Chapter 6. Alpha Of Her Own Pack
2810 Words
Aria's POV
Six years.
It had been six years since I ran from Dean's pack, but there were some memories that time could never completely erase.
I had simply learned how to live with mine.
Six years ago, I had left with my mother, my unborn child and the few people who were willing to risk everything to follow me. We had travelled farther than I ever thought possible, leaving behind everything familiar until we reached a distant land where no one knew our names or cared about the history we had escaped from.
There was nothing waiting for us when we arrived.
No grand territory.
No established pack.
No powerful Alpha willing to shelter us.
We had nothing but determination and the little resources we had managed to carry with us.
So we built.
At first, it was nothing more than a small settlement surrounded by thick forests and mountains. Then more women began finding their way to us.
Some had escaped abusive mates. Others had lost their families to wars between packs. A few had been rejected by their own people and had nowhere else to go.
They came broken, frightened and angry.
I understood them.
I had been all three.
But none of them stayed that way.
We built homes. We trained together. We hunted together. We learned how to defend ourselves and each other. Our healers began experimenting with herbs and werewolf medicine, and eventually, we established a proper medical facility.
Over the years, our little settlement became a thriving community.
Then it became a pack.
And unlike most packs, ours was made up entirely of women.
We were not helpless females waiting for someone to protect us.
We were warriors, healers, inventors, hunters and leaders.
Some of the women were fierce enough to frighten even the most experienced warriors. Others preferred spending their days in the laboratories, surrounded by books, equipment and enough chemical samples to make my head hurt.
They were different from one another, but they shared one thing.
They had survived.
I had too.
And somehow, I had become their leader.
Not because of a title I had inherited.
Not because I was someone's mate.
Not because a male had placed a crown on my head.
I earned it.
Every day.
“Absolutely not.”
The sharp voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
I looked up from the file in front of me.
Across the conference table, three of our medical researchers were arguing again.
Dr. Mira had her arms folded across her chest, her expression stubborn.
“You cannot increase the dosage without knowing what it will do to the patient's shifting ability,” she argued.
Across from her, Elena slammed a file onto the table.
“And what do you suggest we do? Wait until another fifty people lose the ability to shift?”
“I'm suggesting that we don't poison them trying to save them.”
“It's an antiviral, Mira, not poison.”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
I sighed quietly.
This was the fourth argument that morning.
The virus had been spreading rapidly through several neighbouring territories, and it had become worse than any of us had initially expected.
Unlike ordinary illnesses, this virus attacked a werewolf's ability to use their natural powers. Infected wolves experienced extreme weakness, their senses became dull and their strength disappeared. Some could no longer shift at all.
The longer the infection lasted, the more severe the damage became.
Our medical team had spent weeks trying to develop a treatment that could stop the virus without permanently affecting the infected person's abilities.
We had finally produced an experimental antiviral.
The problem was that it wasn't perfect.
And none of us could afford to pretend it was.
I closed the file.
“Enough.”
The room went quiet.
Mira glanced at me.
“Elena is right that we don't have time to wait for a perfect solution,” I said. “But you're also right that we can't start increasing the dosage without proper trials.”
Elena opened her mouth.
I raised a hand.
“Let me finish.”
She closed it.
“We have patients waiting outside this facility. Some of them can barely stand. Others have already lost their ability to shift. If we make a mistake, we could do permanent damage.”
Mira nodded.
“But if we do nothing, they'll deteriorate anyway.”
“I know.”
I looked at the charts scattered across the table.
“That is why we're going to run the higher dosage on the controlled samples first. If the results are promising, we move to volunteers.”
Elena frowned.
“And if the results aren't promising?”
“Then we go back to the drawing board.”
“That could take weeks.”
“I know.”
She stared at me.
I held her gaze.
“We don't sacrifice our people because we're impatient.”
The room fell silent again.
Mira gave a small nod.
Elena eventually sighed.
“Fine.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“Good. Now, can we discuss something without trying to kill each other?”
A few of the women laughed.
Mira rolled her eyes.
“I wasn't trying to kill anyone.”
“You were five minutes away from throwing that file at Elena.”
“She deserved it.”
Elena scoffed.
“She always says that.”
The tension in the room finally broke.
I smiled.
This was my pack.
They argued loudly, challenged my decisions and occasionally drove me insane, but I trusted every single one of them with my life.
That was the kind of community I had wanted to build.
One where women could speak without being afraid.
One where strength didn't mean silence.
One where nobody had to bow simply because someone else carried a title.
A knock sounded on the door.
One of the younger healers stepped inside.
“Alpha Aria?”
I looked up.
“Yes?”
“The delegation from the neighbouring pack has arrived.”
I nodded.
“Tell them I'll be there shortly.”
She bowed before leaving.
I gathered the files and stood.
“Try not to destroy the laboratory while I'm gone.”
Elena smiled innocently.
“I make no promises.”
I shook my head.
“That's exactly what I'm afraid of.”
---
The conference lasted for hours.
Several neighbouring packs had been affected by the virus, and everyone wanted answers.
We discussed the production of antibiotics, vaccine distribution and ways to increase the supply of antiviral medication.
Some packs wanted to purchase our vaccines.
Others wanted us to teach their healers how to produce them.
I listened carefully before finally speaking.
“We can't manufacture enough for every territory alone. If this outbreak continues to spread, we'll need several packs contributing resources.”
A male Alpha across the table frowned.
“Your pack is already producing more medicine than anyone else.”
“We are.”
“Then why not simply sell it to us?”
“Because money isn't going to stop this virus.”
The room became quiet.
I leaned forward.
“If we allow every pack to take whatever they can afford while the poorer territories are left without treatment, this outbreak will continue spreading. Eventually, it will reach us again.”
The Alpha leaned back.
“So what are you suggesting?”
“A joint production network. Each pack contributes something. Some can provide herbs, others equipment, labour or transportation. We handle the research and production, and the vaccines are distributed according to need.”
One of the elders shook his head.
“That sounds like charity.”
“No,” I replied. “It sounds like survival.”
He stared at me.
I didn't look away.
“We can protect our borders all we want, but a virus doesn't care about borders.”
That ended the argument.
By the time the meeting was over, I was exhausted.
I returned to my office and dropped into my chair, rubbing my temples.
Tracy was waiting for me.
She had been standing beside the window with a tablet in her hand.
“There is something else.”
I glanced at her.
“Can't it wait until tomorrow?”
“No.”
Her serious expression made me sit up.
“What happened?”
“A pack reached out to us.”
“Which one?”
She hesitated.
That hesitation immediately caught my attention.
“Tracy.”
“They're severely affected by the virus.”
“That's not unusual. Several territories are struggling.”
“This one is worse.”
She walked toward my desk and placed the tablet in front of me.
“They're running out of vaccines, and their infected members are losing their abilities at an alarming rate. Their healers can't produce enough medication to keep up.”
I frowned.
“How many cases?”
“Too many to count accurately.”
I exhaled.
“Then we'll send what we can.”
“They aren't asking for a donation.”
I looked up.
“What are they asking for?”
“A direct agreement with us. They want a continuous supply of our vaccines and antiviral treatment.”
“That can be arranged.”
“They're willing to pay whatever we ask.”
I leaned back.
“That's unusual.”
“There's more.”
Something in her voice made my stomach tighten.
“What?”
Tracy looked directly at me.
“The pack that reached out is Dean's pack.”
The room seemed to disappear.
I stared at her.
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Dean.
His name had not crossed my lips in years, but hearing it now made every memory I had buried claw its way back to the surface.
I was back in that room.
Back on the bed.
Back when I had looked at my stomach and wondered how I could possibly escape with a child growing inside me.
I remembered begging the maid.
I remembered Dean walking through the door with that smile on his face.
I remembered the way he had touched my stomach and spoken about his heir as though I had no say in what happened to my own life.
Then I remembered running.
The guards.
The gates.
The forest.
The fear.
I closed my eyes.
Six years.
I had spent six years building a life far away from him.
And now his name was sitting on my desk.
“Are you sure?”
Tracy nodded.
“They contacted us through the regional medical channel this afternoon.”
I swallowed.
“Does he know?”
“No.”
Relief washed through me so quickly that I almost laughed.
Tracy shook her head.
“They don't know who you are. They reached out to the pack under your current name.”
I looked at the tablet.
For six years, I had lived under a different name.
Aria was buried beneath everything I had built.
The woman Dean knew belonged to another life.
Another version of me.
But if I saw him, none of that would matter.
He would recognise me.
I knew it.
There were some people you could change your name for, change your clothes for and even change your entire life for.
But you couldn't change the history written between you.
“He's still searching for you, you know.”
My eyes lifted to Tracy.
“What?”
“I heard about it from one of the traders.”
She hesitated.
“They say the Alpha never stopped looking.”
My chest tightened.
I had always wondered.
I had wondered whether Dean had eventually forgotten me, whether he had accepted that I was gone and moved on with his life.
Apparently, he hadn't.
“He has searched for six years,” Tracy continued. “Trackers have been sent into different territories. They followed every rumour they could find.”
I looked away.
“He never found us.”
“No.”
She paused.
“And I think we both know why.”
I knew.
He had never marked me.
At the time, I had considered it a blessing.
Without his mark, tracing me had been much harder.
And without the bond being strengthened by it, finding his child had been nearly impossible.
His regret over that decision had apparently lasted six years.
Part of me wanted to feel satisfied by that.
Another part of me simply felt tired.
I had spent too many years thinking about what Dean might do.
I didn't want him occupying space in my mind anymore.
“What are they offering?” I asked.
Tracy glanced at her tablet.
“Money, land and access to several of their trade routes. They're willing to compensate us heavily for the medication.”
I barely heard her.
My mind had already gone somewhere else.
If I accepted the contract, I would have to deal with Dean.
If I refused, thousands of infected people might suffer because I allowed my personal history to interfere with my responsibilities as a leader.
But there was another problem.
My son.
My gaze moved toward the door.
He was four now.
Four years old.
He was clever, stubborn, affectionate and far too curious for his own good.
He was also the spitting image of his father.
The first time one of the women pointed it out, I had laughed it off.
I couldn't anymore.
He had Dean's dark hair, his sharp eyes and the same expression whenever he was annoyed.
Sometimes he would look at me in a certain way and my heart would twist because for a brief second, I wasn't looking at my son.
I was looking at the man I had spent six years running from.
But my son wasn't Dean.
He was his own person.
And I loved him more than anything in this world.
“Mummy!”
The door opened before I could answer Tracy.
My son ran into the room.
The seriousness on my face disappeared immediately.
He rushed toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I bent down and hugged him.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
“I missed you.”
I kissed his hair.
“I missed you too.”
“You've been working again.”
I smiled.
“I have.”
He pulled back and looked at me with a tiny frown.
“You're always working.”
My heart sank.
I had no answer for that.
He wasn't wrong.
I had spent years building this pack, protecting our people and making sure no one would ever have the power to take everything away from us again.
But somewhere along the way, I had become so determined to protect his future that I had forgotten he needed his mother now.
I touched his cheek.
“I'm sorry.”
He stared at me.
“I know you're busy, but I wanted to see you.”
I pulled him closer and kissed his forehead.
“You're more important than all the work in this building.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then can we play?”
I laughed softly.
“Yes. We can play.”
His face brightened.
He wrapped his arms around my neck.
I held him tightly, closing my eyes for a moment.
This was why I had fought.
This was why I had built everything.
So he could grow up without knowing the fear I had known.
So no one could ever decide his future for him.
When I opened my eyes, Tracy was still standing there.
She waited until my son pulled away before speaking.
“Have you decided?”
I looked at her.
Then I looked at my son.
My lips parted, but I couldn't answer.
If I accepted the contract, Dean would eventually see me.
And when he did, he would see the woman I had become.
But more importantly, he would see the son he had spent six years searching for.
My son looked up at me, completely unaware of the storm building around us.
I slowly placed my hand on his head.
Then Tracy's tablet chimed.
She glanced down at the new message.
Her expression changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“The Alpha has added a condition to the agreement.”
My stomach dropped.
“What condition?”
Tracy hesitated.
Then she turned the tablet toward me.
My eyes moved across the message.
I stopped breathing.
Dean wasn't asking for the medication to be delivered.
He wanted our medical team to come to his territory.
And he had specifically requested to meet the leader of the pack providing it.
My fingers tightened around my son's hand.
For six years, I had believed I could keep my past buried.
Now it was coming straight to my door.
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