Chapter 23

Isaac's POV

After Claudia disappeared, the course of my life changed dramatically. I no longer played with boys or went to bars to "hang out". They didn't mean anything to me anymore. The atmosphere at home became heavier and heavier. Alpha and mother would have an argument with each other every few days. I felt like they were about to shift to wolves and scratch each other's faces off.

I didn't know why they fought, it was probably that shit from the past again. So I didn't like staying home either, and I spent a lot of my free time on the outskirts of the pack. I prayed every moment that I would meet Claudia again, but I couldn't find a trace of her.

Once again, when I returned home, the floor was covered with pieces from my mother's porcelain collection. And Alpha's smashed wine bottle. They just had a fight. The smell of alcohol was spreading through the air. It did nothing to hide their lingering anger. I looked at the messy room and was about to leave when Alpha snarled and called me to stop.

"Stop! Where have you been?" Apparently the blood speckled on me stung his eyes.

"The outskirts of the pack. Cleaned up a few hooligans." I didn't even want to look him in the eye.

"Your coach tells me you haven't been to the training ground in a long time."

"No one can beat me on the training ground. I can get more of a workout out there instead."

"Do you think you're so capable?" I could smell that Alpha was enraged by me; I hadn't spoken to him like that before. "You and your mother are both bitches!" With that he had reached out his claws and wanted to attack my chest.

! In shock, my body made a subconscious move to fight back. I held Alpha's wrist and slammed him to the ground on his back, then put a claw against his carotid artery.

"Are you going to kill me!?" He growled, his throat vibrating beneath my claws.

I immediately put my claws away. "I'm sorry, Father. I was subconscious...."

Before I finished my words, Alpha gave me a slap. He didn't retract his claw, so the left side of my vision slowly turned bright red. "You can't wait to be the Alpha, can you?"

"No, Father, I just..."

He didn't even try to listen to my explanation. "Then, don't even think about it for the rest of your life, the next Alpha will be Neil."

I looked at him with wide eyes, though one of them might be blind. Watching my reaction, Alpha gave a satisfied smile. "I should have done this a long time ago."

I was still digesting the devastating news when Alpha had thrown me out. Now I could only think of my mother, who had mentioned something about my identity. Caesar smelled my mother's location, and she was indeed at home, but I hadn't even seen her earlier.

Eventually, I found my mother in a locked room. Hell, she still had Alpha's guards at the door. I felt even more uneasy inside. It wasn't until late at night that I snuck into my mother's room through the window. Mother wasn't surprised to see me coming. There were still red palm marks on her beautiful face. I clenched my fists and approached my mother.

"Are you okay? What the hell is going on here?" I asked my mother in a soft tone.

"He put me under house arrest. But don't worry, he only dares to do this."

I hesitated, not knowing what would happen to my mother now. I told her I was no longer the heir, but I needed the truth so badly. I could only tell her everything that had just happened.

"What?!" My mother's voice was so angry that I'd never heard it before. "This liar, he promised me to let you be the future Alpha."

"Why did he say yes to you?" I finally said. "I know I'm not Alpha's biological child. What kind of deal did you make?"

My mother looked at me in surprise, her voice sounding like she was squeezing it out of her throat. "How do you know ......" Then she was silent for a moment and returned to her usual familiar expression. "It's not something you should know."

My mother took my hand and looked me in the eyes. "Even if he doesn't acknowledge you, you're still the strongest in the pack, and you're going to be the future Alpha."

"It's been like this, and you still won't tell me?" I really admired my mother's calmness, as if she didn't care about anything other than the position of future Alpha.

My mother's words were done, and she stopped giving me a look.

"Well, you all are the same, so I have nothing more to ask." I laughed bitterly and jumped out of the window to the river where I had met Claudia.

A few months ago, I thought I could protect my mate. But after I showed her a ridiculous drama that hurt her so badly, she left me. And the goals I had had since I was a kid, all the training I had done to become Alpha, and all the questions I had received because of it, they all seemed like a joke.

I didn't keep anything in my life successfully, and I fell to my knees by the river, pounding my fists on the ground. I scolded myself inwardly for being so weak! I slammed my fist into the gravel at the river's edge. The pain couldn't compare to what I had lost. Was it my fault for being so weak? Then another punch, and the gravel embedded itself into my flesh.

I swore to the Moon Goddess in my heart that I would shed all my weaknesses and no one would control my feelings again from today.

Neil's POV

The house was unusually quiet today. I hadn't seen my mother or Isaac, although Isaac had been fighting outside the pack lately and I rarely saw him. Father was upset with Isaac for this behavior, and my instincts told me that Isaac's strange behavior was because of Claudia, who left.

I still didn't see my mother when we ate dinner, so I had to ask my father, "Where is mom?"

But my father acted like he didn't hear my question, or maybe he was just trying to change the subject. "Are you confident that you can be the Alpha?"

I almost choked on my water. "Alpha? Me?"

Father nodded "Yes, you."

I lowered my head, not knowing what was going through my mind. "I didn't know, everyone thought Isaac was going to be the Alpha, including me. I never thought about that."

"Don't mention him, I'm talking about you. If I want you to be the future Alpha, do you have the confidence to be good?" Father hated it when I mentioned Isaac's name.

In fact, as the son of Alpha, how could I not have the thought that I would be the future Alpha? Especially after I had my wolf. Finally, people would know that I was strong too, and I beat everyone on the training grounds. But who made my brother be a perfect successor? He even defeated a berserking me with ease.

"Yes." I certainly had faith, as long as there was no Isaac.

"That's great." Father smiled a smile that had been missing for a long time. "I will announce to the pack tomorrow that you are the next Alpha."

"What?!" I was extremely surprised. "What about Isaac?"

"That bastard, who's been hanging out with hooligans a lot lately and dared to attack me."

Isaac was a bit arrogant, but he had never acted disrespectfully towards his parents. But I didn't ask this question out loud. Since father said so, Isaac deserved to be punished.

Besides, Isaac had been in the limelight of everyone for so long. It was my turn now. I ignored the discomfort I felt inside and accepted my father's offer.

My mother did not appear on the occasion of announcing me as the heir. Father said she didn't come because she was in a bad condition. But I knew that my mother had always been partial to Isaac. She was hard on Isaac, but she never wanted anyone other than Isaac to be the future Alpha.

I looked at the werewolves, curious expressions on the faces of the people who had been summoned. And Isaac was under a tree in the distance, his eyes were shadowy as he looked at our father. I guessed that he'd known about the punishment for a long time.

My father took my hand and stood in front of the stage." I have an announcement to make today. It's very important to our pack." The people began to murmur. The smile on my father's face grew wider. "You all should know him, my son Neil, and I'm sure you all know his wonderful personality and have seen his bravery on the battlefield."

Everyone agreed with my father's words, and that made me confident.

"So I've decided that Neil should be the next Alpha." The crowd below boiled up just as my father finished his words. I didn't mean to hear the hard words, but they were shouting too loudly.

"Why? He is weak compared to Isaac."

"Jesus, if we let him be the Alpha, how many days will we still live?"

These discontents knocked at my heart, and I was tempted to grab the one leading the protest by his collar and ask him if he dared to have a fight with me. When Isaac had been announced as the heir, no one had ever dared to protest. I shouted to those people in my mind. 'Shut up, you loser. I'm so much stronger than you guys. Who are you to talk about me?' I had never felt so jealous, maybe I had never faced that before.

My father noticed my expression was getting ugly and he cleared his throat. "About Issac." The crowd fell silent for a moment. "He broke the rules by associating with rogues and attacked me."

The crowd started to get rowdy again. My father didn't expect such a reaction, so he raised his voice. "Silence! According to the rules, I should have executed him or banished him, but he is my child after all. So I've decided to let him lead a hunting party and be the vanguard of our expanding territory."

Father hadn't told me what he was planning, but the people shut up at once. They were afraid of being a member of the hunting party too, I guessed. After all, it was the most dangerous job. As I watched their fearful faces, I suddenly felt a sense of revenge in my heart. I felt that my father had made the right decision. Isaac left after hearing the results, not a ripple on his cold face. It took away the last shred of guilt I had for him.

After Isaac left, everyone gradually put their eyes on me and I tried to do my business best as the next Alpha. There were still some people who didn't agree with me, but more and more people were rallying around me. Fiona was a clear example of this. When my father announced that I was the Alpha, Fiona was clinging to me every day. Her attitude had changed so quickly it made me wonder if she liked Isaac or not.

Isaac had only been back to the pack every few months for the past two years. Every time he came back, he would catch everyone's eyes as if a hero had returned, which made me feel unpleasant. He did come back with a lot of useful information though, which made our pack's territory expand a lot.

This time he came back with a piece of information which got him and his father into another argument. When I walked into the conference room, Isaac was still wearing the same outfit he was wearing when he got back, and the situation looked somewhat urgent.

"Impossible, your information must be wrong!" Our father sounded arrogant, he didn't believe Isaac's information.

"Two of our men died because we tried to find out their names." Looking at our father's indifferent face, Isaac slapped both hands on the table. "They were your men too, don't you care?"

"Like I said, the White Claw pack has already been destroyed by me a long time ago. Who will attack my pack, the ghosts?"

"You can do what you want, but I've warned you." Isaac left immediately, with a complicated look on his face as he passed me.

I asked my father with worry. "Isaac's information hasn't been wrong before, we should prepare for it."

My father glared at me directly. "You believe him but not me? This little bastard is just trying to trick me! How can I give him that chance?"

I certainly believed my father. It wasn't until three days later, while I was still asleep, that a fire had spread into my pack.