Alpha Rising

Chapter Eleven

Alvira's P.O.V.

I had to be mistaken, right? I couldn’t have said that. Maybe I’d just thought it up and was lost in a daydream fueled by jealousy and loneliness. 

But then-

“Mate,” I heard the word again from his lips. 

So I hadn’t been dreaming. The stranger's tall and muscular frame stood a good few inches over me, and the definition of his arms made my mind start to wander in a dangerous direction. Pale, almost ashen hair hung in a fluffy frame around his face, and I felt the urge to reach forward and push it out of his eyes. 

There was no beat of my heart, no rushing of breath as I stood perfectly still, staring into the eyes of a man I’d never met before. My mate's gaze met mine and shone with the warmth of brilliant gold, not unlike the sun, rimmed with a bright azure blue. The coloration was unlike anything I’d seen before, and I wanted to lose myself in them. I could feel the eventual sting of air hit my lungs as a deep breath broke my sudden silence, and slowly the voices around me started to filter back into my attention.

Something seemed off about his demeanor and showed evident in the subtle shifting movements that he made. His jaw shifted and set in a rugged and cold line. Those intriguing eyes dropped away from mine when he regained his focus and control. 

“Oh. My. God.” My younger sister Cecilia had almost dropped her phone in her bowl of yogurt when she caught on to the scene unfurling in lightspeed around her. “THAT piece of man-candy is Vira’s?!” I could hear the giddiness in her voice, and my wolf growled possessively in my chest. Cecilia met my eyes and looked immediately apologetic, cowing slightly in submission to the mild aura I hadn’t realized I’d been pushing out. 

“Wait, what?” I stuttered, looking to the right as my mother grabbed my shoulder. It was like earmuffs had been ripped from my ears. All at once, I could hear everyone in a fuss around us. 

“Alpha Nikolai,” I heard my father say, stepping between us just enough to break eye contact. He cleared his throat and spoke again to get the young Alpha’s attention. 

My eyes widened, and my mother met them with a knowing nod. Nikolai Estin was the Alpha of one of our sister packs, Star Garnet. My father had met with him on more than one occasion since his early rise to the position. Today was, however, the first time he’d come to our packhouse. 

Nikolai looked younger than I expected. Usually, a male didn’t take over as Alpha until he completed his training at twenty-five years old. But when I recalled the reason, it made perfect sense. Star Garnet had come under one of the worst rogue attacks just the year prior, and because of it, he had to step up only a year into his training. 

He was the youngest Alpha to step into the role in over a century.

I could see him crane his neck to peer around my father, and I almost stepped around to meet him when my mother pulled me to the side and into the hallway while Dad talked to Nikolai. Cecilia slid off her stool and joined us, having been ushered out by the stern glare of our father. 

“Vi,” Mom whispered to me. “I know it’s hard, but you have to control yourself.” There was a twinkle of something else in her eyes, a hidden morsel of a secret that she was trying in vain to hide from me. 

My sister laughed beside me, tapping away on her phone. “Are you kidding? You saw him, right?” Cecilia nudged my side and flashed me a wink. “He’s a total babe. We’re lucky she didn’t jump him right there.”

“Cecilia Rae!” Mom chided, gently whapping her on the arm. However, it was clear that she thought the same as she stole a glance back into the kitchen. “If you’re going to stand there,” Mom said to her. “Then could you at least get me a glass of ice water? We need to keep this one-” Mom thumbed in my direction. “From driving the other unmated Alphas up a wall with the scent.”

She giggled again and slipped her phone into the pocket of her jeans before ducking back into the kitchen. 

“Scent?” I dumbly mumbled before it hit me when I moved. The heat in my gut and the tightness of my core- “Oh,” I breathed in embarrassment. “s**t, I didn’t even realize, I-”

But Mom had already cut me off. “No need to apologize. It’s natural for that to happen at the first meeting.” She was fussing over my hair and the hem of my dress, scrunching her nose in thought. She seemed a bit more than pleased at this development. 

“Now, you listen to me,” she said quickly and quietly while we were alone. “The elders are not aware of the situation with your brother yet. But they will be. I have a feeling about that. And until they find out, we have to work our asses off to convince them that you are the right choice.”

We? Mom and Dad wanted me to rise to the responsibility? Just last night, they had told me the Elders would exile me, or worse if I took up the mantle of Alpha. I couldn’t help but wonder what had changed, but I also wasn’t about to fight it. “But what do you want me to do?” 

She darted her eyes to the side and straightened up as Cecilia came closer once again. “Make no waves. Caus no trouble. And be strong.”

The mini pep-talk did wonders for my mood, and Cecilia handed me the glass of ice water with a mischievous look in her eyes. And once I was distracted with the glass in my hand, I felt the quick tug of fingers on the back of my dress only an instant before three large ice cubes went tumbling down my back along already heated skin. 

I yelped, almost tossing the water out of my hand. But Mom was there to catch my arm and steady it. “A cold rag would have worked too,” she said through thinly veiled laughter. 

“Yeah,” Cecilia quipped back. “But a rag would not have been nearly as much fun.” 

And so it was that my sister and mother started laughing at my expense. As ice slipped and caught down the back of my dress and shocked my system back to attention, I wriggled and writhed in discomfort in some chaotic dance of necessity. The chill sent a shiver up my spine and my shoulders shook in shock. I was still shaking when my father poked his head out into the hallway to check on the noise. 

“The hell was that,” he barked. Goddess save him, my father looked so tired. He let out a sigh and shook his head once he saw Cecilia doubled over in laughter and the ice on the floor. “Nevermind. I don’t want to know….” Were his last words before pulling back to tend to the other arriving Alphas. They all seemed to file past us in short order, too. Barely any of the Alphas acknowledged me or even greeted me, save for one young Alpha in training. He was close to my age, if I recalled correctly. 

Out of respect, they all bowed a polite greeting to my mother. As Luna of the pack, and their current hostess, she was owed every courtesy and respect as much as my Father was. She stood tall, accepting the praises and compliments to her home with a grace that she didn’t often show in private, and I was awestruck with how refined my Mother truly appeared. 

It didn’t take long for the men to get settled in the backyard after that. Mom and Dad had set up a large round table with a chair for each of the seven Alphas and three extras. One for myself, one for Alban, and one for the alpha in training of the Carnelian pack. 

Our father's Beta, Stephan, led Alban and me into the garden after they had gone through their openings and introductions. I was seated directly to Dad’s left, between him and Alpha Matthew’s son Kenneth of the Carnelian pack. Alban was on his other side between him and Alpha Jeremy of the Agate pack. 

From my vantage point, I was almost directly across from Nikolai, who seemed to be doing everything in his power to avoid looking at me. Was it to save face during the meeting? Or was it more profound than that? A twinge of pain shot through me as my wolf whined in agony in my mind. I feared that Nikolai might reject me and was unsure if I could take that deep cut. Around us stood all of the gathered Betas. Those Lunas that had traveled with their mates remained inside with my mother, likely nattering about in the kitchen and lamenting the recent attacks. 

I was so nearly distracted that I almost missed the introductions. Dad had gone down the line and named each Alpha that sat before us. It was exceedingly clear that my presence made several of them uncomfortable, with Alpha Nelson of the Moonstone pack refusing to meet my eyes. It was only after a sharp growl from my father that they turned the same courtesy to me that they had to Alban, albeit with great reluctance. 

Goddess, this gathering was an overwhelming ocean of machismo and testosterone. 

“As I was saying,” My father’s deep voice rumbled. “The latest attack hit far closer to home than any of us would like to admit.” He looked to my brother and motioned for him to stand. Doing so, Alban lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal the pink scar still puckered on his abdomen. “My son, stabbed by a blade coated in wolfbane.” 

As if to make his point clearer, father tossed the blade in question to the center of the table for others to observe. It may not have been the exact one that had sliced Alban, but it was definitely one of the three left behind at the cabin after the attack. This brought a low wave of murmurs to the generally gruff men at the table. 

“Do we know if they were targeted?” Alpha Davis asked. He sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and his wrinkled brow furrowed in contemplation. His pale eyes seemed harsh but intelligent. I remembered that Dad said he was the one in charge of the actual investigator’s guild. 

Dad looked at me and nodded for me to answer. “It didn’t feel targeted,” I said with only a hint of nerves in the tremble of my voice. “At least not based on who we were. They were watching us throughout the day.” Some of the men stiffened at my words, and others looked to their hands folded on the table to keep their opinions to themselves. 

Despite the tension, I continued. “They wanted us alive. That’s what they said while they surrounded us. Don’t kill it. We need the beasts alive.” I shook my head, brows knitted in concern. 

“How did you get out?” Asked one of the younger Alphas. Anton, from the Bloodstone pack. He, much like Kenny, was unphased by the fact that I was a female. 

The image of the attacker’s face flashed across my mind, and I shuddered in fear. Nikolai tensed across the table but cleared his throat and kept his gaze down. “I…” I let out a deep sigh. “Tore out one’s throat after I shifted. His partner fled once I turned on him.”

“Impossible,” one of the older Alphas said. “You were already injured. Wouldn’t the wolfsbane have kept you from shifting?”

I made to speak, but my father cut me off. “She wasn’t struck with the blade. Only the creature’s claws.”

Alpha Matthew spoke up next in my defense. “My pack doctors were on the scene that night. Vira single-handedly took out two of the attackers. And I believe that the young woman Nell was the one to take out another. Is that correct?”

“Yeah," Alban agreed. "Nell was quicker than I was. Once they hit me with the wolfsbane, I couldn’t reconnect with my wolf.” My brother continued with a stern look in his eyes, very much like our father's. “I was jumped before they went after the girls. I think they wanted me out of the picture fast. It was just sheer dumb luck that I shifted before the blow hit.” His smile c****d to one side, and he shot me a look of appreciation. “They didn’t know that Vira was the stronger of the two of us.”

I felt the gentle nudge of his support through our mind link and returned the unseen gesture with a soft ‘Thank you.’ It took me a minute to continue, but eventually, I cleared my throat and carried on with the conversation. 

I told the Alphas everything about how the attackers looked, how they spoke and how they moved. They were far more beastlike than even the fiercest warrior and still had some of their wolves’ strength. But they also seemed frantic and reckless. 

The men around me seemed on edge as we continued, and more than once, the conversation turned to angry growls and coarse words. Nikolai seemed to tense more when I described the monstrous appearance of the attackers, though I still couldn’t read him all that well. 

My gaze kept falling on him and almost searching his cold features for any semblance of connection. Even when the meeting eventually came to a close, I was still almost craning after his gaze. 

Only when the others had gone, and he remained after with myself and my brother, did he come near me and deign to speak once more. Nikolai kept his voice low and almost devoid of emotion as we closed in on each other. It felt like he wanted to be as close as I did right then. I could feel the magnetism and the electricity between us when his hand drifted closer to mine. 

“Not yet,” he finally said, almost ashamed. “I’m not ready yet.”

My wolf felt the sting of those words before I did. It felt almost like a rejection, but not quite. There was a hint of hope at the tail end of the phrase. “Not ready?” I repeated, looking over my shoulder to make sure Alban hadn’t caught on yet. “Does that mean you're going to-”

"No!" He nearly shouted, his eyes wide with fear at the very thought of rejection. It was selfish to think, but I was glad that he felt that same fear and reservation I did. “It's because of my father. I can’t tell you everything,” Nikolai said. “I promise I will soon. But…”

I sighed and looked down. “But it hurts too much.” 

“Exactly,” he replied. Nikolai stepped in close and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I will be back soon, Alvira. To get to know you.”

The way my name sounded on those lips was like heaven, and I longed to hear it over and over for the rest of my days. “Fair enough, Alpha Nikolai.”

He paused in his retreat when I used his formal title and looked back at me one more time with a soft shake of his head. “Just...just Nikolai.”

I let a small smile grace my lips at the small gesture of kindness. “Nikolai.” 

And with that, he left us. Alban and I were alone in the garden and could hear the remaining Alphas all starting to grow louder with camaraderie and alcohol. We stood there just listening to the muffled conversations and enjoying the subtle warmth of the night. 

“That went…” My brother started. 

“Terrible.” He didn’t need to finish it before I could. I knew him. “But, they listened.” 

Alban nodded and nudged his shoulder against mine. Goddes, I did need them, didn't I?