Keith Ruby

My father's feet paced back and forth in front of the desk I was sitting behind. His hands raking through his hair, their length now in disarray. "I knew I didn't like the pairing. You were so hell-bent on having that girl. Now, look at what has happened..."

I leaned back in my chair; feet crossed over on top of my desk. My father made his way to the liquor trolly in the corner, pouring himself a generous glass of whiskey. Taking a large mouthful of the amber drink, he wiped his mouth before continuing his rant. "What a fool Robert Bristol was, and the bitch of his was no better trying to force a wolf with a mate to wed another. And for the mate to be the son of the Moon Queen." He took another gulp of his drink before slamming the empty glass back down and refilling it once more. "Fucking fool."

"I don't care who Yasmin thinks she is mated too; she WILL be mine." I seethed. I was beyond pissed at my father. How dare he walk away and take orders from a leech. "There were only two vampires there, the packs could have taken them down before sunrise, but you bowed down to the female whore."

My feet slammed down on the ground as I pushed myself to stand. My hands now resting on my desk as I bend forward, hate filling my words. "You are not fit to be Alpha if you take orders from a bloodsucker, Father."

The speed in which he spun towards me and had his hand wrapped around my neck was enough to make me freeze for a moment. Shaking the shock away, my arm flew up, knocking his hand from my neck as I stepped back slightly to get out of his reach. "You too are a fool if you believe we would have survived against those two vampires. Do you truly not know who they were? What they were?"

His question stumped me for a moment. Of course, I knew what they were. They were vampires. Fed of blood, burnt in daylight, a stake through the heart for instant death. What was this old man on about? "If you have something to say, Father, then speak."

He just started laughing before he resumed downing the rest of his drink and helping himself to a third. "You don't get it. They were not just any vampires; they were the vampires!"

I was confused. I watched as he finished the glass once more. My father liked a drink now and then but he never had this much in one sitting. With our heated cores, we could handle more alcohol than a human but we will still feel its effects, especially drinking this much this fast. My father held his hand out towards me, the empty glass still in his grasp. "More!"

He was pathetic. Drinking himself stupid, and not making much sense. But I didn't mind, which is why I walked over to the bottle I kept hidden at the back of the trolly. I unscrewed the cap, tipping the golden liquid slowly into his glass as not to spill any. Replacing the bottle to its hiding place I walked to sit on the front of my desk. "You are not making sense old man."

I watched as he raised the glass to his lips mumbling "old man." His eyes snapped to me and before the drink wet his lips his hand lowered to his lap. "You want me to tell you then? Tell me boy, where does the shifter originate from?"

"The moon goddess," I answered unsure where he was going with this. My eyes stayed trained on the glass in his hand as I recited what was taught when I was a young pup. "The moon goddess fell in love with the earth. One night she rode a star to the ground where she met man, who were cruel and stripped the moon goddess of all her love. But the mood goddess had conceived a child, one that was born not only of flesh and blood but also of strength and beauty and light. This being was the first shifter, able to move from human shape to the form of a wolf. The first werewolf."

"Yes," my father nodded still nursing the drink in his lap. "But what the fates had left out of the story was that all things must be in balance so she made the shifter a brother. One of death, and darkness, and hate. This was the first vampire to be born."

"Born? But they are made not born?" I was starting to wonder if the man was still sane. Still, I let him continue the story.

"Yes, Keith. Vampires must bite to create new vamplings, but all creatures have a mother. Yasmin's mate, Caine, is the son of the Moon Goddess Diana, mother to all shifters. A simple stake to the heart will not kill those two, as they are the first. The Moon Queen, can not die, nor can her sons. She is not only a vampire but she is also a god."

I could feel the blood draining from my face at his words. "They can not die? But I saw them fall."

My father shot up straight in his chair, his drink close to spilling. "What have you done, Keith?"

It was not possible, they had fallen. Both mother and son, the moment the stake entered their chest.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" my Father roared standing now to his full height making me bow my head in submission.

"I... We... My team and I were waiting and watching. When the Moon Queen left before her son, we cornered her and drove a stake in her heart. We left her on the ground to burn when the sun was to rise. When we went back a few days later, all that was left was the stake. Then when the other vampire left with my mate, we managed to take them off guard. He too was dead the moment the wood pierced his heart."

My father just stood there, silently staring at me. A look of horror on his face. "When?"

"They are both dead Father. Nothing was left of them."

"WHEN?" He yelled, his Alpha tone wanting to make me cower.

Three days ago, was when we retrieved my mate and killed the vamp.

"Idiot. You have not only killed yourself, but you have now killed this pack." He started to pace once more mumbling to himself again. His drink seeming to be forgotten in his hand.

He has gone mad. He no longer deserves to run this pack. Rolling over and playing submissive to a vampire. Drawing my shoulders back, and steadying my voice I tried to speak. "Fath-"

"NO. You don't get to speak. You have done enough damage as it is. I'm sorry Keith, but I will not be able to save you from this mess. Had you just spoken to me first, I would have explained everything to you. But for the sake of your pride, and the lust for a mate that does not belong to you, you have not only killed yourself without a way around it. But you have no doubt killed every member of this pack."

I was too stunned to say anything. I was taken back by the hate dripping from every word my father had just spoken. I could feel him in my mind, opening the link to everyone in the pack.

"All, women, children, elderly and the sick, immediately make your way to the underground tunnels. Warriors and Guards, prepare for an attack."

"And you," my father spat turning his glare on me. "You will be offered to the Moon Queen, along with the girl. Tell me where she is, NOW!"

"Father you are drunk, and they are dead. Call off this nonsense."

I low growl rumbled from his chest just as the Beta and Gamma entered the room, coming to stand on either side of me before gripping my arms.

"What don't you understand, boy. They can not die. Take him outside and chain him." With those last words to the other two wolves in the room, my father tossed back the drink almost forgotten in his hand. Not stopping until the glass was empty.

It only took a moment; I hadn't even taken one step before the glass slipped from his hand smashing on the floor. His hands grabbing at his chest and throat.

Shaking the hands off my arms and taking the three steps towards my father, I whispered. "You are no longer fit to be Alpha of this pack. You didn't even smell the wolfsbane did you?" In the next second, I had snapped his neck, watching as my father's body crumpled to the floor.

I turned to the beta, "Announce it, NOW!"

"I Beta John Michael, highest-ranked wolf present agree the new Alpha of the Ruby Pack is Keith Ruby, son to fallen Eaton Ruby."

The two men who had been fiercely loyal to my father knelt before me. I was now Alpha. I was in my rightful place. My mate locked securely away until the next full moon where we will mate. The vampires were dead, no matter what my crazy father was sprouting.

Finally, everything was going my way.

"Get this disgrace of a shifter out of my office," I ordered, making my way to my seat behind the desk.

They had all but walked out the door when the sound of loud howls rang from around the pack grounds. One after another, more howls joining the first.

I could feel the panic, the confusion as I raced towards the back of the house.

One word was spoken through the pack link, repeated over and over by the growing number of wolves sounding the alarm.

"Vampires."

My muscles were tensing by the time I stepped out of the house to join my pack.

There standing with an army of vampires, the moons beam directly upon him, was Caine.

A not dead, but extremely pissed off, Caine.

Father was right.

Caine's voice was menacing. Icy steel ready to cut down its enemy alone.

"Where. Is. My. Mate?" His eye's instead of turning a deep black like the other vampires surrounding the pack had turned a brilliant red.

I wasn't telling this corpse anything. "If I die, you will never find her."

"I guess I will just have to keep you alive, then."

I could see it in his eyes. I was to die, but not here, not now, and not at all fast. I will not be captured. Not when I have just become Alpha. "Attack."

My bones snapped and rearranged as I leaped forward with the rest of the pack.

Live or Die, I won't let him have my mate.