Alpha, I was yours before

The forbidden East wing

It was midnight. I have been running in wolf form through the Ember Forest, feeling called by something I do not understand.

I stumbled across the cabin. I shifted back into my human form, I was bare feet and breathless.

My fingers trembled as I reached for the rusted handle.

A heavy scent of lavender, sage… and moonflowers lingered in the air. It smelt just as the perfume I took from East Wing.

She stepped in. It was like I was staring at my reflection in the mirror. Her voice was sharp like gravel.

“What have you done? You awakened something, and you brought it back to Ember city.”

“I didn’t go inside the cabin,” I whispered.

She stepped closer. Her eyes pierced into me. “You didn’t have to. It recognized your blood.”

“My blood…”

“I spent years trying to lock that vile spirit and I successfully did it before I was killed.” She stepped even closer to me until we were staring each other eyeball to eyeball. “And the person who killed me is going to come for you, and you can't have that happen until you bind that spirit back.”

Questions flooded my mind. The one that sat on the tip of my tongue was the first to be blurted out. “What did it mean by Come Home? Who killed you?”

Her phantom started to fade. “You have my mark” she nodded to the Latin symbol engraved on my wrist “and my journal at the back of my portrait. I hid it there because they are people who are looking for it, so no one needs to know that you've found it.”

“I –

Before I could take a step closer to her, she changed.

Her face distorted into something ancient. Burned. Screaming. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out; only a blast of cold wind and the scent of smoke and ash.

I fell backward; into the real world.

Back into the East Wing. Gasping.

The portrait was still there. Untouched.

I rushed to get behind it and sure, there was a very old book. It was so old that some of the pages had started to crumble to dust.

I stared down at it, heart pounding.

Seraphina’s voice still rang in my head.

“It recognized your blood.”

So many answers and it laid here, in this dusty book.

I tucked the book, the dresses and the unfinished bottles of perfume in a pretty pink bag I saw under the bed.

I was about to leave when I heard a loud clang by the main door of the room and a spitfire of curses. My heart skipped. No one was supposed to see me here. Where could I hide?

A chatter of voices bled into the room, along with heavy footsteps.

Everywhere suddenly went hush.

“Someone was here”, a panicked voice blurted out.

“Could it have been the Alpha?” Another of the men spoke, voice trembling.

“Quit being scaredy-cats,” a familiar voice reprimanded. “The chairs had been moved, only some dresses removed, and a few items; possibly perfumes on the dressing table are missing. “So it’s definitely not the Alpha,” the same familiar voice noted, a hint of certainty in his tone.

“I honestly think it’s the new Luna,” another male voice piped in. Grunts of affirmation followed.

“Else who’d be able to unlock the magic we used to shut the door?”

Footsteps clacked closer and closer to where I was hiding. My heartbeat roared in my ears.

“Guys, come and see this,” one of them called out, his voice laced with confusion. “This portrait has been moved.”

“True,” the first voice confirmed, his tone sharpening.

“The dust on the floor is uneven.”

A tense silence followed before the confused voice spoke again, quieter this time. “What could she be looking for?”

“Whatever it is that we are?,” someone muttered.

The reply came in a malevolent growl. “She’s a threat. She looks exactly like the True Luna… could be the True Luna. What do you think?”

There was a groan from the other end of the room as old items were being moved and shifted; scraping wood, muffled thuds, the rustling of papers and fabrics. They were thoroughly searching the room for something.

“Any progress?” the first of the two voices in front of the portrait called out to the men across the room.

When the replies came back as “no,” he continued, speaking more directly to the second voice. “I’ve had to search and investigate her lineage. And she comes from the same pack the True Luna came from.”

“The pack the Alpha destroyed?”

“Yes. She and her younger brother are the only living descendants of that bloodline.”

“How is that even possible?” The other voice trembled with agitation. “Her father is part of the elders. A chief and he is in debt to the Alpha.”

“My sources could be incorrect... but it’s worth looking into.”

Silence fell between them, heavy and brimming with tension. Then came a soft, deliberate tapping on the portrait’s frame.

“Why do you think she moved this?” the voice asked, low and suspicious. “I mean, she could have stared at it... touched it. But she moved it. That’s suspicious.”

“Looks like it was removed from the wall,” the other agreed.

“Could it have been at the back of the wall?”

“If it was, she would’ve taken it by now.”

“Denis. Zachary!” the other voice barked suddenly, and I memorized the names, “Lift this portrait.”

“s**t,” the deeper voice cursed, and I knew instantly what he had seen.

Behind the portrait was a narrow alcove that once held the book, moon rocks, and sages. I had cleared it all.

“It was right in front of our noses all this while,” the voice growled, clearly frustrated. “Put it back.”

A heavy groan echoed as the portrait was rehung on the wall.

“Denis, wipe every trace of us being here. Let’s go.”

Their angry stomps echoed like thunder as they left the room and me, seething in confusion.

Seraphina was right. They were looking for her journal. And they were also unto me. But there was something they said that gripped my attention.

I am from Seraphina's pack and lineage. How?

Another question that I didn't have an answer to.

When I came back from the room, I met Nexxie anxiously pacing around, waiting for me. She sprang on me the moment I closed my room door.

“Where were you my lady? I was out of my mind waiting for you. I didn't want to disturb the alpha, if not I would have alerted the servants.”

My frown went deep. “So someone cannot explore on their own no more?”

Her nose twitched. “Why do you smell like old stuff, mouldy books and musty fabrics. What is it you're holding?”

“Enough!” I barked. “Let me be, and say not another word.”

Her eyes shone with fear. “You went to the East wing, didn't you?.” Her voice went lower. “You are not supposed to go there.”

I rolled my eyes. But I did go there and I came back alive. I hopped on the bed and she quietly sat beside me.

“Alright.” She laughed. “Tell me what you saw.”

I turned towards her excitedly. “A huge portrait of me was hung on the wall and it had the name Seraphina. I could be his reincarnated mate!”

“While that's good to hear, you need to know something.” She took my palms into her soft palms and squeezed them gently. “When Seraphina was alive, the only person who loved her and was happy she was here was the Alpha. Everyone was trying to get her out of the way. You should be careful.”