Alpha Adryan
fifty five

Darkness enveloped the daylight by the time Adryan had returned tothe packhouse along with Brian, Nathan, and the warriors thataccompanied them to the Eclipse pack. Arther had volunteered to stayback and guard until they came back. Jade had been waiting for hours,she would help the Omegas with pack chores, other times she wouldpace back and forth worrying, thinking that the rogues might havecome back and attacked them.

She was relieved when she saw Adryan, her eyes checking for cuts andscratches but coming up empty, the only thing that seemed out ofplace was his hair, which seemed to stick in all directions as if he hadrun his hands through them multiple times.

Jade's eyes stray away from Adryan to the small group of seven peoplethat stood in between the warriors. She felt a lump in her throat as shetook in their appearance, all of them looked like they had beendragged to hell and back, with their clothes tattered in places, hangingby a loose thread in places, blood covering their clothes and limbs. Thegroup consisted of three men and three women along with a toddlerthat seemed to be around three. Wariness and fear were evident intheir eyes as they looked around.

She could understand their situation completely, as she was in theirexact position three years ago. She was a bit content with the fact thatthey had each other, unlike her, who had no one at the time.

As the group warily followed Adryan, Jade takes slow steps towardsthem, she greets them and helps them to the pack house where theguest rooms were arranged for them to stay. At first, they varied tofollow her, but basking in her comforting and kind aura, they gave inJade had just shown the wolves to their room, giving them a small tourof the room they were going to stay in. She'd ensured them that theywere safe in the Blood Moon Pack and didn't have to fear rogues.

As she walked into the kitchen, she had spotted Adryan sitting on oneof the stools, going to stand behind him, she rubs her arms up anddown his back, causing his tensed back muscles to let loose as hebasked in his mates presence, inhaling in her intoxicating scent.Grabbing his soft hands in his, he moves her forward, so that she wasstanding beside his seated position. He brings her down further so thatnow she was seated on his lap.

His actions caused redness to spread on her cheeks.

She feels his fingers moving away the stray pieces of hair that hungbefore her eyes like a curtain shielding her eyes from his. Ocean blueeyes stared into the emerald green with so much intensity.

Adryan moves his face closer to hers, resting his forehead on hers, theirbreaths mingling together as tingles spread through both of their skinlike a sky lighting up with fireworks.

Silence fills the room. Calmness and warmth surrounded their bodies.Jade stacked the books in their original position, clearing them off thetable. Dusting and wiping everything off.

Jade was in Adryan's home office, looking around she admired herwork. Jade had learned that Adryan hated the maids or anyone inparticular touching and moving his things from their original place, SoJade had taken it upon herself to clean his office which had started tocollect dust.

Her eyes skim over the contents that lay on top of the desk, her eyesstopping on the photo frame that was placed face down on the desk asif Adryan didn't want to stare at it but also didn't want to discard it off.Her hands slowly drift towards the photo frame, gently grasping it inher hands, she turns it to face the front.

Her eyes take in the picture before her. She sucks in a sharp breath,staring at the three people on it. Two pairs of ocean-blue eyes and apair of hazel eyes stared back at her.

The woman in the picture had a familiar pair of ocean blue eyes, shewas beautiful with her midnight black her that made her eyes stand outlike two glittering gems of blue. Both of her hands were placed on theshoulders of two boys that looked to be about the same age, maybearound seven. One of them had ocean blue eyes just like the woman,with midnight black hair just like hers, it didn't take a genius to figureout that she was his mother. Meanwhile, the other boy's features weredifferent from the mother and son duo, with hazel green eyes andbrown hair with light highlights. They looked happy, both the boys withtheir arms thrown over each other's shoulders as they grinned at thecamera with their lips curved up with genuine happiness and innocenceof childhood. She wasn't stupid, she knew that the boy with the blueeyes was Adryan and the woman was the former Luna of the pack, andAdryan's mother, whom Jade had never met.

Right when she was about to place the photo in its original position,the door to the office clicks open, and Adryan enters but pauses whenhe sees Jade, next his eyes move towards the photo frame in her hands,and a strange emotion flashes in his eyes but it's gone in a flash thatJade thought she might have imagined it.

"What are you doing here?" He asks as he moves to sit behind his table,she could feel his body heat as he now sat next to where she stood, heturns his head so that he was looking at her now.

"I thought I'd clean your office, it was getting dusty in here,” she says,her eyes taking in the now clean office, Adryan nods his head at herwords.

There was silence as both of them remained quiet, with Jade lost in herthoughts and Adryan's focus on his alpha duties as he typed away onhis laptop, while looking at some papers.

"Can I ask you something?" Jade asks, breaking the silence, sheunconsciously nibbles on her lips, she had been curious about hisfamily, but there never came an opportunity or better timing for her toask him about the matter, until now.

"Hmm?" he hums, asking her to go ahead and ask what she wanted toask him

"What happened to the former Luna of the pack?" as soon as the wordsleave her lips, she noticed the visible changes in his posture, how hisjaw suddenly started ticking, or how his hold on the papers seem totighten to the point where it started to get wrinkles, most of all whatshe noticed was how he stiffened the moment she mentioned hismother. She comes to the conclusion that she had hit a tough spot.

So she tried to dismiss off her question, and apologise for crossingboundaries she hadn't expected him to capture one of her hands in hisdrag her close to him, and make her sit on his lap like it was nothing.Jade blinked her emerald green eyes at his actions, as her brain seemedto take a while to process his actions, her cheeks reddening withembarrassment.

One of his arms wrapped around her waist, while the other movedforwards to clutch the photo frame in his hands. Staring at the photo infront of him, while Jade fixed her gaze on his face, taking in his facialexpression as he stared at the photo in deep thought. As if reminiscingabout something.

"She was too good for my father” Adryan suddenly speaks up, breakingthe silence that had once again enveloped the room. Jade was shockedinitially at his words but schooled her features initially. "My mother waskind and beautiful. Everything you would expect from a Luna. Everyonein the pack loved and respected her. At first everyone was shockedseeing how such a kind and selfless she-wolf would be mated to thecruel and heartless Alpha of the pack, Andreas Romano. The previousAlpha belonged to a long line of Alpha males, who believed in thetraditional way. The way where female wolves were considered inferiorcompared to the males. Even Luna didn't have equal power as theAlpha did. If they tried to fight their mates, they were punished severelyand flogged in front of the whole pack to make an example out ofthem. It was a dark time for the pack. Harsh punishments were servedeven for the smallest of mistakes. Men, young teenagers, even pups ofthe mere age of five were forced to train.” Adryan paused, a darkemotion taking up his features. One of Jade's hands move to caress hisown that was wrapped around her waist, soothingly. It didn't go pastJade, how Adryan didn't refer to the former Alpha as father.

"He treated her like trash. Abusing her, beating down her already fragilebody until she couldn't even lift up a finger. He made me watch himhurting her, and if I refused or did something to disappoint him, hewould try to hurt me, but she would always protect me. What wasworse was the fact that she still loved him. She loved him till her lastbreath and I hated her for it. How could she love someone who doesn'tthink twice about causing her pain. I was afraid that I would end up justlike him, I thought it was better to be alone forever than have a mateand make her suffer. I thought I could let you go, but I was so wrong"his voice laced with emotion towards the end of the sentence. Hereleases his hold on the photo frame, bringing both of his arms to wrapit around her waist, Jade turns herself on his lap, so that she was facinghim. She wraps her arms around his neck, as he buries his face in herneck, inhaling her intoxicating scent.

She feels light dampness around her neck, instead of voicing out herworries she tightens her hold on him

"I'm leaving in two days" he breaks the silence around them, his facestill buried in her neck.

"Why?" She asks, her head still leaning on his shoulder.

"We've decided to approach the Elders. Whatever is happening, if wedidn't deal with it soon everything would end up in chaos," his voiceslightly muffled.

"We? Are you sure about approaching the Elders?" she asks, leaningback to look into his eyes that stared back at hers, now that he hadmoved back from his earlier position.

"Yes. Alpha Lycus Angelo of The Lupine Night Crawlers Pack and AlphaLeander Moss of The Onyx Ridge Pack are to join me."

Jade stares at him for a few moments, and her next words cause hisheart to race.

"Whatever decision you take, I'll stand by you" she whispers.