CHAPTER 53

Rick's pov
Thump! Thump! Thump!
I heard the echoes of my footsteps hit my ears harshly. What nonsense! I couldn't believe this kind of an Alpha had managed to slip through my fingers yet again. I was close! I was so fucking close to catching him... He already told me he and Maya were on their way coming to my pack and I'd already planned everything out. From the warriors that would attack them at the pack's entrance to those warriors that would assist the first batch in case Alpha Asher would overpower the first set.
"I don't think they are coming" Jack, the head of the warriors in the pack said to me.
"Then fucking make them come" I snarled.
"How do I do that Alpha? You said you had everything under control! How do I suddenly make them come?"
I looked at him and I decided in my mind that Jack has grown a second head. What else could explain this sudden audacity which he uses to talk to me? No one dares talk to Alpha Rick in such order. I turned to look at him with blood and fire in my eyes, but before I could as much as raise my sword to him, Coleman my beta came and held me by my waist.
"Forgive the ignorant soul" he begged "he clearly has no brains. Let it not be heard that the gracious Alpha Rick, killed a fool because of the words of his mouth"
"Strip him of his title and replace him with another. I don't want this asshole leading my fighters. They might one turn against me and come after me with a leader like this man. Make him a slave" with that being said, I pulled away from Coleman's grip and continue to walk to my throne room. Upon arrival, I tossed the glass carving on the ground and everything broke into shambles on the floor. I headed for the verses next—the ceramics and glass flower verses came crashing on the ground by one forceful pull and that was how things are supposed to be with me. I'd order a thing and get
it's done. I should make a demand and see it done right before my eyes. I should make plans and everything should fall into place according to my plans but not, nothing works for my good and it is all because of my father. Alpha Lucas. If only he had listened to my cries over twenty years ago when I walked up to him and asked that he pass on his leadership to me. For what it's worth and what it wasn't worth, the old man was doing a shitty business in the guise of leadership. I mean how would you have so many resources and so much land wealth and not accumulate it for yourself. He was the ruler! He was the Alpha king but he couldn't take decisions on his own, he would always summon his council members for every decision he would take. With all the mineral deposits we had in the land, we could have been one of the richest families in America. But no, my father, Alpha Lucas, thought it would be better for us to share the wealth and other property with the entire members of the pack.
A generous heart on my foot! I'd rather be called a wicked, selfish man yet rich and influential than be called a generous and good man with barely anything in my pocket or a fleet of cars and houses to my name.
No, it is the highest of foolishness for a father to share all his possessions with other people and not share with his son—his only family alive. My mother died while giving birth to me and ever since, for a father who claimed to love his child, I never felt him loving me for once. Even when I was of age and was ready to assume legal matters of the pack he never let me and always accused my conscience of being a bad one.
I was the Alpha's son but I had to attend school with the low lives.
Tch….
I remember going up to my father a day after I turned twenty-two. At that age for the first Alpha son, I thought it'd only be wise that I took the leadership mantle from my father for three reasons. For one, I was of age and I think it was just right that my father gave me what was rightfully mine—the throne.
Secondly, my father was doing a shity job ruling the werewolves pack, which was populated by the white fur wolves… I mean I know how much could be realized if a white wolf was sold. Not to talk of selling about ten white wolves every fall.
Thirdly, I knew and felt it strongly in my bones that I was a born-ruler. Why wait for destiny to take it to cause when you can control your destiny. And yes, I wanted a fair share of all the very beautiful girls and female werewolves. Dad wouldn't let me and I know that if I was king nobody would dare go against my orders. I knew the girls would come running if I glanced their way.
It was mainly because of these three reasons I went to my dad, Alpha Lucas to ask him to step down from the throne…
"Father, I'd like to take responsibilities into my hands from this day onward," I said to Alpha Lucas in his throne room. He whipped his head my way like I was speaking a foreign language.
"Where did you sleep that made you wake up with a thoughtful head this morning?" He asked. His question made my blood boil but I tried my best to hold the steam from coming out.
"I slept in my room. The same room I slept in every other day" I replied to him.
"Oh… I see. So tell me. What part of the responsibilities do you want to take over.?" Father asked.
"The responsibility to rule the people," I said and he snapped his neck over to look at me.
"You might want to say That in a clearer and more understandable term," father said and scrunched up his nose. I knew deep down that he understood what I meant but the grumpy old man wouldn't just give me peace.
"I want to be king" I repeated, this time in a more active voice and a more confident stance.
"By king you mean Alpha?" Father asked and I nodded my head. And just like that, he laughed. He laughed so hard that tears began to roll down his eyes and he alerted other members of the throne room. His beta Jamieson came strolling into the throne room with a menial smile on his face.
"What's the laugh about my lord? I heard you cracking up from afar" Jamieson asked, taking his seat at the right-hand side of my father's seat—soon to be minded, though. I can't wait to shove his old goddamn ass off that chair. It's meant for people with brains.
"Tell him what you have just told me," my father said.
"I want to assume the throne as the Alpha. I think it's only right that I do so. I'm of age and I have what it takes truly the white fur wolves"
"Perhaps you are of age and maybe you have what it takes but your father is still on the throne. You'd have to wait for your time, young blood" Jamieson said.
"I want him to step down," I said, and two pairs of eyes ogled me like I was a lunatic. "I've been eyeing your leadership style for a while now and I must say that you are indeed doing a shity job. You rule as king and as Alpha but yet, no one of your subjects fears you. Hell, they don't even respect you. You are old and weak at heart and do not eligible to be called a ruler or to continue ruling and that is why I say you should gracefully step down so that I can assume the throne and correct all the mistakes and mess you made before it's too late"
"This is a taboo!" Jamieson snarled.
"I think that tiny piece of human flesh that just got out of your wife's womb is the real taboo, not me. You are just a beta, Jamie. I never asked for your contribution and neither was I talking to you" Jamieson's mouth was wide open after I made that statement. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his mouth could catch a bull if he widened it a little more. "I didn't ask for your contribution so just shut the fuck up! And…." I was cut off by my father's shout.
"Enough!" He yelled. "How dare you insult a member of my council like that?"
"I know you'd take his side. You've taken my side. Never! If only my mother didn't die, I'm sure she would be the one to make me feel loved because that is one of the many places you failed. You are not just a shity ruler but a bad father as well"
"Bless the goddess that your mother didn't live to see this day. It would have been a disaster for her. You would have been a nightmare to her. And I'm sure that wherever she is, her heart is ripping into pieces because of you" he turned to look at Jamieson who hadn't gotten over the shock of what I said to him.
"No one disrespects the goddess chosen one and goes free. It is a taboo you've committed Rick"
"Fuck you. Fuck the goddess. And fuck every member of your council! I want to be Alpha and that I'd be"
"Not under our watch. We won't let you take over the kingdom that took so many years and people to build" Beta Jamieson snapped "that would be over our dead body!"
"So be it. If you want to die, death you shall receive…."
"I hereby denounce you from being my son. From this day to the day that you die you'd be a wanderer. I'd rather be childless than harbor one who would bring the goddess's wrath upon my people. You are from this day onward, no longer my son…. Guards!"
I throw more carvings on the floor at the recollection. If only my father hadn't banished me from his kingdom.
If only the goddess didn't punish me and took away all my white wolf powers and abilities. I still remember the words of the priest to this day.
"Now, all your obstacles have been removed and you can assume the throne as the white wolf Alpha and make me your beta," Gulf, one of the rogue friends I made after my father banished me, said. We had just defeated and overthrown the white wolf pack. In a more active voice, I just killed my father and the rest of his leadership chambers with the help of my werewolves friends.
"Yes, my very good friend. And from this day onward you are no longer a rogue but the second in command in this great kingdom" it was in bliss if this new victory of mine that I shifted into my wolf form, but instead of the white-furred wolf I used to be, my fur was now a mixture of brown and black. With a rather short tail. I became alarmed and had Gulf summoned for the priest immediately. Later in the night, he came and after consulting the Oracle he said…
" The goddess is angry with you for destroying her home and has punished you accordingly by taking away all your white wolf powers. From this day on, you are a regular wolf. She had also laid a curse on your first son. He would be nothing worthy to be called a male wolf. And to the rest of your children, they will only search in vain for: for problems of the root they'd seek solutions in the branches and for problems of the branches they'd seek a solution in the sea"
If only Jason's wolf wasn't as small as it is…if only his wolf was capable of fighting I wouldn't be planning on taking a boy Alpha as Alpha Asher. I'd have faced him head-on as a king should.
But no, it isn't his fault. It is the goddess's fault for cursing a child who did no wrong. Indeed she is a wicked god and not fit to be called one.