5 Puppies For The Alpha
Chapter 4

The puppies swallowed dryly when they were discovered and a light layer of sweat covered their bodies, but they calmed down when they smelled, at their backs, the scent of their older brother.

-Fallen- Axel turned and showed an uncomfortable grimace- We were just taking a walk. We’re going back to our rooms to change for dinner,” he explained nervously.

The wolf with brown hair, just like theirs, but fastened in a long braid along the wide back looked in the direction of the hallway that ended his father’s office. His handsome face contorted.

-Did you hear what he said?” he asked with a frown.

Sasha raised her hands in surrender and doubt.

-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” if there was one thing Fallen never did, it was get upset, but woe betide whoever was around when it happened.

The older wolf turned his attention back to them, his tone of voice dry and serious.

-You two. Come with me,” there was no retort to his words.

The two cubs followed their brother, obediently. He ushered them into his alcove and checked if there was anyone around, closing the door behind him.

-Apparently they already know,” Fallen commented.

Axel and Sasha stiffened as they sat on the bed.

-Don’t make those faces, I’m not going to scold you or tell on you,” he reassured them.

Two sighs of relief were felt in the room.

-What do father’s words mean, Fallen? Is everything we heard true,” Axel looked at the older pup with expectation and a broken voice.

His brother sat down in a chair across from them and leaned his elbows on his knees.

-And if I told you it was the truth behind the current alpha’s actions, what would you do? -he asked curiously.

Sasha’s expression revealed the uncertainty that churned within him. Like his brother, they could not believe it was happening.

-It means that father is a usurper and that the former leader, our mother, is somewhere in this mansion,” he reasoned logically, while he stopped walking.

-And there’s more,” Fallen interrupted and his two brothers looked at him, “I recently discovered the location of the cell where he is being held captive,” he dropped the bombshell quickly and with barely a breath.

-And why didn’t you get him out?” Sasha stood up with her fists clenched, she felt a strange feeling inside her for that wolf even though she didn’t know him.

-Because you can’t. It’s inside the old torture cells in the catacombs, underneath the mansion. The only way to get it out is with the key that father always carries in his chest,” he explained.

Axel stood in front of him

-Since when do you know,” he whispered, letting the anger pour out in the simple question.

Fallen leaned back in his chair. At that moment the door to the room opened, letting in the one they now knew as the Commander of the Guard and former beta before the change of mandate.

-Since a month ago,” he answered, “Close the door Ryan. It would not be good for anyone to overhear the conversation.

The newcomer did as he said and walked towards them, standing next to Fallen.

The younger ones didn’t quite understand the situation.

-Don’t worry, he’s on our side,” his brother didn’t seem uncomfortable, “He was actually the one who discovered it in one of his routines, when he saw father and the doctor coming out of the catacombs, knowing that they have been abandoned for years. Of those of us here he is the oldest and was under the orders of the previous queen, more specifically, he was her beta, so he could recognize her scent when he infiltrated- Fallen continued with the explanation before the troubled expression of the young puppies.

-And what do they intend to do?” Sasha was getting desperate.

-Ryan, tell them, sooner or later they had to know.

they had to know,” he asked the Commander.

The former beta nodded his head.

-Since I found out he is alive, I have organized the army to reveal ourselves against the corrupt alpha who rules us,” he informed cautiously.

-And how do you intend to do that when more than half the members of the herd are terrified of our father,” Sasha asked perplexed.

-That’s why we intend to ask the other packs for help,” he said, not sure the brothers understood his intentions.

-Although that’s the tricky part,” Fallen touched his temple as if he had a headache. “Getting the support of another pack is difficult when there is no evidence and the alpha has taken measures to leave no traces,” he clarified, worried about the scope of the difficulty they were facing.

-Axel said as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

-As if it were something easy to do, not for nothing is he the alpha of the pack, even if it is imposed,” Sasha replied with annoyance.

-What we do know is that time is crucial in this situation. If the queen keeps having cubs she will die soon, after all, she is breeding outside of the rutting cycles,” the Commander hinted in alarm.

-Having cubs,” Sasha exclaimed, “Is our omega mother still having children? And where are they? -curiosity got the better of him.

-They’re right in front of me,” Ryan nodded at them.

-Axel looked at Fallen who barely flinched at the revelation.

-When you guys started appearing out of nowhere I was surprised that your scent was similar to the firstborn. And that the previous one’s disappearance was so sudden, he’s not the type to let go of his responsibilities. I asked the alpha and he answered me what he has been saying for years, but no one can fool a wolf’s sense,” concluded the current commander.

Axel and Sasha dropped onto the bed in shock. To be told that the omega wolf who gave birth to you, your mother, is alive and is being held captive was a bombshell that was hard to take in.

-How is he?” the older of the two asked in a trembling voice.

-I can’t answer that, your highness,” he bowed his head to sit up with an expression of disgust and anger remembering the current living conditions of his queen. That is something you have to see for yourselves,” he returned with restrained fury.

The heavy breeze with a strong smell of dampness, fermented meat and dust overshadowed the senses of the three silhouettes entering through a small opening between the stones that gave access to one side of the catacombs.

-What the hell is this place? -Sasha felt what little she had eaten threaten to return to the outside.

-It’s what’s left of the torture shrine of the first members of the herd. This place must be about 3,000 years old,” Ryan commented.

-And this is where our supposed mother is? -Axel felt dirty. He couldn’t believe a being survived such conditions. Not his mother.

Ryan nodded toward the two puppies who shuddered as they walked behind him, crouching low to avoid the sharp rocks on the roof.

They circled for about half an hour as the Commander warned them not to get separated as the hope of replaceing him would be nil.

-This is it,” declared Ryan as they stopped in front of a huge rusted iron door that must have weighed a ton.

There, at that instant they felt it. Slight, almost imperceptible, the limbs of their bodies shook. Fallen was not lying. They knocked at once on the cobweb-covered door. They smelled, flooding more of the fragrance that was so familiar to them and that they remembered as the first scent in their lives. Behind that door, in terrible condition, was the wolf that had brought them into the world, their mother.