Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
She took a deep breath, she wanted to give Maeve this chance, but she wasn’t in the mood for Alice’s games.
“I get it. You aren’t interested,” Selene sighed. Getting up from her chair, she smoothed out her shirt. “I won’t take up any more of your time.”
“Is it that difficult a question?” Alice asked. “You came to me asking that I train your friend in this job, but you can’t tell me what that job is?”
“Of course, I know the job, Alice. I am the one that pushed for you to come out of retirement in the first place.” Selene sighed, walking past Alice toward the door. “I’m just not interested in playing games with you right now.”
“Aren’t you the one playing, Selene?” Alice asked.
“What does that mean?” Selene asked, turning back to face Alice.
“It means that you came here asking a favor, yet you won’t answer a simple question for me,” Alice replied. “What is it that I train each of these wolves to do?”
Selene stared at Alice for a long time. She was sure there was some trick to the question, some way to make Selene seem like an idiot. But she couldn’t figure out what it was.
Finally, Selene took a deep breath.
“Spying,” Selene replied. “You teach them to do what you did for Spring. To learn secrets that can be used against people or packs seen as a threat.”
“And that is what you believe Maeve has a natural talent for?” Alice asked. “Sneaking around, gaining trust, and using it against people?”
Selene waited to reply. Was that what she thought? When she said it out loud, having a natural talent for spying didn’t sound like much of a compliment.
“I didn’t mean…” Selene began, “It’s not that she is untrustworthy… she is a good person. Sweet, quiet… I just meant that she is capable of more…”
“Selene, let me ask you again,” Alice called to her, a serious expression on her face. “Do you understand why I select my wolves the way I do?”
Selene was about to repeat her answer, to say that it was the best way to search for natural talent among the candidates. But something about how Alice was asking made Selene realize that there seemed to be something she wasn’t understanding.
Selene shook her head, and Alice smiled. It wasn’t the usual mischievous or malicious smile. This one was gentle. The way she smiled at the twins just before she explained to them something they didn’t understand.
“You were right when you said that I train people to do what I did for Spring,” Alice began, “but you were wrong about what that is.”
“What do you mean?” Selene asked.
Alice took a step back and motioned to the couch.
“Please, have a seat.”
Selene nodded and sat down on the far end of the couch. Alice sat on the opposite end and turned to face her sister-in-law.
“What I did for Spring was far more than simply spying,” Alice smiled. “I was an informant, a scout, an assassin, and much more… but my main obligation to Spring was to forget myself.”
Selene furrowed her brow. Of course, she knew about Alice’s situation, her time as the doll, and all that entailed. It had taken a long time for Selene to understand and accept what it meant. Alice was not responsible for many of her actions during her time with Spring.
But that had been the result of the drugs they had given her throughout her life. Making her forget herself and become whoever they wanted her to be.
Alice saw the look of concern that crossed over Selene’s face. She chuckled.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t reintroduced teatime,” she said. “But each of my students must learn to separate themselves from their work and the things they learn. It’s fundamental to the task. If you cannot shed your skin and become someone else, how can you hope to blend into the crowd? To appear as though you belong amongst those who have never met you?”
“That makes sense,” Selene commented.
Alice nodded.
“I refuse to accept a student that has been recommended to me for various reasons, but the primary reason is quite simple,” Alice continued. She looked at Selene with a simple smile. “Mixed loyalties.”
Selene had already assumed as much. It had always made sense to her that the Alpha should not pick someone to become a spy.
“I understand that,” Selene said. “Any Alpha would pick someone particularly loyal to them, which runs the risk of that person only reporting the information that the Alpha would want to be shared with the other packs.”
Alice nodded.
“But I’m not an Alpha,” Selene said. “My recommending Maeve doesn’t cause any kind of risk like that.”
Alice sighed.
“Do you think Alphas are the only people with power over others?” She asked. “That only they command enough loyalty and respect to influence someone to put them and their needs above all others?”
Selene furrowed her brows.
“Even if I held that kind of power, I wouldn’t do that,” she said.
Alice smiled and looked at Selene.
“Really?” Alice asked, leaning forward with her elbow bent upward on her knee.
“Of course not,” Selene replied immediately.
“But you already have,” Alice said, tilting her head to rest her cheek against her palm.
“What?” Selene asked. “No, I haven’t. Never.”
“Fiona,” Alice said. “Galen… The whole of Summer.”
Selene’s eyes widened.
“Axel,” Alice stated. “Myka.”
Selene swallowed.
“That was…” she began to reply.
“Alexander.”
Selene clenched her jaw.
Alice sat up and took a deep breath, keeping her eyes on Selene.
“Every one of those people, and others, at one point or another, compromised their values and, at times, their lives… for you.”
Selene looked away and swallowed.
“That was a long time ago,” she said quietly. “You said that you didn’t blame me for Moonguard…”
“I don’t,” Alice said. “This isn’t about blame, Selene. I am simply reminding you that you have more influence on people than you realize.”
Selene took a deep breath.
“And in the past, you have realized it. Sometimes, even assumed it,” Alice continued.
“What?”
Alice smiled.
“Do you not remember that you tried to exert that influence over me?” she asked. “That you came to me, knowing I was pregnant, and still demanded that I guide you through Spring because I ‘owed’ you?”
Selene tightened her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms. She took a deep breath through her nose and looked away. Slowly she released her breath and clenched her teeth as she tried to remain calm.
“I was not in my right mind back then…” she said quietly. “I have apologized… I have tried my best to make up for those mistakes…”
“I know,” Alice replied with a nod. “You’ve done a great job.”
“Then why are you throwing it in my face now?” Selene asked through gritted teeth.
“I’m trying to make you understand,” Alice said, leaning back on the couch. “You encouraged Axel to convince me to return to work.”
Selene turned at the sudden change of topic.
“You told him that as our interactions with the packs worldwide became more frequent, we needed to prepare for any possible threat they might pose.”
Selene nodded.
“Yes,” she replied. “We didn’t know any of them very well at the time. Even Summer had limited interactions, yet we were suddenly working together to keep the fae under control all over the world.”
Alice looked at Selene.
“You think that I train people to snoop and spy. To find secrets to hold onto and then use against people and take advantage of their trust,” Alice said. “You have always assumed that anything I do is devious somehow.”
Selene furrowed her brows as Alice turned away to look up at the ceiling and let out a gentle laugh.
“Yet you encouraged my involvement with the packs. And now, you want me to recruit your friend,” Alice smiled. “But you still have no idea what I actually do.”
Selene sat forward and swallowed. She took a deep breath and looked at Alice.
“Then tell me.”
Alice turned her head. She stared at Selene for a long moment.
“You first,” she said. “Tell me why you want me to train Maeve. Specifically. Why me?”
Selene thought about it. Why did she want Alice to train Maeve? Yes, she acknowledged Alice’s fighting skills. In many ways, she also had an appreciation for her questionable amount of knowledge.
But Alice was right. She had always held her with suspicion. Always assumed there was some trick behind her words and actions. Even after all these years, after all the times Alice had proven herself a member of Winter or her family, Selene still held doubt.
So why, of all people, would she want Alice to be the one to train Maeve?
“Maeve is a sweet girl,” Selene continued. “She is quiet, and right now, she is easily shaken. But I can see something in her. Something that reminds me of you.”
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?