Todos los capítulos de The Orphaned Alpha: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

Odett’s POV The banquet hall was full of our pack, and everyone had come to celebrate Mom and the twins. She had been hidden while people believed she was dead, and tonight they could finally see her alive. I wanted to remember the sound of their relief instead of the danger that had kept her away. I still didn’t know why the plan had changed before the babies were born. Dad kept glancing toward the doors, but Mom was smiling and letting people gather close. They had mourned her, and now they could touch her hand and hear her laugh. I wanted to believe that meant we were safe. Dad stayed beside Mom all evening, moving chairs and bringing her whatever she asked for. He smiled when she teased him, but his eyes kept returning to the entrance. I nearly asked what was wrong. Then Mom caught his hand, and I decided to give them one more peaceful minute. Aunt Jess and Dad were helping Mom toward the chair where she would open gifts when she gasped and gripped her side. Water spread a

Odett’s POV After Mom’s power vanished, the shelter grew so quiet I could hear the heartbeats around me. Pups whimpered. Someone whispered a prayer near the door. I searched all those sounds for Mom and found nothing. “Try again,” Aunt Jess whispered. I closed my eyes and reached for the thread that had always led me to Mom. There was no silver fur in my mind, no warmth that told me she was near. I tried again because Aunt Jess had asked me to, and because I could not bear to stop. “I can’t,” I said as tears started running down my face. “She’s really gone,” I whispered. “No, she isn’t,” Aunt Jess said quickly. “Rain has always had a way of blocking people from sensing her,” she explained. “She did it before she even knew how,” Aunt Jess added shakily. “But this is different,” I told her. Aunt Jess pulled me close and said Mom would come back. Her arms trembled around me, and I held on without pretending I believed her. Grandma remained near the center of the shelt

Odett’s POV Thirteen years had passed since the twins were born during the war. Most mornings, I remembered their birthdays as celebrations. Every so often, a distant howl or the scrape of a door brought me back to the shelter, holding two newborns while I waited to learn if Mom and Dad were alive. Mom and Dad rebuilt the damaged territories, but they wanted more than new walls and roads. They wanted the children who came after us to meet other species before anyone taught them whom to fear. The Academy was the part of that hope I could see every day. The Southern Supernatural Academy had opened about five years earlier. Joshy and I were beginning our fifth and final year, and the twins were arriving for their first. I watched them at the gate and tried not to see the babies I had held through that terrible night. Dad had proposed the Academy after the war, but it took years to build. He and Mom argued with leaders who preferred their heirs to learn only their own customs. Dad

Odett’s POV By the end of the first month, the twins no longer hesitated at the Academy doors. Zerina had learned to keep walking when someone whispered her name, and Zander had collected two warnings for talking through class. Dad blamed Zander. Mom pointed out where he had learned it. I kept my opinion to myself until she caught me smiling. ‘He is exactly like his father,’ Lorilie said with an amused laugh inside my head. The first-years studied history and law in the morning, then learned to fight and work as a team after lunch. Joshy and I spent our final year on problems our instructors refused to solve for us. In one exercise, four leadership teams had to negotiate a trade agreement while every participant was certain the others had cheated. Joshy enjoyed the arguments far more than I did. “You only hate them because you can’t punch the problem,” Joshy said with an amused grin after our third failed negotiation exercise. “I can punch the person causing the problem,” I

Odett’s POV The nightmare returned three nights later. White flowers covered the trees around a witch coven, and the houses looked peaceful until I stepped inside one. Blood marked the floor beneath a table set for dinner. A fire still burned on the hearth, but nobody answered when I called. I woke with Sam’s name caught in my throat. ‘We need to tell Mom,’ Lorilie insisted with a worried growl. ‘There is nothing to tell her,’ I argued silently. ‘You know that is not true,’ Lorilie replied. The dreams came once or twice a week after that. I saw packs, covens, vampire collectives, fairy communities, and places I could not name. Each had been damaged in some way. None held the people who should have lived there. I left a lamp burning beside my bed. It did nothing to stop the dreams, but the light helped me recognize my room when I woke. I kept the nightmares from Mom because she would worry, Dad would increase the guards, and the twins would refuse to let me sleep alone. ‘