Chapter 5 - The war was over ... or was it just beginning.

Alison

My life instantly changed the moment I found my father. Or at least, the moment that Ralph found me. I would never give Spenser any of the credit. He might have been the one who started the ball rolling for me to end up where Ralph could find me, but he didn’t do it because he was trying to help. Spenser rejected me without a second thought! The pain was slowly subsiding.

I had to credit my dad, Ralph and the pack for that. They were nothing like I thought they would be. They were nothing like the people in the kingdom thought. I had heard stories over the years, but it was all hearsay. Very few people who actually saw what was going on beyond our borders spoke about it. I very quickly figured out that it was the king’s way of making sure that his people wouldn’t leave his kingdom.

“Okay, so you started this war because you believed he kidnapped me or, worse, that he had me killed?” I frowned at my dad who had been telling me their side of the story. I had been there a couple of days, and we were slowly figuring out exactly what happened. Or the parts we knew about.

“I wanted you back. Things got really bad after your mother died.” My dad looked broken for a moment and I reached out and took his hand in mine. I could only imagine the pain he had gone through.

“And you think he wanted me killed, but that his warrior went against his wishes?” I frowned and Ralph nodded.

“I’ve had some of our spies asking around, and it seems that way, but like with everything else in that kingdom, they can’t say for sure. I guess we will never know.” Ralph shrugged and I kept frowning. It all made sense though, even if we didn’t have all the facts.

“I’ve called all of our warriors’ home for the celebration, but they will have to go out and fight again soon. We have to win this once and for all. Now that we have you back, I can prove that they took you.” My father growled.

“Dad, I know we haven’t spent much time together yet, and you don’t really know me that well, but I think you should hold back on that order.” I wanted to lead our armies when we took down the king and his henchmen. I wanted to be at the front of our army when we destroyed Spenser and his pack! I knew I was being emotional about it, but I didn’t care.

I wanted to see the look in his eyes when he found out who I really was! Then I wanted to watch that light in his eyes die as his life left him! My hatred for Spenser had grown by leaps and bounds with each passing moment over the past couple of days. We hadn’t figured out why I didn’t win the rank trials. I was a royal after all, but I was sure it had something to do with my lack of proper training.

I wanted my dad to train me. This would be my final rank trail. I would lead our army and destroy all their so-called-ranked wolves as payback for the life their king stole from me! It took some convincing, but in the end my dad agreed. We were going to lull them into a false sense of security. We were going to withdraw all of our warriors and make sure that if they had spies in our kingdom, the spies would have nothing to report.

As soon as those bastards got too comfortable, we would strike! I would strike back! I wanted to win this war not just for myself, but for my dad and for my mom who was no longer there.

Spenser

It was truly infuriating! The fact that I couldn’t get her out of my damn mind at a time when I needed it most to think clearly, as well as the fact that the rogues had mysteriously disappeared! My scouts kept coming back with the same information. Their kingdom was deserted, and the rogues were gone. They didn’t die because there would have been some sign of that.

They all just picked up and left! Something deep inside me told me that wasn’t true, but that was the way it looked. My scouts even followed Alison’s trail, but her scent stopped near the river and there was no sign that she had gone anywhere from there. What made things even more difficult was that the unclaimed territories were wild. They were covered in the scents of all sorts of creatures.

My only hope was that they were still in their kingdom, but now that it had been deserted, I finally had to admit it. The war was over! I couldn’t believe it myself at first and took a couple of days just to make sure before I informed the king. I was sure that he wouldn’t believe it either, but once I presented him with the proof, he would have no alternative but to believe me. The war was finally over. After eighteen years, we could actually live in peace. Which kind of made me feel uneasy.

I had no idea how to live in peace. I became alpha after the war started. I have not spent one day living a normal life since the moment I became Alpha. A week after I heard that the rogues had deserted their kingdom, I finally left to see the king. The conversation was as difficult as I thought it would be. He didn’t believe me even after I presented him with the proof. It took a couple of days of meetings before he finally sent out the order and the people celebrated in the streets.

We won! The war was over! I could take a mate and have a family. I could go out for a run without having to worry that our pack was going to be attacked! I could do all these things! It felt really strange to finally be free! We had been fighting for it for so long.