3. An alpha's role.

CONAN.

Orion! I hate hunters!

I look down at my palm, where his silver ring had touched my skin, as I leave campus grounds. The delicate skin of my fingers is healing, though slowly.

How had I not noticed? But then again, I was too intoxicated by Wilda’s scent.

‘A wolf’s power comes from knowing his surroundings. When you enter a room, isolate all the scents in the room, and know everyone. You are dead the minute a hunter finds you before you do.’ Every wolf is taught this when it turns. Today, I learned why.

For me, as a future alpha, the carelessness I had shown today was simply unacceptable. If Father found out about this…

And all because of a human girl.  But how was I supposed to focus on anything with her scent so strong? It was an intoxicating combination of nervousness, arousal, and fear, something that excited my wolf.

Wilda was an interesting creature, even my father had admitted as much. It was rare that the breed of two wolves did not result in a cub, and even rarer that two powerful white wolves did not produce a cub. But it had happened to the Gray’s; one of the strongest breeds of our kind.

Though she had the signature silver blonde hair of a white wolf, Wilda had not turned or showed the signs of turning when she had turned thirteen, as most white wolves did. The situation had been of interest to packs around the Crimson Hills pack that was led by her late father, may the moon goddess rest his soul, and many had thought that perhaps she was a late bloomer.

They waited for her to turn at sixteen, thinking that maybe her wolf would be revealed at the same as other normal wolves, but the girl remained human. And you could not say that perhaps her wolf was dormant, because she continued to smell human, no trace of the lyncan gene in her body. And a dormant wolf was just as common as a human born of two powerful wolves.

She was never told about her condition, and her family insisted on keeping her out of werewolf business, especially after their father was killed. Her brother was very protective of her.

“Damian is a strong alpha. Even stronger than me, all white wolves are. I need you to strengthen your wolf. It will not be pleasant once he finds out the reason we sent you to his territory.” My father had said to me this morning.

“I'm training hard.” I’d replied, in an attempt to please him. 'What if he already knows?' I'd wanted to ask, but my wolf wouldn't let me question my alpha's reasoning, intelligence, or authority.

“Train harder! Grow stronger! Finding your true mate would be a good start.”

“Father, people rarely find their mates anymore, we are too widespread. My mate could be across the world.”

“Son,” he had looked into my eyes, “I know your generation believes in science and not the moon goddess, but fate will bring you your second half if you are patient. And if you are not, well find yourself a strong wolf and mark her. That will put your wolf to rest and you can grow to be greater, stronger.”

“I cannot rush love father.” I had said defensively, the words coming out through my teeth in the effort.

“Well, you will have to, war is coming, and if you're not strong enough, well, good luck to our pack. Your pleasure is no longer your concern, your pack’s stability and security is.” He had replied, the command in his voice stopping me from saying anything in return.

I find Dan, my best friend and future beta buried deep in research in the apartment we share.

“A hunter! We have a hunter in town! Probably a whole family of them!” I exclaim, slamming my keys on the table in frustration.

Dan does not look up from his laptop.

“We have hunters everywhere Conan, welcome to the twenty-first century.”

“The Orions? They live here? They are the stuff of nightmares. My nanny told me stories about them to scare me to sleep! Why did no one tell me?”

“Oh, I must’ve forgotten. They cut a deal with Lucien Gray before he was killed. As long as the wolves and their cubs don’t hurt anyone, neither do the hunters.”

I collapse onto the small couch we had.

“Well, it sure didn’t seem that way, one of them basically flashed a silver sword at me.”

“So, you tore him apart?” Dan finally looks up from his laptop.

“No,” I say, burying my face in my hands shamefully. “I ran like a little bitch.”

Dan burst out laughing.

“What was I supposed to do? We train daily but we never come face to face with hunters!” my voice is defensive, but I feel a smile creep onto my face at his contagious laughter.

“Why would Lucien Gray establish his pack in town?” I ask.

“He was a modern man. And a white wolf. Who would dare cross a white wolf? Even the hunters chose to make peace.”

“And yet, a wolf killed him,” I say, unintentionally creating a sudden forlorn mood. Dan goes back to his laptop without another word.

Our kind is mostly afraid of hunters, but occasionally, though rarely, other wolves could be a threat. Mostly it was over territories, but some wolves went rogue and killed everything in their paths.

Our pack, The Bloodmoon pack, is located deep in the woods, away from the prying eyes of normal people and most importantly, hunters. Most packs hide in the woods, hating the cautiousness that comes with living among normal people.

There we raise our cubs free to roam and change any time they wish. My father is a traditionalist that way. The location is secret, even to other packs, save a few, that my father trusts. It's where I’d first met the Grays when their father brought little Damian and his sister Fiona when they had begun their transformation period.

I was young and the whole ordeal was a secret since a wolf, and a white wolf especially is most vulnerable during its first transformation, but being the alpha’s son, an exception was made. Their transformation had not lasted half as long as normal wolves but looked twice as painful. They had stayed for a week, and I never saw them again until this morning.

Both their presences had been so powerful, I had had to leave for a breather after a while in their house. Though the son of an alpha myself, Damian exuded power that would have brought me to my knees with just a word. How was I supposed to ever be stronger than a white alpha?

Fiona had grown to be quite a beauty and If I had seen her before Wilda, I might have been quite taken by her. Her presence and power, though not half as strong as her brothers, was still stronger than mine. Why did my father dare be on their bad side?

In the presence of two alpha wolves, my father and Damian, my young alpha wolf had felt out of place and jittery, almost seeking to assert an impossible dominance. I had opted to take a walk and clear my mind.

Then I’d met Wilda, stark naked in the woods of her family’s lands. The man-made forest was breathtaking, but a naked Wilda almost stopped my heart. What had struck me as impossible at the time was the lack of any scent on her.

She smelled like fresh air, not like soap, or any kind of lotion or deodorant, not even bodily fluids. Her scent was perfectly masked in the environment around her. I never would have known she was there if I hadn’t seen her.

For a minute, I had been concerned by the situation. What kind of person did not have any scent on them? But the minute she had caught sight of me, a mixture of sweat and pheromones had hit my nostrils. Maybe she had been having a swim in a river or something, I had concluded.

The dip of her small, round waist, the curve of her hips, the round of her bottom, and the way her hair fell to her waist… were all ingrained into my brain. And if I closed my eyes, I could almost picture her…

“Two more people are dead. Same C.O.D. Animal attack. They say it was a big dog.” Dan looks up suddenly from his computer, standing up and grabbing his coat, pulling me from my reverie. He had been listening in on police radios.

I follow suit,grabbing my coat and keys and following him to the door. “Werewolves?”

“Yeah. A couple. Their kid is the only survivor. She saw the whole thing.”

“Why are werewolves killing their own species?” I ask rhetorically, we both know the answer.