Black Devil Territory 

That night, while Elena enjoyed a movie with her folks and pals in the cozy pack house living room in the heart of Full Moon, someone else, somewhere that was anything but cosy, was being beaten.

"Do you like life?" A voice reverberated through the murky air, dripping with decay, malice and worst things.

"I...I do!"

"Then tell me why you crossed our border!" 

Dim lights flickered sporadically, casting shadows that danced along the narrow, damp corridors. In the cells, only a couple of unlucky souls remained, their hollow eyes accepted their fate.

Once you entered, escape was rare, if not inside a plastic bag.

A crackling laugh was heard, followed by a loud crash.

"I wouldn't behave like that! Just make it easy for all of us." Another voice, more neutral, vibrated from the same dark cell.

"I already told you!" The prisoner responded with a sneer, still very confident considering his precarious situation.

"I was lost, and I crossed your border before I could find my way around in the darkness." 

This time, no punches or growls followed. Just some muffled sounds. 

Then, out of nowhere, a scream of sheer pain enveloped the whole prison. The grey walls and a few rats the sole witnesses.

"We weren't born yesterday. Just tell us what you were really doing and you may even live." The same voice that a few minutes ago had warned the prisoner, spoke again. 

"Don't you want to keep all your fingers? You might still need them." 

A weak whine was the only response. 

"Here we go. See? It wasn't so difficult. So why did you cross the border and try to run away when you saw us?" Now the voice had a hint of sweetness, as if it was speaking to a crying child that just fell down by accident, rather than to a prisoner that just lost 3 fingers. 

"I-I had to c-check if you had a w-w-weak p-patrol... on the south side near the big river." The prisoner stuttered with a final gulp. 

"Here, have some water. You did well." The sweet voice was now even gentler.

"Why the river?" Another voice demanded harshly. Pure brutality and rage radiated from his figure. 

"We-we-" The prisoner tried to speak, heavily shaking at the owner of that creepy voice. 

"We what? Go on." The sweet voice intervened again.

"Our Alpha wanted to invade you by swimming!" He spat out, giving up to his captors. 

"Ssssh, it's ok. You did very well. Now, who's your Alpha?" 

After another sniff, the prisoner pronounced the name that caused riots, silent assassinations and nightmares all over the packs.

"Lord Skull."

The captors and the prisoner were silent for a while, evaluating the information with all its implications. 

"Very well then." The 'sweet' captor said, with an evil smirk.

“Wha-“ The scared voice was interrupted by a sudden sound of broken bones.

“Why did you kill him? He could -” The harsh captor finally spoke again, no concerned at all by his friend killing.

“He didn’t have anything else my friend.” The other answered, his sweet lips had a malicious grin now, as if just breaking the neck of someone was a natural habit.

“Now let’s go out from this pigsty... Alpha is back”.

The two individuals left that horrid place, heading to greet their Alpha, finally back after his 'travel'...

“Are you ready to tell him the great news?” One of the two mocked the other, with another huge grin.

“Are you enjoying this, aren’t you?” The Beta replied with a bored face.

“It’s not everyday that a Black Devil finds a mate!”

After a pause, he continued.

“Especially YOU!” A quick laugh followed his statement, receiving a puff in response.

When they reached the main entry of the pack house, they suddenly stopped. A huge naked man was standing there, occupying the whole door frame, and obviously waiting for them, full of dirt and old blood.

A smile slowly appeared on his hard features while eyeing his Gamma and Beta.

“Look who’s back from the mountains!” The Gamma exclaimed while patting his Alpha's shoulder.

“I assume this blood isn’t yours.” The Beta stated, noticing all that clotted blood.

“Your assumption is right.” The Alpha replied, his deep voice was strange, slightly distorted.

The Gamma and Beta knew why: their Alpha hadn’t shifted back into his human form for long time. His ears were slightly elongated, some black fur was still covering part of his extremely large body and yellowish claws were still visible on his toes and fingers. And his eyes, normally a mesmerising turquoise, were now glowing with a dangerous dark-blue spark ~ some of the odd rumours circulating about their Alpha were declaring he had stormy eyes (in a literal sense) and if you were watching attentively, you could even notice lamps and thunders in them, among the storm.

Alpha Mirko probably shifted back only when he had reached the pack house’s perimeter, surely not to scare the maids or the children, or even some of the men… not that in this status he looked like your average friendly pack member. Because he didn’t. Completely comfortable being naked and in that totally primitive state, Alpha Mirko walked back inside the house, with his Gamma and Beta at each side, ready to update him after two weeks of his absence.

“How was your… duty… into the wild?” His Gamma asked, carefully selecting the words properly.

“Liberal as usual my friend. And how’s everything going with the Full Moon mutts at our school?” He questioned back, sitting on a stool of the kitchen.

“They didn’t create any particular issue, apart from some exchanges of strong words with some members of our pack… oh and a little fight on their first day.” Gamma Rolando summarised, pointedly staring at Crucifero, and with a final exaggerated wink. This didn’t go unnoticed by their Alpha, who was studying his friends with a small smile. They had several matters to discuss, some more friendly than others.

“Who started the fight?” Alpha Mirko investigated further while simultaneously ordering some food. He didn’t need to specify what he wanted, in fact everyone well-knew his eating specialities. “Ours.” Crucifero quickly answered with a firm voice. “Full Moon high-ranked members defended themselves only.”

Mirko didn’t miss the amount of words his Beta used. Normally he was the type who let his Gamma doing all the talks. “Well, well... And how do you know that?” Mirko asked with a grin, already connecting the dots. One of the maids just entered and served him a plate of raw meat, probably a kilo or so; her face extremely red and from time to time she was stealing a glare of her Alpha, in all his naked glory.

“Welcome back Alpha” She murmured shyly, blushing even more if that was physically possible.

“Thank you Milly.” He replied, smiling at the typical reaction his presence created toward the female population. “You can go now.” Beta Crucifero said impatient, scarring to death the poor maid who literally flew away.

“Cru, I thought that having a mate was going to make you a tiny sweeter!” Mirko exclaimed with fake surprise.

“How do you-“ A shocked (and funny to watch) Crucifero was about to ask. He made him gape.

“Well my friend, your mark's odour is pungent.” Mirko stated with a smile that reached his normally serious eyes. His sense of smell was more acute than the usual werewolf ~ you needed it if you wanted to survive in his world.

Normally a mark was visible only, and Crucifero was wearing a convenient turtleneck. But Mirko had managed to detect the slightly change of Crucifero’s smell.

“So, who is the lucky mate? And where is him?” He finally asked, curiosity killing him. His best friend and Beta found a mate against all the odds, considering his harsh personality, terrifying reputation and turbid past... without mentioning the history of Black Devil pack with the mateless curse.

“I-“ Crucifero was interrupted by Rolando's exclamation.

“It’s their Beta!”

His statement was followed by his laughs and Crucifero’s growls.

Mirko was the type of ‘person’ who was hardly surprised, but this was surely one of those moments.

“The Full Moon Beta’s son?” His face was pensive and balancing the various consequences that could come out.

“Yes, his name is Marco.” Crucifero’s sweeter tone didn’t go unnoticed by the two, who widely smiled at their always grumpy Beta.

“Congratulations brother, you deserve it.” Mirko patted him on the back, receiving the closet thing resembling a smile.

“How are we going to manage the situation with their Alpha and Beta?” Gamma Rolando inquired, biting his juicy burgher and his thick steak at the same time.

“Let’s discuss business later. I want to know more about these Full Moon teens.” Mirko demanded, his plate already almost half empty.

“So, the famous Alpha’s daughter is among them. How’s that little rat?” Mirko asked, eyeing his Gamma and Beta.

“Each male student is talking about her and how much hot she is and so on.” Rolando reported with a bored face. “She is probably super spoiled and posh.” Alpha Mirko commented, thinking about Alpha Giacomo and his human Luna and how they only had one offspring.

“She touched mate.” Crucifero growled, his eyes flickering with rage.

Alpha Mirko’s deep laugh echoed in the kitchen. “They are probably friends since childhood, Cru. Let your mate breathes!” Mirko said, grinning at the jealousy of his friend. “Yea sure, you talk because you didn’t meet your mate.” Crucifero muttered in annoyance at his Alpha and only person in the world he trusted (apart from Rolando and, well, a little bit his new mate).

“I don’t have a mate.” Mirko laughed again at how naive his Beta was. “How do you know? If we-“ Rolando was interrupted by a scoff. “Just because the two of you have a mate, doesn’t mean I have one. None of the Alphas of this pack has ever had one. My father, and his grandfather before him, had a convenient marriage with selected she-wolves.” He paused to drink some water.

“Plus, I absolutely do not want one, gosh!” He concluded with horror at the idea, raising his big hands in front of him.

“Ok let’s see who the lucky girl would be if you happen to have one.” Rolando said with a sly smile.

“Are you going back to school now?” He then asked.

“Yea probably. If I continue missing so much, Alpha or not, I will be stuck there forever.” Mirko replied in boredom.

“This week I have some meetings, but I want at least to come to check things out with the teachers, and strengthen the defences around there.” His face was now serious. “About that.” Rolando added with an equal serious expression. “We got another sac of rubbish from Lord Skull, trying to sneak in.”

Mirko’s frightening Alpha mode was on, fury crossing his face.

“Where is him?” He growled, his voice already altered.

“In a pit.” Crucifero replied with a grin.

“Good. I think it is time to add more training sessions, even during school hours.” Mirko stated with determination. “Tomorrow we will personally make a special one to all the students.”

With that, they moved to a more appropriate space, discussing various business matters and strategies, not before Mirko finally went to shower and wore some human clothes.

~~~~~

Tomorrow was the day Black Devil Alpha was going back to school.

Tomorrow was the day history was taking an extreme turn.

Tomorrow was the day that would be remembered by several generations... and for different reasons…