When the gods go to war, it's their people who suffer.
The moon was the most benevolent of them until they took everything from her. Vengeance turned her into the instrument of destruction, now those who destroyed her have to give her back what the...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He felt the shift, a wrenching of a part of him, but not in the way of a were. Keeping his form relaxed, he narrowed his focus on the point of the shift. Waiting, like the predator he was for something more to happen, something he could analyze.
A soft hand landed on his naked chest and he turned at the sharp movement the blonde by his side made. Concerned eyes met his, brows furrowed in puzzlement. "What was that?" she asked, her voice betraying a thread of fear.
Loathing rose up in his gut, and he didn't try to stop the scowl that found its way to his face. Without preamble he tossed the she-wolf out of his bed, his strength flinging her helplessly against the far wall.
She was a well-trained Were, but his alpha speed gave her no room to shift her body for less impact. Her howl of pain cracked the air before she fell to the floor and huddled into herself.
"Look at me!" he demanded of her. The alpha command left no room for any defiance she might have shown.
With slow, painful movements she raised her sky-blue eyes to his. At that moment, he hated that they were not cerulean blue, hated that her face did not have defined high cheekbones and a squared jaw. Yet she was the acknowledged beauty of the pack and Tania, an underdeveloped weakling with nothing to recommend her.
"Never. Show. Fear." he punctured every word with a growl, his voice rising with each word. "Members of the Dark Carnage do not fear anything. We are the feared."
"Yes Alpha," she submitted, taking pains to balance her strength and that submission in her tone.
"Get out!" The she-wolf uncurled herself from the floor, already moving easier as her body healed. She reached for her clothes, "Now!" Jake roared, unwilling to give her the opportunity to dress. Walking naked was her punishment for daring to question him.
While the Weres were used to nakedness, they valued modesty in their females. A primal instinct that drove the male wolves to have their females be theirs alone to enjoy. He smirked at the shame that coloured the she-wolf, the slut. She was valueless now that she was no longer a virgin, but so were a lot of his females. After all, he was the Alpha and they were his to do with as he wished.
She'd have to spend the rest of the day naked, she knew, and he would not tolerate her hiding indoors. So her shame would be seen by all.
Head held high she left, her clothes still on the chair he had thrown them onto last night. Laughing Jake sauntered into his bathroom for a quick shower. Once done he dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, then left for the kitchen.
His beta and gamma were already there, their plates full. As he sat down, an omega brought a plate just as full to him as another brought his juice and coffee.
"Once you finish your breakfast go get the Oracle," he ordered the two, who nodded their heads as they continued demolishing their food.
He lingered over his, knowing the wait would eat at the creepy she-wolf. He hated her with everything he had, but he couldn't kill her or touch her, so he relished being petty to her.
She stood with her head held high, her regal Nubian features composed, as if this was her pack and he was a supplicant coming to her. His beta and gamma, flanking her became an honor guard, not the threat they were. He growled his displeasure and she turned her midnight brown eyes to him.
"Alpha." She lowered her head, her neck exposed in submission. She did everything just right, he growled his displeasure.
He needed to get himself under control, one day soon, she would know her place. "Why did I feel a shift in my soul?" he growled instead.
Her gaze became distant, even as it kept hold of his. Such eerie beauty rooted him to the spot. Though he had seen it all his life, his blood ran cold as her eyes whitened.
"She has found another, more worthy of her." the Oracle intoned, her voice like the seed of change.
"Who?" he was compelled to ask, an actor in an ancient play.
"The adopted daughter of the Moon, the child who is a healer and much more." her eyes focused and punched through his soul. "The one you brutalized, raped and left for dead."
"Jake?" his mother's horrified voice broke his transfixed daze. Damn it, he had forgotten they were coming back today. "What did you do?"
Anger overtook his sense, he forgot the role he played for them. "What did I do? I refused the Moon goddess' choice!" he shouted at her, causing his father's wolf to show in his eyes and growl his threat. Which meant nothing as Jake had beaten him for this Alpha position. "Was I supposed to accept the by-blow of my father's whore as my Luna?"
"Your father never cheated on me Jake, what are you talking about." the anguish in her voice only hurt him more. She was going to keep the act on.
"And you were worse, pretending to be her friend, favouring her daughter. I watched him visit her nearly every day, closet himself with her while she," he pointed an accusing finger at the Oracle. "kept her brat away. Sometimes you even went with him and left them together. What kind of a weak wolf would do that? What kind of a Luna?"
His mother fell to her knees, so much pain painted in her eyes, a vista without end depicting all the horror the world had. Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks, something he had never seen on the proud Luna. "Tiana was the hidden Oracle, Jake, that was all. She is the reason we are so wealthy and we honoured her." A sob escaped her, "Why couldn't you have just asked?"
Jake took a step back, a stab rushing through his heart. "No." He refused to believe that. The knowledge of his father's perfidy had shaped him, he couldn't have been wrong. He had seen them huddled together too many times to count.
"The Eastaughffe Alpha line is no more," the Oracle intoned. "Hail the Ainsworth Alpha!" the last rang through the pack lands and he felt the shock of his people.
"Over my dead body." he declared to the Oracle's sinister smile.
