NINE

A new week came with a new administration. I hadn’t set eyes on Alpha Valens but I saw the changes. One by one, his men filled every top spot in the pack. Beta Jabari became the pack beta, a new witch who we didn’t know became the pack’s oracle, his men replaced the head warriors of each brigade and Skylar didn’t step on people as much as she used to.

Alpha Valens, in a rare show of mercy, banished Alpha Zavier from the pack lands rather than kill him as any other alpha would have done in a takeover. Skylar and Bethel refused to leave with their father to become rogues or solitary wolves so the Alpha left alone, shamed and disgraced with his pack watching forlornly.

None of this affected me in any way. All the changes happened at the top and people like me at the bottom weren’t affected in any way. People like Skylar and Lucien suffered but people like me who never had relevance or status still had no relevance or status after the violent takeover.

I only pitied Celeste as her parents