Warrior Luna - Fighting for Survival

Alpha And Mate

Andromeda POV

One of my first days, Joe, the team’s leader and supervisor, took me on a patrol. He was a big burly guy, with dark hair and a moustache. For the most part he was pleasant though fairly reserved with me, he was also a member of the Vermillion pack. 

We drove the small pickup truck down the narrow park roads and he showed me the boundaries between the human National Park and the pack lands. 

He must have sensed my nervousness because he reassured me I wouldn’t need to remember everything in my first few weeks, but he still pointed out the markers so I wouldn’t get lost by myself.

A medium sized tree had fallen across the road, blocking the truck’s path. Joe came to a stop in front of it and put the car in park.

“Well would you look at that, mother nature gave us a little present did ya.” Joe said to no one in particular as he got out of the truck.

“Did you need… help?” I asked shyly.

“Well I don’t think I really need it, but it wouldn’t hurt.” he winked.

I got out of the truck and we positioned ourselves on the opposite sides of the tree trunk. 

“Ready? Let’s swing and let go on three.” Joe instructed.

“Okay, though I still think rolling it would have been easier.”

I gripped the top of the tree awkwardly, getting hooked in the small pine’s needles.

“One! Two! And… Three!”

On three I stepped forward to brace myself and throw the tree with the momentum but my boot slipped on the gravel and the tree snagged on my sleeve pulling me with it. The tree rolled down the ditch and I fell face first along with it. 

Once I finally stopped rolling and stood up, spit out some mud and looked down at my uniform.

 It was filthy. My entire front of the long sleeved uniform shirt was covered in mud, my pants didn’t look much better either.

Joe stood on top of the ditch, eyes wide staring at me. His mouth couldn’t decide whether to frown, smile or laugh. 

I stood there, not sure if I should attempt to wipe off the mud and risk spreading it, or if I should just suck it up and wear it. 

A feeling of anxiety swelled within me, worst case scenarios came flashed in my mind. Would I get fired? What if Joe was just going to leave me in this ditch? How was I going to get back home? Surely I wouldn’t be allowed in the truck in this disgusting condition. 

“Andy…? You good?” He asked cautiously.

“I thought you said it wouldn’t hurt for me to help you!” I accused him. 

His mouth turned up into a lopsided grin. “Well, I’m not hurt. Are you?” 

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Tears sprung to my eyes involuntarily. Angrily I swiped at them with my sleeve, which only smeared more mud on my face. 

Joe chuckled, “Oh I think you’re fine, your pride is just a little bruised my dear.” He extended a hand towards me, bracing himself with the heel of his boot as he waved me towards him. “C’mon.” 

He pulled me out of the ditch with one hand. Despite his big bear chubby build he was exceptionally strong. I suppose it shouldn’t have been surprising, he was a strong male probably somewhere in the mid-pack, and his park ranger human job doubled as a good cover for a pack warrior. 

After I brushed off as much mud as I could, I went around to the back of the truck and climbed halfway up the tailgate when Joe exclaimed “Hey! Andy!” 

I jumped. The mud made my hands slippery and so I lost my grip and almost fell off the truck.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare ya.” He apologized awkwardly. “What are you doing? Get in the truck.”

“You don’t care that I’ll get the seat dirty?” 

“No!” He scoffed, shaking his head as he got behind the wheel “Are you a dog that you think you have to ride in the back?”

“You’re the first male wolf who doesn’t think I am.”

I don’t know why the words left my mouth. I didn’t know him. But something about him made me feel safe. In a way he reminded me of Vicky’s dad, and he seemed to take care and make sure he didn’t overwhelm me with anything, work related or personal. 

For a long time he was quiet. I was prepared for the words “Get out, you’re fired”.

He sighed and rested his head against the truck’s headrest. 

“Andy… I don’t know what you’ve been through, and I won’t pressure you into talking about it either. I just want you to know that I’m not like that, I don’t care if you’re an alpha or an omega, we have a job to do by human terms and we are a team.” He turned to look at me. “Do you understand?”

“You’re still my superior, my supervisor. Right?” I said picking the mud off my sleeve.

“Andy?” 

I looked up at him.

“You are a strong wolf. You are my teammate on this job. A friend. An equal. Okay?” 

“Okay.” 

That day was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Joe and I. When we got back to the city, he got me a coffee as an apology for throwing me in the ditch. That was probably the nicest thing he could have done for me, followed by constant badgering and wisecracks at my expense. The look on his face when I quipped back for the first time was a sight to behold. 

For the first time in a long time I felt like I could be myself around another wolf. It was nice. 

Lance was the only human ranger out of the office. He seemed to be friendly and was good friends with Joe, so it didn’t take long for the friendly banter to bring us closer.

 Maddy, the girl I met on the first day however was another story. She seemed to hate my guts and I felt awkward around her. It felt like no matter what I did she always had a disapproving look or she ignored me and pretended to be busy on her iphone. 

I still tried to be nice. But I just didn’t feel the connection that seemed to spark instantly between Joe, Lance and I.

.

.

.

In my dream I was fighting Cole’s wolf, he was choking me, his teeth biting my throat. Then a series of gunshots echoed in the field. I looked around but no one was there. Cole’s wolf body laid dead on the ground, blood pooling around him like a lake. 

“Murderer.” Cole said as he laid on the ground. 

Another gunshot echoed. 

“Murderer!” He said louder, followed by another gunshot. 

I turned around and ran, but the word “murderer” persecuted me, echoing in my head like a gunshot. 

I woke up.

I bolted out of bed and ran to slam the window shut. 

I took a few deep breaths to calm my hammering heart. I looked around the cabin loft. The events of the fast few weeks started coming back to me.

I realized the gunshots I heard outside my window were not real, it was just a woodpecker knocking on a tree.

It had been two weeks since I packed up my old life, my little cabin slowly started to feel like home. I was slowly developing a routine.

I ate some cereal, made a sandwich for lunch and got in Cole’s car and headed to the city.

I drove up to the coffee shop a few blocks over from the office and ordered our morning round of coffee, black for Joe, a hazelnut Americano for Lance and a strawberry-vanilla bean Frappuccino with extra whipped cream for Maddy. The girl was a beauty queen to the max, I hoped the Frappuccino would at least break the ice.

As Jane, the barista was preparing my order and making small talk a feeling of unease came over me.

I felt as though someone was watching me. My heart rate rose and a sense of panic made my stomach churn. I resisted the urge to look around. 

Discreetly I checked behind me, but did not see anyone out of the ordinary. The feeling did not go away though.

‘Did Evan somehow find me?’ I thought, terrified. ‘Were the gunshots in the dream real, like the night he threatened to shoot me like a dog? Did he come to kill me?’ My thoughts raced.

“Hun? Are you alright?” Jane asked as she placed the two steaming coffees on the counter.

“I umm…” My mind went completely blank, blood rushing to my ears making my whole head pound. All I could see in front of my eyes was Evan, grinning.

I didn’t know how to feel about this wonderfully nice stranger who seemed genuinely concerned. Why would she be concerned about a random girl like me?

“You smell like fear, what’s wrong?” she said in a hushed whisper, more urgently this time.

“You’re ..?” I stopped myself and looked around again not wanting to be obvious and yell “werewolf” out loud.

“Yeah, I thought you knew?”

I shook my head trying to clear the awful punding headache coming on.

That made three werewolves I knew, Joe, Maddy and now Jane. This was getting dangerous, I wondered if they were a friendly and fair pack. But judging by the very few members I knew they had to be a hell of a lot better than the Lone Silver pack.

“I feel like I’m being watched…” I hissed choosing to take a chance and confide in her. She seemed nice, and didn’t hate my guts on sight like Maddy. I hoped it was a good choice.

Jane smiled and put her hand on mine reassuringly. “No need to worry. It’s just Alpha Lopez checking out your car.” She said with a smile. “Relax. You said you haven’t been in town long, he probably just wants to say hello.”

I knew her words were meant to be comforting, but I felt hot and clammy and the definition of panicked. If this alpha was anything like Evan I was totally and absolutely f****d.

Jane handed me the tray of drinks and wished me a good day. Carefully as to not spill I made my way to the car, praying the alpha was gone.

I was about to open my passenger side door to set down the tray when I smelled a heavenly scent, fresh grapefruit and eucalyptus, cedar and woody spice. I felt my stomach tighten and a shiver run down my spine, my knees wobbled slightly. The scent exhilarated me.

 Then what I heard next turned my insides into complete mush.

“Mate.”

The Alpha that Jane and I saw earlier was standing a few feet away, his chocolate brown eyes fixed on me. My heart started pounding harder, I felt my face flush, with a pleasant tingle, not the panicked rush I usually got.

I suddenly froze. ‘He’s an Alpha. Run.’ My thoughts commanded me. 

With effort I made my body listen to reason and before I could do anything stupid I ran to the other side of the car, got in and locked the doors.

He jogged up to my passenger window and knocked on it lightly.

“Hey. Open the window! You’re my mate!” His deep voice commanded me.

I didn’t know if I felt terrified or somehow enticed but my stomach was doing somersaults.

“No way in hell. Go away!” I said to myself as I hammered down on the gas pedal.

The car lurched backwards with a roar, barreling out of my parking spot. Then I floored it the moment my tires hit the road. 

The coffee spilled but I didn’t care.

He ran after my car waving and yelling.

“Wait. WAIT! Where the hell are you going!? We have to talk!”

I had to say he was very athletic because he kept up for almost two blocks before I lost him in my rear view mirror.

I drove up to the office building and put my head in my hands, my vitals were still all over the place. My heart was beating out of my chest, my eyes stung like I was about to cry. The tension in my head was making my skull pound. I was a mess.

Each throb of my head felt like a punch. I saw blurry spots in my vision. With each throbbing pulse my vision became dimmer.

 I felt like I was splayed out on the gym floor again, punches repeatedly raining down on me.

I choked on my tears.

My hand went up to my throat. 

I felt the thick scar on my neck, it was wet with tears.

 I slapped at it trying to wipe the moisture away without touching it.

I felt disgusted, I hated the ugly monstrosity of a scar, a permanent reminder of Cole. It was a perpetual reminder of what I was. A murderer.

I heard Cole’s voice taunting me in my head. “You think you just met your mate? What makes you think you deserve one? Huh? Why would he want a murderer? A devious murdering b***h like you?”

I couldn’t escape Cole, he was in my dreams every night, in my thoughts everywhere. I thought I saw the back of his head here in town once. I knew it was just my imagination but I still panicked.

I blew my nose, wiped at the tears frantically trying to remove the wet splotches on my collar. 

I tried to breathe. 

It took a long time but when I composed myself enough not to burst into tears again I convinced myself it was time to go to work.

I took the coffees or what remained of them off the passenger seat and walked into the office.

“Mornin’ Andy.” Lance greeted me as I slammed the door being me with my boot. “Here let me get those.”

 I handed him the coffees gratefully, my hands still shaking slightly.

As we were taking the leaking cups out of the tray Joe peeked out from his office’s door down the hall and grinned at me. “You know you’re supposed to drink the coffee not bathe in it right?”

I pretended to scowl at him.

“Here, I hope it burns your foul mouth.” I countered hoping he wouldn’t notice anything else that would betray my earlier mental breakdown.

“Pleasant, aren’t we.” He said, wiggling his mustache.

 I turned to Maddy who was watching our friendly banter with a grimace.

“Hey Maddy, I got you a Frappuccino. I thought you’d like one.”

She looked from me, to the cup, and back again. She did not expect that she would get anything I realized.

“Hey, look at you Maddy, getting spoiled with a falalalapuchino.” Joe teased.

Maddy rolled her eyes, “It’s called a Frappuccino Joe!”

He chuckled as he made his way over to the back door where the company vehicles were parked, then looked over his shoulder and called in his usual gruff manner.

“You coming Andy or are you waiting for an invitation?”