Alpha Cross

Full Moon

THE funeral was beautiful. Of course, we offered our home to the two visiting Alpha’s but they both refused and said they had business to attend to. I walked up the stairs to my room, closing the door behind me and sliding down to the floor. What a fucken nightmare, Daniel was gone and he wasn’t coming back. There was no one around, now I could grieve for my brother. Me and my wolf Athena were heartbroken and I couldn’t even talk to her.

The morning light came in through my window, illuminating my bedroom and my things inside. My bed was perfect. I hadn’t slept in it last night. I cried myself to sleep letting the pain I felt swallow me whole. My heart still aches today and I’m sure it will for a long time, but I need to get up. I forced myself up and walked over to my bed only to lay down. Why would the Moon Goddess do this ?! Why would she take him away ? The tears started to spill as I crushed a pillow to my body. The pain was back and it was dragging me down again. As I gasped for air, I let it take me.

Weeks had gone by, I only know because the sun tells me. My wolf has woken me up, she’s restless from not shifting. We’ve both been really sad, but my animal instincts are taking over today. It’s a full moon today, which means I’ll be at my strongest, even though the movies are totally fake, some things are true. We don’t only shift on a full moon, but the full moon does intensify our animal instincts. Personally, I feel very peaceful when it’s a full moon and I'm one with Athena. My bedroom door opening grabs my attention, my father walks in dressed in a black T-shirt and basketball shorts. He’s definitely going to shift today, he walks over and sits next to me in bed. I cuddle into his side as he drapes his arm over my shoulders,I've missed him.

“Aaliyah, I know you’re grieving with us, but tonight we have to go out and shift. You’ve been in here for weeks, you haven’t eaten or gotten out of bed to shower. I’m not saying you smell, but I am saying you need to get out. I won’t allow you to stay in this room another day. Not to mention that we have a lot of things to talk about,” he said softly as he rubbed my arm.

“I know, father, I’m sorry, I’m feeling a little better today and you’re right. I need to shift. Athena is going crazy. I am curious though, what do we need to talk about?” I tilted my head up to see his face.

He chuckled softly, “Well honey, I can’t train you to be the next Alpha when you’re in bed 24 hours a day, can I ?”

“Dad, are you serious ? You really think I can do this ? Better yet, do you think the packs will accept me and your business partners will want to continue our contacts ?” I tried my best to hide the fear from my voice but I couldn’t. f**k. How am I supposed to do this ? Can I really do this ? What if no one respects me? No I can’t say that, I'm a pureblood alpha. I can do this and I’ll be damned if I let any of those sexist wolves disrespect me.

“Aliyah, you’re going to be the best Alpha these packs have ever seen. In regards to what people will say or think, all I can say is, f**k them. I know plenty of male alphas that are shitty and have no idea what it is they’re doing. Our business partners are actually in your corner, especially Martin. He and his wife seem to be your number 1 supporters, obviously, aside from your mother and I. Another reason you need to get out of bed now that I mentioned it. Your mother needs you, Aliyah, a little more than usual and, of course, I hate to see you like this. He meant the world to me,you know ? I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such wonderful pups, but I thank the moon goddess for it everyday.” He kissed my head and helped me out of bed.

I walked into my bathroom to freshen up before shifting, splashing cold water on my face. I looked at the girl in the mirror. My usual olive skin was pale, my lips looked chapped. My green eyes had lost the sparkle in them, goddess, I looked like a damn wolf zombie. I even had dark bags under my eyes. There’s no way in hell I'm walking out and letting the pack see me like this. I brush my hair trying to tame it, once all the knots are out. I pull it back into a ponytail. I apply a light coat of mascara and concealer to erase the bags and put on my watermelon chapstick, trying to bring my lips back to life.

I look better now, not a half dead wolf. If I’m going to be alpha I have to keep it together, no more of this emotional s**t. I promise you, Daniel, I will not disappoint you or our people. I will be the best leader I can be and I will be strong. Taking a deep breath, I walked outside with my head high. I see my mother waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. She’s so beautiful with long dark brown hair, hazel eyes, full pink lips, and a curvy body. She looked up at me and gave me her full smile, she looked so much better now. Seems like grieving has been good for us all, I pull her into a big hug and kissed her cheek.

“Hello mama, you look beautiful.” I said, holding her hand.

“Hello my Alpha, ready to stretch your paws?”

Giggling, I replied “Yes, I think Athena is mad that I’ve kept her away.”

“Tomorrow we need to start your training. I will show you all the details that go into my job before I hand you over to your father. He will teach you about the paperwork and Max will be pushing your training. Saige will be coming over at 2:00 Pm so we can go shopping. You’ll need proper work attire for meetings, you can keep the jeans and sneakers for casual wear only.” She informs me as we make our way to the yard. It’s a beautiful night, the air is cool and the moon shines bright alongside the stars in the dark sky. The woods are peaceful, all the animals that inhabit them sensing the predators.

Father is the first to shift into Bronx. He’s an enormous wolf. He let out a howl at the moon in greeting and in pain. This was the first time we had shifted without Daniel here. Howls erupted from everywhere as the pack began to shift. My mother shifted before me into a beautiful silver wolf. My mother is a gentle and kind Luna, but she’s protected this pack and her family like no other. Before she mated with my father, she was actually supposed to be the Alpha of her pack. They ended up merging both packs together. She’s strong and fierce. She taught me to be quick and use all my instincts. That has been life changing over the years. She and my father took off for a run while I shifted into my raven black wolf with silver-tipped ears. Oh yeah Athena is hot.

I stretched my legs and shook my fur, it’s been far too long. Out of all the wolves I’ve run into, none of them have ever had raven black fur and that makes me proud. I wasn’t as tall as my father, but I also wasn’t a short wolf, I was bigger than other male wolves that’s for sure. A grey wolf came trotting towards me with blue eyes, I recognized him as Max’s wolf, Jace. He playfully growled at me and wagged his tail, he wanted to play.

“Catch me if you can!” I said through the mindlink and ran into the woods, not wasting any time. I covered my scent by rolling in the mud and leaves on the floor near a big tree. I ran deep into the woods and stopped by a meadow that we used to play in as kids. Max was Daniel’s age, a tall dirty blond with blue eyes and a sharp jaw. I used to have a crush on him when I was younger, but soon he became one of my best friends.

I hid next to a bush and waited to see if Jace would catch me. He came into eyesight a couple of minutes later, he lifted his head, sniffing the air and then started sniffing the ground. It took him about ten minutes before he came in my direction. I moved ever so slowly with my belly close to the ground before I pounced and knocked him over. I laughed as he growled at me, looking embarrassed that I had won our little game.

“Well, Alpha, looks like you won this time.” He chuckled.

“Come on Jace, don’t call me that, you know you’re one of my best friends!” I rolled my eyes at him.

“Athena, you know this is how it’s supposed to be right? You’re going to be a great Alpha and it would be an honor to be your Beta. I always promised Dan I would take care of you and that’s exactly what I plan to do. I’ll follow your lead and help you if you ever need it. One thing I will say is, never let any of these douchebags provoke you. They’ll try to test you since you’re a female but you have more balls than most of the men in this world, so you always keep your head high.” He said before he bared his neck to me with his tail between his legs. He submitted to me not making any eye contact, bowing his loyalty to his new Alpha. I nudged him with my head, telling him to get up so we could head back.