Alpha, I was yours before

A walk with the Alpha

MICAH

There were whispers from Selene and her cohorts. When the Alpha wasn't looking, they had slammed me down on a table, chest first.

“What in the goddak are you?” Selene snarled, as the four other wives surrounded me.

“She turned Silver dust into cinnamon.”

“The Alpha didn't flinch once, he even praised her.”

“Yunno,” Selene spoke up, silencing their side whispers. “When I first saw her, she looked suspiciously familiar.”

“I was the first wife of the Alpha many many years ago, joined together by political affiliation. He was just then expanding Ember city and werecats were dragging fertile land. He slaughtered them but their dark magic stayed and inhabited the land. That land now is Ember forest.” She continued, looking at her immediate wives, palm tight on my neck holding me in place. “The magic avenged the death of the werecats killing numerous Ember inhabitants.”

“The magic cursed our Alpha that he wouldn't be able to breed except with his true Luna. Our Alpha was such a menace that Everstone pack, a once thriving large pack sent a spy as a maid to make the Alpha fall in love with her and bring him down. The maid knew how to weave magic, she was a mage wolf. She died in a rogue attack. Her name was Seraphina, and this lady here looks like her younger version.”

“You think she has traces of sage magic?” One asked.

“It could be it. If not how was she able to pull off such a stunt. It's unbelievable.”

“The Alpha was supposed to be hurt and we were going to blame you for it.” She hit my head with each word.

“I'm going to tell him about this maltreatment.” I groaned under her hold. A bust of laughter escaped her lips and she turned to the other wives who started laughing too. “You think this is puppygarten and you tattle on us yeah.”

“Such audacity,” she scoffed.

“You will do no such thing. By luck or by magic you won this contest but you are still a nobody.”

I wanted to gloat. That I looked like Seraphina. I could even be her reincarnated mate and I might be the only one to bear a heir for the Alpha but I shut it up. They already hated me, why make it ten times more worse.

When they left, my stomach churned in anger— and shame. The tag “nobody” hurt like hell. Tears sprang into my eyes.

An Omega jolted in on me, bustling with trays of food and drinks. I hastily wiped my tears but she caught my actions. She dropped the tray and came up to me gently.

“My lady —”

I'm fine.” I scoffed. The harshness in my tone made her shrink back and I looked up at her properly. She was Sarah, the Omega slave wife of the Alpha whom Selene has turned to her personal slave. “Hey. I'm sorry for my tone. I'm just —”

“—I saw Selene come out of here just now. If it's her, don't let her get to you.”

“How? She's in my face all the time.”

“Get closer to the Alpha, make him love you, strut your authority in their faces.”

I sniggered, inspite of the advice.

“I’m serious. He likes you —”

I shook my head at her but she was persistent. “I stood at the back of him while he tasted your food. I saw the shudder, the ripple of his wolf beneath his skin as whatever was put in the food had an effect on him.”

Shet. The “cinnamon” Selene gave me might not have been truly cinnamon.

“He didn't enjoy your food but he lied that he did. I think he wanted you to become the Luna of the week. He wants to get closer to you.”

I was beyond shocked, my mouth falling open.

She nodded to the direction of the courtyard. “He calls for you.”

•••

The Alpha gently helped me into the car. “We're going to Ember forest.” His deep voice said after a period of silence. “We are going to trace the cabin that you saw the forest spirits.”

The air in Ember forest was colder than I remembered. I shivered as the car ploughed through the woods. I could feel a malevolent draught stretch around the air making the juices in my stomach sour.

The path narrowed till the truck couldn't pass so we had to walk on foot. I was waiting for that tug, that irresistible pull I felt that night when I left Crispy to run amok in the forest but nothing came.

“I don't like it here.” Crispy whispered.

“Me too.” I resonated. “But what choice do we have?”

I looked at the Alpha. “I forgot to tell you, I honestly don't remember how I came back. It's like the forest canopy shifted and I was running back a different route.”

He gave a grave nod when I finished my narration, but his towering form was uncharacteristically relaxed. His coat billowed slightly with the breeze, but apart from that the forest was unusually quiet.

“You deserve a reward.” He said, not looking at me. “No one made that dish exactly as she used to.”

I didn't have to ask who she was. I already knew. Seraphina.

“But what dish?” I replied, shrugging. I didn't even know the name.

“That dish…the only memory I have of my parents.”

It sank into me. I didn't know anything about the alpha except that he was good looking, gentle at touch and overprotective of his property. His parents, his childhood, that was something worth looking into. I would ask Aurelie. My curiosity was suddenly piqued. “What happened to your parents?”

His eyes widened a bit showing his surprise at my question.

“I didn't grow up with them so I don't know…but I was taken..and trained to be an Alpha, so that's all I know.” I saw that he clenched his fists, a faraway look in his eyes. “But that dish carried a strong nostalgia. Seraphina knew and somehow you did.” He faced me now. “You cooked it from memory. A memory that doesn't belong to you.”

I didn't know what to say to that. So I said nothing.

He suddenly took my hand in his. It was a warm gesture. Yet his face was devoid of emotion. “So you know the way to the cabin? It's seems like we've been walking round.”

“I honestly don't know.”

“Fine then. Let me take you somewhere else. Somewhere sacred.”

We walked till we reached a small hidden groove deep in the forests. The trees were ancient, tall and brooding. Their roots gnarled like old fingers reaching through moss.

“This place holds a lot of memories from when I was younger.” He said quietly. “The governess used to bring me here to pray to the moon goddess.”

I closed my eyes and let the wind rustle through my hair. I breathed it all in; the moss, the flowers, the strange sweetness in the air.

I turned to look at the Alpha standing beside me and I saw something that glinted at the corner of my eye. I searched for it, the Alpha watching me with a perplexed expression. Nestled between the roots of the tree, glinting under the dying sunlight was my mother's locket.

I dropped to my knees. I had left this locket in that hotel room with Alpha Caspian. What was it doing in the forest? My fingers trembled as I dug out the soil before lifting it up and it glinted into the light.

Before I could react, his voice cracked. “I buried this with her. I saw this lowered with her in her casket. It shouldn't be here.”

I looked at him alarmed. “What do you mean? This belongs to me. This is the locket of my mom.”

I put the locket in his outstretched palms. He studied it. His eyes narrowed. “I can swear by the goddess that Seraphina had the same locket with the same figurines and design. This same picture in it.”

I held my breath. “Who was this person to her?”

His thick eyebrows arched in confusion. “Anytime I asked, she shut me off. She was clearly someone she didn't want to remember. So I thought, this person in the locket is dead.”

I tried to recollect any memory I had of my mother, but it was like a cold blast of wind. Nothing came up. I leveled a shaky gaze at him. “What could this mean?”

His expression turned into a cynical smile. “It's a sign.”

“Of what?”

“That you're not just anyone. You're not a nobody and we,” he linked my fingers into his huge palm. “The moon goddess has bonded us together but we don't know how.”

My breathing hitches, my body tensed and when I looked up at him I saw a flurry of emotions; guilt, longing and and an ache of memories tangling in his eyes.

Before I could stop myself, I whispered. “Do you think I'm her?”

His voice was thick with emotion when he answered. “You're not her, but you carry her.”

Our faces were inches apart now, the forest spinning around us in silence. “Do you blame yourself for her death?”

His eyes were torn with guilt. “I should have protected her better. But she was stubborn.” A smile cracked through the pain. “When the rogues attacked she wanted to protect me even when I told her to stay put in the mansion. She got herself killed while trying to protect me…” His pale face took on a whiter sheen. “That kind of stuff lives on your conscience for far too long.”

“Rogue wolves.” I muttered under my breath. Should I tell him that it was one of the Gamma wolves?

But why would they kill her? It was a thought I've never really dwelt on. What was their motive? To get back at the Alpha? Or did she know something that didn't? That was in her journal that they were so desperately looking for?