Alpha's Claim to Fame

Prologue

Katherine

Darkness. Mind- numbing darkness. The all-consuming void that swallows me whole every time I closed my eyes. Sometimes I dreamt, but they were always nightmares.

I left home at fifteen, my brother and a few others following along. We couldn’t take the abuse anymore.

My father is the Alpha, and ever since my mother died, he went off the rails. The other pack mothers had to raise me, since he refused. He wanted nothing to do with me.

I had been blessed by the Moon Goddess, bearing her mark on my collarbone. This meant I was to be the next Alpha, instead of my older brother. Father didn’t like that, and he did everything in his power to sabotage me. His own daughter.

The final straw came after my fifteenth birthday. My first shift was at age six, the night my mother died. When I watched her get torn to shreds. My wolf had been trying to warn me that something was off, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he was still my father.

It started out a normal day, us ignoring each other before leaving for work. He was a DA, and I was the lead guitarist in an up-and-coming band. So we rarely crossed paths.

But he came home in a foul mood that day, striking me down as he usually did. But this time everyone saw it.

The adults didn’t waiver. It didn’t faze them at all, but my brother and a few others our age became irate and jumped to my defense. Father ordered the men to attack, and we were beaten badly, left broken and bleeding on the floor. When it was clear we weren’t getting up, but also not submitting, he pulled out a blade.

A small dagger that was made of pure silver. The Vatican’s Blade. It was used in ancient times in what is now present-day Rome, to exterminate werewolves. He sliced it through my backside, from the middle across to my right hip.

It was excruciating; definitely the worst pain you could ever feel.

He left me on the floor to bleed out, leaving the dagger embedded in my hip. My brother took me and ran. He gathered up the pack members that supported me and ran, to a hotel hours away, taking only the essentials and important documents we needed.

It took almost two months for the wound to heal enough to allow me to move on my own. Because of my injury as evidence we were able to emancipate ourselves, and finish out our last year of school online.

My bandmates and I were scheduled to go on an eight-month world tour at the end of the summer to celebrate the release of our new album. We picked up what little belongings we had and basically became nomads, traveling along with our crew throughout Europe.

About four months after we left home my wound was almost completely healed. Zeke had taken the dagger and gave it to me to defend myself. I had mastered 8 different forms of martial arts, but that wouldn’t help if I was attacked by a wolf, since I was unable to shift.

She was gone. Disappeared, somewhere in the back of my mind. Atlas was gone. It hurt more than any physical would ever could.

She disappeared after I was struck by that blade. It was nothing but pure evil, and I wanted nothing to do with it. But my brother had a point. It was the only way I could protect myself from another werewolf.

It’s been almost a year since that incident. We were halfway through our tour, landing us in Spain. Adam, our vocalist, wanted to get there early so we could actually go out and sight-see for once. Our next show was in two nights, so we had time. He drove our manager insane, basically rushing us right onto the road after our last show.

I didn’t really care. I didn’t really care about anything anymore. Life wasn’t the same without Atlas running around my head. My pack has been trying so hard to get me out of this funk. But truth is with her gone, I’m nothing more than human. And it really sucks.

I don’t heal quickly anymore. My appetite isn’t what it used to be. My senses have dulled, not completely but enough to make a noticeable difference. I can’t take those nightly runs through the woods anymore, chasing small creatures, or roll around in the leaves and dirt.

But the worst part is I’ll never be able to find my mate. When a werewolf turns sixteen their wolf spirit awake within them. My wolf has been around long before, so I’m a special case. But with her gone I’ll never be able to distinguish the unique scent of my mate. He might be able to find me, and I’m sure I could learn to love the human way, like I did with Adam.

But I don’t want to. Is that selfish of me?

I tried feigning interest in the museum the boys took me to. I won’t lie, I did like the planetarium exhibit, but this just wasn’t my taste. I had to grin and bear it, as Jake and Matt chewed our ears off.

Adam pulled me back to the planetarium display after a while. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. We just walked through in silence.

The night of our show came all too quickly. Time to plaster on my fake smile. I didn’t sing though. I haven’t in so long even I forgot what I sound like.

One of the last songs we played was off our new album. Adam had our manager rig the stage to have ink rain down on us halfway through the show. Somehow, I managed to get it in my mouth, and it tasted so foul. It took forever trying to get the ink out of my favorite leather jacket. I sighed angrily and just accepted the fact I’d be wearing a pink-stained outfit.

Since we were in the city so long Adam booked us all hotel rooms. I was lucky enough to room by myself, though I would have preferred it to be with Adam. My brother said the Alpha should always bunk alone though. I’m not sure who roomed with who, and I didn’t really care.

It was past 2AM when I left the afterparty. I had a pretty strong buzz going and decided to retire to my room. There’s no way I’d be able to remember tonight. At least I wasn’t taking a rando to bed.