Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
“We head straight up,” he said. “Toward the village, you can go ahead and go there. The kids and I will find a place to camp nearby.”
“No,” Selene said immediately.
Myka was surprised. He thought she would have been happy with this compromise.
Selene swallowed and turned away.
“Thank you,” she said. “For trying to help me get there quicker.”
She turned and smiled at him.
“But, I don’t want the kids inside the village. They will want to check it out if we’re camping close by, especially if I’m already heading in that direction.”
Myka felt uneasy. Something about this felt off, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Let’s just go to the lake like we planned,” Selene said. “In the morning, you take the kids to fish, and I will check out the village.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Selene nodded and patted his shoulder before moving away.
“I’m going to scout ahead,” she said as she walked away.
Myka didn’t get a chance to respond before she was gone. He watched after her, the unease he felt was still there, but he had no reasonable explanation for it.
When Selene was sure that Myka was no longer watching her, she took a deep, shaky breath. Then, she closed her eyes and shook out her nerves.
“Are you all right?”
Selene’s head whipped back at the voice. It was Stefan. He was a few feet back and walking toward her.
“What are you doing over here?” she asked.
“Myka said you were scouting ahead,” Stefan replied. “He said it was all right if I came along.”
Selene swallowed and turned away.
“Wouldn’t you rather stay with the others?” she said. “Scouting ahead is pretty boring. I’m just looking for anything in our path, like downed trees, natural wells, or sudden drops.”
Stefan shook his head.
“Scouting ahead is an important part of keeping everyone safe,” he replied. “It’s not boring at all. It’s an honorable job.”
Selene looked back at him. His expression was sincere and focused. He truly believed the words that he said.
“Known a few scouts, have you?” she asked. Knowing the look of a proud family member when she saw it.
Stefan nodded.
“My mom was a scout,” he said.
“So was my dad,” Selene said, a soft smile spreading over her lips as she thought of him.
“I know,” Stefan smiled.
Selene looked at him with confusion, and then it hit her. How could she have forgotten?
Stefan took a step toward her.
“I have never gotten the chance to speak with you,” he said. “I have spoken with Luna Corrine and Alpha Axel. Given my thanks and apologies. But this is my first chance to speak with you.”
He looked up at her, that sincere and serious look in his eyes.
“Your father saved my life,” he said. “He was a great man; without him, none of us would have gotten out of Autumn that night.”
Her heart ached thinking of Wyatt’s final night. She hadn’t seen his body. Alexander wouldn’t let her, and, in the end, she was thankful for it. But she had heard enough about the night’s events to know that his last hours were filled with pain.
“Stefan… you don’t…” Selene stammered. She licked her lips and turned away. “You don’t have to… do this.”
“I do,” he said. “Because I am truly grateful. I owe every member of his family my gratitude and my sincere apologies. I will remember him for the rest of my life. It is the least that I can do to honor him.”
Selene looked down at the boy. He bowed his head to her, a sign of respect for the memory of her father.
Stefan was a child. Not even ten, but his words and actions spoke of the experience of an adult. Selene felt a heaviness in her chest.
She swallowed the unpleasant feeling as she got down on one knee before him. She brought her fist to her heart and bowed her head.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
They took a few silent minutes to settle themselves. Then, once Selene felt calm and in control again, she asked Stefan if he was still willing to scout ahead with her. He eagerly agreed, and they moved forward together.
As they walked, Stefan told Selene about his parents, specifically about his mother’s job as a scout. It seemed he truly appreciated the role and wanted to pursue it someday.
“My sister signed up just after her last birthday,” he said softly. “She would have started her training by now.”
Selene nodded, looking away into the trees. Alexander’s smile flashed in her mind.
“The war prevented many of us from living the lives we were supposed to,” she said bitterly.
“It wasn’t the war that killed my sister,” Stefan said.
Selene furrowed her brow and looked back at him.
“The Reef was destroyed by the war. My parents died because of it,” he said. Then his tone became cold. “But my sister died because one selfish person thought his wants were more important than her life.”
As Myka predicted, reaching the lake took the rest of the day. By the time camp was set up and they had gotten dinner started, the sun had given way to the night sky.
Selene had done a sweep of the area. She returned to the group when she was satisfied that there was no sign of fae, new or old.
Myka and Sadie were preparing the meal while the others kept the fire fed and chatted amongst themselves.
They were all excited for the next day. Fishing, foraging, every part of it delighted the children. Selene smiled as she recalled her days as a pup being trained for when she would receive her wolf.
She also enjoyed her survival classes. Though none of them had prepared her for the blizzard she faced on her first shift, the things she had learned had saved her life more than once before.
As the children chatted, Selene listened and eventually joined the conversation. She told them of some of the things she had done, the places she had been. Told stories of camping in the mountains between the territories and of the hidden caves of Winter.
Without realizing it, Selene had spent hours talking with the children. Laughing, listening, sharing. It wasn’t until she saw the sleepiness in their eyes that she noticed. She then glanced up to see that the sky had advanced late into the night.
As the children bid her goodnight and crawled into their tents, Myka offered her a cup of warm liquid, a tea of some sort. He sat down on the ground close to her.
“You are good with them,” he said, sipping from his cup.
“They are easily impressed,” she scoffed, a soft smile lingering on her lips.
“Maybe,” Myka chuckled. “But your willingness to talk to them, to share with them. That is the part that means the most to them.”
Selene looked down at Myka suspiciously.
“Why do I feel as though you are about to try to sell me something…?” she asked.
Myka looked up at her with a mischievous grin.
“I was thinking,” he said. “That you might be interested in making this more than a one-time thing.”
Selene furrowed her brow.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Myka sat up, looking her in the eyes. She could see excitement and hopefulness looking back at her.
“I mean, help me with my troop,” he said. “Not just these guys, the others too. Help me guide and teach all these children who haven’t been given a chance to learn the things that their packs or families should have been able to teach them.”
Selene’s eyes widened.
“Me?” she asked, stunned by his request. “You want me… to….”
“They need someone they can trust. Someone that they rely on,” he said. “Why not you?”
Selene lowered her gaze to her cup. Her heart felt a painful weight on it.
It was clear these children were looking for guidance. They had spent their lives trapped in a lab. The whole world was new to them. But was she someone that had a right to guide anyone?
She knew that they saw her as a hero.
From their perspective, Selene had been the one that rescued them from the lab. But it wasn’t her plan. She didn’t even know the children were there when she followed Alice into the lab that day. All she had done was lead them out of the building.
Anyone would have done the same.
‘If I wanted a grunt, I would have grabbed any able-bodied fighter.’
Selene swallowed as she heard Alice’s words and remembered that Alice hadn’t taken just any able-bodied fighter. She had come to Selene for a reason.
She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. She took a slow deep breath through her nose. Her heart was pumping harder now, fighting against the painful grip she felt squeezing around it.
“Selene…?”
Her eyes shot open. He was closer than he had been. Down on one knee before her, Myka stared up with concern.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?