Born Enemies, Fated Mates

The Mysterious Alpha

The door opened. Two figures entered the room, holding their laundry baskets.

"Yeneffer! You are back! I was so worried!"

Lily quickly placed her burdens by the way and came to inspect me. "How are you feeling, big sister? Hope she didn't hurt you?" She called me big sister, reminding me of Diana. It has been several days since I last saw my sister.

I managed a smile that said I was fine. Yet I still felt the uneasiness of the unknown. I stared again into the dark but the dark stood still, devoid of characters. Was I seeing things before? Or did they vanish in fear of my company?

"What did Mistress Lysandra want?" Lily saw me to the mat and sat by my side. Her companion was Eliora, but she did not say a word. She went about her business, arranging things.

"Nothing. She only warned me." I assured, not knowing how to tell sweet innocent Lily that Lysandra was going to kill her if I didn't stay obedient.

"Did she warn you to stay away from her boyfriend?" Eliora was not staring in our direction, but her voice was hard to miss. It was firmer than the birdlike songs that Lily would emit.

"What?"

"I saw you together with Vermin Wolfsbane. You two were holding hands." She continued, not sparing me even a glance. "You know, if Lysandra ever finds out, she will rip your skin off herself."

My eyes widened at the misconception. "No. It is not even what you think..."

"Save that for Lysandra when she catches you with her boyfriend."

I held my breath. Eliora was really unnerving, I couldn't bear to exchange words with her anymore. So cold and so direct. But I also noticed she didn't use the word mistress when she described Lysandra. It was obvious she didn't like the slave island princess, just like me. Maybe we were not so different. Maybe she could be my ally even if that meant I had to put up with her off-putting personality.

"Are you not tired of being held hostage on this island?" I chose to be direct and straight to the point. "Don't you want to be free again? Together we can get out of here and start a new life in the human cities."

I searched Eliora's face. Surely she must have considered an escape before, she had the look and the mind for it. Who would not consider a better life outside of this island. A life of freedom and peace, we could even live among the humans unnoticed.

"The last person who tried to escape was caught by Lysandra Marble herself. She was sent to the Wolf Capital to face Alpha Denver's brutality." Eliora's voice was low and cold. She seemed wary of the walls and the windows.

"But together we can try. You have been here for so long, you must know many secrets about this place."

"Lower your voice." For the first time, she set her eyes on me. It held a deep dry coldness. "Lysandra has spies even among the slaves. If they find out you're thinking of running away, they will bring you out and make an example of you. Trust me, it is always ugly. Really ugly."

The way she uttered her statement, Lily was almost shaking with fear. But I saw hope in her words.

"Does that mean you will help us?"

"Count me out of this." She declined. "Now go to sleep. There is a lot of work to be done tomorrow."

Eliora lay quietly on her mat and turned away from us, facing the wall.

"What's happening tomorrow." Lily asked, confused.

"Well..." Eliora whispered. "It appears we are having an unexpected guest."

As the night went still and silent, Lily fell asleep beside me. I could sense that Eliora was fast in sleep too. It was just me now. I looked into the night, the bushes were still too. There were no eyes in the dark, there was no spy. My eyes closed slowly, still tired from everything.

My sleep must have lasted a few hours before the noise brought me back to life. The room was dark, the oil lamps must have gone out. I looked out the window, the night was no longer still. Someone was lurking among the leaves and the trees, moving slowly.

Carefully, gently, I rose away from Lily where she lay. I couldn't see Eliora in the darkness, but she must also be asleep. Taking little steps, I was soon outside in the open air, trying to make sure I wouldn't be seen by whatever was out there.

I reached the spot where the spy must be hiding, there was nobody. Something snarled. Turning around, a pair of fast legs had jumped from one end of the darkness to the other.

"Who is it?" I whispered, not loud enough.

A voice was saying something. "Under the full moon. You must choose him under the full moon."

Choose who? The full moon was just in two days. The voice seemed to be more inside my head than it came from the trees.

"Under the full moon. You must not be here under the full moon." The voice became more familiar. It was the voice of family.

"Mother?"

The plants a few feet away shook violently. Someone walked out slowly. It was not a woman.

"Father!" They were still in the shadows, but I was so sure.

Then they opened their eyes. That entire darkness around the creature was shaped by the red glowing pair of orbs staring at me. It was not father. Father was not an alpha. There was only one alpha on the Slave Island.

"Vermino?"

I heard fast rustles behind me, and then a voice.

"Yeneffer? Is that you out there?" She was holding a lit lamp and that was the first time Eliora would call my name, so it felt weird and unsettling especially in this situation.

"What are you doing out there?" She came closer.

I returned my gaze to the direction of the shadows, the forest was still again, calm and peaceful. The red eyed mysterious man had vanished, disappeared without a trace.

"Let's go now, before the guards see us." I did not know when she got so close, but Eliora was holding my hands now and taking me back inside while I stared into the darkness, hoping I was not hallucinating all along.

When we were back in and the door was closed, she bellowed lowly. "What the hell were you doing out there?"

"I heard voices..." My mind went back to the scene, and the voices in my head. I could hear them loudly and clearly, the words they said. I was more and more certain, I had to find my mate on the night of the full moon. And to do that, I had to escape the slave island first.