Girl-Alpha

“Alpha, we have to leave for the meeting,” Sebastian, my beta, put his head in through my office door way. “You know you don’t have to call me alpha. That’s only for the people outside the pack, Seba.” I stood up from my desk, to walk over to him. “I know that. It’s just that my wolf doesn’t want me to call you anything but Alpha. It feels like I am disrespecting you, Alp—“ He stopped when he noticed my raised eyebrows, “Orabelle.” “That sounds so much better now, Seba.” I lightly punched his arm as he faked being hurt. We descended the stairs together to stand in the living room of the pack house, currently full of the pack members in the house. My delta stood with a few others of the women and men we were taking to the meeting with the pack of Night Spruce. I cleared my throat and instantly everyone stopped their chattering and bowed their heads to show me respect. They will never learn to stop doing that. “Blue Moon pack! Tonight, we are leaving for the meeting with the pack of Night Spruce. If today everything goes well with their alpha, we will hopefully have peace between the two lands. Wish us luck!” I finished with a smile. “We wish you luck, Alpha Orabelle.” They all wished together with shouts of encouragement and cheers. I nodded to Sebastian who started to lead out the five pack members I have chosen to come with us. Grant, my delta, stood there in the crowd until I had walked out of the door. “Have you brought the clothes for everyone?” I asked him, once we were out of the door. “Yes, Alpha.” He said with a bowed head. I pulled at my face. “Don’t. Call. Me. That! It makes me feel like I am some kind of a cruel, murderous leader!” My tone was low in frustration. Grant immediately bared his neck towards me, showing me his submission. “I apologize for that, Orabelle.” He said. I sighed, placing my hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. Without another word, I concentrate on my wolf Celine to come forward. The bones of my legs and body started shifting, making me breath hard as my body turned into a huge grey wolf with white stripes on it. I looked around to find that everyone else had turned and were looking at me expectantly for orders. I looked up at the white moon. I closed my eyes, “Moon Goddess, please give me power to get this deal!” After having silently prayed, I opened my eyes. Turning my face up, I howled into the night air, followed by six other howls and chorus hoots from inside the house. We were ready to go now. We ran through the trees, dodging the barks and low slanting branches, the air hitting our faces. Celine was happy today, a little too happy than usual and both of us didn’t know the reason. I could feel that she was a little jittery too. A pressure was forming in my mind. I opened my mind link. “I hope this meeting ends well.” It was Sebastian. I looked behind me to find his black wolf matching my pace, paw to paw. Sebastian had been my best friend since I first came into the pack. He was a few years older to me and yet he respected me like I am his senior. I don’t know what I would ever do without him. Since I was made Alpha, I wouldn’t have anyone but Sebastian as my beta and he was glad to take up the position for my happiness. “I think they will agree. Both our packs have got several bloody bodies. He has to accept it for the sake of his own pack, at least.” I replied back. “I have heard he is ruthless and cruel and quite stubborn too. No wonder the other packs are afraid of them,” Sebastian retorted. “Please, be positive.” I replied to him sternly and closed my mind link. I didn’t want to talk to anyone anymore. It got tiring. I needed to think of what I would say to the alpha of Night Spruce pack. He has to understand the benefit of being united rather than fighting amongst each other on crossing the land of the other. Wolf packs are very protective of their lands. We weren’t really on friendly terms with the pack Night Spruce when my father was the alpha. This was because we didn’t accept them as the sovereign pack. After that, we had to keep ourselves in check so that we don’t cross the border of their territory but some pups, who didn’t know the rules so well or simply ran for a few extra miles, would accidentally cross their border and that would be it. We would get bloodied children back on our front door. During the very early days, they would even kill them. We had decided to give them payback when it was too much to handle and we too, killed some their children or send them back in injured bodies. I felt that it was enough already and so this meeting was what I had asked for. A pressure started to form inside my head again. I opened my mind link—again. “What is it, Seba? I am trying to think here.” I said irritated. I was all up for talking, but at times like these, when something important was at hand, I wanted to think. “Sorry, Alpha,” He said, which made me roll my eyes, “I wanted you to know that we are nearly there and we have to stop soon.” That was when I realized that we were at the clearing. The last streak of tress stood there in front of us and ahead of it the big meadow, where we will have the meeting. This meadow was taken as common grounds and anyone could come here but we don’t have the right to go beyond this place, to the other side. This place, the school and university were the common grounds for every werewolf belonging to every pack that existed around this place. We didn’t associate with the other pack members but we sure did tolerate them with the frequent occasional fights picked by the Night Spruce pack members, of course. “Take your clothes and change,” I said through the mind link, looking at everyone’s faces. All of a sudden, I was feeling a bit too clammy and nervous and my heart was racing. Celine was going bonkers and was too jittery, even for a lively wolf like herself. I shook my head to try and clear the fog inside it. I need to stop being so nervous. There’s nothing to be nervous about. I silently walked over to grant to take a pair of clothes for myself and head behind a bush. I realized I had picked up a t-shirt and short pants. Not much, but this will have to do. When everyone was done changing, we stood behind the last line of trees. I was shifting from one foot to another and I had to constantly rub my sweaty hands against my clothes. Sebastian stood close to me, to my right. His hand squeezed mine. I looked up to see him smiling. “Stop being so tense. You are going to do great. Calm down,” His thumb ran soothing circles on my hand. I smiled at him. It had been a year since I had got the position of the alpha. In my pack, the alpha, beta and delta are chosen on the basis of combat skills and our performance in the training, our skills and leadership qualities. Before my dad died he had announced me as the alpha and I couldn’t have been more surprised. My dad had then told me how couldn’t be the person I was before, how I had to be stronger and how I had to suppress my fears from others so that they could feel stronger in my strength. I did do that but Sebastian always found out. Even when I was as calm as the clouds on a spring day, he would still get to know that something was wrong with me. That was the reason why I loved him so much. At that moment, my thoughts were broken by a rustling sound on the other side of the clearing. In our vision, we could see some dark bodies walking into the trees. A particularly large body caught my eyes and I felt my breath hitch in my throat, making me clutch Sebastian’s hand harder. He looked down at me and then at the figures in the shadows. I nodded my head and we walked into the clearing together; Sebastian had let go of my hand and stood to my right with Grant on my left. I felt like some kind of a demolition squad, if that made any sense. Four men came out from behind the tress, all wearing track pants only, to cover their lower halves. But that wasn’t the reason I was staring at one particular man. Celine was leaping in joy and she kept on whining and howling inside of me, making me want to jump at him. He looked different than the rest to me, with his magnetic green eyes and black floppy hair, and muscled chest and strong arms. He even looked like someone I knew, from a long time ago. My throat felt dry and my lips were parched, making me gulp down. The smell of fresh stream water and fir trees met my nose and it was intoxicating me, making me feel dizzy. “Stop, Celine! Please! I need to focus! Stop making me look like some kind of a psychopath!” I chided my wolf, who kept on howling more. The man looked unfazed though his eyes glittered as they took in my appearance. Suddenly, I felt a little too hot even in my minimal clothes. “Who’s the alpha?” The man spoke in a deep rumble, making my chest ache in a weird way. I walked in front of the others to stand in the middle. “Alpha Orabelle,” I introduced myself with as much authority I could, even when I wanted to fall into a puddle of mush at his feet. Someone behind him, with blond hair, started to say, “What kind of a—“ He couldn’t finish his sentence as the man in front of me put up his hand to make him stop. He walked forward and in one stride he stood at a distance of three inches from me. I felt choked and my breathing came out in pants. “Alpha Damien,” He introduced, placing his hand in front of me for me to shake. I held it firmly in between my hand. A shiver ran down my spine. I haven’t seen him around here, never in school and not in university. “Nice to meet you. I would like to discuss the terms of our territories.” I said firmly, ignoring the tingling feeling that was left behind on my hand as we released each other. “Go on,” He said, crossing his arms on his chest. I couldn’t help but notice how much bigger he was to me. “No, no! Stop, thinking that! You are the alpha of your pack! Act like it!” I scolded both Celine and my own conscience mentally. “As you know, we already have gone through several killings and injuries of our future generations due to the crossing of boundaries; I would like to propose different terms. Our fathers haven’t had a good relationship, doesn’t mean that we, their heirs, have to follow in their footsteps. Both, your pack and my pack, have faced too many losses to ignore it. I would like friendly relations between our packs, relations which allow us to cross boundaries and associate with each other when necessary,” I explained in an authoritative tone, looking into his eyes, not cowering. I was proud of myself right now. Damien kept looking at me for a good ten seconds before he said anything and what he said, wasn’t to my liking at all. “I would have friendly relations with your pack, if you agree to come back with me, to my pack,” he smirked. “How dare you!” Sebastian said from behind me. Growls erupted from his said and return growls erupted from my side. This wasn’t good. I looked behind me with raised eyebrows and they quieted down. Sebastian kept looking at me, like he knew something I didn’t. I looked back at Damien who looked completely unfazed. “I have no reason to go back with you. I am the alpha of my pack and I would like to remain the same. This deal is supposed to keep us all safe and at peace. This is just not for the benefit of my pack.” I said sternly, now crossing my arms over my chest. “Don’t you?” He asked in a lower tone, taking another step towards me. My voice seemed to falter. Growls started behind me again. I put up my hand to shush them again. “No, I don’t!” I told him back with as much ferocity as I could muster. Celine made talking difficult. She howled in agony making my chest pain even more. “I believe then there’s no deal.” Damien spoke in a quiet tone, but it was enough to give me tingles up my spine. It held menace and bared teeth, more than the sexy kind of quiet. I nodded my head curtly and turned around to go back to the house. This didn’t go as I had planned but his want was something I couldn’t give him, no matter how much I wanted to even. Just as I turned, my wrist was caught. The warmth of his hand warmed me from inside. “Soon, you will change your mind,” He smirked again as he whispered in my ear, making me shiver. I pulled my wrist from his hold. “That will never happen,” I told him, turning back to my people. We turned into our wolves and the others started running back to the house, while I looked at the clearing one last time. A big white wolf stood there, looking back at me. I wanted to go back; I so wanted to go back. Turning my head, I sprinted into the trees, without another thought. Celine scratched inside my mind, making my vision blurry. She wanted control of her body and I fought with all my might to restrain her. If I gave her the control, she would go straight back into his arms. “What happened out there?” Sebastian spoke through the mind link. I knew everyone else would be listening in. I closed the mind links with the others and spoke to Sebastian, “I found my mate.”