The Rogue

XXXII

*Rian*

The sun was setting as I finished up my perimeter check. I could hear the grumblings of several people before I even emerged from the forest. Yet then I stepped into the street and saw a significant amount of the Whitewater pack standing outside the Alphahouse, my house.

Shifting into my human form, I approached the group with a stiff stride. Now was the ruling. Either I would be disbanded from my pack or my father and several others would be. My gut gave me a feeling I didn't want to have.

"Son," greeted my father from where he stood at the head of the group.

Everyone quieted, their eyes bouncing between the two of us. I wondered why Nature didn't choose him to be Alpha. If not Michael, my father would have been suited for the position. Maybe Nature knew how disloyal my father was before me.

"Let's get this over with," I muttered.

"Agreed." He came to stand beside me until I growled at him. Getting the memo, he put a few feet of space between us. "All in favor of a new Alpha, form a group in front of me. All in favor of preserving Rian's Alphahood, stand in front of him."

I watched as the pack divided. Some people, like my mother, were uncertain. She must have felt so torn. Although she loved me as much as any mother could love her son, she was obliged to side with her anima. This wasn't the first I wondered how she was my father's anima. She deserved so much more.

In the end, she stood before her anima. I couldn't hold it against her. Titus and Sarah were two of the few who stood with me. The overwhelming majority had taken my father's side. I couldn't believe this.

"You see, my son?" My father was looking at me through pitying eyes. "It was—"

"Are you all forgetting who you are?" I demanded of the traitors. "We all belong to one pack, serving under one name. We are supposed to be unified. When did it become our place to question Nature?"

My wolves shifted uncomfortably. Rachel stepped forward, her face twisted in rage and colored bright red. I felt my body tense in preparation to attack.

"The sake of the pack will always come first!" she shouted. "You have put the pack in danger by leading us into a fight we didn't want to be in and fiscal strain by neglecting your financial duties as Alpha. You were given a chance to lead us, but you failed."

Financial duties. I thought of the stack of bills on my desk. How did she know about that? My gaze flickered to my father. It wouldn't be beyond him to search my office. The idea made my blood boil.

"I'm sorry, son," he told me. "You know I take no pleasure in this, but we have to formally reject you."

"And who is going to be your new Alpha? I suppose it will be you, Father?" I snapped.

We glared at one another until he spoke again. "I am much more experienced than you. This has been a role destined for me since birth. Rosco was a great Alpha, rest his soul, but it was time our bloodline led the pack."

Someone gasped. I searched for the source of the noise, locking eyes with my mother. Her mouth was parted in horror. I understood why.

My father seemed to have just been waiting for Rosco, the last true male of the Whitewater lineage, to die. My father's family came from another more recent addition to our pack in the last hundred years. When I was born, I was given his surname. I later changed it to Whitewater, wanting nothing more than to distance myself from my father while also gaining the credibility of my mother's family.

Michael and I were the last living Whitewaters. That is, assuming he would give up the European surname he'd adopted upon moving to Georgia. If we didn't pass on our name to our children, it would be forgotten. The historic Whitewater pack would exist no more. It would adopt the surname of whoever took power.

"You don't deserve it," I told my father. "The ones who fight for power don't deserve it."

"Rian, we should refrain from acting—"

"Acting out?" My grip on control was slipping. If Faye was here, she could have stopped me. But this time I didn't want to be stopped. "Let me get this straight. You are formally rejecting me right now?"

"That's right."

"So how do you intend on removing me? What if I refuse to leave?"

"Then we use force," Rachel hissed.

My father sent her a sharp look. "There is no need for force because you are going to walk away," he told me in perfect confidence. "Making a scene here would be juvenile. It—"

"Screw you," I snapped.

Within the blink of an eye, my body exploded into a large hunk of muscle of fur. I pounced before anyone could respond. Rachel was shoved aside as I tackled my father. We went rolling across the grass, my claws and teeth tearing at his flesh until he also transitioned.

He was older than me, which normally meant he would be my superior in fighting, but I had been Alpha. My wolf had grown larger since my induction, even though I wasn't sure how. I stood several inches taller than him now. Not to mention fighting always came first nature to me. My father was a bit too slow for his burly size, and that often cost him.

A screeching howl filled the air while I burrowed my teeth into his neck and ripped the skin away. Two centimeters deeper and I would have ripped out a major artery. Lucky him.

Someone else leapt onto me. We rolled to the ground until I sprang back onto my feet. The pack, the traitors, surrounded me. Their teeth were bared in low growls. I was surprised they'd become so invested in my father so quickly.

Rachel saw this as her opportunity. Her blonde wolf darted at me from behind, expecting me to be too distracted to notice. She was wrong. I switched back and caught her muzzle with my paw. My claws left deep gouges across her cheek, gouges that would scar and perhaps never fully heal.

Not that it would matter anyway. The blow didn't stop her. She charged me again, but this time I took her head on. It was foolish for her to think she ever stood a chance against me. I was much larger, stronger, and more experienced.

Our bodies crashed together with the snapping of our bloodthirsty jaws. I shoved her to the ground and pinned her beneath my legs. Realizing that her time was running out, Rachel panicked. She began using her hind legs to scratch my stomach and attempt to kick me off. Her time ran out too soon.

My teeth locked onto her jaw before I jerked my head to the side. The bones in her neck sounded in a loud crack. Her body became still beneath me until she completely relaxed. Any sign of life in her eyes vanished.

Releasing her neck from my jaws, I lifted my head. The wolves stared at me, incredulous. I had killed one of ours, one of my own. It didn't matter to them that she didn't give me a choice.

Then the small victory I had slipped right through my fingers. Her mate jumped, wrath coloring his eyes. The eyes that showered a freshly broken heart. Although I could have taken him alone, the others moved in, too. They were going to kill me.

I managed to fight my way out of the claws and teeth, earning several deep wounds of my own along the way. Once I reached the hedge of the forest, I swept into a sprint and didn't look back.