The Wolves of Ash and Fury

MAEVA

The stench of wet earth and blood hangs over the training ground, but I barely register it. I circle the Gamma, making sure to keep my eyes trained on him. His stance is solid, but he looks unsure and that's his second error today. I lunge forward, sweep his legs out from under him, and pin him before he can blink. His breath leaves him in a sharp grunt.

"Again," I order, stepping back.

"I've told you to never let your opponent see that you're afraid. That's how you die before you've had a chance to fight."

He stands, sweat glistening on his temple as he rushes me. I catch his wrist mid strike, twist, and flip him onto his back. Other pack members around laugh at how easy it is. Honestly fighting him is easy pickings but as the strongest in the pack, I have to train them sometimes.

"You’re too tense," I say, giving him a hand to stand up. "Strength means nothing if fear drives it."

He opens his mouth to reply, but the snap of twigs behind me stops him. Taron, my second in command and Beta, approaches with a grim, closed expression. He must have been trying to use the mind link to communicate with me but I blocked it off. He took some of our men to patrol outside our borders this morning.

Last night, carcasses of deers and dogs were left scattered around. The guards alerted us and Taron went to check it out this morning.

"Not good news?" I ask.

"It's bad, let's talk privately."

I nod and start walking away from the pack members. They look worried but they know not to say anything to anyone that isn't here untill I decide to. Once we are out of ear shot, I turn to Taron.

"What happened? What sick Alpha did this?"

Sometimes, some jackass Alpha thinks that because I'm a woman, they can take my pack. I just need a name so I can punish them accordingly. I would have thought our neighbours would have learnt to leave me alone by now.

"It's not the neighbours. I saw some wolves from other packs as well. This is the work of rogues."

"Rogues? That's impossible. They eat carcasses not leave them lying around."

"No one understands it but there's a message from the high council that I intercepted and brought back."

My spine stiffens and my jaw locks. Any message from the high council is definitely not a good news.

"What is it?"

"Rogue attacks, unlike anything we've ever seen, have been happening across the country and the high council wants to see every Alpha."

"Okay, we'll ignore them as usual and get information from our neighbours when they return."

He sighs and pulls out an envelope. "This one has your name on it. They want you there."

I scoff. If they're sending a letter with my name on it, then it must mean that the problem is worse than we know. Being born a female Alpha in a sea of male Alpha's makes me a target to them. They always try to make me feel less than them and I got tired of constantly being on guard and proving to everybody that I'm as strong as any male Alpha. I proved myself to my pack and they are the only ones I need to prove anything to.

"Are you sure that I can't send you?"

"I checked. I can come with you, but I can't come alone."

I sigh again. I guess I'm going.

"What are we going to tell the pack?" He asks.

"Nothing for now. We'll tell them more after we come back. When do we need to be there?"

"In three days. So I'm going with you?"

"As much as I hate it, those stupid Alpha's stay away from me when you're there."

Which annoys me more than I can say. I'm the Alpha but because I'm a woman, that doesn't matter.

He nods and bows. "I should go see what the sheep are doing?"

I smile and he leaves. Taron calls the wolves we're training sheep. They're young wolves who just turned and want to help defend the pack. We train every werewolf who turns but we have special training for those who want to help defend the pack.

Being a small pack that is ruled by a female Alpha means that we're always under attack. We keep proving that we are small but we are strong but every few months, a new pack will attempt to take over.

I drive the jeep while Taron runs alongside the car. We've been driving for hours and he needed to run. The only good thing that came from the great purge is that werewolve's can run freely without fear of running into a human. I was three the last time humans existed on earth but I still remember how my mother used to prepare for a visit to town days ahead to be able to blend in with the humans.

Unfortunately, the humans being killed off did nothing for paranormal creatures. At a point, the world went to hell and we started killing each other. Order was eventually restored but things haven't been the same since.

We've been driving for three hours and we have to drive for two more hours. It's a lot of driving and it isn't for the bags we have to carry, we would have run to the event. I hate driving. I park the car and Taron stops running. He changes to human form and grabs a towel from the car.

"You're tired already? It's only been twenty minutes since you started driving."

"I know, I'm sorry. You know I hate driving. I'll keep driving so you can run more."

"It's fine, the air smells horrible in these parts."

I look around and shake my head. It really does smell bad and it's a result of the chemical waste plant we passed a few minutes ago. He puts some clothes on and we continue our journey.

Two torturous hours later, we arrive at the hotel we will be staying at. I would much rather sleep in the forest but the council made arrangements for a hotel so I'm going to take it. Taron checks us in while I stand off to the side.

A lot of Alpha's pass by and give me dirty looks. I return their looks with a growl and my extended claws. I can't wait to be out of here tomorrow.

Taron returns with a smile.

"They gave us just one room. I can sleep on the floor."

"That's nonsense, we can share the bed."

I bet they gave us one room on purpose.

"I was hoping you would say that," he says with a smirk.

Taron and I occasionally have sex. He doesn't have a mate and I have no need for one so it works out for the both of us. Someone bumps into me and doesn't even turn to apologise. I growl, drag them back and flip them. He falls and I pin them to the ground with my knee on their neck. From his smell, he's a Beta but I don't recognise him.

"Fucking apologise or you die." I growl out.

"Welcome to the high council, I guess." Taron says.