ALPHA RAY
Year 2006
(Winter, The Howling Five Kingdom)
"Rex, stop!" The eldest princess wrestles with Rex's iron grip. "Stop, Rex! You're hurting him! He can't breathe!"
"I'm hurting him?" Rex roars, his glare boring a hole through Ray's skull. "He's hurting us! You blasted mutt," he snarls at the red, strained face.
"Rex, let go of him. The folks are coming back too. Everything's okay now—."
Rex yanks Ray towards him and lowers his voice to a dangerous tone. "You could've come back sooner. Mother was worried sick. She was about to cross an ocean to find you, do you have any idea how dangerous that is? And all this time, you were having fun, you thankless mutt!" He squeezes harder, and Ray's lungs start scraping for air, his fingers claw desperately, pleading the iron grip to loosen.
"I… didn't mean to… please, Rex… I can explain—."
"Rex, please, let him explain!" Seeing that the eldest is blinded by rage, the princess hastily suggests, "Ray, say you're sorry. Just tell him that you're sorry. Now!"
"I'm—so—rry, Re—x!" Ray whimpers, his face puffed up with vessels popping all over his forehead. "Plea—se!" And he's thrown back on the floor like filth.
Air gushes in like a broken water pipe, but every gasp stings, and Ray gets more frightened, grabbing his throat, begging the pain to stop.
"Alright, EXPLAIN."
Worried that things will worsen if he didn't, Ray hastily spits out the words as fast as he can. "They brought me to the human world—." He points at Mozzo, who immediately opens his mouth to refute but cuts off at Alpha Rex's warning scowl.
"So come back immediately." Raymond, the third prince appears beside Rex, his eyes evaluating Ray.
"I can't!"
"Why not?"
"I was tied up." All of sudden, Ray feels the pressure of those ropes that had bound him, then Mozzo's dagger eyes are burning his back. He focuses on Raymond to ignore the suffocation and continues, "I was tied to a tree. Then I shifted."
"And you cut yourself loose." Raymond hastens for everyone's sake. "And?"
"I didn't." Ray can't look at anyone but the floor.
"You didn't, what?" His eldest brother demands, a warning undercurrent in his tone.
Ray snaps shut. Tell everyone that he can't cut himself loose because his wolf wouldn't cooperate? Who would believe him? More importantly, who else would trust him? A werewolf who blames his wolf is like a child who blames his parents for birthing him!
"Well?" Rex snaps.
It was Ray's fault that he couldn't control his own wolf. "I didn't cut myself loose," he murmurs.
Mozzo can't hide his grin of pleasure and satisfaction while Ray's siblings exchange glances of exasperation of the impending.
But the eldest princess asks Ray for a reason, and Mozzo smirks smugly. "Because he wants to play in the human world, Luna."
"I've never thought of that!" Ray tries to explain but is swiftly blocked by Mozzo.
Addressing the entire pack like a pastor, the bully grabs his chest declaring his innocence. "And we've never brought the prince anywhere near the human world!"
"You did!" Ray fights for a space to be seen and tell the truth but Mozzo is stronger and holds him back, behind him.
"We certainly never tied him to a tree! Why would we? We love him dearly. We respect him as we respect the King!"
"I was tied to a tree!" Ray cries.
"The prince is making things up to excuse his traitorous behaviour!" Shouts one of the muttlings.
"I'm not making things up! And I respect the Goddess!"
"Then, let's say we did tie you up," says Mozzo, "you shifted, didn't you? So why not use those sharp fangs bequeathed to us and cut yourself loose?"
Ray turns to his siblings. Is no one going to stop all this? Is no one going to save him? Are they not his family? Why do they look like they trust Mozzo more than their little brother?
"So why, Ray?" asks Rox. "Why didn't you cut yourself loose?"
Ray looks around, his eyes scanning every face, each one filled with bitter anger and detest, and his newfound courage shrinks even more, shrivelling back into its seed coat. He did promise to tell the truth.
No, I can't say that. I promised Father. No one can know that he's allergic to his wolf. It's for the family. For the pack. No one must know.
"SO?!" Rex demands, his impatience through the roof.
And the perfect excuse hits him. Ray brightens up and cries out, "A snowstorm broke out!" He eagerly tells the others who have not moved from their crescent formation around Rex. "We don't do well in snowstorms, you all know." Ray pleas for their weary frowns to change. "I almost died!"
A loud sigh that calls him out a liar recaptures his attention: Mozzo is shaking his head, mirroring the disappointment glowing from his siblings' eyes. "You could've just told them the truth, Ray," says the bully. "It's alright to have a little fun and forget about home."
Ray is shell-shocked. "But I'm telling the truth! You left me there to die! You, Mozzo!" He points at his mutt-lings. "And all of you! You tied me to a tree and a snowstorm broke out, and I almost died." Ray scans around, his eyes begging for support. When there's none, he swings back to his family. "It's the truth, Rex, you have to believe me!"
Before Rex can investigate further on the matter, the conniving Mozzo swiftly surrenders like a framed puppy. "See that? That's what you get for playing the good mutt." Catching on, his mutt-lings shake their heads in resentment.
Contempt and jeers explode amongst the onlookers.
Glares are burning holes everywhere on the back of his head. 'Disgrace to the pack' and 'filthy breed' are hurled at him, and the familiar fear returns, gnawing his intestines. Ray grabs his sister's hand. "Please, I couldn't find my way back because I was healing. I was out for six days!"
His sister is surprised. Then, disappointment slams into her eyes. "And for the other fourteen?"
Before Ray can tell her about Kate, one of Mozzo's muttlings snaps from behind him, "Ha! There he goes again. When Alpha Ray finds himself at the losing end, he starts buying sympathy."
Another one snorts in disapproval. "From a werewoman, no less."
"He always does this when his lies don't work," laments Mozzo to the crowd, and the jeers turn to howls of curses.
"But I'm telling the truth!" Ray protests to his pack.
Prioritising their folks' wishes, the eldest princess casts her doubts aside and asks Ray as gently as their mother would, "Who saved you, Ray?"
"Kate!" Ray blurts out.
Everyone squints in confusion as much as Rex. "Who?"
And Mozzo scoffs. "A human! The prince eloped with a human!" He turns to the angry mob and shouts at the top of his lungs. "He's been having fun with a human girl all this time!"
New gasps of outraged disbelief punch the air, and Mozzo shoots a furious finger at Ray. "Now you all know who's been lying—and who's been telling the truth."
Rex stares speechless at the poison chalice. He's got the entire pack roaring in a bitter fury matching his, Rex is unable to find an entry.
Sensing his predicament, the second eldest comes up from behind him and whispers into his ears, "Let him, Rex. We'll see where this goes."
"But they want Ray to be banished—we can't let that happen. Not under my watch!"
At this, Raymond interjects and murmurs a solution into their ears amidst the ongoing strike.
"While we ignored our daily bread and went around looking for him, the young prince was out having fun with a human! What does he take us for? Idiots?!" The enraged were-folks roar with curses, throwing fists in the air, demanding for Ray's head.
Mozzo swings a murderous look at Ray. "This is offensive even to the Goddess!" Then, he turns to Rex with a helpless gaze. "Alpha Rex, you must do something!"
"Banish that wretched thing!" Someone shouts, and everyone starts chanting.
"Banish him! Banish him! Banish him!"
Ray is frantic. He can't be a rogue. He won't survive! He grabs Rex's hand and squeezes it desperately. "She's human, but she saved me. I was really out, Rex. You know how weak I am. I need time to recover. That's why I was gone for so long. I was resting. When I got strong enough, I came home—."
Rex's gaze softens a little but then Rox suddenly appears between the brothers, her face cold and distant. Ray notices that the others have left Rex's side to calm the energy in the hall.
"You can't expect us to believe that you were on the brink of death," says Rox, "when you look like you've had laughter for breakfast, lunch and dinner for twenty days."
Ray swivels back to explain to his sister when he sees her right arm raised. Before he reacts, the hand swings a crescent and strikes the nearest cheek. The blow pushes Ray backwards, he loses his footing and lands on the floor in a loud, painful thud that silences the great hall.
Then, Rex clears his throat and announces, his look firm and serious. "On behalf of our father, Alpha Keithen Hook, we sincerely apologise for all the inconveniences that our inconsiderate, selfish little brother has brought upon everyone. Our father has taught us well, and we will not sweep this under the rug. Ray Hook shall be dealt with like everyone else."