Orphan Alpha Daughter: Unwanted (The Sable River Series #1)

Chapter Three

Anonymous-

I couldn’t believe what the rogue leader was saying. I pushed my knuckles into the tree I was hiding behind, trying to stay silent but struggling to do so after the news I just overheard.

I had spent years of my life looking for the lost wolves, for those who were taken on the night of their Turning, and then this?

I had literally crossed countries and been to horrifying haunts of vampires, made friends with good witches at great peril, and left my pack thinking I was dead. All to find out why, and what happened to those wolves who were taken.

We never heard from or saw those wolves again. They didn’t attack us, didn’t give us any trouble. Just disappeared from our space..

And to hear this …!

“We’ll send another envoy to Dahliaan today. It won’t be a problem. Make sure they’re really knocked out!”

His low, weirdly mechanical-sounding voice sent shivers down even my battle-hardened spine, as his men dutifully started moving away. They didn’t seem like a very lively bunch, from what I could see; but I was otherwise engaged with the things he was saying.

He was sending wolves from here?

To where? Why? What did he get out of this?

He answered my question with his next comment.

“That should move us toward finally destroying that i***t,’ said the voice with deadly anger.

“He had no right to take what was mine. I was totally in control, and then they both conspired against me!”

I had no idea what that meant and had little time to wonder, for the rogue leader and his little entourage started walking towards the copse of trees I was hiding in.

I nestled in as slowly and fully as I dared, letting them walk around me. Thankfully they were oblivious, and my trick of blanking my mind to avoid detection, held true again.

As they headed past me towards the entrance to their underground secret hangar, I glared at the rogue leader’s retreating back, even through the leaves I had obstructing my view. His hair was brown and ludicrously shaggy, and he seemed to walk with a disguised limp. I had been tracking this guy for awhile, but the depths of his depravity were only now beginning to show.

The rogues were a group of un-packed wolves, usually mercenaries and those who didn’t like the hierarchical nature of how packs work. Most wolves fit in and feel safe within their pack and live happy, healthy lives: but to some, those same safety-driven and guiding boundaries that keep a pack thriving, were a deterrent.

This created a somewhat unpredictable, greedy and backstabbing rogue ‘community’ occupying land between the different packs. It was unavoidable to have an element like this, but we had had relative peace with only minor disagreements until the infamous current rogue leader rose to leadership a decade ago. No one knew his name and he apparently wore a disguise to create that anonymity to help safeguard himself all the more.

I had been only small when he had begun his reign, and while they took awhile to touch us, it was a big problem when they did. My father had had to deal with food sources stolen, trucks intercepted and a couple of small-scale kidnappings, even. We always retrieved our people, although not our supplies, but it was like he was trying us on for size, seeing if Sable River, as a large local pack, would let him have his way.

I wondered what the last 8 years had brought my poor father to deal with, after I was taken-and hoped my sly brother had finally grown up, from that unreliable and irresponsible early teen to a mature man. I was crossing my fingers, as we would need all the help we could get!

Now, I realised that with witch friends, the rogue leader could be from anywhere and have scent screening spells covering his pack scent- making it even more difficult to find where he came from or who he was.

Dammit.

Chapter 4

Ealiah

As I moved towards the front of the packhouse where we would be picked up to go to the Ceremony spaces, my uncle Kirlan’s face entered my mind for some reason. Dad’s brother was killed the night of the ambush, and I hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to him. I pushed it away to climb into the small yellow bus the pack used to move people if we needed, nodding at the other nervous faces around me, but the thought lingered stubbornly, like it was wanting me to ‘think’ it.

I must be going crazy, but hey. It’s a huge night for me. Maybe it’s worth thinking some more?

As a pack warrior drove myself and the twenty or so other new Turners through the pack forest, I turned my mind warily to focus on my uncle.

I wondered where he was, if he was alive. I was so devoted to him when I was young, and he didn’t mind when I followed him around everywhere. He was very protective of my mother, as a good brother should be. This extended to me as well, as his only neice.

I loved Uncle Kirlan, and he was a fantastic, fun uncle who would ruffle my hair and tell me I was crazy at least once daily.

I really wished he could be here tonight. He would be so proud, and crush me in one of his huge bear hugs, like old times.

The bus lurched, and I felt a little weird for a minute, and then a faint urge to look to my right. As I did this, I saw a lone wolf atop a huge rock as we passed, with sleek reddish brown tinged fur. It passed in a blink of an eye, and I shivered, wondering what -or who-that was, and why I had felt that urge so strongly - even stronger than the previous urge in my thoughts.

Leaving the strange wolf behind with the thoughts of my long-dead uncle, I started to focus on my upcoming Turning. As daunting as it was, the idea of feeling whole after this whole thing was over, had been the main thing keeping me going through life the last few months.

Working in the packhouse kitchen hadn’t been overwhelmingly fun, although the other staff were friendly. Firstly, the higher ranking warriors were often rude, assuming everyone worshiped the ground they walked on. Many of them were so arrogant that the staff tried to avoid them at all costs, only interacting when they really needed to. The higher ups didn’t know the way they treated us, but the main antagonist was his second son, of the current Alpha, Blakely Carson. He worked hard to keep his disrespectful attitude under his father’s radar.

He was horrible to everyone except in his father’s presence, when he would be sickly sweet and charming. Alpha Bronce would never have put up with his awful habits if he knew, but no one was game enough to tell him how childish, antagonistic and mean his son was.

As for Alpha Bronce’s first son Larson, he disappeared,

around 8 years ago, when the Turned were taken. He was of age at the time, so many of the Turned who were taken were his friends.

If anyone knew where he was now, I didn’t. He was said to be a nice guy, but then his brother was awful. I was just thankful he wasn’t here, tormenting me and the rest of the pack like Blakely.

Overall, life hadn’t been bad for me after I arrived in Alpha Bronce’s pack. They took me in, gave me a roof over my head, protection from rogues and asked no questions- in any official manner, anyway. There were plenty of whispers at the start, until I settled in. I learnt quickly that I needed to fit in, hold back any reactions or emotional outbreaks in order to stay under the radar myself. I was paid a small wage in the kitchen since I turned 16 too, which meant I was reasonably self-sufficient. I saved a little from my pay each week, so I had a little nest egg for the future.

The main friends I have are Marta the old lady in the kitchen, the other staff, and my best friend Tahni, who was another orphan like me. She was born into the Sable River pack, a daughter of the Beta, who was then killed along with his mate while fighting the witches in the war 15 years ago. So while Tahni was loved by the pack, she doesn’t have a specific person to call her own, either.

I guess that’s what drew us together.

Tarni turned 6 months ago on her birthday, and she’s my primary source of information on turning.

“It’s horrendously painful, but it means we can shift and run together soon!” She was ecstatic when I told her I would be turning this month, and just wished she could be here today to help me prepare.

She had been dispatched to a more remote, but neighbouring pack for a supply run as a skilled communicator, and should be back tonight at the ceremony, or tomorrow at the latest. Tahni’s high skill level in communicating with other wolves was well known amongst our pack, and it was a very good skill to have, especially regarding her status in the pack. It made her useful, an asset.

My asset so far is making mouth-watering dinner rolls and pastries. It feels less important, somehow, even though the warriors and older boys and girls scoff them daily.

The bus lurched, and I suddenly had a longing for Tahni, wishing she could be here. I sent her a quick text, even though she would be out of reception where she was.

We came to a halt and I looked around, realising my companion’s eyes were also saucer-like, reflecting my own unease at this daunting situation. How many more had felt like we did, only to be drawn inevitably toward that hinge-pin moment in life where we became all that we should be-not human alone, but human and beast combined?

It was surreal. We exited the bus clutching our gear, then we’re transported to a small tent to change. We were not like other, more unrefined packs who gave their people no choice but to strip n***d in the open. Alpha Bronce’s wife, Luna Clarena had a lot to do with bringing respect and class to our pack, and I was forever grateful for that in this moment.