Seducing The Beastly Alpha

1. Alpha August

“I must get my soul back from you; I am killing my flesh without it.” - Sylvia Plath

---

...11 months ago

(Mikayla)

This was the day everything in my life would start to change. But I didn't know it then. I was blissfully unaware of the days that were going to change something in me.

For now, it was just another morning for me, and I was once again fighting with my father for the mangosteen fruits.

I was pouting and sulking and dad was teasing me about the yummy fruits.

Dad and I were a little different from my mother. Yes, my mom, now she could shift into a wolf. Dad and I couldn't.

We were both Tainteds. We, Tainteds, were the ones without any power. They were the ones who often got killed in the power struggles between the shifters, Vampires, warlocks, witches, faes, elves, hybrids and whatever powerful beings lived in the kingdom.

Dad and I were the perfect team. I loved my mom, so damn much, but sometimes, she was something I could not understand or connect to. She was not anything like us.

My Mom walked in, muttering good morning to us and we laughingly replied back.

She poured a cup of coffee for herself, looking quite moody, as she leaned against the counter, staring guiltily at us.

I hadn't noticed that at first, but when I noticed it, I instantly felt that something was wrong. Something was so off. The look on her face was sending all kinds of warning signals.

My dad looked up, as well, when he realized I had gone silent. My mom looked at my dad, her eyes ashamed and guilty. She looked worried, but she also looked determined. She was ready for it, whatever it was.

"I found my mate." She said in a soft voice, and even though she looked guilty as hell, I could see the twinkle in her eyes. She was happy. She wanted to leave us and... I gasped.

For a second, I only heard a loud ringing sound and then everything became quiet.

The birdsong outside the window, floating gently over the pink and blue morning skies, had quietened, too, and in the silence, I could hear my own heart trying to rip my chest apart and come out. My breath turned stuttered. Loud.

"What?" I blinked. I knew what it meant.

Growing up, my mother had told me stories about true mates the Moon Goddess would choose for a shapeshifter. It was all so magical and wonderful.

"They will be a part of your missing soul. They carry a part of your soul. When you meet the other half of you, you will instantly feel the connection." My mom would say and I would look at her with wonder. "Your soul will call out to them and your blood will sing for them."

"Are you and dad mates, mommy?" I would ask in an innocent voice, not knowing how a supernatural creature couldn't have a tainted mate.

"No. But we love each other in a different way." My mom would say with a kiss on my forehead.

"Why did you not find your mate, mommy?"

"It is not in my stars, I suppose. Don't worry about it, little Kay-kay, you and your dad are my world and I am happy here." She would smile, but even back then, I knew she was missing it, missing the feeling.

It was like an enchanted tale, and I had wanted that for me, too. That instant connection. The song of blood. It all sounded like a miracle to that seven-year-old little girl with stars in her eyes.

When I grew up, though, I realized, the tainteds were the only ones who weren't blessed with mates. There was no part of the missing soul for us, no singing blood, or calling souls. Nada. Freaking Nothing.

We were the runts. We were the ordinary in the world of the extraordinary.

We didn't have power. We didn't have supernatural abilities. We didn't have magic or strength or super speed. And we didn't have mates. No wonder everyone in Euretya looked at the Tainteds like they were a curse. Maybe it was a curse. Maybe we were all cursed to live in an extraordinary place, feeling so average.

My dad looked heart broken. I laid my hand on his as we looked at my mother. We were always a team, and I would never ever abandon him, not even for my mother.

"Okay, yes, yes, I am happy for you, Niveah," my dad said with broken eyes, and I could see his throat working up and down.

"Okay?" I blinked up at my dad. "OKAY? How is it okay that she wants to leave us?" I screamed at him.

Tears dripped down my cheeks as I looked at him with fury. He was calm, collected and I couldn't understand how he could be.

I knew he loved her, so how could it be okay?! She couldn't abandon us. He had to fight.

"It is fine, Kay-kay. We can't ask your mother to give up something amazing like that, can we?"

"But- but... she loves you. She loved you. You loved him." I pointed an accusing finger at my mother. She had promised me that she didn't need a mate, that she was happy here. But it looked like she wasn't. Not anymore.

"I do love him, but Kay, I- I met my mate and I have never thought- it was so sudden, but I-"

"I hate you. I hate the moon goddess," I said as I stormed away from the kitchen.

And I was sure when mom had to go away, that I would stay with my dad, right here in my home. I would never leave dad for mom. He was my person. Mom was not even my species.

But unfortunate for me, dad had to get away for a while, because of a job he had agreed to do for his employer, who was a dragon shifter, before my mom found her mate and he couldn't back off right now.

Shifters were temperamental creatures, and I didn't want anything to happen to my dad because he went back on his words. So I didn't ask him to say and thus started my new life.

Three days were all it took for my mother to end things with my father. As if all those years didn't matter. Hadn't mattered.

I hated my mom and I didn't want to go anywhere with her, but I was still a girl, a tainted one at that, and living alone in a place without no power could probably mean one thing: death. That was something I didn't want to happen.

I had a long way to go from here, and I had a big dream.

I wanted to become a doctor. I had already planned to open a small clinic in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Euretya, Ketun.

Most of the tainteds who couldn't afford anything much lived in Ketun, and the supernatural council consisted of powerful rulers from different realms mostly neglected them, neglected us, because we were tainted and powerless. They had no time for weak links.

We, Tainteds, were the weakest links.

My father originally came from Ketun, as well.

After he married my mom, who was a wolf, he moved from Ketun to Lyrios. Lyrios was not exactly the richer pack lands or the wealthy part of the city where powerful wolves lived, but it was better than Ketun, but I had always wanted to give back to Ketun, to the people who couldn't afford any medical care, and who couldn't heal themselves like the other powerful creatures.

But now... I had to move... only for a few days, but still I hated it. I hated my mom for breaking up something amazing we had. We worked pretty good together.

I sat sullenly in the car as mom started to yap about things I didn't want to hear.

"Alpha August is a great man and the Obsidian Moon Pack will be an adventure for you, baby. You have never been to pack lands, right? It is amazing," my mom gushed, after long minutes of silence.

She could keep dreaming...

"I don't belong there. I would never belong. I am not a wolf, I am nothing like you," I muttered with irritation. "I don't want to go and live on the pack land. I don't want a freaking adventure. I want to be with my father, living my life, but you are selfish."

My mom looked like I had just kicked her. "Baby... I..."

I wanted my old life back. I didn't want anything to change, anything. I liked it the way it was.

But I didn't know then...as we travelled through vast stretches of land, winding roads dotted with trees, tall snowcapped, sapphire and silver mountains following us throughout, that my life, as I knew it, would be changed for forever when I met the man who was the Alpha.

My freaking stepbrother.

Not knowing anything, I continued to sulk in the silence as my mom drove me towards a life I didn't want, not at all.

"Welcome to Vérfarkas."

I ignored mom.

***

"We are here, pup," my mom said. I had never liked it when she called me pup. I was not a pup, I would never be a pup.

Sometimes, I felt like she wanted a pup, rather than a Tainted. But unfortunately for her, I came out like my dad and nothing like Mom.

My brown eyes, my sharp nose, my long Auburn hair...I was my dad's daughter. I resembled mom in no way, and some days, I felt like she resented it a little.

"Whatever." I shrugged as I moodily stepped out of the car, my lips pressed against each other in a hard frown. I would rather be anywhere else than here. Anywhere.

Even in the Dread Woods Of Delvitga.

And Dread Woods was not a good place for a Tainted to be in. It was filled with monsters from your nightmares. Skreels. Bloodmongrels. Ferals. But I would rather be there right now than here in this lush, lavish land with a big beautiful mansion in the middle, and red-bricked, beautiful houses.

I stormed through the large ground dotted with red trees, colorful flowering plants, staring straight at the looming house that stood in the centre of the vast land. Like a freaking castle.

This place was flipping massive. Like you could put the whole city of Lyrios inside this pack land.

I had never been on a pack land, before. For just a second, I was impressed by it, but then I pushed the feeling down. I didn't want to be impressed. I hated this.

"Oof, s**t. What the hell is-" I cursed when I collided with someone.

A strong arm gripped my waist and I looked up into the most breathtaking eyes I had ever seen. His eyes were a dark, dark gray, they almost bordered on black. They were like thunder clouds... slowly, viciously forming cyclones in their depth.

He glared down at me and my breathing hitched. My heart somersaulted. Heat coursed through my body. From his fingers to every one of my nerve ends.

"Watch where you are going, little girl," he said in a voice that pulled on my heartstrings. It was the sexiest voice I had ever heard.

I pressed my lips together as I took in the marvelous man standing in front of me.

He looked like a dangerous Demigod or something.

"Sorry Alpha August, she is not looking." My Mom apologized hurriedly. Why was she apologizing?

Alpha August was a tall, captivating man, and captivated me, he did. I felt a small tingle running along my body. I felt something in my stomach when I looked at him. Something wild and uncomfortable.

The man's derisive eyes scanned me up and down and it was hard for me to stand there under the hotness of his glare.

My heart thundered like a drum. I felt my legs shaking. I didn't understand what I was feeling. It was strange for me. In all of the seventeen years and 38 days I had been living, I had never felt anything strange like this.

Another tall man, who looked like an older version of this majestic man standing in front of me, walked out of the massive mansion.

He hugged my Mom and smiled at her lovingly

"You are here," he said to her as he caressed my Mom's face and I hated it instantly. I hated him.

This must be the mate, I thought, with a glare in his direction. Anger swirled inside me, powerful and consuming.

Why in the world did she have to find her mate now? I thought moodily.

"Hello." The man turned towards me. "I am Robert Adriel. This is my son, Alpha August Adriel," the man said to me and then waited as if he didn't know what to do next.

I stared at the tall, handsome Alpha.

He is going to be my stepbrother, I thought as I looked at his lips. I would love those lips on mine.

I took a step closer to him and then stopped. I didn't know what was going with my body. It was as if he was a magnet and I had no resistance against his pull.

His eyes narrowed.

"I am Mikayla," I said, looking directly into the eyes of the Alpha. He bristled.

"Mikayla, look down," my Mom whispered.

I remembered the rules. I had memorized the rules of these powerful creatures.

Rule 1. No one should ever look at the Alpha in the eye, especially not a Tainted.

Rule 2. If you meet an Alpha, bow your head.

But I wouldn't kneel in front of this man, no matter who he was... no matter how sexy and beautiful he was. He was not my Alpha.

The Alpha growled under his breath.

"A Tainted in my pack?"

----