True Alphas

Feelings

 “I have one request, please humor me, it may be a stretch to ask. Only then will I respond to the marriage proposal.” I spread my skirting in a curtsy, bowing my head. The queen motioned for me to rise. I held eye contact with her, willing her to see with her mothering instincts. “My sister needs asylum if she finds that she is two souls…” 

“Which sister?!” I was interrupted by a tall black haired man, eyes red like freshly spilled blood. They un nerved me but with my demon aligned with me I was able to stand their murderous look. He came to my face, teeth bared and claws out. “Vitani!?” I snarled and shoved him back, having the demon in the forefront of my mind was very helpful. Owen rumbled in warning, but I wasn’t sure at who.

“Vitani is not my sister! She merely shares my bloodline!” I roared. Just then his scent hit me, I lowered my gaze to his chin where a ragged scar mares his otherwise handsome face. My face softened all at once as I reached for his face. He pulled away before I could touch him.

“What are you doing?” He hissed. 

“Your scar, your scent, you didn’t come to my home for Vitani, you came for Quartz.” He refused to let his guard down. “Two sisters, born the same night and fathered by the same man, they were together that day in the front acres. You had just had your first run the night before and hadn’t shifted back and they were in an argument. They were fighting and I had went to tell my dad to break it up, by the time we were back you were in the yard, they smelled nearly identical and you didn’t know who your future mate was. My grandmother attacked you because you paused on Vitani a moment too long and she screamed.” His eyes were dazed and he must have been recalling the same memory. Vitani with terror filled eyes while Quartz was mesmerized by the chocolate wolf in front of her, and then my grandmothers silver body taking him down instantly, an 18 year old boy who only just met his second body and never had the chance to begin training for war against of of the most experienced warriors in the pack. It was horrific. 

“They smelled the same…” he whispered. I finally touched his face and he breathed in my scent. I nodded at his realization.

“My grandmother was the Alpha, my father became the Alpha 22 years ago. His scent lives in my skin, but not like theirs. They were born on the same day, to the same man but different women. You smell like a cave filled with salt stones, like Quartz who smells like the rocks on top of Candaroon mountain after the springtime sun melts the snow away. Vitani smells like war and rocks soaked in fresh blood.” He inhaled my scent again, mountain range. 

“My sister brought Johnathon here to be healed. He stumbled onto our territory from yours.” The king said. I turned to him and to my fiancé. 

“I’d like to change my request. You can demand anything until I have wed your son, request my sister.” Owen smirks and pulls me to his side, away from John in a territorial manner. The demon purrs and the sound escapes my mouth for a moment, Mees, quiet this whole time, giggles excitedly. I shoot her a look as I watch his face. 

“Why do you care for the people that have hurt you and many more, dark one?” Owen whispers softly. I place a hand on his bicep and squeeze gently. Who is this woman inhabitating my body because I am not in control of my actions!

“Quartz may be like me, and if that is possible I do not want her to go through what I have. She is also Vitani’s only challenger for the throne with me being promised to you at my birth. Vitani will kill her.” I paused and gripped his shirt. “Please, she is the only person who knows me and I should have been able to bring with me…” Mees looked away suddenly. How rude of me to forget that she was here. I let him go and went to her quickly. I grabbed her face. “You are no less than my sister, Mees. You are my first friend from outside my family. I named you. I gave you a name that means new beginnings. We are free, Mees!” I hugged her tightly and she hugged me back. 

“I’m sorry, i don’t know what I am supposed to do.” She said as tears streamed down her face. I hugged her tighter. 

“ I don’t know either, Mees. I’m not used to being listened to or looked at like I am normal.” I replied. Calanthie came forward, taking  Mees and I hands. She eyed us both for a moment.

“What terrors do you hide, Mees of bloom.” She questioned. Mees looked to me and then back to the queen. I nodded for her to speak. 

“I am touched.” Calanthie looked to me in question. This was a subject that I didn’t want to explain. But I sighed and squeezed Mees hand. 

“At some point, Mees was assaulted...by a man and as punishment….my grandmother condemns the girls to be lower than an omega.” Mees cried softly. I squeezed her hand again. “By scaring her uterus so that she may never bare children….or shift.” This surprised her majesty. She locked her jaw in place and stepped away from us. Her golden hair flowed behind her as she paced back and forth. Owen came to my side as his mother’s hair began to blacken and fall out until it was a short pixie cut. Shock flooded my system and Mees was surrounded by the stench of fear. The queens eyes blackened with bloodlust and her beautiful face was now dark and hag like. 

“This is why she is sterile? Destroyed by your queen?!” Her voice like nails on a chalkboard. All at once she exploded from her clothes into a glorious golden wolf and leaped off the balcony behind the thrones. King Castian scoffed before motioning us to a dining room. Owen whispered in my ear. 

“For what it is worth...you smell beyond delicious to me. Never touch another man or you will not like my reaction, dear.” His breath in my ear was ragged with controlled rage. This whole time I was not acting on instincts, but whims. Owen could hurt me if he so chose, his grandfather killed his mate over a small quarrel...or so I was told. The history between the two kingdoms did not run very deep. 

“We have much to discuss my dear Soraya.” The king pulled out a chair for me to sit in. I sit lightly with Mees to my right and Owen to my left. John fallowed us and sat acrossed from me, eyeing me suspiciously. 

“What a tricky power move…” He jeers softly. I c**k my head to the side in curiosity. He picks up a knife and waves it at Mees. “Your husband should be to your right, but you have the lady in waiting.” I nod, still unsure of what he is referring to. 

“She is at my right, dear friend.” Owen sneers. Johnathon smiles carefully. 

“But a lady in waiting….” I snort before he is finished. Once again the king takes a backseat and eyes me. Every movement seems like a test In front of him.

“See here, I thought we had a tender moment back there and here you are trying to entice me into something.” I pick up my napkin and place it in my lap before I meet John’s waiting gaze. “I’m curious as to why you care so much, is it because I broke your barrier by recalling a traumatic moment in your life? Do you want revenge?” John tightened his mouth. Owen took my hand as omegas brought out a beginning coarse, I waited till they left the room again before continuing. “I may have been treated like a poor princess since my 18th birthday, but I am a princess none the less, and I will be queen at some point in the near future. I know all the codes.” 

“I hope your sister knows her place, next to men.” He hissed. Owen rumbled beside me in warning again. I accepted the challenge. 

“Well I thought it was doing you and myself a favor. However, if my sister is your mate, if your scent and hers match when you next meet, what makes you think I will allow you to put her in her place?” I snarled. I felt the demon nudge me forward and I followed her lead like I had when I met Owen. Johnathons teeth elongated again.

“Watch yourself future Luna!” 

“Enough!” Castian and Owen snarled in their Alpha tones. I shook it off which made Castians eyes glow. 

“No reaction to the alpha commands, your grandmother really did keep the bloodlines clean.” By that he meant alpha to alpha or alpha to beta marriages...which was why she tried to kill johnathon.

“Quartz is the same.” I turned back to johnathon. “Keep that in mind, and as for Quartz?” I scanned back to the king. He nodded and leaned forward.

“I have already sent for her, your grandmother is….” he looked for a less hurtful word. “Okay...with her coming here.” I smiled tightly. 

“Ecstatic. She is happy to hand her over….she will be rid of the second stain on her pure white cloth before she becomes a stain.” I looked at both alphas. “Which means that there will be no challenge. My father had no sons that would be old enough to run with the moon by the time he is 40, so Vitani will officially be crowned princess heir after Quartz is off the territory.” The king nodded. I looked to Owen. “When you ascend, she and my father will have to come to you to form a new alliance.” Owen nodded skeptically. His eyes blazed with fire and it almost seemed like he was waiting for that. 

“I know this my dark one.” He said, he looked deep into my eyes. “What is it you want? You will be Luna….you have the power as do I.” I felt my teeth elongate and I bared them in menacing fashion for the first time. 

“My grandmother never dreamed that we would be mates under the moon, hell her and my grandfather arent. She hoped you would kill me, eat me, or enslave me. Unfortunately….she won’t see me coming to kill her or Vitani in the future.” Owens eyes were black with excitement. Castians were black with bloodlust. I felt the demon stir in the back of my mind. My plan on the first place was to hide in the suns shadow, and for Mees and I to survive. But the feelings that I have for Owen and he seems to have reciprocated, it leads me to believe that I can sway him, carefully. Because like I said, his grandfather killed his mate. 

“That is several years down the road children. Calanthie will beg that you find a better option…as she tends to be softer hearted than her son and I.” Castian blew out a sigh. Johnathon chuckled. 

“I was wrong about you Luna, if your sister hates your pack as much as it seems you do, we may be happy and I could get along well as your beta.” He sneered. Owen gripped my hand tightly. I rubbed a circle in his wrist to calm him. An old unmated couple and an unmated male in the same room did not do well.

“Don’t worry, if my sister is his mate under the moon then she will put him in his place. And he will be busy with her and not pestering me for a row.” Johnathon just didn’t know when to stop. Of coarse he had to ask the stupidest question on earth.

“Let me guess what your other body looks like? Sleek black and soft?” I was surprised by my own strength when Owen was unable to jump over the table. But then I realized that calanthie was holding her son down and glaring daggers at Johnathon. 

“How very inappropriate. Leave us, you never ask a lady her age or what she looks like in her other body.” Johnathon was going to argue but she crossed her heart and he gasped before shooting for the door. She took his place acrossed from me and settled into the bread he never touched. What a strange and interesting woman! My heart was beating so hard I was sure that everyone could hear it. I gazed at Calanthie for a long moment. Her face was back to pristine beauty and her eyes were topaz. She had to be an angel, she certainly appeared out of thin air like one.

“I regret picking him as beta.” Owen muttered. Castian chuckled.

“The best betas are the ones that test you the most.” He replied before gazing at his wife in worry. Her hair was still golden but the pixie cut was here to stay, I didn’t want to admit that her sudden change of appearance in the ball room hadn’t terrified me. 

“I am fine.” She stated firmly as if she felt all the stares. “You can all stop looking at me.” She continued to eat before throwing the bread down on the plate. “I’m going to find a way to reverse what has been done to Mees.” Castian rolled his eyes and Owen just chuckled. I really did think that these people were bizarre, but they were like me. They had two separate conscious that made them blurt out and be less refined than my family, able to control those bizarre dialogues was the tricky part. That’s what I wanted to learn from them. For now my mind was molded together...which reminded me. 

“Your highness, when will your mold wear off?” I asked and tucked my dark hair behind my ear. She pittied me for a moment.

“A few hours. When it does you need to speak to it, she has a name and her own emotions, I always have found it interesting that only royal blood have separated souls! Most of the wolves around us only have one clear line, like how you are feeling now. Emotion and instinct smashed together and one thought process. Once you re meet your inner soul, things will be easier Soraya. You will communicate separating those instincts and emotions and it will make you a better leader. It really bothers me that your grandmother would crush that..”

“Maybe that is why she did it, so she would not become a True Alpha.” Castian said as he cleaned up our second coarse. The queen nodded and then bounced back to the other train of thought in her head. 

“Mees would you like to accompany me tomorrow? Soraya will be busy with Owen and her sister. I want to research obstetrics and gynecology.” Good lord Owen looked like he would die right here at the table. 

“Calanthie, table talk please.” The king pushed his food away before turning to me. “Our queen is a research hound incase you haven’t picked up on it. Mees predicament has given her a new object to chase and examine. And until she fixes you both….” he trailed off. I smiled and looked to Mees who was uneasy in her chair.

“Mees deserves someone to fixate one her a little, if there is a way to reverse what has been done...maybe in the future we can help more girls from that pack.” Mees nodded but was still skeptical. Calanthie touched her hand in a loving manner and smiled the same way.

“Just think of it Mees, you could be the turning point of all the horrors of that pack. And if we can fix this, you could be a savior and my research partner in other obstetrical anomalies!” At this point Owen had enough. He stood suddenly and looked down at me. 

“Mother also is the entire packs midwife, please go on a walk with me Soraya?” He pulled me from my chair before I could answer and I followed willingly. As we left the dinning room I stopped him and kicked off the heels I had been in for several hours. I carried them in one hand and held Owens in the other. We walked to the same balcony that Calanthie had thrown her self over, stairs on both sides leading to a back garden that was just as spectacular as the front.

“So what happened to your mothers hair?” I asked as we walked along a shimmering pool. He sat me down on the edge and then picked up some rocks, the pool was very long, almost Olympic sized. He skipped a couple rocks perfectly and they landed neatly on the far edge. 

“My mother is gifted in so many ways it is insane, what you told her about your lady in waiting...it broke her heart and like rapunzel and her magic hair….” He smiled before sitting beside me and taking my hand again. “Her hair and her happiness are linked. This morning it was shoulder length and by the time you arrived it was down to the floor. After telling us your story, acceptance of my marriage proposal which no one including me expected to come out of my mouth, and then Mees, it was just too many ups and downs for her to handle.” I gazed at the rising moon in thought. Could someone really care about me that way? Have that much love for me without knowing me or be my mate?

“Seems like I put everyone in a spin...and I haven’t truly accepted your proposal yet. When my sister is here and safe by my side, only then will you have my answer.” I whispered. Owen grabbed my face and forced me to look at him. I blushed and tried to turn away but his green eyes held me there. 

“No, I was angry this morning until I caught your scent. I wanted nothing more than to be with someone I picked and not my grandfather. Here you are, my mate under the moon and you are a true alpha who knows how and why my mind works the way that it does. My parents couldn’t be happier, and neither could I. Which is why you will accept my proposal. And if you don’t then I will eat you.” My eyes widened slightly and he chuckled. 

“Why are you laughing that is in no way funny!” I pulled myself away and paced to the edge of the actual balcony and looked out over the city. If I was in my other body every hair would be standing on end in terror. After a moment, Owen joined me and leaned along the marble railing. The lights of the city were blazing with cars and horse drawn carriage. I could tell the humans from the wolves easily. I even saw a vampire or two in the far off crowds, tho they looked very uncomfortable.

“I know that the reputation that comes before me is menacing, barbaric, and tyrannical.” He mused. “If you did not want me to erase your pack then I wouldn’t do it….” I cut him off. 

“I don’t want you to erase my pack, I want parts of my bloodline erased. I want my grandmother and my father killed, Vitani banished possibly. But not the people that are innocent, not my younger siblings who have no idea what the world is like outside of the alpha house. I’m not a monster like them.” Owen listened quietly and touched my cheek softly. I leaned into his touch and felt for the first time like I didn’t need to act tough, the minute we were alone together he dropped all alpha attitudes and became vulnerable with me.

“I am not a monster either. I am a strict, abrasive leader. I do see reason, but I am also a man...with...power and I will need a Luna to rein me in.” His eyes were soft and warm, sincere.

“I’ve never felt like I belonged anywhere, and tho I feel like you all are crazy in the short amount of time I’ve known you…I’ve never felt more at home.” I whispered. Owen pulled my face to his, carefully incase I didn’t want this, and pressed his lips to mine. Things were moving so quickly that my head was spinning, however this moment was so right. We would get our taste of war and revenge together in the future, Mees would get hers, and my old pack would fall and be rescued. 

In time.

But for now, I would settle for this moment with Owen. 

Owen broke away first and pressed our foreheads together. It took a while for his breathing and heart rate to slow down enough for him to speak. 

“I know my mother said it was inappropriate to ask you, and we both know it is to show each other before we are married…” I laughed at him in the  growing darkness. What silly wolf rules! He wanted to know what my other body looked like. 

“How about we guess? And then when we see each other for the first time we will see how close we are?” I said. He snorted before stepping back to study me. 

“Based on your hair, I would say a black coat. By your enticing smell I would say that it’s long and fluffy at this time of year. Your eyes green.” I smirked. He had one color right. I pushed myself off the railing and circled him. He watched me curiously, rumbling low in his chest as if he really didn’t trust me. I rumbled back just as low, impressed by what I was seeing skeptically. 

“Brown coat, refined length as it is hotter here than where I am from. Green eyes and slim build.” I swayed back to the pool before Owens arms were around me and his face deep in my neck. 

“What’s the wager if I win?” He purred into the black depth of my hair. I held back a moan from the vibrations of his voice. 

“Tricky.” I hissed. He spun me to face him and tipped me back, dangerously close to the waters edge. His green eyes pierced mine as he grazed my jugular with his teeth. I froze and so did he. He pulled back abruptly and set me back upright. 

“Think on it, my dark little one.” He kissed my forehead. “Goodnight.” With that he disappeared, leaving me in the dark. I hadn’t realized that I wasn’t breathing until my lungs were screaming. All at once everything came crashing down on me and I began to have a panic attack. The stories, the fears, the kingdoms history’s, my family, Owen, it all came crashing onto me like a gigantic Boulder. I fell to my knees and clutched my sides in pain as I couldn’t release enough air before more was pulled in. After a few moment my demon split the mold.

‘You need to get yourself together.’

“Easy for you to say, you are safe inside my head!” I wheezed. She shook her head at me. 

‘You are not weak, WE are not weak! We will triumph over those who have wronged us and Owen will help us.’

“If he doesn’t kill us…” to be honest, talking to her was helping me focus and soon I was able to get to my feet. 

‘Soraya, I have seen and heard everything in your life. I would know if he was going to kill us. He is our mate, not just in theory, but under the moon. His inner soul is my mate.’

“I hope you are right….Umm?” 

‘Storm….my name is Storm.’

“Storm...what a name for you…” I mused as I walked back into the giant house. We conversed back and forth as I made my way around. Storm was like the harder, colder version of me. She wanted revenge on the people who did us wrong more than even I. Every turn in this place was gold, black, and white. I admired myself in a few of the wall mirrors. This dress was tight fitting on my body, but at my waist the back grew thick. I swung the long train up in the air and was surprised to see that I was not tracking debris around with me. I guess the omegas were very good at cleaning. 

‘Your grandmother will want this dress back…’ I smiled, as did she.

“It’s too bad then...isn’t it? I like this dress, it’s mine now.” I twirled with the long back in my hands. I stopped suddenly at the salt scent that came into contact with my nose.