Lacee's Howl

“That doesn’t make any sense.” She shook her head. “I’m not...a werewolf.”

“Yes, you are. We know one another. Sure, your scent is faint, but it’s there. It will always be there. Being with our packs and running the moon makes our presence stronger. You don’t have family? A pack? Who are your parents? What is your name?”

So many questions were flying her way, but her head was spinning. Werewolf? Seriously? That was the most absurd thing she’s ever heard, yet her body was overwhelmed with a sudden sense that she knew this man was telling her the truth. Plus, a memory from when she was a child kept replaying in her head.

She couldn’t remember a lot about her childhood with her mother, but she did have a blurry memory of waking up one night and seeing her mother walk naked towards the woods, the moonlight illuminating her bad body. What came next, she had chalked up to a child’s imagination all these years. It seemed as though her mother had turned into a wolf and ran into the woods. Over the years she had shaken that memory away, believing it was only a dream or her young mind seeing things.

“Your name?” He asked her again.

“Lacee. It’s Lacee Evans.” She put out her hand awkwardly and he leaned in and kissed her cheek instead. She fluttered between her legs as a burst of heat rushed over her.

“My name is Rinc Blackrock.” He told her. “The Alpha of this land’s pack.”

Lacee had seen enough movies and shows to know what an alpha was, but this still all seemed surreal.

“How have your parents never shown you the ways of the pack? How did you survive all these years without knowing?” He seemed genuinely concerned. “Our people are very careful about keeping track of our kin.”

“My mother died when I was seven, and I’ve never known my father.” She explained. “If my mother knew, she never filled me in.”

“Hmm.” He pondered for a moment. “Well, you’re lucky no one has ever harmed you before now for being in their territory.”

Lacee thought of her sister all alone back at the apartment and her stomach sank.

“I have to go.” She jumped to her feet.

“Wait, we have a punishment to hand down.” He took her by the arm and led her out the door.

Lacee knew that the logical thing for anyone to do after all she had just been through would be to run and get the hell away from all these people, but this man around her made her leave all logic behind just by the touch of skin on hers.

A few of her co-workers, including Dan, watched as she walked by with Rinc. Lacee turned away from Dan’s glare. Dan stood dumbfounded in front of the door for a moment as they approached.

“Get the fuck out of the way.” Rinc demanded. Dan snapped out of his shock and hurried aside for them to pass as Rinc opened the door for Lacee to go through first.

“I really should get home.” Lacee tried to tell him.

“We’ll get to that. Now, let’s go deal with Walt.” He led her around the back of the building and down a hill. It was dark, but she could see a barn ahead of them next to a lake. “I know what you are about to see is going to be hard, but it is necessary for our pack.”

“What’s going to happen?” She asked, but Lacee didn’t need him to say the words, she knew what was likely going to happen.

The Alpha grabbed her and pulled her lips to his. His kiss was rough, and his tongue was warm, but the passion was stronger than anything she’d ever felt in her life. Her hand grabbed his neck and she leaned into him, feeling him harden against her body. She never wanted to part from him.

A cough interrupted them, and Rinc gave a low growl to whoever it was.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I wanted to warn you that your father is here as well.” The man told Rinc.

“Good. Daron, this is Lacee. Lacee, this is my Beta, Daron.” Rinc introduced them. “Now, Daron, guard her with your life while I finish this.”

Daron came beside Lacee and she recognized him as the man that showed up with Rinc earlier and dragged Walt away. Rinc went into the barn, and she heard the people inside cheer and howl.

“What’s going to happen?” Lacee asked Daron.

“They’re going to battle to the death,” he said casually. She gasped, even though it was what she had known deep inside. “Don’t worry. It won’t be much of a fight. Walt is a great fighter, but nothing like our Alpha.”

“Shouldn’t you go in and protect him, in case?” She questioned. “Aren’t you his Beta? Isn’t it your job to have his back?”

“He wants you protected.”

“Then he should’ve let me go home, not lead me down here to this bloodbath.” Lacee headed into the barn, even though Daron suggested they stay outside.

Rinc and Walt were in the middle of the barn, pacing in circles around each other. Around them, dozens of men and women, even a few children, watched with excitement and thrill. Some were up top in the loft of the barn, some were standing in a crown around the two men as they were readying to fight.

“He’s choosing that bitch right there, over a member of his own pack!” Walt suddenly yelled out as he pointed at Lacee. “I’ve been a member of this pack for over fifty years, and this feral whore wanders on our territory, now I’m being punished? Kane, you would allow your son to do this? I served you loyally all those years!”

An older man with hair long and black like Rinc stood up.

“My son is your Alpha now. You were to obey his laws. Walt, you brought this on yourself.” Kane told him. The man nodded at Rinc and I could see the huge resemblance the father and son had.

Many of the members in the barn were now looking at Lacee as though she were an enemy. Daron pulled her behind him and closer to the wall.

“We need to go.” Daron warned her.

“Not without him.” Lacee was surprised by the words as they left her own lips. Why should she stick around in harms way?

“No one touches her!” Rinc screamed the words so loud that it seemed to rattle the old lumber of the barn. His pack seemed terrified, and most turned their eyes away from her and back to Walt.

Walt took advantage of the moment and lunged at Rinc. But the Alpha was too fast and strong for the weaker man. He grabbed Walt and pounded three punches to the side of his head. Walt stumbled to the ground and the crowd roared with excitement for the blood. Lacee peeked around Daron, watching the Alpha beat the man with ease, but just as it seemed the fight was quickly coming to an end, two of the men that had grabbed her earlier jumped on top of Rinc, joining in the fight.

Lacee cried out. But just as fast as the two betrayers had jumped in, Daron and Kane joined the fight as well. The fight was fair again, as the Alpha, his father, and his Beta fought the three men. She had never seen anything like it. Of course, she had watched MMA fights and boxing matches, but this was a different scene. This was a killing. This was like animals in the wild fighting to the death and she knew that at least three of the six men would not be making it out of the barn alive.

Suddenly, a woman ran at her, the look of murder across her face. Lacee clinched her fist, but from the side another person tackled the woman and began slamming the attackers head into the dirty ground. The person that had saved her from the attack was the beautiful, bronzed woman from earlier, Victoria.

Lacee watched in horror as Victoria smashed the woman’s head one too many times and the sound of her skull cracking in half was the only thing that stopped her from continuing. Victoria stood up; blood splattered over her otherwise perfect face. She was about to thank her, when the beautiful woman disappeared into the crowd again.

“Rinc.” Lacee went back to the fight in time to see the Alpha rip Walt’s throat out with his bare hands and drop the man’s lifeless body to the floor.

Beside him, Kane and Daron each finished off the men they were fighting as well, leaving the bodies bloodied and defeated on the cold barn floor beneath them. The Alpha began to howl up at the sky, and his people all followed him in a tribe-like chanting of animalistic howls.

“I am your Alpha!” He screamed out as he smeared the dead man’s blood across his own face. “If you disobey me, I will wear your blood beneath the moon!”

The pack howled around him so loudly that Lacee could feel their rhythm pounding amongst her heartbeat. To her own horror, a howl left her lips, and she covered her mouth with her own hands, shocked at her participation in this celebration.