Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
‘You just let my father and an innocent pack burn! Children!
Mothers! Fathers! Brothers! Sisters! You murdered them all! You are worse than your father! She screams. My heart sinks at the truth in her words.’
‘Alyssa. It’s not meant to be like this,’ I say. ‘I will never be your mate, Zenith. Not now, never. You’ve murdered my family and my pack! I’m leaving, and I’m going to be with Alpha Axton, She yells, crying.
‘She shifts into her wolf and runs to the woods. Her wolf is enormous, with pure white, long fur. Almost the size of an Alpha wolf.
Moonstone Crest is the only pack with pure white wolves. They’re descendants of the Moon Goddess.
I’m angry, and I chase after her. I will find you, Alyssa, and you will be my mate! Or you can choose to die!’ I yell before shifting into my wolf. Her wolf is faster than mine. I can’t catch her. I let out a long, loud, heartbroken howl and returned to the warriors and to my father, who I’m furious with. It was his idea to kill the entire pack. I should not have listened to him. My Dad laughs. I’m growling and snapping at him.
‘Wanting justice, I challenge him. The warriors’ gasp, knowing a challenge is a fight to the death. My Dad accepts the challenge and shifts into his wolf. Being Alpha, he is larger than my wolf, but his age is his weakness and my advantage.’
‘Lunging at my father, we roll, taking swipes at each other and biting into each other’s flesh as soon as there is an opportunity to do so. Blood splatters onto the warriors as they watch on. Finally, I bite my father’s throat and rip his head off.
‘l immediately grow larger and come into my power, letting out a loud howl to announce myself as the new Alpha. I have many wounds. My Dad had bitten my ear off during the fight. I shift back into human form, with my ear mostly gone. I return to the packhouse as the new Alpha.’
‘My search for Alyssa and her pack spans months and then years. In the meantime, I accept Alice as my chosen mate. She has a crush on me. We eventually have a daughter Vanessa, and two twin sons: James, followed by John.’
I’m a ruthless Alpha and often lose my temper. I never stop searching for Alyssa. Years later, I found out the Justice pack had been wiped out, with only the Luna, Alyssa, escaping. She is with-child, carrying Alpha Axton’s baby. After being in two packs that were both wiped out, she wants to live amongst humans. She can’t bear the thought of raising her baby in the werewolf world.
‘She moves to the city, where she meets a human who falls deeply in love with her. They buy a house together near the woods.
She loves nature, and being a wolf, she shifts secretly and goes for runs in the woods. Her human lover doesn’t know what she and the baby truly are. He loves her so much, and her daughter knows only him as her Dad.
She wants her daughter to have a wolf-free life for as long as possible and protect her from the danger and brutality of the werewolf world. Once her daughter turns eighteen, shifting into a wolf is inevitable. Just before her eighteenth birthday, Alyssa intends to tell her about her wolf DNA.
‘When her daughter is around seven, and my sons are not much older, I find out where they live. The house emits sweet giggles. I watch and wait in the woods until I hear Alyssa’s voice. ‘Come on, Astrid, darling. It’s your tum to find me!’ Although I can’t see you, I know you’re hiding somewhere. Sniffing around, I catch your scent. Maybe if I growl, I can scare you into moving, and it works. I knew chasing you would make her come out. ‘It’s me you want, she yells. She knew it was me. She knew I would never stop looking for her.’
‘I run toward her and lunge at her. My teeth sink into her neck while I shake her around like a rag doll, and the colour fades from her face, and she becomes lifeless. Once I know, she is dead. I also consider killing you up in the tree until I hear the gunshots. I have achieved my goal, killing your mother for leaving me for Alpha Axton.’
I decide to monitor you over the years. I know your stepfather isn’t treating you well. It makes me happy knowing it would have made your mother miserable.’
‘My pack runs differently from other packs. I don’t want to go along with the whole fated-mate shindig. Instead, I decide to match people with mates who increase the pack’s strength. Vanessa, pretending to be a victim, goes to Shadow Crest with the mission to mark and mate Ryker, one of the strongest alphas around, besides me.
Alice is stubborn, though, and doesn’t want to leave Vanessa. So, I send them both and keep in contact with them daily. Alice spends the odd night here, with Shadow Crest none-the-wiser.’
‘Knowing you are of Moonstone Crest and Justice pack DNA means you are a powerful wolf with rare genes and likely a pure white wolf who would breed strong pups with my son. Amelia is an Alpha’s daughter too, mixed with a secret gene that only her family and I know about, who, with a substantial dowry, handed her over to be mated with John.
‘Love no longer matters. It doesn’t matter if the Moon Goddess gives you a mate. There is always a chance you’ll be rejected and left for someone else, regardless of how strong the bond is! I learned power is stronger than love that night.’
‘That’s what I taught my pack: it’s less heart-breaking to choose a mate who will benefit you and the pack, and a fated mate’s rejection is gut-wrenching.’
‘My kids agreed. I killed the boy’s fated mates. They were weak Omegas. Can you believe that? Omegas matched to future alphas! I killed Vanessa’s mate, too. He was the weakest wolf I had ever seen: more mutt than wolf. And now, here you are, the day before your eighteenth birthday, about to be marked with my eldest son. How did it go? Oh, yes. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart, Alpha Zenith says with a sadistic smile.
Astrid
In utter shock, I can’t believe what Alpha Zenith has just told me. He is my mother’s true mate and murderer. I stand, run to the cell door, and shake the bars with fury full of anger.
‘You killed my mother! You killed her!’ I yell. Alpha Zenith smiles.
‘Yes, I killed her! After everything, I did for her! I gave her a chance to reunite with me, and she threw it away like I was nothing, like I wasn’t even worth the risk!’ He yells.
‘You killed her whole family! You murdered them all in cold blood! She didn’t want to be with a monster!’ I yell. The look on Alpha Zenith’s face changes from a smile to aggression. He unlocks the cell door and grabs me by the throat, holding me against the cold stone wall.
‘What did you call me?’ He growls, squeezing my throat tighter. I try to loosen his hands from my throat. I can’t breathe. Black dots appear in my vision, and he loosens his grip and speaks.
Call me a monster again, Astrid, he warns. Boring his eyes with mine, I know he will kill me if I call him anything again. I shake my head in defeat.
‘That’s what I thought, he says, dropping me to the ground.
Tears stain my face, and I’m gasping for oxygen.
‘Pathetic!’ He says, staring down at me, before smirking and walking away.
I feel like I will explode. A cocktail of emotions swarms through me with all this new information about my mother, my father and the pack I come from. I stand, grab the sides of my head, and let out the loudest, most frustrated scream. James comes running down the stairs.
‘Astrid! What’s wrong?’ He asks, concerned.
‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong” I repeat, in disbelief, at his dumb question. I’m locked in a cold, dirty cell, forced to be your mate! Your father murdered my mother! He wiped out her whole pack! I want to be with Ryker, where I am supposed to be! And you dare to ask me what is wrong?’ I yell. James looks away.
‘Did you know your father killed my mother? Did you know he murdered an entire pack?’ I yell. James looks at me in silence for a moment.
“Yes, I know. The whole pack knows. Most pack members are afraid to disobey him. They know he’ll kill them in the blink of an eye. They all know you’re Alyssa Moonstone’s daughter, the only werewolf left from Moonstone Crest. Why do you think everyone was so excited to meet you when you arrived?’ He: asks.
‘I hate you,’ I say in a low voice. James stiffens and glares at me.
‘Look, I need to help Dad in the office today. I will come to see you when I return, he says.
I’d prefer you never come near me again,’ I retort.
James crosses his arms in anger and goes upstairs. Hour’s pass. I’m guessing it’s late afternoon. It’s hard to tell with no windows down here. I wonder if Amelia had any luck finding the cell key. For self-entertainment, I throw small stones between the bars of the cell door, missing half the time.
Suddenly, I hear yelling and cries. Light appears on the stairs as the door opens. Someone shoves Amelia down the stairs. She cries out as she stumbles and falls.
‘Please, John, I’m sorry!’ She says.
Don’t waste your apologies on me! Save them for the Alpha! John yells. He stomps heavily across the stone floor, grabbing Amelia by the hair and dragging her into the cell next to mine. He throws her in and slams the cell door shut.
‘Amelia!’ I shout. We look at each other. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying. She has a few minor bruises on her neck.
“Astrid, I’m sorry, she cries, looking away.
‘I caught my little mate, Amelia here, rummaging through my father’s things, and forced her to confess what she was looking for, John says, smirking.
‘You were supposed to be at work today!’ Amelia yells at John.
‘I was but came home early. We had some issues with Ryker from Shadow Crest, which we had to take care of. So dad sent me home to prepare the warriors. Just in case Ryker tries to break in and rescue his dear little Astrid, John says.
‘Ryker is looking for me?’ I ask excitedly. How did Ryker know to go to Zenith Creations? He must have found the business card.
I left itin my room.
‘Don’t get too excited sweet cheeks, John says. “His beta, Seth and others found your scent in the city, but lost the trail. Seth broke into our underground car park after picking up your scent again. Pack warriors patrol at night. We caught Seth, as you know, and he has been in the basement ever since. We only let him out to interrogate him and rough him up a bit, John laughs.
‘Wait! That guy you beat up the other day was Seth?” I ask, in shock.