"What? No." Willow was dumbfounded. "I can't lead a pack of werewolves. How could I possibly do that. I didn't even know how to turn into a wolf until a few minutes ago."
Luke looked at her with conviction in his eyes. "The leader's blood is in you, Willow. You're your father's daughter. You can do it, be the alpha of the pack. Trust me. I'll be by your side the whole time and show you things you don't know yet." Luke smiled warmly. His handsome face made Willow's chest flutter. She trusted Luke, but she didn't trust herself.
"Really?"
Luke nodded. "I promise you."
Willow finally returned his smile and nodded, although in her heart she was still hesitant to take the position. But if Luke believed in her it was enough to give her the confidence to at least try.
She stood on tiptoe to kiss Luke's cheek, but then stopped herself and directed her kiss to his lips. "I have your word," Willow said when his lips parted, ending the brief kiss. Her smile was still broad. "And I'll keep it with every kiss."
Luke then turned to speak to the other werewolves. "Listen. I pledge my loyalty to Willow and will follow her as a true alpha. Who's with me?"
The other four all pledged without hesitation. Despite their unpleasant appearance, Willow felt much better knowing that they were on her side rather than them trying to kill her.
Willow then turned to look at Boris, whose confidence had visibly dropped. "Tell me the truth. You're the one who killed my family, aren't you?"
Boris looked down and swallowed. "Yes, I did." His voice sounded hoarse. "Lowell made me do it. I had no choice."
"Oh, you did. You could have said no." She approached Boris. Luke and the other werewolves flanked him.
"Please." Boris knelt and bowed before her. "I'm sorry. I will serve you as I served Lowell. No, I will be more loyal to you. I swear it."
"Alpha, you want us to kill him for you?" one of his newly appointed followers asked. "I never liked him anyway. He's so arrogant."
The others murmured in agreement. "That's right," some of them agreed. "We'll kill him if you tell us to."
But Willow rejected the idea. "No, no, no. I don't want you to kill him. Enough people have died already." Even then Willow's compassion was limited. "But I won't forgive him either. Boris, you're out of the pack. Go wherever you want as a bastard. If you ever show your face in front of me again, I'll let them tear you apart."
Boris opened his mouth as if to argue Willow's words, but canceled his intention when he saw the five werewolves flanking Willow giving him a murderous look that made him certain that they were serious about carrying out Willow's threat. Finally, without a word, he turned into a wolf and ran into the forest.
Willow didn't know where Fenella had gone, but she would have given her the same chance to join the pack. And if she chose not to join, she would face expulsion like Boris. But since Fenella was nowhere to be seen, Willow didn't let herself worry about that. She had more important things to think about. She turned to Luke. "Luke, what should we do now?"
"You are the alpha now. You're the decider."
Willow lowered her voice. "But I don't know what to do. I need your help, Luke."
But Luke was adamant. He took Willow's hand and held it. "You know what to do, Willow. I know you do. Listen to your heart."
Willow looked over her shoulder at each werewolf in turn, unsure how she felt about the idea of leading this messy pack, but there was no turning back now. And when she really thought about what to do, she realized that Luke was right. She knew. Her goal hadn't changed.
"Luke," she said in the best commanding tone she could manage. "Are you able to run?"
He nodded. "I can do it."
"Then lead the way. We still need to find my father." She turned to the others. "You will all follow us. Is that clear?"
"Yes, alpha," the four of them said almost in unison.
She turned to Luke again and their eyes locked. Luke smiled and Willow now knew that her feelings for Luke were growing. Those feelings that had started as a fluttering sensation in her stomach were now maturing into something new. Something special. Something strong. Willow didn't want it to stop growing. She wasn't sure what true love felt like, but she was sure she was experiencing it now.
With that thought and the warm feeling in her heart, she resolved to start leading the pack now. Then he transformed himself into wolf form and the others followed. With Luke leading the way, the six werewolves ran off into the forest, looking for Willow's father, the werewolf she so desperately wanted to meet.
***
The campfire had burned down to a pile of smoldering charcoal by the time Fenella returned to the lumber mill. Dawn soon broke on the eastern horizon. Her decision to return was not an easy, but she finally came to the conclusion that she would rather stay close to Lowell, even if she couldn't be his partner, than wander around alone again. To her, there was nothing worse than being alone.
Besides, there was always the chance that Lowell would get tired of the half-breed once he no longer needed her. And that would open up an opportunity for Fenella to step in and take her place. Just like before,
Fenella had thought she would find the entire pack when she returned. Except for Lowell who must have been in the cabin sleeping with the half-breed. But she found no signs of life. Puzzled, she stood beside the remains of the campfire, still in white wolf form. He tried to imagine where the pack had gone.
However, his highly sensitive ears only picked up the chirping of crickets and the rustling of pine needles. The forest this time was as quiet as ever. There were only the sounds of nature.
There were no sounds to help her find the herd. But there were many smells, some fainter than others. She smelled the scents of all the people who were present when she left, and there was another scent that she found much more alarming. It was the scent of blood that she noticed only after she woke up from her confusion. The scent of blood hadn't been there when she left. The wounds on Luke's body would not have smelled this thick.
Had they killed Luke and left him somewhere in this area? Fenella felt she had to make sure. Besides, she somehow doubted if it was Luke's blood. Because after all, they shouldn't have left that quickly.
Fenella continued sniffing, quickly discovering the smell was coming from inside the lumber mill. So she wasted no time in rushing in, following the scent to its source. She stopped abruptly when her eyes immediately fell on Lowell's upper body lying in a pool of his own blood, nothing below his belt, which should have been a pair of legs.
It was as if someone had ripped open his chest and ripped out his heart. That was the pain he felt at that moment. After being transfixed for a few minutes, he managed to overcome his horror and began to advance on four trembling legs. On the third step she turned human, and continued crawling on her hands and knees to approach Lowell's corpse.
"No," she hissed. "It's impossible." She groaned painfully, supporting Lowell's head in her arms. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cradled the head against her chest, not caring about the blood soaking her dress.
Fenella decided again with her determination to accept Lowell's decision to have the half-breed as a mate, and set herself aside. She thought she would be happy enough to be around Lowell and wait for him to tire of the half-breed. In reality, she would never see Lowell again for good. Lowell was dead and now she was completely alone.
Just then, she heard someone enter the room. She looked back and found Boris standing by the door, his large frame creating even larger shadows in the dim light.
"What's going on here?" asked Fenella. "Who did this?"
"The half-breed," Boris replied. "She killed Lowell, and then convinced the others to join him. Then she kicked me out of the pack. I didn't know what else to do, so I came back here as soon as they left, hoping you would return."
Fenella looked down at her lover's body again. She gently closed his open eyes. And then got up as she clenched her fists while tears continued to flow down her cheeks. The lust for revenge churned in her chest.
"What do we do now?" Boris asked shyly. He was too stupid to think of a plan.
"We'll find the half-breed and the traitors with him, and we'll kill them," Fenella replied without hesitation. "I'll rip Luke's heart out of his chest and force that bitch to watch me devour him. That way she'll know my pain."
***