The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 23: Benjamin

-Benjamin’s P.O.V-

“How the hell could they have gotten away?!” I yelled at the group of useless men standing in front of me, their heads bowed in shame. “Really, I’d love to know how a little girl and one man managed to escape AN ENTIRE PACK OF WOLVES!”

My hands were clenched by my sides and my anger ran hot, drawing up the recognizable ache in my abdomen that I had known for years. I took a few deep breaths to calm down, but it hardly helped. With my exceptional hearing, I heard the hurried footsteps before my father burst through the foyer door.

“What on earth is going on?” he enquired, confusedly looking from me to the cohort of idiots before us. The men all stayed silent, waiting for me to explain. Cowards.

“I kidnapped the girl,” I muttered, my eyes burning a hole in the coffee table over my father’s right shoulder. He was still an inch taller than me, and even his very presence trembled with power. I would be like that one day, soon.

“You what?” his voice wasn’t even raised, but far more angry. It was that frightening cool voice that he used to intimidate others, as well as when he was trying to keep his anger in check, and I knew that only too well.

“I kidnapped the human girl to bait the rogue in so we could capture him. But instead she was taken by two men in a van before we could stop them. There was nothing we could do,” I bit out, glaring straight at each and every man. It wasn’t my fault really, I wasn’t even on the scene. It was theirs, but no leader would ever blame his men for his own mistakes.

“I see. This complicates things,” was all father said. His brow was crinkled and his eyes were liquid pools of fury, but not once did he strike me down nor yell. He would hate me forever now, especially because I’d gone against his word. This wasn’t meant to happen, everything was set to go smoothly and precisely. How it went wrong was beyond me entirely. Now I just had to wait for the punishment and bear it like a man.

A light hum reached my ears and I cocked my head slightly in wonder. I could see the rest of the men in the room also noticing the sound, and a few turned completely to stare at the closed front doors leading to the outside world. The hum grew louder in volume, until it was a steady revving, cutting short just outside the house. All my muscles tensed as each and every person present in the room listened to a pair of boots slowly walking up the grand steps. They stopped for a millisecond before the two double doors were shoved open with force and a lone man strode into our company.

He was a great deal taller than me, but that was an easy feat seeing as I was a small stature for a man of my age. Recognition burst forth as I looked over his enraged features, his chaotic black hair and furious brown eyes. His jaw was set tight with anger and he was nearly trembling with the emotion.

The men around the room instantly sprung forth with growls ripping out of their throats, each standing in between him and my father, protecting their Alpha. One daring guy even managed to latch onto the man’s leather jacket, but he was then proceeded to be thrown to the floor without pause. The body of men guarding us didn’t flinch.

I risked a glance at my father, but he did not look confused. He had already matched my recount of the rogue’s appearance to this man; he was undeniably the same guy from St Jame’s pub nearly a week prior.

“I would like to have a word to your Alpha,” he spat the last word, glaring straight at my father. Even though I had seen my father furious before, it didn’t even come close to the livid vibe that the rogue was emitting. His eyes were trained solely on my father and he didn’t even bat an eyelid when a few men let out loud growls in protest. Every one of them was close to shifting at the moment; their instincts set to protect the most important man in the room, which unfortunately wasn’t me.

“Let him approach,” my father ordered, and the men of the pack parted for the rogue to come closer. I gripped my father’s arm tightly and whispered angrily at him. “What are you doing? He could kill you!”

My father just shrugged my hand off and squared his shoulders to face his adversary. I shrunk back slightly; helplessly watch as a very dangerous man approached. In a speed that no one predicted, the rogue surged forth and clenched my father by the shirt, lifting him off the floor and slamming him into the wall behind. The men closest to the scene jumped up in outrage, but my father kept them at bay with a stern shake of the head.

I stood back with my mouth agape. No man in this room had ever been able to singlehandedly lift my father up, though they never dared try. That was at least eighty or ninety kilos right there that was being effortlessly dangled off the floor, and something told me that it wasn’t too taxing on the rogue’s strength.

“Where is the girl?” the rogue spat out, inches away from my father’s face. My father had a look of bewilderment upon his features, and he shook his head quickly. He even looked a little... scared.

“I don’t know, our men only saw a red van driving away,” he surrendered the information easily.

“You’re lying! You were working with them weren’t you? Where did they take her?” he roared now, muscles tensed and voice vibrating with power.

“We don’t have her, I swear! We weren’t working with anyone,” was all that my father managed to garble. He looked so young and frightened in the hands of a foe, weak and useless like I’d never seen him before. He may talk and act strong, but he was nothing but a yellow-bellied man hiding behind the power of the Alpha title.

“Then she’s in the hands of the hunters now,” the rogue released his hold on my father’s shirt and spun around, intent on making it out of the house. Instead he met an angry crowd of loyal soldiers, ready to throw their lives away for the Alpha.

They advanced to attack as one, shifting instantaneously into their other forms. Flashes of grey, white, brown and sandy blonde fur was visible amongst a disharmony of angry calls. The rogue just as effortlessly bent over and changed, and he stood tall and proud as a wolf before his many enemies. His black fur was clear to see to all and his body was abnormally larger than any other wolf I had ever seen. My mind nagged at the memory of him attacking me in the woods, and I shuddered, backing away further against the wall. The wolf was even easily bigger than my father, and that was saying something.

But the moment was silent, no body moving. All of our warrior wolves were stopping to stare at the colour of the rogue’s fur. There was no doubt in their minds that he was a royal, descendant from an Alpha or even an Alpha himself. They weren’t so naive as to attack a member of a powerful family, and judging from his size and strength, a member of an extremely powerful line.

One by one, they moved to create a clean void leading directly to the open doors. They were allowing him to leave, out of fear for what he could pay them back with if they didn’t. The rogue stayed motionless, his lips pulled back to reveal snarling, white teeth and challenging, smug eyes that surveyed the room. He had won here, and he knew it.

He took his leave and padded across the now slightly torn up carpet towards the dark of the night, pausing to take one last look back at my father. It was a look that meant a thousand words, but really, one phrase came to mind.

We’ll keep in touch.

And I don’t think that it was meant in a friendly way either. We had made a serious enemy today, and we had better watch out backs or there’ll be bad, bad consequences.  

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Ooh so we see the power that Kyle really has over his own kind ;) This was an okay chapter to write but personally I don't like writing in Ben's P.O.V.... Any opinions? Also please point out any mistake so that I can correct them.

SOTM: Earthquake by Labrinth Ft Tinie Tempah - my favourite song at the moment! :D

-Keep on reading! Mooz