Chapter 5

Kaiden

Commanding all the werewolves in the country is precisely what my father wanted me to do. When I found out that the Alpha King died after more than 200 years in power, my only thought was this new title would be mine.

Just mine.

I know I can win the tournament and be crowned, and nobody will stand in my way. I will do whatever needs to be done to win all the events. I am willing to use any means necessary to achieve my goal, regardless of the consequences or the harm it may cause to anyone.

I always wanted to please my father, the cruelest person I’ve ever known. He always put me in extreme situations of violence. Even before Troy, my wolf, showed up when I was 12 years old. Since I can remember, I always needed to train nonstop and deal with my father’s threats and punishments.

‘Kill them’, ‘Have no mercy on anyone’, ‘Everybody is your enemy’, ‘Stab the enemy in the back’, ‘There is no option to be defeated for you’, ‘You are weak, useless, and worthless, you need to improve a lot to be considered just bad’… these are just a few of the many motivational phrases that were mantras throughout my training.

Being an only child meant it’s my destiny to rule the Diamond Claw’s future, so I have to be as strong, evil, and ruthless as I can be to honor my father. My mother always agreed with my father, the only person I saw him showing any sign of affection towards was her, and she only gave affection to him.

I once went to hug her, and what I got as soon as my little 8-year-old arms touched her hip was an immediate push and a slap in the face. I’ll never forget what she said to me next.

“Stop showing weakness, Kaiden. You need to be stronger. Do you know what your name means? FIGHTER! This is not the behavior I expect from you.” With those kind words, I grew up afraid of touching anyone and being misunderstood.

When I was 10 years old, I went on a mission with my father in the south of our pack to conquer the territory.

We encountered resistance, but we overpowered them easily. As we stood triumphantly over the defeated pack, my father’s eyes gleamed with a sinister delight.

“Kaiden, it’s time for you to prove yourself as a leader,” he said with a wicked smirk, “Kill them!”

He pointed at innocent rogue babies.

My heart sank, and a sense of dread washed over me. I generally obeyed him blindly in everything he asked me to do but killing babies? No! That was a line I couldn’t cross. I was scared of being in that situation, apprehensive about not knowing what to do, and afraid of any punishment my father could inflict upon me.

Then, I realized that I had no idea of the dimension of my father’s cruelty. I couldn’t even believe it when he ordered me to do this.

“I… I can’t,” I stammered, my voice barely a whisper.

In an instant, my father’s expression turned from delight to fury. Without hesitation, he immediately drew his dagger dipped in wolfsbane and slashed it across my face. The horrific gash was from the middle of my forehead to my left ear. The pain was excruciating, and I screamed out in agony as blood poured from the wound.

He didn’t stop there, though. He continued to inflict pain upon me, ignoring my pleas for mercy. I could only see red from the amount of blood that came out of the wound, the wound had enormous swelling, and it was so severe that I had a concussion. Since then, the scar on my face has reminded me never to have mercy on anyone.

When I turned 12 and met Troy, I asked him if the scar would go away, and he said no because it was received before his genes were activated. I was devastated to hear that. I will always have this scar reminding me of my place and duty.

When I turned 17, my father gave me specific orders to conquer a neighboring pack, as always, I followed them and successfully defeated the pack. When I got back to Diamond Claw, it was being attacked, and to my surprise, my father was already dead. It was a trap! The rogue knew that I wouldn’t be in the pack, so he decided to attack because he wanted to be the Diamond Claw’s Alpha, and he knew that if I were in the pack, he wouldn’t have the tiniest chance of winning, so he waited for the right moment.

To his bad luck, I killed him with all the hate that was in my heart. Unfortunately, the attack turned into a massacre, and a third of my pack members were dead, and the territory was seriously devastated.

Due to my father’s death, I, Kaiden Gardyner, became Diamond Claw’s Alpha, and my new mission was to reestablish my pack, fix our territory and then conquer more packs. And that’s what I did. Nonstop. Incessantly. No rest, no turning back.

Unfortunately, my mother died two years later. She couldn’t survive after my father was killed. The mate bond was very strong; she suffered a lot and chose not to live with the pain of not having her mate with her.

During those two years that she was alive after my father’s death, she blamed me for my father’s death. Every. Single. Day.

She avoided me whenever she could and reminded me that I wasn’t doing enough as an Alpha when she bumped into me. It was my duty to save him, but I failed as usual. She always wanted me to be more like my father, and no matter how hard I tried, it never seemed enough for her.

Since then, I’ve lived in a constant state of fear and anticipation. Every step I take, every decision I make, is tinged with the knowledge that my father’s legacy looms over me. The scar on my face serves as a constant reminder of the lengths I must go to fulfill my destiny.

Then, when I heard about the tournament to become the Alpha King, I knew it was the best way to honor them. This is exactly what they expected of me, and I will win, even if it means descending deeper into the darkness.

Let the battle for the throne commence.

🐺 🐺 🐺

The sun was rising in the sky, indicating that it was already at least 10 AM. During the winter, it is almost impossible to see the sun, but today, it was there to melt some of the snow. At that time, I had already done my morning training. If I want to be the strongest, I must dedicate myself to being unbeatable.

As every day, I headed towards my office, where my Beta and Gamma were already waiting for me with the day’s urgent reports.

“Alpha, the Frostbite Pack doesn’t have enough resources for the winter. We conquered it recently, and I’m only now discovering its problems,” Gamma Chad said as he handed me a paper that contained a list of things the Frostbite Pack needed.

“This is more urgent, Alpha,” Beta Jason interrupted Chad, “The northern territory was attacked at dawn. It was an attack by five rogues, a small attack, but they invaded many houses. All rogues are already dead,” Jason said, waiting for my command to take action.

“Chad, tell pack service I allow all these things on the list. Did you check this list?” I asked, and he nodded, “See if they need anything else. It’s still the middle of the winter season.” I handed the list back to him and turned to Jason.

“How come rogues attack at dawn, and you only inform me now? Why were they able to break into so many houses? How audacious! I want the heads of all of them by 3 PM. Strengthen the fucking security in the north! Beta, I expect more from you than that.”

We spend another half hour arguing about other pack issues. Jason and Chad are the only people I really trust.

Chad is the type of person who prefers to solve things strategically rather than with physical force, and he values intelligence, patience, and thoughtful decision-making over brute strength and aggression. He prefers to analyze problems from different angles and considers several options before taking action. Besides that, he has excellent communication skills and excels in several pack fields such as business, law, and politics, where the ability to think strategically and negotiate effectively is highly valued. His main job at the pack is to protect our territory from our enemies strategically, so I don’t skimp on any trinkets he insists we have for the sake of our technological advancement. I agree with almost everything he suggests because we have one of the biggest packs in the country, and I have other packs far from my pack, so I need a whole tracking system to manage everything. However, don’t get me wrong, Chad also likes a good fight. In all the wars we had in which we conquered our current territories, he fought with all his strength, bravely and tirelessly.

On the other hand, my Beta Jason thinks totally differently. For him, he values strength, power, and aggression over intellectual thinking. That was one of the reasons I assigned him to lead our soldiers, as he approaches challenges and conflicts with confrontational, physical violence, and a combative attitude to achieve any outcome.

Due to their many differences, Jason and Chad fight almost daily. One always reminds the other how stupid the other’s way of thinking is. Stupid bastards! Every day it’s the same meaningless argument.

“You should think with your head and not your muscles. Then, maybe you would have figured it out.” Chad calmly, once again, insulted Jason’s lack of brains.

“You can’t take a punch from me. Do you want to try it to see?” Jason raised his hand, ready to hit Chad.

I growled at both of them, and they immediately stopped.

“Every day is the same thing. I’m tired of you two fighting nonstop. The day has barely started, and you’re already giving me a headache! Next fight, I’ll kill both of you with my bare hands!!” I yelled at them.

“Yes, Alpha,” they replied in unison, glaring at each other. I’m sure the argument continued via mindlink. That way, I don’t even care. At least I don’t have to listen to them.

“Alpha, we need to talk about the tournament. We need to prepare as much as possible!” Chad took his eyes off Jason and brought up a new subject.

“That’s it! That’s exactly what I want to hear, my future achievement! I already feel the taste of victory!” I said with a big smile. “Alpha King suits me well, don’t you think?” I asked rhetorically.

“Kaiden, for that, you have to win most of the phases and have some prerequisites,” Chad reminded me.

“Don’t crush the vibe. We’re going to get it all, Kaiden, even if we have to kill every motherfucker in the competition,” Jason said, already savoring the future violence that hadn’t even arrived yet.

“Alpha, I discovered something important among the council elders,” Chad lowered his voice to say this as Jason and I were waiting for him to continue. As the room is soundproof, we don’t have to worry about what we say in here, but for some reason, he decided to speak almost as if it were a secret. When he saw he had our attention, he continued. “There is an ancient prophecy that says that the next Alpha King to be crowned will have an extremely powerful heir, never seen before. I don’t know if this prophecy will be published, but it’s quite old. I’m sure some people already know.”

“A powerful heir? How does it benefit me? I don’t even have or want one, much less a powerful heir.” I stated while rolling my eyes in disbelief that I was curious for nothing.

“Kaiden, you say that now, but what about when you find your mate? I’m sure you will change,” Jason said. I think that out of the three of us, he is the one who awaits his mate the most.

“Enough of this. She must be dead already, 13 years and still nothing. I don’t even care anymore.” I stated, and it’s true, I don’t even care.

‘Speak for yourself, human idiot! I’m still waiting for our mate to arrive, and I know she’s going to be perfect.’ Troy spoke furiously in my mind.

“The number of rounds and what they will be like is yet to be announced. As soon as we have more information, we will be able to prepare ourselves. However, they already announced some things. I read them when I signed you up for the tournament,” he pointed to me, “I saw that some criteria are favored during the tournament. For example, whoever has the biggest pack starts the first phase. In addition,” he paused dramatically and then continued, “Only mated participants are allowed in the tournament!”

All I want most is to win this tournament. Now this?

Oh fuck, am I obligated to have a fucking mate?