The Scent of Destiny

It was the day of my eighteenth birthday, a day that was supposed to be of immeasurable happiness for me, since I would finally receive my wolf, but there was something else on my mind that day… “Alice! Honey! Are you there? You spaced out for a bit sweetie”, said my father while he cupped his hand against my right cheek and caressed it gently with his thumb “Did you hear what I said? Your mother will be coming back very soon from that recon mission on the southern border, so we’ll be able to celebrate your birthday together. They have seen lots of wolves near there lately, most likely rogues, so they had to go check that out, but she will be back safe and sound in no time. There's nothing to fear, honey”. My mother Maya is one of the best warriors in our pack; determined, fearless and strong even in terms of she-wolves. Honestly, she was sort of butch looking, the side of her head had fades and the middle part was the only thing that remained, and she loved wearing a beautiful single braid that went all the way down to her waist, it gave her this punk/viking look that I loved about her. Her fit body and bulky muscles that were visible under any tight clothes made her intimidating for a female, her strength was such that she was able to go up against any male in our pack, but something in her hazel eyes and soft factions would make her look gorgeous. She was unstoppable, so I was never worried when she went out on dangerous missions anymore, My father Eric, on the other hand, was frail looking but handsome nonetheless, his hair was brown and curly, always combed to the right side of his head, and had beautiful clear brown eyes, his muscles were defined but ‘nothing to brag about’, as he always said. He wasn't much of a fighter and was even considered weak among our kind. To add to the equation, he had a weird condition; he didn’t have a sense of smell. Despite this, it didn't precisely mean he wasn't able to smell at all, since his wolf Remiel would let him borrow his own senses so he could track down prey with his help. I also inherited this specific trait from my father, but unlike him, I am excellent at physical combat, since I got my strength from my mother. I've had private lessons with her ever since I was eight years old. Nevertheless, since I haven't received my wolf yet, my destiny is still uncertain. Alpha Carlise has high expectations from warriors in our pack, and despite him accepting my father, even if he was not the best warrior, he proved his worth by being the best tracker there is. Remiel's sense of smell proved to be even better than Alpha Carlise and his wolf Remus, and he even acknowledged my father for it. Not so long ago, the Greymane wolf pack, which is the name of the pack I belong to, was once ruled by Alpha Victor Greymane. He was an old and wise Alpha who, for reasons unknown, was never mated to anyone. He was probably one of the oldest Alphas to ever reign, considering we live longer than humans, but yet, he was very powerful according to both of my parents. It was five years ago that a rogue came by, introduced himself as Carlise Williams, who claimed to be an Alpha by blood, and used his title to challenge Victor to a fight for the title of Alpha of the Greymane pack, which he accepted bravely, but unfortunately because of his old age, he lost against Carlise. He then took over the pack, banished Victor, and has ruled us ever since. Rogues in our world aren’t easily trusted. Being one usually meant you did something so awful you deserved to get kicked out of your pack, which made you hard to trust. No one wanted to let in just anybody who could potentially be dangerous to the pack. Carlise, being sort of a rogue, was in all his right to claim a pack for himself if he was able to defeat their current alpha, so if we ended up with a good or bad alpha, it wasn’t for us to decide, since he was doing things by the book. He was indeed an alpha and his aura proved it. The vibe he gave off was aggressive, but the way he would look at people could probably say otherwise. He seemed like a ‘nice guy’, nevertheless, his aura was something to fear and bow down to. It was less effective on those not initiated into the pack after the blood ritual, where you must drink the alpha's blood in order to be able to mind link pack members, and for them to mind link you. Since I wasn't yet initiated, I was only able to perceive his aura as a 'bad vibe'. Five years have passed ever since Victor’s banishment, and things changed a lot during his absence… and that was an understatement of the situation. Alpha Carlise banished all werewolves who weren't strong enough to become a warrior and only kept a handful for tracking and to tend to the packhouse's needs, like cleaning, cooking, etc., and by a handful, I mean as in only ten wolves tended to all those tasks. Orphans that lived in the packhouse were also obligated to help with these tasks. According to law, Alphas were obligated to house orphans until they became of age and proved their value to the pack, making them full members, but despite this, Carlise was still allowed to make his own, so anyone who did not prove their worth to him a year after gaining their wolf, including orphans, were banished. Carlise also recruited some of the most brutal rogues out there and promoted them as pack leaders. He went as far as to make this very aggressive rogue called Marco Stronghold his beta. This guy was for sure one of the scariest wolves I had ever seen, and was the complete opposite to Carlise, so to speak. He was fairly short, measuring about 5'11, but lean and muscular, the veins in his arms would become noticeable every time he clutched his fist, and the tribal tattoos all over his body and face made him look all the more intimidating. He imposed fear when he looked down upon you with his pitch-black eyes, and goddess you did not want to make him angry, he was brutal when it came down to punishment. Our peaceful packhouse became what seemed like a militarized institution where only the bravest, as he liked to call it, and the strongest were allowed to stay. This may seem like it was about it when it came to radical changes, but then slowly, gradually, something else more terrifying started happening ever since he took over… Some of the younger she-wolves started showing up with bruises and bites around their neck, arms and legs. Some would even flinch when they were touched by anyone. Adults were concerned by this, but no one ever thought anything bad out of it, since bruising of that kind was something usual after our intense training. Even so, some of the girls were never the same again. This was commonly seen in she-wolves that had just turned eighteen, or a couple of months after they turned of age. I recalled a conversation from a long time ago that I had with Diana, someone who I used to frequent. She was very close with the youngest sister of a girl that had left the pack at the time. “Alice, I’m telling you, Beatriz told me that the day before her sister left, she mentioned something about Alpha Carlise doing something unspeakable to her. She said her sister looked scared and that she was hugging herself the whole time while she cried. Soon after, she escaped… This is not the first time it has happened, and I'm truly scared”. Diana reflected that fear in her eyes because she was about to turn eighteen herself. “What if I become of age and he tries to do something to me as well?”. I never knew how to answer her question. I was a year and a half younger than her, so it was something I didn't understand at the time. I wish I had the knowledge to help her like she wanted and give her the support she needed back then. “Hey, it’s OK, he’s our Alpha… maybe she was just submitted to very intense training and wasn’t able to handle it, and left on her own accord, but you’re very strong, you’ll pull through”. We hugged, then she thanked me for my advice and left. Everything seemed fine, but two months after her birthday, she changed completely. She lived in the packhouse ever since her parents died and every time I was there, she wouldn't even look at me anymore. It didn't matter how many times I knocked on her door, she would never open it for me and even avoided me during training. A year later, a girl that lived next to her finally confirmed that Alpha Carlise was doing something terrible to she-wolves who had just turned eighteen, but it was something no one would ever talk about. It was then that I understood that maybe Diana felt betrayed by my words, since they weren't true after all, and was never able to forgive me for it, and that truth hurt to my very core, because her fear was justified. Nobody ever understood how adults would ever bring up the subject, but considering our position and how this new 'administration' worked, everyone was just too scared to talk or do anything about it. When it became too dangerous to say anything about the rumors, -people would get punished for spreading ill propaganda about Carlise-, everyone just went silent about it. After that, I wished I could take back my words and tell Diana 'I believe you, and we have to do something about this', but it was too late. She left the pack not so long after. I couldn't even say goodbye to her and apologize for not believing in her, but that Karma was coming back at me, because I was scared too, since now it's my birthday, and I felt that I was going to get paid a visit as well. “Yeah dad, I know, my bad, I was just thinking about when I'll be getting my wolf. It would be useful if she could let me borrow her sense of smell, like Remiel does for you. I don’t want to be useless and get banished for it”. I faked my smile as best as I could, and he chuckled. “Well sweetie, she’ll come to you soon. And you aren’t useless, you are as strong as your mother, and you have proved to be a candidate to be an exceptional warrior. I know you’ll be better than both of us one day”, he smiled as he took a spoonful of eggs, bacon, and pancakes into his mouth. I did the same thing as my father and tasted the sweet flavor of the maple syrup that drizzled my meal. For some reason, despite my absence of smell, my taste buds still worked perfectly, so everything I ate tasted heavenly. Right after breakfast, we cleaned everything up and attended our morning training. Beta Marco was usually the one who imparted the training session, but to our surprise, Alpha Carlise was the one who led it that morning. My father and I took our usual places for training, right next to each other, and did our warm up and then the usual routine. I could notice from time to time that Carlise would survey the crowd, just like a sentinel, with his hands behind his back, looking for someone screwing up, doing the wrong posture or just not paying attention at all to his instructions, so he could give him his share of discipline, but sometimes, I noticed he would stare at me, which sent shivers down my spine. I took a deep breath, focused on what I was doing and continued my workout with my father. When it came to fighting, my father and I had to switch partners since I was way stronger than him and I could seriously pack-a-punch. There were times I would pair with females, but I preferred taking on males since it gave me more of a challenge and it would help me figure out ways of taking on bigger and broader opponents than me. My mother had taught me well, and I never missed an opportunity to train with her, since she was the best she-wolf warrior in our pack. There was always this fear of being harmed by anyone, but being with my mother helped me feel protected, since she was named pack leader as well. I trained with my usual partner, Claude Von Putlitz. He is the son of Harald Von Putlitz, a pack leader who was known to be very rash and overbearing when under his command, but despite that, Claude did not seem to be like his father. He had gentle factions that made him look cute in a very weird way, so to speak, almost like looking at a child, even though he was almost about to be nineteen. His short blonde curly hair fell right on the tips of his ears, and his grey eyes fixated on me and would not leave me out of sight. He clutched his fists in front of him, assuming his sparring position, and would always let me strike first, since he knew I was tough to beat. Our interactions were minimal when we trained, we weren’t the best of buddies, but we would talk occasionally when I was around the packhouse. After training was over, I said goodbye to Claude and tried picking up my things as fast as I could so my dad and I could leave, since Carlise was around but he approached us right before we were done picking up our stuff. “If it isn’t the best tracker in our pack, it is very good to see you Eric, it’s been a while”, he said with a smile on his face. He had a charming smile, but we all knew how cruel he could be. My father shook his hand and smiled widely. “Alpha Carlise, always a pleasure to see you, it’s been a while for sure. I bet you’ve been pretty busy with the whole southern border situation and all those important meetings you’ve been attending”. "Yes, the situation should be under control soon. I sent only the best to take care of the rogues down south. They should catch the hint that we aren't a pack to f**k with". He smiled arrogantly, almost cynical, in a way that made me dislike him even more. Carlise was actually gorgeous looking; pitch-black hair with side fades and clear brown eyes that were hypnotizing to look at, and his slim/fit build made him have this certain s*x appeal because all the she-wolves his age were crazy about him, even more considering he was unmated. Everyone would think he wasn’t as strong as Marco, since he almost looked like a body builder, but Carlise could take on Marco head on and defeat him in the blink of an eye. His looks were deceiving for sure, in all the extension of the word. "I'm sure you got it all handled", my father cleared his throat and grabbed my shoulder gently, "Alice, don't be disrespectful to you Alpha, say hello to him". I looked at him, faked a gentle smile and stretched my hand so I could shake his, “Hello Alpha Carlise, it’s great to see you”. Carlise grabbed my hand and took it towards his lips and kissed it. He then turned his gaze towards me, his lips still on my hand. I could somehow see a malicious smile forming on his lips and then there were the 'bad vibes'. He was projecting his aura, I could feel it. The sensation sent a shock through my whole body, and I was very scared to be in front of him. Maybe it was his alpha presence, but it was either that, or the repulsion I felt when he kissed my hand. “I've heard that today is your eighteenth birthday. I'm counting on the fact that your wolf will be able to give you a sense of smell. I can't have a warrior that isn't able to track, you see. But anyway, I must be on my way, since I have business to attend to, but we’ll see each other very soon. I just wanted to congratulate you in person, and may your wolf be as beautiful as the woman you’ve finally become”. He then looked at my father and shook his hand once more, "Take care of yourself now, Eric, and look out for your little pup. She'll soon have all the singles in the pack trying to be her mate!". Both laughed at the dumb joke. I really wished he would just leave already. "Oh, don't you worry sir, I'll always be looking out for my baby girl, and I'm certain she won’t disappoint you", he then kissed my forehead, and I could feel myself blushing already. "Dad..." I grabbed my cheek, trying to hide my redness. "Well then. Eric, Alice…". He pronounced my name in a peculiar tone, different than when he mentioned my father's. He turned around and walked away. While we finished picking up our stuff, I noticed he looked back one more time before vanishing completely out of sight. On our way home, I couldn't stop thinking about his words... ‘we’ll see each other very soon’... It felt like a message of some sort, and it was for sure an ominous one. If the rumors were true, I knew I was in grave danger. When I had approached my parents about the subject before, they were horrified that I even mentioned it. They thought that behavior was not Alpha-like and that he was there to protect the pack from danger and there was no way he would behave like that. They even said that there were a lot of members who disliked him for banishing Victor, so they wanted him out by creating false rumors about him. Their hearts were probably in the right place, but their reaction made me not trust them enough to entrust to them how I felt endangered, and everything I'd heard from the other girls. There had to be a way to expose Carlise... There had to be.