The Shadow Alpha novel Chapter 12

Waking up at the crack of dawn was nothing new for me, I’ve always been a morning person, but this morning had me feeling extra happy so I decided that I would treat the packs to pancakes for breakfast. I rushed through my morning routine and ran downstairs to the kitchen, after ushering the breakfast crew out and calling in my own reinforcements I set to work on making the batter.

Once the batter was made; Taylor, Jolene and Lexi were in the kitchen waiting with warm pans to begin the toasting.

“Hey Alpha?” Jolene broke the silence and my head whipped to her questioningly, “What happens if anyone finds their mate in the other pack, I mean it’s not impossible.” She asked somewhat nervously.

“Then they can either join the Full Moon Pack or ours, I have no problem. It’s their choice. Why do you ask?” I eyed her tense posture.

She swallowed hard before answering, “I think my mate is in that pack.” Her voice was low and if not for our enhanced hearing we would never have picked it up. I wiped my hands and walked over to her.

“Jo, Alpha title aside, I consider you my big sister. Your happiness is really important to me and I would never ask you to do anything that would jeopardise your mate. I know how it feels to be rejected and it’s not something I wish on someone else, because honestly it is the worse pain in the world. I would hate to see you go, but if it’s what you want then you will never see me stand in your way.” I said soothingly, she had tears in her eyes and she grabbed me into a hug.

“Thank you Allie, thank you so much!” I felt how her body sagged in relief and smiled before pulling away.

She wiped away the tears that had fallen and smiled a megawatt smile, “Don’t for a second think he is going to have it easy though, he will have to go through me first!” I scolded sternly and they all laughed even though we all know I was dead serious.

“So… Who is he?” I teased and her smile dropped which made me worried.

“I don’t know, I could feel his presence, but I can’t pinpoint who he is until I come face to face with him or touch him.” I nodded in understanding and placed my hand on her shoulder.

“It will be okay Jo, don’t worry.” She smiled and nodded and turned back to the stove to continue making pancakes.

We continued having light conversation until we were done, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 9:13; everyone should be waking up soon so I opened the doors to the kitchen and dining hall to allow the smell to travel through the pack houses. By the tell-a-tale ruckus of doors flying open and footsteps down the stairs I was sure that the message was loud and clear. By 9:30 the dining hall was buzzing with life, all of the members of both packs were seated and eagerly awaiting the go ahead to dig in.

“Good morning everyone!” I greeted with amusement, “Lovely weather we’re having isn’t it, what a great day it would be for a nice run out in the forest-” the annoyed looks from my pack cut off my rambling and I lifted my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I know how much you all live for these mornings, but do keep in mind that everyone deserves a share so be civil. We give thanks to the Goddess for providing us this wonderful meal, now dig in!” without waiting a second they ripped off the covers from the trays and began passing it around, noises of approval we heard all around which amused me. The other pack seemed to be more relaxed and joined in the feasting. Maybe they wouldn’t take so long to adjust, I mused.

~~~

“Tatiana darling go easy on the chocolate!” Mom scolded affectionately gaining the attention of whoever was left after breakfast was done, “Sorry.” She smiled innocently showing her chocolate covered teeth.

I chuckled and walked up to her to kiss mom on the cheek, “You’ll never win.”

She looked at me sternly, but sighed and shook her head when I raised an eyebrow at her, daring her to disagree. Dad picked Tia up and chuckled at us, Tia kissed his cheek which left chocolate all over his right cheek; his eyes widened while mom and I burst out laughing,

“Aww Ana, now look your chocolate is all over my face.” He whined and pouted, my dad can be such a kid sometimes, while my sister simply shrugged and grinned at him.

A loud crash sounded behind us, we whipped around to see what the commotion was all about and were met by the pale wide eyed faces of Devin, Hunter and Devin’s parents.

They were all stunned to silence by my accusation, Hunter turned to Austin with a look of pure unaltered hatred that I had never seen before.

“You deserve to rot in hell for everything you’ve done!” he spoke softly but the power behind his words shook me to the core and before he stalked off.

Devin stared at his father with a look that was hard to decipher, without saying anything he scoffed and shook his head and walked away in the same direction as Hunter leaving them shocked and horrified.

“Whoever we were to you, consider it the past. We want nothing to do with you, not after what you put our daughter through.” Dad informed them and walked away with one last look of disgust in their direction.

I kept my straight face, “Don’t ever make the mistake to think that I invited you here for old time sake, I did it because it was the right thing to do. I might have forgiven you for what you have done, but I will never forget. Plus the fact that I have, doesn’t mean that they have forgiven you or that they have to.” With those last words I walked out of the pack house and into the forest, I just needed some time to myself before I could face them again.

I walked until I reached the stream that Papa Jamie had found me at four years ago. I stared into the calm flowing water from my place on the bank. I couldn’t help thinking about the three different stages in my life; the carefree bubbly girl I was before my parents were kidnapped, how I became the sad, lonely abused girl when they were no longer around and lastly, how my new life has made me a strong, fearless leader and a new person altogether. It’s amazing how one person can be destined for so much, I don’t know what I did to deserve this life, but I have learnt not to question fate.

My thoughts were brought to a halt as a scent filled my senses, which made me want to gag.

“Rogues.” I muttered to myself, my defences were immediately up. I have come across many different types of rogues in my years; some experiences were not as pleasant as others.

I moved quickly to hide behind the nearest tree and focused on the woods across from the stream. Seconds later three small wolves came bursting through the trees and skidded to a halt at the edge of the stream, their eyes widened in panic and they glanced behind them fearfully. I picked up four new scents before they jumped out of the trees and closed in around the three smaller wolves. They were snarling and snapping at the three wolves that appeared to be female rogues who were whimpering and cringing away from the four black eyed devils that were chasing them. Together they surged forward and attacked the three shewolves, easily overpowering them.