Discovering the Hidden Alpha

Chapter 3

Sitting just on the outskirts of town, her cabin was only a short drive away. After the last hour, pulling up to her little self made home feel different. The dark sedan that the Prince was in sat in her driveway while she unlocked her door. She threw a little wave in acknowledgement of their courtesy before entering her home.

Here she was able to finally let the insanity of the day come crashing all over her. She could feel another big cry coming on and there was one thing that would make it a complete ritual: a shower.

As she adjusted the water temperature and began to strip off her clothes, Dani replayed the events of the day. Of all the places in the world, she couldn’t believe her rotten luck to have run into someone from her past. On the flip side of that, she had to be thankful since she’d never have known about Astra otherwise.

The hot water felt magical on her tense, over-stimulated muscles. She slowly sank onto the floor of the shower. While extremely grateful for the news of Astra, there were a few more troublesome details that came to her mind.

How was such a horrendous act allowed? Astra posed little to no threat when it came to the Alpha position. She had never wanted to rule the pack. The youngest of the three siblings, healing had always been her natural inclination. It had led to a love of pups and the elderly. Even when they were children, Astra had avoided physical conflict. To think that she had been thrown to the slaughter made Dani irrationally angry.

What had happened to mother and father? Surely they didn’t just sit by and let this go by unattested. It couldn’t have been advantageous to them. If the rest of the pack knew what had happened, surely there would’ve been an uproar. Could they possibly have said they were both dead?

And on that thought, why did Trevyn lie and say she was dead? Going to the royal court and claiming her death was bold and to say by Hunters, no less. To kill a destined Alpha on their own land could insight war amongst the Hunter communities. A shaky truce stood because of the King. Directly threatening, that would be seen as treason.

Threading her hands deeply into her hair, Dani released a shaky breath. If she had never left, would things never have gotten this out of hand?

She could’ve led the pack. Being the alpha was what she had studied and trained her whole life for. But the moment that the position became difficult, she left. She had abandoned her home, her pack, and her siblings. Oh Goddess, was she responsible for what happened to Astra? She had been so selfish.

.

All the emotion she’d reserved away earlier came pouring out. Her tears burned hot and itchy against her already irritated eyes. The sobs came heaving out of her lungs, wracking her entire body into a heap on the shower floor.

Everything she had tried to avoid was coming back with a vengeance now. She wasn’t sure if the shame or guilt was worse. Her entire childhood she had spent protecting her siblings, defending them, teaching them, loving them. Now, one had been sold into slavery because of her decisions and the other is claiming she’s dead. How did things end up like this?

By the time the water began to chill, she was ready to go to bed. Her legs felt like they weighed a ton. She didn’t even bother with pajamas. Instead, she went straight under the covers. Everything about this day was done. The familiar smell of her home began to edge away at her raw nerves. Snuggling deeper into the pillow clutched to her chest, all the worry began to drain from her. An overwhelming exhaustion took its place. Sleep began to creep into Dani’s consciousness, ruining her recap of the day. Everything had changed in just a few short hours.

‘There goes my quiet life.’ She scoffed to herself, ashamed that she was mourning her life she had

***

Feran couldn’t believe what had happened to his day. All he had wanted to do was go look at the house designed by one of his favorite architects and to possibly find a private getaway. It was a couple of hours away from Summer Manor and would give him access to their border territories.

Instead, he had stumbled upon a long ‘dead’ Alpha and now had to figure out how to explain this to not only his brother, but to Astra as well. He’d have to talk to Marcos first, so he could be strong for his Mate when she needed it.

There were just so many questions. Alpha Trevyn had already been on political thin ice after Astra had been found in the slave market. He claimed she had attempted to poison him during a banquet and was sent away instead of being beheaded.

Of course, it had been pure luck that he and Beta Marcos had been following a traitor of the crown when they stumbled upon the underground slave market. It had been almost instantaneous when they entered the poorly lit back room of a dodgy tavern.

He could see Marcos stiffen and his eyes widened slightly. The cloaked figure they had been following had disappeared into the dim environment. It was clear they wouldn’t be able to find them here.

It had been at that moment that the curtains that covered the stage opened and Astra was roughly pushed out. As she stumbled onto the uneven wooden platform, it was clear something had shifted in the Beta. Feran could hear a deep, aggressive growl coming from his normally good-natured companion. A couple of nearby patrons skittered a few steps farther away.

As the bidding war began, a great number of attendants began to throw extraordinary numbers out for the fiery-haired maiden. Her gaze was locked towards the back in their direction. It was clear she was searching for someone. Even from the back of the room, Feran could see her panic and desperation. She tried to take a step forward, but the handler on the stage grabbed her roughly and yanked her down onto the ground. She let out a yelp of pain as she hit the floor.

“Mine.” Marcos barked through gritted teeth and Feran could see from his body tremoring it was taking all his willpower to keep from storming the stage. That handler was a dead man walking.

The energy coming off the Beta was enough to make those around him take a step back. Feran looked at him in disbelief and shock. Of all the places to stumble across a Mate, this definitely wouldn't have crossed his top ten. The bidding was going to be driving Marcos’ wolf crazy. If he didn’t step in and do something now, there wouldn’t be much of a guarantee that Marcos’ wouldn’t shift and take out the whole room. They needed to get information and that meant they needed the sellers to be alive.

“Mate.” Came the next insistent declaration from the Beta. This time he took a step forward and the bones in his hands began to shift into their clawed form.

There wasn’t any time to hesitate. The situation was about to escalate and they didn’t need the attention. Feran placed his hand on Marcos’ arm before the younger wolf could take the stage like he obviously planned. His eyes snapped over to the Prince.

“What?!” he snarled.

The prince could see the mixture of emotions in his subordinate’s eyes. It was clear that the Mate bond had struck him. The desperation on Astra’s face made it clear that she too had figured out her Mate was present. She struggled to get back on her feet. It hadn’t been clear before, but the shine from the light made it obvious now. The shackles around both her wrists and feet were silver clad. This made the Prince’s blood boil in anger. Using silver on a were of any type had been outlawed since the councils first met over 500 years ago.

Shaking his head, Feran calmed Marcos down. If they caused a scene now, they were severely outnumbered and it could ruin getting the head of this ring for trafficking. Every person that threw out a bid had no idea how close they were to death at the hands of Marcos. This needed to end quickly. It was obvious some of the bidders either knew who she was or at least her lineage, because they were throwing out exorbitant amounts. Feran was at least glad he’d had the foresight to set up a zero limit credit card to take along on missions.

It had taken quite the extraordinary sum and a lot of will power to bring her home with them. But the moment when they were outside and Marcos pulled Astra to him, the Prince knew they’d pay ten times over for this. His friend and comrade had just found his other half.

The Goddess was truly smiling on them that day 2 years ago. Once they had returned, his brother started a full investigation into the tavern, its’ proprietors, and the slave market. A group of rogue weres had been discovered to be behind the trafficking ring. However, it had always been suspicious as to how they were able to finance the operation in the first place. The circumstances had spurred on a new division of their warriors designated to investigate missing wolves. An investigator and envoy had also been sent to speak to Alpha Trevyn.

Since there was no proof to either confirm nor deny his claim of her attempted poisoning, it had been ruled that she was to stay with the Redwood Pack and never again step into her home territory. Alpha Trevyn put on quite the show, bringing a few ‘eye witnesses’ of the poisoning with him. When asked if he had intentionally broken their Laws by giving Astra to slavers, he feigned naivety. The brothers that took her had said she was going to a boarding home for rehabilitation, he claimed. Astra hadn’t been present for the conversation with her captors, so there was no way to prove what he said. But the King hadn’t trusted the Alpha since and had been keeping a close eye on him. Marcos had been ready to rip out Alpha Trevyn’s throat since finding Asta. He was merely waiting for an order from his King.

Stumbling upon Danika had been an immense change to the story. Claiming his sister was dead meant that he lied to the King. An Alpha lying to his King was considered treason. Unless he had actually believed her to be dead. But when Feran was at Danika’s earlier, she had said she wrote a letter to him explaining her reason for leaving. This was becoming much more complicated than he had ever imagined.

Thinking back to their earlier conversation and the obvious nerves she felt, Feran felt guilty. Obviously he wanted to try to reunite the sisters. But he hadn’t planned out much farther than that. He wasn’t sure that Dani wanted to leave the life she had made herself. It had been ten years after all.

He felt a deep pitying ache for her. She had left her family, her whole life, just to live peacefully. When she had told him her wolf had gone silent as well, his heart broke. If his wolf, Reade, disappeared from his world, he couldn't even imagine the loneliness. Then to live amongst people where you had to restrain yourself from everything natural to you. Thinking about what it would be like to live in a world where there was no running in the forest or hunting under a bright, heavy moon made him shudder.

Their species was meant to run hand in hand with nature and to be the land’s guardians. Taking that purpose away would make the days feel…..endless. It had begun to sink in how much Danika had lived in restraint and silence the past decade. Then to find out her sister had been given to a slave auction on top of that.

He grimaced slightly, thinking of the crass way he began their encounter. An apology would be in order. First thing was first, he needed to tell his brother and Marcos what had happened. From there they could brainstorm and figure out what the next move would be. He sent them both a text letting them know he was on his way back and that he needed an audience with them both once he arrived. They had much to discuss.