3

Alpha' King's Throneroom.

Seated on the obsidian throne with golden wolf statues for armrests was a tall man wearing a black creepy wolf mask that covered most parts of his face, excluding his eyes that emitted coldness. His aura was suffocating to those in the throne room. Everyone bowed their heads, trying hard not to tremble before the scary figure, except for the seven men at the entrance of the throne room. 

These seven men were not wearing masks but their stony looks added to the tension of the other perspiring ten men who were the elders of the pack.

A few minutes later, Alpha Frederick entered, followed by his Beta, Delta and Gamma. They didn't accompany him all the way, instead they joined the elders and bowed their heads.

Alpha Frederick saw the arrogant figure seated on his throne. As much as he hated it, there was nothing he could do about it.

He adopted a phoney smile and greeted the Lycan King, "Greeting, Your Majesty. May you live long. What brings you to my shack? You didn't inform us. I kind of feel ashamed to meet you like this without any gifts prepared. Please, forgive me, Your Majesty."

Minutes passed but there was no reply from the man on the throne. Instead, the atmosphere got more tense and Alpha Frederick began to sweat.

"Kneel," the Lycan King finally said and Alpha Frederick along with the other 13 people immediately dropped to their knees.

"You know why I ask you to kneel, Frederick?"

"I..." the Alpha was finding it difficult to breathe. It was as if the oxygen in this room was disappearing at a fast rate.

"I... don't... know," he managed to say, resisting the urge to clutch his neck.

"You ask why I didn't inform you of my visit. Since when were you, a nameless fly, worthy of knowing? And you're so proud that you didn't kneel the moment you entered this room."

"Please... forgive me... Your Majesty," the Alpha pleaded with difficulty.

"I'll forgive you only if you kill all the men in here. I want to talk to you alone,"

Hearing this, the Alpha began to bang his head on the floor, along with the others who looked extremely frightened.

"Please have mercy, Your Supreme Majesty," they pleaded.

"I can't do that to my people," Alpha Frederick beseeched.

"It is true then. You're a spineless coward. I wonder how you remained Alpha for this long. I think I should wipe out the Grey Moon pack,"

"N-No, please. I'll do anything you want other than killing my people," the Alpha begged.

"Oh? If you don't want to kill your people, then just choose just one of them and show his head to me. You have five seconds to do that. Starting now,"

Immediately, the Alpha sprang to his feet, his fingers lengthened and became very sharp.

Seeing that the Alpha was bent on carrying out the Lycan King's order, many of them began to retreat, except the Beta.

He had a smile on his face, "It's fine if you take mine. As long as everyone survives," he said in a low voice.

However, the Alpha walked past him and swiped his claws twice. In seconds, he went back to the Lycan King, holding two heads- that of the Gamma and Delta.

"Oh? You killed one more?" the Lycan sounded amused.

"They are a disgrace to their position. They need not see the light of day," Alpha Frederick said, trying his best to maintain a calm look.

"Well, your Beta shouldn't be spared then, he asked for death and you skipped him. Isn't that partial?"

"You..." As much as he'd like to talk back to the vicious Lycan, Alpha Frederick knew better. Talking back meant the Grey Moon Pack would exist no more. He could only put up with this devil for now. "Your Majesty, our motto is courage but these two who should show a good example fell back upon hearing your order."

"Your motto is courage you say,"

"Yes, my king," Alpha Frederick's hands were slightly trembling at this juncture.

"Your Beta was courageous and wanted to die. Why did you spare him? An Alpha doesn't just need to be ruthless for the sake of greater benefits. He also needs to be kind. Drop those heads you're holding and go help out your Beta. Send him to hell, he'll never forget your kindness,"

Alpha Frederick's hands began to quiver so much that he dropped the two heads.

"I don't have all day, Frederick. You have only five seconds," the Lycan said in a bored tone.

"H-How about..."

"If you treasure your Beta that much, just kill off the others," the Lycan's heartless words spelt doom for the others.

"Alpha, please don't kill us,"

"Alpha, please don't be partial anymore."

"How will you explain to our families?"

"Alpha, spare our lives, I beg you,"

"Alpha, I've served your father for years and then you. I've been loyal. Spare me!"

The ten elders started retreating as they frantically pleaded.

"Spineless cowards!" the Alpha king spat with clenched teeth as he advanced.

"Alpha, it's okay. Please, just take my life," said the Beta with a resolute look.

But the Alpha had already decided. He charged at the ten elders with lengthened, sharp nails and swiped several times. There was no more cry from the frightened elders. Each of them now had to deep cut on the neck and one by one they fell to the floor, lifeless.

The Alpha headed back to where he was standing previously and went down to his knees, "Your Majesty, I have... done as you said,"

"Ah, friendship! You're willing to kill everyone just for him. I'm beginning to suspect that you're more than friends. Probably behind closed doors, away from everyone's eyes including that of your women, you two secretly do each other?" the Lycan asked in amusement.

"No, that's not true, Your Majesty," the Beta quickly disputed.

The atmosphere became more suffocating as the Lycan King rose from the throne, "Are you calling me a liar, you clod?"

"No, my king," the Beta said, fear deeply etched on his face. "Please, forgive me for offending you,"

"It's okay, I forgive you,"

"Thank you, Your Majesty," the two friends said in unison.

"So, who amongst you is the bottom?"

The friends looked at each other, not knowing how to answer this psycho of a Lycan. If only they were strong enough to cut him to pieces!

"Alpha Frederick, are you the bottom?"

"He is," the Beta replied since the Alpha was hesitating.

"I see. Does he moan well?"

The Beta looked at his friend who had an ugly expression but still went ahead to reply, "Yes, my king,"

"Okay then. You two can stand up," the Lycan sat on the throne again and crossed his legs.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," the two friends said in sync.

"Alright, you said you regret not preparing any gifts to welcome my visit. Don't be bothered. Just hand me the moonstone on your neck,"

"That..." Alpha Frederick wore a look of deep reluctance.

The moonstone pendant he often wore served as a power booster to him during rogue attacks and also made the pack's shifting into their wolf forms almost painless, even for first-timers. And now, this despicable man wanted to take it away?

"George," the Lycan king called.

One of the seven ripped men at the entrance with black hair and a long scar on his face answered, "My King!"

"You and your men, slaughter every soul in this pack, not even a fly should be spared,"

"Yes, My King!" Yelled George.

"No," Alpha Frederick fell to his knees, "Please, don't kill them. I'll give it, I'll give it!" he pleaded.

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! You like upsetting me, why?"

"I'm sorry. Please have mercy on us," the Alpha quickly took off the moonstone pendant.

The pendant flew from his hand to the Lycan. He wasn't that surprised, it was rumoured that those of Lycan bloodline have special abilities in addition to great strength.

The Lycan King rose from the throne and descended the stairs. Reaching where the trembling Alpha King was, he sneered before heading towards his men.

"Let's leave. We have other nice places to visit," he said cheerfully to his men. With a flick of George's hand, a portal appeared and all of them entered, then it vanished.

It was as if the Lycans were never there. But there was much evidence in the throne room. Out of 14 people, only the two friends survived.

That day, the thousands of pack members mourned the deaths of the 12 men who were allegedly slaughtered by the psycho Lycan King.

Meanwhile, on the Alpha's orders, Xylia after being beaten to the point of keeling over, was put in a sack and thrown into a lake in the woods that was half a day's journey from Grey Moon pack.

The assigned guard quickly made his way back to the pack and reported to the Alpha that the mission was successful. However, that did nothing to cheer him up. The images of his frightened elders and that of the Gamma and Delta kept playing in his head.

"I'm a murderer," he kept repeating in his head.

"Alpha, may I..."

"Get out, you mutt!" the angered ruler growled, startling the guard who immediately left.

Alpha Frederick hit the desk without restraint and it immediately got ruined. Still, that wasn't enough. He rose and started throwing things.

"Alpha..." The worried Beta who had just come in called out softly to him.

"You too, get lost. Just... go away. I want to be alone,"

"Okay," Baron turned to leave with a defeated sigh.

"Kyle Norman, what you did today, I won't forget it. Even if I die in the end, as long as I can get rid of you and all your despicable kin, it'll be worth it! Curse you, Lycan King!" he growled, punching a hole through the wall.

"No, I need to go for a run, right now," he muttered to himself, quickly stripping and crouching. His bones began to snap and crack as he shifted. Unlike before, shifting this time was very painful as there was the absence of the moon pendant on his neck. It would also be the same for everyone in this pack.

Alpha Frederick's resentment reached new heights with every bolt of pain that coursed through his body as he shifted.

Minutes later, after enduring the agonizing pain of shifting into his wolf form, he let out a terrifying howl before scaling the window and heading for the forest.

***

Meanwhile, a portal suddenly opened at the stream where Xylia was. A tall man with shoulder-length silver hair and grey eyes stepped out and surveyed the area, holding a glowing red gemstone in hand.

"The stone's bright glow shows that she's here, but where exactly is she?" he muttered in puzzlement.

His gaze suddenly fixed on the water, and he stretched out his hand at the water body. Immediately, the water rose high and soon he saw a huge sack.

He caused it to fly out of the water towards him and then let the water fall back in place. Subsequently, he let the sack drop gently on the ground and stooped to untie it.

He gently brought out the unclad figure inside and frowned. Every visible part of her body was filled with degrees of injuries and burns; Her face was unrecognizable even.

He took off his long coat and covered the unconscious female with it.

"Who dared to do this?" his voice was laden with great anger. His exuding aura turned chilly and the lake was getting frozen bit by bit. The figure in his arms seemed to shiver and he quickly retracted his aura.

"Sorry, my dear," he soothed, stroking her hair, "Hold on for me, okay? I finally found you after all these years. I won't let you die," with that, he rose with Xylia scooped in his arms. Then he rushed into the portal which immediately closed up. The lake immediately returned to normal.