The Loveless Alpha

Her feet slammed against the dirt floor as she ran for her life, her arms swinging wildly. Her chest expanded and contracted each time her feet met the ground and her gaze was locked further. Hurriedly, she wove intricate patterns between mazes of oak trees, all underneath the light of the full moon. Sharp whistles cut through the air as rifle bullets wizzed past her ear. Her heart slammed against her ribcage as she jumped over a fallen tree trunk and ducked underneath a branch. Internally, her inner wolf was crying to be released. However, she knew she’d already met grazed with silver once, and couldn’t risk shifting in her weakened state. When she came to a clearing, she pressed her back against a tree and tried to catch her breath. Blood dripped down her right arm as she closed her eyes momentarily. All of her usually enhanced senses were failing her and she couldn’t hear anything but her heartbeat. She was trained to be stronger, to be faster than these humans. But she wasn’t. She was their leader, and everyone had been captured except for her. The last wolf on the run, and she was cornered in a forest she didn’t know. As she tried to calm herself down, her hands shakily ran through her dirtied blonde hair. Her eyes flashed open and she could feel the heat reverberating through her body. There was no more time for running, they’d only run her to her death. There was nothing left to do. “Here, wolfie, wolfie,” a snarky voice purred. The girl closed her eyes and tried to pick up on the scents she could smell. She didn’t know how many hunters were on her trail, maybe there was a chance she could escape. When her keen nose picked up on at least a dozen humans, all of her hope faded. There was nothing else she could do. “Found you,” a man cooed. And then she struck. The Alpha pounced forward on the lone man who had come to her and transformed mid-air. His eyes filled with terror and he raised his rifle to block her, but he was too slow. Her powerful jaws met his neck and with a sickening crunch, the man was dead. Coppery blood filled her mouth and the wolf spat as much as she could onto the grass. She had her first taste of victory, but the battle was not over yet. From behind her, she heard the thump of footsteps and rotated as fast she could. The silver was still barely in her veins though and she felt lightheaded enough as it was. On the brink of exhaustion, she spotted the short hunter charging at her and readied her body for one last attack. Then she leaped and a lone gunshot rang through the dark forest. --- “Kiara, come on, how long have you been at this?” The blonde-haired woman inhaled deeply as she bounced back and forth on her feet and ignored her friend. The woman was quite lean and most of her body was made up purely of muscle. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she was dressed in a simple black sports bra and shorts. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes set on the target in front of her. The woman formed her left hand into a fist, punched the punching bag in front of her, and exhaled. Then, she pretended to dodge right and kicked the bag. She repeated this process for a few minutes and switched between her dominant side, her left, and her weaker side, her right. "-iara, Kiara, are you listening?" A gruff voice called. The woman turned her head with a warm smile smile that made her green eyes glow. "Yes, Aaron?" She said. "There's been a spotting of an unfamiliar group of rogues near our border," the man said, walked closer to her, and then tossed her a towel. "Thanks," Kiara said as she wiped the back of her neck, "have they caused any disturbances yet?" "None so far, but I've been doing some research on their Alpha. He's pretty sketchy." Kiara nodded and examined her Gamma's face. Her Gamma was fairly good-looking, dark-haired and dark-eyed with tan skin. Yet, one half of his face was scarred from a burn that marred his face and always made Kiara sick with guilt when she saw him; for she should've been able to prevent that from happening. Deep down, Kiara knew that what happened to Aaron couldn't have been avoided, but she still felt guilty. "Kiara? Are you spaced out again?" Aaron sighed. "Sorry, sorry, continue," Kiara grinned sheepishly. "I don't have much information on this Alpha, which is pretty odd because there's usually a pool of information on every Alpha, but there's almost nothing on this guy. I've found out how many people he's slaughtered and a general description of him, but that's all. His pack sounds almost as ruthless as if the Sonic Howl Pack and our pack combined." Kiara frowned, "What's the basic description of this guy?" "Tall, muscular, dark-haired and blue-eyed. That's all," Aaron responded, "Should I contact Maximus and tell him this information?" Kiara shook her head at the mention of the Alpha of the current most powerful pack, the Sonic Howl Pack, "No, no. We don't need his help. Right now, we have to prove ourselves once more. Many people have forgotten about us and we can't have that now, can we?" "Should I just order more guards to scan the border?" "Do whatever you deem best, Aaron. That's why your Gamma. Right now, I have to finish training and then go look at potential Betas." Kiara blew a stray hair out of her face as she continued training. Her muscles ached but she still pushed herself, because all she wanted to do was be a perfect Alpha, and she'd do anything for perfection. Her pack had been forced to the brink of extinction once before, she would never let it happen again. She had people counting on her to do her job and protect them, she wouldn't fail again. Not after last time.