United We Stand (Completed)

Prologue (Edited)

The cold, moonless night reflected my feelings, cold, dark, dreary. You name it, that was the feeling I had gotten in that time of space.

I sighed and shivered against the November wind, up in my hometown of Maine. I stuffed my hands into my jeans, trying to stay warm in the jeans and T-Shirt I was wearing. I scrunched my neck to my shoulders, trying to keep my ears from freezing off.

Why now? I thought, looking off the mountain to the sea below. Why do you have to try and kill me now?

I tensed, hearing footsteps behind me and turned around with a snarl on my face. The snarl to a frown when I saw that it was Talu, my Beta, in human from. I studied the 6'0 male, trying to memorize the curve of his jaw, the darkness of his skin tone, matching the darkness of the night, and his specks of black hair on his head. His dark brown eyes looked into my gray ones, while he stayed silent.

Talu whined and bowed his head, respectfully. However, he shouldn't have done that, since I was pronounced a traitor to my parent's pack, and the pack that I was supposed to form with a male that I wanted to hold me.

Talu again looked up at me, his dark brown eyes filled with deep pain and regret. "It's time," he said, his voice heavily accented in an African form that, I had long forgotten.

"You should be in wolf form."

"I couldn't speak to you, if I was." Tears filled his eyes, and he took a deep shuddering breath. His pain seemed to grow wider as he looked at me. He knew that this might be the last time we can speak, before I was executed.

"Talu," I complained,  going over to him and giving him a hug. "Don't cry."

He placed his head on my shoulder and wrapped me in a fierce hug. His shoulders started to shake, but I knew that he was just sniffling.

After a few minutes, I pulled out of the hug and lifted his face, so that he would look me in the eyes. He obliged and met my gaze, even though there were still unshed tears in his eyes.

"Don't show the pain that they are causing you," I said, softly. "You have to be strong. As Alpha-"

"No, I'm not the Alpha, you are Em," he said. "I-"

I held up my hand, silencing him. "You are the Alpha of the pack now," I said, in a warning tone to not argue. "I don't care what you say, but your rank is now Alpha. Do you understand me?"

Talu nodded his head. "Yes, Alpha," he said, trying to act brave.

I sighed and took of my bracelet, a silver chain that has marked the Alpha of my pack for centuries. I glanced at it, hating the fact that I was going to have to give it to my beta and not my kid. However, I had to, because I couldn't take it with me.

He looked at me and then looked at the silver chain that had a moon on it. He glanced at me again, a bit of sadness in his eyes. He knew what the bracelet meant to the pack and the surrounding pack. He gulped and cleared his throat, not knowing what to do.

"This is yours, now," I said, handing it to him. I cleared my throat, hating this. "Make me proud and keep the pack together. They'll be counting on you to lead them."

Talu nodded his head. "Of course," he said taking the silver chain. He placed it on his wrist and looked at me. "We can just run away," he said, quickly. "You can start a new pack. An- and we don't have to be here." He looked at me full of hope, and it killed me to see him like this.

I wish I could tell him what we were planning but... I had to make them believe. I had to make them believe that I did whatever I was saying. I bit back a growl of annoyance and shook my head, trying to clear that thought away. "No," I said, my voice sharper than I wanted it to be. "I can not do that. You could be called a traitor, also, and I will not have that happen. You don't deserve it."

Talu flinched and did not meet my sharp, gray eyed gaze. "Of course, Alpha," he said, showing me his neck in submission.

I bit back a groan, knowing that some habits die hard. "I'm not your Alpha anymore, Talu," I said. I sighed and looked at the position of the moon, to see that it was time. "Come, it's time for us to go." I looked back down at him, blowing a bit of my bangs out of my face.

Talu nodded his head, silently. He shifted back into his wolf form and looked at me with those big brown eyes.

I looked down at the wolf besides me.

His coat was the color of the sand, yellow, brown, and tan. He was about medium height of a wolf and will stay there. His head was leveled high and so was his tail, because of him being an Alpha now. He nodded his head towards me, before he turned around, knowing that I would follow.

"I'm sorry that I'm putting you through this," I said, softly, following him to the clearing that we would be conducting the punishment. "But, I can't trust anyone else with the pack. And I know that you'll take care of them and Chris and Kate..." I shook my head, thinking about my 15 year old brother and 14 year old sister. I could still see those wide, fearful eyes, as they saw me come back with the blood of our mother on my chest and face, while acting wild.

Talu looked at me, understanding filled his eyes. He gave a slight wag of his tail, as he nodded his head to watch over my pack... or his pack now...

We paused at the edge of trees, where a big circle was laid out. Half the circle was blocked by rocks and the other half was blocked by a dense forest. In the middle of the circle we did our meetings and held executions, as what was going to happen to me.

Talu looked at me, as I shifted into wolf form. I shook out my black coat that had speckles of white going through it. The gray eyes of my human form were the same as my wolf, and I was glad that it was like that.

*You can't be in wolf form, though, Alpha,* Talu said, using the link that our pack had. He made sure that he kept it only on me and not anyone else in m- his pack.

*I will go as wolf form,* I said, keeping the sharpness out of my voice. However, there was a bit of hardness that Talu had picked up. *I will not die as a human. I will die on my own terms.*

*Even if it is laid out for you?*

I looked down, not meeting his gaze. *Even then,* I replied. I looked back up and towards the entrance of the ring. *Come, it is time to face the music.*

And let the battles begin...