Marked by the Ruthless Alpha

Chapter: 1  The Last Stand

Avery

“Is this really how it ends?” I whispered.

“If it does.” My father said beside me, “then we make it count.”

The ground had been soaked in blood.

Bodies—people I had known all my life—laid bare and wasted at our feet. 

We had been fighting since sunrise, but the truth was clear now.

We never stood a chance. 

I was barely standing at all. My knees wobbled as I continued to pray. Tears at the edge of my throat. I wasn’t a fighter goddess. I didn’t fight. “Nōbīscum esse, dea, tuō pectore nōs dēfende.” I said out loud.

 “Nōbīscum esse, dea, tuō pectore nōs dēfende.” The others repeated and then  my father repeated again.

“May the goddess guide us, and may she shield us within her bosom," my father continued in plain English. He was a tall man with a large build. Aging grey hairs framed his face, hair and the skin on his arms exposed by his ruffled rolled up button up shirt covered in dirt and blood just like the rest of his clothes. 

My father was no stranger to war. He’d fended off the attackers as long as he could retreating back to our lands with any survivors but he was the only one not cut, or stabbed through enough, left to bleed out. The firenewts; awful monsters, had been ruthless. There had barely been any survivors. Most had still been beyond saving. I had been in the infirmary all last night until this morning before my father summoned a meeting telling us to prepare for war.

“War?” I remember screaming. “ How can we continue to go to war with no soldiers!” I never spoke back to my father. It was a pointless endeavor but nothing made sense. The Damires were coming, that much was true, but what I didn’t understand was why we weren't running. 

“Father were clearly out-”

“Stop Avery.” My father commanded. “We have land to protect. This land has served us for generations. It's where we’ve prayed, It has the source of our life force, It is how we take care of our peopl–” 

“We can protect them somewhere else!” I interrupted back frustrated that we could even be thinking like this. He looked at me with the eyes that told me, a. How dare you speak to me in this manner and a simultaneous b. What a disappointment you are Avery, of course you don’t understand why this needs to happen. 

He was right, I didn't understand.  

We had been fighting since sunrise, 

That was when I heard the first crash.

“No, no, no!” 

“Kiersten wake-up! Wake up mahn”

I couldn’t begin to register the voices behind the noise of the jarring ringing that held my mind in a trans state. 

“We’re not soldiers,” Mr. Oak, my once 3rd grade alphomancy teacher, muttered to himself shaking. Slightly drawing my focus. 

“Where’s Vi? Vi should be here.” The words vibrated from Armstrong trembling beside me. 

Vi?

My eyes mechanically shifted to Mr Oak whose eyes remained focused forward. He didn’t budge, and he wasn’t answering.

Vi..

“You..You have to stay strong. ” Alina choked the last bit out, staring tentatively at our former teacher. 

Then her hand traveled rested on her round belly as her shoulders began to slump and her resolve started to weaken. A tear trickles down the side of an eye and I stiffen. “We should have given up when we had the chance. That was our mistake.”

“Shut up,” my father snapped, not cruel, just sharp. “We still breathe. We still stand. So we fight.”

The words hung high in the air.  We were farmers. Teachers. Builders. The real soldiers—our warriors—had died in the first wave. What was left now? A pregnant warrior. A gatekeeper. A butcher. And me. 

What could we do if anymore of those monsters appear? It is only through the alpha, my father,  that the remaining of us survived. I didn’t even kill one. I barely fought one.

“I shouldn’t be here,” I said out loud without meaning to.

Alina turned her head, eyes hard. “Then leave. Go cry in the trees like always.”

“Alina—” Mr. Oak warned. I looked up at Mr. Oak with surprise and gratitude. He’s never spoken up for me before. No one has. 

“No, let her speak,” I said. “She’s right. I’ve never belonged here.” Fine time to unpack that. 

“I didn’t say that,” Alina muttered, looking away. “Just… don’t die stupid.” 

I lower my guard. My attention is now fully operational. 

Alina and I have known each other since birth. We’re practically the same age. Did that make us close? No. It was the opposite. She was better at everything than me, and she made sure I knew. She had been my life long torturer. My whole life I’d pray to the goddess for reprieve from her disdain. It looked like the goddess decided to make it a farewell present. 

My hand tightened around my sword. I wasn’t strong like them. I had never shifted properly. My wolf…was quiet and maybe even  broken.

I was a beta, but somehow even the omegas had commanded more respect. I wasn’t just weak, I was really weak. 

“Alphaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

Someone was headed towards us from far into the distance. The form grew from a shapeless black entity to a towering man clad in leather and Irish iron. It was Officer Cho who manned the gate. He never leaves his post.

“Alpha, they’ve broken through the praesidium.” Impossible.

My eyes darted to my father. 

Pleading.

Tell him it’s impossible. Tell him these people aren’t strong enough to break it. Tell him it doesn’t mean we’re going to die here. 

My fathers expression remained firm and unreadable. “Where are the others?”

The rough giant of man suddenly went pale. “They’re dead sir. When the gate began to crack..I..I started to run, to warn everyone ... .and they ....” His eyes move from side to side before he pauses to take in the view “..everyone.” 

Something in the air had immediately started to shift. The smell of blood in the air intensified, As we lingered together our fates intertwined at the cross. The distance began to fog.

“Look,” I murmur 

“They’re coming.” Armstrong murmured after. 

We heard them first—marching footsteps like thunder. Then the ground began to shake.

 And then—he appeared.

 Michael Damire. 

“Stars save us,” Mr. Oak whispered. “He’s here.” 

He walked like death in armor—black as midnight, smooth and silent. His eyes… I couldn’t look away. Deep midnight blue with flecks of gold. Like the night sky was trapped in them.

Alina gasped softly. “What sort of man is that?” 

She didn’t need to say more. I’ve heard devils don’t take the shape of grotesque monsters, but are temptingly beautiful. Michael |Damire, he had an allure. One that drew out your breath. And drew you to your death. It was bone chilling. 

“Don’t look away,” my father warned, steadying his stance . “If we die, we won’t go lying down. We have something to protect!” 

I still felt it. The fear. It crawled up my throat and choked me. Even my fathers unwavering will couldn’t mask the reality of the situation. 

“Now!” my father growled. He raised his sword high. “Swords steady! If death comes, let it meet warriors!”

 His voice rang like thunder. 

For one moment, I forgot to be scared. I raised my sword too. 

Then the enemy charged.

They were fast. Too fast. Shadows with blades. One by one, the rest of us fell. 

I tried to fend off as best as I could any strays. Mostly hiding and ducking.

“So many dead.” I quaked, breathing hard. Barely absorbing any air. 

I turned to Alina. “Watch your left!”

She spun—too late. A sharp cry tore from her lips as blood burst from her side.

  “ALINA!” I screamed.

 She crumpled, clutching her stomach.

“No, no, no—” I rushed toward her, but a soldier slammed into me. My head snapped sideways. Pain exploded across my cheek. Blood filled my mouth.

 “Please—stop—” I started. I begged. Alina is only a few leaps from me.  I swung at him. Weak. Worthless.

He laughed. “Easy kill.”

Then—he didn’t laugh anymore.

My father’s blade drove through his chest.

“Avery!” he barked. “RUN!”

  I stood frozen. “But—”

 “RUN, d*mn it!”

His eyes met mine. They were  angry. 

“Why?” I choked. “You always—”

“I’m not interested in your pouting, Avery ,” he said with the same anger and violence I’m terribly familiar with. “Now go.”

 He turned and faced the enemy, swinging like a beast.

I ran.

 I didn’t think. I just ran. Through the bodies. Through the fire. Toward the trees.

But then I stopped running. And I just had to look back.

My father was still standing, blood dripping from his arm. His sword was chipped. But he hadn’t fallen.

Michael Damire walked slowly toward him. Calm. Deadly. Unstoppable.

Then—he turned.

He looked straight at me.

My breath caught. His eyes locked with mine, and something inside me shattered.

“Why?” I whispered. “Why is he looking at me?”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

  I just knew I had to move.

  Behind me, my father’s voice rose one last time.

  “Run… Avery…”

  Then—nothing.

I screamed. A sound I didn’t know could come from me. The pit of my stomach felt full of fire and everything really began to spin.

Michael DAmire was still walking toward me. “You wanted him! He’s dead!” My voice betrayed me. Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t want to say that.

 “Leave me alone!” I croaked. “Leave me alone!” I continued to sob and stumble backwards. 

He was inching closer and closer to me. “Stop, please” 

He frowned. “You’re one scared little girl, daughter of the mighty Chase Cawthorne.” 

What just happened? I never saw his lips move. Michael’s lips twisted up into a cruel smile. 

And something broke inside. A crack. I don’t know what. But it happened.

And I ran deeper into the forest. Farther. Faster.

Michael Damire was coming for me.

  And I didn’t know why.

Michael’s POV

 Michael’s POV

“Chase Cawthorne is dead.”

I said it again, like I needed to hear it out loud. But it didn’t help. It didn’t satisfy me.

He was only the start.

My revenge wouldn’t be finished until I buried his little girl next to him.

Avery.

She was soft and weak. I detested anything soft and weak. She didn’t belong on any battlefield. But here she was. 

I’d seen her. Running. Crying. Shaking. Her big green eyes that  were full of fear. Her tears.

 She would be next.

“I’ll show them,” I whispered, tearing through the woods. “I’ll show them what fear really means.”

Her scent led me straight through the trees. She didn’t even try to hide it. No training. No skill. Just like I thought.

“What kind of beta doesn’t even know how to mask her trail?” I said with a scoff.

 Still, I remembered her face. Blonde hair like wheat in the sun. Pale skin. Pink lips. Fragile. Almost… pretty.

“Ma