James POV
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After my run in with my mate I couldn’t stand to be anywhere near her so I took all my clothes off and placed them in one of the many bins we have all over the place for wolves clothes so they don’t get ripped by shifting and kept them clean and dry.
The only thing on my mind was drink and lots of it! I ran to the very edge of our boundaries that separated us from the humans and found one of my bins that I kept some clothes in, I hastily shoved them on not really caring what they looked like and headed for the nearest pub.
I stayed until last orders and bought a bottle of highly overpriced bottle of whisky over the counter and headed outside to finish it knowing that my wolf metabolism would rid my body of it within a few hours.
I knew I had to go home at some point but the more alcohol I had in my system the less it hurt. I knew that my mate was still on my land and the thought of ‘them’ anywhere near my family or pack filled me with a hate I didn’t know I possessed.
I hadn’t yet pursued the reason for her visit out of respect for the people she was staying with but I hoped she wouldn’t be there when I woke up tomorrow!
The Redsun Pack was the reason why I now lead the pack; my dad was Alpha back in the day when land was hard to come by and to get control you had to fight for it.
It was the middle of the night when I had been woken from my sleep by screams of terror; I still remember the cloudy moonless sky was bathed in an orange hue from all the houses that had been set on fire. There were people everywhere; some had managed to shift while others lay motionless on the ground unable to shift in time.
I was only 9 at the time and my wolf wasn’t strong enough to take on an adult wolf, so I sat in my bedroom in complete shock as I waited for my house to be lit. I stayed in the pack house that was four floors high including the loft conversion which was my bedroom. The battle seemed to rage on for hours as I watched in horror as good men fell as well as women some with children trying to escape the soaring flames that engulfed their once happy homes.
I felt the tears roll down my face and felt powerless, I was the future Alpha and yet I couldn’t help any of my members. I searched the wolves for the one I could recognise anywhere, my dad. His great grey wolf towered over all the rest and Alex’s brown wolf stood next to him in his Beta position.
Out of nowhere I sensed they were waiting for something, and moments later a similar sized wolf emerged from the trees. In the amber glow I could see the dark grey wolf move stealthily towards my dad with his hackles up, his bared teeth looked yellow in the light of the fires.
My dad and his second in command stood defensively as the intruder skulked ever closer. Suddenly out of nowhere I watched in horror as at least ten other large wolfs came out of the woods and stood beside the trespasser. I seen my dad look round in panic looking for backup but everyone was still busy fighting their own battles.
It seemed like what happened next happened in a blur as all I remember is seeing hair, teeth and blood everywhere, my dad and Alex disappeared from sight and I feared the worst until a vision gave me hope as well as undeniable dread as I took in the beauty that was my mums sandy brown wolf flanked with a pile of fighters. They immediately bulldozed the scene and before long the intruders were all dead apart from the large wolf that unfortunately had bolted back into the woods but for some reason the fighters didn’t notice.
I was confused as to why they would let him leave until my eyes rested on my dads limp wolf on the ground. I screamed and before thinking I ran out of my bedroom and ran to my dad. My mum was lying over his blood drenched body screaming for the pack doctor while the rest just stood there in silence not knowing what to do.
Luckily for me my dad had survived although he lost one of his legs and had to stay in the hospital for months with the constant need for blood transfusions. This watered down his Alpha blood and in turn sapped him of most of his Alpha powers.
So at the young age of nine I was taught by the elders and the finest tutors to ensure that I was both highly educated and knew everything that was required to successfully run the pack.
So on my 15th birthday I took over the Blackstone pack from my dad in an official ceremony that also gave me the additional powers that only the Alpha possessed. The feeling of all that power surging through my veins was like nothing I had ever felt before. Although I had already shifted before I instinctively knew that my wolf was also gaining a lot of my new powers as I could hear him yelp in delight.
I snapped myself of my daze by shaking my head; even all the drink I had downed couldn’t shake her face out of my head. “Damn women!” I growled a bit too loud, I glanced around and noticed several passing men staring at me just sitting at the side of the kerb, time to leave I think!
As soon as I opened the door I was greeted by the scowl of my mums angry face and the disappointed face of my dad “We really have to talk son” he sighed before awkwardly standing up placing the weight off his prosthetic leg onto his good leg and walked towards my office. I knew I would have to tell him but really wasn’t looking forward to it.
“So spit it out, you just leave the party that everyone has spent ages arranging for you, and now you return stinking of booze?” he growled but not in an authority way as the Alpha in me would have instinctively reacted but in a fatherly way and I had to answer him out of respect for my dad.
I groaned then sat down on the oversized green leather chair that had sat in the same place for generations, my dad followed suit and sat opposite me with the vast mahogany desk between us. “I have found my mate” I groaned looking down in shame “Only we can never be together” I shook my head in despair, all I ever wanted was to settle down, get married and have a family of my own.
My dad just looked at me with a look of bewilderment “Why can’t you be together?” he asked quietly “Because she belongs to the Redsun Pack” I mumbled trying to contain my anger. “Why the hell did the spirits match us to be mates!” I hissed as I clenched my fists tight and banged them hard on the ancient table.
I looked at the pale face that belonged to my dad and seen how wide his eyes were “Where did you meet her?” he asked under his breath “Right here on our land, I followed her scent to the old McDonald house, it seems she knows them” I growled still not knowing the connection even though I should have just thrown the whole lot of them out on their ear just for allowing one of them on our soil.
“Is she still here?” he asked with a thoughtful look on his face and I nodded in response. “Why did you leave her be?” he asked with a sparkle in his eye, my dad was always the romantic but he was overlooking the wider picture. “I have no intention of accepting her as my mate” I growled with a hint of an Alpha tone that made my dad wince slightly and I regretted it immediately.
“Well if you really don’t want her, don’t you think you should tell her?” he whispered before standing up to leave, “After all she might not know anything about that night” he finished before walking out the door.
I never thought about that, if I was 9 years old, she could of only be about four, I now felt really bad for pushing her away like I did, but I had to be sure that she wasn’t sent as a spy for the Redsun Alpha.
