CHAPTER 3

The waning gibbous hung a little too low in the sky, with its silver light cast through the covering of the trees. As an Alpha werewolf, Ryan could feel the power flowing through his body, the adrenaline throbbing in his veins.

The air was thick. With each step he took toward the battle line and the crush of each branch and twig beneath his paws, he was like a different being.

His eyes, sharpened by wolf senses, caught the details provided by the moonlit sky and the long illuminated shadows of the large trees around them. He could hear the sudden rustling of leaves and snagging of branches.

The echo of sounds disrupted the stillness that once enveloped the forest. This couldn't allow Ryan to revel in the feeling his beast form gave him. Something lurked beyond the reaches of his senses, and his instincts heightened and screamed danger.

The smell of blood permeated the air, he could feel his connection to his people waning, and the fear in the air could be tasted.# The tension tightened his muscles, his skin pricked along his spine, and his hair stood on end.

The pungent odor of blood and death filled his nostrils as he drew nearer to the clearing where there was an all-out war. Taking a closer look at the assailants, he was stunned. They were back.

He didn't have much time to dwell on how what he was looking at was possible. He had to join the fight and protect his people; he crouched low behind a boulder and leaped out, decapitating the creature.

He repeated this move and told his pack members to aim for the head. That was their only shot, as any other injuries they inflicted healed instantly. Way faster than the werewolves could heal.

This put them in a disadvantageous position, but the creatures couldn't heal from decapitation.

***

Walking into the pack house, Ophelia couldn't help recalling the happy memories shared with her friends.

Werewolves were voracious eaters, so meal preparations required lots of hands; she would subsequently help the women in the kitchen along with some other young females who would assist.

They would discuss their lives and what they had planned for the future. Ophelia was a curious girl who wanted to explore life beyond the park. She wanted to see the world, meet humans, and live like them.

The idea of finding a mate and being forced to love him because of some stupid bond did not resonate with her. She wanted to meet someone, get to know them, and decide who she would be with. She wanted to experience the slow natural process of falling in love. She wants to take charge of her life and choose her own fate.

She remembered when she and her other teen friends had a sleepover; they huddled cozily in a corner and kept whining about coming of age and finding their mates.

She didn't hesitate to give her two cents about wanting to leave the pack and find love on her own terms. The mere mention of that thought made the other girls turn to her in shock. You couldn't possibly mean that Alicia, her closest friend, murmured softly to her.

She didn't know what prompted her to say those thoughts out loud. She felt relieved a weight had been lifted off her chest, but with one look around at their wide eyes and shocked faces, she was remorseful about her outburst. They wouldn't understand, would they? How could they possibly understand? She thought to herself they hadn't been in her position.

As an Alpha's daughter, she had undergone training from a young age, and all she wanted was the freedom to choose her fate.

Where would you go? What would you do? The girls voiced their concerns. You wouldn't be safe without your pack. Who would look after your parents? Who will take over the pack? They bombarded her with questions.

"It's not like I'm leaving the pack forever, she deadpanned."

She was just tired of the rigid structure she had been forced to live through from the moment she was born. The moment she took her first steps, she started training. She had a fixed schedule and was always in training.

This freedom she yearned for was not impulsive; she wanted a chance to write her fate and decide what was hers. She wasn't shirking responsibility; she would never abandon her duties to her people. She was her father's daughter.

Her father was a great man, an Alpha respected and loved by the pack. He would lay down his life for his people, and they would do the same for him. They were loyal to a fault, and she wouldn't let his legacy crumble.

What she longed for was a chance to choose, an opportunity to change her fate, to follow her own path, and to make choices for herself. She didn't want anyone taking it away from her.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined a life where she could do as she pleased, go where she wanted without restraints, a life where the fate of an entire pack would not eventually be on her shoulder, that's if there would still be a pack after tonight.

The whimpers and cries of the injured effectively drew her out of her thoughts; she wanted to participate in the fight she had been training for from a young age, but the only downside was that she had not yet turned. It would be a couple more weeks before she came of age.

She was seventeen years old, and all she could do was speak to her wolf and have a link with the pack; they could only turn on their eighteenth birthdays. That was how it was in the werewolf community.

Gazing outside the office window, she could see the battle clearly. The vantage point was good. The creatures they faced were fast, leaving afterimages when they moved. She could not tell if she was hallucinating but could swear she saw one of them morph into a wolf.

***

After Ryan joined the battle, the tides were in their favor. An Alpha was the most powerful wolf in a pack. An Alpha on the battle line would secure instant victory. They were bigger, faster, and stronger than regular wolves; their dominating presence would scare off any assailants.

His presence on the battlefield motivated his warriors; they charged ahead with renewed vigor, pouncing on their assailants and ripping their heads off with their sharp claws and teeth.

The organized onslaught of the wolves took their assailants off guard; the strength of an Alpha was not something they had accounted for. The coordination of this pack was something they had not seen in other packs; they looked out for each other, protected each other, and trusted themselves. It was remarkable.

The creatures were pushed to the edge, and they did something that stunned the wolves. All who witnessed the scene left their mouths agape in shock, and Lia, watching from the office, was no exception.

They shifted into werewolves, the first morphed, and it kept happening around the battlefield. It was a shocking sight. However, it made a lot of sense to Ryan. It finally answered the question that had been on his mind for months. These monsters were half-breeds.

"But how?"