Chapter 4

Alpha Thor’s POV

“There is a rogue amongst us. We believe he was sent by Giloed...”

“That’s absurd. If Giloed wanted to raid our pack, he would have stormed in with a large number of his army. This person we’re after is a common thief.”

“I don’t expect you to speak about security issues, Kane. I mean, what could you possibly know?” The second pack leader, sitting directly opposite Kane, smirked.

“That’s enough,” I interrupted before Kane fired back at my rude Beta. If there was anyone who knew this wasn’t an attack from Giloed, it was me. Kane was right—Giloed would not send a single man if he wanted to attack my pack; that would be a waste of time. The rogue had stolen from a particular store East of Cordena, and he had harassed some of the dwellers in that region too. But he acted only at night when they were alone or careless enough to leave their stores unattended for a few minutes.

Giloed didn’t operate that way. He always made a statement when he was around and launched an attack.

“This has nothing to do with Giloed,” I began. I turned in my seat at the head of the round table and faced the pack leader. “This is just a case of your irresponsible leadership. You have to do better,” I scolded with a stern voice.

“Ye....yes, Alpha.” The pack leader bowed his head in shame and fear. I faced the rest of the men at the table.

“We will hunt down this criminal. We will wait for him in every part of the town where he usually hides to attack people, and we will catch him. Once he’s in our custody, we will make a public example of him for all the other fools who might like to imitate him. And that will be the end of this issue.”

They all nodded.

“Now, what’s the update on our troops that we sent to the borders?” I grabbed a bottle of water set on the glass table and drank from it.

“There have been no reports, Alpha. All hands are on deck to destroy all of Giloed’s hideouts, and soon he won’t have anywhere to run to. We will comb through Europe until we fish him out,” Kane responded.

“Good. I want every information on him directed to me without fail. If that is all...” I stood up, and the rest of the pack leaders stood up as well in respect. My guards ushered me to the car, waiting to take me back to the palace. 

I had just one business to do today, which was the meeting I had just rounded up with. Yet I felt tired. I knew I hadn’t had enough rest.

I got into the car, Kane beside me, going on and on about how he liked that I shut the pack leader up earlier. Kane had a little beef with him. After Kane, the pack leader was the next most powerful personality in Cordena because he was the head pack leader. They disagreed a lot about matters and didn’t hesitate to display their dislike for each other at almost every meeting we were gathered at.

I didn’t care about anything going on with them as long as they did their jobs well. I was closer to Kane, of course. Besides my mother, he was the only one I had. We practically grew up together since his father was my father’s...the previous Alpha’s Beta. Kane was the only one I played with while growing up. 

At first, I didn’t yield to his offer of friendship. I was a cold young boy, always angry, and too careful not to get close to anyone asides from my mother. Because of my father, I thought everyone in the entire world was wicked and cruel and would take any chance they gave to hurt my mom. That was the result of watching your father beat your mother like she was an animal, torture her, humiliate her, show her no love or support whatsoever, and constantly say to her that you regret having her as a mate, that she’s a waste. Constantly abuse her.

And not be able to do anything about it.

If there was anyone who understood what I was going through at that point, it was Kane. There were opportunities to make friends, of course, with people of high caliber because that was all my father would permit. But my hate for the world chased them away. Kane stayed back, though; he helped me come out a little more. He was not just my Beta; he was my friend, my brother.

“That would teach him!” Kane yelled excitedly and reached for the bottle of whiskey by the side of the car. He took a full gulp and offered me some. I took the bottle and lifted it to my lips.

“You okay, Thor?”

I rinsed my mouth with the drink and handed it back to him. “Yeah.”

“You look tired.”

“I am tired.”

“From what?” The car turned to the left side of the road, the junction that led straight to the palace. I looked out the window to observe the view of the main market, which we were passing by. Cordena had developed so much; I was so busy making sure of it that I had missed the process. There were hardly any stalls on the roadside, unlike before. The traders relocated to proper shops; the roads were neat and well-lit. Flowers bloomed at every corner, and the people looked happy.

My mind went back to the previous Alpha again because of how badly he had treated my mother. I vowed that no one would be treated that way again. I projected my anger toward ensuring Blue Moon would prosper, ensuring no injustice would prevail in my pack, and no one would ever hurt us. That was why I was determined to get Giloed. For as long as Blue Moon existed, he would never leave us in peace. He wanted the pack, and I wanted him dead, torn to pieces.

Now I knew what was tiring me. Every day, I reflected on what my mother had suffered, and it made me angrier because I didn’t do anything. So I decided I would dedicate my life to finding Giloed because he wanted to do the same thing to my pack.

To me, Giloed was the previous Alpha, and Blue Moon was my mother.