The Shadow Alpha

The more I thought about it, the easier it became to fit the puzzle pieces together, the bigger picture became clearer as the days passed

Austin didn't just want to get into my pack in order to learn our secrets; he wanted to learn my territory too.

The rogues were working as a highly trained tactical unit, but what worried me was how many other traitors were there within our packs, it was clear that Austin, April and Justin were in cahoots, but who else were they partnered with that we were unaware of and was April really a part of this whole plan or is she really just a victim in the situation?

Once in my office I pulled out the map that we had used to mark possible rogue locations and secured it to the cork board on my wall, on the smart board to the right of it, I began drawing a mind map and plotted all the parties involved and their role in it all.

As I jotted down keynotes involving each different person's involvement I realised we were at a disadvantage; we had very little information regarding the actual Rogue army. Till now we seemed to be in control, but my gut instinct told me that Austin was just a pawn in the whole game. We were yet to come in contact with the man who called the shots, the man who stopped Tatiana from being killed.

I thought about what Mother Selene told me in the dream, how were we supposed to prove our loyalty and pure intentions to the Gods without completing the bond?

So lost in thought I hadn't felt his presence until the ding of the elevator broke my reverie, Devin's intoxicating scent wafted to me and I found my concentration straying from the board before me. Instead of continuing I saved my notes and stashed my maps in the compartment below my desk.

I strode to the door and yanked it open just as he was about to grab the handle, with his unwavering attention focussed on me he took a few steps forward and pushed the door shut, locking it in the process. His arms snaked around my waist and tugged me toward his chest.

He placed his forehead against mine and his eyes fluttered closed, “Why did you wake up so early?” I shivered at his closeness and relished in the feeling of his arms around me, I thought about waiting before telling him about the dream, but recalled what Mother Selene said about being one and uniting. I grabbed his hands that caged me between them and used it to guide him to the couch in the corner of the room, we both sat down and I turned to face him.

“I met Mother Selene in my dream.” His eyes widened a fraction and nodded for me to continue.

I sucked in a deep breath and began to narrate the legend that Mother Selene brought to light, he hung on to my every word with a thoughtful air surrounding him.

"So what you're saying is that I have a part of your soul within me and we both share a gift that can only be unlocked together?” I nodded in confirmation and the wistful silence ensued once again. I could hear a light commotion around the pack house and when I glanced at the clock I realised that I had only twenty minutes to get to training without being late, now that wouldn't set a good example.

The thought of training with the packs caused excitement to erupt within me, I hadn't been to a pack training since before the Full Moon pack joined us and I was pretty interested to see what they had going for them.

Abruptly I grabbed hold of Devin's arm and propelled him up behind me as I stood up, a perplexed squeak spewed from his mouth which caused me to cackle, but my amusement morphed into an innocent batting of my lashes when I caught sight of the heated glare he sent my way.

“Come on, we're training with the pack today.” I declared and dragged him out of the office; he simply smirked at my excitement and intertwined our fingers as he fell into step with me.

“Is that so? When did I agree to this?" he teased, but made no move to object.

I grinned up at him and batted my eyelashes yet again; “You'll do it for me though won't you?” he rolled his eyes at my dramatics, but smiled nonetheless.

“Only if you promise to spar with Me.” he bargained, the memory of us fighting flashed through my mind, but quickly blocked out the thought. Determined to erase the memory and turn it into something more pleasant I nodded with a slight smirk.

"You're on Alpha Summers.” I winked and stepped off the elevator, shaking my hips with emphasis earning a cheeky growl from my mate.

I threw on a pair of black yoga pants, a neon pink sports bra and my matching black and neon pink running shoes, after tying my hair into a tight pony tail I ran down stairs. Grabbing a fruity granola bar from the snack basket on my way out of the kitchen to the back yard where pack trainings were held.

I quickly spotted Devin and Hunter standing beside his head trainer; Julian and the Twins, Connor and Bradley.

As I approached them the twins turned towards me and smirked, “Well damn, training just got ten times better.” I smirked back as my pack cheered for me and the Full Moon pack looked puzzled Devin walked towards me and began stretching beside me, “Couldn't you wear something a little less revealing?” he gritted out, his eyes glaring at all the male attention I was getting. I laughed lightly and kissed his cheek which caught him off guard, but before he could react I stood up straight and called for everyone's attention.

"Good morning everyone, lovely morning we're having isn't it?” I grinned as I took in the wary nods of the pack members, “Well enough chit chat and let's get right down to it. Everyone find yourself a running partner who you'll be paired with for the rest of the day's training, preferably someone of similar strength.” I waited till everyone had a partner before continuing.

“We're going to be taking a run along the borders of the territory, for the first lap one partner will be in wolf form while the other is in human form and when we get back here we will switch. The purpose of this exercise is to build stamina in both human and wolf form and the reason for partners being in alternate forms is to push yourself in human form, the partner in human form should push themselves to keep up with their wolf partner and the wolf partner should not go easy on them. Everyone understand?” I explained and they nodded.

"Okay great, decide between you who will be going first and shift. We will be starting and finishing here, so get in line with your partners. Connor, Bradley and Julian will be leading the pack and Devin and I will be running behind. Please stick with the pack and don't wander off or I promise you won't like the result.” I nodded and they all dispersed, some to shift and others got in line ready to run. Once everyone was ready I nodded for Connor to take off in wolf form and everyone followed in succession. Devin appeared behind me in wolf form and nodded at me before we took off behind the group, catching up to them in no time at all. I could see partners challenging each other and pushing hard, they were a competitive bunch and I absolutely loved it, Devin and I hung back urging the ones lagging behind to push harder, soon the entire group was moving together as we swept the borders of the territory, my senses were heightened as I searched the forest outside the territory for any lurking wolves and wondering pack members.

I sensed a group of rogues near the South border and immediately notified the border patrol to be on the lookout for any border breaches. When we got back to the starting point everyone but Devin and I switched, instead he shifted back to human form and we took off into the forest once again, this time in the opposite direction.

As we passed the South border once again I noticed a pair of the group stray beyond the border behind a tree, but before the group passed entirely they re-joined them. I looked at Devin and saw that he had also noticed the couple go astray, he looked at me and I nodded, silently communicating for him to check it out while I kept an eye on the group and the pair.

After running the borders I gave them a five minute break then led them to the obstacle course which was in the meadow by the North border, the obstacle course could accommodate twenty per five minute interval; the group split up into groups of twenty, still staying in their pairs and began moving through it.

The point of the obstacle course was to build precision and speed in tight situations and improve the group's quick thinking and occasionally team work. Directly after they came out of the obstacle course they had to fall to the ground and do seventy-five push ups and seventy-five crunches without rest.

Devin and I worked through the course together and ended up completing the course neck in neck, I hadn't put in my full strength like I would have done when I first started learning the course years ago, but I owed it to him no to use my Shadow Wolf advantage against him and I was pretty impressed with his abilities.

Once the entire pack finished the obstacle course we made our way back to the training grounds where the sparring mats had been set up.

This time the groups we split by age and/or strength and one trainer allocated to each group to assess and guide them. What made my training particularly brutal was the fact that I pushed all three aspects of training instead of focussing on each one separately.

Devin and I broke away from the group as sparring began so that he could show me what he had found when the two wolves broke away from the group while running. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to me when we entered the office; I ripped it open and unfolded the paper inside.

It was a list of names of members of both mine and Devin's pack with a note at the top that read; “The target has been met. We await further instructions.” I read through the names with Devin standing behind me looking at them over my shoulder, my eyes stopped when they landed on one name, without thought a scoff left my lips.

“I'm not really a big fan of paper, if I'm being quite honest.”