Alpha Rising: Her Revenge

Prologue

***Warning: Violence, Loss***

Seven years earlier

"Stop it, Kade! Give it back!" I squealed at my older brother. At sixteen and in the middle of a growth spurt, he towered over my scrawny twelve-year-old frame. All wolves grew taller and more muscular after they had their first shift, and he was no exception. Being the son of the alpha didn't hurt either.

"Okay, I will," he teased, lowering his arm and putting my special locket necklace within reach. It was a special gift from my dad for my birthday the year before and depicted a lone wolf howling at the moon from the top of a hill, with the moon being a diamond set into the rose gold. Just as I was about to close my fingers around it, he jerked it high in the air again, causing me to stumble forward.

"Hey, no fair!" I screeched, disgruntled. As I began hopping around, trying in vain to get my necklace back from Kade, our four-year-old brother Kyan came dashing up to run circles around us in excitement. Finally, he ended up tripping me and I crashed into Kade, the three of us falling in a heap on the grass in the clearing in front of the packhouse.

Out of breath, I finally snatched my locket out of Kade's hands as he dissolved in fits of uncontrollable laughter. "Not cool, Kade," I scolded as I settled it around my neck. Instead of responding, he started tickling me and Kyan both until we were all writhing on the ground, full of giggles. As annoying as my brother was, I loved him fiercely and often looked for excuses to be with him. Despite our age difference, he always made time for me, forever the supportive and protective—if annoying—brother. He would make a great alpha when the time came.

"Kade, Kendria, Kyan, come in for dinner!" Our mother, Luna Adina, called out from the front porch of the packhouse. Her voice was pleasant and musical, but not one you would ever attempt to deny. She was a great Luna that way.

We got up and dusted ourselves off. I quickly combed my fingers through my wavy raven hair, but it still tumbled wildly down past my shoulders. Kade got lucky, his naturally tousled curls looked fine no matter what he did, where Kyan's hair was too short to really get messy. Together, we all had inky black hair and green eyes, though my eyes were a much lighter shade than my brothers. In fact, my eyes looked just like my mom's though hers were framed by deep chestnut hair instead of the black we got from our father, Alpha Kendrick.

Our dad had come out on the porch too, fresh from a perimeter patrol. He looped his arms around his Luna and pulled her against him, nuzzling her neck. They found each other when they were very young, and have been happily in love ever since. I loved my parents and looked up to their mate bond, but sometimes watching it was just gross.

We had gotten halfway to the packhouse when a stench suddenly assaulted my nostrils. Rogues! But how did they get into the heart of our territory? I barely had time to comprehend before Kyan was suddenly no longer next to me, jerked off his feet. I whirled around as if in slow motion to see a filthy brown wolf, with scratches all over its face and neck and a dull, unwashed coat. He was dropping a lifeless Kyan from his jaws. I stared in horror at his crumpled form on the ground. My mom let out a piercing wail, flying off the porch. Alpha Kendrick beat her to it, leaping off the porch and landing in wolf form. His wolf, large and black with amber eyes, towered over the brown rogue, and he made quick work of ripping its throat out and killing it. As soon as he finished with him, a dozen more rogues bounded out of the woods, straight toward us. Kade shifted next to me, his wolf nearly as tall as my dad's and just as black, but with green eyes and leaner form.

My dad howled, calling the warriors of the Blue Hills pack to the battle. They came pouring into the clearing from the packhouse, nearby houses, and the training field. By then my mom was cradling Kyan's dead body, sobbing uncontrollably in her human form. "Go, call Harvest Moon for help!" she screamed at some of the warriors, who shifted and ran toward the other houses to the west, to find phone or even to attempt to run to where our neighboring pack was located. I was still standing there, frozen in fright at the horrific scene unfolding in front of my eyes.

All around me, pack members clashed with rogues. Teeth gnashed, claws ripped, and blood was flying through the air. The grass was starting to pool with deep reddish black puddles of blood from those injured and slain. I couldn't even help them, too young to shift into my wolf form.

It seemed as though we were winning. The rogues were being pushed back toward the tree line, and it looked like they had far more casualties than we had. All of a sudden, it became clear why we were being attacked, and the tables quickly turned.

A trio of rogues emerged from the trees headed straight at my dad, who was busy fighting two rogues at once. The two on the sides were unknown to me, but I recognized the center wolf. It was Silas, a wolf that my dad had cast out as a rogue a few years ago for conspiring to overthrow his beta, Carson. He had several supporters too. Carson was weakened after his own mate died in a rogue attack, and there were those among the pack that thought he should be replaced with someone stronger. Normally, a wolf would be killed for a crime like that, but Alpha Kendrick was merciful and merely banished him.

Silas growled low in his throat and shook his mottled gray coat as he raised his hackles and lunged. When he was midair, a black wolf crashed into him and knocked him off course. Kade had his jaws on the back of Silas's neck, snapping to get enough purchase for the kill. Before he could, Silas's guards pulled Kade off him by his hind legs. My mouth opened in a silent scream as Silas ripped Kade's throat open and spilled his lifeblood over his chest, making his inky fur turn into a sickly matted sheen.

Before I knew what I was doing, I started running to reach Kade. "Kade," I screamed brokenly as I staggered, slipping on the bloodstained grass. I could hear my mom screaming at me from her place on the ground with Kyan, but I paid her no heed, the shock of events giving me tunnel vision. Silas turned his cold black eyes on me, a sadistic grin overtaking his face. My step faltered as he angled his body, ready to end my life too.

In the blink of an eye, a massive wall of black hurdled over my head and landed between me and Silas. My dad, too late to save Kade, had done away with the two rogues attacking him and was determined to protect me, his daughter and last living child. The growl that emanated from him shook the earth.

Silas feinted left and right, making as if he was trying to get to me. Each time, Alpha Kendrick anticipated his moves and routed him, pushing him back to the tree line. As the distance between us grew, my mom got up and ran over to me, shifting into her chestnut brown wolf form and protecting me from the few remaining rogues in the clearing, snarling and yelping when they struck.

Silas kept getting pushed back as my dad ripped at his sides, his chest, his neck, but none of his strikes were deep enough to seriously wound or kill. Indeed, it seemed as though Silas was fighting with a smile on his face, teeth bared in a mocking way as he was pushed back inch by inch.

It was then we realized why.

In a flash, six more wolves leaped out of the forest, and together the nine of them surrounded my dad and attacked him simultaneously. He was an incredibly strong and seasoned Alpha, but even he couldn't fight them all off. I saw him go down, battered and bloody, with Silas teasing at his throat with his muzzle before ripping his flesh.

The moment he died, my mom howled and her legs buckled, falling to the ground in agony. Her mate bond with my dad was severed. All I could do was drop to my knees and hug her around her neck, burying my face in her thick fur. Several of our warriors ran over to try and subdue the rogues that killed my dad, but more kept coming, far more than we thought possible. It was clear we were done for. Our best warriors were dead, we were now outnumbered twenty to one, and we had no hope of survival.

Suddenly, my mom heaved herself to her feet. She turned and nosed my body, indicating I should get on her back. I clambered on, burying my fingers in the ruff of her neck and clamping my legs to her sides to stay astride. She limped and hobbled from the clearing, managing to escape without Silas's detection.

As soon as we were out of sight on the other side of the packhouse in the woods, she knelt down and shifted back. For a few seconds we just sat there, me hugging her back, breathing hard and crying silently. Then she straightened up a little and turned to me. "Listen to me, Kendria. You must go and get any women and children out of the panic room in the packhouse. It's our duty to save who we can." With that, she collapsed to the ground, too weak from losing her mate to rise.

"Mama, are you okay?" I choked out, bending down and shaking her shoulder.

She turned her face to me with a groan. "No, I'm not. Do as I say, Kendria," she said weakly. "Now."

Even in her anguish, her Luna voice came out, helping me focus. "Okay."

I turned back and snuck back to the packhouse, darting behind trees and testing the shifting pine needles under my bare feet to find the quietest footholds. They're dead. They're all dead. My mind kept running in a loop between my dead father and brothers. I felt rage. I felt grief. I felt completely broken. Somehow on top of it all, I felt numb.

I leapt lightly on the back porch of the packhouse, skipping over the creaky board and sliding the glass door open. Inside was completely quiet, and I sniffed around to check. Good. No rogues yet.

Knowing I was short on time, I stole quickly down the stairs to the basement. The door to the panic room was here, leading to an underground room with a double door system that blocked the scent of those inside. There was work being done to make a secondary tunnel out to the woods, but it wasn't finished yet. If I was caught now, there was nowhere to go.

I punched in the code and the doors released with a quiet hiss. I peeked inside and my heart sank. There were only a dozen or so women and children, instead of the 120 that could fit in the space. Hardly anyone had time to react. The blinked back at me, terrified.

"Um, we have to get out of here," I whispered. I didn't know what else to say. Knowing something awful must have happened, the she-wolves silently got up and ushered their children out of the room. I took darted quickly into the panic room to grab my mom a set of clothes, then led the small group back up the stairs. Another pause to scent the main floor and I knew that we were miraculously still undiscovered, but it likely wouldn't be that way for long.

We managed to get back to where I'd left my mom. She was till on the ground, but had shifted into a sitting position underneath a scrubby pine, doing her best to hide. I handed her the set of clothes, but she just dropped them limply in her lap. I picked them up again and helped her dress.

Once she was clothed, my mom turned to the wolves and put it bluntly, unable to be as gentle as she usually was in her current state. "Your alpha has fallen. Rogues, led by Silas, have taken over our lands. Our only option is to flee." She folded in on herself for a moment, fighting for breath through the pain.

The she-wolves gasped. A few of the children whimpered.

I thought of something. "What about Harvest Moon? They should be here soon to help us, right?"

My mom just looked at me. "No, Kendria. They would have been here by now if they were coming." Her voice broke a little at the end and the tears that she barely kept at bay began to flow again.

After a minute, my mom recovered enough to continue and took charge. "Those who are of age, shift now and let the others ride on your backs. We'll move more quickly that way." Only four among them could shift, so each had to carry two pups on her back.

With a whine, my mom shifted as well. It was slower and more painful sounding than I'd ever heard, even more so than first time shifts. Blinking her pale green eyes at me, she motioned I should climb on her back again. "Are you sure?" I whispered. I didn't see how she could walk on her own for long, let alone carrying me on her back.

My mom growled a little, not to be challenged, and I reluctantly went to her and pulled myself onto her back, threading my fingers through her fur once again. She turned and took a few experimental steps, breaking into a trot when she found she was able to go on. The other wolves followed silently, banking around trees and underbrush while keeping their riders balanced on their backs.

I leaned in close and buried my face in my mother's neck and let the tears soak into her fur. I wished I was old enough to shift so I could carry her on my back. Losing her mate had obviously just about killed her, and here she was leading us to safety. I could only hope to be as strong and good a she was one day.

Finally we reached the pack borders and crossed toward the mountains. We were leaving behind everything we knew and held dear, facing a difficult and unknown future. Goddess only knew whether we would recover from all we had lost.