He tried to run away, but his speed was no match for ours. We grabbed onto him and dragged him back, leaving him crumpled on the floor.
“No, please, don’t!” he begged me.
His bloody face looked back at me, pleading, pitiful.
“And if we decided to let you go—to run free tonight—would you leave to never return again?” I asked.
The rogue nodded his head emphatically.
“Yes! Anything! Please, just show some mercy,” he pleaded.
The rogue had been terrorizing a small remote village for months on end. He was stealing their crops, harassing their women and children.
Villagers had come to us, sensing our strength, begging us for help.
Part of me wanted to show mercy, to let him go. But another part of me suspected that this rogue was never going to change his ways.
I shifted and let Zeus take over. He grabbed him in his mouth and didn’t let go.
It felt good to let Zeus take control, to be an animal.
It seemed to be the only way I could deal with the pain of losing Juniper and everything that had happened. I was humiliated and lost.
I couldn’t stand to think of it.
Every time I did, it was like a shock of pain.
I tried to comfort myself that it was actually Marissa who technically chose to ditch me for Roman, but the sting remained, nevertheless.
Since that terrible day, I had not wanted to be found.
I got off the grid.
I wandered the outskirts of all the pack territories, careful to stay off the radar of any of the other packs or their Alphas.
For most of the time, I was happy to let Zeus take control over our body. To let him roam wild in his werewolf form.
No more thoughts about my mate, or my responsibilities in this unfair life.
Everything was reduced to animal urges: run, hunt, eat, sleep.
I had never known a life so simple. I never wanted to return.
Every day we spent discovering a new unexplored corner of the wilderness.
For most of that time, Mateo let go and let me be in control of our body as we hunted small game, drank from the cool river, and took down the occasional rogue or highway thief.
For Mateo to let go and let me stay in control as we shifted for hours, if not days on end, was a big step forward—a change in our relationship.
I could feel his hurt and anger. I was just as confused about losing my mate, Starlet.
After days of wandering, it became clear that we weren’t going to return to our Vistas Pack anytime soon.
Mateo had no desire to see anything that reminded him of his past, and I felt the same.
We took it upon ourselves to patrol the countryside, tracking and hunting rogue wolves and other creatures trespassing on our territory.
With every rogue that we disposed of, I felt a piece of my heart healing, getting repaired.
I felt like I had purpose again; that I wasn’t an impotent failure.
It was just me and Zeus, and nothing holding us back.
We thought we were doing well.
Zeus and I had taken down quite a few vicious degenerates in our wanderings.
You’d think the simple country folk would be happy to be saved by such brave men, but some were decidedly not.
After we’d run a wandering pack of thieves out of a small community, one of the farmers looked at me, absolutely terrified.
“You destroyed my family’s village, Khal Santiago!”
That name.
It was like a shock to my system.
When he yelled it, I felt my body tremble.
I tried to brush it off as nothing, but it kept nagging me.
A few days later, Zeus and I happened upon what had been a small village, now long destroyed.
We walked past the destroyed homes, the torched trees, shattered windows.
Whoever had passed through had not been gone long.
“Damn, I wonder who was strong enough to do this?” I thought out loud with Zeus.
Just then, we were ambushed by a small group of people holding pitchforks.
They had been waiting for us. They circled us, prodding their pointy sticks at our faces.
Zeus and I were much too fast for them. We leapt into the air, clawing at our attackers. Half of the group dispersed, no doubt scared off by our ferocity.
A few of the braver souls persisted and managed to lasso a rope around two of my limbs. They held on tight and pulled in different directions.
“Is this how you treat people who are trying to help?” I said through clenched teeth.
They were trying to pull my limbs right off my body.
“ARGH!” he yelled.
Zeus was raring to shift into action.
“Liar! You are the one who destroyed our village, just like you did countless others—Khal Santiago!” a scrappy young villager yelled out.
She looked like she was ready to gouge my eyes out with her cute little pitchfork.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you have the wrong person!”
She poked me with her stick.
“Stifle it! You may look changed, but I’ll never forget the face of the man who destroyed my family and so many others.”
There it was again.
“Khal Santiago.”
Who was this impostor? And why was he getting everyone pissed off at me?
The others in this ragtag group started yelling insults at me, and it wasn’t long until they started tossing stones.
A rather large one nicked me on the shoulder, drawing blood.
“You took the words right out of my mouth.”
I could feel the shift coming along, bubbling inside of me.
I was about to let go and let Zeus off his leash when a loud flash and crash of thunder broke me from my rising bloodlust.
Anastasia came floating down on a carpet of dense clouds. She looked enchanting as she made her descent.
Her beauty stunned my aggressors and stopped Zeus from shifting.
There was something angelic about her.
Her stone-faced, stoic expression bespoke the wisdom of a divinity.
She seemed almost fearfully perfect.
Perhaps, were I not so agonized, I might have been properly awed.
But to me, her presence was that of an apparition.
A ghost of a life I had abandoned as I perceived it to have abandoned me.
Our attackers let loose their ropes—stunned by Anastasia—and I used the distraction to get loose and jump free.
“Alright, everyone, no more fighting,” she said as she landed on the ground.
Half of my attackers went running. The other half turned their pitchforks on her. Anastasia was unfazed.
When one of the villagers ran toward her, weapons drawn, she simply pointed her wand in his direction, said a quick incantation, and sent him flying through the air.
The rest of the stunned villagers backed away.
After making her power clear, Anastasia turned to me.
“Mateo, don’t you think it’s time to return to your pack?” she asked.
I didn’t even want to think about my past life. Of everything that I had struggled through. And for what?
“They’re fine without me,” I barked back.
“Oh, I wish you were right.”
I didn’t budge.
“Leave him to us, witch. This is Khal Santiago, and he must answer for what he’s done to the villages across this valley.” This plucky, raggedy girl would not give up.
Anastasia smirked at her—cutting and beautiful at the same time.
The girl threw her pitchfork at Anastasia, and she waved it away with a flick of her wrist.
“Sorry, Anastasia,” I said, “I’m through with pack life. I’m a lone wolf now.”
I tried to walk away, but Anastasia grabbed my wrist and wouldn’t let go.
I forgot how powerful she could be when she wanted. Zeus was boiling inside of me, ready to make a dash for it.
“Let go of me, Anastasia. You weren’t there! You don’t know the half of what I’ve been dealt!”
She sighed.
“I know, brokenhearted Alpha. But right now, there are more important things at hand.”
Her words landed on me forebodingly. They sent an uncomfortable chill up my spine.
I tried pulling away harder, but her witch’s strength was too much.
“Oh no you don’t. You’re coming with me, and we’re going back to Vistas. Your people are in trouble.”
There was a flash of light.
This was not good.
There had been ominous rumblings all day. It was as if the whole pack could sense something foreboding in the air.
By late afternoon, I was summoned by one of our generals, who was frantic. He led me through the Pack House and up the winding steps of the guard tower.
I stared out from up high in the Vistas Pack House. Looking down below, I saw a large teeming black mass moving toward our house.
I heard howls echoing through the valley that led to our Pack House.
Soldiers rushed past me as they picked up their various weapons and armor in preparation.
From far away, the mass looked like a huge gathering of insects: ants, maybe, slowly marching in our direction.
Looking through binoculars one of our sentry men had handed to me, I was shocked to see countless marching bodies coming toward us.
I held my breath.
All types of magical creatures—werewolves, giants, bloodsucking vampires—were lumbering in our direction.
I could hear their shouts and howls getting louder. Otherworldly grunts and bone-chilling howls filled the air, only getting louder and more intense.
I had never seen an invading army so huge.
The gravelly voice of Trey, the Pack Enforcer, snapped me out of my shock. He wore a determined look on his battle-hardened face.
“Alpha Orion, we await your orders,” my general said to me.
I broke out in a sweat. Why did this have to happen when I was in charge? Where was Anastasia? Mateo needed to get back here—fast.
I reached out to him.
But I was met with silence.
I had to act.
“Everyone, get to your posts!” I said in the most commanding voice I could muster.
Wolves scattered and assumed defensive positions around the Pack House.
“Incoming!” a frightened voice yelled.
I looked up to the sky to see a volley of fiery arrows hurtling toward us.
