Orrin

My name is Orrin Dalgaard, and I am the leader of my pack - the Royal pack. Hell, I am the Alpha and the King of all wolf shifters worldwide. I am also a Romerian, the most powerful of all Alphas.

It’s a lot of work and responsibility ruling a wolf pack, let alone the largest in the world, but I enjoy it. Keeping my people safe from humans is essential and a job I take very seriously.

I’ve been told of late, by the elders of my clan, that I need to take a wife. I need to find my mate and make her my Queen.

Easier said than done.

I’ve met many beautiful women over the years. I’ve had my share and fill of shifters, sirens, vampires, dragons, and demons alike, but I did not spark with any of them, let alone bond or even imprint.

I have come to believe I will never find my destined mate. Perhaps the Moon Goddess deemed me unworthy. I don’t want to believe such a thing; the King would surely have a mate out there somewhere. But the God’s and Goddesses know that I have searched the world over and found nothing.

It’s unheard of for a King not to have found his mate by the age of twenty-five, which I am. Many shifters find their mates by the age of twenty-one, sometimes younger, some older, but never the King, which means everyone around me believes there is something wrong with me.

Motherfuckers!

My mother will never stop badgering me until I bring home a Queen and make her pregnant with my cub.

‘She’s out there somewhere, just waiting for you to bump into her.’ She keeps telling me as though I’m just going to bump into the woman that is my mate – my future Queen.

I stopped looking and hoping by the age of twenty-two and went about my life the way I always have. I’m a biker wolf, and the wind is my best friend. Whether in wolf form or riding my motorcycle, feeling the wind on my face is the best feeling there is.

Right now, I’m checking the forest surrounding my kingdom. Dalgaard forest is a vast place, unseen by human eyes. Many spells and enchantments protect the entire kingdom to keep my people safe.

Humans aren’t as stupid as most creatures believe them to be, yet they’re incredibly ignorant at the same time. Most will believe whatever you tell them, and others will not.

We have nothing to fear from humans; as long as they remain ignorant of our world, they’ll stay safe. Many have spouted rubbish about werewolves; none have been believed. Not by anybody with any sense, at least.

I have known humans to be locked away in mental asylums due to their insistence about werewolves being real.

First off: werewolves don’t exist, so those idiots deserve everything they get.

Secondly: What human in their right mind would ever believe a man could turn into a wolf?

None, that’s how many.

But werewolves?

Fuck, that term pisses me off!

We’re wolf shifters, not werewolves!

But, of course, some humans have come into contact with my kind, hence why movies were made. However, they made us look like monsters when we are no such thing.

Werewolves do not exist, not the way humans see them anyway. Yes, we turn on a full moon and run with our pack, but we have control of our wolves and can transform whenever we see fit.

We also look nothing like the horrors humans depict us as. We are wolves, the same kind you see in the wild.

Over the years, a law was made that none shall converse with humans unless they turn out to be your mate. Mating with humans doesn’t often happen because humans can’t feel the mate bond.

My father was a powerful Alpha and made sure that everyone in Zidiah and around the world knew that causing war with humans was not allowed.

Hell, it’s never what any supernatural creature wants, but it’s sometimes unavoidable if humans happen upon us. That can and has happened, though we have vampires that will glamour those humans, making them forget they ever met us.

I, however, made my own law upon taking up the throne. None shall mate with humans upon pain of death. I do not tolerate that shit, no exceptions.

My father was a brilliant man, and he had a way with words. Dermot Dalgaard was also a scientist and criminologist. He was well-respected, not only with his pack and other shifters but all supernaturals.

Father taught us all that if you give respect, you will gain respect. However, some have none, some you just cannot trust. The bear shifters across the border just outside of Zidiah are the main culprits.

The King of the bears does not have the same views as us, nor do they have the same rules. They tend to wander into our territory and cause havoc just for the sake of it.

Kulumi is Bear territory; they have no business being in Zidiah. Kulumi is many miles from Zidiah, so it doesn’t end well for them when bears come onto my territory.

Leopold, the Bear King, and I have an understanding. His subjects do not cross my borders, and my wolves won’t cross his. I keep my end of the bargain, but Leopold does not, which infuriates the hell out of me.

However, it’s not a bear Adrian and I come across; it’s a little girl gnawing on berries like they’re a chunk of meat.

I look to Adrian, my younger brother, who is looking at the little feral dark-haired girl, hanging scruffily around her shoulders, and looks as though it hasn’t seen a brush or shampoo in days. Her clothes are filthy and look like they’ve seen better days, and I have to wonder how she came to be lost in my forest.

The child is a bear; that much is easy to tell, I can sense it. The little girl turns her head, red berry juice dripping down her chin, her big brown eyes wide with fear. She can’t be a day over four, and I wonder if her parents are missing her right now.

“Orrin!” Adrian hisses my name as I take a step towards the girl. She’s obviously alone in the world with nowhere to go.

What the fuck does my brother think this little girl can do to me?

Me, of all people?

What does he think I’m going to do to her?

I’m a monster, but I would never hurt a child, no matter their species. I can help find her somewhere to stay, people to care for her until we find her family.

However, she starts screaming like some crazy wild beast, and it’s so loud my ears are ringing.

Fuck!