Chapter 10: Cooper

I stand, leaning on my chair, the one that sits on the dais, that of the Alpha of the Bretton pack.

I’m the Alpha of the Bretton pack.

I am the one who links these wolves, the one who protects them, from others and themselves, the one who submits them to make them stronger.

But am I? Recently, I doubt. Everything. About me, about this position I inherited, and about each of my decisions.

"Cooper," a young wolf calls out from the bottom of the steps in front of me. "What is going on?"

I look at Masha for a moment. She’s beautiful, and proud, in her skin-tight leather outfit. Her tangled brown hair cascades down her back like an indomitable mane. Behind her, other wolves, my warriors, stand motionless. They all stare at me, a glint of expectation in their bright eyes.

I am proud of them. Of my wolves, too. The Bretton pack is strong. Powerful. Undefeated. Till today. But I’m afraid it won’t last.

However, I cannot confide my fears to them. I have to be confident, and sure of myself. So I answer her with a powerful growl, which I raise from the depths of my guts and vibrate in my throat until I see them bend their necks in front of me, all of them. They must not guess my doubts.

Because I doubt, yes. For the first time in my life, I wonder if I did the right thing. I think back to Jaxson, my brother, this Omega. Why are we born so different? What is this insubordination which remains, despite all my efforts, in my brother’s heart?

My gaze leaves my pack assembled in our den. Only torches on the walls light up the place. Here, no modernity. Here, we reconnect with our deep nature, our lycanthropic nature.

I examine my hands, whose knuckles are still stained with my brother’s blood. I had no choice, I couldn’t let him get away with it without a violent sanction. But, by my ancestors, what did it cost me?! Each blow to his flesh was like a blow I inflicted on myself.

Jaxson, when will you stop provoking me?

But what is done is done. It’s my job as Alpha to maintain discipline within the pack, and I won’t back down.

Nor will I shy away from recent incursions into our territory. Because I didn’t just beat my brother today. I worked the same way on this scout and these two wolves from Virginia, who were looking for I don’t know what. On them, I didn’t hold back my blows or my anger. They have served as my outlet, and I silence the shame that whispers within me. An Alpha should never have doubts. Should never lose control. I had never lost control before… Jaxson. Especially since by attacking them, I was trying to obtain information. And in this, I failed; I’m no further ahead.

I must have lost myself in thought because the pack in front of me raised their heads.

"Cooper, what are you going to do with your brother?" shouts a middle-aged wolf at the bottom of the huge cave.

"Yes, what are you going to do?" they all resume in chorus.

"Let him be condemned to exile!" some scream.

"He is unmanageable! He will only bring us trouble!"

"Yes, let’s do it!" vociferate others.

A veritable cacophony rises now, and the migraine extends its painful tendrils under my skull. I shouldn’t show Jaxson any mercy, but I’m not going to have a choice. His actions are dividing the pack, and I can’t tolerate it.

Suddenly, the double doors of our lair open with a crash, letting in Jake, one of my Betas. I hold back a sigh of relief. I probably just gained a few precious minutes to delay my sentencing.

But the wolves are not silent on the passage of Jake. So, again, I growl, showing my powerful canines. I growl so loudly that everyone crumbles to the ground, and even Jake struggles to move towards me, bowing under the power of my authority.

With a strange, almost unhealthy pleasure, I watch him struggle to reach me. I almost shame myself, exulting in exercising my power in this way when I feel so helpless in the face of the looming crisis.

When Jake finally reaches the bottom of the steps of my dias, I loosen the net of my Alpha power a little. That he can deliver his message, at least.

"Speak, I’m listening," I told him in a voice dark as my thoughts.

"Cooper," he gasps, "I just came back from the first dungeon where I brought the meal to…"

"Who?"

"Wolves. Three strange wolves found in the forest. They said they wanted to see you, and we locked them up in the meantime..."

"So what? Are they a danger?"

"I…I don’t know. Their smell is strange, and..."

He hesitates. Jake is one of my best lieutenants, his finesse has always been invaluable to me, he knows how to discern my moods like no one else. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Masha, his ally, looking at him, worried.

"And what?" I growled.

"They say they come from the North."

"Why didn’t you bring them to me immediately?"

"We thought… we thought locking them up, for now, was the best thing to do. We know that... you were busy with other responsibilities, and seeing what happened with Jaxson..."

I let a moment of silence pass and reflect. But I also see that Jake is sweating profusely. He is afraid of displeasing me. He fears that I will apply on him the same methods that I used on my brother. Good, very good. This is exactly what is needed for a pack to work. Moreover, I am grateful to him for not having added those three wolves to my problems. As if I had only that to do!

"You did well, Jake," I reassured him. "I have always trusted your judgement. Bring one of them to my office. I will try to find out more."

Hoping that I don’t have to use the same methods as with my previous victims.

"Come in."

Tyler and Emmitt walk into my office, dragging a shapeless, moaning mass behind them.

"What is that?" I growled.

Files pile up in front of me, scattered sheets of paper, scribbled maps… When did I sign up to stay locked between four walls? My gaze leaves my two Betas to drift towards the large window on my right. Admittedly, we live in the heart of an underground network of caves, but my rank allows me to occupy this room on the side of the cliff, and I can only rejoice in this tenuous link that I still maintain with the outside world.

Sighing, I get up and stretch. I just want to run to the forest, soak up its colours, its smells, and the life that abounds there. I’m a wolf. Not an administrator or a paper pusher. My jaw and fists clench, but I take it upon myself. The pack needs me to sacrifice myself for them and assume my role as Alpha.

"She’s one of the wolves we found in our forest, Cooper," Tyler replies, lowering his head.

It always makes me laugh to see a big guy like him mark his submission with such enthusiasm. I know I can trust him. Just like his cousin Emmitt, by the way. That’s why I chose them. I rarely get people wrong. Well… that’s what I thought, until Jaxson.

"What did you do to her!?"

"Nothing," Emmitt immediately defends himself. "She’s having some sort of seizure, I don’t know what’s wrong with her."

Intrigued, I approach the poor sobbing heap on the ground, between my two Betas. Before bending down, I smell the ambient air. I only smell familiar scents, and yet...

Suddenly, my whole body tenses. There’s something... abnormal about this wolf. Granted, she’s not from our pack, but...

I have to be clear about it. I jerk Tyler and Emmitt aside to drop to my knees beside the pitiful creature. Despite my almost irrepressible urge to smell her, my hands hesitate slightly before landing on her tattered clothes. But who gave her such rags?

However, instinct is stronger than my compassion. I grab the wolf by her long, almost white blond hair, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, to reveal her face. My breathing quickens again. Beneath the filth, the black furrows dug by tears and strange red scratches on her cheeks, I discover a face that I guess is adorable. She opens one haggard eye, with swollen eyelids… I double over under the force of her gaze as if someone had just punched me in the stomach.

What is happening to me?

An impetuous desire roars through my veins. The idea of dismissing Tyler and Emmitt to satisfy my impulses, there, like that, on the floor, comes to me. I also feel their bewildered gaze resting on me. They’re not used to seeing me like this, panting and kneeling beside a female.

Control yourself, damn it. Now is not the time to lose control...

Slowly, teeth clenched, I lean towards the wolf. In her neck, I see a vein, blue in her creamy skin, throbbing. Her scent fills my nostrils.

No… No, I can’t crack now. Not for a stranger. Not for that pitiful thing...

Mixed with my burning desire, a wave of anger washes over me. Why is this happening to me now? Why is this happening to me?

But this wolf is not of my pack. She is nothing to me. And her weakness should only inspire me with contempt.

Yet, despite these ideas whirling around in my head like a furious wind, despite my vain attempts to recover my sanity, I lean over and over again, until my face brushes the back of her neck, which I hold in my clenched hand. I can’t help it, I can’t help it. The skin of this creature is calling me. I know what that means, but I don’t want… I don’t want… My nose digs into her soft hair, and I lose myself. I drown in its scent and sink into the unknown.

A terrible fear twists my entrails, at the same time as an absolute certainty. Before even knowing who she is, even before knowing her name, even before knowing where she comes from, I know that I will never leave this wolf again.

She is mine, forever, and I am hers.

But the moment I realize I’ve bound myself forever, the wolf I’m holding in my arms rears up, as if in convulsions. Her eyes roll back, and a whitish foam borders her too-pale lips...

After desire, anger and fear, despair overwhelms me. I can’t lose her now. I won’t bear it.

Because now I’m sure. I’m far from done with her.

I raise her in my arms, and hold her against me, hoping to calm her irrepressible tremors. She weighs nothing. Her heart beats against mine, like a panicked bird. I am painfully aware of her smell, but also of the seriousness of her condition.

Running as fast as I can, I rush out of the room and into the depths of our lair. I have to find our healer. I won’t leave her until she’s out of danger.