The Alpha of Harmony Bay

  Amelia punched her opponent in the stomach with her right fist hard while simultaneously slapping their face moving it away from her so when they vomited it missed her. She spun quickly on her heal to catch another opponent with a right hook to the throat as they charged towards her. Amelia continued to move around the floor positioning herself so she could see all her attackers as they took turns at challenging her. One after one she felled them all, until she was the only one left standing. Amelia leaned back against a wall breathing hard but still warily observing those on the floor, “well done Amelia, your session is finished for today” she heard her trainer Steven call out “everyone else up off the floor, you know the drill 100 press-ups”. Amelia heard the rest of the trainees collectively groan as she jogged out of the gym doors smiling to herself.  After she showered and changed, she sought out her father Alpha Black, she found him and her four older brothers in his impressive study, as she entered the room she could tell they were deep in conversation, none of them acknowledging her presence, continuing to talk in hushed tones. Her oldest brother and future pack leader William appeared annoyed she could tell because he had this tick in his jaw whenever he was struggling to control his anger. They had just returned from a meeting with the local alphas, this happened every three months with the turn of the seasons, they discussed treaties, boundaries, threats from outsiders, pack law, successions, the usual Alpha business. Amelia surmised that something had obviously been raised that they were not entirely happy about.  Most Alphas chose not to have as many children due to the competitiveness in families to be alphas and because more children equalled more targets for their enemies. Her father had walked away from his pack to mate with her mother starting their own pack. Her parents were legends and pariahs within their community for taking in rogues training and helping them overcome their blood lust and giving them a pack to belong to. Her mother had given up her pack too and longed for a large family to replace what they had walked away from. Their pack was unusual for years they had co-existed with another park sharing a small seaside town ironically called Harmony Bay. She had grown up mixing with children from Widows Moon pack, attending the same school and even working weekend jobs like human teens, it had been a happy peaceful existence until she turned 16. A war broke out between the two packs and her pack was forced to move they relocated near another small town, but they were home schooled and rarely ventured out past the boundary lines. The local townspeople thought they were some weird hippy cult and left them to themselves, which was okay but the freedom she had grown up with was lost.  Danny or brother number two as she fondly called him caught her eye across the room, “ahh there she is our little warrior sister,” he jovially stated. “Boys could you please leave Amelia and I alone a moment,” My father asked. “Sit down Amelia” my father instructed pointing to the chair in front of him. Amelia sat puzzled by her father’s sober demeanour. “As you know I met with the Alphas of the local packs, it was noted that at 20 years old you are not yet mated”. “This has not been an issue before, I do not wish to be mated,” Amelia interrupted her inner wolf stirring in anger. “Amelia listen, it has been suggested that to strengthen our pack we must heal old wounds and a proposal has been put forward that I have agreed to. You are to be mated to Alpha Stone and in turn, his sister Sophia will be mated to William this will renew and bind our link to Widows Moon. In time our pack will be able to return to Harmony Bay if we so wish”.  My heart began to beat fast, “father” I pleaded “you can’t be serious, he is our mortal enemy, he drove us from our home”. “Amelia there is much you do not know, but this has been agreed and decided, you are to leave at the end of the week.” his voice had a stern unyielding ring to it, and I knew better than to challenge it.  Seething in anger I stormed through the study door in search of my mother, if anyone could talk my father around it was her surely, she would not stand for her daughter being used as a political pawn. It took hours to locate my mother, if I did not know better, I would think she was hiding from me. After hours of searching, I found her by the lake in her favourite spot. My mother sat meditating under an old tree, I sat down opposite her, my legs folded I began to focus on my breathing and eventually my body relaxed and my mind stilled. We sat like this for a while until I felt a cool breeze across my face, opening my eyes I saw my mother staring back at me. “You have spoken to your father?” she asked, “yes and I am not going, I don’t want to be mated especially not to him” I spat out, my anger stirring once more. “Daughter, I am sorry, but this decision has been made, your brother needs to find a mate and we believe Sophia to be his true mate”. “It isn’t fair I don’t want this,” I argued petulantly, wrapping a slender finger around my dark hair. My mother sighed, “if we could, we would have you stay here with us forever, but we have responsibilities to the pack and to keep the whole of this pack safe we need to make alliances”. “I always thought you and Damian Stone were friends, you spent a lot of time together when you were younger, according to the elders you will be a good match for each other”.     I remembered Alpha Stone he and I had attended the same high school, but he was three years older. We worked together on a weekend at a small bookshop on the main street. The human manager Jerry was usually hungover on the weekend and we pretty much ran the shop between the two of us, Jerry would either stumble in late or sleep it off in the back office. It had been pretty cool to start with, it was an escape from training and for once I was able to just be Amelia and working with the most eligible guy at school was pretty awesome too even If he pretty much ignored me at school, passing me in the halls usually with a glare or a scowl. After a while, Damián’s cool demeanour started to melt and in work he was a little less distant, even smiling occasionally. Like most girls, I began to feel this pull towards him wanting to please him going in even when I wasn’t on shift. Then one day I did something impulsive I brushed against him on purpose, pressing my ass into his groin area, his reaction was the most humiliating experience of my life, immediately shouting at me asking me why I had done that. I tried to make out it was a mistake, but he could easily see through my lie, he stormed away into the back of the shop and was gone for about 15 minutes when he returned his cold demeanour was back. From that day on his beta Warren always hung around the shop and Damian remained cold and distant. Warren however, would spend the day flirting with me but never in sight of Damian, he was kind and courteous and when he asked me out on a date, I didn’t even think about it, I said yes straight away. He was the first boy who had showed me any interest and I felt flattered, the boys at school tended to shy away from me. We kept it a secret between ourselves and it seemed so romantic sneaking kisses when Damian wasn’t looking but then one day Damian caught us and he was furious, shouting at me and Warren calling me jailbait and other names, reminding Warren of the trouble he would be in when my father found out. Damian did apologise the next time I saw him, explaining it was nothing to do with him what I did and coldly introduced me to his new girlfriend. Warren and I went our separate ways and not long after that, the war between our packs started. A human was discovered mauled by what we thought was a rogue wolf but no scent could be detected, then there was another body then another, at first both packs worked together to locate the rogue but over time Widow Moon began to grow suspicious of my pack. We were well known for talking in rogues supporting them to control their urges and helping them take their place within the wolf community. When one of the human mates of a beta was found dead and evidence pointed that she knew her attacker suspicion of my pack grew further, and a war erupted.  The next few days flew by I spent most of my time angrily avoiding my parents, sparring in the gym. I had packed a small case with some of my favourite outfits, photos, and books. The rest of my room was packed up and I hoped that my belongings would follow me to Harmony Bay. I spent time with my friends Claudia and Ash, having movie pamper nights like we did when we were younger. Suddenly it was the last ever night I would spend at home with my family and I wanted more than anything to unpack my belongings and stay here with my family. Instead, I took off my clothes climbed out of my window dropping to the floor on all fours after a quick sniff of the air I began to shift my wolf taking over. We ran through the trees past the pack members lodges to the lakeside where my brothers waited in their wolf forms. Through our mind link, I heard William’s voice ask, “one last run little sister?” before his wolf howled at the moon and we took off at speed racing through the woods chasing each other for hours eventually stopping once more at the lake silently watching the sunrise as a pack.  Sophia and some members of Widow Moon pack arrived the later that day, we met them in the great hall, Sophia greeted my brother William warmly. I remembered they were nearer in age and would have known each other at school. Sophia reminded me of her brother she had the same sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes, she hugged my mother and father. I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my chest as I watched the scene before me, it was almost as if I was being replaced, they were trading one daughter for another. Sophia came to a stop in front of me, she towered over me I was a slight 5 foot 4 whereas she was like a fierce Amazonian at least 6 inches taller than me. “Sister,” she said as she took my hand, pulling me into a hug she whispered into my ear “Please take care of my brother he is not as grumpy as he makes out, he is all the family I have”. She stepped back smiling warmly but with a tear in her eye, I realised that she was giving up everything as I was. I nodded once solemnly before she moved down the welcome line to my father’s beta who was introducing her to his mate.   Then it was my turn to say goodbye I hugged my brothers each in turn, “till we see each other again my little warrior,” Danny said ruffling my hair. My mother pressed a small crystal into my hand and reminded me to meditate daily, in return I glared at her furiously. My father took my arms and spoke softly, “I know this is not what you wanted but for the safety of the pack it is what must happen, we all must make sacrifices”. I wanted to beg him to let me stay, instead i turned on my heel and strode out of the building my head high.  Tears fell freely down my face as I stepped out of the great hall and into the autumn sunshine flanked by Alpha Stones men. As the door shut behind me, I felt my mind link to my pack sever, I watched as one of the men Lucas I think his name was put my suitcase into the boot of the imposing SUV. A younger man I recognised from school opened the car door for me and I stepped inside, the door shut and without a word, the driver pulled away. The escorting men rode their motorbikes alongside the car. I took one last look at my home, knowing my family were inside celebrating the arrival of a future Luna, while their only true daughter left to start her life as Luna of a rival pack.