His Warrior Alpha

Sign-up Surprises

Melody’s POV

We rushed to the Pack House so we could be the first ones to signup for the Warrior Trials. One of the warriors let us know it was not time yet and steered us towards the cellar to wait, not wanting us standing around the Pack House. Jeremy and Celia talked quietly to one another while we waited, but Quinn and I stood silent and alert. This room brought back plenty of bad memories of being punished. I guess it was better than the dungeons. The dungeons could be accessed through a trapdoor in the cellar which would lead you down a curved uneven path before finally getting to the cells. The pack house was built on top of an underground cave system, so one wrong step… I didn’t want to think of it or the times Quinn and I had spent a night in the cold damp cells built into the sides of the cave wall.

After a few minutes, the door opened and someone came in. Instantly, I felt uneasy. I didn’t know why until I saw those yellow eyes. The yellow eyes of the person who had brought me to this pack 10 years ago. Just his presence felt like a threat. Aria growled in my head as if to warn me of the imminent danger and I stood defensively in front of the others. The man who had taken Malcolm and I on that night was the Delta of the Black River pack. Delta John. He gave me a crooked smile as his eyes met mine.

“Always the Alpha.” His voice sent chills down my spine. “I’m not here to cause harm. I just need her.” He pointed at Quinn.

“Me? What could you possibly need me for? Just let us signup so we can go.” Quinn said defiantly. She knew who this man was as he had also been the one to help load them into the vans that took them to this pack after discovering them in the lock-down zone.

“Alpha wants to see you, and I think you’ll want to go too. After all, there is a certain someone in the office with him. He might not be happy with what happens if you don’t come willingly.” My heart raced. Had Ryan gone to the Alpha to try and appeal to take Quinn as his chosen mate? After everything that had happened yesterday, how could he go against her wishes like that?

“Take me to Ryan.” Quinn's voice was laced with worry.

“I guess we have an understanding then.” Delta John smiled again, his whole demeanor was sinister like a snake and his yellow eyes only completed the look.

“What about us? I want to go with her.” I didn’t like the idea of Quinn going with this man anywhere alone. Even if he made me uneasy, the least I could do was go with her so I knew what was going on.

“That won’t be necessary, Alpha said, to bring Quinn and only Quinn to him. You will wait here. Someone will be down soon to help with sign-ups.” He dismissed the idea as he grabbed Quinn roughly by the arm, leading her away from us.

I slid to the floor, feeling defeated. I felt responsible for my friend and I knew I couldn’t protect her there. I was responsible for protecting her and every fiber of my DNA called for me to, but instead I had to wait down here. Jeremy and Celia knelt down beside me, and I could see confusion and worry on their faces. Silence filled the room as we sat like that for a few minutes. “She will be okay, she is strong.” Aria said to me. I knew she was strong, but that didn’t mean she also couldn’t be broken.

“Why did they take my sister? Is she going to be okay?” Jeremy was the first to break the silence. His voice reminded me of when he was a little kid and she would get in trouble. He would always ask where she had gone and if she would be okay. I would hug him tight during those times and let him know that she would be back soon.

“I don’t know Jeremy. All I know is that they know that she has a thing with Ryan. I don’t know how they found out…. Ryan said he wouldn’t try to stop her from joining the warrior trials, but I don’t know how they found out if not for him telling them?” It hurt that I couldn’t tell her that she was alright.

“What will Alpha do?” Celia asked, she sounded on the edge of crying. I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about what could be going on right now.

“I don’t know. Normally, when Alpha finds out that a pack member is fated to a slave, he tries to get them to reject them. But they don’t know if they are fated mates as both of them are too young. Alpha would know that they chose each other, which is worse. No one is supposed to associate with us.” I sighed, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. We were supposed to signup for the warrior trials and earn our freedom. Once we were free, we would finally be able to take whoever we wished.

I felt Jeremy begin to get angry. “If Ryan causes my sister to get hurt I will kill him.” He bawled his hand into a fist, punching the wall to release some of his anger.

“I don’t know why he would do that. He loves her…. Just last night she gave him an ultimatum that she be allowed to participate in the warrior trials or she would leave him. I don’t know why he would then go and speak to the Alpha behind her back.” I tried to reason with him, but if not Ryan, then who else would let Alpha Jacobs know? They would have to either have been caught or someone in Ryan's family had told him. Could his parents have told them? They seemed so nice, but Ryan had been worried as Quinn wasn’t his fated mat and there was the unresolved matter of how he knew my father before the Black River pack betrayed them. I could speculate all day but I wouldn’t know until I was able to speak with Quinn again.

The room fell quiet again, no one really wanted to talk now. Not knowing what was happening made the whole situation worse. I was sick to my stomach with worry as time drug on. Finally, the door opened and I stood up to meet whoever had come down. It was Delta John again but Quinn was nowhere in site.

“Where is my sister?” Jeremy immediately barked at him. He took a step forward as he was going to confront him directly and I put out an arm to stop him from engaging.

“Calm down pup. She is in good hands and look here,” He held up a piece of paper for us to see. “She has already got a head start on the sign ups.” I took the paper in his hands. It had rules on the top of it. I read them out loud.

“Each contestant will undergo and pass a physical assessment. This will be conducted by the pack doctor and lead trainer of the warriors. After this has been completed, they will have two weeks to prepare and must win in a 1v1 fight against a warrior trainee. No shifting allowed. All contestants must be 18 by the time the first fights begin to participate.” Below this were two names. Quinn Hart and Jeremy Hart.

“How is Jeremy signed up? He is only 17.” I wondered out loud, not that I should be challenging it, it was what we wanted after all. I just didn’t understand how he already had an exemption or why the rules had changed so drastically from 2 years ago?

“Seems his sister appealed to the Alpha to let him join and Alpha was feeling generous today. Is this a problem?”

“Okay then… Where is Quinn?”

“Don’t worry about her. She is in the company of the Beta and new Gamma.” Delta John smirked. “Now sign-up if you are going to, I do not have all day to stand around answering questions.” He held out a pen which I took and quickly scribbled my name before handing it to Celia. I needed to find Quinn and find out what had happened. If there was a new Gamma, what had happened to the old Gamma? Celia scribbled her name and Jeremy grabbed her hand, leading her out of the cellar, taking 2 steps at a time. I turned to follow before hearing Delta John say words that sent chills to my core.

“Always such a strong one. I wonder what it would take to break you.” His laugh rang in my head as I fled the cellar, refocusing on the mission. I needed to find Quinn and figure out what the heck was going on. I didn’t have time to wonder what those words could mean for me in the future.

I headed for the door to the side entrance, catching up to Celia and Jeremy, who stood outside the door waiting. “We just missed her, Mel.” Celia said as I exited the building. I looked around, hoping I could pick up where she had left.

“Where is she going?” I asked. I couldn’t see her and if she had been nearby, her scent had already blown away with the wind out today.

“I dunno. She disappeared into the tree line, there” She pointed in the direction I knew to be Ryan and Reed's home. “ Jeremy wanted to chase after her but she was too far ahead without shifting. I stopped him because I didn’t want any warriors to get the wrong idea of a slave chasing after a ranked pack official.” I was glad Celia could be a voice of reason. If I had been the one to see her, I likely would have shifted as well.

“It’s okay Jeremy. She will be safe with Reed and Ryan. They aren’t going to harm her.” I didn’t know this to be a fact but my gut feeling is my mate and her BF could be trusted. Even his family didn’t feel as if they had malicious intent, but I needed answers that, unfortunately, would have to wait until I could have a conversation with any of them. “Let’s go back and I can go meet them.” Jeremy calmed down at my words and followed my lead as we headed back to our quarters.