Learning to Be Alpha

Esther

** Jessie's POV

We made it to the training ground in time to catch the end of the training. Everyone was doing really well with their training and skills. I was very proud of them. We made sure that we cleared the training grounds quickly by telling the pack that lunch was ready for them and that there would be a video game tournament in the gaming room.

We all stood at the edge of the training ground waiting for the witch to arrive.

"So, we felt a shift in your powers. What happened?" Isaiah asks us while we are waiting.

"Yeah, we are finally at the stage of true love," Axel told everyone. "We let our wolves have some time alone together and they completed their mating together. I guess that is all we needed. They were quite happy to get that time together. We are going to try to make sure to give them more alone time. It's not fair for us to be the only ones getting to bond, we all forget that our wolves have bonds in our relationships too and they need time to build their relationship too."

"It was really nice to see them so happy," I added. "Ok, guys, I think the witch is going to be here in a few minutes. So tone down the excitement so that we don't overwhelm her."

Everyone nodded and we all stood to get ready to welcome her. Axel grabbed my hand and told me, "Babe, I think you should go a little further ahead of us so that you are the first person she sees. You will be able to keep her calm."

I quickly stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek, "You are so smart, my love."

He gave me a heart-melting smile, and gave me a quick peck on the lips. I smiled at everyone and headed over to the edge of the forest. I got a whiff of mango and knew the witch was close. I sent out calming and welcoming waves to make her feel more comfortable.

Soon a small petite girl started coming out of the woods. She was probably 4 feet, 5 inches, 90 pounds, with black hair, and brown eyes. She was absolutely stunning but she had obvious injures to her face, feet, and arms. She looked very young, maybe about 15. My heart went out to this poor girl.

"Are you Jessie?" she asked while looking around cautiously.

"I am. What is your name?" I asked her in the most soothing voice I could ask.

"My name is Esther. The Moon Goddess told me to come here and that you would help protect me and help me," she told me, clearly scared.

"She was absolutely right. This whole pack will protect you and help you. Can I ask how old you are?" I didn't want to offend her but we needed to know.

"I know I look super young, but I am actually 25. I was born prematurely and didn't grow like I should have. My family was part of the Blood Rose pack. My father was a werewolf, and my mother was a witch. My parents were murdered during an attack on the pack. The Alpha of the pack blamed me for not notifying them of the attack, but I was too young to be able to do anything but hide and survive. I hadn't gotten my powers yet, we didn't even know what my powers would be. I haven't been able to shift and don't even know if I can. The Moon Goddess said I would be able to in time. The pack wasn't nice to me, treated me like a slave, and would beat me, so I ran away," she said in one go.

I reached out and held her hand, "You don't have to tell us everything, you can tell us when you are ready. I know you are going through a lot right now. Believe me, I have been through several things myself and no one here will make you talk about anything or do anything you don't want to do. We are a true family here and will always have each other's backs. You will never be treated as a slave here."

"I know you have had a rough time too, the moon goddess told me. She said I could trust this pack and you. But it's still scary to be around this many wolves again. I will try not to be scared and I will help you all. I know you and your mate are the true king and queen. I am glad I am able to help you all. Can I ask for a room near you and your mate?" she asked while looking at the ground.

"Of course you can. I already have a room ready for you. It is next door to our room. Would it be OK if I introduced you to some of the pack members? They are apart of the Alpha and Luna teams and are completely loyal to my mate and I. They will all protect you and are so happy to be meeting you." I really didn't want to rush her but I could feel everyone getting impatient to meet her. She gave me a small nod.

I turned and looked over at everyone and caught Axel's eye. They made their way over to us slowly with Axel at the head of the group. I smiled at him and then looked over to Esther. I gave her a soft smile to encourage her that she would be okay.

Axel came over to us, wrapped an arm around my waist, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. He looked over at Esther and smiled sweetly, "Hello little one. Welcome to your new home. We are so glad to have you here."

I giggled and turned to everyone, "Everyone, this is Esther. She is 25 years old and comes to us from the Blood Rose Pack. Esther, this is my mate and future Alpha, Axel. This is Isaiah, he is Axel's Beta. This is Eric, he is my Beta. They are also the King and Queen protectors, chosen by the Mon Goddess, as well as mates. This Lucian, Axel's Top Warrior. This is Tina, she is my top Warrior. They are mates as well. They will all assist in protecting you and helping you in any way that you can."

She nodded shyly and glanced up long enough to say a quick hi. Axel walked closer to her and said, "There is no need to be scared. I will take you in as my sister, as will my mate and the Alpha and Luna teams. My parents will take you in as their daughter. You are family here."

"Can we show you to your room?" I asked. "And then we can take you to the kitchen so that you can get some food. But for now, you can rest, get cleaned up, whatever you would like to do."

Esther looked up with tears in her eyes, "Thank you so much everyone. I haven't had a family in a long time. I am glad I am here. I know I need to clean up, I stink."

We all chuckled, as I told her, "I have been in your shoes myself. In fact, the first time I met Axel I was bathing in the lake."

She giggled and then stated confidently, "I am ready to start my life again."

We started leading the way to her room and talked about little things here and there, telling jokes, and just getting to know each other a little. Axel, Esther, and I separated from the group so that they could go get some food and we could lead Esther to her room. We made sure that she had the room across from us. It was empty because it was supposed to be set up as another Luna office, since I wasn't going to be sleeping there or using it as an office. We just made some adjustments to the current office so that we could work together.

"Here is your room. We are just across the hall. No one in this pack will harm you or approach you until you are ready to talk to them. We have asked everyone to give you your space until you are settled in." Axel tells her. "You tell us when you are ready and we will introduce you to the pack. We are a very strong and family-oriented pack. We do not tolerate people being mistreated here, no matter their rank in the pack."

"As Axel said, you are our sister. You will be under our wing and under our protection," I add on. "We will always be here to guide, help, protect, and be there for you in any way that you need us. You are our family."

"Thank you so much. I understand why the Moon Goddess chose the two of you to be the true King and Queen. I am so proud that I was chosen to be a part of this. I will do everything I can to help you learn and control your powers. You will be family to me too," she told us. "I am going to clean up and take a nap. It is hard to sleep when you are running for your life."

"We both understand that, as we both have been there," Axel told her as he pulled me closer to his side. "We will be right across the hall. This one needs a nap too."

I looked at Axel to see him wiggling his eyebrows at me. I lightly smack his arm, blush, and say, "Axel! You are being naughty in front of our sister. I can't believe you."

He chuckles and I bury my face in his chest. I hear Esther giggle and say, "Have a nice nap..."

She turns and goes into her room. "Axel, I can't believe you did that. You are a very naughty wolf."

Axel begins laughing and guides us to our room. "What? You said we could have fun time later."

"I did, but you didn't have to say that in front of Esther. I want her to trust us," I said, pouting at Axel as I stepped into our room.

Axel walks in, closes the door and locks it. He gives me a loving smile and says, "I am sorry, my love. Don't worry, she will trust us and she is going to love you like a sister. I just know it. You two will be two peas in a pod."

I giggled and wrapped my arms around Axel's neck, as he wrapped his arms around my waist. This man is my everything. "Thank you for saying that, Ax. I just want her to be happy and safe. She has been through so much and she's so little."

"We will make sure that she feels loved, safe, protected, wanted, and a part of the family. We will make sure she is happy and has everything she could want or need." He said as he kissed my nose, cheeks, and neck. "Now, enough talking. It is time to fulfill your promise to me."

He crashed his lips into mine and began removing my clothes as he guided me to the bed. We continued to kiss, as I removed his clothes too. I felt the bed hit the back of my legs, Axel sweetly guided me gently down. I shuffled back to allow him to follow me onto the bed, but instead, he grabbed my ankles and drug me back to the edge of the bed. "I think it's time we change it up. On all fours, my love."

I stared at him for a few seconds, before following his request. I felt him position himself behind me, and then in one push he drove into me. I screamed out with pleasure and almost came just from that action. He gripped my hips and began trusting at a fast and steady pace. It didn't take long for us to c*m, the want had been driving us crazy all day. We collapsed on the bed in a tangle of limbs and snuggled into each other. Axel was running his hands through my hair and memorizing my face. "You know that we will have to move the pack soon, right?"

"I know, but not until we have finished training with Esther. We both know that is what the moon goddess wants us to do first. And before we can really train with her, I want her to truly trust us. I think it is really important that she knows that we are not just going to use her to get what we need and then kick her to the curb," I told Axel. For some reason, I was feeling very sad all of a sudden but I couldn't figure out why. "Ax, I feel sad but it's not my sadness. How am I feeling someone else's emotions?"

"My mom does that too. Apparently, it is something that begins happening when you are transitioning into the role of Luna. Why don't we get cleaned up and get dressed, then we can go talk to mom and dad. I have been feeling extra protective of everyone too and I think it is for the same reason," Axel answered as he started to climb out of bed. He reached his hand out to me and I readily took it. He guided us to the bathroom, where we hopped into the shower. The cold water helped to cool our bodies down until the water warmed up. We washed each other off and then headed to get dressed.

I threw on a pair of white skinny jeans, a light pink blouse, and pink wedge sandals. I ran into the bathroom and pulled my hair up into a high ponytail. I came out to see Axel dressed in black jeans, a blue t-shirt, and black tennis shoes. He held out his hand for me to join him. We linked hands as I joined his side and made our way down to his parents' office. He knocked on the door and waited until we heard dad say come in.

"Hey kids, what are you up to?" Mom asked from dad's lap. We walked in and sat in front of dad's desk.

"Well, we have started to feel different and we wanted to talk to you guys about it." Axel said, still holding my hand and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.

"Sure. What is it that you're feeling?" Dad asked as he rubbed mom's stomach in affection.

"Well, I am feeling sad even though I'm not and I can tell that it is someone else's, but not sure who it is. Axel is feeling more protective of the pack. We felt it when we got back to our room," I told them.

"It is the shift of power. As a Luna, you have the gift of empathy, so you will feel when your pack members are feeling strong feelings. As an Alpha, you have the gift of protection, so you will feel very protective and need to keep your pack safe at all times. Though, you typically will only start to feel that once the chain of command has been shifted to you," Dad told us.

**Axel's POV

I looked at Jessie, "Do you think this is the moon goddess' doing?"

She shrugged her dainty shoulders and said, "I don't know, but maybe. Maybe it is her way of acknowledging that we should begin the shift to becoming Alpha and Luna, as we need to complete that step before becoming King and Queen and moving the pack to the castle."

"I believe Jessie is right. Honestly, we felt you kids would be able to take over sooner but we wanted to give you the time to bond and for Jessie to heal some before we did it. Once, we realized your mom was pregnant and we met with our team about protecting her, they all said they thought it was time for you all to take over. Most of the pack already goes to you guys rather than us anyway. Your movie nights really brought the pack together and built a very strong and cohesive unit. They all want to make you proud," Dad said.

"I agree with your dad. You kids have made this pack so strong and they all want to be here. They are so happy and proud to be part of this pack. Some of that was already here but you two have made those feelings ten times stronger in the pack. We have not had a single complaint, and the whole pack is ready for the two of you to take over. We are so very proud of you guys. We expect you to teach your future sibling to be as strong and caring as the two of you." Mom said with tears in her eyes. "Stupid hormones."

We all chuckled at that. I honestly have never felt happier than I do now, knowing how happy our pack is and how proud our family is of us. Yeah, we have made some changes and had everyone has bonded more, but I didn't know that it had this big of an impact on everyone's happiness. I removed my hand from Jessie's and wrapped my arm around her shoulder and felt her lean her head onto my shoulder. I gave her head a light kiss.

"Thanks, mom and dad. We are glad everyone is so happy. But someone is really sad and I want to help them. How do I figure out who these feelings are coming from?" Jessie asked, looking brokenhearted.

I could feel the sadness and her desire to help through the bond. I lightly rubbed her arm to reassure her that I was here for her and that we would figure it out together.

Mom got up and came over to us. She grabbed Jessie's hands and told her, "Clear your mind and focus on the emotion you are feeling. It will not tell who it is coming from but it will give you a general location as to where the emotion is emitting from."

Jessie sat up, closed her eyes, breathed out and focused her attention on the emotion she was feeling. Her eyes snapped open, "Holy s**t! That worked."

My dad gave her a disappointed look and she looked down sheepish. "Sorry dad, sorry mom, sorry baby."

"It's OK, sweets," I told her.

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the baby," she giggled. As we all joined her.

"So where is it coming from?" I asked her, bringing her back to the reason we came here.

"It's Esther. I know it is her, not a location, but I can tell who it is," she told us with sadness and concern in her voice. "We should go and check on her."

"Lets go then. Thanks mom, thanks dad. We will bring her a bit later to come and meet you." I told them and helped Jessie to her feet, even though she didn't need it.

"Ok. We will see you kids soon. We are proud of you," Mom said as she made her way back over to dad.

We headed out of the office and back to our floor. Jessie lightly knocked on Esther's door. We could hear light sniffling and then feet making their way to the door. Esther opened the door as she finished wiping the tears from her face.

"Are you OK, Esther? I could feel your sadness and we wanted to come check on you." Jessie said with a small smile on her face. I gave her a soft smile too.

"I am ok. You can come in." She told us as she stepped aside for us to come in.

I went and sat on a vanity chair and Jessie walked to the bed and patted it, telling Esther to come sit. As she did, Jessie took her hands into her own. "Esther, if you want to talk, we are here for you. If you just want a shoulder to cry on, we can do that too. Whatever you need, we are here."

Without saying a word, Esther threw her arms around Jessie's neck and began sobbing. I walked over to them, sat behind Esther and began rubbing her back while Jessie was rubbing her hair and cooing to her. This poor girl must have been through something really bad and I promised myself to be her big brother and help her with everything and anything.

After she cried for about 20 minutes, she finally started to calm down and was able to relax a bit. We both continued rubbing her back and head. Then we heard a light chuckle from Esther, "I've never had siblings but I always wanted some. Now I have two, at least that is how I feel."

"We are your family and will always be here to help and support you," Jessie told her. "Are you sure you are OK?"

"If you prefer me to leave the room, I can. I don't want you to feel like you have to talk with me here. I can leave or stay. Whatever you will be more comfortable with, sis," I told her. I wanted to make sure she knew that I wouldn't force her to do anything.

"No, I would really like it if you stayed too. I feel like the two of you really are my siblings, and you might be able to help me to understand everything too," Esther told me in a shaky voice.

"Ok. I am here. You can tell us anything. We are here to help," I told her and rubbed her back again.

"I want to tell you guys a bit about my past. Like I told you, my parents were killed in an attack. They were killed right in front of me. The Alpha always said it was rogues that attacked the pack. We lost a lot of people that night. I never smelled rogues that night though. They smelled like pack wolves, but the Alpha always told me that I needed to stop telling lies. That was the first time that he hit me. After my parents' funeral, my custody was given to a couple of omegas. The Alpha took all of my parents' belongings, threw away all of my mom's witchcraft supplies, and gave my parents' house to the third in command. My parents' money was never given to me. I don't know who got it. After about a year, the entire pack was beating me for every tiny little thing that I did wrong or whenever one of them had a bad day. I was just waiting for the day that I met my mate, and would hopefully leave the pack."

She started shaking lightly and crying. Jessie got up and grabbed some tissues. I thought she would just hand Esther the tissues, but Jessie dabbed the tears for Esther and then grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze. She smiled sweetly at her and told her it was going to be OK. I smiled at how sweet and caring my mate was. She was going to be an amazing Luna and mother.

"Take your time, Esther. We have all the time in the world for you. And if you want to stop, we can. It's up to you. No matter what, we will be here for you," Jessie told her.

Esther smiled at her and nodded, "I am OK. I want to keep going. I need to get through this. It's just hard."

"It's OK. Take your time," I told her.

"I did meet my mate. He was in my pack. He was never mean to me and was always kind. He said he accepted me and we mated, but he didn't mark me. We were together for about a month, we were making plans to runaway from the pack together. The night before I ran away, I felt him mating with someone else. My heart shattered. I took all of my stuff and left that night. Before I crossed the border, I rejected him."

At this point, Esther broke down sobbing. We both wrapped her in our arms and hugged her tightly. I could see that Jessie was crying too, so I pulled her closer too. Jessie was cooing to Esther, and I was rubbing both of their backs. After a bit of time, they both calmed down. I wiped both of their tears, and gave them another quick hug.

"We are here for you, Esther. Are you OK?" I asked. I wasn't sure if she was done or had more to say. I didn't want her to feel that I was shutting down the conversation, but I wanted to comfort her a bit. It was clear that she was completely shattered.

"I don't know. I feel used by my own mate, and like I'm not wanted or loved. Why would he do this to me? I am so worthless that he can just throw away his mate?" She said sadly.

Jessie looked at me, telling me with her eyes that it was time to talk. I put my hand on Esther's shoulder, "OK, sweetie, calm down for me. I am going to ask you some questions. Take your time to answer ok?"

She gave me a little nod and wiped a few more tears.

"Ok, first, I need you to tell me exactly what you were feeling when you said you felt your mate mating with someone else," I asked her as calmly as I could. Honestly, I was beyond furious and wanted to go find her mate and teach him a lesson he would never forget.

"I felt a little bit of pain in my stomach. I asked my guardians what it meant. They were never mean to me really, so I went to them. They said it meant he was mating with someone else," she told me.

"Ok, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was the pain?" I asked.

"I don't know, like a 3 maybe. The pain stopped pretty quickly but I didn't understand it and ran to my guardians right away," she told me as she choked up a bit.

"Ok, last question, did your mate accept the rejection or can you still feel a connection?" I could tell she was nervous as I asked this question.

"I don't think he accepted it. I can still feel his sadness sometimes. He seems to be sad all of the time," she told me with tears threatening to fall.

"Ok, sweetie. What I am about to tell you is going to be hard to hear." I told her, knowing this was going to hurt her. "I don't think your mate cheated on you. If a mate were to mate with someone else, the pain you felt would have been so bad that you would have collapsed. You would have been at an 11 out of 10. You would have needed to hospitalized. I am guessing that someone kissed him, that's why the pain level was so low."

Esther began crying and Jessie was holding her. You could tell that she was hurt by this news and wasn't sure how to process it. I gave her some time to process it. I waited for her to calm down again before continuing.

"If he didn't accept the rejection, it is likely that he never wanted to lose you. You will continue to feel his emotions until he accepts the rejection or until he passes away. I think we may need to talk to him." I told her as I rubbed her back. "Your guardians told you it meant he was unfaithful?"

"Yes. They said it meant he mated with someone else. Why would they lie to me about that?" She said through her tears.

"Well, did they know your plans to ran away with your mate?" I asked her. All the poor thing could do was nod her head at me. " I think they lied to you because they thought you would stay. I am just guessing, but I think that they were the ones that got your parents' money and as long as you stayed, they could keep it."

She began crying more and shaking a bit. Jessie was crying a bit too. I took them both in my arms and comforted them. We waited a bit for Esther and Jessie to calm down.

"So he didn't cheat on me and may still want me?" she said choked up.

"I don't know for sure, honey. But I think he did. We can find out for you though. What does your mate do in the pack?" Jessie asked her.

"He is a computer technician. He is their top programmer," Esther tells us.

"Ok. So we can call your old pack," I say. You can see Esther starting to panic, so I was quick to finish. "We won't tell the anything about you but we will ask them to send your mate here to help us so that we can talk to him and find out if he worthy of you and wants to be with you. Not many people know this but Jessie can tell when someone is not being honest."

Esther looked at Jessie, and she gave her a sweet smile and nod. Esther was beaming, and I knew we could already help our sweet, new sister. "Lets do it. I need to know the answer so that I know. This is something that I haven't been able to let go of or get past. It has honestly been the worst part of all of this. Thank you so much for helping me with this."