Alpha Damon's Greatest Regret
Chapter 31- Replace Not Destroy

Chapter 31: Chapter 31- Replace Not Destroy

DAMON~

The one at the top, The strongest, the one who led the pack, That was who I was supposed to be and in more ways than one, I had failed.

I had spent the entirety of the day walking through the residential areas of Howlcreek in a hoodie and joggers to avoid anyone noticing me and what I had seen had further pushed what Carlos had talked about to the limelight, the way lowranks were being treated was fucked up and I had done nothing about it for so long, Every word Carlos said, everything I had tried to deny it’s existence thrown back at my face.

Past every alley, down every street, it showed its ugly head, the system was broken, and imperfect, it needed a remedy but the more I saw, the more I realized there was nothing I could do. I had been looking at the pack through rose-colored glasses and ignoring anything that might have shattered my perception of what I thought the pack was, a perfect utopia that I and my father had spent our lives preserving. Right in front of me, a man stood in front of a little boy who held onto a grocery bag.

"You stole that from me!" The large man barked.

"I didn’t, I swear." The boy pleaded with tears in his eyes.

"You low-rank thief!" the man shouted as he raised his hand to strike the boy, as his hand went down to hit the boy I felt my body move on its own but before I could reach the man I saw someone else quickly pick the boy up and move out of the man’s reach, I stood still watching as the strange person put down the boy and turn back to the man.

"Step back." the man warned calmly, I remembered that voice, the person who stepped forward.

"You bastard!" The man shouted as he swung down his large fist to hit the person, he didn’t move and as the man’s fist hit him there was no sign of impact, instead, the person just looked back at the man and slapped him across his face sending him flying into a wall beside them, the man no longer moved, he had been knocked out, Without the man blocking my view I was able to see the person much more clearly.

"Carlos?" I exclaimed with surprise and he immediately turned his eyes to me.

"Alpha, what are you doing here?" he said as he patted the boy’s head and walked towards me.

"I came to see if I had actually been failing my people that much."

"And?"

"I’m sorry." I answered after a short pause "I didn’t want to see all, it’s fucked up"

"I’m glad you saw it." Carlos answered and immediately turned around and walked back to the small boy "Did you steal those" he asked, and the boy immediately shook his head.

"I didn’t." The boy answered.

"That’s a lie, don’t do it again." Carlos cautioned the boy flinched before he turned his eyes down to the ground to avoid Carlos’s knowing gaze and nodded his head "Get out of here." he said and the boy immediately scurried away, he turned back to me then began walking down the street, I followed behind him, We didn’t walk for long as his destination wasn’t far from where we had started, the apartment building housed 5 floors with Carlos apartment being on the third floor, exposed brick walls, rustic furniture on the halls that led to the elevator and even the security guard who sat behind a desk at the entrance looked well equipped for his job.

Reaching the fifth floor we were welcomed with the white floral murals on the walls of the halls that led to the various doors of the apartment, we walked to the last one and he inserted his key and opened it up, I didn’t expect this, everything was done to perfection, the color of the furniture perfectly matching the paint the sky blue paint and complimenting the darker curtains, there was no TV which made me curious what he did in his free time, he continued walking further into his house till he eventually walked through the kitchen and walked through the door that led to the balcony, Immediately I walked through the doors I felt the warm evening breeze blew against me, through my head and against my skin, the lights of the buildings shined brightly, creating a beautiful sight that made my eyes widen with amazement.

"This is what I see when I look at Howlcreek." Carlos said as he leaned against the rails "Undefiled beauty, an escape from what’s down there" he continued, his voice dropping as he said the last words.

"I know." I said then turned away from it to look at him "I let you down and I neglected my people."

"It’s not about that Damon." he immediately replied "I’m not angry at you or the pack, I’m angry at the structure of the world and the way it functions."

"It’s fucked I know, I thought I didn’t have a role to play in all this but mine was the biggest." I said as I turned my face back to the view "I wanna protect my people, all of them."

"Good," Carlos said with a smile.

"I can’t do it alone, I need your help." He turned to me.

"You wanna fix the system, you can’t fix the system, it’s a pillar, if you break down that pillar everything else you’ve built will come crumbling down to rubble," Carlos explained.

"Then what do you want?"

"I don’t know, I just don’t want to be part of it, I don’t want to be a tool to that system," Carlos said as he pushed himself off the railing and was about to go back inside.

"I agree a lot of this society resides on power over another but what if it doesn’t have to." I proposed.

"Are you talking about changing the structure completely?"

"No, I’m talking about replacing it with something sustainable, something less oppressive, something that doesn’t require a weaker class to thrive." He turned back to face me.

"And what will that be?"

"I don’t know," I said, disappointment filling me as I said those words but there was nothing I could do but try "But I wanna try and fix the problem and I honestly need your help" He stepped closer to me, he looked into my eyes for a few seconds as if searching for something before he bent a knee and said.

"as far as you’re trying your best to improve the lives of everyone in the pack, I put my life in your hands and my hands in your service. Will you once again accept me as your beta?" he asked with his head still bowed, I smiled as I stretched my hand to him.

"once again?, You never stopped being my beta."