Robbing the Alpha

Ch. 3: Alpha Titan

BROOKE

I wasn't aware a person could vomit so much, but I couldn't seem to stop. My throat burned, ribs ached, and my skull throbbed. It may as well have been me Mother smashed over the head with a rock.

"There, there." Mother held my hair back and caressed my spine. "It's alright. He was just a driver."

Just a driver. As if it were spilled milk staining the front of her dress—no use crying over a little blood. I'd known she was capable of horrible things. I'd witnessed them firsthand my whole life: the lies, the rumors, the destruction of people's lives with no remorse at all. But murder?

"I've sheltered you too much," Mother murmured. "But you are soon to be luna. Your first son will be an alpha, and from the moment he is born, people will want him dead. We must be ready to do anything to keep our children safe."

I'd heard all this before. I'd breathed it in on the day of my birth, and I'd carried it every day since. I didn't need to be reminded, especially not with a dead body mere feet away, and my wolf's whimpers echoing through my subconscious. What I needed was for her to stop talking. So I swallowed my bile, nodded, and stood, going into a mode I knew well.

"Yes, Mother." I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

"That's my girl," Mother said.

My reward was a silent walk up the mountain. I told myself not to think. And I tried. I really did. But my wolf wouldn't quiet, and I kept scanning the trees, hoping to find dark eyes looking back at me.

When the sun set, shadows took shape. My heart skipped each time I thought I saw him, sank each time it wasn't, then broke as we reached the high town. No valley wolf in their right mind would ever come this far north. He was gone forever.

The shops were closed, but dim lights illuminated the covered, wooden walkways that connected the storefronts. Mother and I kept to the middle of the road, our trajectory set toward the tall, iron gates in the distance. The castle stood high on the hill beyond them, lit up by a rising moon.

From what I could tell, there were no sentinels scouring the area. Perhaps they were all out searching. But, if that were true, wouldn't they have found us already? We'd never left the main road. "Why didn't we have guards?"

"They thought it would be safer if we didn't. A huge entourage would have been like waving a sign announcing valuables." She chewed her lip, her gaze fixed ahead, seeming to reach much farther than the castle gates. "It's so strange for the valley wolves to target the castle road so far up. I was under the impression they stayed below mid-town."

I swallowed. The truth was, I didn't know much about it. Valley wolves were rarely mentioned in polite society. People whispered about them like swear words, and I avoided the topic altogether. Now, I wished I'd paid attention to the gossip.

The road narrowed, reduced to tire marks as we reached the clearing. My calves ached at the thought of another incline, and the urge to turn back was nearly impossible to ignore. I'd been nervous about this day before it fell into chaos. Now, I could barely breathe.

"Stop!" a deep male voice echoed from ahead. "Who goes there?"

My heart leaped into my throat, and I stumbled.

"Brooke Fenrisúlfr, your future luna," Mother answered. "Alert the alpha at once. No doubt he is beside himself with worry."

There was a lengthy pause before the gates gave a mechanical groan and slowly swung open. Two sentinels dressed in black combat gear marched through them, rifles ready in hand. They directed us without words, and I couldn't help but feel like a prisoner.