The Wanted Alpha

Ethan

I had been up since almost dawn, had already gone out for a run, trained by myself and still my wolf, Ezra, had felt a little restless. It had been a slightly stressful couple of months of late, so I was sure that that was why he was on edge. We had been dealing with a leak in information from our pack over the last 4 months. Details of some of White Tree’s business dealings and even some of our research had found its way into the hands of a few of our rival packs. We had no way to prove it, but all of a sudden, they seemed to be able to undercut our businesses and have the same breakthrough in research that we were having that we had yet to announce. Either one of the few rogues we had given refuge to was a spy implanted to gain intelligence or we had a traitor amongst us. I prayed it was the former and not the latter. I didn’t let the former rogues anywhere near pack business, I had been burnt heavily by one before and I would never trust another one of them again. So if one had somehow gotten hold of these details, they had been incredibly resourceful to acquire it. Between me, my Beta and my Gamma, we were keeping any investigations quiet, we didn’t want to alarm the pack or the culprit that we were on to them.

It was still fairly early in the morning so I had plenty of time to get work done before I moved into my territory checks. At this time of year, in mid autumn, I loved this task. The forests around our pack had changed from green to bright and vivid reds and oranges.

As I was about to finish up I received a mind-link from a warrior on patrol with two newer recruits with him. I could feel he was also mind-linking Jude and Carrick, my Beta and Gamma respectively.

‘We may have a possible intruder on the southwestern border, we’ve found prints that look fresh but there’s no scent anywhere. Looks like it’s only one set of tracks, but something about this feels unsettling.’

‘Keep your eyes sharp, they may be close by and hiding’ I linked back.

I cut the warrior off and addressed Jude and Carrick directly.

‘Carrick, ready your trackers and head out immediately. I don’t like that there’s no scent, this might be to do with the leak or it’s a completely separate threat. Jude, ready the dart guns, I want whoever it is brought in alive’ I stressed; you can’t question a corpse.

After a few minutes I received another link from the same warrior.

‘It’s a rogue she-wolf…I’m sorry sir, but she got away…she’s incredibly fast. She’s headed back southwest.’

I almost roared in rage, not only had they been bested by a single rogue…it was a rogue she-wolf…I would not allow their kind on my territory ever again.

I knew my Beta and Gamma had received the same mind-link.

‘Sound the alarm to the other patrols in that area, I want that rogue brought in for questioning! There may be more, stay vigilant’ I commanded.

I left my office swiftly to join the search. Carrick informed me that they had tracked the she-wolf to the west so I shifted and ran to catch up, they still hadn’t found a scent but were following a single set of tracks. Something was telling me to head south but I needed to stay with my trackers, Jude was to the south so that area would be covered.

After a while we had to concede that we had lost the trail. With no scent and the tracks being increasingly lost in the undergrowth, we were fighting a losing battle. It was late morning now, almost midday, we couldn’t spend forever out here.

‘What do you wanna do, man? We’re past our borders now’ Carrick mind-linked me.

‘…It’s no use, they’re gon…’ my sentence was cut off by Jude.

‘I found her in the south! I’m in pursuit, but, f**k, is she fast. The other trackers couldn’t keep up, I’m just hanging in there and I have her in my sights.’

Jude was an exceptional marksman; if anyone could bring this wolf down, it would be him.

Our team started to head south to his location in case he needed back up, but he mind-linked us 15 minutes later to say that he had her.

‘It took 6 darts but I finally got there’ Jude informed us.

‘How the hell did one she-wolf need 6 darts to be brought down?’ no wolf should be able to move after one dart, let alone six.

‘Technically, 3 missed, 2 darts brought her down but she needed a 3rd to be fully knocked out. We have chased her a while, maybe the adrenaline counteracted the tranquilliser?’

‘You missed 3 times? I’m revoking your title, Mr One Shot’ Carrick sarcastically linked. I could almost feel Jude’s eyes rolling from here.

‘I take it you don’t need anymore back-up?’ I asked.

‘Nah, I got this. She’s pretty tall but scrawny, I think she’s been living in the wilds for a long time. I’ll take her to the cells, she’ll probably be out till at least tomorrow.’

Our team headed back to their duties now that the threat had been neutralised. Some part of me felt a strong pang of sympathy and protectiveness for this female but I quashed those feelings immediately. The last time I had felt like that had dire consequences and had almost destroyed my life. Jude said he would check on the rogue later, in a few hours, to make sure she was still breathing fine. Carrick and a small team stayed behind to scour the entire southwestern border to make sure there were no others remaining in hiding, better safe than sorry. I remained in my large, almost black, wolf form to perform the territory check I was going to do anyway.

It was mid afternoon and I had barely gotten back to my suite at the pack house before Jude had mind-linked me to say the rogue female was waking up.

‘Impossible! With how much wolfsbane and tranquilliser was shot into her system, she should be out for 3 days not 3 hours. We better check to make sure we haven’t made a bad batch’ the formula we used was our own and highly effective, ‘I’m on my way.’

‘Just be calm, Ethan, not every rogue she-wolf is going to be like her’ Jude asked ‘I’m going in to question her first while you’re getting down here.’

I didn’t need to be told the ‘her’ he was referring to…Maria…I still felt as though I could simultaneously curse and mourn that name till my death.

I headed down to the prison with haste, feeling my heartbeat increase the closer I came to the rogue’s cell. As I approached the door, my wolf started to stir violently; he wanted whatever was in that cell…

No…it couldn’t be…there was only one thing that could cause this sort of sensation within our wolves…our mate.

The moon goddess wouldn’t do this to me. Not after everything that’s happened. She wouldn’t give me a rogue she-wolf as my fated mate after what Maria did…fate would not be this cruel.

I flung the door open without wasting another second and my eyes fell upon the most beautiful woman that could have ever existed. Her eyes were like the clearest blue water, her hair was a vibrant b***d red like the autumnal forests I loved and her skin was the most tempting pale tan colour, but she didn’t seem to have any discernible scent…how was that possible?

‘Mate’ my wolf shouted in my mind.

The same feelings swirled around both us; elation, despair, confusion and anger. I couldn’t hold back the sour frown from my face. Ezra was completely unresponsive and seemed paralysed by his conflicting emotions.

Fate was an utter b***h to do this to us.

I couldn’t deal with this.

I turned to leave, but a delicate hand grasped my arm, causing me to stop and I cursed myself for wearing a t-shirt. The tingles from the mate bond were instantaneous and stronger than anything I had felt before, making my entire form tense as the memories of the last woman that made me feel something akin to this came roaring back with their venom.

I ripped free of her grasp, unable to bear the memories her touch triggered…I felt the demons I thought I had buried long ago surface as I stepped threateningly forward towards her.

“Don’t ever f*g touch me” I bit out, my teeth clenched and my eyes pitch black.

I saw her l*p tremble…just like her…when she spat her poisonous words at me and ripped my heart in two. The demons had now not only resurfaced, but had taken hold of me. I saw red as my vision blurred.

“Please…just…” her voice was cut off as my hand grabbed her neck, lifting her clear from the floor and slamming her back into the wall.

“9 years I’ve been able to find my fated mate and when she appears it’s a f*g rogue! The moon goddess really has a sick sense of humour” I bellowed, tightening my grip.

Her hands tried to prise my hand loose, but it was useless. Every regret and fault I felt at having taken in Maria were firmly in control.

I felt another pair of hands that I had barely registered pulling at my arm, but it wasn’t until I heard his voice that I was violently thrown back into reality…and my actions fully registered with me.

“Ethan! Let go! You’re killing her!” I heard my Beta shout out.

I released my hold instantly, realising what I had done. I looked down at my mate’s prone form, trembling, fighting to get her breath back with tears in her eyes, looking up at me…with fear.

I did this?…

…I did this.

No…no…what have I done?!

I felt my breathing become shallow and that familiar panic start to spread through my chest…

…and like a coward, I left.