Alpha Liam

Alpha Liam 

Jane, the same girl that ease my pain was the same girl that knows how to get on my nerves. I don't know how it works but it just does. She was always on my mind, disturbing my thoughts. 

Since the first time I met her at the festival, I couldn't just stop thinking about her. She was just a maid. That’s what I told myself. A wolfless, discarded nobody from a pack that couldn’t wait to get rid of her. 

But whenever she touched me, whenever her body pressed into mine, something inside me reacted. I don't know what it was but I knew it wasn't ordinary. 

And that damn coffee… It tasted like something I had tasted before. The taste brought back something I thought I had forgotten. It was the same as alpha Lucie’s wife. She gave us the special coffee while the fathers had their meetings. 

How did Jane get the recipe? Who is she and what does her past hold? She even reacted to the secret book. I could feel it in my blood that something was different, both her present and her past. 

But I wasn't ready to admit it. Why would I even admit it when the damn curse is to be blamed. The pain in my chest made me notice her. The desperation to be cured made me buy her. 

if it's not for my weak heart craving for something soft, I wouldn't even look at her twice. She wouldn't even breathe the same air as me. So whatever I was feeling, the curse is to be blamed.

I looked at the book again and I remember why I hid it in the first place. The book contains the truth but at the same time incomplete. It was turned from a greater truth and even with my power, I couldn't read what was in it. 

But Jane felt something when she touched it. With annoyance, I shoved the book into the locked drawer at the corner of my desk, turning the key with a sharp snap.

“Alpha,” Josephine’s voice came gently from the door.

“I don't want to talk, Josephine.” I said without looking at her.

“I understand,” she said, stepping in carefully, “but the elders are here. They’ve been waiting.”

“Tell them to leave,” I said, my voice harsher than intended.

“That wouldn’t be wise, Alpha. You summoned them two days ago, remember? They came a long way, you can't just dismiss them.”

I finally looked up, meeting her gaze.This old woman as a way of making me obedient. After I lost my mother, she was the closest to a mother. I didn't let it be known but I really respect and appreciate her a lot and she knows it. 

“They’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow. “With respect, Alpha, the elders are not people you should push around. You have to see them today.”

I didn’t want to deal with those elders. Their voices were like wind rustling dry leaves. They were always speaking, never saying anything worth hearing. But Josephine was right, if I kept avoiding them, they’d take that silence and twist it into weakness.

I stared at the locked drawer for a long moment before I finally stood. I couldn’t afford to show any sign of weakness. Not when the election is right in the corner. 

“Go, Josephine. I'll see them.” I said and she left without saying a word. 

By the time I stepped out into the hall, I had buried the thoughts of Jane and the book behind my mind. My footsteps echoed through the corridor announcing my approach before I entered the meeting room.

They were already seated, the seven of them, dressed in their ceremonial robes, their eyes filled with quiet judgment.

“Finally,” Elder Marius said, not bothering to mask his irritation. “The Alpha graces us with his presence.”

I said nothing as I took my seat at the head of the long table.

“We were summoned days ago,” Elder Ansel added. “Yet you kept us waiting without explanation.”

“You’re not the only ones with responsibilities,” I replied coolly.

Murmurs rippled among them, but it was Elder Thom who leaned forward, cutting through the noise. “It’s not just the delay, Alpha Liam. It’s everything. Your silence, your attitude and your recklessness.”

I lifted a brow. “Recklessness?”

“Yes,” Elder Thom pressed. “You bought a rejected maid during the festival. You even brought her into the castle. What message does that send to the other packs? To the council?”

“She is of no consequence to your politics,” I said.

“She is wolfless,” Elder Marius snapped. “A servant cast out by her own pack. And now she shares walls with our Alpha? People are talking.”

‘Let them talk,’ I wanted to say but I kept that to myself.

“She will not disrupt anything,” I said instead. “She’s under my authority and control.”

“Your authority has become unpredictable, Liam,” Elder Ansel said. “You are young and strong, but this pack needs stability, not impulsive decisions driven by whatever whims strike you in the night.”

I slowly leaned back in my chair, letting their words settle. They thought they were guiding me but they forgot who I was.

“The election is coming, Liam.” Elder Thom added. 

“If you believe I can no longer lead you,” I said, my voice low and sharp, “then withdraw your support.”

Elder Thom blinked. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” I continued, “that if your trust in me depends on how many council-approved maids I keep under my roof… or how long I make you wait for an audience then perhaps your loyalty was never to me in the first place.”

They shifted in their seats, looking uneasy.

“I will not be questioned every time I make a decision. Not by those who stood by when I lost my parents. Not by those who don't know half of the shit I go through in private.”

My gaze swept across them. “If you really want answers, I will tell you now. She is here for a reason. And that reason is mine to know.”

A wake of silence fell upon them. Marius opened his mouth, then closed it again. Thom narrowed his eyes, but didn’t speak.

Good.

They didn’t need to understand. They only needed to remember who held the throne.

“Now,” I said calmly, “unless you’ve anything important to say, this meeting is over.”

And with that, I stood and walked out, leaving their silence behind me.

Let them be angry, let them whisper, it is none of my business. They are not the one carrying the curse around. They don't even care if I'm well or not. All their concern is their political ambitions and space for their children at the top.