He was knocked off his feet as the ground broke beneath him, cracking and rolling. Everything was green, flashes of lights that boiled my blood and sang to something deep within me.
Richard grunted as he fell away from me, and in the chaos and confusion, I heard the screams of the wolves. I didn’t know if they were mine or the others. I fell to my knees, the pain glassy and bright, stomach twisting in vertigo.
A wet hand grabbed my arm and pulled.
I followed blindly.
We were deep in the trees before I could focus.
Thomas led me away, away, away.
“We have to go back,” I croaked out, but I didn’t try to get away.
He said, “Trust me.”
And how could I not?
I ached everywhere. My back was torn to shreds.
He said, “You must listen to me.” His breath rattled in his chest, a wet sound.
The stars were bright above.
The trees swayed.
He said, “You will be needed now. More than ever. The weight of the Alpha can be a dreadful burden, and whoever carries the weight of it on their shoulders must be able to stand strong and true.”
“No,” I said. “No, no. You—”
“Ox.”
The wind rippled through the leaves.
There was an ache in my head and heart.
“They will need you,” Thomas said. And then he stumbled, going down to one knee, grip tightening on my arm. He groaned quietly, head hanging down as blood dripped from his mouth. I pulled my arm from his grasp. I reached down under his arms, latching my hands in front of his chest. He was substantial and coughed harshly as I lifted him up, my back screaming with the strain.
The sounds of the earth splitting apart continued from behind us, but they were distant.
We continued on.
He said, “All of them.”
“What?”
“The pack. They will need—”
“Why?” I asked.
Thomas took a deep breath and turned his face toward the sky. I wondered if he could feel the moon, even though it was hidden. “I knew you were different,” he said. “When I first saw you. Even if it hadn’t been for Joe, I would have known.” His eyes flashed red again and again. It called to something in me, and I thought my blood was boiling underneath my skin.
“If I’m anything,” I said, “it’s because of you.”
He said, “Oh, Ox. I only showed you what you already had inside.”
I pushed on the pack bonds, but they were lost in a haze of pain and Gordo’s magic.
He said, “You must listen to me.”
I grunted as he stumbled again. Somehow I was able to hold him upright.
“You will—” He coughed, body shaking. Then, “The tether will be the most important thing. Those ties that bind you to each other. It’ll have to be you. For all of them. It’s a terrible thing I must ask of you, especially in light of all you’ve lost. But it can only be you.”
“I’m not—”
“You are,” he said fiercely. “You are more than you think. Ox. The power of the Alpha passes to the one who takes it. If it can’t be me and it can’t be Joe, then it needs to be you. He’s not here and I am asking this of you.”
“What?”
“Richard can’t have this,” Thomas said, lips shiny with blood. “He can’t. The things he would do with it… no. And I can’t hold on. Not like this. Not for very much longer. I can’t heal, not from this. I’m slipping.”
“No,” I said. “No. You can’t—”
“I need you to become a wolf,” Thomas said. “I need you to do this for me.”
It was too much. This… everything he was asking of me. I still hadn’t yet made a decision if I was going to take the bite before all this happened. And now? Now he was saying—
“You want me to be the Alpha.” My voice sounded small.
“Yes.”
I couldn’t find the words.
Thomas said, “I believe in you, Ox. I always have. You are my son just as much as the others are. I will always be—”
“There you are,” Richard Collins said from behind us.
Thomas snarled, forcing me behind him with strength I didn’t think he’d be capable of. I tripped over my own feet, falling to my knees. Thomas towered over me, but he only had eyes for the other wolf.
Richard didn’t look much better. Someone had removed my crowbar from his back. His skin was soaked with blood. His rotting eyes shone darkly, claws extended, teeth sharp and flashing in the starlight.
He said, “You had to know it would always come to this, Thomas. There was no other way that this could end.”
“Only because this is what you chose,” Thomas said quietly. “We were friends once. Brothers.”
“If you were my brother,” Richard snapped, “you wouldn’t have let them die. And even if they still had, you would have done everything you could have to make sure the ones responsible suffered. The humans should have suffered for what they brought upon our pack. And instead, you embraced them.”
“They were a few,” Thomas said. “A select few. What possible outcome do you think this will have?”
Richard’s claws extended farther. “I will become the Alpha,” he said. “And then I will make them pay. For everything. The humans will bow to me and I will end them.”
He launched himself at Thomas, shifting in midair, clothes shredding into tatters, hair sprouting. Before I could even shout a warning, there was a snap of bone and muscle and wolf met wolf amongst the trees, fangs snapping, paws scrabbling for purchase.
Thomas was the bigger of the two, but even shifted, the blood still flowed, matting his fur. Richard was vicious in his assault, and I was knocked back as they rolled toward me, teeth buried in each other, broken growls falling from their mouths.
I looked around for something, anything, any kind of weapon I could use to stop this. To stop Richard before he could make things worse. I came upon a rock just smaller than my hand. I grabbed it without a second thought because this was my Alpha. This was Thomas and I couldn’t let him go.
He’d taught me about myself. Who I could be.
Alpha meant father.
(You are my son.)
It meant safety.
It meant home.
I didn’t make a noise as I rose to my feet. I didn’t hesitate as I moved toward the white wolf fighting against the brown one. I didn’t think twice as I tracked their movements, waiting, waiting for that right moment.
It came quicker than I would have hoped.
Richard knocked Thomas back.
Thomas crashed into a tree with a deep whine.
He slid to the ground, eyes unfocused.
Richard stood above him.
His lips pulled back over his teeth.
A low rumble started in his throat, and I saw his muscles coiling as he prepared to attack.
It took only seconds, really.
One moment he was standing above Thomas and the next I was bringing the rock down on the back of his head. There was a sharp crack that I hoped at the very least meant a split skull. The wolf yelped, and for a moment, I felt a sick thrill. That we’d won. That I’d taken him down. That he would fall to the ground and would never rise again.
I saw the swell of blood on the top of his head. It spilled down between his eyes and onto his snout, dripping to where his lips curled.