Another Half

December 2010

Pack House legend said that Rex’s grandfather, Alpha Oakley, used to call the executive conference room the King Arthur Room. He called it that because he knew it annoyed his father, Alpha Ky.

When Rex’s dad was young, he thought that the King Arthur Room was the most fitting name for the place, so when his father died, Alpha Brian made the conference room’s name official with a dark wooden plaque with gold letters. Beneath the conference room's new name, in smaller letters, read: In Memory of Alpha Oakley Essa.

Rex now stared at that plaque in the conference room, next to the elevator doors through which he had been ushered after learning of his father’s death. That little plaque linked the three alphas that preceded Rex. They had protected their pack and guarded the Azul Valley, and Rex now felt the weight of those responsibilities heavily on his shoulders.

Besides the gleaming large oak round table in the middle that inspired its name, the room itself was circular. It was bereft of any wall art because tall, wide windows surrounded the room. The room was situated at the top of the tall turret in the middle of the grey stone packhouse, which meant it had light even on the darkest of days. A magnificent crystal chandelier hung over the table and sliding, heavy deep blue shut-out drapes covered the windows for late-night meetings. Its position of at least six stories into the air on a mountain gave it privacy in addition to a 360-degree view everywhere, from Azul City and the rest of the valley on one side to the Azul pack town on the other, and everything in between.

Rex’s great-grandfather had installed an elevator, and Rex’s dad had upgraded it to a quieter, faster model. When it was not being used, this room had been the perfect place for three boys to play while hiding from their parents.

Rex looked around the room where he and his dad had often conversed and drank into the night. He felt an overwhelming tightness in his chest.

He’s gone. Dad is really gone.

Rex would never again hear his father’s voice giving him instruction or advice. He would never again feel pleasantly embarrassed as his dad teased him in front of others about how Rex had become an overachiever because he was out to make his old man look bad, all the while Brian’s eyes shone with love and pride for his son. Rex would never again have another drink with him.

Beta Enrique cleared his throat. He stood behind the chair where Alpha Brian used to sit and pulled it out. The chair was bigger, more imposing than the rest, and it was the only thing that signaled where the head of the table was. Beta Enrique stared at Rex expectantly and nodded.

Rex had never wanted to sit in his father’s chair less than he did now. He glanced at his uncle, and Martell nodded toward the chair Beta Enrique held out.

“Go on, Nephew,” Uncle Martell said. “Dylan isn’t here, but I know he supports you. We all do. It’s all yours.”

To know that neither of his uncles would challenge him was both a relief and a disappointment. Rex had hoped that maybe one of them would want or offer to take over the pack while Rex matured and became more responsible. Twenty was a ridiculous age to become alpha. And unmated, at that. His father had been twenty-seven with a three-year-old and another son on the way when his grandfather had stepped down. His grandfather had been almost thirty and with three sons and a daughter when the previous alpha finally stepped down. Rex felt he was being forced to take up the mantle much too soon.

Looks like you don’t have a choice, Nakon whispered in the back of his mind. But you’re ready. We both are.

We have to be, Rex said.

Unlike most rooms in the Packhouse, the King Arthur room didn’t have a bar. Instead, there was only a small cabinet from where Uncle Martell took out several shot glasses and placed them on the table before retrieving two bottles of Lime Azul Vodka and two of Lemon Azul Vodka, the two flavors his father had produced before becoming alpha.

“This isn’t going to be nowhere near enough,” Uncle Martell murmured.

“It’ll do for now.” Enrique sat heavily on Rex’s left.

The elevator door suddenly opened and Uncle Dylan, Sergio, and Ax came in and sat down while Martell poured everyone a generous glass of lime-flavored vodka.

Beta Enrique sat up in alarm. “What are you doing here?”

“Ax wants to be here,” Sergio said sitting down on the other side of his father. Because Aunt Magda was absent, Ax sat where his father would, on Rex's right.

“I’m here because I want to know who are the bastards that did this to my brother!” Uncle Dylan slammed his fist on the table as he sat down next to Martell. And in his true mercurial fashion, Uncle Dylan suddenly looked at Rex and smiled, “Nice to see you sitting where you belong, Rex. Wish it was because Brian was stepping down. That bastard was robbed.” His eyes saddened as he knocked back the shot of vodka in front of him.

“Where’s Aunt Magda," Rex asked Uncle Dylan.

“She’s not coming,” his uncle responded. “I told her that whatever we would be discussing will probably include details about Brian’s death and I know she won’t want to hear much less commit to memory what they did to him.”

Rex frowned.

That wasn’t his choice to make, Nakon growled in Rex’s head. She’s supposed to be this pack’s interim Luna!

I know, Rex said. I guess she’s not really fit to be a Luna if she can’t handle hearing bad stuff.

Once Rex’s mother died, Brian had no wish to immediately look for a Luna to take her place. She had been his Fated Mate; no one could ever take her place. But the pack couldn’t function without a Luna, so he asked Madga, his brother’s mate, to take care of some of the Luna’s duties. It was supposed to be a provisional position, but it extended to several years. At first, Magda was ecstatic.

Our Luna will have to be much stronger than Magda. She has always looked for ways to shirk duties, and your dad let her, Nakon said. She’s a wolf and she doesn’t want to hear about war, blood, or anything ‘unpleasant’?

The position was never supposed to be for her, Rex responded. Every she-wolf thinks she wants to be a Luna until she realizes how much work and responsibility it is, and how unpleasant it can be. She thought all she had to do was go out shopping with her black card. Our Luna will not be like that.

Uncle Dylan stared at him, questioning, and Rex shrugged. He refused to care anymore about Aunt Magda’s incompetence as a Luna. He was already planning to take on those responsibilities until he found his Chosen Mate.

The elevator doors opened again for an older man in a short lab coat. He hurried in holding a manila folder in both of his hands and then waited by the doors to be acknowledged.

“May I?” Beta Enrique whispered to Rex.

Rex had finished tossing back his first shot of vodka and had no idea what Enrique was asking his permission for so he nodded.

“So soon?” Beta Enrique said standing up.

The man in the lab coat cleared his throat. “Sir, it was only a preliminary autopsy. I will have a final, more thorough report tomorrow morning, but Alpha Brian’s cause and manner of death are unmistakable, sir.”

“Very well,” Enrique said. “Thomas here is one of our medical examiners. I put him in charge of our Alpha’s autopsy. Go on, Tom.” He sat back down and motioned for Thomas to stand at the front of the table, in front of Rex. “What did you find?”

The medical examiner took his assigned place and took out his report.

“Alpha Brian had two causes of death. The first was exsanguination,” he said in a clear voice.

“Excuse me?” Dylan said.

“That means he bled to death,” Rex said quickly. “How can he have two?”

The medical examiner shifted his feet. “Because he was beheaded right before he died,” he said. “From the cut on his neck, my initial conclusion is that they used an ax or broad sword.”

Rex stared at him while trying to formulate a coherent thought. He looked around the table. No one else seemed to be able to say anything either.

“Go on,” Rex finally said in a low voice. “Is there more? Where else was he cut for the bleeding? The throat?” He remembered Gamma Lance’s corpse.

The medical examiner slowly shook his head, and he cleared his throat again. He shifted where he stood, frowning down at the papers he had in his hands.

For the next few minutes, Thomas explained to them how Alpha Brian had died, and how and where the damage had been inflicted.

Rex felt a cold wave of horror wash through him as he imagined his father’s agony and excruciating humiliation. To be killed by an enemy is one thing, but to be degraded and emasculated was on a level of cruelty that Rex was unfamiliar with.

Beta Enrique must have seen Rex slump in his seat because he shouted. “Stop!”

“No,” Rex immediately said. “We need to hear this. I need to hear what they did to my father. Go on, Thomas.”

The truth was that Rex wanted the medical examiner to stop his report. He already felt sick, and he didn’t think he could stomach anything more. But he knew he had to hear everything so he could better understand what his next actions should be. He refused to make blind decisions.

“Go on,” Rex said, steeling himself as much as he could. “Is that how he died? Painfully?”

The medical examiner took in a deep breath. “Painfully and very slowly, Alpha Rex,” Thomas swallowed. “Leading up to Alpha Brian’s death, my initial conclusion is that he suffered weeks of starvation and torture before being fed raw meat laced with wolf’s bane, hence his extreme weakness, blood poisoning, and inability to shift. His heart was carved out after his death, however, and it’s missing.”

“When? When did he die?” Rex asked. He felt himself grow very cold, and he was certain he looked pale. His hands had become numb. “Did they all die at the same time?”

“No, Alpha,” Thomas said. “The guards’ bodies are all in different phases of decomposition. Most of them have been dead for over two weeks but they’ve been kept frozen. Some died as late as a week ago. I would put Gamma Lance’s time of death at about two weeks ago while Alpha Brian died this morning.”

A deep silence reigned in the room as the details of Alpha Brian’s death continued to sink into everyone present.

“Where?” Rex asked in a firm voice that surprised him. “Where did they die? What place?”

Thomas nodded at him. “I’m afraid that the place is inconclusive as of right now. All of our trackers placed them at Saxe Oaks. In addition, two of our trackers have put some guards, Gamma Lance, and Alpha Brian at Cerulean River or Blue Ponderosa.” Thomas’s voice became hard, almost out of anger. “They are not certain which one since those territories are so close together and they share the same soil. Our most advanced tracker, Rafael, places only Alpha Brian at all three places, however. Rafael thinks he’s the only one that died at Blue Ponderosa, sir. But I have to run more tests to be certain, sir.”

Maverick! Nakon growled in Rex’s head.

“And you are certain they were at Saxe Oaks?” Uncle Martell asks.

“Yes, without a doubt. The mud with blue oak leaves and twigs on all their boots is unmistakable. They tried to mask the scent on their bodies with some witches’ herbs, but they forgot to wash their boots. For all of these reasons, we know his manner of death can obviously be no other than murder, sir.”

Rex nodded toward him in acknowledgment. “Thank you for your work,” he said, mimicking what he had seen his father do countless times. “Finish the autopsy and give us a final report as soon as it is ready.”

Once dismissed, the medical examiner bowed slightly to Rex and exited the room.

“Treason. From Saxe and Cerulean,” Sergio said quietly.

“We don’t know that yet for certain,” Martell poured himself, Dylan, and Rex another shot. Rex took his glass and got up. He couldn’t stay seated. He knew what was coming. It was inevitable.

Rex walked toward the tall window behind him, the one that looked out onto the wide expanse of the Azul Valley. Azul City was in front of him with the small university sprawled almost at the feet of the mountain. He fixed his eyes on the dense blue oak forest on the left, midway up the highway that cut the valley in half. Saxe Oaks.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dylan said. “You heard the man; Rafael is the best! Brian was at all three fucking places. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all took a piece of him! Rex, you can’t—you can’t let them get away with this!”

“That’s not for you to decide,” Martell said, his voice tense. “Respect the Alpha, brother.”

“Enrique, what do you think?” Rex asked quietly. He continued to stare out the window, down towards the university and the small park with the man-made lake where he used to spend hours reading on the furtherest bench. He remembered being happy during his university years, but that was a lifetime ago. Unlike now, he had been carefree and didn’t carry a hot stone in his chest, a stone that felt like a bomb that would soon explode into fury.

“I think it’s pretty conclusive that Saxe Oaks is as involved in your father’s murder as we suspected. This just confirms that the invitation to drinks was a trap.” Enrique snickered. “And we were too damn blind and trusting to suspect it. Time will tell if Cerulean and Blue were also involved.”

Rex nodded and looked at the shot of vodka still in his hand. He hated that this was his first command as alpha.

“War with Saxe Oaks it is, then.”

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Author’s Note:

This is not the original chapter. The original Rex–Chapter 7 contains more unsavory details about Alpha Brian’s death. From this chapter onward, I am no longer posting Reader Advisories since it seems from the FindNovel.net analytics that people don’t like them.

Anyway, I will post the original chapters under a different work titled “Another Half: The Dark Chapters.” If anyone wants to read the unsanitized chapters as I first conceived and wrote them, go for it. I would love to read your thoughts on these chapters. I’m genuinely interested in knowing what you think.