6. A COWARDLY ESCAPE

Kai

My armor felt heavier than it looked.

It was heavy enough to make my shoulder blades hurt even before battle. I admired myself in the mirror watching how its silver plates were laced with runic wards, the leather as thick as a wolf’s hide, a breast plate etched with the Oak Claw’s crest.

Nana buckled the last strap to my hip and took a few steps back looking me all over like I was still a kid in a Halloween costume.

“ Turn,” she ordered.

I did. The mail clinked, and suddenly I felt the weight settle, grounding me well. Beneath it, my pulse was drumming uncontrollably.

“Ahh… still fits,” she sighed admiringly tugging a pauldron. “ Good thing I made the seams loose. You’ve bulked up since last winter.”

I huffed a humorless laugh with no intention of replying to her remark.

“ How are you feeling my boy? Ready for the war?,” she finally asked, her eyes softening with concern as she tried to see through me.

“ I’m so angry, Nana. Viktor crossed the line totally this time.”

“ Come on, son. Don't let the anger engulf you.”

“Too late.” My words scraped out raw from the pain of remembering everything Viktor and his pack had put my pack and me through. They’d taken everything…. My mother, my father’s old self, and half of our territory.

I was going to make it my duty tonight to carve a couple of lessons into their stupid hides: Hurt an Oak Claw, pay in blood. I wanted my Nana watching from the ridge, I wanted my pack to celebrate after this. In fact, I wanted more than anything to make sure every reckless traitor never failed to remember who ruled this wolf kingdom long after the last howls died.

Nana’s fingers brushed my cheek, her soft touch soothing my angry soul. “ Did you get feedback from your father on whether he’s coming? I haven’t heard or seen him anywhere at all?”

Her question ruined my entire mood. Now why would she pick this time to remind me of this coward of a man?

“ He’s not coming, Nana. He’s nothing but a coward who won’t show his face after running tail behind legs years ago. You even choosing to bring him up is bad luck.”

Her eyes flashed with cautious anger. “ Be careful with the way you speak about your father, Kai. Whether you like it or not, he’s still your blood and the man who brought you into existence.”

“ But he left us, Nana. He left me. He didn’t even care to know if I’d be okay or not. You had to step in as my guardian… something even he didn’t have the balls to do.”

“ Kai… ”

“ I should never have listened to you and invited him, anyway. It was a complete waste of ink for a spineless wolf who won’t even fight for his pack and son.”

That did it.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between us… thick, heavy, and suffocating. I expected Nana to swing something at me or to give me a sound scolding but all she did was stare with eyes glistening between hurt and composure.

The door suddenly opened.

Cephas stepped in, half-armed, his dark blond hair tied back, and his hazel eyes sharp with battle readiness.

Cephas was not only my beta but my best friend and confidant.

He’d always been the one to stand behind me, pulling me out of every dark spiral from when we were little boys training together till now. He never questioned my authority once, and the respect he showed me made me regard him more.

With him on my side, I knew the battle was already going to be won.

“ Everything is set, Alpha. The scouts are back and Viktor’s camp is already where we figured it’d be. The ridge line. We strike at moonrise and there’s no way they’ll see us coming.”

I nodded with approval, grateful for the interruption.

My beta’s eyes flicked from me to her and then back to me. “ We’re going to bloody them all. Quick and clean. For the pride and dignity of our pack.

For my mother, I silently thought but didn’t voice out.

“ Go then,” Nana finally spoke. “Both of you. I wish you the best of luck. Come back victorious and make me proud.”

“ Sure, Nana.”

She turned away.

I watched her step out of the room with her small shoulders squared. I knew she was disappointed that my cowardly father didn’t show up. I felt bad that after all these years, she still felt he’d come back to us.

That man was gone. And there was no way I’d even allow such an incompetent man to come back. I didn’t care that he was my father.

He was completely dead to me.

*

The battle was brutal. The ancient forest reeked of pine and iron, the ground already soaking up the blood from the dead and injured. My pack (though a few were hurt) was still tearing through our enemies. Rumpled furs were visible under the moonlight, claws raking against the flesh as they dropped to the ground like felled trees.

Cephas was on my right, viciously taking down two rogue wolves who attempted to ambush us.

I looked around in satisfaction, everything was going according to plan. Now all I had to do was move through the chaos and find that jerk: Viktor.

There he stood at the center of the battlefield, already shifted with his yellow eyes blazing. He stood there blood thirsty with the madness of a wicked beast who was ready to take down an Alpha and get complete control. Obviously, it had been his goal all along–his father’s goal, which had been passed on to fulfill in his honor.

“ Come on here, little pup!,” his voice rasped,“ Let’s finish what your mother started years ago.”

“ Do not be an ignorant fool to bring up my mother in this, Viktor! I’ll not hesitate to tear your head off and feed your carcass to scavengers!”I roared in anger as my wolf surged forward and my claws lengthened before I could even realize it. He’d thrown that in my face before but tonight, it had cut deeper. Tonight I’d make sure to fuck him up so bad for that comment and also for attacking Aria after discovering she was my mate.

“ You seem too overconfident, man. I wouldn’t be so sure whose head would be decapitated if I were you,” Viktor said with a smug, sarcastic smile on his face. I charged at him after shifting fully, my paws slammed the earth and shook the ground as I ran to attack him.

He met me head-on, colliding into me with bone-jarring force. I felt his claws clamped onto my shoulder, tearing deep into my muscle. The pain exploded through my body but this was not the time to be sensitive, I had to act fast. I quickly twisted, raking my claws down his flank.

Good.

He yelped in pain but still fought me harder, head-butting me so violently that my vision blurred. We rolled to the ground and I got a hold of his ear, ripping half of it off.

“ Ahh, you jerk! You'll pay for this!,” he growled in pain. He quickly fought back with a brutal swipe that opened a gash between my ribs.

Around us, the battle raged but I wasn't frustrated or unmotivated.

We were definitely going to win this.

I charged toward him, hitting him in the mouth. The mouth that defied my mother. The same mouth that stripped down the nobility of my pack.

He looked up with blood oozing from his mouth, his eyes wild with desperation.

Before I could finish him, he’d scooped a handful of dirt and hurled it straight into my face.

The idiot!

Speckles of dust blasted into my eyes, stinging and blinding me. I roared in fury and pain as I swiped at my face, my vision blurring to nothing but dark smears.

“ Alpha!” Cephas quickly rushed to my side.

I blinked hard trying to clear the haze but all I could do was hear the howling and thudding of bodies as my pack shifted to human form.

Through the blur I caught Viktor’s shape staggering upright, then turning, shifting mid-step into his gray wolf.

Coward.

He bolted— his tail low and legs pumping as he disappeared into the thick pines like smoke.

The moment he fled, his rogues froze, helpless as they had no leader to guide them. They too, bolted into the underbush like rats with no sense of direction.

“ The stupid fool! He ran… leaving his own wolves to die in our hands,” Cephas roared into laughter.

I spat blood and dirt on the ground, Cephas helping me up and embracing me as we celebrated our victory.

But deep down, I knew it wasn’t over.

There was still more to come.

“ It’s over, Alpha,” my pack shouted for joy as they lifted me, chants and howls of victory ringing out. I managed a smile trying to be oblivious to the pain gnawing at me.

Days later, the pack threw a feast, bonfires, loud music, and cheering with fat roasted meat on fire.

“ C’mere buddy, come join us! I’ve got a surprise for you!” Cephas tried to pull me to sit with him. “ Not this time Cephas, I’m not ready for your games. I told you I’m not interested in getting laid or seeing any women.”

I knew he wanted the best for me but I had no interest in the charade of beautiful damsels with soft curves and fake smiles hoping to “please” the Alpha and secure their dreams of being a Luna. I doubted they even saw me beyond just being an Alpha.

I slipped away to my private quarters and stood under the hot, scalding shower letting water seep through all my fresh bandages. The heat from the water was so relaxing that it soothed the ache in my ribs.

Then … a knock at the door.

“ Alpha it’s me, Elena.”

“ Enter!” I barked, stepping out to meet her with her tablet in hand, her eyes shamelessly gawking at my half-naked form.

“ What is it, Elena? What was so important that you had to interrupt my bath?”

“ Apologies, dear Alpha but we received a new partnership proposal from a local marketing agency. They’re offering exclusive branding rights for our new tech line—plus a 30% stake in their upcoming holiday campaign. It’s… generous. More generous than anything we’ve seen from them before.”

“Reject it.”

“But Alpha… They’re also offering a full exclusive interview with you personally. Front-page feature in every major outlet. It would double our visibility before the year-end launch.”

I dried my hair roughly. “Still no.”

She tapped the tablet. “I thought you’d say that. But… there’s a lead creative on the project. I pulled her profile. You might want to see it.”

She turned the screen toward me.

I glanced down–casual, disinterested.

Then I froze.

From the photo, she stared back at me, her warm hazel eyes and dark chestnut hair with the same soft smile I remembered from the days she spent at my place. The woman who had my mark. The woman I watched walk away from me.

Alpha?” Elena asked quietly.

“Accept the meeting.”

Elena blinked. “Sir?”

“Tell them yes.” I handed back the tablet, my eyes still locked on the photo.

I was going to meet her again.

And this time… I wasn’t going to let her go.