Page 30 of Running with the Alpha’s Son (The Alpha’s Son #3)

THE INVASION OF

The Sanctuary erupts into chaos. Screams tear through the music still pumping from the speakers, although one is swiftly knocked over by the rushing crowds. Wolves are running in every direction, swooping up kids, and gathering their families. The stampede kicks up dirt and makes it hard to see.

“Jasper?” I call across the tent because I can’t spot him any longer.

Where is he? I spin around and try to assess what’s happening. A loud crash pulls me from the tent and I stare into the sky where a large plume of smoke has erupted and is spiraling into the clouds. Did someone set fire to the Sanc?

The crunch of bones snaps in my ears as around me a handful of rogues shift, leaping into action in their wolf forms. Off to one side Mal is shouting to the shifting wolves, pointing in the direction of the fire, directing them toward the heart of whatever this conflict is. Tomas is ushering folks away from the explosion and hopefully to safety. I spin around again. Still no sign of Jasper.

Miss Sammy runs by, hurrying two kids across the open space between tents to where Tomas is directing the younglings.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she says, shaking her large mane of hair. “We must be under attack. The Sanctuary has been invaded.”

I don’t hold her up any longer, instead letting her shield the children she’s with as they run from the tent.

I need to know what’s going on and I need to find Jasper, so I try to steady my breathing, close my eyes, and focus.

At first it’s hard to make anything much out. There are so many wolves, all of their thoughts and emotions heightened, making them loud and hard to ignore. But I expand my consciousness, looking specifically for Jasper’s familiar figure plus anything out of the ordinary.

“Yes!” I shout when I find him, but my celebration is short-lived because he’s standing in an open space between tents, surrounded by wolves who are snapping their jaws and emanating a furiously angry energy. And to top it off he’s not alone. Janie is with him, shielded behind his back, clutching onto his leg, terror flying off her in panicked waves.

There’s something about the invaders, these snarling wolves, that’s familiar, but for some reason I won’t let myself believe what I’m sensing. They can’t be…are they…Elite Pack wolves?

There’s no time to stand around while Jasper is potentially in danger from his own people, so I take off running.

Chaos reigns as I sprint through the rogue settlement. People are running, darting into tents, shifting, and there are pack wolves too, all in wolf form, tearing doors off tents, knocking over chairs, and digging up gardens. They’re sniffing around inside people’s homes, backing innocent people, children even, into corners.

And I don’t need my blood-wolf senses to confirm what I already knew. These are Elite Pack wolves—soldiers, gammas in the alpha’s security forces. Their scent alone gives them away, I’d recognize it anywhere. But what are Elite Pack soldiers doing here? Why are they treating these people like criminals?

Luckily, Jasper isn’t too far from the school. He must have run with Janie but then became trapped when the explosion happened, before the Elite Pack wolves surrounded him.

“Stand down,” he bellows.

And while they don’t come any closer, the circle of Elite soldiers doesn’t follow his orders, either. Instead, they remain en garde, their lips pulled back to show their teeth.

“I am Jasper Apollo,” he continues red-faced, one arm behind him, holding Janie to his leg, keeping her safe. “The son of your alpha. I command you to stand down.”

“Jasper!” I call out. A couple of wolves turn to watch me as I dart between them, sniffing the air to assess my threat level, but they let me pass. “What is this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why do you ignore a direct order from your superior?” he asks again, his voice loud, commanding, strong. “These are innocent people. Stand down!”

Then a voice cuts through the chaos. “They won’t follow your orders because they are following mine.”

Beta Castillo emerges from behind a nearby tent and saunters all too casually into the circle of wolves— his wolves.

“I outrank you,” Jasper growls.

“Yes, but you don’t outrank the alpha, from whom my orders were given.”

The circle of soldiers isn't lessening their intense energy, they still look about ready to pounce and flay us.

“When my father hears what you’ve done here, Salazar—”

Another explosion erupts somewhere across the settlement, more screams rising with the smoke from the fires, plural, now burning in all directions.

“Your father has charged me with rescuing you. I’m simply ensuring your captors are sufficiently brought to heel.”

“Stop this!” Jasper spits desperately. “We weren’t in any danger. These people have done nothing wrong.”

“You disappeared,” Salazar continues. “When you didn’t return to your father’s property, your security detail contacted me. We assumed the worst. When we discovered this encampment of rogue reprobates we assumed you’d been kidnapped.”

“Well, I’m telling you we’re fine, these people are not our captors. We chose to stay here. Tell your wolves to stand down.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t do that. Now that we’re here it’s important we ensure this rogue faction is subdued.”

“Since when did Beta Castillo go all cartoon villain?” I whisper to Jasp.

His eyes flick to me but he doesn’t let his guard down. My curiosity gets the better of me, so while the standoff continues I try to reach out and see if I can glean anything from Salazar. I probe his mind with my senses and have to clutch my chest at the pain I feel radiating off him.

“He’s hurting,” I say. “Great loss and anger.”

“Salazar, these people have given us their hospitality,” Jasper says. “This is an affront to them and their community. Stop what you’re doing, call off your wolves. Now.”

Salazar pauses, he levels a half-confused, half-accusatory stare at Jasper. Would he really challenge Jasper’s authority like this? What has driven him to such extreme actions?

“How dare you!” a new voice cries. Mal arrives in the square, flanked by Tomas and Akari in human form, along with Kairos and a wolf I assume is Buck in their animal states, plus a host of rogue wolves. “How dare you invade our sanctuary!”

“You must be the leader of this pocket rebellion,” Salazar says, his voice void of any emotion.

Mal steps forward, the rest of the council right behind her. “This land is protected. Pack warfare has no place here. I demand you call back your forces and leave this place at once.”

Salazar rubs his chin with two knuckles. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“We are peaceful,” she says, her voice wavering just slightly. “Your actions here are a violation of the rights of wolves regardless of pack status.”

“Peaceful?” Salazar sneers. “Then tell me, why do you harbor violent criminals?”

Mal sucks in a breath, expanding her cheeks. “We do no such thing.”

My mind flicks to Mr. Peng. Have they found him? Could that be who they mean?

Salazar begins to pace a little, looking like he’s enjoying this too much. “You’re telling me you aren’t housing dangerous terrorists? Perpetrators of crimes against my alpha and my pack?”

“We do not ask why people come here,” Mal says. “But we trust that everyone here will abide by our governing principles of peace and communion with the wolf spirits. Any crimes our people may have committed, as long as they do not prevent the wolf in question from participating in our society, are forgotten when they step foot on our land.”

Salazar stops pacing and eyes Mal with a dangerous gleam in his eye. “Ah, but sadly, we in the pack system are not in the business of forgiving crimes without first doling out punishment.”

“You have ransacked our town.” Mal throws out her arms. “Harassed our people. Terrorized the innocent. The only criminals I acknowledge here are you and your soldiers.”

Now Salazar smiles, and for the first time, he truly terrifies me.

“Is that so?” He turns to one of his wolves. “Bring him out.”

I expect George Peng to be dragged from the shadows but instead my jaw drops when two Elite Pack soldiers in human form appear from behind the side of a nearby tent, holding Omar by his arms and dragging him into the light.

“Omar!” I call out, stepping to him, but Jasper holds a hand out to stop me.

Omar’s head lolls on his shoulders like he can barely hold it up. His face is bruised and swollen, one eye almost entirely closed shut, blood running from his busted brow and lip. One of his legs hangs limp and he’s barely able to put weight on the other. The Elite Pack soldiers keep hold of him as they display him like a battered trophy.

“What is the meaning of this?” Mal asks. “Release him immediately!”

“This rogue has been charged with the unlawful entry of the private residence of Jericho Apollo, acts of terrorism, and the violent battery of numerous innocent citizens of the Elite Pack.”

“What? That’s impossible,” I say, pressing against Jasper’s hand, which continues to hold me in place. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“When did these crimes occur?” Jasper asks.

Salazar turns to Jasper, a look of triumph on his face. “The night of the harvest moon, one year ago.”

That’s the night Jasper almost rejected me and became mates with Olivia, Salazar’s daughter—the night the rogues invaded Jericho’s house in the Hamptons and disrupted the party, the night we were kidnapped and almost killed by Eleanor.

I stare at Omar, unwilling to believe that he could have taken part in that, unwilling to believe that he was one of the rogues who was there, who helped Eleanor to knock me out, drag me to that yacht and nearly…

His gaze catches mine and I plead with my expression, with every fiber of my being, for him to shake his head or say something to deny these charges, anything to let me know Salazar is lying or that he’s made a mistake. But instead Omar simply stares back, his eyes dark, glassy with tears, solemn with admission.

“No,” I say, raising a hand to my mouth and shaking my head. “No.”

Jasper’s jaw is clenched again, his shoulders vibrating with anger.

Neither of us move or say anything.

Mal steps forward once more, her features wide with desperation. “Whatever crimes this boy has committed in the past, he is here under our protection. You cannot take him from here. You cannot—”

“The packs do not recognize the authority of rogues,” Salazar says matter-of-factly.

Mal’s chin is quivering, and I’ve never seen her look so small, so defeated. Buck moves forward, snarling. But one raised eyebrow from Salazar and Mal knows to tell him to withdraw, a simple hand gesture that has Buck whimpering and scratching the earth, but staying back nonetheless.

“You are a sad excuse for a wolf,” Mal says, tears falling down her weathered cheeks.

“I am simply following orders,” Salazar replies, unbothered. “However, now that we have what we came for I see no reason to continue on here. We will leave your people to their business.”

Mal’s mind must be whirring, trying to think of a way to save Omar, but coming up short. She knows there’s a trade-off being made—Omar for the rest of the Sanc—and Mal isn’t willing to risk the safety of her entire encampment.

“Do something,” I whisper to Jasper, but he remains stoic. “Jasper?”

“He was there, Max. He should return with us to face the consequences of his actions.”

He turns and kneels in front of Janie, who has kept quiet this whole time. “You’re okay,” he says. “No one will hurt you. Go with the others.”

He pats her arm and turns her in the direction of Mal and the council. A gentle push and Janie runs to them, Akari and Tomas kneeling to meet her and ushering her away from the drama.

“We will take our leave,” Salazar says. “Mind your wolves allow us safe passage back across the desert or we will return with greater numbers and raze this camp to the ground.”

Mal presses her lips together until they’re purple, but nods to accept Salazar’s conditions. The beta turns to his wolves.

“Take him and the alpha’s wayward son,” he says, gesturing to Omar and Jasper. “We wouldn’t want him running off again, would we.”

Two of Salazar’s gamma wolves approach and flank Jasper, and without argument, he lets them lead him from the camp.

As the rest of the Elite soldiers turn and stalk off between tents I turn to look back once more.

The Sanc is no longer in chaos. The screams have stopped, so have most of the fires. Smoke hangs over the quiet settlement still, a brutal reminder that nowhere is safe, that the destructive might of the packs is ever present. I know these people are resilient. They’ve been through so much already. They will shake this off too. They will rebuild, recover, and continue to live in peace as long as the packs let them.

But what I’m leaving behind right now is a row of disappointed and angry faces.

Mal looks shaken. Kairos is rubbing at her leg with his muzzle. She returns my gaze and her last words flicker in my mind. The blood wolf has always been a friend to the rogues. I grit my teeth and bow my head, hoping she knows that that’s exactly what I plan to be from now on: a friend to rogues and to any wolf who doesn’t fit in, who deserves more than what they’ve ended up with, who is looked down upon by those with more.

“Max?” Jasper says, having stopped to look back. His wolf escorts won’t let him linger for long.

“Coming,” I say, and with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes, I turn away from Mal, the council, and the Sanc, promising I will do everything in my power to make this right.