The Alpha's Lost Love

Chapter 2

~Alpha Bastians POV in the present~

By the time I stopped going down memory lane, I had absentmindedly gone into the bathroom and gotten undressed for the shower. Might as well get cleaned and dressed for the day, since obviously it's getting bad in the pack, I thought. Otherwise mother wouldn't have been sent to my room to get me up. Stepping into the shower, I made sure the water was at my perfect temperature - as hot as it could possibly go. My family always joke with me saying I was preparing myself for when I go to H**l; although, we all know that unless you do absolutely heinous crimes, werewolves' spirits go back to the Moon Goddess when we d*e. I quickly cleaned myself and went to my walk-in closet so that I could find a decent outfit to put on. I settled on a dark blue t-shirt that seemed to be straining against my muscled chest and a pair of nice black jeans.

"You know the family aren't going to like that you didn't dress better for this since the pack hasn't seen us in a while," Baskier sighed. "They likely want us to dress up so the pack knows we are doing okay and that they can depend on us."

"And how does what I wear make them think they cant?" I asked, anger brimming at the surface. "Clothes do not make a capable alpha. Besides, I don't plan on anyone in the pack seeing me. I am just going to go to my office and surely father will already be there with our Beta since they have been handling the pack affairs while we...well haven't been."

With that, Baskier quieted down and just accepted that I wasn't intending on changing my clothes. I left the alpha suite and went towards the stairwell. My office is on the first floor, so that it is easily accessible in case a pack mate needs anything emergent. I reached my office in no time, since I took two stairs at a time while keeping an eye out for anyone who could see me and start asking questions. I only saw one omega who was going up to the second floor so that they could clean the spare guest rooms and she didn't say anything to me. Thankfully, I thought. I really didn't want to end up going off on any of my pack members who would likely try to show pity to me for Laila being gone.

Pushing open my office door without acknowledging that I was coming in stalled everyone in their argument that seemed to be going on. Father is sitting in my chair while Beta Mark is standing in front of it yelling about how we need more patrols.

"We are losing people right and left, sir!" my beta was saying loudly. "We need to do something to help this. Our pack cannot take much more! There is so much grief as soon as you step outside."

My father replied," I know that, but we don't have many more of our warriors to spare. The vamp-" he stopped as I walked through the door. "Hello, son. I see your mother was able to pry you out of bed without any harm done to her. You really should try to control Baskier better," He reprimanded me.

"So what is this I hear about increasing our warrior patrols?" I asked, while walking over towards the pair and completely ignoring my father's comments. I definitely don't want Baskier to get violent once more, since we have already been towards mother today.

Beta Mark bowed slightly in a way of respect as I walked over to my desk and sat down in one of the chairs on the opposite side of mine, since father was still sitting in mine as if it was his chair once more. Father gave me an irritated glare since I didn't reply to him, but waved his hand towards Beta Mark, telling him to repeat what he had been saying while they were arguing.

"Alpha Bastian, the vampires have begun to pick off our patrol one by one for the past week. We have switched up the patrol routes and increased the amount on patrol once already, but it hasn't helped any," the beta said while rubbing his hand on the back of his neck as if he's embarrassed.

"And we cannot in good consciousness, -" my father started, but I interrupted, "Then, we just need to start training more young wolves to add to our warriors and a ranked member or even formerly ranked member should go out with the patrol groups at night to see what might be happening. Either we will be able to help and capture one of these vile bloodsuckers and interrogate them, or maybe the vampires will decide not to try to attack our patrols due to fear of our ranks being able to get the better of them." I then turned my body towards both of them, "And thank you both for helping out with the pack while i tried to recuperate. Likely, I will need you two to help for just a little while longer if possible. I think I should try to send some more trackers out to search for Laila, and I might need to go with them since I have the best ability at scenting her. I haven't went before because I was scared of what might've happened. Baskier and I were at war on that, but I am one hundred percent certain that she would not have just left me of her own accord. And with the vampires trying hard to reduce our number of warriors, it is likely that they are the culprit."

"But, what if the Luna did just leave?" Beta Mark asked cautiously, due to my eye color darkening in rage as he dared to speak the words.

"She didn't," I stated with no room for argument. "There would be no reason why she would have. We were thriving in our relationship and pack. We were even trying to have a pup." She had just finished her heat, I finished in my head.

~Flashback to one year ago~

My family sits around the table in the dining room for a birthday dinner for myself. Just as mother begins to bring out the cake with a big 26 candle on it, Mark rushes into the room.

"Alpha," he says as he stops in front of me and bows slightly. "There is a rogue woman who is requesting entry into the pack lands and would like to speak with you. She says her entire pack was s*********d and she is the only one who survived!"

Normally we would just turn the rogues away as they seem to be a flight risk; however, some otherworldly buildup in my chest made me decide against that and had me standing and walking towards the doorway. Beta Mark and I shifted to our wolves as soon as we got out of the packhouse, allowing us to get to the pack gates quicker. Reaching the gates, I could see two of our warriors holding the arms of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. I realized rather quickly why I felt this push to meet the woman when Baskier let out a vicious growl towards the guards, forcing them to let go of the woman's arms.

"MATE MATE MATE!" Baskier howled in my mind and I could just tell he was running around and jumping around in my head in the excitement of finding the fated for us. "FINALLY, she has come to us! After a long eight years of waiting for her!"

I then shifted back to my human form and put on a pair of shorts that was handed to me. Sweat dripped down my pecs and abs as I scented the air. The most intoxicating smell of strawberries and honeysuckle drew me to walk to the woman who was now trembling at the force of my alpha aura. She looked beautiful despite the dirt stains and tears in her clothing and I couldn't help myself but to rub my hand down her arm as I reached her. Her bright green eyes looked up at me with an affection I don't think I have ever felt before and she pushed her long blonde hair back over her shoulder, allowing me to see that sweet spot on her neck and shoulder area in all its teasing glory.

"Well hello there, mate," I said with a slight purr rising in my chest from Baskier. "What is your name? Mine is Bastian and I am the alpha of this Moon Lake Pack. I have been waiting for you for what seems like forever, so let's go to the packhouse to talk more."

Immediately, she leaned into my touch while responding, "My name is Laila and, of course I will go with you to the packhouse. I would go anywhere with you. I've waited so long!"

I thanked and then shooed off the guards while Beta Mark, Laila, and I casually walked back to the packhouse. It would have been much quicker to shift; however, with Goddess knows what Laila had been through, we didn't want to cause any stress or injury to her by asking her to shift. Laila and I walked side by side in silence, slowly getting closer and closer until our hands brushed each others and I grabbed hers without hesitation. She looked up at me, her eyes shining in anticipation.

"Beta," I said and looked towards where he was awkwardly walking on the other side of Laila. "Would you mind going ahead and letting my parents know what has happened? I think, if Laila here is fine with it, we are going to take a detour."

Beta Mark nodded his head in response and quickly shifted to finish the trek back to the packhouse. I pulled Laila closer to my side and began walking towards the woods. I know the perfect spot to take her for us to get to know one another.

"I don't even know how you can function without ripping her clothes off here and now. Her smell is amazing!" Baskier said while pushing dirty images of what we could do to our mate into my mind.

"Ugh, horndog...now the alpha wolf hormones affect you, huh? Not once during these eight years did any she wolf affect you, even though it did me. But now, when I'm trying to be cautious with our mate, you can't control yourself?"

I took a long breath in, inhaling that wonderful strawberry and honeysuckle combination. Yeah no wonder Baskier can't control himself. I'm going to need a looooong cold shower after this walk tonight.

"Exactly, doofus!" Baskier said with, I'm sure, a wolfy grin on his face in my mind.

We made it to our destination in no time and all I could do was stare at the amazed smile on Laila's face. I had taken her to the waterfall that is on our pack grounds, a secretive spot that my father had taken my mother to whenever he met her as well. I walked over to the edge of the lake at the bottom of the waterfall and sat down with my bare feet in the water. Laila followed my lead and did the same while scooting as close as she could to me. I noticed how she couldn't seem to stop her eyes from traveling up and down my body, taking in all of the muscles that I worked very hard for throughout the years. I smirked and looked over at Laila, taking in her features as well. The dress seemed to be originally a sage green, but the dirt and blood caked on it muddied up the once fancy dress. Her blonde hair seems to be natural and a light shade normally when mud isn't covering bits of it. There were a few cuts and scratches along her arms as if someone had grabbed at her with their claws, but they seemed to be healing nicely already thanks to her wolf abilities.

"So Laila, are you alright explaining to me what happened? My beta had mentioned something about how your pack was destroyed...are you okay? Do you need to go to the pack clinic or anything?" I started bombarding her with questions while trying to be sympathetic at the same time.

"Actually," she began in the most melodic voice I've ever heard. "Would it be alright for me to clean all of this grime off of me first?"

"Of course it would be okay. Let's just go to the packhouse and I will get you somewhere to get cleaned up," I replied, but before I could even stand and grab her hand to help, Laila had already stripped off her dress and dove into the waterfall lake.

My eyes rose as I watched her flawless body surface in the water, a smile gracing her face as she saw how shocked I was at the boldness. I quickly gathered my wits and took off the shorts I had put on after shifting, jumping into the water. As I surfaced, I could see Laila swimming closer and closer to me.

"So," I cleared my throat, "Are you all clean now?"

Laila looked at me, mischief brimming in her eyes and swam up against my body, "Actually, mate, I think I might need some help."