Chapter 2

    Zak’s POV

    “Alpha, may I have a word”. I am sweating a little, not sure if it was the right thing to bring a rogue in, well not after what happened to the town a year ago. Liam barely turns his focused head, “hmm”. He is a statue of a man. He is taller than me and I am at least six feet. Easily womps any of us at sparring and has muscles to prove it. Scars too. He has been in a few brawls, mainly to protect our town and pack. 

    I have known alpha since we were small boys and we have always been good friends. My father was his father’s beta. They were both murdered during the attack.  

    “Sir we came across a lone she-wolf in the far territory. She had been camping in a cave. I’m not quite sure how long she has been there but well… we”.... “You what?”. It wasn’t so much a question as a “finish your sentence so I can kill you”. This is it.. This is how I die. 

    He’s piercing into me now with his bright blue eyes. Even as his Beta, I still fear that stare. It’s blood curdling. “Beta. Answer me please”. I snap my eyes forward, “we brought her here for shelter and food”. “And you are sure she was alone?”. “Yes alpha, definitely alone.. And very scared. She has been rogue and alone for some time it appears”. “Very well. See to it that she’s shown to a room and given some food. I will come down to the kitchen and meet her”.

    Liam’s POV

     Ugh, a rogue? I detest rogues after what they did a year ago. Filthy, mangy mutts is what they are. “Feisty aren’t we”, my wolf Kalen retorts. “Well you don’t exactly like them either”. “Well, no, but at least it’s a she wolf. Maybe she’ll be a mate for someone”. A mate. I sigh at the thought of finding mine one day. 

    Our cold mountain town isn’t exactly enticing for new pack members and well, we haven’t exactly tried to find more. Our town was brutally attacked a year ago this coming Tuesday November 12th. My father, the alpha before I, took the main warriors on an annual hunt into the mountains. He felt it important that we know how to kill for food if necessary. Why I’m not sure considering he was a self made billionaire but he enjoyed that sort of thing. 

    We were just honing in on an elk when my dad’s chest practically ripped from his body. Watching him contort in agony was terrifying and heart wrenching. I didn’t know what was happening until he mind linked “Alice” and took off like a bat out of hell. Alice was my elder sister. I had one younger too but she was away for school. 

    As we raced home, the smell of smoke and fire burned the air and our nostrils. There were screams, people and wolves fleeing in every direction. I stopped dead in my tracks, having no clue where to begin. Dad was racing for our family home so I took his heels. What I saw next, I was not prepared for. 

    My mother, Grace, was standing over Alice’s body with a menacing stance. There were several male wolves trying to pry the body away. Without a thought, my father’s wolf, Bellow, rammed them all from the side and linked for me to get my mother and sister out. I beckoned for my mom and I gently grabbed Alice's body in my mouth and we ran as fast as we could. I wanted to get her to safety but half of me was raging at not being able to help my father.

    There was an old castle ruin outside our town that we had modernized and turned into a safe haven should we need one. Tonight was that time. Shifting, I enter the codes to get into the safe house and carry Alice inside. No pulse. She had been dead since before we arrived. Mom drops to her knees, grabbing Alice in her arms and screaming. 

    I didn’t want to leave her like this. She must have known my internal struggle when she turned to me and said “you go kill every last one of those bastards”. I took heed at her words and ran as fast as I could. I was too late. There were too many and they had managed to corner my father. Howling to the sky, several of my warrior brothers flank me and we in turn corner them. 

   A few managed to escape but we ripped the rest to pieces. Shifting, I ran over to my father who was barely breathing. “Are they safe son?”. Tears rolling down my face, “yes they are. You can’t leave me dad, not yet. Please”. “You know all you need to take my place as Alpha. I’m proud of you Liam”. And with that, he choked out his last breath and lay limp. The largest howl I could muster rang out. All of the wolves that were still near, chiming in. Recognizing the death of our alpha.

    Me and several other men, lifted my father and took him to the safe house for my mother to say her goodbyes. We scoured the remains for survivors but could barely find a child or woman in sight. Until my gut dropped when I realized there was one large wooden building in town- the packhouse. I mind linked the other men and we raced towards the building to find it blazing and falling down. On the door were chains, holding the doors shut. Grabbing all the hoses we could find, we attempted to quell the fire. 

    There were no sounds, no screams but we all knew what had happened. Using a bolt cutter to remove the chain, the doors fall open with a heap of ash on top of it. There were rings and bracelets in the ash. You could make out a few bodies and skeletons but they were all… dead. Several of the men puked at the site. Most of us howled in anguish and horror. All mates were lost that night, their children, families. We were all that was left.

    Most of our town had been built with stone and brick in the middle ages but the roofs and other materials were gone. By the middle of the night the fires had run out of things to burn and came to a halt. 

   After holding a proper alpha’s ceremony for my father, sister and all of those that were lost that night, we gathered who we had and made a plan to rebuild. It took quite some time but we were able to bring in contractors to clear the rubble and build a stone wall around the town. The new packhouse was stone and stood like a rock on the hill. All homes were metal and stone from then on. No expense was spared to rebuild enough homes for the remaining members. Grace mourned for what seemed like eternity for my father and sister. “Life must go on Liam”, she finally told me. And so it did.