It was a single knock.
Father and I were both sitting at the table, exhaustion keeping us from saying anything to each other.
That single knock had us raising our heads to the door.
Just one knock.
Before the door came crashing down.
Father immediately stood, pushing me to stand behind him as a line of males rushed forward. I could see who they wanted. Their eyes fell on father instantly the moment they came through.
"Grab him."
Before they could, I was pushing him to the side, shoving at anyone who tried to touch him.
"Nilsa, no-,"
Even though I was weak in shifting, I was not weak in fighting. I knew that, but many others were never able to make that connection. Power to them- true power - was in the form of fur and four legs. Of canines and claws. No one ever assumed skin could win against a monster.
The man reaching for father falls back, winded from my kick. Father was pushing behind me, trying to make me stop. The others were pushing in front of me, colliding and not caring if I stood there or not.
Renna and mother's voices were heard in the back behind the snarling males. I could see them starting to shift. Their own claws coming out, without even knowing why.
"This is the Beta!" My words are frantic as I try to reach for any reasoning to stop them, "The Alpha has authority here, you cannot touch him unless he says so!"
One male's fist collides with my jaw. I hear the crack of contact. My neck snaps back, but the blood it creates is only spat on his face as I blind his eyes and return the pain.
There are too many. To many in such a tight space.
They overwhelm me. Take me.
I see their hands reaching for father. I see his eyes pleading for me to stop.
I see out front that mother and Renna are already there, battered and confused.
And I see Alpha Laurent waiting.
I'm pushed to my knees, bowing before him as father is also shoved down.
"Esmond."
I look up to see the conflict in Alpha Laurent's eyes.
Before he can act, I throw myself in front of father.
"If you have something against me, take me! Kill me- do not take it out on my family!"
Alpha Laurent's eyes glaze over as he watches my actions.
He looks up, a single glance the only command needed to tell someone to restrain me before hands grab and pull me away.
Father is looking up at Alpha Laurent, no fear within his eyes.
It hits me then that this is not about me. This is not about Alpha Laurent's hate for me. It's between him and father.
A sad smile plays on father's lips as he stares at his Alpha.
"Alpha," he whispers.
Alpha Laurent seems to flinch. He takes a deep breath, inhaling and closing his eyes before stepping forward.
I see Jermone in the distance, his own eyes wide and watching. He is taking in his father. I want to scream out to him. For him to do something. But just as I am about to, his gaze turns to me.
They are lost.
His vision is lost to some void of horror as he looks at me.
I stare back in confusion, unable to look away and take in the meaning behind such an emotion.
Alpha Laurent pulls back my attention as he stands above father.
"Esmond. Why? Why would you..." He stops his words, his teeth clenching together in fury suddenly.
And that's when it hits me.
Not once has Alpha Laurent addressed my father as Beta.
"Esmond. I've been informed that you have been working against me. You've betrayed me. You have been plotting and scheming to take over my position with others from this pack and to overthrow my leadership?"
There is silence after Alpha Laurent's words. I look at father in astonishment. He is still looking up at Alpha Laurent, a sorrow but strong resolve in his face. Looking at him, I'm able to see mother's face also behind. Her eyes match father.
She knows.
And I know now that Alpha Laurent's words hold some truth.
"No," father whispers, "I was not planning on overthrowing you. I was planning on overthrowing the pack."
Whispers are heard as the other wolves take in his words. Alpha Laurent's eyes widen in anger.
Father continues his confession, "You thought I wanted to be Alpha? I don't want that. I've never wanted that." He smiles then, a smile so full of hope and yearning, that it takes my breath away. "I wanted an Alpha that I chose personally. That the pack chose personally. That the pack wanted, and voted for and saw fit to lead. Not a son and his son and his son afterwards. I want the freedom of choice and if that means taking over your power, my friend...my friend...and throwing this system and its cruelty away..." father's eyes shine brighter than I have even seen them as he stands, and faces the Alpha, "then yes. I did betray you."
Alpha Laurent's hand rips away father's throat.
Mother screams, her cry piercing into the night, but a male grabs her before she can move to be next to him.
I am the closest one. They do not stop me in time before I reach him and fall beside him.
"Listen Nilsa."
His breathing is short. Ragged. Uneven.
"Listen to me."
Bloody hands clasp my own as they grip tightly to my skin. Red of revolution seeping into me as he drags me down to be eye level.
Drags me down to be with him, and whispers softly to my ears, "There is no price for freedom."
And then his voice is no more.
I look up at Alpha Laurent. He is panting, his breathing just as ragged as father's had been. He stares down at his friend. What once was his friend. His hand-picked Beta.
I look to mother, my mind jumping faster than anyone on what is happening. The males are staring down at father, still comprehending such an outcome.
"Mother," I gasp to her. Her tear-stained face meets mine as she quickly looks at Renna.
Renna is frozen. She cannot stop staring at father, at the red that is seeping into the earth. The red that is dripping from my skin.
Before I can act further, a hand is twisting into my hair. I scream at the sudden pain, turning to try and stop the strain.
Alpha Laurent viciously shakes me, dragging me away from my family.
"Jermone."
My screaming stops as I hear his name.
I look up and see his panicked eyes.
His father is shaking me before him, his anger twisting his fingers even more into my hair as he stands before his son.
"Reject her."
Jerome is immobile.
I feel the air leave my lungs as we make eye contact. I shake my head. Just the tiniest of shakes, but Alpha Laurent feels it as he pulls me to him, screaming in my face, "You never should have belonged to him in the first place! Two wrongs are being corrected tonight!"
He turns to his son, his actions reminding me of striking lighting. Fast, powerful, blinding.
"Do it! Reject her! It's time!"
It's time.
I look up at Jerome, shock registering to me that it was something discussed. I knew it, but my brain pushed away from the idea that one day this would have happened.
Jerome's eyes meet mine.
"Jermone," I whisper.
He shudders against his name.
His father's grip becomes tighter, but I ignore the pain. That pain was nothing compared to what he was about to do. What he was about to say.
What could not be taken back.
"Take him, Jerome."
His eyes open to fear as he looks from me to his father.
Alpha Laurent is smiling down at me.
"You think you are more important? Do you think he will choose you? That what you can give him is better than what I will eventually hand over?"
I ignore Alpha Laurent's whispers, my whole focus on only Jerome.
"Just listen for a moment," I whisper, my words bringing him back to our soft fantasy in the woods.
His eyes show me he knows what I am talking about.
"We can leave," tears are coming to my eyes now. They are coming to Jerome's. I wonder if the Alpha will yell at him for crying. But he does not. Maybe he had some idea of the pain he was inflicting to his son.
"Let's leave this place. Let's be together. Let's go."
"You think you're going anywhere?" Alpha Laurent is staring at his son. I do not know who his words are really directed to though.
Jerome steps forward, slowly coming to his knees before me.
"If you do this," I whisper, "then you will hate him for the rest of your life."
I only see his tears as he stares at me.
"I'm sorry," he says.
I'm sorry.
We continue to stare at one another.
And in that moment the only words I can think to say are, "I love you."
Jerome's face twists into such pain. Such pain that I want to reach forward and put my hand on his arm as he did to me so many times in my own discomfort.
"I reject you."
I scream.
The pain of his words ripped a hole into my soul that I never would have anticipated.
Nothing - no words, no forewarning - would have prepared for this new level of torture as my hands grab onto my heart to even check if it was there- if there even was something still beating.
Jerome screams with me- but his pain is not as intense as mine. He is only screaming because of the sight he sees before him.
Clarity hits me.
I twist forward, biting Alpha Laurent's hand. Blood leaks into my mouth as he screams and drops me.
I kick him, knocking him down. The other males have just caught on, but mother - mother - has been waiting for something.
She attacks the male that is guarding her, canines coming forward to bite into his neck. Renna is no longer in shock. She has shifted fully, already attacking another male by surprise and running into the woods. Mother joins her.
Please, please, please.
I feel it then.
The full moon shines down upon me.
And I feel the power that came and went into my body finally occur.
I shifted, two legs becoming four, skin turning to fur. Nails extending to claws.
I follow mother and Renna into the woods.
I can feel them pursuing.
Run.
Mother and Renna do not look back.
The slightest pause could be the end for us.
It takes everything within me to not look back and take one last glimpse at father. To his body upon the ground.
And to Jerome.
To the screams I still heard coming from him.
Run.
Keep running until we are out of main pack land.
Run.
Do not stop running.