It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining bright, the air cold with evaporating dewdrops, and Selena bundle in Zaden’s duvet, still sleeping. He smiled at the view before changing his dress and went out for his usual run. Later, Selena woke up and dragged her heavy feet to her room, taking a bath and getting ready as usual.
She learned during breakfast that there is a meeting in the communal room and her attendance is compulsory. Makeala seemed very nice and was very informative, willing to help the newcomer. Selena also learned that she is the second beta, while Orion, her brother is the beta of the pack, being an advisor to alpha. Her job is to be helpful to beta. Sitka and Xavier are deltas, they take care of territory and the ill one in the pack.
Makeala found her mate a few years back, one of the pack members as well, Nelson and she has a daughter named Dahlia. All 5 of them grew up together, in Mountain Manuka and Zaden, Orion and Sitka went away for a few years to further their studies.
Finally, they arrived at the communal room and opened the door. The alpha team, Mother Ruth and Grandpa Kai were already there, except for Alpha Zaden. Selena scanned the room looking for Zaden before she felt goosebumps, tickling her back and she looked over her shoulders. Her eyes landed on Zaden, standing behind her with his chest bumping her back.
“Good morning everyone, appreciate the punctuality,” he said with a signature merely-there-smile. The 3 of them walked into the communal room, till they reach the bar counter and the girls took seats on the tall bar stools, while Zaden leaned on the bar counter with his back. Selena waved at Mother Ruth and she smiled with a nod in return. Grandpa Kai started briefing Selena’s issue and details regarding the manuscript
“According to Elisa’s manuscript, her killer is a werewolf because they worship Moon Goddess. Left her in the woods, tied up to a tree, and according to The King Samrat’s tale, he left Elisa in a hut, deep in the forest. She also said that she will reincarnate somewhere in the corner of the world. My friend, Oz, has been traveling around the world for the past 200 years. I think it’s Oz who killed her, although I am completely confused why he would do that. He was madly in love with her” Grandpa Kai said. Zaden turned to look at Selena who is currently dangling her feet under her chair and sipping on a glass of orange juice, carefree as if they are here to discuss the Earth’s climate change.
“Now we have 2 choices. One, we can send her to Ozrain, which will benefit our pack” Selena coughed at Zaden’s word but recollect herself in a few seconds. Orion and Makeala seemed to be tensed at the idea as well.
“We can make peace with the Samrat’s, become one of their aliases. There will be no more threat of attack and we may even move out of this valley for a better future. But Selena’s life will be at risk. We don’t know what Ozrain’s true intention is in finding her. In other words, we sacrifice her for the betterment of our pack.” Selena scanned everyone’s facial reaction, none of them showed any emotion. Of course, she is a newcomer and they have no attachment towards her and that freaks her out.
“The second option–we can hide the fact that she is a Samrat and continue to live the life we have in our hands now. Maybe, and there is a thin chance that maybe, she would be strong enough to defend us against the Samrat pack, but highly doubtful.” Not to mention the pack, Selena wasn’t sure she can defend even herself. Selena scanned the room again and the member’s face had a hint of relaxation.
“Now, I will give you all 30 minutes to rethink the choices, and then we can vote. Think carefully, please.” Zaden turned his back to them, looking straight at the stacked amber bottles behind the counter. Selena leaned to the side, aiming at his ears
“Are you born with a nut loose or did you recently hit your head hard?” Zaden snapped his head to her and glared at her.
“I warned you. Don’t come back or it will be ugly!!! I’m ready to fight for you, baby girl but it’s not fair to drag the whole pack in it. Besides, it’s a chance to see how ruthless my pack really is” he whispered to her ears and then casually took a sip of coffee. Selena puckered her lips to a side with a sharp sigh, being annoyed with Zaden. She turned to Makeala and was about to ask something when Zaden stretched his hand across, held her cheek between his fingers, making her pout, and turned her face to him.
“Don’t you manipulate my pack with your Bambi eyes. Shu…” he said seriously
“Then what am I supposed to do for 30 minutes? Think about ways to sacrifice me to Ozrain Samrat or maybe I should think how to defend myself, being 90% human?” she whispered back in irritation to him.
“You know what my decision is, so I have nothing to do too…” he whispered back and this went on for the next 30minutes.
“Are they…I mean Samrat’s…attacking your village?” he nodded and she rolled her eye with a sigh
“Have you forgotten how to talk or the cat swallowed your tongue?” she whispered, earning another glare from Zaden. Size really doesn’t matter when it comes to her spicy mouth.
“When Samrat left to look for his baby, Queen Aira was in charge of the pack. She was doing fine until one day, she fell sick. Apparently, Ozrain rejected their mate bond, kind of like divorce but for werewolves, as I told you before, it gets really painful and most wolves will die in the process. So, to save her, the elderly of the pack decides to mate her with their beta, Epsilon. He forcefully marked her when she was in her death bed, automatically making him the King” Zaden paused when Selena opened her mouth to question
“What is forcefully marking?”
“It’s a bite mark on your neck, without the lady’s concern” Selena’s eye widened
“When a male wolf bites a female on her neck, it forms an invisible mark, alerting other males that she is taken and no one would dare to approach her after that. It also makes them inseparable” Zaden continued but Selena’s eye didn’t shrink
“Don’t worry, a wolf will recover the bite in minutes but humans won’t. That’s why Ozrain didn’t mark Elisa” Selena calmed down after that and nodded.
“Do you know why a Samrat is the king of werewolves?” he asked Selena
“Because he can be alpha to any pack…” she answered with doubts
“Correct!!! Good girl” he pinched Selena’s cheek, she swatted his hands away with a frown
“Is Epsilon a Samrat?” Zaden asked and Selena thought for a while before answering
“I don’t think so. Samrat’s have only one child, right? So, there is no siblings or relative to Ozrain” Zaden looked impressed
“Correct!!! So, how did other packs accept him as king?” she has no clue now and shrugged her shoulder with a downward lip curl
“At the time when Ozrain was the king, he fused together 5 packs of wolves into 1, making them the strongest of all other packs but he didn’t use any threat or force to achieve that. It was mutual. Epsilon used this pack strength as a threat, if needed, attack other packs to make them bow to him. So that he can fuse more packs together and keeps expanding his strength” Zaden stopped to walk to minifridge, took a tub of ice cream from it, came back to stand next to her.
“So, the more packs fused together, the more stronger he is and no one will rebel against him being the king?” Selena asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Exactly!!! My ancestors refused to bow and they fled to this mountain, hidden from the outside world. If Ozrain returns, he would become the king, and we would be free from attack” Zaden took a spoonful of ice cream and feed Selena. Orion was watching from far and his eyes were burning with anger.
“Why won’t he return? Can’t you just explain and ask him to come or resolve this issue more diplomatically?” she ate the spoonful of ice cream. Zaden had just done thrusting a spoonful of ice cream into his own mouth.
“He refused to return until he finds his daughter, technically, you…” he feeds her another spoon
“If we give up on you, then yes, the pack will be free as wolves are supposed to be and protect other wildlife in this mountain. But after reading the original manuscript, there is no guarantee he would take care of you. There has been a…prophecy…from a sorcerer in Samrat’s pack–An heir will emerge from under the mountains, take over the Samrat pack and vanish the king– Since then, they have been searching nooks and crannies for you. Our pack fits the prophecy, so naturally, we are at risk.” He wiped a drop of ice cream on the corner of her lips with his thumb. At this point, the whole leader’s pack noticed how Zaden and Selena interact. They were more interested in them than thinking about their decision.
“No no…” she jumped off her chair and everyone’s attention was on her now.
“I can’t let you and your pack suffer because of me. I can simply go back to my father and this whole issue will be swept away” she said directing at the whole pack.
“Oh, how I wish I had thought of that before…” a sarcastic mumble came from behind her but she ignored it.
“No!!! If Ozrain ever finds you out of a pack, you and your family are in danger. You don’t know him, he is fierce and will do whatever that is needed to get what he wants” Grandpa Kai stood up from his seat.
“If we keep her, how is she supposed to defend us?” Sitka finally spoke
“Simple!!! She is a Samrat by blood. She must have the same ability Ozrain has. Maybe, just maybe, she can prevent harm to our pack. But for that, she must be trained to be a normal wolf first, control her wolf and explore her full potential. That might take a long time” Zaden answered with a sigh followed by a long silence.
“Can we keep her?” Makeala finally broke the silence, making Zaden smile, scratching his eyebrows. The others followed her
“Ya, let’s keep her!!!” Zaden used to treat her like a small girl but now she felt more like the pack’s pet.
“So, that’s settled. Now, any suggestion about her training?” Zaden asked and they were bombarded with so many suggestions that it was hard to pull out a complete sentence.
“Ok ok…wait. I will help her with shifting, Makeala will…” Zaden was distributing each of their responsibility when Selena cut him off
“But Orion already promised to teach me shifting!!!” He turned to look behind him with a cocked eyebrow. Selena shrugged her shoulders
“I requested as a favor from him yesterday” she added. Zaden turned his head to Orion. Orion wore a cool smug look. Shifting involves momentary nudity and Zaden is not comfortable with someone else teaching her that but given the current situation, he doesn’t have a choice.
“Fine!! Then I will be building her stamina, Sitka will be in charge of fighting skills. Grandpa Kai can assist in discovering her abilities. Makeala and Xavier, please teach her to hunt and on territorial basics. Clear?” Everyone nodded
“Good. Disperse” and he walked out of the room, ignoring Selena since he is pissed off. She didn’t notice him, being swarmed by other members, welcoming her, and so on.
Again, that night, Zaden came to her room and knocked on her door.
“What, you still can’t sleep?” Selena asked him. He nodded with a pursed lip. The truth is, he needed her scent to fall asleep after being in her room for 3 weeks. Yesterday, she slept on his bed, leaving behind enough of her scent but he is still standing in front of her door because he wanted to brainwash her into choosing at least Makeala to teach her shifting.
Only one flaw in the plan, he doesn’t know how to begin and was cornered when Selena came to the conclusion that he can’t sleep. She sighed and took a few steps out of the door, walking past him. He grabbed her wrist making her jerk back. He pulled her to the door, looked sharp at her while leaning on the door frame. She imitated him and leaned on the opposite side, staring back at him. Zaden is very strict, not so talkative, rarely smiles, and can be ruthless when the situation comes along. He is well respected for that and no one in his pack, including the other 2 on the other side of the mountain would dare to challenge him. But this little fox in front of him was different, she takes pleasure in irritating or challenging him and that normally makes him chuckle in amusement. They stared at each other for a while before Zaden gave in.
“Stay…talk with me for a while. Then you can go to my room and mess up my bed” he said with his usual low, deep husky voice.
“Aah… the alpha’s order. Unfortunately, I am not your pack member to follow blindly” she said as she wiggled her eyebrow.
“Please…” he mumbled and her reaction softened as her eyes trailed to the floor
“Do I get to question?” she asked, making Zaden hung his head and let out a sigh.
“Fine” he grabbed her shoulder, turned her around as he gently pushed her inside. Orion who came to visit Selena with another chocolate bar, saw Zaden pushing Selena inside and closing the door behind them.
His eyes blurred with tears. He stormed out of there, shifted to a wolf, and let a painful howl that send a shiver through Selena’s spine. She snapped her head towards the window, eyes wide open. Zaden noticed her sudden change. He facing her back while hands holding her shoulder, pulled her closer to his chest.
“That’s Orion… He had been doing that a lot lately. A screeching howl of pain. Are you scared?” His last words were very close to her ears as his warm breath tingled her ears. She rolled her neck, trying to knock off the sensation his breath gave her. She nodded.
“It’s ok… he will be fine. He always does” Zaden turned round and walked to the 3 seater couch in her room and sat down sluggishly. Selena sat on the other end, with her one legs folded and another dangling over the side, body tilted to face Zaden
“What do you mean?” She asked with confusion. Zaden ran his fingers through his hair and sighed out
“Remember what I said about mate? That most wolves die if rejected or the mate dies? Well, he is one of the survivors.” Selena’s eyes flickered
“He found his mate at 18 years old, right after their first shift. Sheila, a brunette with blue eyes. Very beautiful and amazing hunter. We always have her on patrol duty because of that. One night, during a patrol, she came across poachers, slitting the skin of an elephant. She attacked them but they came well prepared with a rogue by their side” Zaden said in a low voice
“Rogue?” Selena
“Yes, werewolves who have been cast out by their packs. They have no way of surviving without a pack, most of the time take the evil path to make a living. That rogue shot Sheila right in the heart with a silver arrow. She died painfully on the spot” the pain and sorrow were evident in Zaden’s eye that even Selena felt really sad. To her oblivion, Zaden was terrified even to recall those days as he ran his palm over his face before leaning down to lay his head on Selena’s lap.
“What he went through was unbearable, even to bystanders. He would scream in the middle of the night, from the pain. Makeala and I used to sleep with him just to prevent him from killing himself. But still, he managed to hurt himself. He would burn his hands, cut his arms and once even bite his tongue and ended up in hospital. He was that determined to die. Thanks to werewolf power, he managed to heal back. It was horrifying, even for me that I prayed to Moon Goddess, never to come across my mate, ever in my life…” his painful vibe protruded to Selena. She ran her fingers through his hair, calming him down instantly. She dropped all her questions, listening to his breathing that finally reached a rhythm suggesting he had fallen asleep. She gently moved away from him, replacing her lap with a cushion, tiptoed out of the room.
She relaxed her shoulders, heading to the third floor but stopped abruptly when she heard another footstep approaching. It was Orion. At first, Orion was surprised to see Selena but then, he realized that she is not sleeping with Zaden and joy-filled his heart
“Hey…” he said casually
“Hey… I heard your howl. Are you ok?” she was a few steps above Orion, making her slightly taller than him.
“Ya I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. What are you doing here?” she froze, not knowing whether it is the best idea to admit the truth but she sort of had no choice.
“Hmm…Zaden came to clarify something and fell asleep in my room. So, I am heading to his” she pointed up, in the direction of Zaden’s room. Orion nodded but his face hasn’t relaxed completely
“Do you want a cup of hot chocolate?” Selena offered because according to her theory, hot chocolate and ice cream is the cure to every worldly issue.
Just like that, they ended up in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate, in the middle of the night. She put herself in the spotlight of embarrassment with her childhood stories, just to divert him. They were talking and laughing at each other, effectively enlightening Orion’s mood.
“How are you going to teach me tomorrow?” Selena asked out of curiosity.
“Well first, we induce panic attack… and then” Selena threw a spoon at him before he could continue. He caught it with another laugh. They went on and on about random topics.
“I walked to her room and heard her screaming at the top of her voice, so I banged on the door. After so long, her BOYFRIEND came to open the door. Behind him, on the floor, behind some stacked up desks, Jewel was on the floor with tears running down her cheeks. I immediately cursed the boy and slapped him, dragged him to the staircase across the classroom, and pushed him downstairs. How am I supposed to know that they were having sex? What would you do if you saw your friend like that?” Orion was laughing hysterically at Selena and her recollection of memory.
“First of all, I would look at her leg position or at least ask her what happen,” he said between his laughs
“She was wearing a mini skirt, Orion,” Selena said with irritation but it made him laugh even louder.
“So basically, I have spoiled my reputation and any chance of getting a boyfriend. After high school, I simply lost interest in the whole idea” Orion’s laugh came to a sudden stop as he stared at Selena.
“Wait, you never had a boyfriend?” She nodded
“Then you are a virgin?” Selena snapped her eye up, looking directly at Orion’s eye. She didn’t make any movement and any other reaction on her face. Orion brought both his palm to close his mouth and said behind the closed mouth
“Oh my god, you are a virgin. You are a virgin werewolf!!!” he said, earning a swat on his arm.
“Shut up!!!” she exclaimed
It was 3 am when they both climbed up to the third floor. Orion’s room came first and he waved a weak bye to her
“Get as much rest as possible. Zaden can be pretty tough in his training” he said and she continued her way, past a few more room before entering Zaden’s room. She fell asleep almost instantly