The Alpha Female

Episode 16: The Alpha and Luna

Victoria

We waited in the darkness of the caves and I was seething with anger. I was angry that we were having to hide. I knew why, but being this vulnerable and helpless was a new concept that I was not familiar with and I didn’t like it. I have always been in control and now I am only in control of self-preservation and the fact that it comes with the price tag of other’s lives was like a knife to my heart. I looked at Maria as she sat in a meditated sitting position and just focusing on all senses. The thought of her dying to protect me surged my rage again.

“Stop getting angry Alpha. It affects the babies.” Maria popped open one eye to look at me. She opened her other eye and now was looking at me with a loving expression. “Don’t worry. We are going to be fine and so are our men. I mean wolves.” She smiled at the thought.

“Yea, I know, but I’m angry Maria. I’m angry because I am an easy target by being pregnant. I am angry because someone wants to hurt us and I mean all of us. I never had to deal with this in my pack. I feel exposed front and center when I have always lingered in the back and out of sight.” I shook my head still not wanting to accept what was in front of me. I felt a tear escape and then the flood of tears took over and then I started laughing. My wolf came forward in my mind and nuzzled me to calm down. I quieted myself down after a minute, wiped my tears away, and then I started to meditate and refocus. I could feel Maria look at me, but then she refocused too. Just then I felt a sucker punch to my soul and I wailed in pain. Maria shot up and immediately came to aid me.

“What’s wrong Victoria?!” Maria was frantically looking me over.

“The pain! Oh my Goddess NO!” I clutched my throat and then I reached out for Mike at the mouth of the cave while Maria was holding me in panicked confusion. Mike looked at me and smiled. Mike was so beautiful. For the first time, I really got to look at this magnificent Gamma. He was tall, about 6’3”, dusty blonde disheveled hair, forest green eyes after it just rained, a soft smile with full lips, and a skinny framed surfer body. Anyone that looked at him could tell he was fast and agile like surfing the waves. His abs were an easy six-pack and all of his muscles were easily defined. He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his neck. His eyes sparkled with sadness as he looked at me. He blew me a kiss, nodded and shifted into his wolf spirit, and ran into the air. He was gone. Just like that a family member I had just met was gone. I put my hand to my heart and closed my eyes and realized I had just experienced what the other Lunas experience when a pack member dies. I felt Maria hug me and cry too.

“I saw him too Luna. I am so sorry for your loss.”

I looked at Maria with hard eyes. “Our loss Maria. Our loss.” Just then we hugged each other and cried. We went back into the shadows and tried to refocus. The loss of our Gamma meant that the fight was here now. I just prayed that Mike would be the only spirit I saw that night. My prayers were answered. The moments that passed were done so in silence. Maria and I were now ready for whatever came our way. As if my mate were right in front of me I heard his anguished message. Maria fell on her side to the floor grabbing her head. I quickly remembered she is human so a mind link can come in like a migraine. I picked her up and cradled her as she held her head in agony as my mate’s message came through like a foghorn to her.

“Are you guys able to turn me, Luna? If so I’d definitely consider the change to avoid this happening. I felt like my head was splitting into two.” Maria looked up at me with puffy swollen eyes. I hated to think of her in pain. I also knew I looked as much like a train wreck as my sister did. Just then we heard movement in the cave. My senses were off because of the crying and stuffy nose, so whoever was approaching I didn’t smell them. Despite Maria being the one who was supposed to be protecting me, my Alpha nature took the lead. I shoved her behind me to protect her and took a stance ready to shift and kill if necessary. I waited to see who or what was coming. I took my hair down and as Maria looked curiously at me she realized I had throwing darts that had looked like hair accessories. She nodded in approval and then she waved her arms up and used her magic to cloak us and blend us in with our surroundings. We both stood as still and the noises grew louder.

“Victoria, Maria!” I heard Angle shout out to us. We waited still motionless and not trying to be fooled by a possible enemy in disguise trying to coax us out to meet death. Just then both Angel and Damien emerged from the hallway that we had originally come from to hide in the tunnel system. It was just those two and no one else. Maria dropped her defenses and I dropped my hairpieces. We ran to our mates.

We walked back up to the packhouse. It was quiet and the feeling was solemn. We talked about an escape plan if needed during the night in case something happened again and quickly. We all needed to make sure we would be okay and able to find each other just in case. I knew this was the logical thing to do, but I was extremely pissed off now. I was not used to having to do all of this. I remember my dad having to deal with s**t like this, but I had worked hard so my pack wouldn’t have to deal with unnecessary nonsense like this. We solidified our plans what seemed like twelve times over and then we headed off to bed.

I was exhausted and despite my pleas, Angel had carried me to our room and put me gently on the bed. He snuggled in behind me and breathed me in. We both drifted off to a night of restless sleep.

Angel

Having Victoria in my arms made the loss of my Gamma less painful. I wanted to crawl into her after breathing her into my soul. I knew she was angry, but it comforted my wolf to know how this had affected her. For the first time, I wasn’t having to shoulder everything. I didn’t realize how much my pack was unstable until being in my mate’s pack. In a way, I wish I was back at our other home and not having to deal with this. I didn’t want to have to deal with this s**t, but it’s my responsibility as Alpha. I hugged Victoria a little tighter and drifted off into a light sleep.

What seemed like five minutes was a few hours of sleep. We both woke up and talked about what had transpired. My mate was upset and rightly so. She got up and retrieved her cell phone. She was talking to her dad. I got up and hopped into the shower to clean up. I left the door open just in case I needed to spring into action. Victoria put my mind at ease as she came into the shower with me. Her pregnant belly was starting to show even though we were in the beginning stages of the pregnancy. One thing about wolf shifter pregnancies is that they were only six months instead of the nine months for a human. Feeling her with me in the shower was calming. I needed her. I kissed her on the forehead and began washing my mate. She did the same to me. We hugged each other in the shower.

“I put a change of clothes for each of us in here just in case, closed and locked the door.” Victoria, my Luna said to me in a soothing and reassuring voice. I nestled into the crook of her neck and held her. She pulled away enough to look at me and was reading my expressions. Her voice like honey in my mind and it soothed me. “It’s going to be just fine love. Let’s just get ready and head downstairs to start the day.”

Both of us were on high alert when we opened the bathroom door. We made our way downstairs. I mind linked with Damien. He let me know the coast was clear and the packhouse was safe. The smell of food was inviting, but just then Victoria surprised all of us. She grabbed all of the drinks away from Damien and Maria. “Did you drink from these?” They shook their heads confirming they didn’t.

“Henry, have a seat, please. Omegas, please sit down as well. I will be throwing away all of the food and drink. I will make the breakfast and the remaining dishes until my team comes in. Any arguments from anyone of you or protests in the slightest will earn you a one-way ticket to the prison for interrogation. I will be interrogating every one of the prisoners today including any of you that have an issue with what I am doing. I don’t know you to throw you; therefore, any one of you could have poisoned the food and drink.” Victoria began throwing away everything. She dumped all of the drinks before anyone had taken even a sip. As she did Damien was looking at everyone for a reaction and so was I. My mate was on the hunt. “One of you is a traitor. A mole. One of you fed information to another Alpha that leads to Mike’s death and discord in our pack and then you didn’t come forward to take accountability for your actions. My pack at home knows better than to cross me, but this pack doesn’t know, so you all have forced my hand to show you the hard way.” Victoria’s voice sliced through everyone like a hot knife cuts butter.

My mate pulled new food out of the fridge, inspected it, sniffed it, and then began making breakfast. She pulled out juices, water, milk, and then poured the coffee. She poured each into small glasses and put them in front of one of the Omegas. This Omega was small, thin with hazel eyes. She had curly red hair that was up in a professional bun. She was the same height as my mate. Her name is Lydia. She looked at my mate with pleading eyes. My mate narrowed her eyes at her and pushed the glasses of fluids in her direction. She looked at them with frightened eyes.

“What’s your name Omega?” My mate’s voice was different. It was commanding. She was her Alpha and she was about to prove her worth to my entire pack.

“Lydia.” The Omega said in a barely audible whisper.

“Lydia. I want you to take a drink from each of these glasses that I have pulled from the cabinets and the fridge. I want you to know I chose you out of the crowd at random. I want you to know the seriousness of what is about to happen. Either you or someone here has purposely laced poison either on the dishes or in the drink for the sole purpose of hurting all of us for none other than greed for power without realizing that with power comes great responsibility that not everyone is cut out for. Being an Alpha means taking care of everyone and self-sacrificing if need be. It means to carry the weight of everyone’s troubles upon our shoulders. It means late nights of problem-solving, paying bills, and balancing the spreadsheets, and somewhere in the mix of all of that trying to remember to eat. Sometimes we do not sleep for days at a time to try to get everything sustainable for the pack. While everyone lives a happy and not so stressful life within the pack no one sees what is internally done to keep it running. Everyone ALWAYS sees the ‘things’ and hears about the ‘money’ without realizing the workload involved. If you get sick you know our pack healers will take care of you. If you refuse I will kill you where you sit and then your family. I know it doesn’t ‘seem fair’, but life isn’t fair. It wasn’t fair for Mike to die and now I am going to weed out all suspects right now. Your refusal will let me know you had a part in this. I am also pregnant, so I can smell all of you right now as well. One of you in here is a traitor, a mole, a threat to this pack, and because of your transgressions, you will die. Your failure to come forward yesterday when our Alpha spoke has now resulted in the execution of your family. I am an Alpha as well as your Luna, but make no mistake right now I am the Alpha and I will personally execute your family, men, women and we will take the children and babies and raise them as our own. They will never know about you and if they do they will only know about your deeds against this pack and its safety. Now, Lydia is it? Do you understand everything I have just said?”

Lydia’s eyes were no longer pleading, but proud. She nodded and with a louder voice she spoke. “Yes Alpha, my Luna I understand and I know you will take care of me. My life for yours.” She took a sip of every single glass and paused in between so if there was an immediate reaction we would know. She started getting to the milk before she started to vomit all over the counter.

Our healers had been called in by Damien and they took Lydia to the hospital wing in the packhouse.

“Next? Any volunteers?” Victoria’s eyes were slightly wolf as she looked at everyone, but us.

“I will volunteer my Alpha, my Luna. My life for yours.” Henry said. He shook his head and a tear fell down. “Mike…..WHY WOULD ONE OF YOU DO THIS?!” Henry drank every single drink down like a shot including the hot coffee as he looked at his helpers. He clutched his throat after he drank the coffee. He started to turn purple and coughed up blood. He slammed his fists onto the counter and sent the glasses shattering. He shifted to his wolf and was on top of the counter looking around as bloodied saliva hung from his mouth. He growled and his head swiveled to one of the Omegas. He growled a deep deathly and accusatory growl. Then fell down and off of the counter. I caught him before he hit the floor. The healers rushed him and whisked him away. Maria went with them and was casting healing spells onto him. We looked at the Omega. He had a crooked smile on his face.

“The plan was going perfect. I have no family. I’m a rogue, so no one else is going to die other than me.”

Victoria stayed where she was. “I am so disappointed in the circumstances and empty promises that lead you to death today. I wish it was different. In my pack and in my lands, rogues and families of rogues are respected. Is there anything you want to say to us before you meet the Goddess?”

I watched the Omega’s face fall. “No, I’m ready and I’m not sorry.” Growls erupted from everyone and everyone’s skin was rippling. My mate had sorted it out immediately. Here was our traitor. He was a pack member that had come in with one of the packs we had taken over earlier last year. At least we thought he was a pack member. We didn’t realize he was a rogue.

“Very well. May the Goddess escort you to a better life and relieve you of the pain you have dealt with in this life, so you don’t suffer the same fate in your next life.” Victoria spoke to him with a motherly tone. While she said this I walked up to him and ripped out his throat ending his life.