The Nymph’s Alpha

Chapter 7

Callan POV

My mother's eyes lock with mine, her eyes no longer shine with hope and wonder, he has taken that away from her.

*Not now, son, the other alphas are here.* her sweet voice whispers to me.

She sounds so delicate, and fragile, but I would do anything she asked of me, even if it meant she would suffer. I look at the four visiting alphas who all have their betas beside them. Each one of the men turns to look at my mother. I know they are all thinking the same thing. Why does she stay with him if he treats her so badly? But not many people know my mother is Alister's fated mate, that the moon goddess thought they belonged together so she gave them something no one else had, a true mate bond. Alister was a coward, he never told anyone how blessed he was by having a true mate in case one of his enemies killed my sweet mother to kill him and he made sure my mother never uttered a word of it as well. He keeps her locked up in the pack house at all times so she won’t be a target. The minister stands up and makes his way to the front, standing in front of my dad, blocking him from view. Micha hides his face, so no one can see his smirk, but I don’t, I turn and look at Alister, his face twisted with rage seeing my grin.

“Thank you for coming. We have had sightings of the being in the neighbouring towns and villages. Just last night it was spotted right here, which is why I called you all here tonight.”

“What is it?” One of the older alphas asked.

I looked to see who was talking but instead spotted the new young alpha of The Rabidcrest Pack, looking at my sister like she was a piece of meat, I stepped to the side so Freya was standing behind me and stared at the alpha, his lips pressed together as his jaw clenched and he looked back to the minister waiting for his answer.

“We don’t know for sure, but I have spoken with some of the fae and they believe it is an elf.”

The room began to fill with noise as everyone began to speak amongst themselves. I stood watching the four alphas though, the older three seemed to pale at the news of an elf.

“Silence!” Alister shouted as he stood up, making the room quiet.

This is typical behaviour for him, he hates that someone else has the attention of everyone in the room.

“I won't say it again. Silence.” he snarls.

I see the minister raise his brow in surprise, but he quickly recovers and continues talking. Alister stays standing beside him. He holds his head high as he looks out at the pack and I can feel my hatred for him grow as I watch him.

“I know what you are all thinking, and I thought the same. How can it be an elf? They’re extinct! But they all say the same and I have to believe them. I have researched elves, and we have come up with a plan to help us catch him once and for all and find out why he is terrorising the humans.”

“And how can we trust the fae?” Another alpha shouted. It was the còcky alpha who was watching my sister intently.

I understood why he had asked his question though, and I was curious of the answer. Fae had long left this world and lived in their own realm. Every now and then, they would enter our world, but it would only be so they could cause some mayhem. They were mischievous creatures that liked to disrupt the balance of things. They had shown us a long time ago we couldn’t trust them and now we are being told we must.

“We have to believe them. We have no other choice. Each pack will be having a minister join them and every member of the pack will be taught how to fight and defend against an elf attack.”

“And why do we want to protect the humans? They make us hide who we are!” The young príck of an alpha shouts again.

His beta nods his head in agreement. He looks just as arrogant as his alpha. I hear Micha scoff behind me and smile. He hates arrogant wànkers that think they are better than everyone else because they have a title and power. But that title and power were passed down to him, that doesn’t mean he is worthy of it.

“Because the humans need us. This elf is making them all talk. If anyone found out what he was, then our world could be uncovered and it would cause mass hysteria. We have to remain a secret to survive!” The minister answered.

The room came alive with whispers once more.

“Thank you, Minister Robert. And thank you to the visiting alphas and betas. You are all dismissed.” Alister's voice boomed.

Pack members began to stand up and walk out of the hall. The visiting alphas all stood waiting to greet Alister, and I stood watching the room clear, with Micha beside me and Freya behind us both.

*Take Freya with you tonight, Callan. I don’t like the way that Alpha is looking at her.*

I looked at my mother, who was still sitting on her small wooden stool, to be met with her pleading eyes. I gave a small nod of my head and turned, grabbing my sister's arm gently and pulling her out through the back door of the banquet hall that the housemaids use when serving up food. This led to a long corridor which led to the kitchen, but also the courtyard with the ancestral tree. A place I actually enjoyed in this frigid house, I always felt a spark of life jolt through me whenever I came close to that tree.

“You wanna stay with me tonight?”

She smiled and bounced on her feet.

“Yeah.”

“You hungry?” I asked, knowing Alister would have made them wait to eat until the meeting was over.

“I’m starving. I have college tomorrow, so I will just go grab my bag.”

Freya bounced down the corridor and up the smaller staircase at the end of the hall, I stepped closer to one of the windows that looked out into the courtyard feeling that jolt pulse through me, but this time it felt exhilarating, the hairs on my arms stood on end and small goosebumps filled my skin.

“Do you think it could be an elf?” Micha asked as we waited for Freya to return.

He stood beside me looking at the tree, but he didn’t seem to be affected by it the way I was, he didn’t shudder as a chill ran down his spine from laying eyes on the tree, and his skin didn’t have small bumps covering it. Maybe it was an alpha thing, our pack had been tasked with keeping this tree safe. Maybe it was only the alpha of The Bloodclaw Prowlers that could feel how magical this tree was.

“I don’t know, that thing was fast, i have never seen anything move the way that thing did. Why would an elf be roaming the UK though? What is he after?”

Micha looked at me, his brow furrowed as he thought about what we had been told tonight.

“I thought elves were extinct?” He asked, his eyes glancing around the corridor as he spoke.

“I’m ready, let’s go,” Freya shouted as she bounced down the stairs once again. She tossed her bag toward me and dashed down the corridor toward the kitchen without even a second glance back. I could see her silhouette turning the corner toward the car as we followed behind her, as soon as the car door closed, my little sister seemed to come to life, her eyes glistened as she spoke and her smile lit up the dark car. I hated that I had left my mother and my baby sister behind when I left home, that’s why the old miners' home was the perfect place for me, I was close enough to them if they needed me, but far enough that I wouldn’t have to see Alister. I had no choice but to leave, he had forced me out so that I could prove I was worthy to be his heir by making my own way in life and that was exactly what I did. I made a career for myself that provided me with an ample income and a beautiful home, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. Deep down he was hoping I would fail, but I exceeded his expectations, in truth that wasn’t very hard, because he never had hope for me to begin with.

This time I drove whilst Micha made plans with Eric, even though I enjoyed going out for a beer or three, I also enjoyed spending some quality time with Freya. I drove Micha to a bar close to home that had become our local, whilst he spoke to one of the girls he was seeing, arranging to meet up with her later. To be honest, after seeing my nob of a dad and hearing about the possibility that the creature we chased the other night could have been an elf, I wasn’t really in the mood for socialising anyway. But as Micha opened the door to leave the intoxicating scent from earlier filled my nostrils and made my mouth water.

“Don’t wait up!” Micha winked and slammed the door shut locking the scent out of the car. I looked back at Freya who was climbing over the seat so she could sit in the front.

“So, are we having pizza? Dad never lets me get pizza.”

I looked at my sister and smiled whilst nodding my head, but I couldn’t get that scent out of my mind.

“Don’t we always?” I asked.

It had become our customary thing to do whenever Freya stayed with me now, a greasy takeaway and a film night, but now that I had caught that scent, I was beginning to second guess my choice for tonight. I started the car up and drove away fast before I changed my mind, I had to shake my head clear of that delectable scent but it was driving me wild, it was making my wolf want to break out and find the source so I could bottle it up forever. I glanced at my sister who was singing along to the radio, she looked like she didn’t have a care in the world and I liked to see that look on my sister, she shouldn’t have any worries other than what boy she liked and if she had a good fake ID but Alister had made her life just as miserable as mine and I hated him deeply for that. She bounced up the stairs but I lingered, the smell was faint now, as if it was just a passing memory. I closed my eyes and inhaled the last of that sweet, riveting scent before swiftly moving up the stairs, locking it out for the night.

“What happened here?” Freya asked as she walked in and saw the smashed mirror I had broken last night. I had cleaned up the glass, but the frame still hung on the wall. Alison, our cleaner couldn’t come today, her young son was sick.

“I had a visit from Alister,” I answered.

She made an o with her mouth and dropped onto the sofa and turned the TV on. I sat next to her passing her the pizza box so she could grab a slice of pizza whilst looking for something to watch.

I tried to concentrate on the film, but I couldn’t. That smell was consuming me. The film credits rolled and I realised I had spent the night thinking of that smell. Freya had fallen asleep on the sofa, she looked so innocent, I gently scooped her up and carried her to my room and placed her on my bed, pulling the cover up over her. I could hear a sweet musical laugh filling the night air outside, I quickly moved toward the window, eager to see whose voice was so enchanting but all I could see was Eric closing the taxi door. I quietly walked out of the room to Micha and Eric bursting into the flat, laughing at something.

“Cal!” Micha shouted, throwing his arms around me.

I went to push him away when the intoxicating scent I'd been smelling all day and had consumed my every thought wafted from his clothes. I bent down sniffing his shirt making him and Eric laugh.

“I love you too but not that much.” Micha joked, pushing me away.

“You smell,” I answered.

“Well you smell too.” he snickered.

He must have found a bar that served a stronger alcohol. As werewolves, our bodies are naturally higher in temperature meaning we burn off human-strength alcohol fast. Micha was píssed and from the looks of Eric, who was dozing off as he leaned against the wall, so was he.

“Where have you been? Who did you come home with?”

Micha raised one eyebrow and looked at me quizzically but then his eyes went wide before he slouched down onto the couch and pulled his shoes off dropping them onto the floor.

“Oh, I saw Ayla again. We ended up going to a few bars in town and then we dropped her off at home. She's such a laugh Cal, you’ll like her.”

There was that name again, just hearing it made my heart beat wildly against my chest. I felt my wolf perk up also, desperate to hear more about the mysterious Ayla.

“I can’t wait to meet her,” I mumbled to myself.

Micha got up and gave me a half-hearted punch to the arm before slinking into his room and slamming his bedroom door shut, startling Eric who had fallen asleep on the floor by the front door, one shoe hanging off and a trail of drool dripping from his lips. I walked across the room and looked up at the moon as that name swam around in my head. Ayla. Yes, I was very eager to meet my new neighbour, and so was my wolf.