Ghost of the Alpha

Chapter 27-Thyme

🌼Guess who?! I'm still alive and hopefully will come out of finals unscathed. Anyways hope y'all enjoy this chapter, and the tiny little interesting bits as well. ♥️🌾

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At exactly seven a.m, during the height of the morning rush for workers and school children, every announcement board and tv turned on all across the old D.C area. In every quadrant, radios flipped their channels, staticy airwaves slowly turning clear. However, there was no image of either of the four alphas speaking. No Wolf Republic anthem to proceed the grainy footage that cleared for all to witness with either furious or fearfully shocked expressions.

It was completely silent in the South Quadrant shopping district. All were gobsmacked, many female wolves fainted, the soilders went sickly still. Children looked up at their confused parents, and the humans all hid their surprise well. Covering mouths to hide pleased smiles. Shading eyes from the late summer sun, hiding the evil glint at seeing Alpha Varath Petros chained to a chair and being hit again and again by a taser wielding Keres.

The soilders had moved into action, going to the nearest guard stations, their superiors hollering over phones to cut off the video and radio feeds. Relaying information and orders across the city. Pulling together troops and manpower to take down the unexpected broadcast and locate the hostage Alpha. For everyone knew, from the highest decorated wolf solider to lowly human orphan, that Keres was a brutal and efficient assassin, who never let a victim walk away alive.

During the roughly twenty minutes of military personnel pooling together their enforcements, techs frantically tracking down the source of the feeds, and the other three Alphas being pulled out of their beds and offices, the citizens continued to watch the torture of the Alpha Supreme's nephew. Never realizing for a moment, that the very same feed had turned on everywhere, for every being, either human or supernatural to bear witness to the unsettling, stomach turning spectacle. But the worst was yet to come.

Just as the Alphas had been briefed of the situation, the location of the warehouse from which the feed was broadcasting found, the video took a turn. Varath freed one arm, and then knocked down his captor. Breaking Keres' helmet. Freeing himself from his chains. Only for Keres to stand up, facing the camera for all to see the smiling bloody face of Varath's mate. Long and lush oak brown hair pooling down her back. The remnants of the helmet falling onto the floor. However, the shock of learning Keres' identity could not prepare them for what happened next.

The South Quadrant Luna somehow, in someway, made two green balls of light appear in her hands, before large thick vines sprouted from the concrete floor. Lashing out towards the Alpha, binding him up before a stray vine slashes at the camera. Knocking it down and ending the feed entirely. In that split second of the feed being cut, the entire Republic was brought to a halt. For one second, the reality of what they all witnessed sunk in. A single second of quiet, that turned into frantic scrambling from citizens rushing on to their destinations.

The humans even more so, grunt workers and scullery maids taking detours and unfamiliar paths in order to avoid the soilders rushing past to the nearest garrisons and Republic police stations. The old flowers seller watched the commotion with a wary eye. Only glancing up every few seconds before returning back to making the dozen or so corsages placed in scattered piles on his work table. Military vehicles sped on by, some narrowly avoiding werewolf civilians as dozens of soilders began appearing on the street.

Long ordered columns of marching soilders in groups of six or eight. The flower seller knew the second they appeared, that the entire city was going on lockdown. All may continue about their errands and duties, but under the steel eyes watched of patrolling soilders. No doubt, until Alpha Petros was rescued and his mate put into military custody, the lockdown would continue and an early curfew established for both wolves and humans.

The flower seller heaved a big sigh. The early curfew would surely cost him money. The late hours usually had roaming wolf couples, or male wolves wanting to buy something to give to their new found mate. It had been fashionable recently to buy flowers for someone special before Luna Sarah was taken. Now, with her being the symbol of the human rebellion, the idea of getting flowers would be unwanted for a very long while. The poor man bit his lip in frustration, old eyes slowly clouding with tears at the thought of the hungry months ahead for him and his two little girls.

Deep in thought, the flower seller did not notice the approaching figure until a slim shadow fell across his work table. Startled, he looks up to find a smiling girl, no older than sixteen, with eyes that quickly flicker from pale green, to yellow, and then back to the former grassy hue. Hair a wild riot of red curls, and cheeks and nose dotted with freckles. But her smile is what keeps the old man from turning pale as a sheet. A smile denoted by small but sharp incisors, and an air of feline mischief that would outshine even a Cheshire Cat.

She, garbed in a gray skirt and blouse set. Simple black flats and white stockings. A whicker basket hanging from her arm, filled with a clutch of fresh eggs, a few lettuce heads, and a couple glass jars of perfume. She is in the uniform of a human maid, an errand maid if anyone were to glance the smiling girl's way. On an early morning outing to pick up some shopping. A somewhat time forgetting human stopping by the flower stall to admire the old man's wares.

"Hard days are a coming it seems," the girl utters, taking a gray gloved finger and stroking the flowering late summer blooms on the stall's trellice. Her hand trailing down to a pot of fresh cut gladiolus, before moving her hand to the left and picking up a goldenrod covered in a few stray drops of morning dew. "I'm sure you are prepared for a harsher winter than the last few years."

The girl catches the eye of the flower seller. A wistful ghost of a smile appears and then vanishes on the old man's deep coal hued face. Eyes glancing around at the soldiers marching hurriedly past the stall. None of them even bothering a glance at the two gray clad humans. The old man brushes his pollen covered hands on his work apron, turning his attention back to the young red head.

"You should take your own advice Iris," he whispers, voice rough and shadowed by nights of fretful sleep. "Trouble and hardship come after both the strong and the weak. The old and young. The scarred and the beautiful. Human and shifter alike."

"Aye, it's true what you say old man," Iris shoots back, pulling the goldenrod under her nose, breathing in its gentle robust fragrance. "But, there are times when one must do what one must. Especially in service to one such as she."

The old man's eyes narrow, watching Iris put back the gladiolus and grab a Black Eyed Susan instead. "Now, I must be on my way good man. I have duties I must finish before I may rest."

Before the old man can rebuke her for her insolence, Iris plops a couple Republic coins on the stall counter and strolls away. Flower in hand. Humming a jaunty little tune. Red hair fluttering in the wind.

The flower seller shakes his head, going back to his work. Muttering under his breath. A handful of words so softly spoken that not even the wolf soilders can hear them fall from the old man's lips.

"I much prefer her as a cat than a mouthy know it all. Well, at least she paid me for my troubles. This time."