The Shadow Alpha

"What do you plan on doing about Austin?” he asked as if fearing the answer, now it was my turn to sigh and run my hand through my hair in an attempt to relieve some of the frustration that I felt. “That's the tricky part. We have to stop him, but how do we do it without damaging Devin beyond repair?” I asked miserably, Hunter looked at me in awe to which I raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?" he shook his head slowly.

“It- It's nothing... I just expected you to hate him. I thought you would have done anything to see him hurt.” I chuckled softly at his baffled expression.

“Trust me I would love to see him keeling over in pain after I give him the ass whooping of his life-" I said making him laugh, “but I never want to see him really hurt. I know I might come off as heartless especially towards Devin, but let's face it, he is still my mate and no matter how much I hate it, I can never hate him and I will never want to see him in pain.” Hunter smiled approvingly at me.

I cleared my throat to get rid of the lump that formed at the thought of him in pain, “Anyway. I have a plan but, I am going to need your help with it. You're the only person Devin trusts without reserve.” He nodded thoughtfully, but his eyebrows furrowed.

“You said that Austin wanted to use our own plans against us, but how would he do that if he doesn’t even know what we're planning?” I heaved another sigh.

“That's another problem. I have certain... Gifts. It won't make much sense to you now but I'm asking you to trust me. Justin, he is working with them.” he looked even more taken aback now, in fact he suddenly looked defensive.

"Okay Allison, up till now everything has been a lot to take in but I can see how you would suspect Austin of such things, but Justin? No way! Justin is quiet, but he isn't a traitor. I do trust you, but you're making it really hard to continue doing so. This is starting to sound like a whole load of bullshit really quickly!” he said, getting angrier by the moment which irritated my wolf because of his disrespect.

Just as he was about to stand up and walk away I caught hold of his wrist and pulled him back down, “Let go!" he said through gritted teeth which seriously rubbed my wolf up the wrong way, I felt a burning sensation behind my eyes and I fought to control my anger from physically showing, it usually wasn't this hard, but this along with all the pressure of having my past and present collide had my control slipping way easier than I was comfortable with

"Hunter, sit down.” I said calmly, but the Alpha undertone was clear making it impossible for him to disobey my order. “I have a very good hold on my temper, but I warn you not to anger me right now.” I narrowed my eyes at him and didn’t miss the way he gulped when I spoke.

"Fine, there is no way you're going to believe me if I don't tell you.” I sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to ease the burning and began explaining the events that ensued after I left the pack four years ago. How I became the Shadow wolf and went around the world developing packs and assisting them before coming back and taking over as Alpha and building the pack to what it is now.

He listened with a befuddled air surrounding him and by the end of my story his eyes were as wide and saucers and jaw slacked in astonishment. I left him to stare and process everything for a few minutes but he didn't seem to be coming to anytime soon.

'Will you stop staring at me like a retarded fish!" I said in his head which caused him to leap from his seat and let out a girlish scream. I couldn't hold in my laughter any longer and burst out laughing, I probably looked like a retarded seal, but I didn't care, it was just too funny.

"Okay, fine it wasn't thhaat funny.” He pouted and crossed his arms across his chest like a five year old.

Finally I controlled my laugh and sat back on the bench like a normal person, I hadn't realised how much I missed Hunter till now.

My big brother, my Hunny.

I don't know when the tears started flowing from my eyes, but somehow all this made me emotional. I was in no way a stranger to tears, but it had been a while since they were not the painful kind, Hunter seemed to notice my mood change and turned to face me only to be met with tears maring my face.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is it something I said? I'm sorry for shouting at you and not believing you. Shit, I made you cry. I swear Al I didn't mean to force you to tell me what happened. I was just angry and-" I cut him off by throwing my arms around him, he tensed at first, but relaxed when he realised what I was doing and hugged me back.

Hunter may be an asshole, but he is and always will be my big brother, it's about time we let go of the past and mended our family.

We broke the hug after a few minutes, Hunter looked at me with a happy smile on his face, “I missed you baby sis.” He said quietly, as if he were afraid that I would run away any moment.

“I missed you too Hunny.” I replied which earned me a beaming smile.

The silence was broken when Hunter cleared his throat, “What is your plan?” I thought about it for a moment before answering.

“We are planning an attack. We need to use this window of opportunity before we lose the upper hand. First we have to stake out each location to make sure that it's legitimate and once we have them all in sights we have to attack all at the same time to ensure that things go down smoothly.” I said knowing that it wasn't exactly what he was asking. He looked at me knowingly with a raised eyebrow; I rolled my eyes but answered anyway.

“We need to plan an attack on Justin, he is the only one who has any information right now and to be honest it's the only way we can contain him.” I could tell that the idea made him uncomfortable by the sceptical look on his face, “I know you're fighting an inner battle right now, but Hunter it's the only way I can think of. I don't like the idea of hurting someone on purpose either, but he is a danger to both packs. My pack is my family, I will not let any danger come to them, I will do what I have to whether you like it or not.” I asserted not caring how he felt anymore.

He sighed, “You're right, he is a risk. Do what you have to AL" I smiled up at him in triumph.

"You know you've changed a lot and I don't just mean physically. Everything, you're so amazing! You run this pack like it takes no effort, you're a freaking legend! I am so proud of you baby sis and I'm so glad that you found where you belong and found something worthy of the spectacular person that you are. I don't deserve to call myself your big brother, because I was meant to protect you and I chose to hurt you instead.” The awe in his voice faded into a shameful whisper.

I placed my hands on his shoulders, “Hunter, I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason. You were young; Austin played on your emotions and used you against me. You need to leave the past in the past otherwise how else will we move on if you always have this hanging over you? The next time I see you sulking about what's done, I will smack you silly.” His eyes widened as I tightened my grip enough for him to get a taste of my strength.

His lack of response caused a smirk to make its way onto my face. Mission accomplished!

"What about Austin and April?” he asked and I burst out laughing which confused him greatly “Uhhh...” he mumbled confusedly.

"We're so weird, we go from serious, to mushy, to goofy, back to serious.” I managed to say between laughs making him chuckle.

"Yeah, we are.” he said, shaking his head.

"So?" for what felt like the millionth time tonight I sighed.

“I honestly don't have a plan. We have to tell Devin first, that is my priority now and basically that's what I need your help with.” I said looking him dead in the eye, he bit his lip and looked away for a second.

“Yeah, damn...” was all he said before looking away back at the sky.

“We have to keep him from telling Austin anything though.” I added thoughtfully.

Hunter laughed bitterly, “Don’t worry about that, Devin hasn't spoken to either of them since you left the pack.” He said which shocked me, “Apart from when they absolutely have to discuss something regarding the pack, they don't even bother to share pleasantries.” I was puzzled.

“You know what I don't get? Why is Austin doing all of this? I mean besides power he basically loses everything which makes it even more pointless, I mean if he didn't care about Devin then why take him from his mother at birth?” Hunter just shrugged,

“Beats me. That question, only the man himself can answer.”

After that was said we both sat in silence, with my head on his shoulder I succumbed to the exhaustion and not having slept much the night before didn't help much either.