My family and I ran towards the west through the forest. I received a mind-link from Amelia letting us know that the other Alphas were headed to the north.

I heard earlier that Beta Avery had already cleared the north, so I wondered why they were headed that way.

I reached out to my mate and daughters to let them know.

Saranya split off to head north directly with Audra and Kendra. Of my daughters they were the three strongest warriors.

I continued west for a way with my Luna and two other daughters, Loie and Desta, before hooking around to head north, also.

We would come at them from two sides. Three Alphas wouldn’t be a problem for the seven of us to take out, but it might take some time.

Suddenly a rotten stench permeated the air. It didn’t take long to see what it was, either.

Inside the woods to the north were hundreds of undead wandering around seeking meals in the form of flesh.

I mind-linked my family and warriors, letting them know what I was seeing and advising them to use caution.

We were going to have to take the long way around. We couldn’t go through them without severe delay. I shifted course continuing further west again to try and go around them.

They were denser than I initially thought, and I couldn’t see an opening anywhere. What’s worse, they were circling in behind us as we ran.

“Father...” Desta linked to me as we ran.

“Rip their heads clean off. Just breaking necks or tearing out the throat won’t do. Heads off is the only way to terminate them,”I linked to all the girls.

“Yes, Alpha,” came the reply.

Here goes nothing, I thought as we could no longer avoid the creatures. I leapt into the fray clamping my jaws around heads and popping them off their undead bodies.

This slowed our progress by much, but we didn’t have any other choice. It was clear now why the Alphas were running to the north. To put the undead between themselves and the enemy.

Painstakingly we cleared a path through the trees, felling the rotten army like plucking flowers. My wolf’s mouth flooded with saliva, attempting to wash the foul taste of the putrid flesh from our jaws.

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It took more than an hour to finish clearing a path and we were covered in so much dead flesh that it would be surprising if the Alphas could scent us at this point without assuming we were undead.

The creatures that lined the path we cleared turned to us, following us as we ran, but we did not heed them. I pinned down the scents of Alphas Trent, Fillmore, and Kline. They were familiar to me as I’d met them all previously.

They were a nasty trio who were aging and outliving their place in this world. No longer in their prime, it was clear that they were hoping to avoid personal confrontation while sending their warriors into the fray.

My eyes located them just where my nose said they would be. Up on an elevated hill surrounded by a large circle of boulders which had a small clearing in the center, they were in human form. Their heads were visible above the boulders.

From that vantage point they would see anyone coming for them and the boulders would shield them from any undead activity. It was a smart choice if it weren’t for my family.

Saranya’s wolf, Alessia, made eye contact with mine and we jumped to the top of the rock formations, Megan and the other girls circling the outside.

We stood still and silent, looking down at the three Alphas as they shifted, snarled, and growled warnings at us.

If I had been in human form, I would have laughed in their faces. I could smell the fear radiating from them at the sheer size of Saranya and me.

Saranya and I began to creep and leap across the tops of the boulder circle, until finally jumping down into the clearing before the alpha cowards.

We towered over them, and Kline’s wolf hip-checked the other two towards us before leaping up to the tops of the rocks and disappearing over the edge.

When he jumped down the back of the hill, I heard Audra and Kendra growl low before the sounds of ripping flesh reverberated into the night sky.

Trent lowered his head and fell to his belly at my feet, showing me his neck. He was hoping that the submissive stance would save his life, but it would not.

I was aware of the hundreds and hundreds of she-wolves and humans he had tortured and killed in his four decades as alpha and because of this, his life would end here today.

I walked towards him, clamped my jaws around his bared neck and bit down, snapping it in two.

While I was ending Trent’s life, Fillmore had slid his paws back slowly under Saranya’s wolf’s watchful eye and made a run for it towards the base of the boulders.

Alessia’s teeth clamped down on his shoulder in mid-leap and she twisted her head, throwing him to the ground hard. As he drew in a deep breath to try and get the air back into his lungs her quick jaws wrapped around his throat and she yanked her head back, ripping his head from his shoulders.

Alessia huffed into her nose and snorted, clearing the blood from her airways. Then she lifted her face to the sky and howled long and loud. The deep mournful sound was one of both victory and sorrow. Her sisters’ wolves answered her cry with howls of their own.

I jumped up again to the top of the boulders and scanned the woods around the clearing and noticed the undead had fallen. Whatever magic had breathed life into them was now extinguished.

Three packs had new Alphas this day and I suspected a fourth would soon follow.

Saranya, Audra, and I mind-linked our new pack members with a clear message, “Stand down. Go home. Await your new Alpha.”

All of our minds flooded with responses of, “Yes, Alpha.”

I tipped back my head and howled my deep booming howl into the air which meant, “All is well. Goddess speed, Tristan.”