The Alpha & I

Sirena was dreaming of 5 years ago. Sitting in front of well well-built, tall man, was a teenage girl not more the 15, that was her younger self. The man's face, slightly covered with wisps of short grey hair, held a heartbroken expression. The girl was huddled against a wall clinging to a well-worn stuffed animal. Her matted dark blonde hair hung in a mess, covering her face and hiding away most of her features. Her form wasn’t much more than skin and bone.

“Hi little one, I knew your mother... she, she was family.” He whispered softly reaching out a hand to the frail form before him.

She was hesitant to move and made no attempt to speak. He bent down trying to make himself less intimidating. His well-muscled form sank as close to the ground as he could, while his head of silver hair remained tilted slightly down, blue eyes pleading with her to take his hand. The smell of many men hit him hard. He forced himself not to growl, he had to think of her in this moment, she was only a child and his anger wasn’t of any use right now.

She pointed to her chest and looked at him with questions in her eyes. Ah! His face seemed to say as he grabbed the necklace he wore around his neck. He quickly took it off, placing it on the ground his rolled it over to her.

“That’s right, this was Maria’s. She gave that to me the day before we were to be mated, the day before she was taken.” He explained.

The girl snatched it up, holding it close to her nose she sniffed it, it was a small locket, inside a lock of fur. She knew right away it contained the scent of her mother. She could never forget it.

“You can take me away from these men?” Her voice was shaky and harsh, he could tell she had been using it quite a lot recently.

“I came as quickly as I could when I sensed it had happened, I’m here to take you home sweetheart, to where you were meant to be.” His voice was soft, and caring.

“But I’m not like your kind, I’m not just a wolf.” She croaked.

“That doesn’t matter at all to me, my dear, her blood is my blood, always. I will protect you.”

She hesitated to reach forward. But at this point, anything was better than here. She took his hand and from that moment her life changed forever...

Sirena woke softly with a sigh. That had been her sorry state only a few years ago. Why was she dreaming of the past now of all times? She pondered the thought and concluded it had to do with her joining Cedric’s pack, he had been the wolf that had saved her that day. Living in a pack wasn’t as bad as she had experienced before, surely? At least they would accept her faults, since Cedric had made sure to tell them everything about her before today’s meeting.

Rolling out of bed she pulled on a T-shirt, Jeans and a hoodie. Today was the day. She was finally going to join. For years they had both kept her existence a secret. Not without its reasons, mainly hers if she was being honest. Being half Snow Leopard and half wolf, she had her doubts about fitting in.

She brushed her short hair and tucked it behind her ears, she’d cut it recently, and it now sat just above her shoulders. She rubbed her tired grey eyes and slapped her cheeks waking herself up the best she could.

“Sirena, come! Get out of bed.” Cedric burst into the room only to be surprised that she was already up and dressed.

“Oh...” he added frowning. “This is not like you.” He held the palm of his hand against her forehead, as though to check her temperature.

She rolled her eyes and swiped his hand away. “Why would I be late today of all days? I need to make a good impression.”

Walking outside the small hut and onto the path surrounded by trees, they were hidden away deep in a forest. She huffed displeased. It was pouring down rain.

Thankfully the thick foliage kept most of the walkways dry. She loved it here though, the smell of the rain was so refreshing, though it didn’t do anything to calm her nerves.

“Do you think they will ask where I came from? What do I say?” She queried.

“I’ve already done most of the explaining, I told them the truth... but left out your... condition.” He replied.

“WHAT!” she panicked. “What if they ask me to change?” She began biting at her nails.

“They shouldn’t, they are aware of you being a cross, and that in itself makes you a special case.” He added reassuring her.

“She still won’t talk to me, ever after all these years.” She sighed, all shifters in this world have the ability to speak to their animal halves. But with Sirena it was different. Her animal hadn’t spoken to her since the ‘incident’ five years ago. “Cedric, what if I can never shift again? What good am I to a pack? Surely the Alpha will get rid of the weak...” She trailed off.

“We are not that kind of pack. If anything, the other she-wolves may be able to help you more than I can.” He insisted.

They walked the rest of the way in silence until they came upon a small nest of buildings that sat inside a clearing, a cute little stream running down the side.

“Welcome to the headquarters.” Cedric joked; he led her to the biggest of the buildings.

They weren’t anything special, render covered bricked structures with glass windows and tiled roofs, and the entryways had small arches for added aesthetics.

Cedric ran his hand throw his hair and looked at her with a smirk. “You ready for this?” He asked as his other hand moved to open the door.

“No,” she whispered and followed him anyway.

Inside there seemed to be a rushed commotion. Cedric’s smirk turned to a frown and he jogged over to a well-dressed rather pleasing on the eye’s women. She was dressed extravergently as though ready to entertain but was standing with an annoyed look on her face.

“What’s happening?” he questioned the woman.

The she-wolf folded her hands in front of her chest and sighed. “Alpha got called away on urgent business, we hardly get to see him as it is and this happened.” She glanced over at Sirena and back at him. “Your welcome party for the new pup has unfortunately been put on hold.”

Cedric shook his head frustrated knowing he wouldn’t get the answers he wanted out of the she-wolf. She was more concerned with the fact that the Alpha wouldn’t make an appearance today.

He turned to Sirena. “Come with me.” He stated and inclined his head for her to follow.

She trotted behind him as he rushed them through the buildings, finally when Cedric spotted another male, they made their way over. “Gail! What the hell is going on, are we needed?”

“It’s all hands on deck, the snow leopards are on the move.” The man sighed and continued to walk down the hall, maps in hand.

Sirena stiffened and her eyes widened in shock, Cedric was however there in a second squeezing her hand for support.

“You don’t think... they heard about me joining a pack?” Her voice was shaking as she spoke up.

“This is her, I presume?” The unknown male called Gail asked.

“Yes, Sirena meet Gail, Gail, Sirena.” Cedric introduced them hurriedly, they nodded to each other.

Gail wasn’t as well built as Cedric, but to Sirena, he looked like he still could hold his own in a fight. He had a darker tinge to his skin than she or Cedric and his hair was dyed white. She thought it was dyed unless his wolf was white. In which case it could be natural, but now was not the time to ask.

“Wish it was under better circumstances, as for your question, I don’t think they know you’re alive. But they do have a vendetta against Cedric, and therefor against the entire pack.” Gail responded.

She frowned. “Why?”

“He hasn’t told you?” Gail eyed Cedric.

“I didn’t see the need to, she’s dealt with enough shit that day,” Cedric added.

“Tell me what!” She insisted confused.

Gail was the one to answer. “Well after Cedric found you, which might I add we didn’t know about at the time.” He glared at Cedric who responded with a shrug. “He hunted down and killed every member of the snow leopard pack that had -.”

“There’s no need to go into details.” Cedric cut him off with a glare.

“Anyway, we had thought he’d gone mad. But it does make a lot of sense now... I can’t even imagine what you went through.” Gail gave her a knowing look.

“I’m okay now... for the most part.” She reassured him.

He smiled sadly at her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder he gave it a light squeeze. “Welcome to the pack, lovely.” Letting her go, he stepped back looking like he was about to break off running. “Gotta go, the Alpha is waiting.”

With that, she watched as he ran off at high speed. An unnatural speed. She looked up at Cedric with knowing eyes. “You have to go too...” Not a question just a fact.

He nodded. “You can head back to the hut if you want, or stay here, either is fine.”

“I think I’ll head back to the hut; I know these people won’t hurt me but I still feel out of place here.” She explained shyly. “I would much rather be next to you when the time comes to meet others.”

He squeezed her hand again before letting her go. “I’ll come get you when it’s over, I promise.”

She quickly pulled him back and hugged him. “Please be safe, You’re the closest thing I have to a dad, okay.”

“You’re the only one I fight for. We aren’t blood-related, but you are my daughter, no doubt about it.” He whispered to her before he left to follow after the frantice others.

She then made her way back through the buildings, keeping her head low and wanting to get out as soon as she could.

Once back in the Forrest she let out a sigh of relief and headed for home, hoping that Cedric would meet her there soon.