The Chosen Alpha

Year 1521

A woman sat on a wooden rocking chair facing the window. She sighed softly as she admired the beauty of the full moon and the feel of the night breeze. Her dark curly hair swayed in interval in rhythm to the movement of the breeze. In her arms was a tiny bundle wrapped in soft linen which she rocked gently at intervals. She glanced down at it as it began to squirm. She parted the top of the linen to reveal tiny eyes staring back at her in mild curiosity.

“Little one,” she cooed, a smile crossing her pink lips. “Why aren’t you in slumber yet?”

The infant made a babbling noise as if to answer her question and wrapped it’s tiny fingers around her outstretched index one. She giggled in return and resumed rocking the little one gently. The light from the fire place began to dim a bit and she cocked her head around to stare at it. A sigh escaped her lips. They would need to get more wood later.

Just then, her nose caught a familiar scent and she smiled towards the door. Soon enough faint footsteps could be heard in the distance. She glanced down at the baby as the footsteps got nearer. The baby’s eyes were now fully active as if waiting for the arrival too.

“He is here, little one,” the woman smiled gently.

The door opened and a man stepped in. She stared at him curiously as he stepped into the light. His large toned body slightly exposed by the bear skin garment he wore, was covered in battle scars that had faded over the years. But they did nothing to hinder his attractiveness. Black shaggy hair stood atop his head with some bangs nearly covering his sharp grey eyes and thick facial hair surrounding his jaw line. She detected his quick breathing as he stepped towards her.

“Hello, Amara,” he greeted, bending downwards and placing a kiss on her temple.

“Welcome, Lucas.” She smiled. “How was the meeting?” .

“It seemed to take away every ounce of strength from my body.” He smiled tiredly. “The bickering within the pack is getting out of hand day by day. The water by the brook has nearly run dry and the only one closer as at the border between our territory and that of grey wood’s.”

He paused and tickled the infant. He smiled as the young one let out a tiny laugh.

“So how is our future Alpha?” he asked as the infant grabbed his finger and babbled.

“Restless,” Amara chuckled. “I presume he must be waiting for news on the meeting too. He has barely slept today.”

“Is that so?” Lucas chuckled deeply. “Well, I have set up another meeting with the Alpha of grey wood in two weeks. We will discuss how to handle the issue of the brook by the border of our territories. The last thing I desire is disunity between our packs. The constant bickering within my pack is more than enough trouble.”

Amara nodded. “Where is Kraven?”

“I sent him on patrol with a handful of our packs. He should return in a while.” Lucas pulled away from the baby who seemed to be falling asleep.

He stared at the fireplace. The fire was nearly out.

“We will need more firewood,” he said.

“I was about to suggest the same thing to you,” Amara said.

The both of them paused and sniffed, detecting a scent.

“What brings her here by this hour?” Lucas wondered as he faced the door.

“That is not the only thing of concern.” Amara said, following his gaze. “I perceive something about her. Anxiety…”

“And fear.” Lucas narrowed his eyes.

The door burst open and a woman the same age with Amara quickly stepped inside. Her red hair was disheveled and her green eyes were filled with worry.

“Alpha Lucas. Luna Amara,” she gasped, out of breath.

“Easy, Tabitha.” Lucas raised his hand to calm her down. “What brings you here from the coven?”

Amara stood up with the now sleeping infant in her arms.

“I have bad news, Alpha Lucas,” Tabitha spoke quickly. “It is Dominic. He… He…”

“Steady yourself, Tabitha.” Amara walked gently towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What did Dominic do?”

“He has broken the pact!” Tabitha said frantically. “He has taken a human’s life.”

Lucas and Amara recoiled in shock.

“No.” Lucas growled. “He would not do that. That is against the rule that has kept the peace between the species. The one sacred rule—humans are not to be harmed!”

“Tabitha,” Amara said, her voice filled with worry. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Luna,” Tabitha replied. “You have known me well since we were children. I would never lie to you.”

“I cannot believe this,” Amara gasped.

“That is not the only problem,” Tabitha said. “I’m afraid there is another problem. Dominic is making his way towards this place as we speak.”

“And why would he want to do that?” Lucas narrowed his eyes.

“He has become corrupted. He wants to end the existence of the werewolves. He has gathered a large army and it is only a matter of time before they arrive here,” Tabitha replied.

She looked around.

“Where is your beta?” she asked.

“ Kraven? I sent him on a patrol with some our pack,” Lucas replied.

“Oh no. This is not good. You have to make haste, Alpha. The army Dominic brings is too much to handle even for an alpha of your strength,” Tabitha said.

“We have to move.” Amara tugged at Lucas’ arm.

“No.” He shook his head, much to her surprise. “ You should go. Take our son and run along with Tabitha. I will defend our fort”

“Do you know what you speak of?!” Amara shrieked. “Do you want to fight an army alone?!”

“I do not intend to.” Lucas faced her sqarely.

Amara’s eyes widened as she took in the meaning behind those words.

“No.” She gasped, tears formed around her eyes. “ Lucas, please do not do this.”

Lucas wrapped his arms around her and kissed her gently. He wiped the tears that were forming.

“It is the best choice,” he said softly. “It will be okay. If there is going to be a hope it will be from you and our son.”

He nudged her towards Tabitha.

“Run.” He commanded to Tabitha.

Tabitha nodded and pulled Amara gently out of the house. Overwhelmed by grief, Amara couldn’t put up a fight as she was pulled along the woods. She glanced back towards the house. She could hear multiple footsteps as they thundered towards the house. She could now detect the scent. There was the scent of more than a thousand people. All smelt alike. Then she detected one strange scent among them. It was foul, yet pleasant. It was him. Dominic. She tore her eyes away from the house and run along with Tabitha. The infant in her arms had awoken and bawled loudly. Joint efforts from the two women were made to steady him.

They had reached a boat by the edge of the river when suddenly Tabitha clutched her head and groaned in pain. She dropped to her knees.

“Tabitha!” Amara dropped down to stare at her friend while steadying her hold on the infant.

“Tabitha.” She repeated. ‘What is the matter?”

“It’s a message.” Tabitha moaned, shutting her eyes tight. “The spirits are sending a message to me.”

“What are they saying?” Amara queried.

Tabitha suddenly opened her eyes to reveal glowing irises. Amara shifted backwards a bit.

“Dominic has become the profane.” Tabitha spoke. Her voice echoed sounding like the combined voices of a multitude. Her eyes stared ahead as if in a trance. Amara listened patiently.

“He has defiled nature and upset the balance.” The multiple voices continued. “Therefore he will reap the reward of his misdeeds. He shall create his own downfall. With his own hands, he shall birth the one who will claim his life. Out of the line of Lucas, a wolf will be chosen. He who bears the symbol of the moon. This shall be Dominic’s doom.”

The voices stopped and Tabitha shut her eyes. She opened them again and they were back to normal.

“That was the message,” she said, her voice back to normal. “I believe my sisters in the coven would have received it by now too.”

Amara nodded.

“I caught the name of my husband from their lips,” she said.

“Yes,” Tabitha replied. She ushered Amara towards the boat and the two women climbed in. Amara sat down with her little son at one end while Tabitha began to row. Moments later, they saw the smoke in the distance from where Amara and Lucas lived. Amara bowed her head and the tears flowed again.

“Do not despair, my friend.” Tabitha consoled her. “Your husband will be remembered for his act of courage. He is the symbol of a true alpha. His sacrifice will not be in vain.”

Amara didn’t reply. She took one look at her son who was surprisingly asleep.

“The little one must be protected at all times.” Tabitha gazed at the baby. “He is the only one left from your husband’s line. He is the key to restoring balance between the species. I believe that is what the spirits were trying to tell me.”

“They also said he bears the symbol of the moon,” Amara said. “There is no such mark on my child.”

“I believe the spirits were trying to say it is one of his descendants who will do so,” Tabitha corrected.

Amara looked at the smoke in the distance and then back to her sleeping son.

“I will protect you, little one,” she whispered gently.

“With all my life.”

“What do you mean we’re moving to Georgia?!” Mandy shrieked in utter surprise as she stared at her parents, her eyes darting from one to the other.

Gabi sighed, rubbing his forehead and took another sip from his cup of coffee. He sent a pleading look to his wife who was by the stove making their breakfast. Felicia saw the look and rolled her eyes before turning to their daughter. Gabi smiled in relief.

‘You owe me big time, Gabi.’ Felicia mind linked with him, her eyes still on their daughter.

‘Oh, I have every intention of paying you back,’ he replied, running his eyes over her body.

Felicia shook her head, a wry smile forming at her lips. Mandy stared at her impatiently.

“Listen, honey, ever since your abilities were awakened, things have become different.” Felicia lowered the stove a bit and clasped her hands together.

Mandy raised a questioning eyebrow.

“You’re the first werewolf who didn’t get the abilities until you turned sixteen,” Felicia explained further. “It has never been heard of before. All wolves always have their abilities at birth. But since your case is different, we don’t know what to expect. We don’t know if your strength exceeds the generation before you. Then there is the incident you had in school, getting expelled…”

“It wasn’t my fault, Mom!” Mandy exclaimed, her brown eyes glazing over in guilt as she tucked a strand of her similarly colored hair behind her ear. “That pervert had it coming, making lecherous comments like that. He should have kept his eyes somewhere else.”

“You just proved my point.” Felicia pinched the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes tight. “Yes, I know how the male gender thinks sometimes. They have the tendency of doing so with their third leg every once in a while…”

Felicia paused as she saw the frown on Gabi’s face at her comment. She winked at him discreetly.

“But bashing his head against a locker and sending him straight to the hospital wasn’t really going to solve anything now, would it?” Felicia turned to her daughter.

“Sort of,” Mandy retorted. “At least next time, he will watch his mouth.”

“Mandy,” Felicia admonished with a stern gaze. “My point is your actions was a result of the manifestation of your newly awoken abilities. What happened with that young man was a decision of the wolf in you.”

‘Well, she’s not lying. That pig was lucky he even survived,’ Mandy’s wolf piped within her.

‘Not helping,’ Mandy scolded.

“This decision is the best for you. There are more of our kind in the city. Keep in the mind that we don’t even have a pack yet. Our kind is scattered across the country and I feel this is an opportunity to form one,” Felicia said.

“I also think we can get the opportunity to know more of your powers,” Gabi finally spoke. “My brother has a friend who is a doctor. He can examine you and see if there may be anything we should be worried about.”

Mandy said nothing for a while. She leaned from one foot to the other trying to process the whole thing.

Ever since she was born and her parents had put her on an orientation about her abilities, she had doubted them. She never showed any sign of being a werewolf much to their worry. She believed she was just like everyone else. But of recently when her powers awoke and the signs showed, her parents were overjoyed. But then came the sudden aggression and then a change in temper. All which finally led to an assault of a student in high school who ‘looked at her the wrong way and put his foot in his mouth.’ The principal didn’t take kindly to it and had her expelled with immediate effect. It was safe to say Gabriel and Felicia White were far from pleased with the news.

“What about my friends? What about Nat?” Mandy asked, sending a pleading look to her parents. An attempt to make them reconsider.

“You can always communicate with her through cell phones.” Gabi stared at his daughter like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Mandy sighed, hanging her head low and walked slowly out of the kitchen.

“Don’t be so down, honey,” Felicia called after her daughter as she disappeared around the corner. “I’m sure you’ll like this new place… and the school too.”

‘Yeah, right,’ Mandy thought, rolling her eyes, her wolf agreeing with her.

She trudged up the stairs straight to her room and flopped down on the bed with a long drawn out sigh. How did everything get so downhill so fast? Why did they have to move? Sure, her mother had explained the whole thing but it still didn’t make any sense to her. Either that or she just didn’t want to listen. Her inner wolf was really doing everything to block out any form of listening and it took a great ounce of inner strength to placate it. The naughty canine had a strong mind of its own.

She stared at her white cell phone on the bed. Picking it up, she contemplated on dialing Nat. If her childhood best friend was sad when she was expelled from school, she was going to be crushed when she would hear the recent news. Well, it was better late than never.

Mandy dialed her number and waited. After a few rings, an answering click was heard at the other end.

“Hey, girlfriend!” Nat’s high pitched voice piped up. “What’s up? I really missed your feisty ass in school. It’s just not the same anymore. How have you been?”

“Hey, Nat.” Mandy’s voice was low.

“Mandy?” Nat’s voice dropped an octave, clearly hinting concern. “What’s the matter? You don’t sound like yourself.”

“Nat, there’s news.”

“Good or bad?”

“Bad. Extremely bad.”

There was a short pause on the other end. Mandy could hear the fast breathing of her friend. The tension was getting thinner.

“Is it connected with what happened at school?” Nat finally asked.

“Yeah,” Mandy replied. “I’m moving.”

“Like, away from here?” Mandy could feel the shock in her friend’s voice.

“Yeah.”

“To where?”

“Georgia.”

“Why?”

Mandy paused. How could she tell her friend about her newly awoken abilities? There were obviously two problems with that.

One: As much as Mandy loved her friend to bits, Nat wasn’t very good at keeping her mouth shut.

Two: Even if Nat did manage to keep it a secret, paranoia could eventually set in and drive a wedge between the two.

Mandy tugged at her hair in annoyance. This whole thing was so frustrating!

“My folks think a change of scenery may better suit me.” A half-truth.

“I can’t believe this,” Nat sighed, her voice wavering. “It’s not fair. Can’t you convince them otherwise?”

“You know how my folks are when it comes to the final decisions.” Mandy rolled her eyes. “Especially my mom.”

“Gosh. This is the worst thing to ever happen to me,” Nat nearly wailed.

“Come on, girl. Don’t be like that. We can always communicate and video chat each other.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same.”

“I know. I’ll try to keep in touch. I’m so sorry, Nat.”

“It’s not your fault, girlfriend.”

‘Technically, it is,’ Mandy’s wolf said from within.

‘And you’re the saint here? You do realize this is partly your fault too,’ Mandy growled. ‘Keep up that yapping and I’ll lay off meat for a month.’

Her wolf whined and became silent.

‘Yeah. That’s what I thought.’ Mandy smirked.

“Mandy, are you there?” Nat’s voice brought her back to reality.

“Oh... Yeah, I’m still here,” she replied.

“I was saying, that Alex is really going to pop a vein when he hears this. You know he has a thing for you,” Nat said. Mandy could detect the smile in her voice.

“Well, sucks for him,” Mandy grunted.

“Come on, girlfriend. I don’t know why you always turn a blind eye to him.”

“It’s not that. Alex is real sweet and all but that’s just it. I can only see him as a friend. I just don’t see the both of us as a thing.”

“Well, if you say so. I’m going to work on my project now. When are you moving?”

“Not sure. My folks haven’t specified yet. But I know it’s soon.”

There was a long sigh at the other end.

“I’m just going to try and process this whole thing,” Nat said. “I’ll come around tomorrow after school.”

“I’ll be expecting you,” Mandy replied.

“Bye, girlfriend. Take care.”

“You too.”

Mandy ended the call and tossed the phone aside.

“Mandy, dinner’s ready!” she heard her mother call from the bottom of the stairs.

‘Yes! Finally!” She could feel her wolf giddy.

Shaking her head, she rose from the bed and made her exit with the impending new adventure on her mind. For the first time in forever, the thought of bacon and sausages didn’t appeal to her.