The Crimes of an Alpha ✔️

t w e n t y - f o u r

[dedicated to @leefbr thanks for all the comments :)]

*Xavier's pov*

1 month later

The funeral was bleak. The weather was awful. And, there was a huge pit in my stomach. I felt sick.

It was my turn to speak, but I was weak. If I stand up now, I may fall. He's gone. Actually, gone. I'm just now processing it.

Mads gives my hand a tight, reassuring squeeze. Jeremy gives me a pat on my back. I think to myself how lucky I am to have them both. Because no matter how terrible a day is, they will always be here for me. I appreciate the stability they provide me in this chaotic world.

"Thank you," I whisper to both of them.

I wipe my eyes and button my suit jacket as I stand up.

When I reach the podium, my breathing is still unsteady, occurring in rapid succession. I take a deep breath and begin.

"A lot of people didn't think I should be speaking here today. They think by showing up here I'm betraying my pack or something. But I don't see it that way. I've lost a lot of people in my life, and every time it never seems to get easier. This is especially hard for me..." I begin.

"But we're not here to talk about me, we're here to honor Mr. Lewis."

"I struggle to find the right words to describe him. He's always been good to me, but I know he was involved in some awful things. He treated me like a son, when my own father wouldn't. I remember my father and I would get into these terrible screaming matches, but he would always intervene. He was a good intermediary like that..." I go on to tell some of my favorite memories with him.

"I'm not proud of what he's done, but he did change." The second he found out what he was doing could harm me he just focused on getting me out of there safely safely. I did end up taking out the ear piece and telling him the whole truth, which was definitely a risk, but I knew he would come through. We made up a plan to cover my a*s in the whole Darius situation, but once the prison was broken into no one believed me anymore. Mr. Lewis flipped on them for threatening my life, so if Darius didn't show up we both probably would have died then and there.

Mr. Lewis' change of heart did not go unnoticed. One of his men attacked him, while he was getting Darius help. Because of his old age, Mr. Lewis could not survive the injury, dying after two weeks. The first week after the break-in was easily the worst week of my life. Mr. Lewis and Darius were both dying.

"Though he was a morally gray person, he did the right thing in the end, so that should count for something right?" I begin to tear up. Mr. Lewis gave a list of everyone corrupt in the council and a written confession of what they were doing, exonerating Gabrielle and Darius.

I push through the remaining sentences of my eulogy, desperately trying to not let all these tears fall.

--

Alone time with Darius is a miracle. Between the twins, his mom, and concerned pack members, I rarely get to sit down alone with him. His wound was bad. It could have been fatal, but Darius was a strong werewolf. The healing time would have been six months, so for a werewolf around three months. Unfortunately, he was still bedridden, so I spent most of my time at the Lockwood pack.

I try to avoid members of his pack because I know they must be suspicious of me. However, I get along great with his family and Kendall. Darius had to nearly die to realize that he wanted to claim me. We both decided we would wait until Darius was healed to tell our packs, but we told those close to us. Everyone was surprisingly accepting.