Chapter 4 My Freedom

I woke naked at the top of Moonlight Mountain, sprawled near the cliff’s edge. I didn’t remember climbing here, but the view stole my breath away. From this height, I could see everything, our pack’s vast territory stretching out below, Alpha’s mansion sleek and gleaming in the distance. My gaze shifted further, to the university. MMU, Moonlight Mountains University. I could just make out students rushing to take their classes for finals. A thrill rushed through me. Soon, I’d be one of them.

But reality hit. I was naked, stranded at the top of the mountain, with no way down through town without my clothes—or my phone.

That’s when I heard footsteps behind me.

“Don’t turn around,” Alpha said, his voice calm but firm. Being naked was not an embarrassment to our kind. But your first time shift was something special. 

He placed a folded pile of clothes on a boulder beside me. “Sam called. He found your things in the back alley, on a boulder by the treeline. We figured you’d be up here.”

Heat rushed to my face as I grabbed for the clothes. Alpha turned his back to give me privacy.

“I came here for my first shift too,” he admitted. “It seems the Alpha Lycans seek the highest point of our lands when their true selves awaken.”

I hurried into my clothes, heart pounding with embarrassment. When I finally stepped in front of him, Alpha smiled softly.

“You are so beautiful today. The spitting image of your mother.”

My breath caught. “Wait, What? She was albino, too?” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. Grandpa never kept her picture in the house. He never spoke her name. I had no idea.

Alpha smiled as he pulled a worn leather wallet from his back pocket and opened it to a faded photograph—him and my mother at the annual fair, smiling, alive, radiant.

"She was beautiful." My chest ached.

“She hated having her picture taken,” Alpha said softly, his thumb brushing the edge of the photo. “But that day… she let me win. We’d just finished the obstacle course competition. She beat me, of course, but she laughed when I stumbled near the end, and I made her swear never to tell a soul.”

His voice dropped, rich with memory. “We spent the whole afternoon eating roasted peanuts and candied apples. She had sugar on her lips, and I… I remember thinking no one had ever looked more perfect.” His jaw tightened, and for a moment I saw something raw in his eyes.

He closed the wallet with care and slid it back into his pocket. “Your mother had a way of making everyone believe in something greater, and when she smiled, it was like the whole pack breathed easier. I never stopped…” He cut himself off, shaking his head, and forced a small smile. “She would be proud of you, Alora. More than proud.”

My phone rang and scared the hell out of me. Why was I so jumpy? I looked at my screen and saw that it was the shop—my bike was ready.

“That’s why I was looking for you,” Alpha said. “When they couldn’t get in touch with you, they called me,” he smiled, putting his wallet back into his back pocket.

We walked to his Hummer. Riding down the mountain to get my beloved bike was the highlight of the last twenty-four hours. Having my bike back meant freedom.

Alpha shook Jim’s hand as I went straight to my bike. She was sleek and solid black, a Ninja 350—my dream bike. I had saved for almost two years to buy her.

“I had to change out your ignition coil set. She should run smoothly now,” Jim said, handing me my keys.

My smile said everything as I handed him the money for the repairs.

The moment the engine roared to life beneath me, my whole body hummed with the vibration. I slipped on my helmet, gripped my clutch, my body leaned over the cool metal of my bike; it grounded me as I pulled out of the shop with Alpha’s Hummer in my mirrors. I didn’t follow him home. Instead, I opened the throttle and let the wind tear through my hair as I sped back up the mountain.

Jag was already pulling at me, her voice a low purr in my chest. *Back to our place, Alora.* She knew something that she wasn’t telling me.

The road twisted higher and higher until I reached the spot she had led me to before, the cliffs of Moonlight Mountain. I parked the bike at the edge, the engine ticking as it cooled, and for a moment I just stood there. My Lycan and my machine, side by side, both symbols of freedom, both mine.

I’d never felt more alive. Then I heard him behind me. I turned to see him leaning on my bike, with a devilish smile.