My sick mother had described the herbs she needed to me perfectly well. Their spines were supposed to be hairy, their leaves small, silvery, and smooth to the touch. It was a common plant around these parts, popular for healing most types of wolf illnesses including silver wounds, but I'd had trouble finding it these past few days.
A herb so common it could be found at any doorstep, and yet I had to steal to get it. We were so poor that the healing herbs had avoided our barren compound.
When my mother had fallen sick, I'd gone from house to house, begging anyone who would open their gates to let me into the compound and pick a few of those healing herbs. Most of them had taken a look at my ragged dress and slammed their gates in my face. The others had asked me to pay some money in exchange for the herbs.
Even now I could see their taunting faces as they asked for money, ingrained in my head like a burning tattoo. I was the local church rat, everyone knew that. My mother and I could barely feed ourselves, let alone pay money for some herbs.
Right now I was squatting in front of a garden fence. There was a hole in the wooden structure, and my hand was buried in it up to my elbow. As usual, the owner of the garden had refused to give me the herbs, and I'd resorted to stealing them.
My face was flushed in concentration, my fingers groping as I looked for the specific plant. I was about to give up and withdraw until my fingers brushed against the hairy spine of the healing herb. Frantically I grabbed the plant and tugged, feeling the plant detach itself from the soil.
"Yes!" I smiled to myself, enjoying my victory, then I tried to pull my hand out of the hole.
It was stuck.
I wriggled my wrist this way and that, holding on to the healing plants. No luck.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I swore under my breath and tried again. My fingers slipped and the herbs almost fell from my grasp, but I held on to it as though a life depended on it. Technically, it did.
I was sweating profusely now, beads of fear gathering in my chest. The owner of the garden would soon come out, and I would be caught red-handed. I couldn't afford to be caught stealing. The punishment for stealing in our pack was a few weeks in the alpha's dungeons. I could survive that, but what about my mother? She would die before I was released from the dungeons.
She wouldn't survive without me.
I knocked my wrist violently against the fence in a last effort to free myself. Pain shot up my hand, and it took me a moment to realize that I'd broken my wrist. I would have morphed into my wolf form and wriggled my way free, but I was a few months shy of turning eighteen and getting my wolf.
Was this how I would die? Stuck in a fence until the authorities found me?
I gave up and leaned against the fence, my broken wrist throbbing and swelling, further reducing my chances of pulling it out of the hole. I held on tightly to the healing herbs, caught under the glare of the sun above and the hopelessness of my existence.
"Aaargh!" I yelled and struggled against the wooden structure again, tears flowing freely from my cheeks. Why was the universe this wicked to me? I was this close to saving my mother's life, and somehow this had happened instead.
"Please, Goddess." I prayed under my breath, tasting the saltiness of my tears. "Please, save me."
Immediately the prayer slipped from my lips, I heard the galloping of horses behind me. I raised my head from the fence and looked around. Eagerness sparked within me, a half-hearted hope that someone with a shred of goodness in his heart would find me and get me out of there.
"Hey!" A voice called out. "What are you doing there?"
"Help!" I yelled. "I'm stuck!"
The galloping slowed to a stop and the bushes around me rustled. Then a horse's head poked out of the forest and walked forward, followed by three others. I looked up at the horseman that came forward, and all the hope shriveled up and died in my chest.
It was the alpha himself. Alpha Noah.
Goddess, I'd just secured my death.
I groaned and slumped back against the fence in defeat. Alpha Noah stared down at me with a mixture of curiosity and fierceness in his eyes. Dark hair fell down his shoulders in beautiful waves. A pair of smoldering grey eyes stared into mine. A thin, forbidding line of a mouth stretched under an impressive, regal nose, and a dark stubble littered his chin.
He was quite attractive up close. If you liked the dark, brooding prince sort, that is.
I'd never seen him this close up before. I seldom saw him, except on rare occasions when he walked through the pack town with his guards.
My eyes caught him and I pulled my gaze away. I couldn't bear to look up at those eyes. I wasn't worthy enough.
"What are you doing stuck in a fence?" He asked me.
"Taking some herbs," I muttered under my breath.
Alpha Noah cocked an impressive eyebrow. "I didn't catch that."
"I was...taking some herbs," I repeated. "For my sick mother."
I watched as his eyes smoldered with anger. "So you were stealing."
I fell silent, focusing instead on my hurting wrist. "Do you know the punishment for stealing?" He asked me.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but he'd turned away from me and was speaking to his guards. "Free her from that fence. She's going with us to face trial for stealing. And use force if you must."
Trial?!
"Please..." I begged. "I was only taking some healing herbs for my mother...have mercy!"
Alpha Noah however, stared forward resolutely, ignoring my pleas. His guards broke the fence around me, releasing my broken wrist. Immediately it was free of its constraints, it began to swell crazily. I winced as the guards grabbed my other hand and pulled me up.
"Move!" Alpha Noah ordered, and I obeyed. My broken hand was still holding on to the healing herbs. I ignored the dull, throbbing ache in my wrist, thinking instead of what would happen to my sick mother if I was thrown into the dungeons.
She would die, and I would be left alone in this cruel world.
And without thinking more, I turned and hit the guard who was closely following me across the face. Then I took off running into the forest.
"Seize her!" The alpha bellowed, and then I heard the galloping of horses behind me.My heart pounded in my chest as I raced through the dense forest, my footsteps rustling the dead leaves on the forest ground. Birds took flight from the branches above as I raced as though the devil himself was after me. The adrenaline coursing through my veins gave my legs an extra burst of speed. My legs were nimble and strong from running in the forest for most of my childhood, and I knew the place like the back of my hand.I knew I couldn't afford to let my guard down. The alpha and his relentless guards were closing in, their thunderous hooves and yell growing louder with each passing moment. If I faltered, they would catch me and drag me into the dungeons.That thought alone made me gasp with fear. Branches whipped against my arms and face, leaving behind scratches and nicks. Sweat trickled down my brow, mingling with the dirt and grime that had clung to my skin from the garden. Fear fueled my e
We got to the pack house in record time. The air in the building was fraught with tension as I was led through its echoing halls. Each step I took rhymed with the pounding of my heart and my nerves were jangled. My hands shook, my heart hammered, and every part of me wanted to make another run for it, even though I knew that I would not make it past the front doors. The weight of my actions bore down on my shoulders, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread for what lay ahead.We stopped at a large foyer, lined with several framed pictures of past alphas. Under different circumstances, I would have been awed by the sight. Truthfully, under different circumstances, I wouldn't even be here.The alpha turned to both guards who were holding me. "Take her to the courtroom. I will meet you there." He ordered, then turned and walked down another corridor.Not once did he look at me.Why was I complaining anyway? He was an alpha, I was nothing but an Omega. We existed on two extreme ends
The entire courtroom gave a collective gasp at his declaration."An omen of...what do you mean?" Colin, the Beta of the pack asked in confusion.The Elder stepped forward again and gestured towards my neck, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and dread. "Do you see that mark on her neck? That...that vile thing."I felt the weight of several eyes bearing down on me. I could feel the mark burning into my skin like a freshly made tattoo."It is in the shape of a crescent." The Elder continued. "Those who bear that mark are said to be a dangerous wolf specie."A murmur swept through the courtroom at his words. He turned around swiftly, eyes bulging in horror. "I know what I'm saying!" He snapped. "That mark...that mark..."Alpha Noah stood to his feet again. "Elder Jacob, could you please explain what you mean, or do I need to call off this court session already?"The Elder gave me a look full of contempt, then spat venomously. "Where did you get that mark, girl?"Confusion washed over
Alpha Noah's POVImmediately the condemned Omega was led out of the courtroom, I turned to the other Elder Wolves in the Council. The Elder who had pointed out the mark on her neck, Elder Jacob, had returned to his seat. He was muttering furiously to the other Elder Wolves around him, stirring up trouble like he always did.Anger bloomed in my chest as I remembered the ultimatum he had created for me. I was the alpha, the supreme ruler of the pack, and yet my choices and decisions were subject to sadistic men like Elder Jacob. It made me grit my teeth in rage sometimes.I silently stood to my feet and walked out of the courtroom. I walked briskly to my study, my mind filled with conflicting thoughts. The weight of the decision I had to make was pressing heavily upon my shoulders. It was constantly ringing in my head like a time bomb that I needed to diffuse. Should I adhere to the old folklore and the words of the Elder, sentencing the Omega to death? Or should I heed the counsel of m
The clock on the distant wall struck 8:15pm, and I turned in my bed, restless. I found it harder to sleep than usual, and as I forced my eyes to close their curtains, they only increased my insomnia.My mind held contradicting thoughts, and thoughts that held mallets of headaches, each striking harder at every mental consideration. I knew I couldn't kill the Omega.Yet I couldn't risk the efficacy of my throne and leadership. And for some agonizing twist of fate, this Omega was also my mate.But this was still so uncertain.The Moon goddess might have made a mistake, or perhaps it was lust that was speaking, but there was no way to tell. The goddess never told a lie, and during my brief spell of being caught in the Omega's spell, I felt nothing more than potent admiration for her.There was no sexual longing, no erotic desire, no insatiable urge to mate with her. I wasn't hungry, I was satisfied.“Aargh…” I groaned and shot out of bed. “Why?!”In all my years of being the Alpha, nev
“Noah!” a voice yelled I didn't answer“Noah!” it came againI still didn't answer“Noah!”The voice reached my ears in a haze, yet it was still clear, and each time it came, it came louder than before. It was so increasingly loud, it forced my eyes to open, even though slowly, in a movement similar to a manual pulley system.And it gradually pulled my eyelids open, until…“Noah!!!”I jolted up.My hands immediately went to my head, as a confused pain shot through it like a silver bullet. My own name yelled at me one too many times now rang in my ears in a circle, as my vision swirled up, down, and around the room. My feet were numb, and it felt like I was paralysed, but as a hand tapped my leg, I knew I could still walk.“Wake up Noah!”“It's happening!”I heard the last statement, and my brain shot back again in pain, trying to remember whatever “it” was, that was going to happen. I struggled with myself, and my foggy memory, trying to remember what I had already forgotten.My eyes
And the thought made me shiver.I held back my vomit as I tried to wriggle my way through the crowd, squeezing through a great wall of bodies, taking a step here, two there three light taps on my toes, then a small jump over a crumpled juice box, careful incase there was still liquid inside, so the owner wouldn't turn the crowd's attention to me. I kept moving, bending, squatting, and looking for actual ground to walk on, treading through a sea of people, with no lone island in sight. I moved swiftly yet slowly, with my hands tight beside me, and gaining minute energy, as my fears reduced slightly knowing they hadn't killed her yet. I was happy she was still alive, and as I kept moving through the crowd, I felt a sense of hope; that it was not too late, and that all was not yet lost.I felt a relief, and I gingerly moved to go down a flight of stairs to the lower section, when a hand grabbed me from behind.“Psst…” came a voice I flipped around.“Slow down friend…” It was Colin, a
Elder Jacob came out from a doorway the height of three men, decorated at the sides with wood carvings of previous Alphas, and two guards in human form.He wore his usual pure white robe, that was accompanied by a purple sash around his abdomen, and he moved like a ghost on wheels as he made his way up a short raised platform leading to where Vrax stood.He held a long sceptre, and I stood, watching him use it as a walking stick. I squinted hard, trying to make out the color of it, as it held a smoke-like tinge, yet it was shiny, reflecting ever slightly in the sun. I thought it was coated ash; but with the Elders general title and his personal hubris, I doubted it.I moved down the steps cautiously, as these were the last flight that led to the center, and if I moved too fast, I would be noticed. As everyone else was standing still, chiming a loud, and disturbingly vainglorious song.I moved lightly, but hearing Colin's steps still behind me, my peace fell.My mind began racing with