Mathias (#1 The Chronicles of the Demon Wolf)

Chelsea stands idly by the door in front of the pack mansion. A luxury bus just pulled up a few minutes ago, ready to let the passenger board up. It’s the bus sent by the Supernatural World’s Council to bring all the recruits for Alpha’s training program. Sebastian comes out of the pack mansion as he talks to their father. Chelsea’s blood boils slightly when she remembers what Sebastian spoke to her last night. He is more than ready to choose the pack over his own sister. The more she thinks of it, the more she finds it ridiculous.

Chelsea chuckles. There is no way he will choose the pack over her. She is his sister. Flesh and blood are far more important than a pack of strangers. To be honest, she barely knows half of the pack. Even though the pack already exists for more than five decades, it is nothing more than a pack of strangers who decided to live in a community together is a good choice.

“Behave yourself,” The Alpha reminds her.

Chelsea smiles briefly with her eyes fixed on the bus. “Does it applies only on me or both of us?”

Alpha Owen growls under his breath but says nothing else. Chelsea grabs her luggage and heads to the bus. Not even for a second, she looks back because she knows he wanted this. Her own father wanted to send her away for good so that he does not have to handle her by himself. Well, at least they will not have to face each other for a while. She either can choose to use the three-day pass in each month to go home or spends the three days at the Council.

Chelsea takes a seat on the bus, looking to everywhere but her parents. From the corner of her eyes, she sees Sebastian shaking hands with their father and hugs their mother. Chelsea takes out an eyes mask from her bag and put it on before putting on her headset. It takes three hours to reach the Supernatural World’s Council land.

“Not good enough!” his voice boomed in the training room.

Chelsea sobbed, looking at the floor. She was exhausted. She could never reach her expectations no matter how many times she trained. Even if she trained from the moment she came out of her mother’s womb, it would not enough. With a shaky body, she craned her head up and looked at her mother who sat at the grandstand with Owen.

The trainer shook his head and headed to her parents. His mouth moved fast as he informed the Alpha pair about their daughter’s performance. Chelsea glanced at Sebastian. He was laughing with his group of friends. She hated him. He was always the best. Even if she tried her hardest, she could never reach his potential.

She looked at her parents. They sighed and looking down briefly—a sign of pure disappointment.

She took off the eyes mask and wiped the tears that managed to escape. Since that day, Chelsea never bothered to come to any training. She never wanted to be that way. She wanted to be the best but it seemed like Sebastian beat her in everything. He is still the best in everyone’s eyes while she is the failure. They blamed her parents for pampering her just because she is a girl.

An alarm blared into the bus and red light near the driver’s seat blinked. Everyone startled and got up from their seats as the bus comes to a halt. Every other bus—there are ten buses on their way to the Council, stop moving.

“Please remain on your seat,” the driver tells them. “And stay calm. Just a little bit of small technical difficulty.”

Chelsea glances at Sebastian. He is looking out to the woods. Both sides of the road are covered with dense forest. In the actual map, this road never existed. Only the supernatural species know the existence of this road. This road is leading straight to the Council’s land where a completely different world exists.

Chelsea follows Sebastian’s stare to the woods. She squints her eyes and able to spot a group of black werewolves running in the woods. On the other side, another group is running.

Something is wrong. Those werewolves are not patrolling.

They are hunting.

A white portal opens and a group of people wearing white robes comes out. Blue barrier surrounds all the buses as if it acts as a shield to protect all the buses from whatever is happening in the woods.

“This is Eva Blake, Second-in-command of the 1st Battalion from the Supernatural Council,” a woman’s voice appears in her mind link.

Chelsea thinks she is hallucinating things but it turns out everyone is receiving the voice too because their expression speaks a volume.

“We are currently under Level 2 security breach. Do not leave the bus unless you are told to do so. Remain calm and seated. Everything is under control. Eva’s out.”

Just as soon as the voice disappears, someone runs to the direction of Chelsea’s bus but collides with the blue barrier. The person keeps attacking the barrier. With every attack, the group of people wearing white robes tightens the barrier. Then, a man appears out of nowhere, grabbing the attacker by the neck. Chelsea’s breathe hitches in her throat as she watches the man rips the throat of the attacker into ribbons.

For once, her heart stops beating.

“Mate,” her wolf speaks.

The man walks through the barrier as if it does not affect his presence at all. His ears perk as if he is listening for something. His nose twitches. Chelsea realizes he can smell her scent. A smile forms on her lips.

Her mate is Mathias Kingsley—the soon-to-be Alpha of the world’s strongest pack.

“Get it moving,” he instructs the bus driver from the outside.

His voice alone sends shivers down her spine. The amount of authority in his voice is good enough to send a girl down on her knees. Chelsea cannot believe she scores a jackpot.

Mathias Kingsley—his surname alone can send an entire pack into a surrender. His family is widely known for having demon wolves.

Her mate is a demon wolf.

“Alright, take a seat, everyone,” the bus driver tells them.

Chelsea takes a minute to process his words before sitting down. Her hands tremble just thinking about her mate.

All the buses moving again with the werewolves guarding on both sides of the road. Chelsea spots her mate once more. He runs faster than bullet despite still staying in his human form.

Why didn’t he shift? That question triggers her. As long as she remembers, every member of the patrolling team would shifts into their wolf form during patrolling. Nevertheless, why Mathias remained in his human? Does he not like being in his demon wolf form?

Once again, the bus halts. This time, they have arrived at the front yard of the Council’s administration building. Everyone lines up inside the bus, waiting for their turn to step out. Once she steps out, she looks like a kid on a field trip to somewhere interesting. Chelsea never stepped a foot on the Council’s land before. Because of the strict laws, no one is allowed to go in and out of the Council’s land as they wish. Behind this five-floors building is where it all located.

The largest community of supernatural species.

It is like a new nation sits in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains. It is an entirely new world here. The supernatural species: vampires, Lycans, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters, and others live here together in harmony. There are over thirty thousands of them here and the number just keeps increasing.

Magic keeps this place away from the humankind although, there are a few humans are allowed in and out of this place.

“Welcome to the Supernatural World’s Council. Please check your name on the board and proceed to the corresponding counter,” A woman says through the speakers.

Chelsea checks for her name on the board and sees her name is under the 1st Battalion recruits list. Another smile forms on her lips. She is in Mathias’ battalion. Things just getting better. Maybe going to this Alpha’s training program is not a bad thing after all.

A moment later, Mathias and his patrolling team emerge out of the woods, heading straight to the front gates. Chelsea catches a good glimpse of the 1st Battalion Commander. The way his muscles flex as he moves—the way his hazel eyes hold so much authority.

“You missed one,” he says to nobody in particular.

Everyone looks at each other before someone materializes in front of him. A figure of a woman slowly becoming more human as the diamond-like skin disappears. She is wearing a white robe and hoodie, just like the group earlier. Half of her face is covered by a facemask, leaving her piercing emerald eyes exposed. The back of her robe is written the words ‘Stealth Division’.

“Well, I did warn you he was a tough one,” she replies. She glances behind him and nods, “Not much of a tough one anymore, eh?”

“What’s the situation on another realm?”

“Traveling between realms are closed momentarily until Uncle Stefano figures what’s going on.” She spins around and sizes the number of recruits surrounding them. “Looks like you have your hands full from now on.”

“Blame your father on that part,” Mathias grunts as he walks past by but stopping for a moment.

His eyes search the crowd. Chelsea’s heart skips a beat when they meet eye-to-eye. For a brief moment, Chelsea feels small under his scrutinizing stare. Then, his hands clench as if her mere presence just annoys the hell out of him. Peeling his eyes off her, Mathias continues to walk to the administration building with his patrolling team. For once, Chelsea does not understand what is wrong with him.

Shouldn’t he feels happy just like her because they have found each other? Mating bond is a sacred thing. But, why did he look like he’s cursed? Does he not feeling happy for meeting his mate?

His grunts continue silently as he enters the administration building. Mathias could hardly believe that the person he was destined with is standing in the crowd of recruits. Not only that, it’s the famous Chelsea Rhody of the Blackwell Pack. He had heard so many stories going on about Alpha Owen’s daughter.

“Stop sighing. You’re giving me a headache,” Arielle scoffs.

Arielle Kane, Captain of Stealth Division. Yes, she’s a lot younger than he is but it doesn’t mean she cannot be a captain. The previous captain died during a mission and left his legacy to her. Just like her mother, Arielle inherits the diamond-skin skill, but she’s unable to shapeshift into animal form. However, she can go full invisible that makes her a perfect fit into the Stealth Division. The only reason Mathias could see her during her invisibility is that his demon wolf’s eyes.

Nothing can hide from a demon wolf’s eyes.

“Well, Arielle. Why don’t we both go to your father and see who has the bigger headache?” Mathias growls.

Arielle holds her hands out in surrender. “Whoa, chill, man. You’re going to grow white hairs faster than your father.”

“Don’t you have a mission to complete?”

“Don’t you have a mate to mate?”

“Arielle…” his growls come out ferociously.

“Right, I have a mission to complete.” She backs away from him instantly. “See you around, Commander.”

Her invisibility activates within seconds. Mathias’s growls settle down before his eyes catch the glimpse of his mate heading to the front counter in the administration building. She waves secretly to him as if she’s expecting he would reply such gesture.

Burden.

The one word comes out in his mind. Why it has to be now? And, why it has to be her out of many women in this world?

“We do not need her,” his demon wolf speaks to him. “She is a burden.”