To be the seed of a tyrant

LYDIA

“Alpha Alexios is demanding another set of fifty tributes, Luna Alaska.” An elder informed my mother. The distress in his tone was very much there so much so that even my dull brain could read the room. “What should we do?” The elder asked. “If we do so much as step on his toes, the rose pack will render us out of existence.”

“Give me time.” My mother pleaded with the elder speaking. “I will come up with something.”

The room grew tense from my mother’s statement. I could see it in the eyes of elders that sat on the round table. None of them supported us. The only reason they were here being rational was simply because the matter of the tributes ensured their survival. No soul in the room tried to hide the scowl on their faces. Those cowards! They had never put this much energy into any despicable thing my father, the late Alpha of the nightshade pack did. Now that he was gone, we had lost the respect of our pack. They saw us as the source of their misery and there was no hiding it at this dire moment.

“Except time is something we do not currently have!” Another elder screamed. “We either send the tribute out tonight or prepare for a war we will lose.”

“Then war it is!” My mother returned with an energy just as vile. “It is not like we can give the Rose pack a literal child.”

An elder scoffed at my mother’s statement. Cracking his fingers, he proceeded to speak. “I find it funny that you have not placed your daughter in that equation. We have sacrificed many daughters of this pack because of your husband’s sins. It is only fair that the daughter suffers for the sins of the father.”

“How dare you?” My mother slammed the table. “Lydia is the future Luna of the nightshade. Don’t you forget that!”

“And who will she lead when we all bite the dust?” That same elder retorted with a snarky laugh. Others around us seemed to agree with him. “We all know what Alpha Alexios wants.”

“Me?” I chipped in.

“Alexios wants your entire family. It is what this is, little Luna. He is picking us out until the inevitable happens. An excuse to destroy both you and our pack.” The elder cornflower blue eyes sparkled with contempt. “But as an elder of this pack, these dire times have reminded me that my loyalties are not with the Alpha or Luna of this pack but the pack itself, and when push does come to shove little Luna, we will choose the pack.”

I spared a look at my mother. My people were beginning to frighten me. The glass of crimson red wine in front of me seemed to be my only solace. My fingers clasped around the glass as I slowly tipped the edge towards my mouth. My senses were stimulated by the cold sweet-sour taste. My mother did the same thing. She was strong. She refused to buy into their tactics. In my mother’s eyes, our people were speaking out of fear. I knew what fear did to people. Alpha Alexios had ravaged my pack out of fear. My father had been a tyrant prior to his defeat. Alexios did not just pick our pack out of random chance. My late father had stormed the Rose pack a few years back and committed mass genocide. One that lead to the brutal murder of Alexios’s father. It was merely generational trauma. Alexios was probably doing this to destabilize us so we could not retaliate. I barely knew the man but I dare say he was a calculative bastard.

Luna Alaska dropped her glass on the table and looked at the spiteful elder with easy eyes. “It should not come to that. We should not give the Rose pack what they want. We are nothing without blind loyalty and complete trust in ourselves. I promise you tonight as Luna of the Nightshade, we will survive this.”

That creepy elder smiled. One would think I would relate his smile to the inspiring speech my mother just gave but there was something unnerving about his mood shift. It made me think of horrible things. It was a gut feeling. A chill that my wolf sent my way and my wolf was never wrong. My fear spiked and my gaze traveled across the room. The elder was the only individual with such a look on his face. The rest looked crestfallen. They had their faces down. Like children who had committed a nefarious act and felt guilty afterward. The elder’s eyes flicked back and forth. He seemed to enjoy the perturbed look he saw on my face. “Trust me Alaska,” He began. “We don’t need any of your empty promises to know that we will survive this.”

He didn’t refer to my mother’s title. I was not the brightest but that subtle omission spoke volumes. I turned to my mother. She kept all her attention on the elder who could at that moment be staging a coup. Her face remained stoic but as my eyes wandered around her body. I observed her hands squeezed at her gown aggressively. Mother was afraid.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Mother demanded, trying her hardest to remain relatively calm.

“It means no longer will the Nightshade suffer for the sins of your husband. Alexios Rose will let our pack be if your family seizes to exist so we will be doing Alexios’s dirty work for him.”

A tear cascaded down my mother’s cheek. At the sardonic twist of her lips, she spoke. “You poisoned us. Didn’t you?”

I let out a startled gasp and looked farther to my mother’s side. My mother’s wine taster had a white handkerchief to her mouth the whole time. The white cloth was stained crimson. I looked back at the circle of Elders and immediately caught something that had completely slipped by me. The elders. All of them barely touched their glass. Imagine the horror that washed over my soul when I looked down at my glass and realized it was near empty. We were about to die.

“We are not monsters Alaska. We know how dangerous a mother’s love can be. That is why we poisoned you but be rest assured that Lydia will live. All we spiked her drink with sleeping pills.”

My mother turned in my direction. Her nose bled as she tried to speak. “Lydia , Run!”

I listened. I dropped everything and ran. Behind me, I heard the elders order the sentinels around to go after me. They gave me a chase but I pushed harder. I darted to the side across the corner but I was not quick enough. Sentinels were trained soldiers, it took absolutely nothing for one’s beefy arm to whisk around my waist.

“Gotcha!” He said with victory intoned in his voice.

“Let me go!” I shrieked. Panic flooded my spirit and like a wolf with its tail beneath its legs, I clawed at the man. He did not even budge. With each attack, I felt heat build up within me. My eyes lost focus, blurring the world in front of me and my head sunk as if it were heavy. There and then, I realize I had lost. I was gone and soon enough, all that remained was pitch black darkness.