Chapter 10

The False Alpha

Chapter 10: The False Alpha

One Week Later: July

“One does not simply walk into DONHE’s werewolf containment unit,” Cayden said, doing his best Boromir impression.

“Okay, I know it’s not ideal, but Odd Todd is still wearing his DONHE uniform. If you’d rather not go the route where you’re looking to rent a containment cell, maybe you could go in disguise as a new agent?” Aurora offered.

“Absolutely not. That’s how they’d catch me. DONHE never hires werewolves,” Wendell said firmly.

“You have a point,” Aurora said, “But how are you planning on getting away from the DONHE agent that’s going to take you? Being under their watchful eye isn’t exactly conducive to you having a one-on-one conversation with Lupa and Dacian. Plus, how do you even know they’re going to be in that same cell block the agent is going to take you through?”

“Auri, I spent almost a decade in that containment unit from the time I was bitten until I met Cayden,” Wendell said, suddenly feeling hot in the face.

Once he and Cayden started dating, Wendell moved away from spending his moonsets in DONHE’s werewolf containment unit to running free in the protected Howley-Kirkwood packlands. It was an upgrade beyond his wildest dreams. And to be honest? He missed it. A lot. But divorcing your alpha husband meant saying goodbye to that sweet perk.

“They keep a mix of imprisoned werewolves with the ones looking for a safe space to transform,” Wendell explained.

“That doesn’t sound too secure,” Aurora said skeptically. “How do you know they haven’t changed things?”

“If they did, then I’ll find out when I get there. The Super Blood Moon is a week away. For now, this is the best idea I’ve got,” Wendell sighed.

“Wen, while you’re at the werewolf containment unit, I’m going to check on Stevie. He’s been unusually quiet,” Cayden said.

“Well, weren’t his parents pretty much abducted by DONHE?” Dani asked.

“Yeah, but he’s Stevie. The kid is resilient as hell,” Cayden said. “But he’s also young and vulnerable enough to be targeted by the lone wolves and lyc chasers his parents always scared off. We don’t need him getting dragged into this, too.”

“That’s a good idea, Cayden,” Wendell said. “Let’s all reconvene here after I get back from DONHE. Look out for my text.”

* * *

“We just had two containment cells open, so you’re in luck!” a DONHE agent with the metal name plate reading R. Locke on her breast pocket said. “I’ll print up the paperwork for the rental agreement and get your signature and a down payment check. We’ve had to raise the rates by 10%, unfortunately. Are you looking to use it just for this moonset or for multiple months?”

“Just this moonset. I actually wanted to see if I can look at them first, before I decide,” Wendell said casually.

“Oh, but they’re identical. Same size, same shape, same features,” Agent Locke said brightly. “You couldn’t ask for a safer, more secure place to spend your moon.”

“Well, yeah, but I mean, it’s about where they’re placed, too. I want to get a feel for the surrounding area. I’m going to be shut up in there for hours across three nights. It’d mean so much to me if I could see them for just a minute,” Wendell said graciously. He was a big believer in the “kill them with kindness” mentality.

“Ooh, I see. That’s not typically how we do it,” Agent Locke said uneasily, “I mean, there aren’t any rules that say we can’t let you see the cells first… but it’s also not how it’s typically done…”

“I don’t want to cause any trouble; it’d just really mean a lot to me,” Wendell continued.

“I dunno, Wendell, it’s just… I just started here, and I want to make a good impression. I’m sure you get it,” Agent Locke said, her face crinkling in worry.

“I hear you completely. Look, let’s just forget I said anything at all. I can sign those papers,” Wendell said, playing up the resignation in his voice and on his face.

He was so close to breaking Agent Locke. He could feel it. How perfect was it that he ended up with a DONHE newbie?

“No, no, we can go, but quickly, okay?” Agent Locke said timidly, she suddenly seemed much tinier than her five and a half feet height.

“Of course! I’m ready!” Wendell shot up from his seat.

The office they were meeting in was in the Werewolf Registry wing of the DONHE building, and it was just a few hallways away from the werewolf containment unit.

Agent Locke typed a code into a keypad sticking out and had her eyes, fingers, and face digitally scanned.

I knew a disguise wouldn’t work, Wendell thought to himself, satisfied that he didn’t try to take that questionable route.

Once the door opened and Agent Locke and Wendell started walking through the containment unit, it was clear that the walls and door were soundproofed.

The noise was constant. A combination of chatter and animalistic noises. It painted a picture of frustration, rage, despair, and resignation. No one wanted to be here. It was exactly as Wendell remembered it from his childhood and teen years.

Some of the imprisoned men and women jeered at Wendell. They could smell he wasn’t a lone wolf and demanded to know what he was doing.

They were more than halfway down the next hall when Wendell finally spied Lupa and Dacian. His heart beat harder in his ears, and his throat tightened. He avoided looking at them and showing any level of recognition. They didn’t notice him. Good.

A few feet away from them on the opposite end of the hall, a tiny figure sitting in the corner of a cell brought Wendell to a sudden halt. It was a six or seven-year-old boy. He was wearing pajamas with aliens on them, had his knees bent to his chest, and sat there, hugging them and rocking.

“What’s he doing in here?” Wendell froze in front of the cell.

The little boy looked up at them and immediately hid his face.

“Brought in by his parents. They didn’t take the ‘your-son-is-a-werewolf’ conversation so well,” Agent Locke said.

Wendell would never forget the day two DONHE agents were dispatched to his house to break the news to him and his parents that he was werewolf.

It was nearly a month after he was bitten, right before he was set to have his first transformation. It was also right after he met the ghost of the lone wolf that bit him at Wonder Hills Fun Park so it wasn’t being told he was a werewolf that blindsided him.

It was that there was an actual organization, a police force, that monitored and tracked other werewolves and creatures that Wendell thought were the things of storybooks and nightmares.

“He said he saw them packing their suitcases and grabbing their passports. It wouldn’t be the first time a bitten child was abandoned by their parents. Lycanthropy is too much work to manage for most people,” Agent Locke said.

“How was he bitten?” Wendell asked, feeling a surge of hatred for the boy’s parents who chose to cut and run instead of support their son.

“His little league coach,” Agent Locke said, “Don’t worry, we put him down. He fought back hard, though. It was really something to see.”

“So you’re just keeping him locked up in here like he’s some stray dog picked up by animal control?” Wendell asked. “Doesn’t he have any other family that can take him in? Or friends? He’s just a little kid.”

“He’s a werewolf. He’s exactly where he needs to be.”

“It’s still a week before the full moon,” Wendell said disgustedly.

“We couldn’t find a pack willing to take him in and we’re not a babysitting service. He goes where we put him. Let’s go look at those two cells now, mkay?” Agent Locke said cheerfully.

“Here’s the first one,” Agent Locke pointed it out with a flourish.

Wendell never spent time in a human prison, but he could imagine that human jail cells looked identical to this one.

“Now, the other one is just across the way in this other hallway, here’s–”

“Agent Locke! Status update! We need you in the Night Hawk Wing, stat,” a demanding voice crackled over the walkie clipped to one of Agent Locke’s pockets.

Agent Locke looked nervously between the walkie and Wendell.

“If they need you, go! I’m not going anywhere. I still haven’t given you the deposit payment for the cell,” Wendell said.

“I dunno, Wendell,” Agent Locke frowned. She shifted from foot to foot.

“I’ll wait for you right by that other cell! It’s there, right?” Wendell pointed to the area that Agent Locke was leading him until she was interrupted. “Scout’s Honor.” Wendell struck the iconic pose.

“Okay, I’ll be right back!” Agent Locke sprinted off, breathlessly responding to the bossy voice on the other end.

The instant the door slammed behind her, a familiar taunting voice sang out, “Howley-Kirkwood in the how-how-how house!”

Wendell followed the jeering voice and stopped in front.

“What in the flying fuck are you doing in here, Waldo?”

“I can ask you the same thing, Burke,” Wendell said.

The younger brother of the alpha, the omega in DeWolfe-Rivers pack, the last time Wendell saw Burke was during a dinner party for a werewolf council meeting that Wendell and Cayden hosted two years ago.

Burke pitched a fit over the cauliflower steaks Wendell served, demanding to know where the real steak was.

Astrid quickly put him in his place. “It’s in the name, Burke. Cauliflower steaks. The cauliflower comes first. And you know Wen’s a vegetarian, why would he be making you a steak? Hah.”

“Vegetarian werewolves? It’s fucking absurd, man. It’s not natural,” Burke said that day.

“Dude, you’re bigger than a house. I heard some rumors about Cayden divorcing you, and from the looks of things, it’s true. Talk about letting yourself go,” Burke chuckled.

“I’m divorcing him, Burke,” Wendell said darkly, “and I’m not here to talk to you. I’m looking for Lupa and Dacian.”

“They’re back thatta way,” Burke dramatically gestured.

“I know,” Wendell said flatly. “I wasn’t going to call out that I knew them right in front of Agent Locke.”

“A first name basis huh?” Burke sneered. “Well, good luck getting through to Lupa and Dacian. Nothing they say makes sense. They even sent the warlock and witch division down here to dig into their brains. I heard them talking about what they found. Said it’s like a mosaic in there, all broken bits and shit. So have fun with that or whatever.”

“What are you in here for, Burke?” Wendell asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Burke said with a wolfish grin.

Wendell didn’t have time to waste puzzling out Burke’s poor decision-making. He hustled over to Lupa and Dacian’s cell.

“Lupa! Dacian!” Wendell whispered urgently.

Dacian paced in a tight circle, like he was a tiger in a zoo cage. Lupa was curled into herself in the corner of the cell, just like the little boy in the alien pajamas.

“Dacian! I need to talk to you about the lone wolf. Stevie’s okay, by the way, Cayden and I are checking in on him. I’ll tell him I saw you today,” Wendell said. “I need you to tell me what the lone wolf told you before he died.”

“Don’t listen to him! He’s the reason they’re dead!” Dacian snarled.

“We’ll be in here forever because of him,” Lupa moaned to herself.

“The lone wolf?” Wendell asked. “But how? What did he do?”

“Don’t listen to him! He’s the reason they’re dead! He is!” Dacian snapped.

“We’re never leaving, we’re never leaving, we’re never leaving,” Lupa bawled. She rocked in the corner.

“Please. You’re not making sense. If he’s the one who killed those humans you were blamed for killing, you need to tell me. If you’re actually innocent, I can help you get out of here!” Wendell insisted.

“HE’S the reason they’re dead! Don’t listen to HIM!” Dacian seethed.

“But, he’s dead! The lone wolf is dead. If it really is his fault, he can’t do any other damage…please… help me so I can help you,” Wendell pleaded.

“We’ll be in here forever,” Lupa whimpered.

“HE’S in your head now, HE’S coming for you next!” Dacian stabbed his pointer finger into his forehead over and over.

It was cryptic and unsettling. With their increasing agitation and distress, Wendell knew he didn’t have much time left.

“Stop! You’re going to hurt yourself!” Wendell begged. “Please let me help you, Dacian.”

“DON’T LISTEN TO HIM! HE’S THE REASON THEY’RE DEAD! HE IS!” Dacian screamed.

“WE’LL BE IN HERE FOREVER, OH WE’LL BE IN HERE FOREVER!” Lupa wailed.

Dacian crookedly staggered across the cell. Drool pooled out from his mouth, and his eyes rolled back. At first, Wendell thought he was going to lunge at the bars and throw a fist at him… only to watch as the man tripped over nothing and crashed to the ground.

His head bashed into the hard cell floor over and over. Lupa shrieked as Dacian’s body seized. Bloody froth sprayed from his quivering lips.

Lupa’s body suddenly shook and spasmed, and she collapsed onto the ground. She twitched and jerked with the same bloody spittle foaming out from her lips. She shrieked shrilly, like a tea kettle blowing steam, and then jerked to a stop.

Together on the ground, Dacian and Lupa were silent and still. They were dead.

“YOU KILLED THEM!” A little panicked voice screamed. It was the little boy. He gripped the bars in his white fisted hands, and tears dripped down his cheeks. “MURDERER! MURDERER!”

“No! No! No, I didn’t do anything!! I was just talking to them!” Wendell hurried over to the panic-stricken little boy.

“Don’t come near me! Leave me alone! Go away! You’re a bad man! You’re a bad man!” The little boy cried out. “He killed them! He killed them both! Help! Help! HELP!”

“Shhh! Shhh! Just wait, let me explain!” Wendell pleaded. “I know what that looked like, but —”

“Wendell Howley-Kirkwood, stay where you are,” a man’s voice demanded. It was the same voice that was on the walkie. The voice was positively menacing. The metal nameplate on his breast pocket said J. Fenlow.

Wendell slowly turned around. Next to Agent Fenlow stood Agent Locke.

“Don’t say a word, werewolf,” Agent Locke spat.

In unison, the duo stormed up to Wendell. Agent Locke took Wendell’s right arm, and Agent Fenlow took his left and aggressively dragged Wendell down the hallway with them. The teary-faced little boy gave Wendell one more horror-struck look, and Wendell could feel it searing itself into his brain.

“You werewolves are all the same,” Agent Locke said disgustedly. Gone was the anxious, doe-eyed DONHE agent. “I give you all a chance to prove me wrong and show me that you’re not like the rest of them, but you never do. You really thought I’d la-di-da leave you here on your own while I, the new recruit, went off to answer a call? It was a test, Wendell, one you spectacularly failed.”

“And now you have to answer to Carver,” Agent Fenlow said gleefully.

“The Wolfinger-Hedlund alphas are dead, and this one was talking to them,” Agent Fenlow kicked Wendell’s shin.

Wendell held his yelp in. He wouldn’t give agents the satisfaction of visible pain.

“We wanted to bring this straight to you,” Agent Locke simpered.

“I didn’t do anything!” Wendell insisted.

“You poisoned them,” a cold voice drawled.

“You…” Wendell gasped. “You’re…”

It was a face Wendell hoped he’d never see again. He didn’t know him by name, but Carver was the agent who monitored Wendell during the three transformations of his first moonset.

Wendell would never forget those nights. Not just because it was his first time experiencing total organ failure and losing all of his teeth and nails.

No.

It was the way Carver treated Wendell like filth.

He stripped him of his clothing and made him sit shivering and naked in the holding cell, with a bucket of bloody meat that made Wendell gag. He switched on the electrified bars early to keep Wendell from pestering him, and he wouldn’t even give Wendell a blanket because he didn’t want it to get shredded. It spoke volumes about what really mattered to the man.

“Strip search him,” Carver demanded.

Agents Locke and Fenlow grasped Wendell between them hard enough that Wendell felt the bruises forming. They smashed their hands into him, aggressively patting him down. Then, it happened so fast. In a single motion, Fenlow yanked his pants and underwear down. Wendell flinched and jerked and tried to pull away from their painful touch.

“He’s clean,” Fenlow spat, swinging his boot into Wendell’s naked butt as Wendell struggled to put his torn clothing on. Fenlow kicked him so hard, Wendell staggered to the ground.

“Whatever you used to poison them, we’ll find out,” Carver warned. “You might as well save us the time for the inquiry and tell us now. Otherwise, we might need to, let’s say, find some other ways to loosen your tongue.”

“We can hold you in here, you know, and we won’t even need to take your money for it,” Agent Locke snickered.

“What if it was one of your people!” Wendell fired back. “You have cameras all around that containment unit. Play the back and tell me what you see! I talked to them! I talked to them about their son. That’s all! I didn’t poison them. I didn’t kill them. And if I’m going to stay in this room for another minute, I want my lawyer.”

“Oooh, he wants his lawyer,” Agent Fenlow smirked.

“I’ll howl for him right now,” Wendell warned.

“Silence!” Carver snapped. “Trust me, boy, we’re going to thoroughly investigate what happened in here today. If you had anything to do with it, you will hear from us, and we’ll have a cell with your name on it. Now, get him out of my sight.”

Agent Locke and Fenlow shoved Wendell out.

Wendell staggered to his rental car in the parking lot. His whole body hurt. It felt just like he did on Hollow Road after Dirk and Violet ran him off the road.

“They have no power over me,” Wendell said, locking eyes with himself in the rear-view mirror. He said it a second time with more conviction.

At home, Mary Shelley mewed as she wove in between his legs. Wendell absently scratched her head as he texted Cayden, Aurora, Dani, and Violet to come over to his house as soon as possible. He needed to update them on the gruesome turn of events.

Stevie, too, Wendell thought hollowly, now he’s an orphan, and Cayden or I are going to have to break the news to him.

Aurora was the first to arrive. She immediately sensed that all wasn’t well.

“Wen, what happened?!” Aurora rushed up to Wendell, her wide eyes fixed on his torn and disheveled clothing.

“Someone poisoned Lupa and Dacian while I was there, and the DONHE agents blamed me for it,” Wendell said heavily. “They strip-searched me. It happened so fast I couldn’t do anything. I just stood there. I didn’t even try to fight back.”

“You shouldn’t have to, Wen!” Aurora said. “They can’t get away with treating you like that. I’ll talk to Wedge about it. She’ll straighten them out.”

“Monsters,” Dani said disgustedly. “We should’ve come up with another plan.”

“They’re the Werewolf Registry. They don’t answer to Wedge. And we had no other choice,” Wendell said. “And now with Lupa and Dacian dead…”

“Wen, if you need to take some time off, we can get back together tomorrow to talk about next steps. You need to rest,” Aurora said gently. “Cayden will be here soon, right? He can make that mac and cheese you love so much, and we can watch the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies.”

“No, Auri. As much as I’d love to cram my face with cheesy pasta and escape into Middle-earth right now, the people who are trying to frame me aren’t resting, so we can’t either,” Wendell said firmly.

“How about you shower before Violet gets here, then? Or put some fresh clothes on,” Dani pitched. “You kind of look like a total mess, Wen.”

Wendell couldn’t deny it, and he opted to do both.

Violet, clad in a monster-hunting outfit again, was waiting on the small loveseat couch with Mary Shelley purring next to her when Wendell re-emerged.

“Cayden’s still not here?” Wendell frowned. He checked his phone and saw no texts. It wasn’t like Cayden to be the last person to arrive, or to say absolutely nothing.

“He didn’t text me or Dani either,” Aurora said.

“Weird… maybe he got held up at the Wolfinger-Hedlund packlands,” Wendell mused. “Well, Violet, I’m sure Aurora and Dani told you everything,” Wendell said, lowering himself onto the bigger couch.

Violet nodded sternly.

“Why don’t I make us some tea?” Aurora suggested.

“I’ll help,” Dani said.

Wendell wondered if it was because Dani actually wanted to help, or if she wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and Violet. With Dani’s were-cat enhanced senses, Wendell knew she could smell the small arsenal of weaponry on Violet, too.

“Did they send you any other tips about me?” Wendell asked.

“Earlier today, actually,” Violet said. “They stuck it in with the rest of the bakery mail.”

It was a postcard with a picture of a full moon on it.

Wendell read it aloud, “The false alpha is gathering at Wonder Hills Fun Park the night of the Super Blood Moon at 7:30. Timing is not a coincidence. He’s returning to the scene of the first kill. Multiple hostages are suspected. Bring your silver, Hunter. End what should’ve ended there.”

Dani shrieked in the kitchen.

“Probably a spider,” Wendell said. For a were-cat, Dani was hilariously skittish around ordinary bugs.

Dani came charging out of the kitchen with an envelope held high in her hands.

“Wen! This was on your kitchen floor!” Dani cried.

“Somebody slipped it under the back door,” Aurora said anxiously.

Wen by Gee

“I’m getting really sick of this!” Wendell snapped. “Hand it over. Please.”

It had a bloody smear on it and a weight to it that the previous envelope didn’t.

Without bothering to get the scissors this time, Wendell tore the envelope open, leaving it ragged and ripped. He yanked out what was inside it.

There were two photos. The one on top was a photo of Stevie in his Boy Scout uniform in front of a familiar range of mountains and forest. It was the same campsite by Wonder Hills Fun Park where Wendell was bitten.

“No way,” Wendell murmured to himself.

“YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN” was written in the same red scrawled handwriting as the first photo and the magazine page.

“You made what happen?” Dani asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine, Dani,” Wendell said. “Hang on… there’s another picture in here...” Wendell’s heart sunk as he held it up. It was a picture of Cayden chained and blindfolded in the basement holding cell at the lyc chaser house.

“COME ON THE NIGHT OF THE SUPER BLOOD MOON, YOUR LIFE FOR THEIRS.”

The blood wasn’t smeared on the envelope as a scare tactic either. It was from the tips of Cayden’s and Stevie’s pinky fingers that, together, were rolled into the bottom corner of the envelope.

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