Fated to the Alpha

2

Brandon

Had I not spent my entire childhood diving off the top of Rapid Hill into the river below, I would have never thrown Alice off of it. The river was all bark and no bite. I could not say the same for these wolves.

The Howls—yes, that’s what they called themselves, which should give one an idea about their collective mental caliber—had been wreaking havoc of late as if we needed more chaos on top of the Department of Preternatural Control on our tails. A terrible time for wolf packs to be in discord with each other, for sure.

However, tonight, they had crossed a line. Three lines, to be very specific. They had stepped into the bounds of Rapid Falls. They had murdered an innocent woman. And lastly, they had sought to harm their own kind.

Alice did not know that she was a werewolf, which had proven to be quite tenebrous to me. How was I supposed to talk to her? Tell her that ever since the moment she had walked into class a week earlier, I had felt in my heart the bond that we were meant to share?

The bond of fated mates.

I was getting ahead of myself. Right now, I was surrounded by an entire rival pack right at the brink of the reservation. I couldn’t let them go anywhere near my home, where my family, the Creed of the Wolf, lived. That was sacred ground. It was forbidden for blood to be spilled there.

Yet, I was not able to fight the wolves alone. It was sheer madness to think that I could take on thirteen of the angriest, rowdiest, and blood thirstiest werewolves all by myself.

The moon strengthened me. The spirit of Briar Wolf, the strongest of our kind, looked over me. I knew it. Whenever I felt alone and overpowered, I remembered Briar Wolf, the most courageous wolf ever. I could feel him in my veins. I could feel the power surging through my being.

I looked up at the moon and howled, hoping against hope that my pack would respond.

“That was folly, kindred. You let our prey escape. You foil us, youngling. You’ve come in our way for the last time,” their alpha, a grizzly wolf by the name of Terror Trevor, snarled as he approached me.

“It is not the mark of the wolf to ambush weak prey. It is the mark of jackals. You should change your name from the Howls to the Cackles,” I said. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was scared.

But the sound of paws stamping on the ground comforted me. I could feel the bond I shared with my kin and kith strengthen as they neared. Suddenly, my brethren, my pack jumped out from behind the trees and appeared in the hilltop’s clearing, surrounding the Howls.

I could sense my parents in the pack. My pack’s elders, too. Wolves of a pack shared an innate connection with each other, a connection that could be felt at all times. When we drew nearer to each other, our connection strengthened. When one of our pack members died, we each felt the anguish of their passing.

Even though my kin outnumbered the Howls, we were short an alpha. Our alpha, Jonas, had disappeared a week ago. There were rumors around town that the DOPC had something to do with it. That they were tightening their grip in the area and hunting any werewolf they came across. However, since we hadn’t felt our connection severe with Jonas, we were hoping that he was alive.

However, the matter remained that an absent alpha is not an alpha any longer. In the face of this looming battle, this would prove troubling.

“Let there be no unnecessary c*****e on this site,” the elder of my pack, Father Thomas, said as he turned back into a human. “This matter needs resolving in this court of wolves.”

The alpha of the Howls’ pack turned and stomped up to Father Thomas. He snapped, “Every day they hunt us, we cower in the shadows. You are to blame for this, you lot, and your pacifist creed. We shall sit idly no longer. Let us have our way or else!”

“Or else what? You slaughtered the diner’s manager. You hunted a poor, young, innocent girl. You didn’t keep to your territory. You invaded ours. You have faulted us. Not the other way around!” I yelled. I’d turned back into a human, too, even though I wanted to stay in my wolf form. The moon was doing wonders for me tonight.

“Spare us your yaps, mutt,” Terror Trevor said. “Let the elders speak.”

“Regardless of who speaks, I shall not allow you to treat this town like it’s your personal playground. You may not hunt the women. You may not mate with those you’re not supposed to mate with. You will, above all, not disrespect members of my pack,” Father Thomas said.

“Big words from an old man,” Trevor spat.

“How about we settle this, then? Let’s have at it, you and me. You win, we’ll let you do whatever the hell you want. I win, you turn your back and never come here again. You don’t touch anyone. You make recompense for the one you have murdered,” I said.

“That little trotting prissy young missy is not who you think she is,” Trevor said and grinned. He smacked his lips and walked up to me, grabbing his crotch. “Young miss is a fit wolf, same as our kind. Same as yours. Unclaimed by her fated mate. That being said, she doesn’t even know that she’s a wolf. We gave her a proper scare, didn’t we, Howls?”

My blood boiled. I couldn’t keep it under control any longer. Ever since I had come across Alice, the tether that had formed between me and her was strong and irresistible. I had kept it a secret from everyone, not wanting to make a big deal out of this. Legend says that when you meet your fated mate, the entire world dulls in comparison.

You can feel her presence. Her scent is tangible to the point where you can touch it. She becomes your universe. When she talks, the words that come out of her lips emboss themselves on your heart. When she looks at you, it’s as if lightning strikes.

Most importantly, you feel the blossoming of love in your heart. You feel a calling.

If that was all correct, then my hand to Briar Wolf, I knew that Alice was my fated mate. It’s as if I could only see her and no one else.

The only complication in this particular matter was that she didn’t know yet that she was a wolf. She was troubled, a newcomer to this town, and unaware of her roots.

I would die before I’d let these Howls get to her. If they had their way, they would breed her against her will and make her one of their pack. That was the most dishonorable, lewd, and perverted act a wolf could perform.

Enraged by this sentiment, I turned again, letting my fury fuel me, and pounced at Trevor.

Trevor was by every means a humungous wolf. His nickname, Terror, was well-earned. But in that moment as I leaped onto him, I felt no terror. I only felt anger. Raw, white-hot anger.

A circle of wolves formed around us as we fought. They howled, cheered, groaned, and yelped as they saw the progress of the fight.

Terror Trevor wasn’t an easy foe. He was taller than me, stronger than me, and quite fast for his size. In the beginning, he thrashed me so hard that I crashed into a tree. I would have broken every bone in my body had this not been a full-moon night.

I hastily got back on all fours and climbed up the now-slanted tree. Trevor’s size was his biggest disadvantage. He wasn’t able to climb this tree. Now I had the high ground. Thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi, for educating me on the fundamentals of fighting.

From my high ground, I leaped into the air and crashed into Trevor. My momentum caught him off guard, throwing him off his paws, leaving his underbelly and neck exposed.

In one ruthless move, I locked my jaw around his neck and tore. I felt blood trickle down my muzzle, gushing from his neck. The night sky echoed with Trevor’s whimpers as I bit down harder.

He jumped and recoiled, still whimpering, still bleeding everywhere. I ran my gaze through the crowd of wolves standing around us. Creed of the Wolf dictated that when two wolves fought on behalf of their packs, no third could interfere. Either one of the wolves died or gave up. But since giving up meant conceding your title, it was almost always a fight to the death. I wasn’t an alpha. At least not yet. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. It was the other way around for Trevor.

I approached him as he retreated. The things he had said about Alice, the actions that he had taken in the town, they were all unforgivable. I slashed at his muzzle, tearing a sizeable chunk of skin and fur as my claws met his snout. Maroon blood splattered all over the green hilltop.

Trevor snarled and parried my next attack. As I slashed again, he bit down on my claw and tossed me effortlessly across. I was ready this time. I didn’t crash as I’d done before. I landed on my feet and rebounded at him. He wasn’t expecting me to retaliate this quickly.

In one swift movement, I tackled his side and threw him off his legs. This time, I put my paw on his neck, my claws digging into his already ruptured skin. One move from him, and I’d dig my claws inside his jugular, ending it once and for all.

As we locked eyes, I saw defeat surfacing behind his red glare. Perhaps it was my naivete, but at that moment, I did the honorable thing. I backed off, putting an end to this fight. I turned around and walked over to where the elders of my pack stood.

But Trevor did not mean to end the fight. I could see from the reaction of my elders that he had gotten up behind me. If this was how he wanted to go, then so be it. The moment I turned around, I saw him leaping at me in the air, blood dripping from his many injuries, his claws out, his mouth open in a display of teeth and drool.

I had given him courtesy enough. If he didn’t want to tap out and concede, then I had no choice.

Right as he landed on me, I thrust my claws upward, impaling his neck, way past his arteries, into the meat and muscles.

Terror Trevor unleashed an unearthly shriek as his life force faded in the wake of my counter-attack. He fell on me and collapsed, unmoving.

I threw his body off of me, emerging from underneath him, drenched in his blood, victorious. I could see that he was still breathing, but by now he was so injured that he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Or at all, one could hope.

I howled at the moon and was joined by my pack. Together, our howls became a symphony that tore through the night sky.

In the wake of their defeat, the Howls had all shifted back into their human forms and were dragging away Trevor’s unconscious body.

Father Thomas walked up to the retreating Howls and said, “We of the Creed live by it and die by it. If you cannot respect our customs, then do not get in the way. As you have lost this battle, you shall now pay recompense to the woman you murdered. Blood for blood, eye for an eye. Naught shall you tread upon our land, nor shall we parlay with you on mutual matters. Begone and never shall ye return.”

With their alpha lost in battle, the Howls didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. They nodded silently and went away down the hill slope.

I, on the other hand, was concerned about Alice. Alice, whom I had thrown off the hill into the river. The river tracked its course through the reservation. Before I could confer with any of the elders or with my family, I had to check and see if she was okay.

I raced down the slope, jumped over the reservation’s fence, and ran along the riverbank, looking for signs of Alice. The longer I ran, the more my heart sank. What if she didn’t know how to swim? What if she’d hit her head while falling? What if I’d pushed her too hard?

Relief swept over me when I saw her body by the pier. She was leaning against a boat, coughing water. When she saw me approaching, she yanked an oar free from the boat and swung at me.

“Jesus Christ, man!” Alice yelled. “You threw me off the hill! You pushed me into the river. How am I not dead yet? Did I just see you morph into a wolf? Have I already died and this is the afterlife? Am I in purgatory? What. The. Hell.”

I gently took the oar from her hands and tossed it back into the boat.

“Hey, Alice Hawkins. Brandon Caufield,” I said, extending my hand.

“Dude, we’re way past shaking hands, don’t you think? I mean, somewhere between you stalking me in the diner and you throwing me in the freaking river, I’d say we’re beyond shaking hands,” Alice said.

“Well, in my defense, I did save your life,” I said, grinning.

“Some way you saved my life,” she said, shivering.

I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her.

“Don’t change the topic, mister!” she said.

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“Did you or did you not turn into a wolf on top of the hill?”

“Well, about that, Alice,” I said slowly as I sat her down on the bench outside the pier. “I’m what you would call a werewolf.”

“What? Yep. That’s it. I skipped my Lexapro and I’m already hallucinating. This isn’t happening,” she said.

I pinched her forearm gently.

“Ouch, what the hell was that for?”

“Well, it counts for dreams. Doesn’t it count for hallucinations?” I said.

“So, you’re really a werewolf?” Alice asked.

“Yes. I don’t know how else to say it, but so are you,” I said.

I could see from the bewilderment in her eyes that this was, in fact, news to her. As I figured out what to say next, I heard my pack entering the reservation. By law, it was not allowed for an outsider to be on these sacred grounds.

“We have to hide you, quick. I’ll explain later,” I said, helping her climb into the boat.

“What…” she began, but before she could get a chance to speak any more, I covered her with a tarp and pushed the boat away from the bank. The boat found its rhythm on the gentle waves and floated away from the reservation.

“Brandon!” Father Thomas called from behind. “We have to talk, my son.”

I raced back to the reservation’s town square, my heart racing, anxious to see what the elders of the pack had to say. At the same time, I was concerned about Alice, whom I had once chucked off the hill and then tucked into a boat.

As far as meet-cutes went, it wasn’t my worst one.