Chapter 7

(Alpha Daniel’s POV)

I nodded to my son as I saw the worried expression on his face. I knew he was concerned about the danger that his mate would be in if the wrong person found out about it. But for now we would have to put that to one side as we had more pressing, although strangely connected matters to deal with.

Chase sat back in one of the chairs opposite me and Jensen glanced over at him from the other. I watched as Jensen nodded, obviously satisfied that his best friend, and soon to be his Alpha, was happy to put the matter of his mate to the side for now. He sat back himself, although winced and shifted in his chair. 

“After this, go get checked out at the hospital,” I ordered, and he glanced at Chase before nodding. I wasn’t too worried. As werewolves, we healed quickly and he would probably be back to full health in a couple of days, but if any bones were broken and healed out of place, they would need to be reset properly. Chase looked at Jensen and grimaced. 

“Sorry, man,” he said, and Jensen rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I probably would have done the same.” 

“Yeah, but you would have still lost.” Chase grinned.

“Whatever, dick,” Jensen grinned back. “So, are we all good?” 

“Yeah, bro,” Chase responded. I shook my head at their exchange, but smiled all the same. I looked over at Alrik, my own best friend and Beta, who was grinning at the two. I recognised a lot of our friendship in the boys, which made sense as they had grown up together.

Then Chase looked at me. 

“OK, Dad.” He suddenly got serious. “Why are we here?” I nodded to my son, proud that once again he was showing true leadership. With the shit he had thrown at him, he could have easily been bitter and turned to be a terrible Alpha, but each time something was thrown at him, he rose to the occasion. And we had some dark times to deal with.

(Flashback - Nineteen years ago)

“Dad,” Chase whined at me. “I want to come for the alliance tomorrow.”

“Chase, I said no,” I growled, “And Alphas don’t whine.” 

He looked deflated. Even at 10 years old, he was taking an interest in the pack business, especially in the last year or so. We had been in negotiations with a pack around 50 miles away. The Scarlet Circle pack stood strong at just under 250 members. But they were not a warrior pack. In fact, many of their pack were humans, which I found curious. There were even rumours that they were working with witches. This left a bitter taste in my mouth, especially around Chase.

It was a witch that brought sorrow to this pack. Well, that and Malcolm fucking Bowman. The Alpha of the Crimson Shadow Pack had been a thorn in my side since I found out Elise was my mate. Malcolm had feelings for Elise, so was upset that she and I were fated mates. And he had got even more bitter when Elise’s father, the Alpha of the Green Meadows pack, had chosen to transfer ownership of the pack to Dark Moon, pushing our numbers higher than the Crimson Shadow pack. 

Even though he had taken a chosen mate and had a toddler pup of his own, his bitterness was still evident when Elise had got pregnant with Chase. She had fallen very ill, and I had almost lost both her and Chase. It’s unusual for werewolves to get unwell, and it was only after talking to a witch healer that we discovered that dark magic was involved. Malcolm had been so jealous of our family and growing pack that he had a dark witch put a curse on my unborn child, a curse that had serious implications for our own pack. 

If our Alpha heir hadn’t completed the mate bond by his 30th birthday, his wolf would die, and with it the wolf of every member of our pack. 

I was furious but knew we had to keep the curse quiet, otherwise we would start losing pack members. Only the named ranked members and a select few other members knew about the curse. And I was committed to creating alliances and bringing struggling packs into Dark Moon so that when Chase’s wolf surfaced, we could only hope that one of our growing pack members or alliances held his fated mate. 

It was the rumours surrounding the Scarlet Circle pack that had caused me to seek them out. I had hoped that if they really did associate with witches that they would be able to help us with the curse. But they were a very secretive pack, and had all but closed their borders six or so years ago after some sort of leadership dispute. They had resisted negotiations for so long, but a year ago, they had finally agreed to discussions. We had made numerous trips between packs and things were starting to finalise. In fact, we were due to sign the alliance the day after tomorrow. We had one more meeting tomorrow in which the Alpha said he needed to reveal some information and then we would sign the alliance. I would supply warriors to protect their borders, which was something they were very keen on, and they would supply healers.

Chase was keen to learn more about being an Alpha and it made me proud that he took such a keen interest. But I still believed that school and training were important, which is why I had a sullen ten-year-old pestering me now. 

“But Dad….” 

“Chase.” The voice of my beautiful mate and wife Elise floated in, blessing my ears. I looked up and smiled as she walked into my office. 

“Respect your father, and it’s time for bed.” Chase huffed in response but I growled and he did as he was told and left for bed.

I smiled at Elise and bent down to kiss her swollen tummy. Not that I would dare say that to a pregnant she-wolf. Our baby girl was due to join us in the next couple of weeks and I was so excited to extend our family further. My Beta bursted into my office just as I was about to kiss my wife. 

“Alrik, what’s wrong?” 

“Daniel, Scarlet Circle has sent out a distress signal. They are under attack.”

“Fuck!” I jumped up and ran out of the office, mind linking the warriors to get to the vehicles. I ran out of the pack house and a black SUV screeched up in front of me. The passenger door flew open, and I jumped in as Alrik jumped into the back seat. Seth, my Gamma, was in the driver’s seat and before the doors closed he was peeling out of the estate where we joined the formation of six other SUVs. As we were leaving pack territory, Elise mind linked me. 

“Be strong, my love. Be safe.”

The ride was quicker than it would have been in the day and I know that we broke more than one speeding law, but it didn’t matter. By the time we got to Scarlet Circle Territory, it was all over. There were fires everywhere and dead bodies ripped apart. I had never seen such carnage in my life. I would have many sleepless nights and nightmares about what I saw that night. 

***

(Present day) 

Thinking back to that day both angered and upset me. Their pack had been all but wiped out, their numbers had gone from the hundreds to barely double digits. I had also learned that night that the Alpha’s heir and sister had been killed in the battle and there had been an attempt to kidnap the Gamma’s daughter. And the Gamma and his mate had both been killed trying to protect the child. And no one knew who had attacked. Rogues had been ruled out because of how organised they were, but no one seemed to be able to place the scent of the pack. 

I made a decision that day that I would offer them sanctuary within the Dark Moon pack instead of an alliance. With their only heir dead, I knew the pack’s days were numbered. I went back the next day to offer them safety and found the place deserted. They had all gone, disappeared in the night, not to be seen again for almost 10 years.

It was on a random visit to see my little brother Jonas and his pack when I had stopped in a small village and recognised a familiar scent. I had followed the scent out of curiosity and found a young teen girl and a couple of blond kids laying on the grass outside a cottage. The teen was clearly a werewolf, although probably not old enough to shift yet, but the other two were human. It was a growl that alerted me to the presence of their father, who would have attacked me if I hadn’t recognised him.

“Ezra!” I exclaimed, “Ezra Harrell?” and he stopped and sniffed the air and tilted his head. 

“My goddess, man,” I said, “I thought you were all dead.” I saw the recognition on his face and then the fear.

“Oh no,” he said, looking around, “How did you find us?” I held out my hands in an attempt to calm him.

“No one knows,” I said urgently. “Please, you’re safe,” I said. The look of relief on Ezra’s face was painful to see. What could have got him so terrified?

He had invited me in, and he and his wife had explained everything that had happened since the Massacre. How they had moved their family, and the family of their Beta Jeremy, around for so long. He had explained that the massacre was because of something they had, which was very important. They knew that whoever was looking for this thing was still a danger to them, so they had to move to protect it. I had asked, but they had remained tight lipped about it, and I had respected that. It was that day that I had offered an alliance. I would help to keep them hidden. It was the least I could do after I failed them so badly all those years ago. I had originally offered for them to join Dark Moon pack, but being that the majority of them were human was an issue. I couldn’t risk humans in the pack, not one of our size. It was too dangerous for them.

Over the next few years I and Alrik had worked with Ezra and what was remaining of the Scarlet Circle pack in secret. We kept them in the loop with rumours and when one of their young ones had got caught up with some bad elements, we had gone in with them to get her out, and then taken out the bad element. We had promised that it would be just me, Alrik and Seth that knew of their whereabouts.

But with the latest developments, Alrik and I had agreed that we needed to take more serious action. About a month ago, we got wind of some rogues boasting about the Scarlet Circle pack. I already knew that they had moved closer to us in the last year or so. So I immediately reached out to Ezra to tell him what we had heard. He had quickly made the decision to move his pack again and had gone on a trip in the last couple of days to finalise the new living arrangements. This morning I got word that his body had been found. I sent a couple of trusted warriors who reported back and informed me that it had looked like he had been tortured. They had quickly staged the scene like a car accident, but we were left with a situation in which we didn’t know if he had given away what his captors had wanted. I explained all this to the group in the room.

“We would have continued with the arrangement, but now we feel we need to put serious protection in place for the rest of the pack,” I said as they nodded along.

“I have already informed the pack Beta of what we found and he has agreed to a conversation to discuss how to keep them safe. Although he ha asked that we give them time to grieve the loss of their Alpha,”

“I have already stationed warriors near their residence, and they are expected to report if they get even the faintest whiff of an unknown werewolf,” Alrik said, “But they are in the city, and it’s not so easy with all the scents already there,”

“Wait!” Jensen said, sitting up and wincing, “What pack is this again?” I narrowed my eyes at the suddenly concerned look on his face.

“Scarlet Circle pack,” I said, and he looked over at Chase, the look of concern growing on his face. 

“Why?” I asked

“Kaeleigh,” he said and Chase looked at him sharply, “She told me last night that she was from the Scarlet Circle pack.”