The Alpha Assassin novel Chapter 78

Ezra stood first. He walked to me and gently took the dagger from my hand. I hadn’t realized I was clutching it so hard that my knuckles were white.

His mismatched eyes assessed me with precision before he wrapped his arm around me, and I let myself sink into him.

“Are you okay?” he whispered into my hair.

I nodded against his chest. “Who are they?” I asked.

“Omegas from Black River, some of the pack there. Word got around, and we could not even contain them. I do not know what they expected to find here, but they came out of curiosity, and now they are pledged to you.”

“They fear me.”

He immediately responded, “They see you as their protector. They see you as someone that can and will protect each and every one of them regardless of background or rank, and that is far more than what they thought they deserved.”

I nodded, trying to wrap my head around that. I wasn’t expecting an audience.

“How much did they see?”

“We kept them outside, but I mean.” He glanced at Miles, his dark blood stark against his pale body.

I nodded. This power that surrounded me was a heavy burden. I felt the need to release it, but I did not know how.

Nova made her way through the others, slender and graceful. “I can help,” she whispered when she got near enough. “You’ll have to leave for a few hours, possibly. Is there someone you can trust to watch over both packs?”

I nodded. My gut churned but with a surprised sort of happiness. I had someone I could trust, I had a partner in this.

I was not alone.

“Ezra,” I breathed.

“Yes, anything,” he replied, gazing at me with such intensity.

“I want no one but your brothers in the packhouse yet. We need to assess the liveability of what was left and what needs to be done but first.” I scowled at the husk of the man sprawled on my steps. “I need him off my pack.”

Ezra nodded and waited until Nova had her arm latched in mine before he let me go from his embrace. “It will be done.”

“Don’t bury the bodies yet,” I said, almost choking against those words. “I want to be there for that.”

I was the last pack member now. The sole member of Blood Moon. I needed to be there to bury them all.

Ezra nodded and turned. I knew that he would take care of it, and it relieved a huge burden from my chest.

Nova and I walked in silence for a while. I did not know where we were going, but trust was a funny thing. A damning thing sometimes, but also comforting and something that I did not think I would feel again.

“Do you know the history of our lands?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I was too young to be told them.”

“Ah. Well, legend has it that our packlands were the first place that our goddesses touched down on earth. That they came together, one wolven, one feline. We are not as different as people now see us. We are similar as shifters, not enemies as the animals we change into."

I thought about that; it makes sense. I heard that we were against each other or that they were against us. But I was taught early on that there weren't just two sides to one story, but many.

"The victor writes history," I muttered, repeating the words I had spoken to her the first time I had met her.

"It is." She smiled, but it was as grim as my face must have been. "But that is the tale of why our packs are connected, because of our goddesses, and that is why this power runs through the very earth itself.”

I furrowed my brows. “Is that true?” I asked her. It was hard to tell fact from fiction sometimes.

“It is my understanding the lands were blessed, we would not go hungry or thirst. We would be prosperous.” She shrugged. “It was a while ago, so those things mattered more.”

I thought on Blood Moon and Black River. We didn’t farm, but every house seemed to have a garden that thrived. The forest around us was dark and misty the further you got. I heard others describe it as terrifying, but it calmed me.

Black River nothing seemed to grow besides weeds. The Fireheart I planted took hold faster than the flowers in the garden. In their forest, there was little life, and their yards, even though attended to, were always muddy with patches of grass.

But the little of Blood Moon I had really focused on was bare. It was an eternal winter. The grass we walked through was yellow, the place that was so full of life through every season was seeped of everything. It was hollow.

“The power is meant to stay protected by the people that were chosen; it was meant to stay in the land.” She glanced between our arms, which were slick with sticky perspiration.

“We have done some of our own snooping here.” I went to pull back, but she wrapped my arm back around hers, shaking her head gently. “To see what we were getting into, we do not want your land. It would not benefit us,” she stated with a smile. “Come, I think we have found the entrance.”

“The entrance,” I repeated.

“We have one, too. It is what I am most desperate to search for once that pack house is clear.” She frowned. For now, it is most important to give back this power so the lands can come alive. It might not be too late for you, but I worry it is for us.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“These lands are the only way that they can ever come back to this earth,” she said, stopping by a flat stone standing tall. It was covered in moss everywhere except one side, where its smoothness was carved into with a simple, elegant claw mark. It seemed to shimmer even in the faint light. I knew no mortal werewolf had made this. How have I never seen it before?

“You have to be looking for the entrance,” she explained my unspoken question. "You will always be able to find it now."

The entrance, the place where the ranked members went the night we could not shift. My breath caught. I both wanted to go and stay away.

“What is this place?” I asked, buying time so my emotions could maybe sort through themselves.

“This is where we hold up our part of the bargain. We guard the only entry points for our goddesses to return here. We keep them alive.”