The Alpha Assassin novel Chapter 73

The place was silent. Nova broke into a radiant smile, and the other werecats looked around in awe as if that power would come back. But I knew it wasn’t gone; it seeped deep into these lands.

Ezra’s arm was around me, and he let out a long breath into my hair. “That was… amazing,” he whispered. “Terrifying, but amazing,” I swear he almost shuddered, but I knew it was out of worry, not terror.

I motioned to the packhouse, but Nova shook her head. “The packhouse was not built by us, but there is something beneath that has belonged to our kind. I will wait until the other Alphas have left to investigate.”

I ignored my curiosity for now, hoping she would share with me later. “As you wish.”

______

“If you need more time, I will give you as long as you need,” I told Nolan, but I didn’t truly know if I could live up to that.

“No,” He shook his head, sighing as he settled back into his father’s chair in his old office. “No, I need to do something. I don’t think I could process it right now if I tried.”

“I know the feeling,” I admitted but clamped down on my mouth; he didn’t need reassurance or sympathy from the person who had single-handedly murdered his entire family.

Nolan looked at me, nodding slowly. I couldn’t read his face. “I honestly need more time to think, but we should talk to the pack now. They deserve some transparency.”

“I agree.”

I proposed a few things to Nolan, not as well thought out as I would have liked. But I didn’t have the capacity to formulate solid plans for after the challenge. All of my mental power went to that. We talked about redefining boundaries for the pack and even offering some of Blood Moon to Black River as a show of goodwill, even if the thought made my stomach curl.

In the end, both Nolan and I decided to let the pack in on it. I couldn’t tell if Nolan even wanted to be Alpha or not, or if he was just trying to rapidly adjust to that amongst… other things.

“I had them gathered; they should be ready,” Nolan said, sounding hollow and exasperated.

A short while later, we faced the pack. I had never been in their pack village, but it was as clean and tidy as it could be in its semi-rundown state. I was struck with how truly isolated I had been, how Raymond and they lived so separately from their pack; it was unnatural.

Nolan spoke, and the crowd silenced. “I am the last living in my family,” he stated, emotionless. “Simone, the heir of Bloon Moon, has challenged my Father with the backing of the Alphas of this territory and she has won.” He motioned to me, and we waited as the crowd pulsed with chatter.

We waited a long while.

“Yes,” Nolan said. “She has given the original packlands of the werecats back to them.”

Louder and angrier chatter burst.

“Enough!” I shouted after it didn’t die down. “We are here to present you options, to get your opinions. I understand that is something you might be unfamiliar with.” I eyed them and they silenced. “Nothing is set in stone.”

I laid out the options for them and told them they had time to think it over and decide what would be best for them. I made sure to let them know their homes were not part of the werecat's territory, and although the packlands would shift, they would not have to re-locate if they did not wish.

“I thought all of Blood Moon was dead!” someone shouted.

“Killed after the challenge,” another added.

I crossed my arms and raised a brow, but Nolan was the one who told the story, my story.

He told them the truth.

____

Ezra was waiting in the car for us when we were finished. We all sat in silence on the way back. Once we got back the packhouse he took my hand in his and we walked along the empty front hallway.

“At least they know the truth and their options; it’s out of your hands at the moment,” he told me. I nodded. “Now, what do you want to do?”

“Sleep,” I admitted, I felt if I wasn’t constantly doing something or planning something I would stop doing everything entirely. “I am exhausted.” I lay my head on his shoulder.

“That can be arranged.”

I shook my head. “I have a few things to do.”

“They can wait,” he murmured into my hair.

“One can’t.”

“Miles hasn’t responded,” Ezra said. “Hasn’t been in touch with the others either. The last time we spoke was when…”

“When he asked you to kill me,” I finished. He nodded, his face grim. “After he left yesterday? Where did he go.”

“He’s not here anymore. We confirmed that he left.”

“Does he usually respond?” I asked.

Ezra stilled. “Within a day or so at the most. Usually instant.”

I nodded. “I want to go back to Blood Moon,” I stated.

“You want to leave here?” he asked. “Now?”

“I need to return to my home. I won’t be gone for long, a few hours maybe, and this place is more secure than it has been in years.” He nodded thoughtfully.

It felt like the last piece of the puzzle. Or possibly I was still itching to keep moving forward.

I witnessed the carnage of the day in person. Their screams haunted my nightmares, clawing their way from places within me I could not always hold them. Their blood still felt thick on my skin.

My pack was a shadow.

The thick forest was bare now, even in the summer. The trees looked thin and gangled, their trunks an unnaturally dark shade. The packhouse stood tall, but thick, bare vines crawled up it. The road up to it was overgrown, so much so that we had to stop. The only movement was Ezra’s brothers bobbing in and out of the distance.

I didn’t know too much about how nature would take over, but I knew that this was not right.

When we got the all-clear, I was glued to my seat. One of his brothers came up, his face grim, even for them. He and Ezra looked at me, and I nodded slightly in confirmation.

I owed my pack that much. I needed to see what had happened. The thought of others doing my job of laying them to rest was unthinkable.

I clasped Ezra’s hand tight as we walked toward the packhouse, but we barely left the road before I started to see them.

Bodies left where they lay, now nothing but bones. My eyes already pricked with hot tears, and my stomach rolled; each breath was hard, and this was just the beginning.

It wasn’t the bones. I had seen much worse since that was administered by my own hands. But it was that each of those people represented someone I knew, someone who died for nothing.

“We can stop.”

“No.” I shook my head and pressed forward.

I dropped his hand to open the front door. I stepped over bone and shattered glass, making my way to the banquet hall. The last place I was truly happy here.

It wasn’t the skeletons littering the surfaces that struck me. It was the fact that this place was too similar to the day I was taken from it. I expected it to have changed as much as the lands had. The furniture was dusty, the rugs more frayed, and the tables and benches mostly knocked over and scattered.

t was a picture of the day we were attacked. But I couldn’t piece it together; it still felt the same here. It still held memories more vivid than I knew I was capable of.

I half expected my mother to come strolling in searching for me, my father to tell me a story by the great fire, one of my friends to come and grab me by the hand to tell me some insignificant piece of gossip.

But no one was coming.

What was left of everyone I knew and loved was on these packlands, but they weren’t actually here anymore.

A cold breeze wafted through, but the windows were all shut. The hair on the back of my neck rose, and Aksala was on alert.

There was a strange scent, an air of darkness. Of twisted power. An echo of what was mine.

Miles was here.