Chapter Two – The Alpha They Never Knew
1553 Words
Carley pov
Three days earlier...
The first rays of dawn spilled over the mountains, bathing Ashen Moon territory in warm gold.
From the highest cliff overlooking the valley, I could see everything.
The timber homes tucked between ancient pines.
The smoke curling lazily from stone chimneys.
The training grounds already alive with the rhythmic clash of wooden swords.
The children racing through the village, their laughter carrying on the morning breeze.
Home.
I closed my eyes and breathed it all in.
Pine.
Fresh rain.
Wildflowers.
The faint scent of bread drifting from the bakery.
No matter how many places I travelled, nowhere in the kingdom ever smelled quite like Ashen Moon.
"You always stand here before you leave."
Fenrir's voice rolled gently through my mind.
"I like reminding myself what I'm protecting."
"You never needed reminding."
A small smile tugged at my lips.
Maybe she was right.
---
"Alpha!"
The cheerful voice made me glance down.
Three wolf pups came sprinting up the winding path, each carrying a bundle of freshly picked flowers.
The youngest couldn't have been older than six.
She held out a small bunch of white daisies with both hands.
"For your journey."
I crouched until we were eye level.
"They're beautiful."
"They're lucky flowers."
"So I've heard."
She grinned.
"My Nana says they help people find their way home."
I gently tucked one into my braid.
"Then I'll definitely make it back."
Satisfied, the little girl threw her arms around my neck.
Without hesitation, I hugged her back.
The other children quickly joined in, laughing as they nearly knocked me onto the grass.
Fenrir chuckled.
"Most feared Alpha in the kingdom..."
"...currently losing a battle to three pups."
"Quite decisively."
---
By the time I reached the village square, the entire morning market was awake.
Merchants called greetings instead of trying to sell me anything.
A blacksmith raised his hammer.
"Morning, Alpha!"
"Morning, Eli."
"Your axe is ready whenever you need it."
"I still owe you for the last one."
He waved dismissively.
"You paid me."
"I paid half."
"You saved my son's life."
"That wasn't payment."
"It was enough for me."
I knew better than to argue.
Ashen Moon had never measured wealth in silver.
We measured it in loyalty.
---
Near the well, an elderly woman struggled to lift two heavy water buckets.
Before anyone else noticed, I crossed the square and took one from her.
"You shouldn't be carrying these yourself."
She looked at me over the rim of her spectacles.
"And you shouldn't be carrying everyone else's burdens."
I laughed.
"I'll put these away if you promise to rest your knee."
"It's only sore when it rains."
"It rained yesterday."
She sighed dramatically.
"I raised clever children."
"You also raised a stubborn Alpha."
"That," she replied, smiling, "was your own doing."
---
People often asked why Ashen Moon was different.
The truth was painfully simple.
When I was twelve years old...
I had watched my own village burn.
Not Ashen Moon.
The village where I was born.
A smaller pack.
A weaker pack.
One no one came to help.
By sunrise, more than half our people were gone.
The strongest warriors had died defending the children.
The weakest had been left behind.
Including my parents.
I remembered my mother's final words more clearly than my own name.
"Strength means nothing if it protects only yourself."
Those words had never left me.
When Ashen Moon took me in after the attack, I swore no child under my protection would ever know that kind of loss again.
Not while I could still stand.
---
The world, however, knew a very different version of my story.
According to rumours...
I'd challenged three Alphas before my eighteenth birthday.
Killed them all.
Destroyed two entire packs.
Forced Fenrir into submission through blood magic.
Some stories claimed I had no heart.
Others claimed I wasn't entirely human.
One particularly imaginative rumour insisted I drank the blood of rival wolves before battle.
Rowan still laughed whenever someone repeated that one.
The truth?
I'd never once started a war.
But I had ended every one that reached my borders.
Quickly.
Decisively.
Without mercy toward those who preyed on the innocent.
The survivors told stories.
Stories became legends.
Legends became fear.
Fear became my reputation.
It was easier for the kingdom to believe I enjoyed violence than to admit someone could be both compassionate... and impossible to defeat.
---
"You're thinking too loudly."
Rowan approached carrying two steaming mugs.
He handed one to me.
"I wasn't aware thoughts made noise."
"They do when your forehead wrinkles like that."
I accepted the drink.
"You know me too well."
"I've known you since you stole my lunch when we were ten."
"I was hungry."
"You stole it every day for a week."
"I was consistently hungry."
He laughed.
"There's the Alpha I know."
We stood together overlooking the valley.
Neither of us needed to fill the silence.
Good friendships rarely did.
After several minutes he spoke again.
"You're worried about the summit."
"Am I that obvious?"
"Only to people who actually know you."
I sighed.
"They're asking more questions this year."
"They always ask questions."
"These feel... different."
Rowan nodded slowly.
"I've heard the rumours."
"So have I."
"They think your wolf isn't ordinary."
My grip tightened around the mug.
Fenrir remained silent.
Listening.
Watching.
Waiting.
Only four wolves in the entire kingdom knew the truth.
Rowan was one of them.
He had earned that trust years ago.
"The stories are getting closer," I admitted quietly.
"They're still stories."
"For now."
---
Fenrir finally spoke.
"One day they will discover me."
"I know."
"When that day comes..."
"I'll protect you."
A deep, ancient laugh echoed through my mind.
"Little one... I have never needed protection."
I smiled despite myself.
"You know what I mean."
"Yes."
Her voice softened.
"And I would burn the world before allowing harm to come to you."
Most wolves formed partnerships with their shifters.
Fenrir and I had become family.
She wasn't a weapon.
She wasn't a curse.
She was simply...
Mine.
---
The legends claimed Fenrir had once belonged to a king.
Others believed she had fallen from the stars.
No one knew the truth.
Not even me.
I only knew that when I was five years old, frightened and hiding beneath the roots of a fallen tree after my home was attacked...
A giant silver wolf had appeared from the darkness.
Instead of killing me...
She curled around my tiny body until the danger passed.
When I woke the next morning...
She was still there.
She had never truly left.
---
"Alpha!"
A young warrior came running toward us.
"There's trouble near the eastern creek."
I immediately set down my mug.
"What happened?"
"A stag has broken through the fencing."
Rowan looked at me.
"I'll handle it."
I shook my head.
"No."
"It's hardly an Alpha's job."
"Tell that to the farmers."
Within minutes we reached the eastern fields.
The enormous stag had become tangled in broken fencing, thrashing wildly in panic.
Several villagers stood well back.
One hunter already had an arrow drawn.
"Wait."
He lowered the bow immediately.
I approached slowly, speaking softly all the while.
"It's alright..."
The stag's frightened eyes locked onto mine.
Its breathing slowed.
Carefully, I cut away the twisted rope around its antlers.
The magnificent animal hesitated only a second before disappearing back into the forest.
One of the younger warriors blinked.
"You could've killed it."
"It wasn't attacking anyone."
"It destroyed half the fence."
"So we'll repair the fence."
He frowned.
"That's... it?"
I smiled.
"It was scared."
The old farmer beside him chuckled.
"That's why we follow her."
---
By evening the village gathered for a farewell meal before my departure.
Long wooden tables stretched across the square, covered with roasted meats, fresh bread, vegetables, fruit and pies.
Children darted between laughing adults.
Music drifted through the air.
Nobody sat according to rank.
Warriors shared benches with elders.
Hunters teased blacksmiths.
I sat wherever there was space.
Exactly where I'd always sat.
As the sun dipped below the mountains, Rowan stood and raised his mug.
"To our Alpha."
Groans echoed immediately.
"I said no speeches."
"Too late."
Laughter spread through the crowd.
Rowan grinned.
"The kingdom fears her."
Several people rolled their eyes.
"They think she's ruthless."
More laughter.
"They think she commands monsters."
I buried my face in my hands.
"Rowan..."
"But we know the truth."
He looked around at every face in the square.
"The truth is that every child here sleeps safely because she'd stand between them and the world without hesitation."
The laughter faded.
Silence settled over the gathering.
An elder quietly added, "And she never asks for anything in return."
I looked around the table.
These people...
They didn't see a legend.
Or a weapon.
Or the Alpha other packs whispered about.
They simply saw...
Carley.
That was enough.
More than enough.
Tomorrow I would ride to Blackwood Keep, where whispers and suspicion would greet me before I ever crossed the gates.
Tonight, beneath the lights of Ashen Moon, surrounded by the people I loved most, I allowed myself one quiet hope.
That perhaps...
Just perhaps...
The world might one day learn the difference between the stories they had created...
And the woman I truly was.
- Writer
