Hunted by the Alpha King

Three

Ronan hurried after his mate. Never in the history of the pack had they heard of a she-wolf transitioning without a bite. If she was strong enough to change without her mate’s help, what else could she be capable of? He tried talking to her, begging her to stay. He could feel her fear and pain from the transition. The desire to run and never return was so strong he feared he’d never be able to find her again.

“Ronan, stop.” His father grabbed his arm to halt his progress. He watched the white wolf with lavender eyes look once at her parents before she disappeared into the darkness of the trees. That’s when he noticed the Richardson’s were making their escape as well, just in the opposite direction. They had planned this! They knew their daughter would run.

“Get the Richard’s,” Ronan snarled towards his Hunters. “Let me go,” he growled.

“Ronan, this is wrong. A she-wolf shouldn’t be able to change on her own. I always knew she was a freak.”

Ronan pushed his father away and snarled. He knew his father hated the Richards family. They were outcasts and their daughter didn’t follow tradition. But neither did he. He hadn’t been called for the transitioning ceremony since he was eighteen, he had to wait nearly a decade before a mate was called for him. Every year he sat and watched all of the mated pairs take to the forest for the chase. Every year his wolf grew stronger, bitter, and uncontrollable. Over the decade he had been paraded around each of the packs searching for his mate. He had attended nearly twenty mating ceremonies a year acting as a political ambassador. There were shewolves he had taken an interest in until their mates had found them. But he had never been with a female in their wolf state, that was an honor only allowed by mates since it took a male’s bite to activate the wolf’s mark in females. He started to take solace in isolation in the forest, away from the pack, scouting the borders and killing trespassers. Which is why he had never met the white wolf his pack decidedly despised. If he had met her before tonight he would’ve known she was his mate instantly. He would’ve kept a close eye on her while she grew up until he could finally mark her. He worked closely with the Elder to control the beast within, but he was losing the battle.

But he had felt that she was here today. He felt it within the twitchiness of his bones. And when he reached the gathering he heard her heartbeat first. It was erratic, quick, and fearful. Then he caught her scent. It was unlike anything he had ever smelled before. She smelled like snow and forest pine. The scent made his stomach clench and his inner beast growl. He assumed it was because he had never encountered the outcast before. She had been kept away from everyone else all their life. She was the pack’s dirty secret. All the surrounding territories would think their pack was weak if they saw a white wolf among them.

Ronan jumped into the air, shifting into his midnight black wolf in the air before he took off after her. He had the best sense of smell in the pack, each scent from a creature created a pathway signature that was easy for him to follow. Her scent had created a perfect white trail for him to follow. Her trail sliced through the trees, not following a direct path. Her father, the pack tracker before him, clearly taught her how to escape. Ronan snarled as the scent got thicker. Adrenaline pumped through his body at a breakneck pace. His mate. He was finally close to having a mate. Someone to share the burden of the pack with. Someone to help him find the peace he lacked.

It had been ten years since he thought of his mating ceremony and he still remembered the words the Elder said.

It was a summer mating ceremony, similar to the ceremony tonight. The translucent moon had been rising in the sky since early afternoon. All the young wolves could feel the call of the moon. The need to give into the beast within. The need to hunt.

Ronan had been preparing for this night all of his life. Once he was able to find his mate then he would be able to take over as Alpha of the region. His father and grandfather had been teaching him the different languages, different policies, and the history of the land. They had even trained him in tracking, a skill he had naturally. Soon, his capabilities surpassed everyone in the pack, even the Tracker Richards. He could scent the smallest of animals. Follow their trails farther than anyone else had ever been able to.

“Are you ready, my dear?” The pack mother asked. She was tall for a she-wolf but she still held the curves that were considered appealing in the south. Her ice blue eyes were shining with pride as he adorned the traditional mating clothing, loose white clothes. “Are you nervous?”

There was an indescribable pit in his stomach as he thought of the coming ceremony. “What if my mate is not here?”

His mother swallowed, hard. “Then you will visit the other packs and decide who you want.”

“What was your and father’s mating ceremony like?”

“Don’t worry, your mate is out there. We’ll find her for you. Just make it impossible for her to reject you.” She brushed his long hair behind his ears, ignoring his question.

“She can reject me?”

“Not if you catch her first. Don’t allow her to get away in the chase.”

Nine wolves were of age during this summer’s mating ceremony, including a couple of older unmated wolves. Ronan was by far the most anticipated mating. The young she-wolves preened when he walked by them to stand behind their seats. The young men, all a head shorter than him, puffed out their chests and glared at him as he walked by. Not that he cared. He had always been the odd man out even though he was the Alpha’s son. His position should have made the other wolves in the pack closer to him, but it did the opposite. His power and aura were too strong for the basic wolves. He had trained for longer hours and with the leaders of the pack when it became clear how strong he was. At age thirteen he had surpassed everyone in fighting and tracking skills. He was taller than every boy his age by at least a head and had about fifty more pounds to him. The pack Elder didn’t know why he was so much bigger than everyone else. She theorized it was because he was meant for greater things than an Alpha of a nondescript pack in the mountains.

“Welcome,” the Elder boomed, standing on the podium by his parents. His father stared at Ronan with proud eyes, while his mom looked nervous. What could she be nervous about? It was like she said, if he didn’t have a mate then he would attend the mating ceremonies of the other packs to find his. There was no reason for her to look so scared. “We will start the mating ceremony with the highest female in rank. Claire Addams.”

Ronan watched the Beta’s daughter saunter towards the podium. She was beyond beautiful with dark mahogany hair and a voluptuous body. All the boys next to him started to howl into the sky, each hungry with blood lust for their mate. Each hoped that Claire would be theirs. But Claire only looked at him. He was the strongest and had the most to offer any she-wolf but Ronan knew she was not his mate. He would’ve sensed it.

He didn’t sense any blood calling toward him. No sound or smell in the air called to his inner beast. He could feel the anger rising in his wolf, the desire to have a mate was so strong that he nearly took off toward the woods. His inner beast wanted to roam the woods and try to find his mate. Ronan swallowed the disappointment that settled in his throat. His mate was not here.

“Landon Triplan,” the Elder called and low-ranking wolf for Claire, whose face twisted with disgust. She would lose her rank from her father and be lower than she was supposed to be. Her brown eyes flicked to Ronan one more time before she darted off and disappeared into the woods. He would be surprised if the low-ranking wolf would be able to find her in the dense vegetation that surrounded the packhouse.

Soon, all of the she-wolves were paired with the men, besides one. Violet Woods. She was an outlier like Ronan was. Her body was thin, thinner than appropriate for a wolf and her hair was blonde. Her striking blue eyes reflected the moon’s glow as she looked back at Ronan.

Don’t worry sweetheart, you’re not my mate, Ronan thought while smiling at her. She would snap like a twig if his wolf bit her.

“Violet Woods,” the Elder called. When the lanky girl made her way up to the podium the elder spoke again, “Your mate is not with this pack. You have permission from the Alpha to go to other packs and find your mate or you can stay here and help teach the pups of the pack.”

Violet looked back at Ronan, her eyes flashing in disappointment, which surprised him. “I’ll stay.”

“Ronan, c’mere.”

The silence was deafening as he made his way toward the podium. His father stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ll attend the other mating ceremonies.”

“Your mate is not here,” the Elder started with the obvious. “Your mating will be different. Your mate will not want you. She will try everything in her power to get away from you. She will find herself in a lot of danger. You will need to prove yourself a worthy mate to her, more than once, for her to choose you. Together you will be the most powerful Alpha couple there will ever be. Without each other, you will be weak and defenseless. Wait for your mate. If you don’t, then she will never be yours.”

Ronan swallowed and nodded once. He then took off in the opposite direction of the chase and shifted.

He had spent years running from his fate. Throughout his travels searching for his mate he trained with the different packs. His skills were improved and he soon became unstoppable. Unbeatable. His young mate had no chance of escaping from him.

His black wolf followed the trail at a quick pace. The sooner he completed the chase with his mate the better. Then he would punish her and her parents for attempting to get away from him. Her father would be punished worse than her mother. It was his job to teach the young wolf what her expectations were for the chase and being mated. She-wolves were supposed to work with their mates to better the whole pack, not run from him.

The moon kept rising as he chased after Willow. Her scent was still leaving a trail through the trees but he should’ve been able to catch up with her by now. It felt as if he were following a false trail. But she couldn’t leave a fake trail. His hunters had been scoping the woods before the chase. There were no scents and no wolves in these parts of the woods earlier. It had to be a fresh trail. She ran near the river that cut through their land. Suddenly, her trail cut into the water. And stopped.

The large black wolf stood in the middle of the rushing river where the scent had stopped. She had learned how to mask her scent! No wolf in their pack had been able to mask their scent. It wasn’t heard of in modern times. Ancient stories of the royal family once talked about shifters who could hide their scent. But the king and his family had been assassinated over one hundred years ago. If he had not seen her shift with his own eyes he would not believe that she was a wolf at all.

Mate! His wolf cried to her mind. There was only static in reply. His mate was gone.

She had managed to run away from him. Ronan snarled and turned back towards the packhouse.

Her parents will pay for taking away my mate. They will feel my wrath and I will find her. There is no place in this world where she would be safe from me.

His wolf sent a heart-wrenching howl toward the full moon.