130 years ago

I wake up surrounded by my pack warriors, last night had been hell at the border of the pack lands, there was another report in a neighboring pack that they had been attacked, again.

Things have grown tenser and because no one really knows who is doing the attacking or what their motive is, we wolves are doing what we do best, now that I'm Alpha I'm trying a new approach, one my father did not do because he would not cross that line.

The line is blurred when your own pack members are taken in the middle of the night and dumped in the forest like they meant nothing.

Someone is killing us off and I won't rest until I tear their fucking head from their body.

This is the tenth night I have spent out here with my men, since my arrival the killing has stopped, which tells me whoever this knows about me and what I am and what I can do to them once I catch them.

When I turned 16 I did not shift into a wolf, no- I had my ancestor Demonia Black's cursed gift, to shift into something non-wolf but something unheard of, it's something none of my people speak about, due to the history surrounding my family and the Black name.

I am half Renoan half-wolf, my wolf Dex has two personalities, and not all the time can I control him, he is without a doubt, a pain in my ass. Never listens to me and since turning 16, my short fuse has become problematic, my temper comes and goes within reason to the point where I can't think straight anymore.

I find that sleeping in the forest helps, and running.

But what I really want is a mate, it would help calm me whenever I felt like this like I couldn't control anything, and I demand control, I need it from going insane.

"Alpha, we have surveyed the land three times, no sign of any fresh tracks." A pack warrior says and I sigh heavily and get up from the ground.

"And what about the town?"

"There was another murder sir, a human."

'Human's are weak, what do we care.' Dex snickers and I ignore him.

I look to the men and they all await my orders, so much is on my plate right now that I can't be dealing with humans too, I can't extend my men to guard them at risk of them finding out about us, human relations are non-existent as of today, only a fair few know about us.

"I want patrols every hour, on rotation and I want that human report, I want to see it as soon as possible." I command and they nod their head, shifting then run off into the direction of town.

Even though I agree with Dex, having humans killed so close to pack lands will only cause troubles if they start coming up here to do search parties, the last thing I want to fucking deal with is if one of my men kill a human on my land, the humans know this is private property but they're stupid and greedy and don't listen.

"Pack up, cover our tracks." I instruct the men and they nod and get to it.

I shift into my form and decide to run, not feeling like having people stare at me and cower at my sight, I make my way towards my office at the main packhouse, it's become my new office location, i hated how my father conducted pack business from home, I want to separate my personal life and pack life apart.

My father Alfred Black was a great Alpha, the curse had skipped my father and grandfather's generation so neither had to gain the acceptance of their pack nor witness the stares and hear the whispers behind your back, it is true I am nothing like either of them, I won't go easy on my people just because past Alpha's did, times are changing and I won't let my legacy be written in history saying I was an 'Ok'ish' Alpha.

Fuck that, I want to be known for my achievements, not for being nice to my pack, I don't care about being nice or approachable, I've never heard of someone protecting their pack by simply being nice.

I know what my pack thinks of me, have always thought, even as a child I could read emotions on their faces, no one would approach or speak to me until I spoke to them in fear of disrespecting me, but one did, someone I grew up with and possibly the only one I can trust to be my Beta.

Lucas is annoying as fuck but he's the only one I would call a close friend, he has come from a long line of beta's so his position was set in stone long before I became Alpha, which was okay with me, I can trust him to have my back.

I shift to my human form when I come up to the steps of the packhouse, there are people walking around outside the house and I noticed how they all bowed their head and avoided my gaze, my wolf Dex is large, too big for any normal wolf to take on, therefore I am feared.

I am the strongest and largest wolf in the world to date, none other can match my strength and skill in battle, not that any have tried, to try is to simply die and that would be pointless, but I would never turn anyone down for the chance to kill me, after all, I find it quite amusing, and it kills time for a few minutes where I don't think about my Alpha duties.

I see Lucas sitting talking to Rogon and Larson, I had grown up and got to know them all very well, although I trust them, I don't like them enough to stop and talk to them, I find them all fucking annoying to the point where all I want to do is put a muzzle on them, I need to get back to my office and look at that report, I need to know if it's the work of our killer or a random murdering spree.

"Hey Kane, any news?" Rogon calls out.

I stop and sigh, my wolf Dex is poking at me but I blocked our link for the time being, not interesting in speaking to anyone and just wanting to get shit done so I can relax.

"Another human." Is all I say and they nod knowingly.

I head straight to my office without saying another word and then slam the door shut.

Sitting down in my chair behind my desk I lean back and rub my forehead. "So annoying." I mumble out.

Someone knocks on my door and I growl out annoyed. "WHAT?" I snarl out.

The door opens and the first thing I see is the documents I requested about the human murder. "Alpha, the reports."

I take them off his hands and nod for him to leave, when the door shuts I open the reports and read through each statement made by the investigators and humans first on the scene to see the body.

'The body had been found near the edge of the woods, half a mile from the private property of Deepwater, the victim's clothes were ripped in pieces and dumped beside the body, soaked in her blood. The Victim is an 18-year-old young woman by the name of Samantha Deer, she was found by her boyfriend. The victim is missing two limbs, her arm, and leg, no items were taken, she had her phone, wallet, and keys still on her person, no witnesses as of yet and no possible suspects, further investigation will be made.'

Detective Stone, NZ PD

The same injuries as our pack members dumped in the woods.

Whoever is doing this is not human, that much is known, what is bothering me is that after investigating this myself, there had been no track marks to follow and no scent to as who did this, if I could get either one of the two I could find who is doing this within the hour and be done with it.

Magic, it has to be.

To my knowledge there are no beings in NZ, to enter this territory all must pass through me for permission, which means that whoever is residing in my territory is doing so without my knowledge, I need to find out who but I won't get answers unless I head to The Vale, and there's no fucking chance I'm going there right now, I have enough to deal with then the stuck up aristocrats of The Vale.

I'll send Larson, he's a Shadow in training and I can trust him to get the information I need, I mindlink him to come to my office and wait for his arrival, going through the document one more time before the door knocks.

"Come in."

Larson walks in and shuts the door, his eyes land on the file in front of me then his focus is on me, he knows why he's here by now just from that, he's trained to focus on any minor detail when entering a room, after all, he's training on intelligence and I'd be disappointed if he didn't do his job.

I hand the file out to him. "I'm sending you to The Vale, my stamp is on this, it will give you access."

"Sir?"

I sigh out. "There's an uninvited sorcerer in town, I want to know every single being who came through the portal within the past six months." I say, leaving no room for discussion as I give him the file.

Larson's face turns hard. "You think magic did this?" He hints at the file.

Snorting loudly I shake my head. "No." I pause. "Someone is helping whoever did this to cover their tracks, I want to know who, who is going to lead me directly to our killer."

I can't wait for that day to come, I want to send a clear fucking message to whoever this person is that I am not to be fucked with, neither are my kind, whoever they are, I'm going to kill them.

I will rip them limb from limb, for the dead that can no longer seek revenge.

It's an Alpha's duty to protect the pack, I will gladly enjoy punishing whoever is doing this to protect my people.

Larson nods his head slowly, an expression on his face I know well, he wants to kill whoever is doing this too, as do all my people, there is no need for more words as Larson leaves the room and shuts the door behind him.

'They will soon regret crossing into our land.' Dex says amused and I lean back in my chair.

I agree with him on that, Dex and I may not agree on most subjects but one thing is clear to both of us, the pack is above everything, we both demand respect and obedience, to come onto my land is disrespecting me and my authority, for that there's punishment, disobedient wrongdoers will face my wrath, to disobey an Alpha is death.

There's another knock on my office door and I'm so close to ripping the fucking thing apart.

"Enter."

The father enters the office with another Alpha, Marcel Braum, and his son, Benjiman Braum, who is carrying a box.

"Alpha Kane." Marcel greets me and I feel my head begin to pound.

A migraine, fucking fantastic.

"Braum."

"Kane." My father says warningly. "They brought news I think you should see son." He says, handing me a photo.

I stare at him and then the expression on the Braums, the photograph is of five dead wolves, shifted and with their heads cut off, it looks like it was cleanly cut off in one swipe, the eyes of the wolves are missing, which is odd, considering none of the past victims had missing eyes and what's even more strange is that the bodies are positioned in a perfect circle, with their heads placed in the middle facing all directions, their faces are frozen in terror.

The dead wolves will never join their mates in the afterlife after this, beheading is a serious punishment we only use when necessary, to do such a thing at random is unheard of.

A statement? But meaning what exactly is the question.

"What does this mean?"

Marcel and my father look at one another with an expression of concern then look back to me with a frown on either of their faces.

"Orion." Alpha Marcel spat. "The filthy creatures, now it all makes sense." He says, glaring at the photo in my hands.

I stare at my father and laugh. "Impossible, they all died during the purge after the war, this isn't their style of killing, they don't decapitate, they eat." I shove the photo back to them across the table. "Someone is fucking with us." I insist.

My father slams his fist onto the photo on my desk hard and I glare up at him. "Kane this is no joke, they left us proof, we've had it examined and my source confirms it is of their kin, they are back."

"Show me the proof." I demand and my father swallows hard, his eyes flicker then he turns to Benjiman Braum who nods his head, he is holding onto a box of sorts and places it on my desk in front of me.

I get up and look inside of the box, a stench of death immediately invades my senses as I open the book and look at the contents inside.

Inside is a head of a dark creature with black teeth and haunting black eyes and a pale face I have only seen in history books leading all the way back to Demonia's time as King in The Vale.

Orion members are bred by dark magic from once famous Sorcerors, the dark beings use magic and replenish their powers by feeding on their kills, Sorcerors of The Shadow Lands, home to Demonia was once famous for their gifts of magic until it turned their mind to rot, back in the old days they had turned on King Axel and plagued the mind of his mate, resulting in the death of his mate by him killing her, he was the second Black to murder a mate, Demonia being the first 50 years earlier, reasons are yet unknown but during that time, it was said that it was the curse's fault.

I close the box then stare up at the three men in front of me. "Inform all regional pack Alpha's, I call for a meeting as soon as possible."

They all nod and head out of my office, the young Braum son takes the box with the head inside and follows behind my father.

They're back, but this time someone else is taking the shots, all sorcerers are dead, my ancestors did not make a mistake in killing every single one of them for the crimes, Orion should have died off long ago during the extinction without a master at the end of the first war in The Vale.

We all must prepare for anything, if someone is working with Orion, this means war is not far behind and many more wolves will die.