the eastern seaboard called asking me to do his dirty work. The saying is true..."Good things come to those who wait."

I was getting sick and tired of petty crimes outside the great city of New York. I wanted in, but for rogues like myself, that was equivalent to death.

"Second, gather the men. We have some work to do." I tell my second in command. I knew the man were restless and usually restless meant someone was going to challenge me for my position.

"Boss, where are we headed and what are we suppose to do?"

"Salty Moon Forest. Tonight, we are going to purge." I sneer.

"Salty Moon Forest? Night Walker Forest Pack? Boss, they're a tough pack to go against." Second and some of the men have had some run ins with members of that pack. They always ran out of there, their tails between their legs.

"Not this time, Second. Their Alpha and most of the men are somewhere else. Now get the men ready!" Second bows and scurries off to prepare the men for the attack.

I have about some 30 men in the group. Yeah, we weren't many, but we were all strong. Most of my men, like myself, were banished for challenging the Alpha. What can I say? I was never a goody two shoes to begin with.

Our campsite wasn't far from Salty Moon Forest. We waited for the snow to fall so we could attack by cover of snowfall.

We entered the pack house first which housed most of the single able bodied men and ripped them apart. The howling of the wind blanketed their screams. When we were done, the dining hall was covered with blood, the floor a pool of red.

One by one, we took out the families of wolves living in the houses scattered all over the territory. Unfortunately, one of the pack members was able to escape and rang the bell of the emergency tower, alerting every one else in the pack.

That's when it all got chaotic. Most of the men and women shifted into their wolf forms and started fighting back. The teenagers started shooting arrows at us. It's been a while since I had a little bit of sport.

First, I had to get rid of the teen archers who were in the houses since they already killed a few of my men with their silver tip arrows. The houses fronting the center of the territory were all lined up beside each other so, I entered the first house and went upstairs to kill the first archer. After snapping his neck into two, I charged through the upstairs side window to enter the upstairs side window of the next house to kill the next archer. I kept doing that until I had reached the last house and killed the last archer. Poor kids.

With the archers all dead, I joined my men and killed all the wolves who had shifted and fought back. I told my men to search the forest for anyone hiding and to kill them. We won't be taking any prisoners tonight. Tonight, it was an extermination.

Then we shifted back to our human form and set the territory on fire. We cheered like crazed lunatics in front of a bonfire, watching the fire blaze, small embers of ash floating in the air melting the snowflakes before they touched the ground. It has been a long time since I saw my men this happy. I wish the euphoria could last just a bit longer, but all good things must come to an end.

"Boss, we got some headlights en route to this location!" Second yells at us, running towards me.

"Tell the men to pullout. We're done here." Second nods and yells to all the men to scurry and leave. They all shift to wolf form and sprint out of the territory in all directions to meet at the rendezvous point.

I shift my hand into my wolf's paw. Using my long claws, I etch a message on a trunk of a tree.

"Eric Lockwood sends his regards."

I shift to my wolf and sprint into the darkness of the forest just as the cars arrive in the territory. So long, suckers!

_______________________________

*Alpha Connor*

I saw most of my men trying to put the fires out when I arrived at the territory. I looked around and saw bodies of my pack members lying in the snow which had turned red from their blood. The Doc, with her medical bag, starts checking each body for any possible sign of life.

"Alpha, we found some survivors in the tree houses." My Gamma runs towards me. " Mostly women and children and some men. Around 40 left. They killed everyone in the pack house and burned them inside it."

"Any sign of my brother Winston?" I put my baby brother in charge while I was gone. He can't be dead. Moon Goddess, don't do this to me!

"Sorry Alpha, I haven't seen him." My Gamma hides his face when he spoke. He was hiding his face so I wouldn't see his tears.

"Your family?" I put a hand on his shoulder. I knew it was bad news.

"My baby girl is one of the survivors found in the tree house. Martha, she died fighting. She--", he choked on his words and shook his head. He took a deep breath to compose himself. "I still have my baby girl. That's what matters now." He moves away from me to help search for any survivors.

"Alpha, I have some bad news." I turn around to face the Doc. I brace myself, but I could feel a part of my heart breaking.

"I found Winston. He's over there. I'm so sorry, Alpha Connor." The Doc croaked out, her head bent. I patted her on the shoulder and walked over to where she pointed. Beside him was a man I didn't know and both of them looked like they both killed each other at the same time. My brother died... fighting for his pack.

I bent down and closed his eyes. The Doc handed me a blanket and I wrapped his body in it. "Goodbye, my brother. You are with the Moon Goddess now. Watch over me in heaven, ok? I love you, Winston. I'm so sorry I wasn't here to help you." I lifted him in my arms and placed him in a body bag so I could give him a proper burial later.

One by one, the rest of my men did what I had done for my brother. They placed their loved ones in body bags to be buried later.

It was snowing and I needed to bring the surviving pack members to shelter. There was a big barn at the end of the territory which was big enough to become our temporary shelter until we could rebuild the homes and the pack house. I told my men to transport all of the survivors there and bring all the essentials we had left.

"Alpha, you need to see this." My Beta nudges his head to the direction of a big tree within the territory. I walk up to it and see some writing etched on it.

"Eric Lockwood sends his regards."

I howl, letting out all my rage. You will get yours Eric Lockwood. I don't care by whose hands, but you will get yours.

That's a promise!