The Wolf Queen and Her Alpha Mate

Chapter 3 Promise

I stood up from the forest floor. I'd been lying there in pain for hours. She was so beautiful. Full red lips and a button nose. I could have kissed those lips for hours. Gotten lost in those green eyes and tangled my fingers in her soft long brown hair. Her voice had been so strong and yet so soft. She seemed so gentle. Small, something I needed to protect. But also, so strong and fierce. I wanted to protect her. She was perfect. But it couldn’t be. How could the goddess be so cruel and fate me to her. Even if I could learn to be okay with the past, my brother would never allow it. He would kill me. He would never understand my choice. I had made him a promise. It has always been us against the world. I could never betray him, not even for my own happiness.

All I wanted was to pull her to me and mark her right there, when I had scented her. Everything in me had wanted to, and I had even tackled her to the ground ready to mark her. But then I’d remembered who she was. What she was, and what her bloodline had done. I had remembered the oath I had taken to exterminate everyone in her bloodline. My men were right now wiping out the people who had hidden her. When word reached us that the child had lived, we couldn’t believe that Queen Ivy had been able to hide such a big thing from us. She had truly acted as if that still born baby that day was hers. So had King Luther. I was thankful it had been, still born, that way my brother didn’t have to kill a baby. Didn’t have to stoop that low.

To think she was that baby. I was only 8 at the time. Watching my brother burn them alive in front of everyone. I had felt sorry for them, but Ralph had reminded me of their crimes and why it had been necessary. He had been the only parent figure I’d ever known. He had raised me. After our eldest sister had been chosen as a mate for the King's Brother. She had met a horrible death and our parents had decided to take their revenge and kill the prince. In response to their actions, the King captured and killed them and most of their pack. My brother became the alpha at the age of 15. However, there was very little of a pack left. I was 6 then. By the time I was 7 and he was 16, he had grown the pack larger by letting rogues join those who hated the king.

He had been training me to fight, and every night would tell me the story of how my sisters and parents died. Whose fault it was and that one day he would get his revenge. After the King and Queens execution, Ralph became King, and I was put into harder training to be the new Alpha of the Clover pack. I would help my brother get revenge for the parents I never got to know. Revenge for all the memories I never got.

The breeze blew across my face. I looked in the direction she had run. My Mate. Asher was silent in my mind. He blamed me. He had put up a good fight trying to take over and mark her before I could ruin his chances. He was silent for good reason. It was my fault he had lost his mate too. I hated what I’d done, but I saw no other way. She could not be mine. I had to chase her down with some men to take her to my brother. Asher whimpered in my mind at that. I knew right now he would be no help at all. Hopefully one day he will forgive me. NEVER! You know not what you just did, you stupid fool. He growled out and then I felt him no more as he receded to the deepest parts of my mind. I sighed and shook my head. I started walking towards the pack's front gate. As I approached, I could hear crying. There at the front gate lay the bodies of a big man and a small woman, a pool of blood was around them. You could tell they had been dragged there after they died. I saw a young man kneeling next to them crying. Stroking the woman’s face. I sniffed the air. He was of Alpha blood. He must be the eldest of the sons, and that means the bodies must be that of the current Alpha and Luna of the Firefly Pack.

I nodded to my men as I approached. I walked up to the man. “Hello! You must be Cole, I am- “

“f**k off, I know who you are, you monster!” I stared at him without emotion. It always went this way. I looked him over. He had fought too, covered in gashes and bites. I looked around, at all the bodies lying around. There was a small group that my men had rounded up and placed in a circle on their knees. “Well, if you do not wish to speak to me, then I will speak to them.” I nodded my head towards the group and started over to them. “No! okay, I will speak with you.” An Alphas need to Protect his pack was hard to ignore. His head was hanging low, and he wouldn’t look up at me.

“Okay Cole, here is the thing, I need you to look at me while a speak. Show me some respect. I did earn it by being able to take you all down so easily.” He snapped his head up at that and glared at me.

“Respect is earned very differently here; life is precious, and innocent people do not deserve to die. My people earn respect when they show kindness, strength, and forgiveness. You are nothing but your brother's lap dog, killing people for something you were too little to even remember, let alone understand.” I stared at him. He was strong willed. A good Alpha. But stupid to be speaking to me like this knowing I could kill all of them easily.

“Alpha Cole, you hid a wanted criminal from the king. That is treason. Punishable by death.” He glared harder at me, and I could hear his teeth grinding. He swallowed and opened his mouth to speak. “Wanted for what? For being born? She did not ask to be born. She was kept in the dark of who she was. She was born innocent, as were we all. And she is still innocent. She is gentle and kind and wouldn’t hurt a fly. We protected and hid an innocent baby. Now we protect an innocent woman.” I wonder who he was to her to speak so highly of her. I ground my own teeth at the thought of him being more than her Alpha. I didn’t smell her on him though.

“Her crimes run in her blood; I do not need to explain this further to you. Here are your options. Tell me where she went. Help me find her. Or I send my men into those hidden tunnels of yours and kill all those people you evacuated.” His eyes widened at that and his face paled. Good, he was scared now.

“You really thought we would not notice that one of the strongest packs was missing all of its women and children, the elderly and half its warriors? We are not stupid, Cole. WE found the tunnels. And my men are waiting for my signal. One woman, or many innocents?”

He looked down and his eyes were darting around. He looked up with tears in his eyes. "Our kind cannot survive without her. The other packs are suffering. My people know what they might have to sacrifice. We all knew it might come to this. She is our future. We will always choose her. Because we saw firsthand what her bloodline is capable of. Our pack is the ONLY pack that has had a very slight decrease in fertility. Our fighters have stayed strong. And we have not lost any pups to transition. You can hunt down my people, they will not go down without a fight. But they will never tell you where she is. She is the rightful Queen and our only hope of survival.”

He had to have been special to her. It made me mad. He was wrong. The population of our kind has never been better. We were all stronger. And we always lost some pups to transition. It was normal.

I approached him slowly. “Lies, we are THRIVING under my brother’s rule. She is a nothing, and she will die a nothing.” It took my breath away to utter those words, and my heart clinched as Asher growled low in the back of my mind at my threat to her. I felt my eyes burn as tears threatened. I looked away from this Alpha and waved my hand at my men. I heard a knife stabbing him and heard his gasp in pain. I smelled the blood. When I turned, he slumped over his mother’s body. He looked at me as his breathing became labored. He smiled as he lifted his hand and pointed at me with his bloody finger. “She will destroy you.” The light left his eyes but the smile stayed as his hand fell. My heart clinched at his words.

I looked around and started sniffing. I needed to know something. I found her slight scent. I followed it. I found the body of a female warrior. I searched in her pockets and found her wallet. Inside was a picture of my mate. She was smiling, it was stunning, and my heart skipped. I felt Asher coming forward. He wanted to see her too. The woman was in the photo as well as an older man, and a younger one. They were all half encircling her. They looked happy. Her family. Both mothers are dead now. I searched further and found her second Father in no time. But I couldn’t find the other man. He must have gone with the evacuation.

I signaled one of my men over. “Start piling the bodies to be burned. Send half our men into the tunnels. Try to bring them back alive. We will need to question them.” I held the photo up at him, “Find this man, bring him to me when you do.” I turned and walked away. I was deep in thought and walked without a destination in mind. Before long, I was standing in front of a two-story house. Why was I here? Then it hit me like a wall. Her scent was strong here. Her home.

I walked up the stairs of the porch and opened the front door. It was cozy. The living space had a fireplace and above it were more photos of Clara with her family. All filled with smiles. I found the stairs and followed my nose to a door at the far end. It had her name painted on it. I turned the knob and walked in. What was I doing? This did not help anything. But I needed to know more about her. He said she did not know who she was. She had also said that she had just found out who she was. So, the possibility of a hint being here was slim. I still needed to see this.

It was a very simple room. A small twin bed on one wall. A small white dresser and a small white vanity. Her bed was covered with a light pink floral comforter and sheet set. Not made. Without thinking, I lowered myself onto the bed and closed my eyes. Her scent was everywhere, and it was clouding my mind. I pictured her naked in bed calling me to claim her. I shook my head and stood. “No” I could not do that. It was done. She rejected me. We were done. I needed to get her to my brother, and out of my mind.

I stood and walked out of the room. I went to the fireplace and grabbed a photo of her. Folded it and put it in my pocket. I would find her and deliver her to my brother. This bond would fade soon now, since she broke it and then it would be easier to do what needed to be done.