Rise of the She-Wolf

Vanessa’s pov,

I had a tough time sleeping that night and I had just dozed off when I got woken up for breakfast. I sat next to Tomasso as far away as possible from Carlos. He was in a bad mood and looked at Don Lorenzo with narrowed eyes. “So, are you finally going to tell me what you are doing here?”

Don Lorenzo calmly replied, “I can’t visit the pack I have an alliance with?”

Carlos stood up and smashed the table, “You have a reason to be here I am sure of it. Must be those damn Irish that couldn’t keep their mouths shut.”

“Calm down Carlos. I would like to talk to you about your new Irish business partners but that is not why I am here. Vanessa here found out some information that I thought you should know about.”

Carlos his gaze fell on me, “Well speak up! What information is he talking about?”

“I learned you have a spy in your pack that gives information to the police about your illegal business activities.”

Carlos his face became red, “What?! How do I know that your information is right?”

“I saw it in a police report, so I think that is a pretty reliable source.”

Carlos angrily slammed the table with his fist, “Tell me the name now!”

I felt a bit hesitant wondering what would become of the spy with Alpha Carlos’s temper in mind. I looked at Don Lorenzo and he nodded to me to give me permission to share the information.

“His name is Dion Sacromento.”

Carlos laughed wickedly and barked to his beta, “Tell everyone to gather in the ballroom.”

He stormed out of the room, and I looked at Tomasso, “What will happen to him now?”

Tomasso grunted, “Nothing good. We better go after him.”

We went to the ballroom where the rest of the Latin American pack was already gathered. They must have been really scared because they all got there so fast. Carlos stood on a stage, and no one stepped close to the stage so there were about ten meters between Carlos and the rest of the pack. It was clear that it was important to him to display who held the power in the pack. Everyone was silent when Carlos started to speak, “DION SACROMENTO STEP FORWARD.”

A tall muscular man with a kind face, brown eyes, and blond short hair walked forward. He stood still in front of the stage and Carlos started talking to the pack again, “DION HERE HAS CLIMBED THE RANKS FAST AND CAME CLOSE TO ME. BUT TODAY I LEARNED ONCE AGAIN THAT NO ONE CAN BE TRUSTED.”

Dion his eyes became a bit wary, and I saw he was scanning the room for exits.

Carlos continued, “LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL OF YOU WHO EVEN THINK ABOUT BETRAYING THE PACK.”

Dion started running but Carlos transformed into his wolf form. A shiver went through my body when I saw his enormous wolf named Scar. He was completely black, but the scariest thing was the size of the wolf and his mean eyes. He leaped for Dion and in just a matter of seconds, he crushed his limbs between his teeth. I will never forget the sound of breaking bones that day. Dion screamed before he fell to the floor, blood gushing from multiple wounds. He stopped screaming and I could just hear his raspy breathing. Everybody started to leave the room not paying attention to the body or the huge amount of blood on the floor. It seemed like no one was surprised by the brutality or violence without a fair trial. Don Lorenzo left without even looking at the body and then it was just me and Tomasso who were still in the room.

I ran to the body and Tomasso shouted, “What are you doing?”

I snapped, “I can’t let him die alone, can I? This is all my fault.”

In the meantime, Dion had transformed into his wolf form because all werewolves transform when death is near. I sat down in the blood and took his head into my lap. I softly stroked his beige fur and looked into his brown eyes which stared at me with fear and inspiration. “I am so sorry,” I whispered to him. I saw he was in a lot of pain, so I looked at Tomasso and said, “Put your knife in the spine of his neck and twist it. If we dislocate it, then he shouldn’t feel any more pain.”

Tomasso hesitated for a bit but then got down on his knees and put in the knife in one movement. Dion his body relaxed, and I could swear his brown eyes looked at me with thankfulness before I could see the light leave his body. “Should we bury him?” I asked Tomasso.

He shook his head, “We can’t Vanessa. We already made ourselves suspicious if anyone saw us stay with him. We have to go now.”

He took my hand and helped me up, “Let’s go to my room and get a drink.”

I looked at Dion one last time, feeling sad and regretful before following Tomasso to his room. We sat on his balcony looking over the mountains with no other sounds than the birds in the trees. Tomasso handed me a glass of whisky and sat down next to me. He put his head between his hands and sighed, “I swear these packs get more violent by the year. 2 years ago, Don Lorenzo would have been fuming by violence without trial but today he didn’t even blink an eye.”

I gritted my teeth, “It was my fault though. I shouldn’t have given the name I knew something bad would happen to him.”

“What choice did you have? He would have beaten it out of you otherwise.”

I whispered, “Shouldn’t have given the information to Don Lorenzo in the first place.”

“You were just being loyal to your Alpha. I just hope there won’t be more of this because we had enough unfortunate events in the last years.”

The term unfortunate event made me think about Duke his sister, so I asked, “Do you know what happened to Alicia Miller Tommaso?”

Tomasso was silent for a while before he replied, “Yes, I remember her. Beautiful girl, smart and funny too. She was together with one of the young wolves in our pack. Alicia and Tony were so in love, but Tony never wanted her to get involved in his lifestyle. He loved her so much that he wanted a better life for her, so he broke things off. Alicia got heartbroken and followed Tony when he was out delivering drugs at the train station. I was there and she begged him to take her back or she would kill herself. So, she stood on the train track waiting for him to say yes. Tony heard a train coming so he said yes but the train was moving so fast that Alicia couldn’t step away in time. She died right in front of his eyes. It was tragic really.”

I didn’t know what to say because I expected some kind of murder but not this. It had been some sort of accident after all. Don Lorenzo didn’t kill her, and suicide was the most logical term to put on the death certificate. I wasn’t sure how Duke would react to this. He was driven by revenge I didn’t know whether this would make a difference.

A knock on the door broke my thought bubble and I saw Julietta walking in. That day she wore a red tight dress that showed off her curves and red jimmy choo heels to compliment the look. She sat down with us and said, “Sorry I missed all the excitement of today. I like to start my day preferably without violence so that means without Carlos.”

I couldn’t help but giggle but quickly stopped because it was actually rather sad that, that was true. “Is it always like this?” I asked.

Julietta rolled her eyes, “He has always been a cruel asshole if that is what you mean. But lately, it also affects business. We are losing money by the day because my idiot husband rather spends his time fucking whores, torturing, and drinking.”

I was surprised by her bluntness but before I could respond she stood up and grabbed my hand, “I was actually supposed to get you both because Carlos has arranged for a salsa lesson for you both.”

I followed her reluctantly and I heard Tomasso say, “Great just what I wanted dancing lessons.”

We went back to the ballroom but there was no trace left of Dion his body or blood. It was like it never happened. On the stage, there was now a band playing Latin music, and Carlos and Don Lorenzo both looked drunk and happy. Carlos clapped Tomasso on his shoulder, “Ah Tomasso, was waiting for you to show us your dance moves.”

Tomasso smiled politely, “No thank you I am not much of a dancer.”

Carlos his expression quickly changed from happy to cold, “Dance now!”

Tomasso went to the dancefloor and did his best, but he was constantly out of rhythm and standing on people’s toes. Carlos and Don Lorenzo laughed at him loudly and made fun of him for a while until Tomasso said he had to go to the toilet. As soon as he was out of sight, I could see he dropped his mask and was actually fuming from the inside. Carlos his attention now switched to Julietta. “Julietta, show them how salsa is supposed to be danced.”

Julietta looked at me with big eyes and begged, “Please dance with me, Vanessa.”

I smiled at her and let her lead me to the dancefloor. Julietta pulled me close, and I could smell a hint of oranges mixed with vanilla in her hair. She held my hand while her other hand was on my hip. I let her guide me into the rhythm and moved my feet with hers. My hips swayed in the rhythm of the music and quickly I forgot my surroundings. I only heard the music and felt Julietta’s warm body against mine. Her deep brown eyes looked deep into mine and it was like electricity was filling up the space between us. The music slowed down and I put my head closer so that her mouth was at my ear. We swayed on the rhythm when she whispered, “We should kill them you know, the Alphas. We should kill them and take their places.”