FIVE

“I’ve been waiting for you, Alpha,” The red head sprawled on my couch licked her lips and caressed her thighs seductively. She is wearing black lingerie with matching black pencil heels, batting her eyelids at me like a cat.

I grabbed her roughly by the arms and yanked her off my seats, anger rolling off me, but she squirms like a little school girl who’s just been offered cotton candy.

“You know I like it rough, alpha,” she giggles.

“What the fuck are you still doing here?” I barked. She flinched, Maybe I raised my voice a little too much, but I made it crystal clear before leaving this morning that I didn’t want her here when I got back.

I had a one-night stand with the red head once, and that’s all it was supposed to be, that was our deal. Her name, I can’t even remember, but she wouldn’t give me breathing space after that night. She isn’t from my pack, I know better than to fuck with the female members of my pack.

She’d barged in on me early this morning again. Apparently, everyone knows my death is close, and she happens to be just one of the many women that want to try their luck to give me an heir.

Women come easily for me, but none of them could proffer a solution to my current predicament. I would have willingly indulged in the fun three years back, but I don’t have time for fun now.

“You are hurting me, alpha,” she wriggles her arms free from my grasp.

“How many times do I have to tell you I do not want to set eyes on you again?’ I growled.

“Stop being so grumpy,” she huffed, grabbing her coat from the sofa. “What exactly do you have to lose? You should be spending your last days with your head buried in my bosom, but that’s your loss,”

I watched her wear her coat angrily, a deep frown on her face. “Don’t come back here,” I warned “Next time I come home and see you sprawled on my couch, I’ll have your head,”

She scoffed before making for the door, slamming it shut on her way out you would think her aim was to rip it off its hinges.

I breathed a sigh of relief once she was out. I’ve had a long day, but the truth is I’m not exactly looking forward to the night and all the nightmares that come with it. Now would be the perfect time to see the pack witch, it is better I do it tonight otherwise I may have a change of heart tomorrow. So, I take a quick shower and stepped out.

The warriors are positioned at their posts of duty, and I ignore their salute and greetings as I made my way to the witch’s hut.

Allegra, our pack witch, has served us for the last three decades. In the past, she had predicted that Dark Wolf pack would eventually become one of the strongest packs. As at that time, my father was still on seat and I was barely ten of age, and it turned out exactly how she had predicted it. I wonder why she didn’t foresee that I’d have to carry this curse, or that the alpha seat will leave my family because of it.

Her hut is at the end of the pack boarders, and I could have sent for her, but I don’t want her in my abode, and I needed the walk. Besides, I didn’t want it to be a topic of conversation that I finally resorted to seeing her considering I have been declining her request to see me for a couple of months now.

Most pack members had settled for the night, but Allegra hardly ever sleeps. I know she would feel my presence as soon as I get close, so, I didn’t have to knock when I eventually got there.

“Alpha Hayden, Please enter,” her grotesque voice sounded from within the hut.

Allegra is the only one that calls me by my first name. Every other member of my pack, including my family and even my father would rather address me with my family name, Slade. It started from childhood. I was always smarter than children my age, looked better, and people thought the name suited me than my first name. It wasn’t long before everyone in my pack started to address me as Slade. Even while I was in training at the alpha academy for several years, the name stuck like a second skin.

She was seated on her old dirty mat with her legs crossed beneath her. Allegra could have a better accommodation and more modern facilities, but she chose to remain in her small crocked hut. The hut looks creepy. She has some old artworks laying on the walls, lots of potion samples and mixtures scattered here and there, and a candelabra with three candles burning on the ground where she sat.

“You ignored all my requests to see you Alpha Hayden,” she says. “Please seat,” she points to the only chair in the room. The chair is dark brown, and it’s probably the cleanest thing in this place, but I couldn’t possibly sit on that. Whether clean or not, it just seemed unbefitting.

I walked over to the only available window in the room and stared outside. “I’m not here for formalities, Allegra,” I say casually.

“I know why you are here Alpha Hayden, and I have the answers you seek,” she says.

I turned sharply to her, anger suddenly stirring inside me “You have the answers and you kept them to yourself? You are meant to serve us!” I barked.

“But I did try to get across to you,” she defended in her grotesque voice “You restricted my movements around your pack because you do not wish to set eyes on me. There is only so much I can do Alpha Hayden,”

“You could have sent the message through someone,” I growled.

“I tried-”

‘So, what would have happened if I didn’t come here now? You would have kept it to yourself and allowed doom befall Dark Wolf?” I chided.

She was silent. My wolf is growling in my head. Being in here makes him uncomfortable, but he was more concerned about any information about where we would find our mate.

“I knew you would come,” she says and I snarled.

“Tell me where I can find her,” I say impatiently. “I’ve combed through almost all packs,” From where I am standing, I can see the top of her head. Allegra has the longest hair I have ever seen. The tangled mane dropped to the floor because of her sitting position. If she were to be on her feet, it would fall all the way to her ankles.

“You can’t find her in any werewolf pack,” she answers slowly.

I moved from the window back to the entrance of the hut so I could look her in the face “What does that mean? Is she dead?” I asked. I dreaded the answer to that question. Maybe I didn’t have a mate, that would explain why I didn’t find her all these years. I could feel pain squeeze my chest, the kind of pain I was now familiar with.

“Far from it,” Allegra responds. Hope, I have hope.

“So, where the fuck is she?” I growled. It is taking everything in me not to lift Allegra off the ground and force the words out of her. I am a man of little patience, and time isn’t something I have now. The clock is ticking damn it.

“I will let you know where to find her, but you must be aware she isn’t a full-blooded werewolf and she is totally unaware of our existence,” Allegra says.

“An half-blood?” I reasoned and Allegra nods her head in confirmation.

That is just great. Of all the powerful female werewolves on earth, the moon goddess just had to Pair me with a weak half-blood. Could I get any more unlucky?

“She is within human territory,” Allegra answers.

Different ideas are brewing in my head at this time, and if what Allegra says is true, then I must get to her as soon as possible. I am not impressed that I had to be paired with a half-blood, but I need her to provide an heir for my seat when I am gone.

For the first time since the curse, I have hope. This explains why I didn’t find her during my rigorous search. Bringing a half blood into a pack I have successfully developed isn’t exactly a good idea. A half-human, half-werewolf cannot be the Luna of Dark wolf pack. Dark wolf pack is prided for its strength, but I didn’t have much choice. I needed to find out for sure if what Allegra says is true.

“Tell me more,” I crossed my arms across my chest and leaned on her door.