I Am the Alpha and the Omega

Where in the Blazes Am I?

Kiona remained unconscious for more than an entire day after she was sedated. The dose must have been far more than what her little body needed. As she woke up, blinking sleepily, she looked at her unfamiliar surroundings. Her bed although expansive, warm and comfortable, was unfamiliar to her; the smell was foreign and that put her on alert; it was foreign yet she had smelt it before. As her eyes scanned the room and she could see it was spacious. In front of her was a long panoramic window with a balcony that stretched the whole length of the room and the moonlight shone through telling her it was night time. The room appeared to have several doors coming off it and looked like a maze.

'Had it all been one long horrible dream? Where are Mama and Papa? They wouldn't just leave me in a strange place,' she thought to herself.

Her first instinct was to get up and run, she needed to find her parents, her brothers. As she turned thoughtfully to sit up, suddenly all the images and screams began ringing in her head. She whimpered and cried as all the images came back to her, her wrists and ankles felt sore from where they had been bound, her arm felt heavy and swollen and she remembered being injected with something. Her head began to hurt and she felt dizzy. She was dehydrated, probably from all that crying and she hadn't eaten for quite some time. She noticed a jug of water beside the bed and as she reached for it she heard footsteps approaching the room. Afraid of what might happen and who it was, Kiona immediately curled back into her original position under the quilt and pretended to sleep.

A door on the far side of the room opened and she could hear the low thudding of boots on the wooden floor approaching the bed. She heard a brief rustling and she felt the bed dip beside her. Someone with that same foreign smell was getting into the bed and she was repulsed by it. It struck her, she remembered this smell. This smell reminded her of when her parents were murdered in front of her own eyes. She felt her blood beginning to boil and her heart began to race, but she couldn't get caught now. Kiona kept her breathing slow and calm, she thought of how stealthy she was when she played hide and seek with her brothers and friends. 'Breathe slow and steady Kio,' she told herself. She felt whoever was in bed with her turn and she sensed them getting closer. She felt their warm breath and fingers on her face and it took everything in her to not to kick him. The hand began to stroke her hair which made her skin crawl.

"My sweet princess," said a deep, male voice "I will wait patiently until the day I can claim you as mine. Until then, you are going to learn to obey me."

Although the voice stopped talking, Kiona still felt his breath on her face. He was watching her, although her eyes were closed, she could imagine his intense glare burning into her eyelids. She lay perfectly still, unfazed by his presence.

'When will you wake up my little angel?' the Alpha asked, looking at this little girl curled up in his bed. He leaned in and closing his eyes he took in her fragrance. 'You smell so sweet my little flower, I can't wait to see how you look all grown up."

The Alpha got up from the bed and let her sleep, cursing the pack doctor for overdosing her. He hoped it wouldn't have any long lasting effects on her health. As his footsteps receded and he left the room, Kiona opened her eyes and slipped out of the bed. She was still a little woozy from the effects of the sedative but that wasn't going to deter her. She crept through the room and looked through all the doors. One lead to a bathroom as large as her old room in the pack house. She felt sad as she remembered her room, 'it was probably burnt to a crisp now' she thought as a lone tear ran down her left cheek. Another room lead to a walk-in wardrobe for clothes, another for shoes, there was a gym, a study, a large living room and another sliding door by the large window led to the balcony. As Kiona stepped out onto the large balcony, there was some furniture arranged to one side and then a chasm of almost complete darkness in front of her. Although she couldn't see all the details, as her eyes adjusted, she saw a huge garden and what looked to be a swimming pool. There were some trees that stood close to the house from which she could hear owls hooting and the occasional rustling in the bushes below. She peered over the ledge and realised she couldn't jump directly down as she was two floors above ground. However, there were a few outstretched tree branches which she felt she could reach if she was brave enough.

Kiona was in a completely different zone now, a side of her came out that she never knew existed, a side that wanted to survive. She needed to get out of there, she wanted to go back to her pack, to see her family, her friends. She put on her shoes and took a few cushions from the living room and placed them in the bed so that it wasn't obvious she was missing. Kiona had learnt this from Ariadne when she caught her one time sneaking out of the house to go to a party. She had a flashback of that night replay in her mind.

"Ari? Ari? What are you doing?" a sleepy Kiona called out, as she tip-toed into her room.

Ariadne was dressed up in a revealing, short dress and boots and her make-up was heavy. She was going through her rebellious teenage phase. There was a party in town because one of the Alpha's sons was turning eighteen. Being underage, it was the cool thing to do. Kiona walked in watching Ariadne arrange her pillows so it looked like she was in bed. Kiona smiled as she remembered how mad Ariadne got at her and shooed her annoying little sister back to her room and into bed.

"Don't tell Mama or Papa Kio! I'll take you for ice-cream tomorrow I promise," Ariadne said hurriedly, kissing her on her head.

"Ok Ari!" Kiona giggled excitedly, doing as she was told.

All of that was but a distant memory and now and it brought tears to Kiona's eyes. Kiona stepped out onto the balcony and slid the door shut behind her. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, her eyes on the branches she needed to aim for. She stepped back and prepared for a run up. She had climbed trees before but had never done anything like this. 'It's now or never,' she told herself. 'I can't stay here.' Kiona ran; she ran the whole length of the balcony, jumped onto the ledge and launched herself into air. She flew through the air and reached out for the branch; unfortunately she fell slightly short of the one she was aiming for and was forced to grab a lower one. She cried out as she hit the branch and then clung onto it as tightly as she could wrapping herself around it. Thankfully, it was a sturdier branch than the one above her and was easily bearing her meagre frame. She steadied herself and looked around nervously hoping nobody heard her. There was a sudden rustling in the bushes below her and she saw a hare come bounding out and running across the lawn. Kiona heaved a sigh of relief and rested on the branch, catching her breath.

Quickly realising she hadn't really thought this escape plan through, she began eyeing up the tree like it might become her home. 'Don't be crazy Kiona, you aren't a monkey,' she thought. 'It's like a game of hide and seek. Think about where to hide' The thought echoed in her mind. Kiona surveyed the area around her; there was the garden and a swimming pool to the right and beyond that there were trees which bordered onto more houses. Behind her appeared to be some woodland. To the left, there was complete darkness but Kiona felt that might lead round to the front of the house. Of all the options that lay in front of her none of them seemed particularly appealing. It was the middle of the night, she was a 6 year old werewolf without her wolf, she was surprised she survived this far without being caught. However, on the ground and alone in the dead of night was a different story. 'Maybe I could be a tree-wolf?' she thought hugging the branch. Lost in her thoughts, suddenly, she heard a twig snap. It was the hare again, bounding out of the trees, back towards the bushes near balcony under her tree. Unfortunately this time the hare had company, there were three wolves giving chase. They were making an awful racket. The poor hare was doing well to dodge their gnashing teeth but it was too close for comfort. Kiona couldn't bear to watch. The howling came to an abrupt stop and there was the sound of ripping flesh. The wolf who caught the hare was having a little feast while his two companions shifted back and watched laughing. It was clear they were a little tipsy.

Kiona hoped they would go away soon, but luck wasn't on her side. Eventually the third wolf shifted back, dressed and they sat on the lawn chatting away merrily.

"Have you heard? Apparently the Alpha has found his mate," one of them said.

"Really? Who is she? Why hasn't he announced it to the pack yet?" the one who caught the hare asked.

"No idea. She must be very special," he replied.

There was a pause and the third one who was the most quiet weighed in.

"I'm not sure I would go as far as saying she is his mate."

The other two looked at him in wonder. He clearly knew more than they did and they were keen for a little more pack gossip and began to prod him a little more.

"Is that so Kayden? Well why don't you enlighten us?" the first man asked.

"She's just a little girl Lee, a pup."

The man called Lee looked at Kayden and the other man in disbelief. The three of them rose to their feet and started walking towards the house in thoughtful silence.

"Miles you crashing here or are you going home?" Lee asked.

"I think I'll," Miles replied and stopped.

"You'll what?" Lee asked again.

"Do you smell that?" Miles asked.

"Smell what?" and Kayden put his hand over Lee's big mouth.

Kiona slowly backed away towards the tree trunk hoping the leaves and tree would hide her and mask her scent.

"I can smell something. I can't quite explain it," Miles replied, slowly walking towards the tree Kiona was hiding in, but he was looking out at the woods.

"The only thing I can smell is the remains of that hare mixed with some very good whiskey!" mumbled Lee.

The three of them were very close to the tree now and Kiona was almost directly above them. She held her breathe and prayed to the Moon Goddess to keep her safe. These men were so annoying, like a dog with a bone they just didn't seem to want to let it go. They circled the tree and turned towards the woods again when a squirrel came sneaking out of a neighbouring tree, minding its own business.

"It's just a squirrel Miles! Let's go! I have a bed waiting for me with my name on it, it's such a shame it's an empty bed," chuckled Lee.

Miles and Kayden both could sense something and at one point Kiona was sure Kayden was looking straight at her but they both kept looking around intently and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. After a few more excruciatingly long minutes they yielded to Lee's pestering and started back towards the house.

"Your bed is empty because you, my friend, are a loser!" teased Miles mussing Lee's hair.

"Well my friend, what does that make you?" countered Lee.

The three friends kept laughing and slowly walked away; Kayden momentarily paused for a moment and looked back at the tree. His intense gaze taking in the scene again; eventually he shook his head and ran to catch up with his friends.

"It makes us losers too!" Kayden joked, putting his arms around his friends shoulders.

Kiona was paralysed with fear; she was sure he had seen her.