Page 7 of Silence Falls a New Alpha
Chapter 4
Alpha-less
Katie's POV
It's been two months since my father was put into a coma. A dreadful sigh escaped my throat. I don't want to think about it anymore. That night has been haunting my dreams leaving countless sleepless nights. Nightmares of my father’s blood all over the mansion and all over myself. I turn eighteen in a week which means as the pack heir I will get my mark, all alphas have them. It’s like a tattoo that appears on your body suddenly, yet it was different. It meant so much more than a tattoo ever would, and it could never be removed, not even by skinning it off.
This was proven several generations back when a pack turned on its alpha and cut off the mark. Turns out the mark is visible on the muscle and bone. It’s a part of us no one can ever take, not even in death. Normally pack heirs are males since an alpha is always male, it’s rare for an alpha to have a daughter first, unheard of even. This is why everyone was shocked when I was born. A girl was born to my father. Packs across the country gossiped about my birth and to this day I never understood why. We were such a small pack that meant nothing when I was born it didn’t seem like my birth and gender needed to be national news.
I look down at my pale hands in the sunlight as I stand on the balcony outside of my bedroom. There wasn't a rough patch of skin anywhere on me, this was the result of an overprotective father not even letting me do anything that might leave even the smallest callus in recent times. My training had shifted to simple studies as my birthday grew near. He never wanted his baby girl to even get a papercut and thus I was locked away hidden from the world. I gripped the limestone railing of my balcony and squeezed until it hurt. The cool rough stone against the palm of my hand was all I focused on as I tried to think positively that my father would awaken.
It's time to get ready for my day as the step-in alpha for now. Alexander stayed by myself even more now as we both waited for the day my father would awake. I walk across my room, the white walls with crimson trim and black floral tribal designs with crimson flowers everywhere. My room was unlike the rest of the mansion as its colors were flipped. My mother envisioned this mansion before her death and my father followed through with her plans, including my room. I grab a pair of black dress pants and a fancy-looking white button-up shirt. I should have worn a dress to this meeting, but I didn't have a care in the world using my looks to impress these people. I placed a crimson necklace, a ruby, around my neck. Alphas must wear their pack colors for important meetings, and I made sure to follow that.
I headed to the door and Maxwell met me in the hall.
"Ma'am, Alexander is waiting for you in the alpha's office." Maxwell has a soft voice for being the pack's best fighter aside from Alexander, or maybe it was only soft towards me.
It seemed like more people were being softer with me given everything that happened. He threw me a look that was all too clear. Something was off. That's when the scent hit me, a mix of musk, patchouli, small hints of lavender, and rosewood. Smelling it made it feel like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I knew exactly who owned this scent. As we got closer to the office it was clear he was there. I've visited every day until this last week when pack duties as alpha had gotten a bit out of hand.
He was awake. I took off running and pushed the cold wooden office doors open. There stood my father, his eyes looked soft, and he smiled at me. He didn't seem like his normally satanic terrifying self, his evil aura if you would seem to be gone. Like darkness had been lifted from his soul. What caused this change? Is it permanent? He was wearing a loose-fitting black t-shirt and black sweats. This was probably for the best given the circumstances.
"Dad!" I screamed and ran to him, he quickly grabbed and embraced me. I began to cry and so did my father.
Was I crying because he was ok or because for the first time in a long time my father was shockingly showing he cared even the slightest?
"Maxwell, you're dismissed. No one is allowed to enter this office." Alexander ordered him away. He knew this moment was needed but may make others think my father had gotten weak since he was showing affection.
"Katie bug." A nickname I haven’t heard in ages.
My father spoke to me softer than normal. It was shocking to know my father could be this way with me since he hadn’t been in thirteen years. I felt as though the person before me wasn’t truly my father, maybe I was dreaming? I pinched myself slightly, no I was awake.
"I'm sorry, honey." He placed my face in one of his hands and with his other wiped away my tears. His hands were rough due to the countless calluses and ice cold to the touch, yet I didn't care.
I was happy my father was awake. Happy that he was starting to show that maybe he did care about me after all. I couldn’t help but think something was wrong in the back of my mind. That this side of him wouldn’t stay.
"I thought I lost you dad." I'm full-blown crying at this point and Alexander turns away from us with a frown. That’s odd Alexander should be happy my father is awake and able to get back to work I’m assuming. The weird feeling of something being off crept up my spine again.
"Katie I'm awake and I've taken over as being alpha. However, I'm still weak." My father exclaimed and he was back to his dark monstrous-sounding voice.
I knew his recovery would be long if he woke up but jumping right back into running the pack didn’t seem smart. Maybe that’s why Alexander looked so upset because my father was pushing himself too hard. Father's change in tone was because he was pissed that he was weak in his eyes, as weakness has no place in this pack. Maybe everything had changed with him showing his emotions once again?
"Thankfully, no other pack has heard about that night two months ago. Which means no one has tried challenging the pack in my absence." He was right, we did everything possible to cover the incident so that no packs were attacked while he was in a coma.
It would have been a bloodbath had other packs found out. We even told the packs I had meetings with that he was trying to prepare me for when I become alpha. I suppose Alexander was to thank for that. I knew Alexander would cover up the incident. I’m sure he informed other packs prior to meetings and calls that I was filling in here and there to learn the ropes for when I take over the pack. It was common with male heirs versus females, but that didn’t stop us from putting on the charade. I glance up to see my father grab a notepad, he has never taken notes before. When I saw he had a lot written down I was taken back. I wonder what's going on that caused him to have taken notes.
"Katie, the Black Bloods Pack has reached out this morning. As you know they are a small pack, and their numbers are decreasing by the week due to relentless attacks. Their territory has also been almost completely taken by rogues. I have agreed to merge packs to save the remaining members they have. We will take their territory to the east of ours and they will join our pack." He looked at me emotionlessly.
I take a step back in disbelief of my ears. The notepad my father was glancing at was notes from his discussion of the merger. He has never wanted to merge with packs before so why now? Chills ran down my spine as the feeling of happiness drained from my body. My face grew hot as I stood there unable to form words. I was confused as to why this was happening as we don't need the land nor the members. None of this was making any sense. It was clear after a two-month-long coma he was not in the right state of mind. I must stop this from happening even if it means having my father confined.
"Father." I try to talk to him, but he starts growling at me which puts Alexander on edge. What happened to the soft side he showed earlier?
"Katie, this is for the best. We need the extra land to search for rogues and kill them."
He wants to merge simply for their land to kill rogues. Oh, father, what's become of you. We will find the rogues responsible for attacking you I thought to myself. Please don't seek out weaker packs to kill mere rogues. This was insane.
"Since we are merging, their heir will be coming the day after your eighteenth birthday, and you will wed." He exclaims with cold sharp golden eyes locked on me. The look of fear and repulsion was written across my face.
My father is marrying me off to complete the merger with the Black Bloods Pack. That's why he called me here, to tell me he has sold me off, so that this pack will merge with us, all for the sake of killing a few rogues. My mother was strongly against arranged marriages so why was my father doing this? I twitched as the rage inside built like a fire burning out of control, begging to be let free and consume everything around. No. This isn’t what I want. I want to marry for love, and he knew that. Didn’t he?
