Epilogue Part 1
Daniel POV
Kasa and I had to leave Charlie with Siobhan and Dermot, while we dealt with Eric and Landers. I didn’t like what we were doing, even if it had to be done. Our walk to the building they were keeping both Alphas was silent as we both contemplated our roles in what we were about to do. I hated leaving Charlie, but I didn’t want her to be apart of something so ugly and unnatural. As hard as she tried to understand, unless you are Lycan, you just can’t. The rank of Alpha isn’t just a role, it’s a birth right, a part of who you are, to take that from another wolf, without killing him, in my mind, is unforgivable. I knew Kasa was struggling too, but I could offer no words of comfort, and neither could he. We got to the door of a barn close to the rear of the remains of the cottage, neither of us ready to take the last step inside. We paused for a moment, each giving the other one last out, but neither of us took it, so with determination, and a lot of reservations, we pushed the door open and proceeded. As we entered the building, I saw Eric on the concrete floor, a small amount of hay the only comfort provided for him. He was bound by a spell, a circle of crystals around him, and three guards watching him, each ready to do whatever necessary to keep him contained. I looked around for Landers but he definitely wasn’t in the sparse room, seeing my unease, one of the guards approached me.
“The other Alpha has been kept... separate from this one. It was necessary.” He sheepishly said, and I could picture an irate Landers coming around and immediately trying to kill Eric. I nodded my understanding with a heavy sigh, and prepared myself to intervene should Landers try anything. I had just finished stretching out my neck when the door we had entered through opened. Hyacinth led two of Dermot’s daughters and Landers through, I noticed Landers wasn’t walking, but floating, his body seemed bound by something I couldn’t see. As they approached, he moved through a ray of weak light shining through a gap in the boarded windows, and I saw a pale pink mist, or shimmer, enveloping him like a blanket. There was also a carpet of green shimmers under and around his feet, it came up to his ankles, moving him where it wanted. His face was beet red with rage, his spittle was frothing as he tried to shift, and fight against the magic.
“Landers, stop.” I ordered, rushing towards him. “You are dangerously close to losing everything, going feral. You have to calm down, we are stripping him of his Alpha title, and then exchanging him for your family. Once he is back with the enemy, and we face them on the battlefield, you will have your revenge. Knowing your family is safe and well, and they will never have to live in the same world as that monster. I swear it brother, you will taste his blood soon.” I growled, my disgust at letting this foul being live clear for all to see.
“He hurt my boy!” Landers cried, broken and mad with anger.
“I know, and we will make him pay. But we need him alive to get your family back. Your mate, your son.” I pleaded, with him.
“Then don’t release me.” Landers spat, his grief still a raw nerve exposed for all to witness.
“Are you say you won’t perform the ritual?” Kasa asked, stepping closer.
“I’m saying, if you release me, for any reason, before he has been taken away. I’m going to kill him, slowly. It will be very messy.” Landers bit, his eyes wide and mad, like he could picture the whole thing, and knew exactly how he would kill Eric.
“He will remain bound until I release him.” Hyacinth nodded her agreement, leaving me speechless.
“You understand that makes it impossible for you to participate, and therefore legally the lands will be split between Daniel and myself? You will gain nothing.” Kasa asked him, ensuring he couldn’t argue ignorance later.
“I will gain my family, that’s all I want.” Landers sighed, defeated, but still fighting the magic with everything he had.
“Alright, Daniel?” He signalled me to join him. “More bleeding I’m afraid.” He said as he pulled out a knife and bowl. He sliced his left forearm and let the blood drip into the bowl for a few seconds, satisfied he pulled out a handkerchief and held it over the cut, as he handed the knife and bowl to me. I copied his actions, and when there was an equal amount of my blood in the bowl, I handed them back to him. He handed me a clean handkerchief and moved towards the magically bound Eric, stashing the knife in his waistband. “You have been accused of kidnapping, or aiding in the kidnapping of another Alpha's son. What say you Eric Whitehead of the Harvest Moon?” Kasa asked Eric, circling him like a predator.
“I did nothing of the sort.” Eric sneered; a malicious grin plastered over his face.
“Sir.” One of the guards handed Kasa a phone, before returning to his position. Kasa held it up to Eric's face, and it unlocked, thanks to the facial recognition feature.
“Thank you for unlocking this device. I won’t ask if its yours because you would lie, and the truth is obvious.” Kasa drawled as he searched through the phone. “Ah, here it is.” He adjusted the phone and turned the volume up, I heard it before I saw it. A female sobbing, begging them to stop hurting her pup, and the small whimpers of a child. Landers screamed in agony at hearing his family's pain, and I had to swallow my vomit when Kasa turned the screen for us all to see. The boy was chained to the ceiling, his legs dangling two foot off the ground. His shirt was torn, he had been whipped, and beaten, and he had soiled himself. At his feet, his mother's badly beaten face was sobbing, and begging them to stop. That’s when I saw the chains, they had bolted to the floor, and connected them to a collar around her neck, and both wrists. Keeping her face down, her arms stretched to either side of the room, the blood and piss dripping down his feet and into her hair as she struggled to move her knees underneath herself. The chain to her neck was an inch short of them touching, and she still struggled, trying in vain to make herself tall enough to touch her child. Landers openly wailed in fury and despair, howling for his mate and child. The only other noise was the soft sobbing of Dermot’s daughters, I wish they hadn’t seen that. Hyacinth was a block of ice, unmoving, not reacting, her facial expression one of cold indifference. “We find you guilty, your sentence as agreed by all parties present, will be carried out by myself, Alpha Kasa Hensley of the Sycamore Pack, and Alpha Daniel Summer of the Applewood Pack. You will be stripped of your rank of Alpha, you will be a rogue, and when word of your crime spreads, you will be turned away from every pack, everywhere. We will be handing you back to the vampires, in exchange for Landers family. If you cooperate.” Kasa added, menacingly.
“And if I don’t cooperate?” Eric sarcastically jeered.
“Then I will tell the vampires you betrayed them, told us everything, including, where they are holding Landers’ mate and pup.” Kasa showed Eric the phone again, which had all the information needed to track the location. “Of course, I won’t tell them all this until after I have sent an elite team of warriors to rescue the Luna and her pup.” Kasa added with a fake smile. “I wonder what they will do to you?” He asked, leaning into Eric’s space. “Or we could just let Landers out.” He laughed, before straightening. “Pick one now.” Kasa demanded, turning his back on his brother-in-law and standing beside me.
“I choose, neither.” Eric cackled madly.
“Gag him?” Kasa asked, me with a shrug. The truth was, we had sent a team to the location already, but we had kept that quiet until we had word they were back with the Luna and the boy. I nodded my approval, and one of the guards stepped forward and pulled out a role of duct tape.
“Fine, I’ll cooperate!” Eric squealed, as he tried to move away from the guard.
“Too late.” I nodded to the guard and he secured a strip over his mouth. Kasa, who had been typing furiously, gave me the nod, now was time for the show to begin.
“I suggest you unchained that mother and child immediately, then go get your superior. I would like to negotiate the exchange of our prisoners.” Kasa announced, loudly, before transferring the screen to a large monitor that had been set on some crates on the east wall. The background of the cell disappeared behind the face of what had to be a purebred vampire. His skin was eerily white, and almost plastic looking, it was unnerving, like he had no pores. His eyes were wrong, the whites were too white, while it appeared that he had no iris, just giant black pupils that felt like looking into a deep dark hole of despair. His hair was thin, and fell in whispers of white, that looked almost smoke like, to his shoulders, the collar of his pressed black dress shirt was the only other part of him visible.
“And who would you be? Ordering me around like I’m a stray dog. Are you a new doggy for me to play with?” He cackled, his smile allowing a flash of the whitest, sharpest teeth I had ever seen. “I don’t think you know who you’re talking to.” He sang, still chuckling to himself.
“I am Alpha Kasa Hensley, Alpha Daniel Summer, Hyacinth, Queen of the Witches, and Alpha Landers Jensen. And we demand that your prisoners be released, in exchange for Alpha Eric Whitehead.” Kasa calmly explained, turning the camera on Eric. The smile quickly disappeared from the vampire’s mouth.
“If you have him, he is of no use to me. A pack will never follow him now, kill him if you must, or we will eventually.” The vampire sighed, turning away from the camera. “Although, there is a deal to be made here.” He said returning to the camera. “Alpha Landers? In exchange for your family being returned to you, swear your allegiance to my lord and master, the King of the Vampires. And allow us to do with you pack as we see fit.” The vampire’s eyes widened excitedly. Every eye in the room shot to Landers, our collective breaths held as we froze, unsure of what to do. We had to keep the vampire talking, until the team had cleared the rest of the building, but Landers didn’t know that. I watched him, torn, like I said, being an Alpha is who you are, to sacrifice your pack for your mate goes against everything we are taught, but he couldn’t live without them. I saw Charlie’s face, bloodied and bruised, tear stained and begging, and I knew I would sacrifice anything to make it stop.
“That’s not a deal we can agree to. But who are you to be making deals?” I asked, buying some time and trying to prevent Landers doing something that would haunt him forever.
“You sound like a proud doggy.” The vampire jeered. “Are you an Alpha too?” He said in a voice you might use when speaking to a small child.
“I am Alpha Daniel Summer, of the Applewood Pack, and you are?” I asked, refusing to let him get to me.
“You may call me Asclepius.” The vampire grinned.
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