The Alpha Assassin novel Chapter 13

“I don’t want him, Dad. I already chose Paul,” Nolan seethed; he was clenching his fork so hard I thought he might bend it. He was always the quietest, usually staying out of the way while his brothers tormented and instigated those around them. I had rarely if ever, seen him this angry.

“He is the best of the best. Ezra has come from the Western Territories and was trained from childhood for this role. There will be no discussion.” Alpha Raymond barely glanced at his youngest, but his face seemed sour.

That wasn’t a surprise. Nolan was the tamest out of the brothers; therefore, he was the least favorite. I don’t think that Alpha Raymond saw him even as a potential heir, so he made him give up his trainer for the trials so that the hunter could blend in without question.

“But Dad-”

“You will start with him tonight.” Alpha Raymond tried to leash his anger, but it never worked—one of his many downfalls.

“He will make a great babysitter, Nolan,” Dominick purred.

Hunter smirked at Nolan. “We can even give you an extra day to train so that you can get ahead.”

“Hell, make it a week,” Dominick added.

“Enough, boys,” Luna Addison chided, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“The trails are going on as normal,” Alpha Raymond said, ignoring the exchange. “Start training whenever you see fit. But we do have something to celebrate before then.” It took me a moment to realize that all eyes were on me.

I looked up and tilted my head, glancing at Alpha Raymond.

“It's almost your eighteenth birthday.” Alpha Raymond's voice made my skin crawl.

Dominick and Hunter turned their gaze to me, their eyes hungry.

“I’ve been waiting to see what’s under all that.” Dominik motioned to my dress. “Fabric.”

I didn’t have to fake my fear. I only had to suppress the anger that tried to claw out of me at the implication.

“Your first shift will be next week.” Alpha Raymond said, turning to his food. “We will all be there for it.”

Next week? It was already next week? Why did I have it in my mind my birthday was after the trials? Part of me knew why, a huge part of me, honestly. I didn’t remember my birthday. I wished it away. It was near the anniversary of the death of my pack, and that overshadowed anything else.

It used to be a happy time, celebrated with my parents and my friends—an intimate affair after the craziness that was Moonlight Celebration of Blood Moon. I didn’t mind that it wasn’t a pack celebration; it gave me something to look forward to after my favorite night of the year.

After dinner with my dad’s Beta, and Gamma, we would retire to his study and sit by the fire and open gifts. I willed away those memories and only held onto the anger, and eventually, I succeeded.

“Why don’t you come watch us train?” Dominick asked, and my eyes shot to his. I didn’t understand what he was trying to do. “Maybe we will let you decide who takes you first.”

I clenched my fist under the table. “O-okay,” I managed out. It was one of the invitations I was hoping for. Dominick looked surprised, but an oily smile crossed his face.

- - - -

I slipped upstairs on the pretense of getting changed, and I slipped in some of the dried Juniper. When mixed with water, it was lethal. I smiled, remembering Dalton’s pained expression when I paid him a visit.

Enough of this ingested could make you sick. Your body naturally wants to expel the threat. But slowly, over time, you could poison someone enough to weaken them. I would start tonight as a backup before I decided how to kill a trained assassin.

I walked out the back door and jumped when Dominick peeled himself off the stone walls. “Getting changed for us, Princess?”

I shook my head and looked down. “Where do you train?” I asked the grass.

“Follow me.” Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel his raking over my covered body.

He walked closely to me, as close as his Father’s ‘no touch’ Alpha command would let him. I studied my feet, but I knew where we were heading. There was an old training clearing that the warriors used before my time here.

The empty, overgrown space was transformed. Weapons, some I didn’t even know the names of, were in wooden mounts. Hunter was there with a tall, dark man that looked like he had never learned to smile, and Nolan was standing across the field, crossing his arms standing silently next to the Hunter.

“Look who decided to join us, boys,” Dominick called, and I was wrong. The tall, dark man did know how to smile, but it was one that would haunt my nightmares.

Hunter strolled over, pulling his shirt over his head and discarding it on the ground. “See something you like?” He motioned to his body.

There was not one thing about him that did not completely and entirely repulse me. I almost sent a prayer for their future mates, but then I remembered their days on this earth were numbered. I was doing their potential mates a huge favor.

“Can we just start? Dominick took long enough.” Nolan pouted like a child glancing up at The Hunter.

“You didn’t have to wait for me,” Dominick said, raking his hand through his dull brown hair. He was surprising me recently. It used to be Hunter that was clearly in the lead for head dick, but Dominick was following his younger brother's lead, and it made him all the worse for it.

He removed his shirt, too, and I internally rolled my eyes. I took a few timid steps forward to the end of a makeshift fence they put up alongside one part of the training ring.

The hunter glanced at me so briefly that I wasn’t sure I didn’t imagine it. His lips moved, and Nolan smiled. I inched closer so I could attempt to hear more of their conversation.

If I wasn’t so focused on the hunter, I might have found this interesting. They all started sparring, but it was unlike anything I had witnessed before. They used ancient weapons. I was itching to touch them, to feel the heavy weight in my hand.

Again, I thought that this place, that these traditions might be beautiful if it wasn’t attached to these horrible people. I wondered if their line was always cruel or if they were warped over time.

“Look who is getting a backbone now,” Hunter said, pinning his youngest brother with a lazy smile.

“It’s you who needs to worry about training,” Dominick added, “I don’t think I’ve seen you even touch a weapon yet either, now that I think about it.”

Nolan closed his eyes and shook his head, but his fists clenched.

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.” The hunter turned his attention fully to me. “I thought you might be bored watching.”

“Who are you to suggest what she does?” Hunter cut in, “You’re here to train us. You work for us.”

“Actually, I’m here to protect you.” The hunter’s voice was impassive, but there was an edge to it. Hunter had the decency to balk. “Now.” His gaze never left mine. “Let me help you.”

He held out a hand, and I apprehensively placed mine in it. His warm, calloused fingers wrapped around mine, and I momentarily got distracted by a scar on the back of the hand he wrapped around mine. I wanted to ask about it, but I knew better for many reasons.

With his guidance, I climbed over the short wooden fence. I moved slowly, making sure my dress didn’t catch, as if I couldn’t have climbed this waist-length fence myself.

“Thanks.” I looked at my shoes and tugged my hand that was wrapped in his. His fingers uncurled, and I rubbed that hand in my other.

“Here.” I looked up at the shining single blade that reflected the moon’s soft glow.

I opened trembling hands and wrapped them around the cool, dark wood of the pole the blade was attached to. It felt ancient and powerful, even though I knew that it was the warrior whose power the weapons came from. It awoke something in me that was long dormant. I was powerful.

A life flashed before my eyes for the first time. Not the one that was ripped from me, not my past, but the future. The future that I could have had. One training alongside my parents, one leading my pack and teaching my children in the ways of Blood Moon. To protect and defend, and not attack unless instigated. That last thought stung; I wondered what my parents would have thought of my actions if what I was doing was as necessary an evil as I convinced myself it was.

The cool wood began to slip, and I held it tighter in my sweaty palms. Suppressed agony and pain ripped through me, and I fought to catch my breath. I wondered what I looked like to others, but I was so swept away by the riptide of longing that I didn’t care.

“I-I. I can’t.” I think I formed words, and the weapon was gone; taken from me, or I dropped it, I didn’t notice.

I turned and hopped over the short fence and walked as steadily as I could, taking in deep lungfuls of the moon-soaked air, trying to cool my throat. I clenched and unclenched my hands, but the static, numbing energy wouldn’t leave them.

I headed towards the treeline, longing clouding any judgment, fear, or apprehension.

What could be more dangerous than me out here anyway?

When I was far enough away, where I couldn’t see much past complete darkness, I sank to the forest floor and took off the mask that I always wore. A flood of carefully suppressed emotions poured out in waves, and I wept like I hadn’t in years.