The Alpha
1075 Words
I didn't know whether to run or stay.
The man standing in front of me made both choices feel dangerous.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and completely still.
There was nothing frantic about him.
Nothing uncertain.
He looked like someone who was used to being obeyed.
His eyes remained fixed on me.
“Who are you?”
I swallowed.
“Elara.”
“Elara what?”
“Vale.”
His expression didn't change.
“Where did you come from?”
“My grandmother's house.”
“Where is your grandmother?”
I looked away.
“I don't know.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What happened?”
“They came for me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't care what you believe.”
His gaze hardened.
I immediately regretted saying it.
Not because I was afraid of him.
Because I was afraid of what might happen if I made him angry.
He glanced at my hands.
I quickly tucked them behind my back.
“You're injured.”
“It's nothing.”
“Show me.”
“No.”
His eyes lifted to mine.
“Show me your hands.”
I shook my head.
“I said no.”
He stepped closer.
Every instinct in my body screamed at me to move away.
I did.
His expression changed slightly.
Not surprise.
Calculation.
He was studying me.
Trying to figure me out.
“What happened to your eyes?”
My stomach dropped.
“You saw that?”
“I saw enough.”
I looked toward the ground.
“I don't know.”
“You don't know what happened to your own eyes?”
“No.”
He continued watching me.
“Your claws?”
My breath caught.
He had seen those too.
“I don't know.”
“Your hearing?”
I looked at him sharply.
“How do you know about that?”
“You reacted before my men made a sound.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“What are you?”
I stared at him.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the trees.
The men who had been chasing me were gone.
But something had changed.
The forest was too quiet.
“Are they coming back?”
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“How do you know?”
He looked at me.
“Because they're not the only ones looking for you.”
I felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you're coming with me.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“You don't understand your situation.”
“I understand enough.”
“You're alone.”
“My grandmother is—”
I stopped.
My throat tightened.
I didn't know if she was alive.
Damon noticed my hesitation.
“She may still be alive,” he said.
I looked at him quickly.
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
“Then don't say things like that.”
He held my gaze for a moment.
Then he turned toward the forest.
“We leave now.”
“Where?”
“My territory.”
“I don't know you.”
“You don't need to.”
“That isn't exactly reassuring.”
“It wasn't meant to be.”
He started walking.
I stayed where I was.
He stopped without turning.
“Are you coming?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
I frowned.
He finally looked back at me.
“Trust isn't required.”
His voice was cold.
“Survival is.”
A branch snapped somewhere behind me.
I turned.
Nothing.
But I could feel them.
Someone was watching.
Damon's voice came again.
“Now.”
I followed.
We moved quickly through the forest.
I struggled to keep up.
He didn't slow down.
After several minutes, I noticed something strange.
The deeper we went into the forest, the more my body reacted.
My skin tingled.
My ears picked up sounds I shouldn't have been able to hear.
And beneath the smell of wet earth and trees, there was another scent.
Smoke.
Iron.
Something wild.
I stopped.
Damon turned.
“What?”
“I smell something.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“I don't know.”
He studied me.
Then he continued walking.
We hadn't gone another hundred feet when several figures appeared between the trees.
Men.
At least six of them.
They were armed.
Damon stepped in front of me.
“Stay behind me.”
I didn't argue.
One of the men approached.
“Alpha.”
Damon's face became colder.
“Report.”
“We found tracks.”
“Whose?”
The man glanced at me.
“Not human.”
My stomach dropped.
Damon's eyes moved to me.
For the first time, I saw something different in his expression.
Suspicion.
The man continued.
“The tracks started near the human border.”
He pointed toward the ground.
“There was blood.”
Damon looked down.
I followed his gaze.
A few drops of blood stained the dirt.
My blood.
My stomach turned.
The man crouched and touched one of the drops.
He froze.
“Alpha…”
“What?”
The man stared at the blood on his fingers.
His face had gone pale.
“What is it?”
“I don't know.”
Damon's voice sharpened.
“Then tell me what you do know.”
The man swallowed.
“This isn't ordinary blood.”
Silence.
Everyone looked at me.
I took a step backward.
Damon turned toward me.
His eyes were no longer merely suspicious.
They were calculating.
“Where did you get that blood?”
I looked at my hands.
The cuts had already disappeared.
“I…”
I couldn't answer.
A sudden pain exploded through my chest.
I fell to my knees.
“Elara!”
My vision blurred.
Something inside me woke again.
Something ancient.
Something hungry.
The forest went silent.
Every wolf around us began to growl.
Damon stared at me.
Then the man holding my blood whispered,
“Alpha…”
Damon didn't respond.
The man's voice shook.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the trees.
“Because whatever she is…”
A howl echoed through the forest.
Then another.
Then dozens.
The man looked at Damon.
“…the entire pack can feel her.”
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