Chapter 4: REIS

Just as expected, a raging half-shifted man-wolf was waiting outside the main gate of the Tartarus Pack, growling and staring at me with predatory yellow eyes. I watched his canines extend and his nails sharpen even more, like something about my presence excited him.

The lunatic before me was Alpha Gage, the leader of the Silvermoon Pack. He stood with about twenty fully shifted four-legged dire wolves beside him, gritting their teeth and growling, waiting for a signal before they tried to pounce on me.

I felt a screech in my system. This lunatic dared to touch my beta. Vane was somewhere beside me, one knee on the floor, his chest rising and falling heavily, blood trailing down his lips.

"And the paper alpha finally shows up." A wicked smile formed on Gage's face as he stared at me.

He took very slow steps towards me but still kept enough distance. I smirked. For a someone who was about to be put to silence, he shocked me with his wiseness by not coming any closer.

"You're nothing, Reis. Just like a king without a crown. You're not fit to be an alpha, and Seattle deserves a true leader who can shift and growl and rightfully lead their pack," he spat.

I yawned, covering my mouth with my palm, and I wasn’t exaggerating. This man was really boring the soul out of me.

"You know you talk too much for a dog who's about to be silenced," I muttered casually.

I didn’t consider Gage a wolf. All he did was show teeth and snarl; he never knew how to do anything else. A huffed cough left my lips. He thought he could catch me at my weakest by showing up now, biggest mistake of his life.

Gage laughed at my comment, like he wasn’t boiling inwardly from my insult. "You think you're so tough, Reis. I'd love to see you shift and come for me."

Another dark chuckle escaped my lips. He must be drunk, thinking I needed to shift to take him down.

"Silence this nonsense. Tear him, and feed me his soul," Keal growled impatiently.

"Come on, Reis. I'd like to see you come at me," Gage dared.

I tilted my head at him. "Why don’t you be my guest and show me what you’ve got?"

A mischievous curved line drew on his lips. He raised his hands into the air, then pointed in my direction and immediately, the dire wolves came for me at full speed.

Sounds of ripping clothes and bones breaking were heard behind me. My sentinels had just shifted into their black-colored dire wolf forms. I gave an approving nod, and they all pounced.

I stood there, watching the wolves clash with each other, biting and ripping fur with their teeth, but my eyes remained fixed on Gage. Each second, his rage leveled up, and it aggravated him more that I was calm, just adjusting my cufflinks.

His clothes began to tear and his bones started to break. He let out a loud growl, and then he transformed into a thick, ash-colored dire wolf. He began coming for me, but I remained standing on my spot. It was until he was a few centimeters closer that my eyes shifted from brown to gold-yellow, and my nails darkened into sharp claws.

He tried to pounce on me, but I dodged smoothly by bending backwards, and he embarrassingly missed. He came at me again and still missed. His wolf was furious. This time, when he charged, I used my foot to kick him backwards and watched him fly, landing on the floor and rolling.

"Seriously, Gage, these are your last seconds. You have to stop being a dog and up your game," I muttered with a dry sigh.

He was offended by my words and growled loudly, then came for me again, but this time I caught him by the throat, lifting him up with one arm. His four legs shook, struggling to break free, but it was too late for him.

"Say goodbye to your pack, Gage," I whispered, and in a split second, I ripped his wolf head off its body. His blood splashed across my face, but I didn’t mind.

I dug my nails into the heart in his mouth. I didn’t just kill this man, I siphoned him, feeling his alpha spark enter my body like molten lava before trashing him onto the floor and releasing a breath of satisfaction.

His dire wolves let out frightened scowls. Their tails tucked between their legs as they slowly backed off before running away like the scared little dogs they were.

"Good boys," I said to my sentinels, still in their wolf forms. "You all did good."

Later that day, I returned to the higher den, sitting on my throne-like chair as I watched the multi-colored shashibo box change colors each time I twisted it. I could still smell her, like cold, clean rain, and I just wanted to lay my bare body on the ground and soak myself in her rainy water.

This feeling was very weird and strange to me. I had never desired someone this much, as I did this disrespectful girl I met a few hours ago. No one in this pack ever made me repeat myself twice, and I should have ripped her head off the moment she disobeyed my orders, but I wanted force her on her knees and force my dick inside her pretty mouth then fuck her hard so she doesn't talk for days.

She pushed me away, running from my touch, but I still wanted to make her crawl back to me.

"Find her and bring her to me," Keal growled.

The sound of a door opening came from beside me, followed by approaching footsteps. I didn’t need to turn back to know it was Vane.

"Are you good now?" I asked without looking at him.

"Yes, thank you, Alpha," he answered, walking towards me. "Evening is approaching. The blood moon will soon be here. Doctor Rhode is waiting downstairs with your medication."

I twisted the shashibo box again before speaking. "I want you to find a woman and bring her to me as soon as you can."

Vane stared at me like I was ridiculous. He had just announced something serious, and all I could think about was a woman.

"Lila Whitlock," I added, ignoring his phased look and whispering like I was talking to myself. "I need her now."

A sharp pain bit into my chest, and the cube box fell from my hand. Vane rushed towards me, but before his hands could touch me, I stopped him by raising two fingers mid-air. He couldn’t touch me. I could feel my skin burning, and he would burn along with me. At this state, anyone who touched me would be burnt to ashes.

Slowly, my eyes lifted towards the glass window before me. The clouds were turning dark, and I could see a trail of red.

The blood moon was coming.

Vane’s eyes turned yellow, his fangs and claws extending, and so did mine. My pale skin began to turn red, and I dug my claws tightly into the armrest of my chair.

"Come take your medicine, Alpha. The chamber has been prepared," Vane called gently.

My breath rose and fell heavily. My nightmare was coming to life once again. After taking the medicine, I felt my body begin to cool down, but I couldn’t celebrate yet. It was only a matter of seconds before my skin would start to burn again. Vane led me to my usual hide out, we called it the Obsidian Chamber.

The chamber was soundproof and made of literal black obsidian stone. In one corner, there was a giant chain hanging from the ceiling, with some of my sentinels standing beside it, waiting for me.

As I stepped into the room, I took off my black blazer, leaving me shirtless with just black pants on. I stood still, allowing myself to be chained like a prisoner. Chains locked around both wrists, and another held my waist. It wasn’t just any regular chain, this one was thick and carried the weight of an asteroid, heavy enough to crush anything.

After chaining me, they stepped out of the room, and I heard the locking mechanism engage. The room began to feel cold as hell, so cold that anyone who walked in could freeze to death in seconds, but the coldness was quickly replaced by a sudden heat, like a boiling volcano.

Veins crawled up from my chest to my fists. I clenched tightly, trying to pull myself free from the grip of the iron chains. I was starting to feel it, like my bones were violently frying. A loud scream tore from my lips as I fell to my knees. It felt like I was being hit repeatedly by fire rocks without pause.

"Let me out of here. Bring her to me. I said bring her to me right now!" Keal roared.

The room shook, systems sparking and bursting. I looked like a mess. In a room designed to be cold enough to freeze anyone to death, my face and body was drenched with sweat. This place was as hot as hell fire and fuckin painful, It was the kind of pain that made one beg for immediate death, but never get it. I felt like someone stabbed a thousand daggers into my chest, yet it still wasn’t enough to kill me.

Curse the fucking blood moon.

I screamed in agony, and more systems sparked. I noticed the room heating up by the second and the floors were slowly melting. It felt like I was kneeling barefoot on lava. Goddamnit, I had just blown the major cooling system. I was going to burn to death here.

"Vane!" I called through the mind link.

"Alpha, what is it?" I heard his voice in my head, urgent and alert.

"I don’t care how this is possible, but get me a technician to fix this fucking cooling system right the fuck now!!" I thundered.