FATED TO THE ENEMY ALPHA

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

ELOWYNNE

The rest of my day went exactly as planned. However, by midnight when everyone else should be asleep, I still hadn’t heard or seen any sign of my father. He hadn’t retired to his room yet, which meant he could be anywhere around the pack house.

Which meant I could get caught if I tried to sneak out.

I groaned internally.

What could possibly be taking so long?

After waiting another torturous twenty minutes, I decided I was done waiting.

“I have to take the risk,” I muttered to myself, pulling my shawl over my face and slipping out of my room. I quietly walked through the empty hallways, and as I neared the intersection where I’d take the stairs down to the hidden servants' quarters, I overheard muffled voices coming from some rooms ahead.

The courtroom where my father and the pack’s elders were meeting.

‘Don’t do it,’ my inner voice whispered harshly. ‘Just keep going.’

But my curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself heading towards the direction of the boardroom. If they were still in a meeting by this time, then they had to be discussing something very important, something a warrior would know.

And I was training to be a warrior, wasn’t I?

I walked through the long, empty hallways in the enormous pack house. It was pitch black, but I’d mastered my steps by now and knew exactly how to silently move around. Not even the faintest breath from my nostrils could be heard.

When I finally got to the tall, imposing door of the boardroom, a door that always made me feel impossibly small, I pressed myself against the wall and leaned my right ear against the wood.

"The Frostvales are not going to back down,” I heard a grim voice say.

Now, my interest was even further piqued.

"We need to tighten security at our borders." Another urgent voice slipped past the wall and met my ears.

"They love to cause trouble. They’re forcing us to retaliate, and if they continue, maybe we will.”

"What do you have to say, Alpha?"

I could recognize the last voice as that of my father's Beta.

Then the hall went oddly still. Even through the walls, I could feel the tension in the room.

When my father finally spoke, his voice was so low that I had to strain my ears to hear him, but with so much authority and danger that I felt a shiver travel down my spine.

"My order still stands. Any Frostvale caught in our territory will be killed, and any of ours caught even close to theirs will be taken as a traitor and banished."

The hall erupted in murmurs of both agreement and protest. I didn’t wait for another second before pushing off the wall and rushing down the quiet hallway.

The Frostvale have been our sworn enemies for centuries. But before the enmity, stories told of a time when both packs were strong allies and partners.

The Alpha of my pack was friends with a prominent member of the Frostvale pack. Their friendship was legendary, so strong that everyone envied them. We did almost everything together; we got invites to their ceremonies and parties, and when we had one, we invited them. Their grief was our grief and ours theirs.

But then came the betrayal.

The Frostvale, knowing about our pack's secret gold chamber due to his friendship with the alpha, went behind our alpha’s back and told his people. He lured them to take advantage of our weaknesses, attack us, and steal from us.

The Frostvales listened. They attacked us viciously, causing devastating losses and pain to our own. They managed to loot almost half of our gold before our warriors could ward them off.

When it was discovered that our alpha’s own best friend had orchestrated the attack, the betrayal hit like a blade to the heart. It was so hard to believe that someone who was like a brother to him could commit such an act against him.

The alpha, torn with pain, passed on a law that no Moonveil wolf should be caught associating with a Frostvale.

Moonveil pack members who had Frostvale friends cut off their friendship immediately. Some angry pack members went out and killed Frostvales in retaliation. In return, the Frostvales cut off their Moonveil friends.

Parents warned their children to stay away from the Frostvales. Those children grew up hating them and passed that hatred to their own children.

And so it went on, generation after generation.

In order for the killings on both sides to stop, both packs signed a treaty that their members must stay away from the other’s territory. For years, the treaty was sustained to the point where we hated each other but didn’t even know what we looked like. Only the alpha and pack elders who had to attend general territorial meetings got to see the Frostvales, and those were rare, once-in-a-while occasions.

To date, even though we shared the same borders, the bridge created by hatred between both packs was strong and impossibly deep. From time to time, spies from Frostvale were found in our territories, and they were always killed. It was one of the reasons why my father ensured I stayed within the safety of the pack house. Protected, both from threats that might be sent against him and his family and protected from my own desire for freedom.

Yet here I was, already halfway through the woods, heading to my secret practicing ground. It was dark. Too dark even. I stared up at the moonless sky, rubbed my hands down my arm at the night breeze that blew past me, and continued my journey until I got to the familiar clearing.

The clearing was one I discovered last week while wandering deep in the forest, and I settled on using that spot because it was unclaimed land. It wasn’t in our pack territories; that way, none of our soldiers could find me. It wasn’t in the Frostvale territory either, so I wasn’t trespassing.

It was just the perfect spot, shielded by tall trees that created a canopy for the amount of privacy I needed.

I got in the space and dropped my satchel containing old weapons that belonged to my father, which I stole, with the confidence that he wouldn’t notice them missing. Just as I brought out things for practice, I heard a sound.

My breath caught. I froze, trying to decipher where the sound came from. It could be a squirrel or any wild rodents. However, when I heard the sound again, it was closer.

And it was coming right from the clearing.

My wolf senses immediately went on alert. I creeped across the clearing, crawling low beside the bushes to hide myself. I stared ahead, my eyes shifting and adjusting to the darkness.

That was when I saw it.

Or rather, him.

I froze.

A tall figure of a man stood ahead with his back to me. His hair was wild and long, knotted messily at his nape. His shoulders were broad and his arms rippled with pure masculine muscle. He looked like he could crush me in the palm of his big hands.

Terror shot through me like ice as I wondered what to do. Could I creep back and quietly return to the pack house? No! That would be too cowardly for me. This was my spot, and I came here to train. If anything, he had to leave.

What if he tried to attack me? What if this was what my father had been trying to protect me from? I’m no match for a man this size.

My brain was still whirring with several thoughts and fears when he turned.

And all the breath in my lungs escaped my lips.

He was handsome. Gods. The most handsome man I’d ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of men. But that was not the reason for my body’s visceral reaction to him.

There was something else, something deep and primal within me that recognized him even though I’d never seen him before. My wolf was restless inside me, howling and pushing against my chest as I stood there, silently staring at him.

He didn’t speak either, his sharp green eyes assessing me with curiosity while my heart hammered violently against my chest.

What is this? Why do I feel this way—

‘MATE!’

The sharp voice in my head made me stagger a few steps back. My eyes shot up to the strange man again, this time sharply.

No! This can’t be happening… He’s not… We’re not…

The man took a step towards me, and the look in his eyes was one of disbelief, tinged with the same recognition I felt earlier.

“My mate.”