Ryan's eyes scoured his brother's face. It was still as handsome as he remembered but the innocent spark in his eyes had faded to a mysterious and layered stare. Rick wore an expensive silk shirt with the first few buttons intentionally left undone to reveal his hairy, beefy chest. He smelled fragrant too.
Ryan appreciated his brother's expensive taste in shoes as his eyes dipped to the red bottoms. Whatever his brother has been doing for the past few years, he wasn't living in penury for sure.
"What kind of alpha makes it stupidly easy to sneak up on him, huh?" Rick wondered aloud, his eyes darting around the bedroom dripping with opulence. He too had heard of his famed brother living like a king both in the city and back at the Silver Moon pack house. It stung his pride that Ryan hadn't disappointed their father by running the pack to the muddy ground.
"Maybe an alpha who actually wants his brother to come to him." Ryan replied while placing his glass ceremoniously on the closet drawer. He jammed both hands in his pocket and squared his shoulders. "You must have heard that meeting me is a privilege I grant to a select few. I am not stupid or careless. If it was easy for you to get into my bedroom, be rest assured I wanted you here." He gave Rick a cold and satisfied smile.
"Alpha Ryan, the godless, huh?" Rick shot to his feet, wiggling the gun. "Father would be gnashing his teeth in the after life over the life choices you've made as leader of his pack. Fraternizing with those hypocritical humans is one thing but living in complete defiance to the rules of the moon goddess? How do you sleep at night?"
"On a gold-rimmed king-sized bed as you can see." Ryan let out a low chuckle. "It baffles me that you stand here as an advocate for the old ways handed down by the moon goddess when you go about doing unconscionable things to your own kind. How is the lawless pack any different from my faithless self?"
It was a bait to confirm his suspicion that Rick was a member of the lawless pack and Rick intentionally took it.
"The lawless pack is the moon goddess' battle axe. We pride ourselves in executing a swift judgment on humans and werewolves alike for their ignoble and heinous sins. We don't deviate from her ways."
"You don't belong to a pack or abide to the rules of our community."
"Your rules are rigged for the rich and affluential or a Luna-less alpha like you won't still be in power. You blatantly go around, flaunting your faithlessness in their faces and no one can stand up to you. You've made yourself a demi-god in your so-called pack AND the community. There are countless atrocities being committed by other alphas and their pack members each day that need to be stomped out. THAT is where the lawless pack comes in. We will spare NO ONE, not alpha, Luna or even a werewolf elder who has sinned against the moon goddess."
Rick's eyes shone like that of a religious zealot. Ryan ground his teeth. Religious fanatics were the worst crop of people to deal with. Now, he understood why their members were tight-lipped. Breaking someone who clings to their faith was harder in his experience. He inclined his head to the side as he tried to scrounge up a plan to wheedle himself out of a potentially dangerous situation.
"So, are you here to kill me?"
Rick laughed. "Like an assassin in the night? Nah. When your judgment day arrives, your death will happen in the open, sending a message to our entire community, and the humans if we so well please. I am just here as a messenger to warn you of your impending doom." He gave his brother a contemptible look while his fingers teased the trigger of the Glock in his hand.
"I can imagine how much you'd like to put that bullet in my heart. Tell me Rick, what happens to my pack after I am gone? Will you allow the natural order of succession or foist yourself on my pack in retaliation of father's decision that night?"
Ryan watched his brother's eyebrows furrow in anger. He knew he was treading a very dangerous path by bringing up that night. However, he was confident that being a religious zealot, Rick wouldn't kill him till it was his time.
"You still believe father made an unfair decision, don't you?" He pressed.
Rick worked his jaw. "He was drunk and he went against the moon goddess."
"The moon goddess is not opposed to the most capable leader becoming the alpha of a pack and that's what I was. You couldn't hold a candle to me back then or now."
Rick's fingers tightened around the gun. "Careful kiddo. You might have bought yourself some protection in the city but I can assure you that this silver bullet will be lodged in your arteries for hours before anyone will come running to save you."
"So, you will go against the moon goddess and kill me before my judgement day? Who then will deliver judgment on your sinful soul?"
Rick marched up to his brother till they were nose to nose. "You're baiting me. Very typical of you, Ryan." He stepped back and patted his brother's broad chest. "If I were you, I'd start making some changes around here. Get yourself a worthy Luna. Pull the plug on the peace treaty with the humans. Suggest new policies in the community that are in line with the goddess' will. That's the only way you can save yourself and those other wretches on our hit list. If you do so before your judgment day, your lives will be spared."
Ryan bobbed his head. "Noted."
Instantly, their noses pricked as a familiar scent floated in. Ryan's heart skipped as his beta whirled in. Cody's eyebrows slashed up at the sight of Rick. Quick as a whiplash, he whipped out his gun but wasn't faster than Rick's hand on the trigger. The shot shoved him against the wall from where he slid down listlessly, clutching his bleeding gash stomach. Ryan felt anger prickle through the shock of his best friend getting shot by his brother.
"CODY!" He screamed, rushing towards his beta. Cody tried to sit up but moaned in great pain. Ryan watched in horror as blood gurgled from Cody's stomach onto his hands.
"G-Get behind m-me." Cody mumbled. Sweat beaded his forehead and though death flashed in his drooping eyes, he attempted to block Rick's next shot. Slowly, Ryan got to his feet with bloody hands, glowing red eyes and a murderous stare trained on his brother.
Sharp claws shot out of his fingers, curved and thick. With a loud, feral growl, he lunged at Rick with the grace of a wild cat. He pounced on him and slashed his chest, ripping his shirt. His claws shallowly dug into Rick's neck while the latter remained unfazed.
"Alpha! Don't!" Cody called weakly before bursting into a fit of cough. His worsening condition cut through the red haze of Ryan's vision, stopping his hands from severing his brother's head. Rick smiled when his brother leapt off him to go help his beta. Cody's eyes had closed and his breath was heavy and labored.
Ryan's eyes returned to their normal color as he cradled his beta's head on his thighs. "Stay with me, Cody. Stay with me, man!" When he looked back, Rick was gone.
***
"Is he going to be okay?"
Cody was all stitched up on Ryan's bed. It had been an hour and his fever hadn't ebbed. His skin was ashy and veiny. Sweat dribbled from his forehead and sides. Khalid, the healer of the Silver Moon pack sighed at his alpha's question.
"The wound is a deep one. Ordinarily, he shouldn't survive it but with our breakthrough in werewolf cures, he should be back in good health in five to six weeks with the help of the potion I administered to him. However, I can't guarantee his strength will be the same."
Ryan flexed his arms. "I am fine with him staying alive. Do the best you can to ensure that. I am off to the pack house to consult with Luigi. Call me if anything happens."
"Alpha…"
"He won't be back. I reset the barriers to prevent his entry in my absence. You have nothing to be afraid of."
It was already dusk when he stepped out. Under the cover of darkness, he started with a light jog towards the forest, stomping on wet blades of grass. His steps quickened to a sprint. He flexed his arms with a low growl and thick, dark fur sprouted out of them, carpeting the entire length of his body.
His height doubled. His bones snapped and expanded. His form morphed till he was a beast, through and through. His claws hit the ground on all fours. With infrared vision, he ran across the forest in a blur. Cold air whistled by. Rain pattered down but he didn't stop.
"Don't fret, Ryan. Cody will be fine." His wolf, Athena, told him.
"He's dying. If Luigi can't make the potion on time, he won't survive it. Khalid lied."
"Khalid was trying to be hopeful so you don't lose your marbles. You're the alpha of one of the largest packs this region of werewolves has ever seen. Part of his job is censoring the kind of information he gives you, especially the ones that could tear you down."
"I can't let him die, Athena. I can't let anyone else die. I have to find a cure."
"You've found impossible cures with your medical breakthroughs and potions. This won't be any different."
He finally stopped atop a hill a stone throw from his pack and howled into the night to announce his arrival. It normally took him seventeen minutes to run hundreds of miles from the city to his pack but tonight, he had done it in twelve. That was how tensed he was.
As he approached the magnificent fortress that was the silver moon pack house in his naked, human form, Ryan used the pack link to demand for an urgent meeting with the band of pack witches; Luigi, Hera and Gaby.
"Welcome, alpha Ryan." The housekeeping betas greeted meekly as he stormed in. His hair was sleeked back and dripping with water. Grass and grime stuck to his body. He left a wet poodle with every heavy step he took inside the radiant foyer.
Three female groomers met him midway with warm towels, flip flops, a glass of water and a robe. They patted his hair dry, stripped him bare and wrapped the robe around his body. Ryan rejected the water and slid his feet into the flip flops as his witches confirmed via link that they were already waiting in his office.
He found them standing in a line with their heads bowed. Without mincing words, he eased a hip on his desk and asked about the potion they had been working on for the past seven months, a potion that would make silver bullets less fatal to werewolves. It was a secret project he had embarked on for the protection of his pack only.
"The scholars have made a recent discovery, alpha." Luigi, the leader spoke up. She was slightly older than the other witches. "We are about seventy percent done with the potion but we lack an essential ingredient according to our scholars." She cleared her throat and avoided Ryan's impatient eyes. "To perfect the potion, the blood of the most powerful were-wolf-witch hybrid is required for a sealing spell."
Ryan inhaled sharply. There was only one such werewolf-witch hybrid famed in the community to be somewhat special because of a prophesy that foretold her birth; Nyla Stark. But Nyla was dead. Why did the fucking potion require her fucking blood? Does it mean Cody would die?
"Calm down. You're about to hyperventilate." Athena warned him. He took calming breaths and clenched his fist.
"Luigi, you and I know the only werewolf that fits that description died seven years ago. Are you trying to tell me that the project we've worked so hard on is hopeless?"
Hera, a vision in white, stepped up now. She was blind but sometimes saw better than those with eyes.
"No, alpha, far from it. The project isn't hopeless."
"What do you mean, Hera? Nyla is dead."
Hera smiled beautifully. "Not anymore. Nyla lives, alpha Ryan. Her heart beats again."
Ryan's own heart stopped beating. Nyla is alive?