The Rejected Alpha's Vengeance

Her voice was familiar, awfully familiar, and as they watched the woman transform from the old hag they had been with in the shelter for a while, to the woman they all were seeking, their minds were blank as they tried to process everything on overdrive.

"Let\'s agree, the next time, you\'ll be the old hag," Hawi said to Malika who was watching her amusedly. Now that she had transformed, Hawi looked beautiful, a sight that she herself would have been shocked with if she had seen herself in the mirror.

She looked like a goddess even as the slow winds rushed through her hair in the night.

It had been long since she felt whole again and now that she was sure she wasn\'t alone, Hawi felt like she could conquer the world. It was but a feeling that she would always reign in, an emotion unfamiliar to her, but also one that she was willing to explore.

This right here was the feeling of freedom, and more than anything, she felt like she belonged, even though the circumstances were not exactly comforting to anyone at the moment.

"Fine, but I think you aced it, don\'t you, Hawi?" Malika said and Hawi flipped her hair, as she looked at her proud protector. This was a feat she hadn\'t thought she would get to and now that she had, she was glad she did hold on, even for a while longer.

"Of course I did, but none of that will convince me to do it again," Hwi said and Malika just fist bumped her.

"You did great, mistress," Malika said, as he bowed to Hawi, a sign that they were finally snapping from their little world to one in which the prisoners and the Greyson wolves were staring at them in disbelief.

It was understandable though, because none of them had expected to see Haiw, not even the prisoners who trusted and believed in her so much. It was like they had been hoping that everything would be fine, even though they didn\'t have the slightest clue of how it would be.

"The old hag… The granddaughter who had had enough with her nana… Was it all an act?" Rukiya asked, clearly not expecting what had just happened.

She couldn\'t be blamed though, because even Hawi herself hadn\'t expected that they would end up having some blood oath. She hadn\'t even imagined that Rukiya would ever make such a great step and that too a risky and unstable one. But then here they were, right?

"You played us," Adolf said angrily as he looked at Hawi. She had changed and she looked prettier than ever, not that she would care to admit it, but boy was it something that made Adolf\'s blood boil.

His best friend had been forced to make a blood oath binding her to a woman so unpredictable, a woman who loved playing games, and a woman who clearly wasn\'t scared of losing anything.

"Did I? All I did was be the old hag who had come to seek shelter. Besides, it wasn\'t like I was encouraging your alpha to do the blood oath. You heard her. She wanted to do this for herself.

"Don\'t blame her terrible decisions on me, we both know that wouldn\'t be fair and not nice, don\'t you think?" Hawi said nonchalantly as she looked at the. She wasn\'t even bothered that she seemed like a traitor, but then she was right.

"You both knew she was in the tent?" Adolf turned to the prisoners who were smiling and in awe that their banished alpha was back.

They were so happy they could agree to whatever the Greysons wanted at the moment. Besides, it wasn\'t like they could go anywhere right now.

Their leader was back, the women they were so ready to fight for were back and that was all they needed to believe that maybe their prayers had been answered too.

"Does it matter now? You got what you wanted and we got the affirmation that our Mistress was alive. Whatever you want to do with us, get on with it. Besides, we don\'t mind dying by your hands this time," one of the prisoners said to Adolf, who was looking at them disbelievingly.

"Why you little—"

"Okay. I see that it\'s hard to comprehend that I am back. But no one is killing anyone now," Hawi said before turning to Malika, "Portal them back to Sicario."

"Are you sure, mistress?" Malika used formally, reminding Hawi that here and now, they were a protector and her assigned white wolf.

Maybe that was going to be new to everyone and would take them a while to adjust, but alike wanted to remind Rukiya indirectly that no matter what happened, Hawi was never going to be alone.

"But alpha—" the prisoners began but Hawi just smiled at them, and it wasn\'t the kind of creepy smile, no.

It was the smile they had once been used to. The smile of a once-happy Hawi, the smile of the girl who had everything going right in her life, and the girl who didn\'t have to fight for her place in the society. It was the smile everyone in Sicario would probably never get to see again because of the circumstances but maybe they just needed to come to that reality.

"You guys have to go back home. However, I need you to send a message to Dom. Tell him that \'maybe white wasn\'t truly a color\', and tell Jer to prepare for the red veil, because it will reign for a very long time," Hawi said and the prisoners looked at her.

They knew what that meant and frankly, they were worried for Sicario. There were times they wished they didn\'t understand their banished alpha but right now, they couldn\'t deny that they deserved it.

After everything that had happened, the red veil being mentioned was understandable.

"Okay alpha," the prisoners nodded as they bowed to their alpha once again.

"Come along, let\'s get you through to Sicario," Malika said before she created a portal, unshackled the prisoners, healed them, and then sent them through the portal to Sicario. All that time, Rukiya and Adolf weren\'t sure what they were up against or even what was happening here.

"You\'re her protector. It all makes sense now. You didn\'t hesitate to defend her even if it was indirectly. I should have noticed the stench earlier wasn\'t even pee in the first place, it was the stench of an overly ripe mixed fruit juice.

"You were here all this time," Hudhayfah said to Malik once the portal closed. Malika on the other hand just stared at him like he was a slow poke, but was he when he had managed to figure it out this soon?

"You\'re smart, Hudhayfah. Anyway, we don\'t want to intrude in your shelter. We will go back to ours now. And you guys need to leave the free lands before you get linked to me.

"It would be really embarrassing for the three of you," Hawi said before she turned to walk back to her shelter, along with Malika.

"Won\'t you say something to me?" Rukiya asked, making Hawi stop in her tracks.