The Cliff

Shahid

Unedited

"Everyone move out," Alpha Cade commanded. He stood behind me. A hand on my shoulders. My tears had dried up for sometime now.

"Avery, we need to move." He tried to coax me off the grass. But I couldn't move. My eyes were still glued to the direction he went off to.

It took me eight years to come to terms with whatever had happened at Blood Moon. Eight years to convince myself that whatever happened was Alpha Blake's fault and no one else's. Years of work turned into dust in a second. Brandon was right, of course he was right. I denied Alpha Blake, causing him to lash out and use as leverage the only living family I had. I couldn't find Brandon for close to five years. He was a child. And didn't have any role in this. I was at fault. I stood up on shaky legs. I was done defending myself.

Alpha Cade offered me his arms but I brushed him aside. I had work to do.

"He is angry," he provided.

"He has every right to be."

"Doesn't make it right what he said."

I didn't respond.

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We reached the pack border after a two hour drive. I had willingly taken a back seat as my wolf took control over me. Alpha Cade was seated in the driver seat often glancing my way. She too had kept the silence the entire ride. For the first time I was grateful to step back. I needed a break.

There were a few weres sitting on a log surrounded by wolves. I easily recognized Yasmin and Karim. Seeing me approach, Yasmin got up but a collective snarl from the surrounding wolves made her sigh and sit down again. "No sudden movements girl," Karim berated her.

"Is that them?" Alpha Cade asked.

"Yes," my wolf whispered.

He frowned but didn't say anything else.
"Split in three teams," he addressed his patrolling were. "One will bring them with me. Second will continue patrolling and third will survey the forests for talkers. Make sure there are none and if you do find any, do not engage. Call for backup. No one goes missing today."

A group of four wolves broke off from the main. They snarled at a startled Yasmin and Karim. The two stood up and walked towards us, flanked on both the front and back.

"Don't drop your glasses. They will bite your hands off when you stupidly dive down to grab it," Karim instructed her. She nodded sheepishly.

Yasmin had a motor mouth. But this was one of the flaw she never practiced in front of Karim. He was her grandfather and she respected the hell out of that guy. Everyone did. I had a suspicion Maya meant to use the respect in her favour.

We had walked for sometime in the woods when we came across a door on the ground. One of the patroller shifted back and stepped to pull it open. There were stairs descending deep into the ground.

"Take them in," Alpha Cade commanded. I watched the three wolves guide Yasmin and Karim down the stairs and out of our sight. Wordlessly, the fourth went in and closed the door after himself.

"Avery, look at me," Alpha Cade said in a soft voice.

And so I did. His eyes were oscillating between black and grey. They were fighting for control.

"Do I need to know anything else?"

"Not now, you don't need to, my Alpha."

"What is that supposed to mean?" He rubbed his temples.