I Am Dragonblood: The Grim Beast (Book Four)

Chapter Twelve - Alpha

He waited below the surface, breathing slowly so he wouldn't disturb the skin of the water. He could feel the vibrations of the ships and the catapults rippling through the water, hear the faint shouts and roars of the battle and the crashing of falling ice. He wished he didn't have to be there, wished he could be away on his ship, far from the madman controlling him, but the allure of being Alpha was too much and the failed attempts at escape proved otherwise. And besides, he had a plan. 
    Drago screamed for him from above, sounding as if his throat was as raw as an open wound. Grimmel sucked in a gulp of water and propelled himself up from the seabed, bursting through the surface like lava from a volcano. He roared to make his presence known and smashed his tusks into the water, spraying droplets into his eyes. 
    ‘Take down the Alpha!’ Drago screamed up at him from among shards of blue ice. Grimmel blinked the water from his eyes, looking around at the spikes of ice so recognisable to him. He knew why Drago wanted him to defeat the Alpha now, because the Alpha was a Bewilderbeast, too. 
    He set his icy eyes on the the dragon he was meant to defeat and his dragon instincts flared. It was a Bewilderbeast slightly bigger than him, whiter and with a fierce, protective glint in his gaze. Grimmel growled and hauled himself from the ocean, ice and stone crunching under his paws like peas under the hooves of a horse. It was his time to become Alpha now, his time to be free. It was time to avenge his mother in any way he could. 
    ‘I challenge you!’ Grimmel roared, thwacking his tail on the ground. 
    ‘Accepted,’ the Alpha growled, its voice rough and low. 
    A snarl later and they collided, each trying to force the other to the ground. Back and forth they wrestled, two mighty creatures evenly matched. In all his life he'd never met something so strong, so determined. The fight with Drago seemed like hatchling's game compared with this beast'a wrath. 
    Grimmel reared up and headbutted the other dragon, doing nothing for his headache but forcing the Alpha off balance. He rammed it on the side of its neck and pushed it over, feeling like he was pushing against a thousand year old oak in human form. The white Bewilderbeast groaned and struggled to get its feet under it, the ice and gravel slipping from under its paws. 
    Grimmel took his chance and stabbed his sharp tusks into the exposed white underbelly, hating the feeling but feeling a strange sense of satisfaction at the outlet for his anger. ‘That is for Cendane,’ he hissed. 
    The blue, dying gaze of the Alpha stared up at him, its breathing quickening. ‘Grimmel?’ It breathed.
    A flash of memory flickered through his mind and he gasped. A white haired man, blue eyes, a deep, rough voice, memories from his childhood surfacing like turtles searching for air. ‘Father?’ He whispered. Surely not. His father had been missing since he was four, vanished with the full moon. He had hardly any memories of him, but the voice, the deep voice, the same one as the Alpha, had stayed with him. 
    The Bewilderbeast smiled faintly and closed his eyes. 
    ‘Father!’ He couldn't lose him now, he'd only just found him... And he was the one who'd stabbed him. ‘No, please...’ He withdrew his tusks, trying not to look at the crimson stains on them. 
    ‘Do me proud, son,’ the Alpha said, sighing. His body went limp and he let out a small groan, so pathetic sounding coming from such a magnificent beast. 
    ‘Father... No...’ Grimmel whispered, so faint he could hardly hear himself. He'd done this. He'd killed his own father. What had he done to deserve this life? Why did everything have to end in death? Why him?
    What have I done?
    What am I?