Chapter 18|The Epidemic.

....

FOUR YEARS AFTER THE FUTURE LUNA'S BIRTH.


Alexander De Luca stared at the vast area surrounding him in amazement, he did well to hide his expression but it radiated off him in waves that it could be read in his body language. At age 13 the future Alpha was proving to be courageous, much more courageous than boys his age. He took his studies and his training with all the seriousness his body and mine could cope with.

Alongside his father and grandfather, the three went on a tour to uncover and expose Alexander to the expanse of the territory the De Luca Pack covers. His wolf had already taken its rightful place in a part of his body and at 13 the young boy had shifted twice and fought against the pain that went with the process.

Unlike boys of his age he didn't made a sound when it did, he merely ground his teeth in a firm clench until he was familiar with the pain. Afterwards he took it upon himself to try the process again until his gradfather warned him not to exhaust his energy, that in due time he will grow more comfortable with the process and more attached to his other side.

Most werewolves shifted first at puberty around the age of 15 but for wolves with strong and royal lineage it was normal for one to find his wolf at a much younger age.

"One day all this will belong to you. One day you'll be aware of every single thing that happens from the farthest end to its opposite, you'll be apprised of every comings and goings, of every decision to be made. Do you think you'll be capable of carrying a burden so hefty? To be in charge of the whole enclave?" His Father asked kicking a stone off the cliff before them.

Alexander turned to his Father squinting his eyes in an appraising manner. "Is that what you take it for? As a burden?"

His Father smiled wisely and shook his head, "It is a burden unlike any other. But with the right people by your side it'll not be much of a burden, who stays with you is a critical choice to make, a very important one at that and not every person you see is worth trusting. No matter how close you are to a person do not put all your trust in him. It hurts less when you're expecting betrayal than not."

"Have you ever been betrayed?" Alexander asked speculatively.

"Countless of times." Enzo replied, his gaze distant.

"Every leader gets betrayed at a point or two or more in his life as one who leads others, some may wish to harm you while others loathe the idea of you breathing at all." Stephano added, thinking about his wife and how she was cruelly taken from his world.

He shook his head to get rid of the bitterness clogging his throat before adding, "No matter what you do though, never trust wolf-hunters, or rogues whatever you do. They are not our friends, they're our foe." Determination laced his tone.

Alexander nodded in understanding, he's heard the story of his grandmother first from his father then his grandfather himself before everyone in the pack told him bits they knew about her death and that of his mother's. When his friend Francis told him how his Father was said to have been broken when his mother died birthing him he concluded that he wasn't ever getting married, mate or not because he had no wish to comforming himself to such misery, to bear a loved one's loss. His other reason for not wishing to marry was because he had no wish to subject someone else to the pain his mom went through when giving birth to him only to end of losing her life.

There were days he felt guilty for being the cause of her death, days he wished she was still around even if he wouldn't be, days he wanted to soothe his Father's heartbreak by bringing him back his mate as Lucia was busy parading around the world to care for a single soul but hers.

His Father always took him to his mother's stone to tell her about his day or week, visiting her was part of his Enzo De Luca's daily routine.

"Let's head back, the clouds are turning a vicious shade of grey." Stephano suggested already turning to take the first step away from the cliff.

His two companions agreed and together they walked back to the Pack manor with comfortable silence around them. Alexander only voiced out questions he deemed fit for being heard, those he found ridiculous he stored them in his head to find out about them on his own some other time.

....

At the Bane Pack a brutal and venemous fever outbreak caused the death of over five humans and two wolves, a lot more including young children were bedridden. All the doctors from the Pack were busy treating the patients at the Pack hospital and the former Alpha's daughter, Samantha, was part of the team sent to the pediatric ward alongside her husband. The couple wore protective gears while treating the patients and to say it was hard for them to witness how children cried helplessly while others lay lifelessly and a few zipped into a bag to be taken to the morgue took away all semblance of energy they possessed was the greatest understatement of their lives.

The couple shared a lovely one-story house with white picket fence and a nice yard like an average couple's home. Their daughter, Isabelle was 4 years old and was also the pride of her grandfather Christopher. His son, Alpha Drake and Luna Angelina were yet to be parents so he devoted most of his time and energy to lavish his sole granddaughter with everything he had.

On the day the fever broke out Isabelle was with her grandfather learning all she could about werewolves. At a young age she was a petite but attentive beauty who wore pigtails and white ribbons all the time. She laid on his chest and slept sucking on her thumb as her grandfather ran circles over her back.

He smelled his son's agitation before the Alpha graced him with his presence. The grim expression on Alpha Drake's face made Christopher's tighten in apprehension for he knew whatever the news his son brought to him obviously wasn't great news.

"Father, they're more reports about the deaths caused by the fever and according to the team in charge of finding out its cause they say it's not natural, it was polluted into the air, how it was done we do not know but it's more dangerous to the humans we have here than the wolves."

Christopher's heart stopped at his son's frantic words.

"Have you heard from Samantha? She spent her whole day at the hospital." Christopher asked gently lowering the sleeping child in his arms unto the sofa he was previously reclining on.

"No, was Kane at the hospital too?" Alpha Drake asked.

Christopher nodded once and his son busted out of the room barking orders to the guards nearby to have his sister's house checked. When Christopher left his room, Isabelle was sleeping comfortably in it. He gave out orders to have all the unaffected humans stay under the safety of their homes before having a car take him to his daughter's house.

He braced himself for any outcome not wanting to put hopes in vain. First thing he saw were men in protective suits carrying his daughter into an ambulance while four more moved his son in law towards a separate car. He followed right after them until they were at the gates of the hospital that was taking care of the victims of the sudden epidemic.

Christopher reached in time to witness his son in law covered in white sheets while his daughter was being wheeled into an emergency room.

"What is happening here?" His heart was thundering profusely it felt too heavy in his chest.

"My Alpha, you shouldn't be here." A nurse came up bowing at him and ushering him away.

"What's wrong with Kane? Why was my daughter wheeled into the ER?" He growled.

The nurse shivered in her spot until she caught sight of the Alpha Drake who got out of the Doctor's office with the full report of what was going on. The enraged expression on his face told Christopher all he wanted to know.

He'd lost his daughter.

"Wh.."

"Kane's gone, it hit him bad." Drake worded out concisely.

Christopher's eyes shut close on their own accord as his son's words hit home. He'd lost his son in law. He wanted to inquire about his daughter but he felt tongue-tied.

"Samantha's alive, they got her pulse but her chance of survival is a fifty-fifty. I'm killing whoever the fuck is behind this conspiracy with my bare hands." Alpha Drake swore massaging his forehead. His jaw was clenched as hard as his fists, he felt an urge to smash his closed fist into the wall or into the face of the person who was behind the air pollution.

With his fists to the side, Alpha Drake took a vow he had every wish to fulfill; to find out who led to the death of several innocent Pack members and punish that person in the best way possible.