CHAPTER FIVE
Grayson Edge stood in front of his house and surveyed all the wolves before him. His white wolves stood guard in front of every house down the street, making sure that none of the neighbors came rushing out of their houses and into the frothing sea of wolves.
Most of the inhabitants of Wolves Hollow had enough sense to stay indoors when rival packs were out in force, but there would always be a handful of foolhardy, busybody individuals who thought it would be fun to come out and play with the wolves.
Those fools were lucky to make it back to their homes without losing more than some skin and blood. Some lost way more than an eye and a limb. Those foolish, reckless people were flirting with danger, gambling with their lives. And sometimes, they lost the gamble.
Grayson whistled a command to his pack, the Sentinels. Every Sentinel wolf raised its head and stood at attention. Grayson had ordered his pack to protect the residents in the vicinity. When rival packs clashed, innocent blood could be spilled.
It was with a heavy heart that Grayson had just fought and killed the Alpha of the Silverfangs pack tonight.
The Silverfangs pack was a smaller pack than the Sentinels. The Silverfangs pack was highly unstable and volatile. None of their Alphas had lasted long in the pack. The three female betas were the ones who were really in charge. Those three she-wolves were master manipulators and the three of them schemed and plotted their way to positions of power within the pack.
The latest Silverfangs Alpha, Asher Ronski, had been their latest victim. Grayson had known Asher since he was a lieutenant in the Silverfangs pack. Asher was a good man, and he had known for some time that there was something rotten in his pack. He had wanted to contain the rot and fix his pack. That was why he fought so hard for the Alpha position. And he had won it fairly and honorably.
The three Silverfangs betas, Alexa Joyce, Dannika Tay and Holly Lassa, had pretended to submit to their new Alpha. The three she-wolves had always used sex as a weapon. But Asher didn't allow himself to be seduced. Grayson had warned his friend to watch his back within the pack, but Asher chose to trust his wolves. He was fiercely loyal to the Silverfangs pack, and he believed that he could rebuild the Silverfangs pack and reclaim their glory days. Sadly, his trust and faith were misplaced.
Grayson had watched as Asher Ronski slowly lost his mind and his humanity. What went on within a pack was the pack's business and no one else's. Grayson knew that if he intervened, he would start a war between the Sentinels and the Silverfangs.
It was Asher who issued a challenge to Grayson. Grayson never wanted to fight his friend, but as the Alpha of the Sentinels, Grayson could not turn away and ignore a challenge from the Alpha for another pack.
Grayson finally understood Asher's intentions. Asher wanted to deliver his pack to Grayson and he wanted to die at the hands of an alpha wolf he trusted and respected.
Asher's mind was already shattered, and he had been driven half-mad by his nightmares and delusions. Grayson suspected that witchcraft was at play but he couldn't prove it.
When Grayson raised his claws to deliver the killing blow, Asher had looked up at him with lucid, clear eyes and smiled. Death would put him out of his misery and shame. With an anguished, angry roar, Grayson granted his friend a quick, honorable death.
Asher had whispered his dying wish to Grayson just before his eyes closed.
And Grayson had honored it.
Grayson stood on the top step of his house and watched the Silverfangs pack leave. The three Silverfangs betas, Alexa, Dannika and Holly, bowed their heads and slunk away silently with the rest of the Silverfangs wolves.
Under their gray fur, the three females were bleeding from the deep bite he had given them. He had taken them and marked them viciously. The sex was hard, rough and animalistic. It had nothing to do with lust, desire or passion. It was a show of dominance and power. As their new Alpha, he had left his mark on them. It was nothing they wore with pride. In human form, those three females would have their Alpha's mark on their necks. It marked them as the lowest in the pack, effectively stripping them of their beta status.
Grayson turned his head and spat on the ground, but he couldn't get rid of the foul taste in his mouth. He didn't want those three females, but he had to take them to subdue them. It was either take them, or kill them.
These three she-wolves were loyal to no one. They served only their own interests. To force their submission, Grayson had to either maim them or make them submit sexually. It was a blatant show of force and power over them. Grayson found both courses of action repulsive, but mutilating and maiming those three females went against everything he stood for. He derived no pleasure at all from fucking those three females. It was just something that had to be done.
Grayson closed his eyes briefly, recalling Asher's last words. Save my pack. Save...every...wolf.
Asher wanted to save every member of his pack, even his three treacherous betas.
Grayson bowed his head in memory of his friend. Even as Asher looked death in the eye, he had sought to protect his pack.
It was exactly what Grayson would have done.
Asher's death was inevitable. He was descending rapidly into madness. Everyone could see it but there was nothing anyone could do to stop his decline. Eventually, Asher would be taken out by his own pack. No pack would allow a mad wolf to remain as Alpha.
Grayson snarled as he watched the last Silverfangs wolf disappear into the night.
He would not let Asher die in vain.