Alpha Of Darkness And The Half-Breed Healer

GAEL’S POV

He exchanged a look with Ezra after mind-linking him, and he refused to pay me any mind. I want to leave the confines of this hall so bad. One of the most dreadful reasons I do not enjoy being Alpha is sitting in a large hall filled with elderly pack council members and discussing matters concerning the pack. It would have been fair if we got to discuss and reason simultaneously. But these old imps seem to enjoy bickering at each other. At any chance, provided they argue and throw jabs at each other. It did resort to a kind of entertainment sometimes. But it becomes burdensome when the discussion base is a complicated matter like this.

“Can we all ensure silence in the hall!” Ezekiel’s rambunctious voice circled the space. “Shouldn’t you all act your age? What solution would come from arguing with each other?”

That is the reason why Ezekiel would always be excellent at his job. The elders looked ashamed as they all bowed their heads, murmuring an apology to me. I didn’t feel the need to raise my voice at them. It felt like too much of a hassle. Also, they are men I watched while growing up, adding to the pack’s success with my father. Even though they might be misbehaving, they all mean well for the place we call home.

“If any of you have something to say, you raise your hand and will discuss it like the mature men that we are.” He continued.

“With your uncouth attitude. You are disrespecting the Alpha.”

“Is that you?” Ezra mocked, finally responding to my mind while staring at me in amusement.

“It’s nice to know I am amusing to you. Asshole!” I replied, keeping my face neutral.

Beta Ezekiel bowed to me, “on behalf of the pack council. I ask forgiveness, dear Alpha. They would be more composed in explaining themselves now.”

I sat up, clearing my throat, “Thank you, Beta. Who wants to go first?”

They all raised their hands, but Ezekiel decided who would go first-one of the oldest omegas in the pack. Omega Harold stood up gingerly. Despite knowing he is old, he looks nothing like his age. I intend to ask sometime soon if he has vampire blood in him. I don’t mind taking some of that shit if I get to have as many women as I desire without tiring.

“I apologize once again, Alpha Gael. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are all just worried about the pack’s future. An unknown disease has been spreading for the past three months, and the only reason it didn’t get to us quickly enough is that it started among the pack members living at the far end of the pack. As it is now, the disease appears in every household.”

“Contagious,” I stated.

Omega Harold nodded, “It probably is since it’s spreading around the pack. What is surprising is that one family member can carry the disease among five others, and they wouldn’t catch it, which makes it more confusing. And as of yesterday, we have recorded over twenty deaths,” Ezra added.

An unintended whistle escaped my lips. “Twenty is outrageous.”

“It would go further if not attended to!” Another person chipped in.

“Aren’t we doomed that we don’t have an actual healer? We only have doctors who can administer injections but can’t counter the goddess’s wrath.” The one sitting next to Harold said. The arguments erupted again, and they started going at each other.

“Enough!” I bellowed. “Any more disrespect, and I will have earned sternly. They know better than to make the mistake of disregarding me. The next silence would have a thrown-pin noise fill up the entire room. “Ezra,” I called out.

He stood from the chair and jogged towards me, “yes, Alpha.”

Motioning to him, I whispered in his ears, and he left the hall. “These meetings will be adjourned. I will let you all know when a solution comes up. Beta Ezekiel, I need you to stay back.”

There were mumbles among the men, and they certainly didn’t want to leave without hearing something positive. But I don’t have an answer yet either. Since we all can’t sit here all day, it’s better to get dispersed now.

Ezekiel waited for everyone to leave before clearing his throat. Sometimes, I feel the same way he does, and I don’t exactly enjoy being in the same space as him. But then the pack issues are way different from ours. As the dedicated officials of the pack, we have to remain professional.

“Why did you ask the elders to leave?” He asked, staring at me blankly.

I mirrored his expression, “I need adequate reports and space to think. They all intend to complain, not give solutions.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Ezra will be back soon. Be patient.” I urged, picking up my phone and scrolling through it. I had asked Ezra to get me the head doctors in the pack. I need an adequate explanation of why the pack’s health status is diminishing. He kept mute, keeping his eyes glued to his phone screen.

The door opened again, letting in Ezra and five of the oldest standing doctors in the pack. They bowed in greeting, each looking guilty like somebody caught red-handed doing something silly.

Clearing my throat, I stood up with my arms folded to the back. “One question is all I have for the five of you. How is it that there has been a massive outbreak of a disease in the pack that has claimed tens of lives, and none of you have sought to find a solution to it or tried to seek a way out.” My voice was becoming edgy. I don’t want to think I have incompetent people working with me.

They exchanged a glance and stared back at Ezekiel. He sighed tiredly before rising to his feet. “I am sorry, Alpha. I take the blame for this. At the time of the outbreak, ten people were declared dead. I ran closed-door meetings with the doctor to do whatever it takes to find a solution.”

“How am I just hearing about this?” I questioned.

“You were busy at the time sealing the trade deal. We could handle it, but it appears things keep getting out of hand.”

Cursing under my breath, I caressed the back of my neck.

“Can someone please tell me why this is unsolvable?”

One of the doctors with a highly white beard spoke up. “We have tried to find the cause of the disease and realized it’s out of our control. None of the injections or drugs seems to be working, and it only worsens it.”

“How do you know it’s the disease?”

“They suddenly lose their breath and turn red; if not treated with urgency, they die.” He explained.

“Shouldn’t there be something we can do? Probably some herbs that would work out just fine.” I suggested.

Everyone in the room exchanged a knowing look before turning their eyes back to me. Ezra was the one who chose to say something now.

“We would need a healer!”

A distasteful scoff escaped my lips, “You have got to be kidding me. If a healer is what you all need, how about you drop your resignation letters and go fuck yourselves! Bloody fools!” I hissed, storming out of the hall.

Those idiots know it would trigger me, and yet they said it. Why would we need a healer when, despite our hate for humans, we sent out some brilliant wolves to the human world to learn to be great scientists and engineers to keep our knowledge broad? The Sunset pack is practically the best thriving pack in the north. With prompt technology and development, as any human world would be, why would those fools my father invested so much in telling me to bring in a superstitious believer to save my pack from crumbling?

That’s the most absurd thing I have heard in a long time, and note tries we li are modern wolves for fucks sake. I spat angrily, pacing the hallway. I am not going to let Ezra get off this so easily. He knows better than to involve himself in such dumb thinking.

“Do you intend to dig a hole into that poor floor?” His stupid voice mumbled behind me.

I turned to him, gritting my teeth while stretching my fist to his face. “You should be glad that I am working on my anger. I would have punched you right in the guts for messing with me. If everyone in that room chose to be stupid, did you have to join in?”

Ezra looked unfazed as he folded his arm. “It’s been over a decade, Gael. Get over it. You are no longer a teenager; you are an adult and not just that but an Alpha who needs to make decisions on behalf of his pack members. We swore never to let our desires influence our decision-making as servants of these packs. Twenty people were gone. Do you want the pack members to go on a riot before you decide to make a change?”

“Don’t you get it, Ezra? The rule is so fucked up that someone has to be the ordained healer. We don’t have one. And no one would volunteer either. It’s a cursed routine.”

“Then we would seek for a healer outside the pack. It’s as simple as that.”

“I don’t want no fucking healer. Those bloody doctors should find a way out.” I started walking away, but Ezra’s persistent self kept following me.

“You would do no such thing. The pack will go wild. You need to do something!”

I turned to him abruptly, causing him to stumble to the back. “I have done something already. Provide those nuns who call themselves doctors with everything they need. At this point, I don’t care if you would require the help of the humans. But I will not bring in a healer, not when there is no way to find them.”

“Delusion is your middle name, man. I told you repeatedly that we can request a healer from other packs. All we need is your go-ahead, and they will come trooping in. If the news of this disease gets out, people who come in here to trade and invest will run off. Is that what you want? Our economy is thriving right now, and this is a major distraction that we need to get rid of.”

Kissing my teeth, I returned to him again, holding my waist. How am I to allow a healer in here? My late mother was the pack’s healer then, and everyone believed that a healer has to birth another who would become the next healer. Healers in werewolf history are rare breeds, and they get bestowed with the ability to cure the strangest diseases. And this set of people are females. To pass on their gift, they have to give birth to a female child.

My mother got pregnant the second time a little late, and I was already in my teenage years. She was happy, and her sweet self became sweeter. I loved every moment spent with my amazing mother. The most depressing thing about being a healer is their inability to look after themselves when they fall ill. Mum carried the belly for over a year, and it was becoming more of a burden to her. When her water eventually broke, she ended up birthing a dead female child. Nothing could console her, not even my presence. My mother had failed the pack by not providing them with another healer.

My heart ached the most when some cowards made snide remarks about her; she must have heard the whispers. I wanted to punish anyone found talking trash about her.

However, no one served as a scapegoat, as they were just rumors. A week after her birth, my mother’s cold body was lying on her bed. No one knows what went wrong, whether she ate something she shouldn’t have or died naturally. They found nothing strange in her autopsy; her body seemed to have gone opaque, and nothing was visible.

The entire household was in chaos, and I swore on her grave to never believe in the abilities of the goddess who couldn’t save her diligent servant. And there was my father, who became an extreme shadow of himself. Aside from focusing on the pack duties diligently, he was a mess behind closed doors. He loved my mother and would have done anything to protect her. But she left us with a big hole in our hearts. She opened a clinic in the packhouse, working hand in hand with doctors to look after anyone sick. It’s all abandoned now.

I felt Ezra’s comforting hand on my shoulder. “How long do you think you would hold this grudge? You can’t keep blaming yourself for her death. We need help.”

“The healers of the humans are doctors and nothing beyond that. Why should our case be different?”

“Because we are werewolves, Gael. Wake the fuck up. Humans aren’t supernatural beings; we are. They don’t shift; we do. Stop going back to this discussion.” He sounded angry.

I snorted, holding his gaze. “I’m not going back on my words, Ezra. We are not getting a fucking healer!”

“Can you stop making this about yourself, for fucks sake! It isn’t about you, Gael. Why don’t you get it and get the fuck off your high horse? We have thousands of people in the pack who look up to your rule. Why do you intend to sacrifice them because of your personal decision?”

“Then the doctors should also think about that number of people and get work done. It’s their job. Thankfully, it’s just twenty people.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Did you just state the number of dead people? It’s not a battlefield. We need the help of a healer. Just because none of the packhouse members have contracted the disease doesn’t mean you are safe. You are not an exception from collapsing.”

I know he said the words for me to have a rethink. But my dead mother would have to show up in the flesh for me to agree to a healer working in this pack.

“My order remains; the doctors should find a solution.”

“What if we order a lockdown then? A stay-at-home till we find a solution.” He suggested in defeat.

“And cause panic? How quickly do you think those slow doctors would work? I can’t have the trade brought to a halt because of some disease that might be for a short time when you have something else to discuss with me, Ezra. You can reach out to me then. Excuse me!”

Without turning back, I headed out of the packhouse with my eyes laden with tears. I wouldn’t say I like this feeling.