Loyalty

I have passed this road many times and I always see this woman leaning against a brick wall like she had just given up. She was always in the same spot and the look in her eyes just screamed death to my ears. This woman’s tiny frame was always draped in filthy rags while her hair was matted to the point of no return yet her eyes were always hollow like her soul had left its shell early.  It didn’t make it better when I saw how skinny she seemed from far away. The wind could literally whisk her away if it wanted to but even as time went on, I never really stopped to make sure that she was ok. She was a battered soul that had given up on life and I didn’t have time for that. She looked like she had been tossed to the side like a used rag and I didn’t have the nerve to clean her soul. So even as I passed this woman countless times and saw how broken she was, I just couldn’t drive by while this woman pecked at my conscience.  “Janel.” “Hm?” Janel was my right-hand woman and she was also the beta of my pack. Her loyalty to me was something to be feared and I wasn’t the type of wolf that kept to the tradition of our kind. A woman can be just as capable as a man and a woman can be just as strong as a man, maybe not physically but I find that women can compensate for what they lack with other attributes.  “Stop the car when we get to the normal road, Janel,” I told her while sitting in the back seat of this insufferable SUV that was required at all times for alpha transportation. “The one with the girl Alpha,” Janel asked curiously and I simply nodded. It would be an understatement to say that I wasn’t interested in the woman that managed to remain motionless on the ground like some sort of doll. “Of course Alpha,” I heard Janel say before everything around me began to fade into the background and I was left alone with my thoughts. I’m alpha…  I never wanted to be alpha…  I never wanted a life like this…  In my world, everyone looks to me for guidance and in my world, my kind is stuck in the olden days in my opinion. The council values keeping our culture alive more than allowing us to move forward with the changes happening around us. Werewolves can’t just stay in the middle of the woods and playhouse when the world around us has already made dragons extinct and cut elven numbers by eighty percent of their population.  Humans have guns…  They have numbers…  They have weapons of mass destruction…  We won’t survive living like this…  “We won’t survive,” I mumbled lowly while trying to think of anything that would move my plans forward instead of the pace that they’re at now but when I felt the car stop, my mind roamed elsewhere. I wanted to know why I was paying so much attention to this broken woman and I wanted to know why she always wore the same rags, why she was barefooted,  and why she could never meet my own intimidating gaze.  I thought my interest in women had died when my mate was killed in front of me when I was eighteen years old. I thought that I was basically dead inside when I didn’t hear my wolf anymore but I was entirely wrong. After years of only hearing my wolf when important things came up, I could feel him more than I’ve ever felt him before and it was because of this woman. “Stay in the car,” I ordered Janel and she happily responded with “Yes, Alpha Milan,” before I got out to approach this woman. I could feel my wolf pacing back and forth and I even heard him howl with excitement when the woman had finally met my gaze.  I noted the smell of rain while looking at the girl who was leaning against a brick wall, her limbs sprawled randomly and she didn’t move a muscle. This woman was stunning and as seconds ticked by, I felt like I was being suffocated by something that I couldn’t explain. The girl looked no older than sixteen but I couldn’t tell at all and when I heard the thunder crackling in the background I ordered the woman to get up.  She stood up and began walking away which threw me for a loop at first. Instead of going after her immediately, I watched as she walked away from me and watched as the rain began to pour on her tiny frame. The rain didn’t seem to faze her but it didn’t change the fact that I didn’t like to be ignored. Maybe it was because I was a werewolf or maybe it was because I wanted this woman to acknowledge me strangely. So, as my stride quickly ate the distance between us and I grabbed her by the waist, locking her against my chest, I could feel my wolf coming back from the dead and I could feel something in me flicker as well.  The woman fought me every step of the way and it was hard to move her. She was strong and sturdy from what I was seeing and she still had a lot of fight in her. When I heard the door click open and met a pair of concerned eyes “A-Alpha,” I reassured Janel before she could do anything else.  I think this is called kidnapping…  Sooooo illegal…  I was able to get the woman into the back seat of the car and was thankful that Janel had locked the doors before the woman could break out through the other side. I slammed the door shut “Home now, Janel” I barked which caused Janel to floor it once I was inside the car. The woman had curled into a small ball away from me and she didn’t speak at all. The woman was most likely frightened but I couldn’t just let her sit out there anymore.  She’s a woman…  She could get r***d…  I’m… Doing the right thing…  When we got back to pack territory, Janel was the first to get out while I followed her league and I had to literally drag this woman out of the car. She was not having anything and she was determined to fight me every step of the way. “ENOUGH,” I growled which caused the spectators from my pack to look at their toes. I hate that…  I hate being alpha if I’m being honest and I hate that I was born as a werewolf. I hate the fact that I have so many people looking at me all the time and I hate that every she-wolf was trying to dry hump my leg all the time. It was nice being alpha sometimes but this right here, this fear and this undying loyalty just because I’m an alpha is suffocating but it had its perks, like now.  I carried the girl over my shoulder, letting her beat against my body but I didn’t seem to care while I heard her grunts and protests fill the silent air. We were both drenched from the sudden rain and I was mentally worn out. From talking to Alpha Marcelle about the upcoming war with pack Yin and Yang to picking up a stray, I was drained, and being reminded of the very thing that I didn’t want to be, did not help my mood either. I just wanted to sleep and maybe dream of a normal life that allowed me to fall in love normally and experience happiness that is not bound by the strings of our goddess.  The girl had ceased her struggles when I burst through the door to my room and threw her onto my queen-sized bed. The king was too big and lonesome once the years dragged on and I was tired of waking up to an emptiness beside my bed.  I began to strip from my soggy clothes and saying that I was only slightly irritated would also be an understatement. Pack Yin and Yang have been a thorn in my ass since day one and I had finally had enough when they slaughtered and burned a pile of human children on my territory like it was a game to them.  When I felt a pair of eyes on me, I stopped thinking about the thorns in my ass and I looked at the woman who was sitting at the edge of my bed. I had stripped from my shirt in the midst of my thoughts and I could see this woman was interested in seeing the rest of me.  “Like what you see,” I joked while waving my hands toward my ridiculous eight pack, and that caused her to giggle. It was a cute girly giggle and it was enough to drive cupid's arrow further into the block of ice called my heart. “Strip,” I croaked which caused the woman to shake her hands frantically “Strip now,” I ordered while I walked towards my closet and got a pair of my boxers and one of my shirts for her. I laid the clothes beside her and when I saw that the woman wasn’t moving to do as I had ordered I had reached for the rags shielding her body.  She squeaked when she saw what I was going for and immediately jumped away from me. I could tell that she wasn’t used to a man and I could tell that she wasn’t used to someone trying to take her clothes off. She smelled like a virgin but when I tried again to take off her rags, the woman let me strip her down. “Your name,” my tone was soft as I got a towel from my bathroom then came back so I could dry her off but she didn’t speak at all. Even as I dried her off all I heard were her grunts and slightly gurgled protests. I saw that she had scars on her body like she was a product of human inferiority. I saw how some scars curled around her wrists, her waist, and even the one that curled around her neck, and looking at it, I knew that her vocal cords were most likely damaged. I also saw that she was curvaceous and as I inspected her further, my eyes trying their best not to roam, I also saw that the scar on her neck was not deep enough to stop her from speaking. It might hurt to scream or shout but she was definitely capable of speaking normally “Do not make me repeat myself,” I said lowly but I still did not get a response.  Her silence was really starting to get underneath my skin since I knew that she didn’t trust me enough to talk just yet and for some reason, I was fine with that. I was satisfied enough to know that she would respond to my touch and that she was comfortable enough to allow me to touch and inspect the markings on her body.  This woman knew that I wasn’t going to move any further or do anything s****l and I liked that. I mean she had no reason to trust me and I had no reason to keep her but to satisfy my curiosity but this sort of contact was enough for me. She allowed me to see the little fox tattoo that rested above her breasts and even the odd swirling marks that came from them. She was like a puzzle and the more I explored the swirling marks that coiled down her ribs and in the middle of her breast until the markings stopped just an inch above her belly button, I wanted to know more about her. When I was done tending to the woman and had her dressed in my boxers and an old shirt, I started to tend to myself. I looked for a towel and noticed that I hadn’t brought one for myself and just swore mentally but when I felt someone tap my shoulder I turned to see the woman behind me with a towel in her hands. When I reached for the towel, she backed away and I was confused at first until she stepped forward with a little smile on her face. She wanted to explore me as I had just explored her so I had to give her something in return. She motioned for me to drop the rest of my garments and I happily obeyed. “This good,” I asked awkwardly since the woman had yet to make a move but when she motioned for me to sit on the bed I obeyed strangely.  I was tired yes but when I felt the towel dry my hair and the little fingers kneed into my locks I also felt kinda happy I guess. For some reason, I was enjoying being tended to in a way that wasn’t s****l and I was enjoying the attention that I was receiving from this woman. “You’ve just met this woman.”  With the towel over my face, I was able to hide the shock that came from not hearing my wolf in years. I had forgotten what it was like to actively talk to my wolf  “But I can see why I am also comfortable around this woman,” he admitted before going in his corner to sleep and when I met a pair of golden orbs looking into mine, I gulped. She was close, extremely close and her scent was also more prominent than before and it was intoxicating. It was hard to think of something else when this woman was taking her time exploring my bare chest. As the tips of her fingers slid down my ribs then down the middle of my stomach, I had to think of anything revolting to stop myself from becoming aroused. She had already dried me off but her curiosity never stopped there as she inspected each scar on my body with utter care. This woman let her fingers glide towards my right arm to see the burn mark that rested on my shoulder and she allowed her eyes to roam towards my neck to see the fading mark of my deceased mate. She was a curious little thing but while her other hand rested on my bare thigh and her curiosity was starting to lean towards a more torturous way for me, I never told this woman to stop. I wanted her to see every scar that I had on my body and for some reason I wanted her to take her time to inspect each scar. The woman wanted to get on my lap and for some reason, I scooted away from her immediately. She took note of that and crawled on the bed to destroy the distance between the two of us and before I could even react, the woman had forced me on my back. I returned her bright curious smile with a very awkward smile from my end but even so, the woman continued her exploration. It took maybe ten minutes to satisfy her curiosity before I could even attempt to point out the time and tell her that I was tired.  She made a small OOoooo with her lips before grabbing the covers behind her and pulling them over us. Instead of snuggling at my side or maybe putting distance between us in the bed, the woman used me as a human mattress. She got comfortable with the blankets and even found a good spot where mini-me wasn’t bothering her too much. The woman was giving me a set of sparkly eyes before I received a kiss on my nose and she quickly went to sleep. I was able to finally fall asleep after thirty minutes…