Jack

It's April, y'all.

Which means 2 things: the last member of our group is turning 18 and finding her mate, hopefully. The planned strike on the pack that attacked us is finally happening.

Have you ever heard the phrase: revenge is a dish best served cold? Well, ours is practically frozen.

It takes a lot of planning into attacking a 300 people pack. And we're not just attacking, we're gonna decimate them.

They're going to learn what the term biting more than you can chew really means.

The first thing to take care of is the math. We simply cannot attack a 300 people pack with 70 warriors. No, we have to take advantage of our numbers. And they are large.

Mr. Burke has been recruiting men specifically for the attack, training and getting them into fighting shape.

We're hitting their land with over 500 werewolves. Yes, that much. Which is a large endeavor indeed. But not if you consider a 20.000 werewolf population.

To us it's a drop on the bucket. But since we don't have 500 warriors, preparation is needed. And Mr. Burke knows that.

Plus, the logistics of traveling with that many people to a different town over 40 miles from here are a nightmare.

Like I said, it took a lot of preparation. But now we're finally ready. They're not gonna know what hit them. Not until it's too late.

Which is kind of poetic since neither did my parents until they were literally banging on our door. I mean, breaching our door.

"Are you okay?" - Ty asked me in a concerned tone.

"I am, sort of. I just wish I could be there." - I told him in a saddened tone.

"Don't even. I will 50 shades you if you're not in my sight at the time they leave town." - He threatened, causing me to laugh out loud.

"I should never have made you see that film." - I joked, giggling.

"Well, now it's too late." - He smirked.

We're inside his room. It's Saturday. We spend a lot of time here as I share a room in my house with Tony and we wouldn't want to put him off. Ironically, Tony spends a lot of time here at Sarah's room for the same reason.

The strike is happening tomorrow at dawn, as Sunday is the best day to catch them off guard and reunited with their families.

They're scheduled to leave some time after midnight. Mr. Burke is gonna lead them and Beta Davis will stay as they can't travel together for the pack can't be left without a leader.

We get downstairs for dinner and it's special as Beta Davis and Delta Westbrook's families are here too.

"Thank you for joining my family for dinner, my friends. I know tomorrow is a crucial day for our pack's survival as we can't let an attack go unpunished. No, they have to learn you don't mess with our family." - Mr. Burke started, smiling at the guests.

"Here, here." - Beta Davis celebrated.

"Also, congratulations Elsa. You're glowing with beauty. May the Goddess bless you and your pup." - Mr. Burke told her, who smiled wide next to Jason.

"Thanks, Alpha. I can't believe how far along I am." - She said looking at her big belly in awe.

"How far along are you?" - I asked her, curiously.

"5 months. He's do in August." - She replied with a radiant smile.

"To the happy couple." - I raise a glass, which is accompanied by everyone. Elsa is drinking juice like us and the adults whine.

Jason looked very happy next to his mate. And so were his parents. They were always supporters of her pregnancy, even when no one else was.

"Can you believe you will be a grandpa, Beta? You're barely 40." - Mr. Burke teased his friend.

"Tell me about it! When Elsa told us it was a shock for sure. But now my grandson is a blessing from the Goddess to our lives. We're very excited for them." - He replied, smiling to his daughter.

"And what are your plans, Beta?" - He looked at Tony when he asked him.

Tony gasped at the question in surprise.

"Well, my plan is to wait for my mate to go to college and see what will happen after that." - He said, taking Sarah's hand over the table.

"What are you studying Sarah?" - I asked her with an intrigued tone.

"Oh, I'm torn between business, economics or engineering." - She replied, pensive.

"Good for you. Education is important. I hope Tony can endure while you're away." - I smirked.

"I don't plan on going very far from here. We will visit each other for sure." - She said, comforting a nervous Tony.

The rest of the dinner was nice with the families rejoicing in our unity. Some time later, we retire for the night as we wouldn't see each other until after they return.

I mean, I wouldn't see Mr. Burke or Tony, who was the only one of us allowed to go. Not because he's expendable, but it's part of his Beta training. And Mr. Burke is only taking him to accompany them, not to aid in the strike. May the Goddess protect them!

Tony

We leave in several buses. 500 men and women, a force strong enough to decimate an entire pack. Well, I certainly hope so because I don't wanna wait for anyone's revenge against my own.

We've been hurt already. And it's no wonder why we're out for blood.

I remember my little cousin, Lily. She was a tad jealous of me when I used to play with Jack as kids. She didn't get why he wouldn't play with her. But I always tried to make her feel included. I couldn't stand her crying.

Call me a softie but I don't like when girls cry, specially a 6 years old. Even though I was 10 at the time, though I still don't like it to this day.

But whenever I'm in doubt, I think of her. And it's very effective. I don't have a sister, the closest I have to a brother is Jack. But I do think of her as one. As I think of Jack as my brother.

Also, there's the matter of they almost killing my dad. That lights a fire under me like nothing else. I can not or will not forgive them for that.

This isn't the dark ages. In yester years, wolf packs would go from town to town in raids with plans to conquer smaller packs. Werewolves can be vicious creatures for sure.

Which is actually why our pack got so big. We didn't start that way. In the beginning, Stonehold, Underwood and some other wolf families bought a massive land to occupy and live in peace.

With time, wolves got word of this sanctuary untainted by humans and flocked here. Soon, the Stonehold pack as it became known grew fierce and untouchable.

Which in turn, attracted even more people to join our pack. We all want security for our family and that's what Alpha Stonehold provided. And no one would dare move against a pack this big. I mean, no one should.

And though we do hear of the occasional raids, most packs just want to be left alone or maybe commune together in unity.

The modern werewolf don't care about pack war, they care about paying their mortgage and putting their kids trough school.

However, if you mess with us you will feel our wrath. It's like the law says: don't touch someone's mate unless they touched you first.

Which is why I wouldn't punch Jay like I did Jack. Neither would Sarah slap anyone like she did her brother. We're family, it's a different story. But other people's mates? All bets are off!

"This is Alpha Burke. We reached our location and will spread out trough their land, taking out their scouts first. Follow your team leaders, they got the plan of assault. If there's any doubt, Delta Westbrook and I are here for you."

By they way, I got blessed by the Alpha just before I came on this quest. Finally!

"One more thing. I know this is going to be brutal and we don't usually kill kids whatsoever. But they did. They killed Lilly Stonehold when she was just 6 years old. Six. Years. Old. And if they could get to her, imagine what they would do if they could get to your kids at home!"

Like I said, very effective.

Warriors are spread out trough various points of the massive land. It's a small town, but not small enough to be easily covered. Which is why we brought so many of us.

For each team of 10, there's a leader in human form. They were the only ones armed to the teeth. The rest of the strike is in wolf form. For this to work properly it needs to read as animal attack, otherwise humans will investigate.

So, the leaders are there to provide guidance and tactical support. I followed Alpha Burke's team, who is left behind to supervise and command the assault. He got his binoculars, watching over the entire scene play out.

First, we took their scout warriors. We couldn't risk them communicating our position, so it wasn't even a fair fight. 4 wolves stroke one by one at once, it was bloody.

We knew it would be. As the smell of blood hit the air, another team would attack the border warriors. We figured it'd be heavily guarded, but we explored any weaknesses they had in the patrol. As they can't exactly have one warrior at every yard. It's simply not feasible, even for us.

When we couldn't surprise the wolves, a sniper would shoot them down in advance. Oh yes, we brought snipers too for cover. Another team would ravish the corpse of the dead wolf to not leave any trace of human interference. This was planned to a tee.

After we took out the border warriors, we breached the city. The only directive they had was to avoid any human if you can. But of course, if a human sees a man leading a pack of wolves in the streets, they can't be left to witness it. So... yeah, it's brutal.

Several teams of wolves reached the town at once. As this would only work if we covered all of the exits. We even left people passing as city workers to block anyone from coming into town.

Kids playing in the streets, shops, fairs, vendors, anyone they encountered was fair game and wolves attacked each and every one they've encountered with merciless anger.

A trail of blood was left in their path as they made their way into town. When they ran into closed door houses, a team leader would breach it and several wolves would enter to decimate whoever lived inside. No mercy.

The screaming was deafening. Men, women and children slaughtered with no quarter. No one would be left alive. The directive is clear and Alpha's orders are not to be disobeyed.

Which is also why they entered in bulk. Like a firing squad, no one knew which bite was the lethal one because there were several bites.

Nothing was left to chance. No one would survive an attack like this. Not if they don't have a neck to course their blood. Or a heart to pump it.

Of course, there were resistance. Several more warriors were dispatched to contain the threat. And even a lot of people with guns.

But we accounted for that too. For anything.

The ones in human form were strike down by either the team leaders or the snipers. Unfortunately, we lost people too. Not a lot of people, but no assault of this magnitude is without casualties. It's simply not feasible.

But it's a bargain we had to take. We couldn't let them get away with it, specially not after the second attack.

And while several teams slaughtered an entire town population, back up squads roamed the land to check if anyone had slipped from under our noses. Wolves who hadn't killed anyone yet, so their senses of smell were still fresh and unsullied by the taste of blood.

Yes, planned to a tee.

Several hours had passed of brutal murders till one of the teams captured the Alpha family. It wasn't particularly difficult as they didn't try to run away. They did defended themselves well, but like I said there's just too many of us for them to stand a chance.

Alpha Burke came in to town, surrounded by his team and myself, supervising the all out slaughter that his pack left in its wake.

It was a scene fit for a war movie, a gruesome feature as the smell of so much blood infected our noses in a way it wouldn't leave us for days to come. But the images of the dead ravaged corpses would never escape us. And I mean ever.

The Alpha, his mate, his 17 years old son, his 14 and 10 years old daughters were lined up in front of their house in the street, tied and surrounded by a hundred angry wolves.

"Hi. I'm assuming you know who I am." - Alpha Burke said once he got close enough to them.

"Yes, I do." - The Alpha replied. His voice was trembling, he's shaking with fear but his family is in much worse state of fright.

"So you know what I'm gonna ask. Why us?" - He inquired in a serious tone.

"What could you possibly gain from attacking our pack?" - He continued, sounding very intrigued. But then again, so was everyone.

"Your Alpha killed my dad." - He explained with a pained tone.

"I find it very hard to believe it. I knew Alpha Stonehold better than I do my own brother. He would never kill anyone without reason, specially another Alpha." - He argued, mistrust dripping from his tone.

"I didn't say it was the one who died. I said your Alpha killed my father." - He rebuked, making Mr. Burke tremble in anger.

"I'm sorry, are you saying you had almost an entire family killed, including a 6 year old girl, for something so old his dad was to blame?" - Alpha asked him, an inch away from his face.

"I didn't know a little girl was killed. My orders were to kill Stonehold." - He argued.

Alpha Burke's irradiating anger. His eyes are glowing brighter than if he was discovering his mate in this moment.

"Kill the little one!" - He ordered, making the other man flinch.

"No, no. Please! Kill me! Leave my family alone, please. I beg you. You got your revenge already. Leave my family alone!" - He begged, while his mate cried and so did the children. Loudly. It was horrible.

"Why didn't you stop after you succeeded? Why keep coming after us? You had already killed our Alpha, our Luna and their innocent daughter. Why persist after 8 years?"- Alpha Burke asked, raged and intrigued.

"I was angry. I lost my father brutally. It's not something you forget." - He replied, sobbing and quaking in fear.

"You're right. It isn't, indeed. I lost my father last year. He was still young, very active in the community. And he is very missed." - Mr. Burke told him. Then, he gave a team leader a look and several wolves pulled his youngest daughter aside and ravished her body with bites, making the family flinch in fear and horror. I had to look away.

The couple sobbed uncontrollably. So did their remaining children.

"But you know who misses his dad the most? My son in law, Jack Stonehold. He lost not only his father, his mother, but also his 6 years old little sister. 6!" - Alpha snapped at him, who continued to cry loudly.

"Please, do what you want with me. Spare my mate and children. I beg of you." - He pleaded, crying and trembling with fear.

"It's ironic how you managed to kill almost an entire Alpha bloodline of the most powerful pack in the country with a mere 30 people assault. It's so unbelievable it has to be truth." - He pointed it out, pacing in front of the family.

"No one would ever dare to do that. But you succeeded. You won. You got your revenge in spades. You got away with it. But you just couldn't leave it alone, could you?" - He ranted.

"You killed not only my Alpha, my best friend. You also killed his mate. The sweetest, most loving woman I've ever met apart from my own mate." - He continued, giving another look that got the second daughter killed savagely.

The crying got louder, they're screaming for their lives. Their son's life.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be Beta and have to look your pack members in the eyes and tell them their beloved Alpha is gone? Slaughtered in his own house."

"And not only that. His entire family. For what? For one man? One man worth an entire family being killed? Really? What math is that?"

"The only reason you didn't end their bloodline is because their son wasn't in the house at the time. A blessing from the Goddess, I'm sure. Because they didn't deserve any of this."

"And you know the worst of all? It isn't that you didn't know when to stop. It isn't when you found out you had gotten away with literal murder and still attacked us, taking the life of our Delta, among others."

"Fathers who didn't need to die. Who didn't do anything wrong other than protect the pack with their lives."

"No, you know when you really fucked up? And I mean really, really fucked it up? They attacked my family, my house that night. But even then, that's not why you fucked up."

"I can forgive many things. And though I'd never forgive you for taking my best friend, what I can never understand, what I can never forgive or forget, is that you took... my 6 years old... goddaughter!" - He yelled at his face, who flinched in terror.

Another look and his son was put down. Hard.

His painful screams would populate my nightmares for years to come.

"I'm sorry..." - The man begged, completely destroyed.

"You should've thought of your family before and stopped when you got your revenge. When you left a 10 year old boy orphan. His uncle was so scared for his life that he took him away from us. So not only you robbed him of his family, his childhood, his innocence. You robbed him of growing up in his own pack."

There was another look. And only a single person left to go other than the Alpha. By then, he had no more tears left to cry.

"But you're right about one thing. A son could never forget about losing his own dad. It's not something one forgets. That's why we couldn't leave a single son alive today. Specially not yours." - Alpha Burke concluded.

He took off his shirt and pants. Then, I looked away. Next thing I know, his wolf was feasting on the guy's corpse. It really was a brutal scene to witness. This entire quest was. And I'll never forget it.

https://youtu.be/OGUy2UmRxJ0

A|N: This is the most violent chapter I've ever written.

My goodness, that's awful. But who said vengeance is pretty?

Let the healing begin!

Love,

Léo.