Lazarus

Chapter 40

"Can I know what happened? If it's too painful you don't have to tell me."

Lazarus gently placed down a plate of food in front of me, a blueberry pancake, a chocolate chip pancake, eggs, and bacon staring back at me as I tried not to drool. He quietly made himself a quick plate before sitting across from me.

"My father wanted to try and end the hatred between rogues and packs, but we all knew that wouldn't happen. He was far too trusting, always giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, and assumed they wouldn't go against someone showing kindness. While many rogues aren't troublesome and just simply dislike having an Alpha, there are those that were exiled from packs due to crimes they committed. Hence why we now call rogues that just prefer being alone, lone wolves and exiled criminals, rogues. But it's always hard to tell whether or not someone is going to betray you unless you're an empath who gets those vibes or whatever Alex talks about."

Taking a bite of the food, I tried not letting out a moan at the delicious taste, the blueberries mixing well with the pancake. I remained quiet as he took a bite of his food, slowly chewing as his eyes clouded over with thought. Swallowing his pancake, he took a sip of orange juice before clearing his throat.

"The rogue he welcomed into the pack ended up being a rogue Alpha, exiled by his own son due to killing the boy's mother. His pack voted against him, making his son the new Alpha at only eighteen and banishing the father."

"What was his name?"

"Alpha Niccolo, he lead the Northern Mountain pack."

"Alpha Eduardo is his son?"

"Yeah, he supposedly has a half sister, according to Niccolo. He never met her though, doesn't even know she's real. Niccolo had said it to him before leaving, claiming he'll train her to avenge him."

"Talk about dramatics."

Lazarus chuckled, "He was always melodramatic."

"What did the council say about this?"

"They hated Niccolo for the longest time, he was always insulting them, attacking other packs without reason other than just wanting them gone. There used to be three packs in the northern mountains, but he destroyed them and took over."

"I guess the council didn't do their job of avoiding Alphas building their own empires."

"We'd be better off going back to having one soul leader of our kind and then the usual packs. Like other creatures do."

Taking a bite of the bacon, I frowned, "We had a sole leader?"

"Didn't your parents ever teach you our history?"

"Nope."

He nodded, "I'll briefly explain it. We had a monarchy at one point, ended with some king who had no offspring and so the parliament took over."

"Why not look for a new king?"

"Wars were breaking out, packs were being torn apart, Alphas were being killed, their mates being forced as another's mate....just pure chaos. They formed the council and since then, their heirs began watching over everything. They should have spoken with the king to have him choose an heir, whether it was a knight's son, a nephew, cousin, someone. They handled it in a weak way."

"Typical of werewolves, messing everything up."

He let out a small laugh at this, "We tend to be impulsive."

"Extremely."

A peaceful silence settled over as we munched on our breakfast, my eyes occasionally checking him out and taking in every single detail. The feeling that made my heart skip like a young girl had my face turning red and my eyes quickly darting back to my plate. I'm not sure why I suddenly felt a stronger attraction towards him or why he has me feeling all giddy inside. I hated this man for what he did, what he forced me to do. Yet, I slowly gave into that small ball of attraction I held for him. Acknowledged that while he made it seem as though we were mates to my parents and that I had planned this, he never did anything else. Granted, he threw me in the prison but I also asked for it.

"I'm going to train the young warriors, you're more than welcomed to join," he suddenly voiced, pulling me from my thoughts.

Perking up at his invitation, I swiftly finished my final bite and grinned, "I think some fresh air would do me some good."

"Just don't go murdering them."

"I'd never hurt an innocent wolf."

"Or me."

"That, I cannot promise."

~*~*~

"You're not human, you should be able to run two hundred laps without collapsing!"

"We still have human-sized lungs!"

"They're eighty percent stronger than a human's."

"They're still small."

"I ran with a branch through my chest and wasn't as tired as you guys. This is pathetic."

"You didn't have a branch through your chest."

"Was it by the rogue who killed your weak father?"

I raised an eyebrow as the teenaged boys continued bickering with Lazarus, making me wish I made some popcorn. I could see Lazarus's jaw clenched in frustration, his eyes pools of obsidian as he glared at the young warriors. Looking at his bulging muscles and the veins popping out, I knew his wolf was right at the surface. If this idiot continued pushing Lazarus further, he'll kill him. Having had enough of the bickering and death stares, I calmly walked over to the ground, stretching my muscles.

"I've never seen such a large group of males argue more than middle school girls," I stated, throwing my hair into a ponytail.

The leader of the group glared at me, "And what does your prissy ass think you're going to do?"

He makes this way too easy.

I smirked, "Beat the shit out of you."

"Go ahead and-

I didn't allow the idiot to finish before my fist met his stomach, causing him to immediately vomit. He wasn't able to defend himself from my next hit, my hand wrapping around his ankle and simply throwing him into the closest male. He groaned softly, his arms and legs shaking as he attempted to pull himself up. I gave him a second to regain his composure, but he was barely able to stand.

How irritating.

Another punch, this time landing on his jaw, pushing him back as he tried keeping his balance. His cheekbone snapping under my fist as I landed another, forcing him to fall to the ground.

"Done yet?" I growled softly, grabbing him by the jaw as I forced him to look up.

He gulped, "Y-yes."

"Now, apologize to your Alpha before I break your jaw next."

He spits out some blood, his lips forming into a smirk, "He needs a woman to earn respect? Hilarious."

"No, he can easily do it himself. But if I allowed him to teach you a lesson instead of me, you wouldn't be breathing right now."

Turning towards Lazarus, I patted him on the chest, "Don't murder him, he's a pup who's testing his boundaries. He needs to learn to respect his Alpha and that he isn't as strong as he believes. Just like a normal wolf pup."