Rejected Alpha

I had ignored my parents the entire trip, and why wouldn’t I? They had just made me up and leave the only place I had known my entire life. I was happy where we were, I had friends and was almost done with school. Now I had to start all over again, start my senior year in the middle of the year in another place. Because that’s what every teenager wanted to do. Not. My parents didn’t understand, they didn’t care. Making me leave like we did was cruel. I had got home from school and everything was already packed. We left the minute I walked in the door. No explanation, no warning and no chance to tell my friends goodbye. Kara, my best friend since first grade cried when I called and told her what happened which only made me madder. I hated seeing or hearing my best friend cry. To be honest I hated seeing anyone cry. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to beat up a bully because they were picking on someone smaller and weaker than they were. It seriously pissed me off when people used their size and strength against someone who had no chance of defending themselves. They also all always seemed to gang up on people in packs. Because one of them were never enough. I scoffed to myself, pathetic. A hand gently shook me from my thoughts. I looked up into my mother’s gentle brown eyes and removed my ear bud. I was still mad, like really, really mad. I glared up at her not even trying to hide my contempt from her. Her smile fell and her eyes filled with sadness. “I am sorry darling.” She told me softly as she caressed my cheek. “We had no choice. It will be safe here.” “Safe?” I scoffed. “Safe from what?” “You’ll understand soon.” My father cut in. “Right now we need to get out and greet the alp.. the man in charge.” I sighed, grabbing my bag and stepping out of the car. We were in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but forest surrounded us. A small town was built in the clearing and a road led through the trees I was assuming led to another part of town. A larger much more imposing home sat up a hill and faced down towards the town. Whoever was in charge must live there. I could tell by the position of the house and the town the person in charge seemed to enjoy looking down on people. That or he was positioned well enough to protect the people. I guess I’ll find out once I met him. I was normally really good at judging people. It was like a natural instinct, much like protecting those in need. “Really?’ I groaned. “This is where you move us to? The middle of nowhere? I want to go home.” I finished on a growl. “Seraphina Grace Coleman.” My father said sternly. “You do not talk to your mother that way.” I turned and face my father. His stern face and hardened green eyes stared back at me. Used to this look could chill me to the bone, make me avert my gaze unwillingly. It always angered me the way he could make me submit so easily. Not now though. I face him dead on, my eyes boring straight into his unwavering, challenging. My father smirked, pride now lighting up his eyes. Confusion shocked through me. He didn’t get angry I was challenging him. What the hell was wrong with him? He hated people who challenged him. Sometimes it seems as if he wanted to attack them, rip into them like a wild animal. I could still remember the chills that went down my spine the first time I saw someone stare into his eyes. Anger wafted off him in waves, his entire body vibrated with it. It scared the life out of me. Only my mom could calm him down. “Seems the daughter is just as strong as the father.” A strong voice mused from behind my father. It didn’t surprise me I didn’t see the man. No one was a big as my dad. His shoulders were broad, almost spanning a good three feet across. He was no less than seven foot tall and had muscles for days. His green eyes could pierce straight into your soul. My dad had a reddish-brown colored hair that hung into his eyes. He had a strong jaw and sharp cheekbones. I’ve never seen anyone who could compare to my dad. Many women were jealous of my mother and even tried to seduce my dad away from her. But my dad always stayed faithful, his eyes never strayed from her, never. I was proud of him for that. “She is.” My father smiled. “I am very proud of her.” “As you should be.” The man stepped up from behind my father and I had to catch myself before my jaw hit the ground. My eyes however all but bulged out of the sockets. This had to be one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. Age aside this man was hot as hell. He had short blonde hair, thick lashes that framed the most beautiful hazel eyes I had ever seen. His high cheekbones were accented by his squared jaw and straight nose. He was tall, at least six foot five. And like my father he was ripped. Muscle for days, not an ounce of fat on him. “My name is Elijah Creed. I am the alpha of this pack.” He said proudly as he reached to shake my hand. Did I hear him right? Alpha? Pack? What was he talking about? “Uh…. Seraphina Coleman.” I replied shaking his hand, my eyes searching his hazel ones for answers. “What did you mean?” I finally asked retracting my hand from his strong grip. “Alpha? Pack? Is that like mayor of a town?” “You haven’t told her.” Elijah turned from me and faced my parents. He seemed upset, not angry but also not as calm and collected as he was just a second ago. “Do you know how dangerous that is here?” He demanded. “It’s just never been the right time.” My mother stepped forward. “We thought we could talk to her together tomorrow after school.” “After school? You mean a school full of her kind that will not know she does not know and will be speaking of their upcoming change on the blood moon? That school?” Elijah all but growled. “I…we never…I” My mother wavered at Elijah’s tone, her eyes and posture though strong was not nearly as strong as Elijah’s. He had the same commanding look my father did. And I did not like him using it on my mother. I growled and stepped in front of my mother facing this man down. “You nor anyone else is to speak to my mother that way.” I growled, the sound rumbling from deep within my chest making it sound animalistic and fierce. Elijah stared at me in disbelief before his eyes moved to my fathers, who was staring at me in horror. “She needs to be taught.” Elijah growled at my father. “I will not tolerate this insubordination.” Insubordination? Was he kidding? Did we join a military camp or something? This man must have lost him mind somewhere out in that forest because it certainly wasn’t in that head of his. And my dad? I was so disappointed in him. He didn’t stand up for my mother against this man. He had no reason to speak to my mom that way, no reason to scare her. “No.” I hissed. “I have been taught just fine.” Elijah looked back at me with a raised brow. “I have been taught to defend those weaker than myself to take up and fight those who wish to harm those who could not defend themselves. I have been taught to put myself in harms way no matter the cost if it was standing up for what is right. And you Mr. Creed have no right to speak to my mother in such a way. She has done nothing wrong. And although she is the strongest woman, I have ever met she is no match for a man like you. A man respects women no matter what. He defends her protects her.” I looked over to my father who was both shocked and proud. But when his eyes met my disappointed ones, he looked away, shame written all over his features. “You don’t understand Seraphina.” My father spoke. “This isn’t like being back in Los Angeles. Here Elijah is in charge, his word is law.” “Law? Really?” I looked back over to Elijah whose eyes now met mine with a renewed kind of respect. “Yes.” He smiled down at me. “Law. Which you would know had your parents told you the truth and not lied all these years.” “Lied?’ What’s he talking about?” I turned to my parents who were now looking at me shamefully. “We’re sorry honey. We didn’t have a choice, we had to protect you.” My mother tried to defend. “Protect me? Protect me from what?” “Maybe we should take this conversation inside to my office.” Elijah suggested. “Very well.” My father sighed. “Come along Seraphina.” My father placed his hand on the small of my back and led me into the larger house behind Elijah. My mind was whirling with different things that my parents could have been hiding from me and why. They said they were protecting me, but protecting me from what? What could possibly be so dangerous that they’ve had to lie to me for seventeen years. And why even lie, wouldn’t knowing make me better prepared for whatever it was? Maybe I was just being emotional knowing I’d been lied to but who knows. All I know right now is I was about to find out the truth and I silently wondered if I was prepared for it. “Here we are.” Elijah’s words broke me from my self-induced trance. I walked into the office behind everyone my eyes going wide at the sight before me. His office was huge. Hardwood floors was beneath us, built in book shelves lined the walls to the right filled to the brim with books and old looking tombs. I wandered over to the shelves and gently ran my fingers over the books a smile pulling the corners of my lips. “Have you read all of these?” I asked turning to Elijah. “I have.” He smiled as he walked over and stood beside me, his eyes trailing over the books. “Books are informative or an escape. These in particular are very important to our kind, things are in these books that many have forgotten. Some of these being the last copy known. You like to read?” I nodded. “I do. I love learning new things. Thing’s people don’t know and want to know, things people know but don’t understand. I love learning anything I can really.” “That she does.” My father bragged. “She had out done all in her self defense class even the teacher. We’ve had to hire a specialist to continue her training.” “Is that so?” Elijah arched a brow at me. “I must see her in action soon then. She could train here with our trainer, test her skills.” My face lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Really? You have your own training program?” My hands clapped and I bounced up and down excitedly. Elijah laughed, his hazel eyes sparkling. “Yes, we do. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as excited as you to begin training. But I must warn you, it’s hard work. Our warm up is running ten miles to help keep up endurance levels.” My dad and I both laughed at the same time making Elijah look at us like we’ve lost our mind. My mom just stood behind us smiling and trying to hold her laugh in. “What?” Elijah finally asked his eyes now roaming my face. “Every morning I wake up at 4am just to run fifteen to twenty miles before school. After I go home and shower, I walk five miles to school. Running isn’t a big deal for me, of that much I can assure you.” “Hmm…” Elijah hummed before turning and sitting at his desk and faced us. “Now please sit so we can talk about what we came here to talk about.” My lips pressed into a thin line. I was both confused and worried. I thought Elijah and I were getting along, but like a switch his mood changed and he was aloof. Elijah seemed like a good man even if he was a little odd. “Now, Seraphina what we are about to tell you will be shocking and unbelievable. But I need you to stay calm and open minded.” I didn’t answer just stared back at him in confusion. Elijah sighed, his eyes drifting to my parents for a brief second before coming back to meet mine. “You will be turning eighteen soon when you do you will change. You Seraphina are not human, neither are your parents.” “Not human?” I asked, my voice barely a withholding the sarcasm. “No. You are a werewolf, a pure blood, an alpha born.” I furrowed my brow unbelieving looking over to my parents. They both looked at me with sadness in their eyes but nothing to prove Elijah was lying. If anything, their look told me he was telling the truth, which only confused me more. “You’re all crazy.” I whispered shaking my head. “You’ve all truly and utterly lost your minds.” Elijah sighed. “Darius, she will not believe me. You must prove it to her.” “I’m sorry you have to find out this way Seraphina.” My dad whispered right before I heard the sickening sound of bones breaking. I stood and watched in horror as my dad’s bones broke one by one. He grew, his body reshaping into something completely different. Fur sprouted along my dads’ arms and as his clothes shredded. His face formed into a snout with fangs. In what seemed like an eternity but I’m sure was only a few seconds my dad was gone and a very large brown wolf stood in his place. It took me a second to process before I screamed. The sounds bounced off the walls as I scrambled back and pressed myself to the far wall. This couldn’t be happening; no this was a dream. Or I’m hallucinating. Yeah, that’s it. My drink was spiked back at the last stop and the drugs are finally kicking in. Or maybe I’m going crazy too. Something, anything was better than believing what I just witnessed. This couldn’t be real; it couldn’t be my reality. I couldn’t be a werewolf. Werewolves can’t be real. The brown wolf that was meant to be my dad lowered himself onto his belly his ears flattened against his head. A whine came from him as he scooted on his belly along the floor getting closer and closer to me. Even on his belly he reached my hips in height and I wasn’t a small girl. I was five foot ten, so you could only imagine how big of wolf was before me. I knew he was my dad; I knew he wasn’t a danger to me. Even if I didn’t the soft look in the wolfs eyes told me he wouldn’t hurt me. I tentatively reached my hand out to the wolf, his nose tapped into the palm of my hand before he nuzzled his head into it. I laughed; I couldn’t help it. His fur was softer than anything I’d ever felt before. “Dad? Is it really you?” I whispered. The wolf gave me a sharp yip before he lunged towards me and nuzzled his head against mine. “How is this possible?” I asked looking up to my mom and Elijah. “We’ve always been here.” Mom told me softly. “We just blend in, keep our true selves hidden from humans. If they knew of our kind, we would be hunted more than we already are.” “Wait, we’re hunted. Why?” I asked looking down to the wolf who was now laying beside me with his head in my lap. A soft growl left him at be hunted nut otherwise he stayed where he was. “They fear us, don’t understand us.” Elijah said. “Humans are scared of the things they don’t understand. They also want to study us, understand us.” Elijah shook his head sadly. “We do well though, we are lucky. We can safely blend in with the humans. We even own several enterprises that keep the pack well looked after. We are fortunate.” “And I’m a wolf?” “You are. But not just any wolf honey.” My mom came and sat beside me and began running her fingers through the wolf’s fur. She pulled me into her side with her other arm and ran her fingers up and down my arm. “You are the daughter of two alphas. An alpha male and an alpha female. Alpha females are rare, almost unheard of. She-wolves are even more rare. Many girls are born to wolves but not all shift. Less than twenty percent of the girls shift on their eighteenth birthday.” “Will I shift?” “We don’t know. But we almost positive you will. You’re already showing signs of being an alpha. The way you can look into another alpha’s eyes without feeling the need to submit. The way you stand up and care for those who need you regardless of if you know them or not. The way you position yourself in front of me and challenged the reigning alpha. Your strength and speed, the way you heal faster. All of that are signs of being an alpha.” I nodded looking over to Elijah. “I apologize. I didn’t mean any disrespect.” Elijah smiled kindly. “It’s alright, you didn’t know. Though your ability to challenge me before your wolf emerges is astounding. Even my son can not keep eye contact as long as you’re able to. And even then, you never looked away. You will be a strong wolf.” “Uh…Thanks?” It came out as a question. What was I supposed to say to something like that anyway? “I know this must be a lot to process Seraphina but we’re all here for you.” Elijah said squatting in front of me. His kind hazel eyes caught mine and I couldn’t help but smile. Eyes were windows to the soul, or so they say. To me it was the truth. You could tell a lot about a person by the look in their eyes. Elijah had kind eyes, he was sincere though sometimes stern and hard. He had a temper of that much I was certain. But I also knew he truly cared for others, he wanted them safe. If an alpha is like everything, I’ve read he was a good one. I wonder if his son would be as good of an alpha that Elijah was. “Can I go? I think I just need some rest and time to process everything before school tomorrow.” “Of course.” Elijah said just before there was a knock at the door. “Enter.” Elijah called. “You call alpha?” A young girl asked. She was small, no more than five foot tall. She had wavy brown hair and a unique golden eye color. She had a rounded face. She was thin, not sickly thing but still thin. She hardly had any muscle on her small frame. Her eyes were cast downward, her hands clasped in front of her. I furrowed my brow, wait, did she say he called her? When? “Wait called?” I questioned. “Yes, it’s a mind link the pack has; we are able to contact each other using our mind link.” “That’s convenient.” I chuckled. “Hope this is Seraphina, I want you to escort her to one of the alpha rooms please. Her and her family will be with us from now on.” Hope looked up to me for less than a second before she whimpered and looked back to her feet. I looked over to Elijah in confusion, but he just gave me a kind smile. “Hope here is an omega. It is the lowest rank in the pack but not any less cared for. Our omegas are our backbone, they are what keeps our pack running. That being said they also can not look a higher rank in the eye without either causing them pain or discomfort.” “Wait pain?” I balked. “Yes unfortunately. The stronger the wolf the higher the discomfort for a lower rank to look us in the eye. You could prevent it of course; you just have to suppress your alpha nature.” “How?” “It’s honestly just a thought. Think about what you want to do and it will happen. It is easy and straight forward.” “Okay, sounds easy enough. Hope can we go please?” Hope gasped her small eyes widening. “What did I do now?” I asked growing irritated. A growl threatening to rattle my chest. “Alphas do not say please or thank you to those of lower rank.” My mom informed me. I scoffed. “I will not be disrespectful no matter the rank of the wolf. Everyone deserves to be respected and treated kindly unless they have proven otherwise. Now, Hope. Would you please show me to my room?” Hope nodded vehemently before turning on her heels and walking through the door. I paused and looked over my shoulder. “Where are my bags mom?” “Already in your room dear.” I nodded and followed Hope out of the office and up the stairs. I wanted to try and make conversation with her but I could tell she was already uncomfortable and scared. I didn’t understand why she was scared of me; I hadn’t done anything to her to make her scared. Either way I left her be and followed quietly behind her. I felt for her, and I wondered how her treatment in the pack has been like. Elijah seemed to treat her no differently than he did me, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the pack feel the same. “This is it.” She whispered her head bowed as she stood beside the door. “I am not permitted to enter the alphas rooms unless they are in need of cleaning.” “Wait. You clean the alphas room? Do they not clean up after themselves?” A small snicker left her before she froze, a gasp catching in her throat. “I’m so…I’m sorry I….I….I didn’t” “Hey calm down, it’s alright. There is nothing wrong with expressing yourself. You’re in no trouble.” “You…you’re different.” She murmured. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” I laughed to myself. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school Hope.” I said before heading into my room and closing the door behind me. It was a beautiful room. Plush crème colored carpet spread across the floor; a large dark oak canopy bed sat in the center of the room with a on either side. Behind the bed was double glass doors that led to a balcony that over looked the small town or village. A beautiful Victorian type of dresser was in the middle of the far wall, a massive flat screen mounted above it. Two doors ran off the room. One to a closet and bathroom I was assuming. Needing a hot shower more than anything I opened the door closest to me. It was the closet. Ugh! I did notice before closing the door and moving on that the closet was huge and filled to the brim with not only my clothes but brand-new clothes tags still attached in my size. I didn’t question it; I didn’t want to. If someone wanted to buy me new clothes more power to them. The next door was the bathroom. Like everything so far it was huge. A small sitting area with sky blue couch and chair sat just as you walked in the door. Going forward you entered the main bathroom. White tiled floors and light blue walls. A shower large enough to fit four grown men, and a massive claw foot tub. I could get used to living like this.