Xander Larue AmariNile

The party had gone well into the evening, alpha Cornell and most of the adults were drinking and drunk, so was grandma Siena after Lexi gave her the two presents he got, one was a vintage bottle of eighty percent concentrated alcohol which I questioned how he acquired it —but Siena, was all for drinking, so she poured it for everyone, even for wolves that much alcohol had a kick. "Im proud of you Larue." Dad whispers next to me holding a wine glass, we were standing by the main porch overlooking Marquis who was shirtless, shit drunk playing peer bong with our cousins. "I only did what I thought was best, plus pops helped." I replied and he snickered. "You and I both know that is not what I'm talking about, I'm proud of you because you successfully got past your depression, your pain, accepted what your wolf did, and got through it in several pieces which you're working on repairing, that's your achievement." He exclaimed bumping his shoulder with mine and I chuckled.

"Thanks dad, I know it won't be easy but I think, I'm always going to—." Before I could finish I picked up his scent, almost all the wolves near the driveway or the walkway did. Valentino drove up the main driveway to park his car at a free spot by the small lot Jude had commissioned for the house when we moved in, I narrowed my eyes on him as he got out of the mercedes-benz with an air of arrogance I'd never seen him exude, as if he were a different person. "What's he doing here?" Dad hissed as the wine flute in his hand cracked as he held it tightly in his palm, he wasn't happy with Val's sudden appearance. "Cornell said he wouldn't show up, assured me he wouldn't." Dad added as his eyes turned a deadly canary, you could feel the primal aura rolling off him. "Dad, it's okay, I'll handle it." I quickly intervened taking his sight away from Val and onto me with a big smile.

"Let me handle it." I assured and he nodded. "Lexi, come get dad and give him your strongest begore he mauls Val to death." I called out to my brother and in a minute he was by the door. "Come on dad, let's see what we can mix up." He accosted the beautiful king and luckily dad breathed hard and nodded, thank the Goddess. I made my way down the steps that led to the main door of the architectural marvel that was the house I lived in, Val was in a burgundy suit, his dark chestnut hair styled to perfection and his very expensive loafers looking as if they didn't belong on the gravel they walked on. As our eyes met, I expected my heart to speed up, my breathing to quicken, a painful tug, but nothing, the bond was gone and I don't know why, but it felt liberating, he couldn't use it on me anymore. "Hello Valentino." I greeted crossing my arms  ver my chest, I noticed the flash of lust that passed his eyes when I did it, I knew what allure was, when we were young dad taught us how to use this allure wolves of our bloodline had, it always worked when perfected.

"Xan— Xander." He stuttered and I raised an eye brow, that was new. "Let's not beat around the cactus, it has no leaves, what do you want, this is an invitation only party, I don't see your invite anywhere and since I'm the one who actually made those invites, I'm sure I intentionally left you out." I addressed Val, each word laced with a weapon that hit it's mark, the viciousness of what he did to me stirring up and being given back. "I came to congratulate Siena, she was good to me." He replied with hardened eyes, a cold silence passed between us as he walked forward. "I just need to see her, say what I have to and leave." He added and a snicker escaped my lips. "Valentino, you're not wanted here, Siena is the last person who'd ever want to see you, stop trying to weasel your way back into our lives Val, go back and crawl into the hole you came from, we were okay without you, we will afterwards." I told him with an honesty I never knew I had, having the bond broken, it made it easier to accept Val leaving, to accept that he wasn't good for me, or anyone else.

"Leave." He whispered, as if the word burnt his tongue, I turned to walk back to the house, before I could fully turn he grabbed my arm, and dragged me back, I didn't fight it, as we came face to face, his minty breath fanning onto my face, I could almost taste him as our eyes met. "Today is the only day I will be nice, play nice, don't lose the opportunity." He taunted as a smirk carved its way onto my face. "Val, nothing about you affects me anymore, that little tiny thread of hope, that you could've used against me is gone, I'm sure you felt it when the bond snapped, try as you might, nothing you do now, will ever scare me, so let me give you a little clarity, whatever you think you'll do, can do, will do, to get to me and have me abandon this pack, give it to someone spineless and vile like you, it wont be enough, your time came, and it passed." I replied tracing my fingers on his face before raising my right leg, aiming for his gut and using it to kick him back forcefully, he rolled on the ground before getting to his feet, eyes an electric blue.

"Leave Val, I'll tear you apart with only my claws, don't think because you're an alpha you have superior strength, I was taught to kill several of you at once." I called out before walking away, I didn't want to fight Val, but sooner or later things would get bloody between us, a warning to let him know what he was walking into, was something I'd give him, after that, if his choice still remained, that wasn't my fault. As I climbed the steps I was bombarded with different voices. "Alpha the boarder, there has been a massacre, we need you." I had tuned all of them out except one, without second thought I had taken all of my clothes off, shifted into my wolf and made a run for the boarder, I knew the howling was their signal, alerting me to where they were exactly, I sprinted over fallen logs, the thick shrub and vegetation, deeper into the forest until I got to the boarder. The moment I sniffed the air two things were apparent, blood and poison.

"Alpha, here." One of the patrol guards offered me torn pants after I shifted,  it had been what I expected, there was a bloody massacre of wolves. "Rogues, from the looks of it, they were running from something." I explained as I looked at how they laid dead on the ground, the patterns of the foliage and how it seemed their bodies were thin, they had been starving, on the run for a very long time. "Nine of them of died because of the poison, the other six were torn apart by a wolf." I told the guards as one of them took down what I was saying. "Get the medical team here, take one of the poisoned bodies, I need it examined, don't touch it with your barehands, we don't know how the poisoned is transferred, only not by air. We can't risk poison so we'll have to burn them here, the ones not poisoned we'll bury them, after we've taken DNA samples to find out who they were, it should help us track where they were coming from, get on it with the tech team, I want a full report tomorrow afternoon." I told the wolf who had been taking down what I was saying, he was part of the emergency response team Jude had created for times like these, it made everything much easier since there were more hands helping on the task.

It still made me wonder, what were rogues running from, the pack itself accepted rogues who were willing to be part of a pack, not all wolves chose to be rogues, and the different circumstances that led to being a rogue, I learnt to understand, so I'd never turn them away, so having rogues run to my pack for protection wasn't something new, I just wish they had made it onto pack territory, their aggressor wouldn't have dared followed them in, how sad, but I would get to the bottom of whatever happened, no life was worthless.

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Saint Jay