THE BLOOD OATH

TRACK AND TRACE

ASTERA

I analyzed Dina’s wounds… one of them was made by a wolf, but the rest of them

looked like vampire bites. The reek I sense attached to her was unbearable, and

it gave away a certain type of Vampire. A rouge, old vampire. I was pretty

familiar with their kind. To be honest, I disliked them deeply because of their

lack of honor. Not to mention their killing spree periods. But mostly I disliked them because they violated their purpose in this world. They were

meant to bring justice and kill the crazy evil beings that would harm others

and bring darkness, but they became exactly like their targets, they became

greedy and darkness took over them so they started to cause more darkness and

chaos than they were meant to prevent.

I linked all my pack members, all my warriors, all my trackers, all my patrollers

and I started to delegate tasks to find out who hurt my friend and my Beta.

Such an act was usually considered a declaration of war, and I was not in the

mood for another war.

As I was saying before, my birthday always came with such a drama… and it was only

noon… I shifted and let Saradi take control of things, tracing Dina’s scent

until the spot where she was attacked. It was the same stench I felt attached

to her and you could see some blood traces so I linked Tony who came to meet me

in no time:

-“She was attacked by a rogue vampire and probably a rogue wolf! I can smell them!

The nerve! Who dared to cross our border and attack her? And how was it that

she did not see them coming?” Tony said with irritation in his voice. The

anxiety started to raise both in me and Saradi and we returned at the

Packhouse, hoping that Dina would be awake by now. We left Tony in charge of

the searches.

Hours later, Tony meet me at the packhouse:

- “Alpha Astera, this is an urgent matter. Whoever tried to kill her, got away

pretty wounded I would say, but still, got away. We followed the traces of

vampire blood, but they disappear at some point. Besides that, nobody found a

thing. Also, the wolf trace wears off as the filthy vampire must have taken the

wolf in his flight.” Tony said as worry started to build upon his face. It is

known that vampires can jump so high, so far and so fast that they appear as

they are flying. I trusted and appreciated Tony, and I knew that even though he

did not always approve of my methods, he respected me, and even he, in his

unique way, was very fond of me. He did not show any sign of sympathy towards

me, but as an Alpha, all my senses were enhanced, and I could even feel others

emotions, thought – and not only through the link – sometimes I could even hear

Saradi telling me what is about to happen, right before happening.

- “The worst timing!” Tony continued in a grave voice, as he looked up at his

phone. “I just received a message, asking me to confirm the numbers of

participants from our pack at tomorrow’s Grand Ball. Tomorrow you should leave

for the Ball, and with Dina out as your plus one, you should take Gamma or

Delta with you as your plus one, alongside the other unmated members. It is

inappropriate for you to go unaccompanied, and considering… well… your rank…

you should maybe hmmm… consider…”

-

“I know!” I said short and a bit annoyed by this discussion and by the fact

that I, as a FEMALE ALPHA, must be accompanied by someone, maybe a male, maybe

his son. Well, that’s not gonna happen! We were an atypical pack because we

lack a male leader and all the leading roles were taken by she-wolves… and

Tony. Just another thing to be judged for, just because I broke tradition by

not mating and by not settling for a chosen mate. And neither will my

she-wolves! We all wanted to find our fated mates.

Returning

to The Grand Ball theme… Ohhh yes! The Grand Ball! This was a pompous event

thrown by the Alpha King and his Luna. It was originally meant for all the

wolves in all the realms, but since the war with vampires ended and we made

pace with them, we opened borders for trading with all the magical and

non-magical beings, so now, this Grand Ball was for the unmated wolves to find

their mates, fated or not, and also was a statement of our recent found pace

and maybe an event meant to form alliances with other species through mating. I

did not like the idea of mating for the sake of an alliance, but for the ones

who did not have a problem with it, was a great deal! This year, the King’s

youngest son was “on the mating market” and all the unmated she-wolves,

fairies, elves, pixies, vampires, witches, were hysterical about this. It is

said that he is the most handsome wolf prince you could ever see. Not to

mention his royal lineage, power, and wealth. It is useless to say that I was

not impressed by this charade. Michala hated this kind of gathering and asked

me to stay with Dina, but Olympia was eager to come to the party so I asked

Olympia to join me as my plus one.

-

“you know I would love to go! Maybe I’m lucky and I will find my mate at this

ball!” she said with her big blue eyes filled with excitement. “Who will join

us? Maybe Johnny?”

-

“Yeah, he will join us alongside other members of our pack,” I replied to her

as I rolled my eyes at her silly crush for him. Before we went to bed, I went

to see Dina and tried to link her wolf, Cleo, to find out what happened.

-

“Cleo… Cleo? Are you there? Can you hear me?” I could sense her presence, but

she was very weak. This worried me a bit… “Cleo? Please say something…” I heard

a whimper coming from Cleo and I knew it was bad. Saradi took over and started

to talk to Cleo

-

“what happened? How are you? How is Dina?”

-

“Bad, they attacked us from above… a vampire and a wolf. We did not stand a

chance! The vampire scattered over us some wolfsbane mixed with Goddess knows

what else, in a form of a powder. And you know the worst part??? The wolf who

attacked me is MY FATED MATE. I could sense it. His smell intoxicated my lungs

and because of the shock that I found my mate, I left my guard down for a

second and tried to look around for him, and that was when they attacked. I

manage to hurt the vampire pretty bad, and I scratch a bit the wolf. I did not,

and I could not hurt him. And if this was not the worst meeting possible, I

think the vampire compelled him, but he was strong enough to resist and he only

bite me superficially. He could hurt me because I was caught off guard, but he

did not do it. I know he could also feel the bond, and maybe that was the

reason why he could stop himself from hurting me.”

-

“wait… what? Wait… WHAT??? What? I… what?”

-

“hahaha, yes, I know...”

-

“what? I am sooooooo happy that you found your mate and I am so f*****g mad at

the same time that he tried to kill you! That stupid mutt! How dare he?? If it

was not for YOUR mate's bond with him, I would be running and ripping his head

off right now! God, I am so mad at him! How did he look like? You know… just in

case I find him and I have the urge to gut him with my small human hands!”

Saradi told Cleo with her angry but amused tone. “I would not even shift for

that stupid asshole! Was he hot?” and we both started laughing out loud in our

mind link.

-

“Yeah, baby… he was intoxicating. His fur was short and charcoal black, his skin

was also dark, his eyes were dark gray, almost black but shining like midnight

sky full of stars. He had a gray round spot between his ears, and the tip of his

tail was also gray. He was HUGE! Judging by his stature and by the fact that he

could resist the compelling, he must have been at least a Beta if not an Alpha.

I am sure of that and of the fact that he was not a rogue wolf. He has a pack

somewhere.”

-

“I am glad for your good-looking killer mutt! I hope you too find each other

and clean up this mess and increase my pack number with beautiful pups.” I said

smiling softly at her. “You must rest, you will recover soon. Maybe not as soon

as you would like so that you can join me tomorrow at the Ball, but when I

return, I expect you two will be up and ready to work. I shall go now, I must

go to sleep because tomorrow I must look my best. If you have found your mutt,

maybe there is hope for me too and I can find mine”, I said to her laughing. I

kissed her forehead wishing her good night and I left the room, heading to my

apartment.