Chapter 179
#Chapter 179 – Closing in on the Pack
Victor and Alvin sit quietly in the hummer, their eyes focused on the foliage in front of them. Just
through it, they can begin to see the start of a field, the ce where Victor intends to hold the battle.
Alvin sits next to his father, quietly chewing on a gran bar, patiently waiting for the next steps. Victor
nces at him, impressed, passively, by his ability to sit and wait. He smiles, considering that a good
soldier needs many skills, but patience is certainly one of them.
“Alvin,” he says quietly. “When this all…starts. I want you on the back line. And I want your promise that
you will stay there, no matter what happens. Stay with the Beta to whom I assign you. All right?”
Alvin looks up at him and gives a brisk nod, surprising Victor again. He had expected more pushback
from that.
Victor reaches out a hand and puts it on his son’s shoulder. “Or, if you want,” he says quietly. “You can
stay here, in the car. And wait. It’s going to be…well, it will not all be fun, what happens on that
battlefield today. You won’t be in any danger, on the back line. But there’s no reason you have to see it,
if you don’t want to.”
Alvin holds his gaze steadily. “I want to see it, papa. All of it. This is my pack too.”
Victor nods, understanding, but inwardly he feels guilt. Perhaps he should have insisted that Alvin stay
home with Bridgette and Burton – he’s just a child.
But then, Victor recalls Alvin’s words from earlier. He’s not just a kid – he’s an Alpha as well. Victor
knows that perhaps more than anyone, being shoved into the position of leading a pack when he was
far too young for the job.
Victor sighs, a little, wondering if this was all a mistake – perhaps he should have let Evelyn go, that
day at the Quizpetition, let the boys have a normal life, where they wouldn’t be on a battlefield at
age six –
The radio on his shoulder res, interrupting his thoughts –
“Sir,” he voice says, frantic. “We’ve been detected – Walsh’s forces are aware that the left nk – at
least the left nk is here – it’s only a matter of time –“
There’s a little disturbance, and then another voicees on the line –
“Sir,” another Beta says, “we have to move. Now.”
“s**t,” Victor murmurs, and then reaches up to the radio on his shoulder to respond. “Copy,” he replies,
“All forces, move out.”
He turns to Alvin then, whose face is gone a little pale. “You ready, kid?” Victor asks, revving the car’s
engine. Alvin nods, stoic, and looks out the windshield. He is ready.
Then, without another word, Victor presses his foot on the gas and the car moves forward into the
meadow in front of them. All around them, Alvin can see other hummers likewise engaging, moving
forward.
N?velDrama.Org content rights.
Victor’s forces have encircled Walsh’s property and, at this moment, are moving inward, tightening
around Walsh like a noose.
If all goes as nned, Walsh and his forces will be trapped.
The Betas herd Mrs. Walsh, Emma, Delia, and Ian back upstairs. They move them into the dining
room, which is full of other Betas, snapping the shutters shut and ensuring that all of the doors are
locked. Ian looks around at them, watching them work, noting that the shutters are made of metal – not
wood, as he originally thought – and shut out the lightpletely when closed.
“What is happening,” Mrs. Walsh demands of a Beta as he leads her by the arm to a chair by the
firece.
“We’ve been asked to take you here, ma’am,” the Beta says. “This room has been retrofitted as a
saferoom, where you cannot be harmed or taken in the event of a siege.”
“What!?” Mrs. Walsh exims, looking around in panic now. “A siege?!”
Emma and Delia nce at each other, Emma pulling Ian close to her as they, too, stand by the
firece. Looks like they really dide at the wrong time.
Before the Beta can respond, though, Walsh and Wird sweep into the room.
“Yes, Betty,” Walsh says, walking over to his wife, Wird at his heels. “We are at war. That upstart,
Kensington – he’s surrounded ournds.”
Mrs. Walsh gasps, pressing a hand to her heart.
Walsh’s eyes move to Emma, then, sweeping over her. “You’re back,” I see, he says, a bit of a sneer in
his voice. “Conveniently timed. And where is your husband?”
Emma blinks a moment and then remembers that, of course, she’s supposed to have juste back
from vacation. “I have no idea where my husband is,” she says, frowning at him. “I left him here with
you.”
Walsh looks away from her, dismissing her, his eyes flitting impassively over Delia and Ian before
nodding to the Betas, who finish their job of securing the room.
“The four of you,” Walsh says decisively, “will stay in this room until I give word that you maye out.
The bathroom is avable to you,” he says, gesturing towards door at the back corner of the room, “and
food will be brought to you at my discretion. There are also supplies there,” he says, pointing towards a
corner where – indeed – Emma sees boxes full of food and bottled water.
With that, Walsh and Wird move to leave the room.
“Wait,” Emma calls after, him, angry. “Are you serious? We’re just supposed to sit here, your prisoners,
while you have a battle in the back yard?”
Walsh frowns at her, his hand on the door. “You are no a prisoner, Emma. You are my property. I am
merely protecting you.”
Delia’s mouth falls open as the two Alphas leave the room, but Emma barely blinks. It’s nothing she
hasn’t heard before.
The room is suddenly very quiet, with all of the Betas gone. The four can still hear people rushing
around in the hallways and, from the windows, can begin to hear the thump and yells of a great deal of
movement outside.
“Ian, darling,” Mrs. Walsh says, holding out a hand for her grandson. He takes her hand and she pulls
him closer. “Are you all right? I know this must be frightening for you.”
Ian frowns at the door through which his grandfather left. “I can’t believe he didn’t take me with him,” he
says, angry. Mrs. Walsh frowns at him, confused.
Ian turns his face to her, crossing his arms angrily across his chest. “If I was with my daddy, he would
let me watch.”
Mrs. Walshughs a little at him, trying to keep it light. “I sincerely doubt that, my boy. You are safe in
here – it is better for little boys to stay inside on days like this.”
Ian doesn’t respond, but he knows she is wrong. Alvin already sent him a picture from the field, with all
of the cars and Betas starting to get into lines, with the helicopters starting to rally overhead. Alvin was
having all the fun.
Angry, Emma storms towards the door, trying the handle. “I can’t believe it,” she murmurs, walking back
to the group. “He honestly just locked us all in here, like we really are his precious goods he’s keeping
out of the looters’ hands.”
“It is safe here,” Mrs. Walsh says, her voice pleading. “Do you honestly want to be out there?”
“Mom,” Emma says, crossing her arms. “Don’t you see how he treats us? Treats you? We’re not
property – we’re people. Quite frankly, the two of us have been locked in loveless marriages for far to
long, forced to sell our freedom to these men. I, for one, am not going to do it anymore.”
Emma’s mother’s eyes go wide and she shakes her head slowly. “You shouldn’t say such things,
Emma. They’re treasonous. Your father…Joyce…they would not like it.”
“Screw what they like, mom,” Emma says, ring at the locked door. Then, she makes a decision.
“Evelyn and I are taking over this pack,” she says, turning her steady gaze to her mother, who gasps.
“We’re overthrowing dad, and Joyce, and we’re taking control of it for ourselves.”
Mrs. Walsh covers her mouth with her hands, horrified.
“And you mom,” Emma says, stern. “You should join us.”