The Alpha's Prize

As Cain approached us, Samara bowed her head in respect. “Alpha, pleasure as always.”

He nodded. “Samara. Freja, come with me, please.” His tone was clipped and short.

I sighed and turned to face him. “Why?”

He scowled at me, “Because I said so.” The expression on his face was daring me to defy him, to disrespect him in front of a pack member and promising if I did, I would pay for it.

Not wanting to fight with him, I sighed heavily. “Fine!” I turned back to Samara, smiling. “It was great getting to know you; I had a lot of fun, Samara, thank you. Hopefully, we can do this again.” “I did too, Freja and you as well.” She smiled brightly.

I returned the bow and arrows, then walked over to Cain.

"Where are we going?” I asked him, annoyance in my tone.

He spun on his heels and started walking. “Follow me.”

I followed him towards a large clearing, it was empty, and no one else was around

He stopped in the middle of the field and turned to face me. “I thought long and hard about what you said, and you are right. You should be training, in order to keep up your strength. After encountering that bloodsucker, I want to ensure that you will always be safe, even if that means you are fighting them on your own. So, I'm going to train you myself.”

My brows shot up in surprise. “Seriously? Are you joking?” I asked, not believing him.

Cain shook his head. “No, I'm not joking. I'm being dead serious.”

I shrugged. “Ok, I'll take what I can get. Let's do this.”

He straightened himself. “I know you've trained in the past, and the way you trained was probably very different from how I will train you, but I'll show you everything you need to know.”

Cain circled me like a predator closing in on their prey.

“I'll teach you to be fast, stealthy and lethal.”

"How so? By circling me to death?” I joked.

He stopped behind me and whispered. “No, like this.”

Before I could react, he kicked out my legs, causing me to slam onto the ground. My body collided with the hard ground, and he leapt on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

I wrinkled my nose at him. “How the fuck did you do that and ow!”

He smirked. “Distracting you, and don't be a baby.”

Cain reared back and stood to his feet. He extended his hand out, urging me to take it and helped me off the ground.

"You need always to be alert to the movements of your opponent, even the subtle ones. Most people, when they're fighting, will repeat their actions and moves.”

He circled me again; this time, I turned with him facing him at all times and watching his every move. I observed his legs, feet, hands, arms, every inch of him. Yet, within a split second, he grabbed my arm, twisted it and pulled me into his chest, with my back facing his front.

Cain stood there quietly, restricting me from moving. My ass was pressed firmly against him, allowing me to feel his hard cock. Someone is excited!

His expression was neutral. “You were over observing; you need to center your focus and rely on your peripheral vision as well.”

He released my arm slowly. I turned and stood in front of him. I tried to do as he said, and this time Cain lifted his arm, ready to grab me again, but I dodged it. However, he quickly reacted and kicked my leg out again. Once again, I hit the ground with a thump, with him pouncing on me and holding me down again.

Cain smiled. “Too slow, my love. Better luck next time.”

I glared at him. “To be honest, I was never any good at the physical fighting while in human form. I fight better in wolf form; she’s my hidden beast.” I smiled wickedly. “That's why I prefer archery training.”

He pursed his lips. “Yea, I can tell. You suck.” He grinned.

I glared at him and his arrogance. “Give me a bow, and we will see who sucks.”

His grin only widened as he raised a brow. “Still, you.”

I gave him a deadpan stare. “You're an ass.”

"Yes, you've told me that before.”

We lay there staring at each other for a moment. Then, finally, Cain brushed some grass off my face before cupping my cheek within his palm.

He stared at me with admiration. “You're so beautiful, Freja.” The longing in his eyes had me hypnotized as I stared into those beautiful green orbs.

Cain then bent down and kissed me. It was a hungry kiss, passionate, possessive and seducing.

He continued kissing me, caressing my face with one hand, while the other gently roamed down my body and gripped my hip tightly. I moaned into his mouth, and that's when he froze. Hmm, weird. Cain pulled back and looked around like he was looking for something.

My brows scrunched together in curiosity. “Everything ok?”

Cain looked back down at me. “Yea, everything is fine.” He bent down and engulfed my mouth with his again, kissing me hard and deep, then pushed himself up.

"We should head inside.” He said before getting up and extending his hand out for me to take.

I nodded and took his hand, getting up from the ground “Yeah, probably. It should be lunchtime soon.”

That felt a bit weird, and he was acting a bit strange.

After Cain and I finished our training/make-out session, we went back into the house for some much-needed lunch.

Cain looked up at me and cleared his throat as we sat at the table eating.

“Tomorrow night, we are having a mating ceremony for two members of the pack. So you need to go and get yourself something nice to wear.”

“Oh, ok. Where do I go for that?” My mother had always made our clothing, and I had no idea what to do or where I would get a nice dress from.

“Just on the outside of our pack territory, there are some shops there. I will have Calyx take you after we are finished.”

My face fell at the thought of going somewhere foreign to me. “Ok, I guess.”

Cain raised an eyebrow. “You don't sound excited?” He questioned.

“Never been to a shop or done something like this. So, I don’t know what to expect, and that makes me uneasy.” I shrugged.

“I am sure you will enjoy it." He smiled.

I raised my eyebrows and pursed my lips. “Yea, we shall see.”

He snorted and shook his head. We continued to eat, and once finished, Cain called for Calyx and brought him up to speed on this afternoon's plan.

Calyx appeared to be as ecstatic as I was. Cain looked at me and winked, to which I rolled my eyes. He then left the room, smiling like a jackass.

Calyx told me to wait by the front door while getting a vehicle. A few moments later, he pulled up in a beautiful, cherry red car; it roared as it came to a stop in front of me. I stood there in awe, my mouth agape.

Calyx got out of the car and came around to the passenger side.

He chuckled. “Do you like it?"

I huffed. “Like it? It's gorgeous; I didn't even know such beautiful machines existed.” I admitted with embarrassment.

Calyx stared down at the car. “She's a 1966 Mustang, and she is indeed a beauty.” Calyx opened the door and gestured for me to get in. “Come on; you'll enjoy it.”

"Oh, why thank you, kind sir.” I climbed into the car and found it surprisingly comfortable, but it smelled funny.

I scrunched my nose. “What's that smell?”

"Oh, that's just the fuel. Nothing to worry about.” He chuckled.

Calyx revved the engine, and the car rumbled to life, vibrating throughout and causing a tingly sensation between my thighs. The tires screeched as we pulled away, and I squealed with excitement.

We reached the center of the town, and people were gathered all around. The buildings varied in size and were colourful. Doing something like this was new for me and a bit strange. I looked to Calyx with unease, and he placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled.

“I know it's a bit much, but everything will be fine.” He tried to reassure me.

I raised a brow and gave him a stern look. “It better be, or else I'm going to hurt you.”

Calyx chuckled. “I don't doubt it.”

I felt embarrassed that I had never been to the city or done “Normal things.” before. I was feeling entirely out of place.

We pulled up in front of a row of fancy-looking shops. That displayed a wide variety of beautiful things. Calyx got out of the car and came to my side, I reached for the car door lock, but he opened the door before I could lock it

"Come on, time to get out.” Calyx chirped.

I pouted. “I don't want to. Can't I just wear jeans and a t-shirt?” I asked, hoping it would be good enough, even though I knew it wouldn't be.

He shook his head. “Nope, sorry. You need to wear something appropriate.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, fine, but I don't have to be happy about it.”

I got out of the car and closed the door behind me. Calyx linked his arm with mine, and 1 stilled for a second, unsure of how I felt about him touching me like this, being so close to me. Calyx is a nice guy, but there has always been something about him that gives me an odd feeling.

"Ready to have some fun?” He grinned.

“This is not my idea of fun.” I groaned.

Calyx dragged me towards a fancy dress shop. I peered into the window and saw rows of beautiful dresses and racks of shiny-looking jewelry. Before entering the store, I stopped in my tracks and looked down at my attire, then up at the reflection staring back at me in the glass door.

I was wearing faded blue jeans, a black tank top and my favourite brown boots. My hair was up in a messy bun, and I looked tired, worn out. I really did not want to go into this fancy place looking the way I did, only to feel even more out of place.

My heart began to pound in my chest. “Wait, Calyx, I don't have any money. How am I going to buy a dress?” I asked, embarrassed.

He waved me off. “Oh, don't worry about that; Cain is paying for it.” He smiled.

I didn't know how I felt about him buying me things. Would I owe him for it? What would he want from me? The last thing I want is to be in debt to him.

We entered the store, and a gorgeous woman approached us, with the fakest smile plastered on her face.

“Hello, how can I help you today?” She inquired, looking only at Calyx.

Calyx straightened himself and became all serious. “Freja, here, needs an elegant dress. I want a few selections brought out for her to try on, and the price is not an issue.”

She finally acknowledged me. “Of course, follow me, and I'll bring you a few things to try on.” Her smile and demeanour were so fake; it was comical.

We followed her to the store's back, where a row of small rooms was lined against the wall. Calyx took a seat in one of the lounge chairs. He stretched his arms out across the fabric of the chair and crossed his legs, trying to be all macho.

After a moment, the lady returned with multiple dresses and handed them to me.

"Here, give these a try and see if you like any of them. You can choose any of the empty rooms to change in.” She nodded towards the row of small rooms.

I looked to Calyx with a “Please help me.” expression, but he just smirked and motioned for me to get moving. I rolled my eyes and walked into one of the rooms.

Dress after dress I tried on and each one, I didn't like. They were either too fancy, too little material or the colour was ugly as shit. Finally, there were two dresses left. I put the one on and walked out of the room. Calyx looked at me and scrunched his face.

I huffed loudly. “That's it! I give up; I'm not going.” I declared.

“Come on, don't be a poor sport. You have one more dress to try on.” He reminded me.

I groaned in annoyance and returned to the room. I'll admit, I had saved this one for last, as I knew it would be the one that I chose. I slipped the dress on and felt like a beautiful goddess, which I never did. It was a black and gold lace dress. The dress was floor-length and backless, with thin spaghetti straps. The fabric moulded to my curves perfectly and didn't leave too much revealed to the wandering eye.

I stepped out of the room and twirled a bit to showcase the dress to Calyx. His eyes widened, and a smile spread across his face.

Calyx whistled, “Yes! That's the one.” He clapped his hands together.