Chapter 42: Rightful Heir

It was chaos.

A beautifully organized chaos.

Wolves all around him raged, claws of steel, and ivory white canines flashing in the light, glistening with blood. They milled around the tiny room, playing offensive and defense all at once, crowding around two males in particular.

Two angry, deadly males.

"Get the silver!" Clyde ordered, his voice rough with urgency.

One of the warriors holding back Dillon protested, alarmed that such a powerful substance was about to be injected into his alpha; but Clyde was having none of it.

He roared as Finnian headbutted a warrior in the nose, the sickening crunch sending a chill down his spine. "Now!"

Dillon managed to rip his arm free with a howl, but just as quickly as he had freed that limb, it was grabbed again.

A feminine, aggressive snarl sounded, grating against his eardrums.

Alexandra had just been injected. She'd be down in no time.

A fist hooked his jaw with enough force that it had his ears ringing.

Clyde let out a bark of pain, the sound echoed by another warrior when Finnian's foot connected with the inside of his own.

"Let.GO OF ME!" Finnian bellowed, his arms straining against the force holding him back. Spittle flew from his mouth as he bared his teeth.

The doctors swarmed around Adeline, yelling to each other urgently as they tried to locate the source of the bleeding.

To try to stop it.

'Addy.'

'Addy.'

'Addy.'

Those were the words flying through his mind, bouncing off of his skull with each syllable.

With each snarl.

With each roar of desperation.

"The alphas' are down!" Someone yelled out, but he couldn't tell who the voice belonged too.

At that time, voices sounded the same; taking on the same tones, accents... persons.

They all sounded the same, the voices taking on the quality of waves lapping against a beach, the silence of a seashell, the hollowness of a dead tree.

He watched as the needle pierced Finnian's arm.

He watched as someone pressed down on the plunger-top of the syringe, forcing the liquid silver into the male's body.

He watched as Finnian fought against the instant effects, his sharp canines bared in determination as he fought against their holds-- trying, trying so damn hard to reach Adeline.

Finnian screamed. "I'll kill you all!" The muscle in his arms, rippled with the strain they were taking, but, he fought against them all.

Against the silver.

Against the warriors.

And, at that very moment, Clyde knew that he would fight the whole world.

Silver should've paralyzed him by now... the male shouldn't have been able to move his limbs, but he was still cursing them all... still fighting.

Still fighting to reach Adeline

And the male's protests had answered the question that had been on Clyde's mind, for weeks now.

His heart grew heavy in his chest, his throat swelling with dark, dark emotions.

No wolf would fight this hard for just anyone; and, with Adeline's birthday approaching...

Clyde'd had never felt anything for the female, other than the hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to save him from his fate; a fate as dark and unfair as this whole damned world.

A fate that was sealed with hands as dark as the dark side of the Moon.

And he had been a fool for thinking that he'd be able to escape it.

"It's not working," a warrior holding Finnian's right arm, gritted out through clenched teeth. "He's not slowing down."

Clyde's wolf rose up within him, rearing its dark, ugly head.

'Adeline is his mate...' he whispered in his frozen mind. 'Finnian is her mate.'

He had been a fool; a damned fool for hoping!

Finnian roared out, ripping his right arm out of the warriors' hands. His thick arm stretched out, aiming right at that bloody hospital bed, his fingers reaching, reaching, reaching.

Clyde released his hold, and spun on his heels, his head swiveling around, looking for something that would be hard, and strong enough to do the job.

Perhaps, that would make him feel better.

Fool.

'You two will never find your females. I can assure you that. I have connections to the Moon, and I know her plans. You both will be mine... forever.' A horrible, deadly voice had said to him once, so long ago.

Those words would always roll through his mind, forever and always.

Fool.

Fool.

Fool.

He reached down, his fingers wrapping around a metal chair leg that had belonged to an overturned desk.

The cool metal felt wonderful against his flesh, cooling the scar that ran along his palm, stretching from his pinky to the base of his thumb.

A scar that he had been a fool to allow...

Gripping the leg in his hand, Clyde stared at the back of the male's head.

The warriors holding onto Finnian, shot their beta looks of urgency, knowing that this was the only way to knock him out.

Finnian threw back his elbow, throwing it into a warrior's unprotected throat.

The warrior let out a series of harsh coughs, his hands threatening to release their hold.

Gripping the leg harder, he whispered under his breath.

"Be happy, Finnian Vogel, that you at least have her."

The metal struck the back of Finnian's head.

????

They had given the alpha pair a very slight amount of silver, as any wolf should receive.

Any wolf, but their daughter.

Within thirty minutes, Alexandra and Dillon could begin to move their limbs, and, by an hour, they could stand and walk the length of their cell with steady legs.

But their hearts were fluttering in their chest, beating out a rhythm of anxiety, guilt, sorrow, anger; so many emotions raced through them, some of them, they couldn't even put a name to.

Dillon shifted his head side to side, the cracks were the only sound either of them could hear.

The former delta stared at them from his own cell, his amber eyes fixated on the dominant wolves... covered in blood.

Alexandra sighed through her nose. "Once we get everything figured out, and the curse breaks, you will be released."

Clint made no move that suggested he cared. No smile spread across his handsome face, nor did a change in his scent occur.

But, apparently, Alexandra didn't care, either. "Once we release you, do not expect to have your title returned to you. My mate might have given you one too many chances, but I will not be as lenient. If you wish to be delta again, or of any dominant position within this pack, you will not have any assistance, or favor, from us."

After the Luna finished speaking, a shameful thread of delight crept through her as the male's lips tightened. But that was all he gave her before he turned his head away from them, facing the side where their daughter's cell sat, empty and gathering dust.

The three sat in tense silence for a few moments, their minds focusing on everything and nothing.

But, most of all, the alpha pair thought about their daughter... and if she was stable.

The last thing they had seen of their daughter, was her bloody body. So much blood had coated her, the floor, and the bed.

How much blood had the doctors needed to transfer into her body?

How was she going to react to the new blood?

It was dangerous to transfer blood, due to the risk of the patient's body rejecting it, but it was even riskier for their daughter, a weak, female wolf. Not only did she face the risk of her own body rejecting the plasma, but also her wolf.

Wolves were very territorial creatures, and, for a wolf, its human's body was their personal territory. Very few had the right to touch their territory, and even fewer, to exchange essences with it.

But they focused on one little, reassuring fact.

The pack-bond.

If she had died, they would've felt it already.

And, as her parents, their wolves would've felt it before the death even registered in the pack-bond.

Alexandra had witnessed parents deal with the death of a pup; it had never been good, and, more often than not, the pair had to be locked in a cell for weeks... months even.

She remembered a pair, nearly thirty years ago, that had lost a litter of three pups during a rough childbirth. The next day, a warrior had found their bloody and mangled corses in the forest; they allowed a starving black bear to tear them apart...

Alexandra would never be able to forget the female's face as she had barged through Dillon's office. It had been pale white, and, before she had even begun to speak, the female had vomited into the nearest trash can-- fat, burning hot tears flowing down her face.

In the cell five feet from Adeline's, the Western Beta's body shifted, a low groan leaving his mouth.

Right before any of them could say anything, the basement door opened slowly, a small hand pressing against the outer handle.

"Alphas?" Kara asked, her face appearing in the doorway, then followed by her tiny but solid body. Light flooded in from the hallway, pushing back the darkness of the basement.

Dillon grunted.

Kara stepped into the basement, an aura of nervousness surrounding her. "Are both of you in control to see your daughter? She is in stable condition."

????

"Are you gonna stay here and watch her?" The Oracle asked, her golden eyes flashing from the ill she-wolf, to the beta.

Clyde nodded his head, his hand gripping Adeline's frail one. "I'll stay here until the alphas arrive. She's in safe hands."

A crooked grin flashed across his face, but disappeared just as quickly.

Sasha frowned but continued walking towards the door, her mate trailing behind her.

After telling the alphas about the letter Razbin had left, she had immediately begun to work on the potion, getting all of the ingredients, and choosing to brew the potion on the stove in her suite. Now, it was time to stir it... and, from there, all she had to do was wait and stir.

After stirring the potion for the first time, she had a wolf race down the hallway, yelling on the tops of his lungs that Adeline was going to die, and that the alphas' were just injected with silver. She had immediately charged out of her rooms, and down the hall, heading straight towards the infirmary where a large number of wolves were buzzing about, racing this way and that.

She hardly knew the girl, but, for some reason, she deeply cared for her. Adeline reminded her of her own brother, Keifer. So innocent to the harsh, cruel reality of life. They both had been dealt unfair cards since the moment the world had welcomed them, and they both had to pay for it.

"Please tell the alphas that I have started the potion." Was all Sasha said before she slipped out of Adeline's room, the door closing quietly behind her.

????

Clyde's jaw clenched, the muscles there trembling from the force. His hands fisted the chair arms, holding him back as long as It would allow before free-will would be stripped from him.

He didn't want to do it.

He didn't want to do it.

But he had no choice, it was his destiny, and here, in this very room, was where he was going to die.

Fool.

Fool.

Fool.

His fist wrapped around Adeline's soft throat, his claws piercing the flesh there.

He brought his head to her ear, letting his breath wash over her skin.

Coating his scent on her.

A taunt to her parents, to the poor male that was destined to be hers.

His mouth formed a cruel, wicked grin. "Future Luna of the Southern Pack, my ass." He could feel the pulse of her blood against his hand, and that was the final straw.

His wolf took over with glee, excited to take the finishing blow.

"You should've died a long time ago; you should've died the moment I had laced your fifteenth birthday dinner with the curse. You should've died from the curse Belladonna crafted for me, because I am the rightful Alpha of this pack."

Adeline's breath began to sputter, her nostrils flaring as her skin began to take on a blueish hue.

His mouth was so close to her ear now, that his lips brushed the flesh. "The moment your parents killed my own, the former Alphas of this pack, their future had been forfeit. Too bad though, that they'll never learn that I was Alpha Joesph's and Luna Clara's one, and only, son."

He tightened his fists, enjoying the strangled gasp leaving her body.