Casper has learnt in his many years as a beta to be a man of actions and not just words. He used to be a very carefree man, light-hearted and full of laughs, till he was made the beta for Logan, a quiet young man of fifteen then. He had been one of the few people Logan had included in his social circle, more because of his skills in battle than anything. Logan had taught him patience, discipline, and the ability to back up his words with action.
He had been the most reserved and disciplined young werewolf when they were growing up. It was clear that he was destined to be an alpha, whether or not he was the son of an alpha. He wasn't one to let petty things trouble him, and he usually proffered solutions to any problems quickly and efficiently.
So, Casper was aghast when he saw the same Alpha in his room looking troubled. Many questions from him about his troubled mood proved futile as Logan wasn't giving any answers.
"I know you'd prefer not to tell me what is troubling you but it is important that you tell me," Casper said. "But I'm your beta because you need someone you can share your burden with."
"I would rather not, Casper." The alpha replied gruffly, appearing uninterested.
"But Alpha..."
"Casper, drop it. Please."
Casper eyed him warily. "If you say so. I've been meaning to ask you something about the white wolf we rescued."
Immediately Casper mentioned the white wolf, the Alpha raised his head in alarm. He realized that he had looked too interested and quickly checked himself. In a split second, he rearranged his expression from interest to indifference.
"Yeah, what about her?" Logan asked in what he hoped was an unconcerned voice.
Casper looked at him with suspicion. The alpha was definitely hiding something. "I wanted to ask about the mark you found on her shoulder. What do you think it means? Frankly, I have never seen anything like it before. Rogue werewolves are known to draw tattoos that separate them from normal packs but that's one tattoo I've never seen before."
Logan signed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers "Yeah, you might want to keep that information to yourself, Casper." He said "Stuff like that can cause an uproar among the people. It would be best if we kept anything about the white wolf or her mark or how we found her to ourselves. Inform Dr. Frank to not say a word to anyone about it too, till I fix all of this."
"Noted." Casper replied, nodding his head "And what do you plan on doing with her in the end? She would still pose a problem whether she's a spy or not. Would you kill her or imprison her?"
Logan turned to him in alarm. Casper could read his expression as easily as an open book. His face was full of doubt and the beta could see that he was hesitating to make any judgment. It was like the Alpha was going against everything he preached.
"I haven't made a decision yet." Logan answered after a few seconds of silence "But in the meantime, tell Dr. Frank to keep her in the clinic till I figure something out. She is not to go anywhere or talk to anyone else. Not like she does a lot of talking anyway." He added under his breath.
Casper looked at his alpha and wondered what type of emotional turmoil could be going on inside him that would cause the man to act so distractedly. Was it the presence of the white wolf or something else? With this last thought, he inclined his head towards the Alpha in greeting and walked out of the room, leaving Logan to his thoughts.
Logan sighed with relief as Casper left his room. He knew he couldn't take a minute more of his beta's incessant questions. Everything seemed to be getting to him these days. Usually, he would have answered Casper's questions seamlessly but he had caught himself struggling for words and solutions. All his mind could conjure was a curly, dark-haired, mute woman that the Goddess had forced upon him as his mate.
His thoughts randomly went to his father and he sighed as he remembered how great the old man had once been. He remembered being a young boy and idolizing his father, admiring the alpha he was. His father had been a great alpha, fierce in battle yet loving and gentle with his people. He loved his son and his mate Jessica very much. Maybe a little too much.
The death of Jessica his mate had made him retreat to a dark corner of his mind till he slowly began to lose his sanity. People had thought that he would get over it after a few months but he had gotten much worse, till the Council of Alphas declared him invalid and unable to rule, thereby crowning fifteen-year-old Logan as Alpha in his stead.
Logan sometimes resented his mother for dying and leaving his father like that, but most times he thought most of the blame rested on his father. The man had been too weak and soft-hearted, giving room to love and be loved, and it has cost him a lot. The story of his father had taught him the dangers and implications of giving yourself wholly to someone. He had vowed to never follow that path. Ever.
Not until this white wolf had come and turned his world upside down.
Logan grunted in frustration at the direction of his thoughts and stood from the desk behind which he was sitting, heading towards the door of his room. He would see his father again to remind himself of the dangers of falling in love.
His father had been moved from the main Alpha's quarters to a small room on the ground floor of the pack house, where he was to spend the rest of his days. Once Logan got there, he opened the door without any preliminaries and peeped inside.
His father was fast asleep on a couch by the window, his head lolling carelessly over the arm of the couch and his hands and legs flung about. His long gray hair was flowing down from the arm of the couch to the ground and he had almost a week's worth of stubble on his chin.
He was letting out a great unpleasant snore that made Logan turn his head in distaste. The alpha moved closer to his father and wrinkled his nose as the smell of whiskey and stale sweat hit his nostrils. Several bottles of the stuff were lying around and Logan saw that his father was clutching something to his chest. He gently removed the thing and saw that it was a picture of his mother, Jessica. Typical. His father often slept off with the picture in his hand. Logan's father was a defeated man.
The alpha's face hardened as he looked at the face of his mother smiling up at him from the picture. She used to be a beautiful woman and used to bake him cookies that he never ate because they were too sugary. He remembered throwing a lot of her cookies away and then lying to her that he enjoyed them just to please her. He never really had a close relationship with his mother: from an early age, he had been training to be an alpha and barely had time for anything else.
He looked back up at the snoring vulnerable man on the couch and hardened his resolve. If this was the price for love, he would never ever allow any woman into his life to treating him like this. Ever. And with that last thought, Alpha Logan returned the picture to his father's chest and walked away, leaving his past behind.
When Logan woke again it was early morning. Soft sunlight slipped through the curtains above his bed and he winced, raising his hand to his cheek and touching the warmth the sunlight had left there. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking around groggily, and suddenly he was jolted by the ring of his bedside clock which read 7:00 am. He switched off the alarm and threw aside his bedcovers, slipping his feet into his pajama slippers. The alpha rubbed his eyes and sighed in contentment, walking towards his bathroom. He had never felt this satisfied in a long while.On his way to his bathroom, he passed his vanity mirror and stopped, staring at his reflection. A tousle-haired, crusty-eyed well-built man stared back at him. On impulse, he smiled faintly, as though enjoying the image that the mirror reflected. A few stolen moments of peace like this were worth all the chaos he would have to face later in the day.He walked into his bathroom and freshened up, brushing his teeth and taking a
Logan walked into his room and slammed the door, raking his fingers through his ponytail in rage. He growled and fisted his hands, pacing the room as he tried to keep his anger in check. He had always thought he was a master of his emotions until this white wolf came along. How could one person make him feel rage and love at the same time?He couldn't really explain the feelings he felt when he was around her. She was doubleweight annoying, yet appealing as hell. He had thought she was attracted to him too; their brief meeting in the clinic had made him believe so. She had stared into his eyes with those big brown eyes of hers and he'd thought he saw his feelings mirrored in them, but maybe all that was a facade. Her behavior and reaction to him today in the dining room were making him doubt it. He had honestly never met another woman who made him feel such conflicting emotions before.He growled in defiance as his body reacted to thinking about her again, and began to pace the room e
Logan was deliberately avoiding his eyes, Casper noticed. Which further confirmed his suspicions. He walked closer to the alpha, boring him with his eyes. He could sense that Logan was becoming uncomfortable under his stare."What do you mean?" The alpha asked "How could I ever imprint? And even if I were to imprint on anyone, it would certainly not be on someone like her."Casper folded his arms and looked at the alpha with a knowing smile "You haven't given me a straight answer, alpha. Yes, or no?""I see no reason why you would have such thoughts." Logan grumbled "Let's just drop the topic, okay?"Casper eyed the alpha with suspicion "If you say so. I'll be in the foyer if you need anything." He said and left the alpha’s room.Logan began pacing the room again, thinking to himself how close Casper was to discovering the truth about his imprinting on the white wolf. He knew there and then that he had to keep his emotions in check when he was around her, or other members of the pack
Logan walked out of the living room with all his confidence in shambles. He would have thrown all caution to the air and fucked her there on the loveseat if he hadn't bolted from the room. Goddess, where did all his strong resolve go?His feelings for her were stronger than he had imagined, he realized. Staring into her eyes had proven that to him. Now all he was left with was more frustrations and a painful boner.He found his thoughts wandering dangerously to her again and groaned with frustration. She was so small, so frail and yet so stubborn. How could one person be so tiny, yet affect him like a wrecking ball? She barely reached up to his shoulders in height, and the white slip dress she'd worn had made her look more like a waif than anything else.She had looked into his eyes with all the innocence of a virgin. Sometimes he found himself wondering if she had been taken by any man before. The sheer thought that she must have willingly given herself to any man before him made him
By the time Logan had finished working out, it was mid-afternoon and time for lunch. He sighed in satisfaction, thinking about how much more relaxed he felt now after his intense sexual reaction to the white wolf. He was in a better frame of mind now and was sure that he could handle any feelings for her. His mind strayed to her and he caught himself wondering how she was faring. He had to admit, he had been more than a little rude to her.Pushing aside those thoughts, he rose from the bench and walked towards the door. He was an alpha, for crying out loud. It would be beneath him to feel remorse after telling off a lesser wolf.He was walking out of the gym, whistling softly under his breath when he stopped abruptly. He could feel Casper frantically trying to mind link him again.What happened? He asked immediately the link was opened.Alpha, the worst has happened. Two of our wolves were found dead at the border during the afternoon patrol. You need to get here as soon as you can."
Aella woke suddenly and opened her eyes. For a moment she looked around, realising after a few seconds that she was on a regular bed. She'd been so used to sleeping on the hard ground that she still wasn't used to sleeping on beds, especially one this soft.She turned to the other side and snuggled into the pillows, smiling and drawing the covers tightly around her, but the alarms had other plans. Before she could go back to sleep a loud horn startled her and she opened her eyes in shock, cursing the horn and whoever was blowing it. She grudgingly tossed and turned on the bed as the alarm continued to reverberate around the pack house."Oh, fuck it!" She cursed again and sat up, rubbing her eyes and grumbling. She squinted at the clock beside her bed and saw that it read five am. She was used to waking up and sleeping whenever she pleased, and having a set time for waking was so not her thing. She would never get used to this.She threw aside the covers and slipped her feet into the s
The kitchen was silent save for the steady hum of the fridge. Aella sat on one of the kitchen stools with her head leaning against the wall and her eyes closed. She was tired to the bone; she had been working tirelessly since the start of the day with little to no rest and food.It had been one week since she was found unconscious at the pack's border, one week since she had been dragged from the numbing snow. It felt like ages, she thought. She'd been running from enemies, thinking she would be running towards a new and better life, only to end up as a scullery maid to a pompous alpha who was supposed to be her mate.Well. look on the bright side. Her wolf spoke up. At least we'll get to see more of our mates.Aella scowled in disgust and opened her eyes. "He might be my mate, but he has shown me that he's just as cruel as any other man I've ever met. You wouldn't expect his mate to be working in the kitchens, would you?"She shook her head in disbelief as she stared down at her maid
Aella was jarred from her fitful sleep by the sound of her alarm. She opened her eyes suddenly and stopped the alarm, then jumped up from the bed, feeling more energetic than she had ever been in a long time. Finally, she would be free from this place. Today was the day she would run and never look back.She walked to her adjoining bathroom while humming a tune under her breath. She stripped and brushed her teeth, then proceeded to take the most refreshing bath she had ever taken. She lathered her naked body with lavender soap, thinking all the while that her life was about to turn around for the better. Everything felt so much brighter and more fortuitous.After bathing, she dried her body with a towel and slipped on one of the billowy white gowns, then as an afterthought, packed her hair into a loose ponytail. Today she was willing to try new things.She quickly laid the bed and arranged the covers so it would look like she woke with every other maid for the daily chores. She then p