Queen Alpha
Chapter 18

Mystery Guy’s POV

All 4 of us had met in the office at 8am just like the alpha said to, Ben was the last one to come strolling in of course. Probably took too long in the bathroom again.

“Ok now that everybody’s here, let’s get started. First thing I want to know is about this girl, your mate. What do we know about her besides only being a 17-year-old omega from Wolf Claw?” Alpha asked as he was sitting at his desk. Ben and I looked at each other, both with the same thought of forgetting to track down her father and rest of the family history.

“I did dig into her family a little bit before all this started actually.” Ben admitted. He pointed towards me and continued, “When he found out she was his mate, he wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to be a threat to our pack knowing his status vs. hers.”

“While I respect your concern son, the moon goddess doesn’t make mistakes. You two are mated for a reason, and the mate bond should never be questioned.” My dad sounded almost disappointed.

“I know dad but now I’m kind of glad we did do it, because we found out something about her that she doesn’t even know herself.” This had caught their attention. I saw both the alpha and my dad’s eyes widen at this. After a good minute of silence, Ben continued.

“At first everything seemed kosher. Mother moved to the pack to be with the father, but what wolf do you know that has 8 pups? So I continued to dig further. Long story short, or the highlight reel which ever you want to call it. Father was born and raised in Wolf Claw so no questions there. His first mate and him had the 5 oldest kids. She died shortly after the 5th child, his only son, was born. Meanwhile, ‘the runt’s’, as he likes to call her,” again pointing at me and I just rolled my eyes and he chuckled, “the runt’s mother was in the Everglades pack. Now, whether she was abducted and taken there or she is one of their natives, I do not know…yet. I do know that her, her 3 kids, and 2 other women escaped from there and changed their names. The current father adopted her 3 children after they mated. So far this has been all I can replace out on her and her family. I was going to try and track down the runt’s biological father but then all this shit started happening with these creatures.”

“Everglades pack?!” Alpha repeated.

“Yeah, that’s what the papers said anyways.” Ben replied.

“Ok, when the girl gets here, we will question her on her family first see what she knows and if she can fill in any blanks. Do you happen to have any copies of all of your replaceings?” Alpha asked looking at a file folder he had laying on his desk.

“Actually yeah, I think I have everything in the car.”

“That’s a great place for it son.” Alpha rolling his eyes at Ben’s response. “Go get it now and bring it in here. You do not leave people’s personal details in a car!” Ben jumped up and ran out to his car to grab the file he had made on her and her family so far. When he came back into the office, he handed it to his dad and then sat back down on the couch. The alpha flipped through the file and was looking over a couple sheets before he closed it.

“Ok we’re going to set that aside for now. Next thing is the creatures. Derek and I have been pulling information from sources you boys wouldn’t even know about. But we have confirmed one of our worst fears, and by ‘our’ I don’t mean just Derek’s and mine, I mean us as a species.” Ben and I both snapped our heads to look at each other wide eyed. The book must have been right, and we truly were fucked. “What you boys saw and chased those nights are what’s left of the Original Lycan bloodline. After talking to other Alpha’s, they have been spotted all up and down the mountain on this side. I contacted a few other Alpha’s randomly on the east coast and even in the Midwest but no reports of anything out there. There’s also been no sightings on the other side of the mountains either. At least not yet anyways. I did issue an official warning to all Alpha’s to be on the lookout regardless, because if they’re here, it ain’t going to end well. There will be a lot of bloodshed.”

Ben and I looked at each other again, but this time it wasn’t in shock, it was in determination. We were just a couple years away from taking on the Alpha and Beta rolls ourselves. Our pack was already starting to look at us and already judging if we would be worthy of the titles, more or less. Just then the office phone rang and Alpha picked it up. I took the opportunity to talk to Ben quietly.

“We have to protect our pack, but how do we defend ourselves from something we know nothing about?” I whispered.

“I have no idea. Hopefully we can replace some more information on these Originals and fingers crossed that we can replace a weakness?” Ben shrugged his shoulders.

We heard the Alpha hang up the phone and we both turned our attention back to him.

“Boys could you give Derek and I the room for….let’s just say an hour please? Go grab something to eat. Might as well bring something up for us too when you come back. It’s starting to look like this day is going to be very long.” Alpha requested while running his hands through his hair. Ben and I just nodded and headed out.

*Blood Moon Alpha’s POV*

“Nikolai, I heard you are having some…issues shall we call them. I want the word straight from your mouth.” One of the Alpha’s that runs majority of the territory in Oregon was just now calling me back.

“We believe the Originals are back, and we all know nothing good ever comes out of them making their appearance. I was calling you to see if you’ve had any run ins with them?”

“No nothing here. At least not yet anyways. How far are they traveling?” He asked.

“I’ve contacted everyone that I know I can trust not to raise a panic, and so far it seems like they are only on our side of the mountain and sticking to it. Nobody in the Midwest or east coast or even in Cali, has had any issues…yet.”

“Do you know what they want? If history tells us anything, they only attack when they want something.”

“Nobody has made any contact with them. Just chased a couple threw our territory. No attacks, yet, but no demands have been issued either. I’m not sure what’s going on just yet. If I replace out more, I will be sure to send out an alert. For right now, I would suggest upping your patrols and guards. At least until we know if this will be isolated or not.”

“Copy that. Please do keep me updated.”

“Will do. Goodbye.” I hung the phone up and asked the boys to leave the room and go get us food but not to come back for another hour. This was going to turn into an all-day thing, and I was already dreading it.

“Who was that?” Derek asked after the boys left and we heard them walk down the hall.

“Alpha Ralph from Oregon. Nothing up there so far.”

“When is Cheyenne supposed to be here again?” Derek asked looking at his watch.

“I requested that she be here by 10am.” I said also looking at my watch. It was 8:57am. I hadn’t even thought about the time when I told the boys not to come back for an hour.

“Speaking of her, how fast do you think you can pull her mother’s history?” I asked opening the file Ben had given me. “Looks like Ben did some very thorough work so far. He has her original legal name already.”

“If he’s already got that then he’s done the hard part already. Should be easy to replace out where she really came from and how she ended up at the Everglades pack.” Derek said.

“Well here’s everything he has so far. Find out what you can on the mother and her family in the next hour. We will question her on it and see what she knows to see if it follows or not.”

“Nik, what are you thinking? Shouldn’t we be focused on the Originals?”

“I’m thinking she might be why they’re here. The boys said a random female appeared in the middle of the road after they dropped her off warning them to stay away from her. The 2 times they were spotted and chased, they were in her backyard Derek. And then she wants to train with us? Is it to learn our secrets or to use against them? I’m thinking either she’s with them, or they’re wanting her for some reason, and I’ll be damned if my pack suffers because of some Omega level wolf.”

“I really hope she has nothing to do with this, Nik. It will destroy Gunner. It nearly killed me when I lost Katja, but I had Gunner to keep me going. He doesn’t have a child to keep his humanity switched on.”

“I’m hoping for the same in all honesty buddy.” I handed him the file on the girl, and he let out a deep breath and then got up with one last glance my way, more or less asking if I was sure. I nodded my head, and he left the office. I still had about 45 minutes before everybody came back and Cheyenne arrived so I decided to look over some more reports and information about these Original Lycans that have suddenly started to make an appearance.

Time must have gotten away from me because in the middle of reading one report from the territory to the north of us, I felt one of my guards coming through the mindlink.

“Alpha, she’s arriving. Bus spotted down the road.”

“Ok I will send Ben up to get her. Thank you Joe.” I closed the mindlink off with Joe and opened one up with Ben.

“She’s almost here. Joe spotted the bus. Head up to the gate to bring her back. And Ben, keep your eyes, nose, and ears open. Take Gunner with you. Anything feels off, grab that girl, and get your asses back here to the packhouse!”

“Roger that dad. On my way.” Was all he said and I felt the link cut off.

*Gunner’s POV*

We were sitting at the local burger joint, trying to enjoy our deluxe bacon cheeseburgers and fries when Ben’s eyes glazed over. It only took a matter of seconds before they went back to normal and he dropped his food and looked at me.

“Your mate’s here. Let’s go.”

“Nah man. I don’t think I can be in your car with her right now. This mate bond shit is getting stronger and it’s getting harder to resist.”

“Ok. No worries. You want a ride back to the packhouse?”

“I’ll walk. Your dad wanted us to bring them food back anyways right?” I chuckled. We ordered some food to go and I told Ben to go ahead and take off and that I would take care of it.

I was walking back to the packhouse with the food when I got this uneasy feeling like I was being watched. I didn’t make any sudden movements but was looking around casually trying to see who might be watching me. I took the most direct path back to the packhouse and went straight to the alpha’s office as soon as I got there.

“Let’s move to the conference room. I think your mate will feel more comfortable there than crammed in this office with 4 guys.” Alpha suggested.

“Where’s my dad?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

“Sent him on an errand. He should be back shortly.” Just then Alpha’s eye glazed over. We walked into the conference room and I sat the food on the table in front of the Alpha’s and my dad’s chairs. After a few minutes his eyes returned to normal. “She was followed, but we don’t know by who. Guards could smell it but didn’t see anything. Ben has her in the car and they are on their way here.”

I felt Maddox on the edge of losing his shit. He wanted to protect her. I was really hoping that she wasn’t the enemy here. It would completely break Maddox and we would more than likely lose our humanity. A few minutes later my dad walked in with more files. Some were covered in thick layers of dust, while others not so much. Alpha took one look at the stack of files and then up at my dad.

“Seriously? You found that much?” Alpha asked.

“Told you, the hard part was done. But never did I ever think I would replace THIS much.” He gestured towards the stack of files, and then he turned and looked at me. “Son there’s some deep dark secrets about her family in these files and some of them are not good. Please, I beg you, please listen until the end, like you and Ben asked of Nik and I before you pass any judgement. And do NOT judge her for her family’s past. She was not part of it back then, and honestly, after replaceing this, I doubt she even knows.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?! What did you replace?!” I asked.

“All in due time son.” Was all he said before we heard footsteps coming down the hall.

The door opened and there she stood. There was something different about her, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. It was like she was…glowing? The scent of baked apple pie and cinnamon filled my nose and Maddox was purring in the back of my mind, finally being able to relax knowing our mate was standing right here in front of us. She had looked around the room and then locked eyes with me. I swear I saw her eyes shift color slightly and then they went wide and her whole body tensed up.

“Maddox what’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know. She smells fine. I don’t smell anything off. No blood. No infection. Heart rate is rapidly increasing though. Wait, you don’t think…”

“That’s not possible. She doesn’t have her wolf yet!”

“Hang on.” I felt Maddox run off to the back of my mind. He was only gone for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity just sitting here having a stare down with her. By now, everybody was looking every other which way to avoid the obvious since they all knew she was my mate, but I asked that nobody say anything. “There’s something in that pretty little head of hers. I could feel it, but I couldn’t contact it.”

“Again, it’s not possible. She hasn’t even shifted yet.”

“I don’t know. I guess we better replace out who’s side she’s really on.”

We watched as she shook her head and then sat down on the other side of the table from me but more towards the middle to put some distance between us. She placed her bag on the floor beside her and kept her eyes down until Alpha spoke.

“Good morning, Miss. I hope your travels were ok?” Alpha asked.

“Oh, um yeah they were fine. Thank you.” I could hear the nervousness in her voice. In the few interactions I’ve had with her, this was the first time I’ve seen her like this. She was scared of something, and I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and tell her that she was safe, and everything was going to be ok.

“Ok I know Alpha Brock told you I was asking you here to talk about training, but that was a lie.” I watched as her eyes went wide, like a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar before dinner. “Truth is, we’ve had some intruders and after we pieced our puzzle pieces together, we believe it involves you.”

“What? Me? I only have like 1 friend. That’s not possible.” Her voice was shaking and I could see her hands trembling.

“That’s what we’re trying to prove darling. We need to figure out where you fit in with all of this. With the recent events, which we will talk about later, we need to make sure your life isn’t in any danger.”

“Wait. This makes no sense. I’m not a member of your pack so why would you care if my life is in danger?” Her voice coming out stronger now. There she is. The feisty little runt that I knew. I couldn’t help but look down to hide my grin.

“Because it now involves members of my pack being threatened. First thing we need to do is establish your family history. Just to see if there is any old vendettas against your family. Please remember that we are on your side throughout this and we are just looking for your help. I know you dropped out of school and have been to the libraries doing some research of your own.” She started to say something but Alpha held up his hand and cut her off, “Remember, we are on your side and we are only asking for your help.”

She rolled her eyes and muttered “yeah right”. I knew the Alpha heard her but chose to ignore her. He grabbed the files and started going threw them and organizing them.

“Can you please tell me what you know about your family, mainly your parents.” Alpha asked. The runt’s face was all scrunched up, she was so adorable when she was confused.

“I really don’t know that much honestly. I know my dad was born and raised in the house we live in. Momma has never talked about her family, nor have I ever met any of them. She always shuts down when it’s brought up. One night she left the room crying after I pried too much and my dad told me that she just grew up in dark times.” The runt shrugged her shoulders. I could tell that she was telling the truth. This girl really had no clue as to where her family came from or that she was even adopted, and we were going to be the ones to have to tell her. Great. I see this going over like a fucking led balloon.

“Dark times indeed.” The alpha mumbled. “Ok so all these files here,” alpha pointed to the dust covered files he had laid out on the table, “These are all about your family, more specifically your mother’s side. What you know about your father is partially correct, and I was really hoping you already knew this and I really hate having to be the one to tell you this. Your father is a Wolf Claw native, but he is not your biological father.”

The runt’s jaw nearly hit the floor, and then she scrunched her eyebrows. You can tell she was thinking hard about what Alpha just told her.

“The man you know as your father, adopted you and your 2 younger brothers after him and your mother mated. She was his second chance mate, although second chance mates are rare, they are not unheard of.”

I could see her eyes twitching, and the more I stared at her I know I saw her eyes shifting in color. Now I was sitting up with my elbows on the table looking at her and studying her reactions to what the Alpha was telling her. She truly had no idea about any of this.

“As for your mother,” Alpha continued and she snapped her head up to look at him. “Your mother escaped the Everglades pack with you and your 2 younger brothers along with 2 other females. Once they escaped, they changed their names along with you and your brothers.” I could see tears starting to swell up in her eyes as she started looking up and blinking trying to keep them from spilling out.

“We did replace her real name and was able to trace it back to a pack up that used to be up in Maine. Now, I say ‘used to be’ because it was attacked when your mother was only 12 years old. She was kidnapped and sold to the Alpha of the Everglades pack. During that attack, if you weren’t killed, you were taken and sold to the highest bidder.” I saw her wipe a tear away with the back of her sleeve that had slipped out. It was killing me to sit here and watch her go through this and not be right there next to her and hold her.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard about the Everglades pack, but it’s not good, and that could be why your mother won’t talk about it. From what we can trace of her family, she was the only survivor.” Alpha said this with the softest voice I had ever heard come out of him before.

The runt straightened herself up and cleared her throat and then looked at the alpha with the most serious face I had possibly ever seen. How can someone so tiny look so…threatening?

“OK so if what you’re telling me is true, then who is my biological father?” She asked.

“That is the one detail left to figure out. The fastest way would be to draw your blood and cross reference it in the DNA database. This is supposed to be done to all newborns, but we know any pups born inside the Everglades walls under certain circumstances are not tested. The only pups logged there are the Alpha’s and Beta’s to keep the bloodlines straight.” Alpha was looking at her with hopeful eyes that she would agree. It would make all this that much easier to figure things out.

“Fine. Whatever I have to do. Get the doc up here.” She was already rolling up her sleeve. Alpha nodded to my dad and he mindlinked the pack doctor to bring her equipment and to get here asap. “If the rest of these secrets you have for me today are bombs like this,” She looked between Ben and I, “then I suggest ya’ll be ready for training tonight because I already have a lot of stress and anger to take out.” Dad and the Alpha both started laughing and Ben and I gave them the ‘what the fuck’ look which just made them laugh harder.

“Maybe we should just put her in the weight room tonight?” Ben suggested.

“Might be a good idea.” I said.

“Chicken shits.” She said while rolling her eyes and looking away from everyone and out the window.

“Would you like to look through these files for yourself darling? Just to confirm what I have told you is in fact true.” Alpha asked motioning between the files and her.

She looked back towards him and then at me, like she was needing some reassurance or something. I nodded my head slightly and then she looked back at the alpha and said, “Sure. I guess while we’re waiting on the doc.” He slid the files towards her, and she took them and started going threw them.

I watched as she read every line carefully, watching her eyes shift as she went. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was talking to her wolf. But Maddox didn’t sense her wolf, nor could he contact her. There was something definitely weird going on with her.

It was about 20 minutes before the pack doctor arrived. She came in and the alpha introduced the 2 of them. I watched as the runt just sat there with her arm out still reading the files. When the doc said she would feel a little poke, the runt turned her head to watch, but once the needle was out, she went back to the files. The doc started to take out a band aide to put over the cotton ball when she told the doc no because she was allergic to the adhesive and would just rip it off as soon as she left anyways. This girl didn’t even so much as blink when the doc stuck her with the needle. Either she was that pissed, or she could just handle pain and blood well. I made the mental note to remember what she said about being allergic to adhesives when I heard the door close and looked back towards the Alpha.

“I have instructed the doctor to keep this secret and the severity of it. I also told her that it is to go to the top of the priority list and that we want results asap. She said it would take a few hours but that she would get right on it personally and email me results.” Alpha said looking to the runt, who was still reading threw the files on her family.

“Now that, that’s taken care of and on hold for the time being. Let’s move on.” Alpha says shifting some files around in front of him. “Cheyenne, you with us?” Alpha asked.

Cheyenne, that’s her name. All this time I never knew her name, I just called her the runt. Cheyenne. Beautiful.

“Hm? Oh yeah. Sorry.” She closed the file in front of her and shoved the stack over to the side where nobody was sitting.

“As I was saying. We’ve been having some issues with creatures crossing our territory…” Alpha gave her the rundown of everything that we knew. I thought the poor girl was about to pass out, but she took it all in and didn’t even look a bit surprised at any of it.

“I saw one of them in my yard one night. Thought I was losing my mind honestly. And about me doing my own research, you were right. But not on what you think. Now that I know what the creature is, and you telling me about them, it kinda makes sense.” She reaches for her bag on the floor and opens it up. She starts pulling out notebooks and maps and a few old leather-bound books. She goes on to explain her replaceings with the wars and dates and locations. Alpha and dad had gotten up from their seats and walked around the table and were standing behind her at this point. She was pointing out different locations on the maps where each war took place and explaining what she had found out about each of them. This girl was something else. Again, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was of higher ranking.

Ben and I watched and listened closely as the runt and the alpha and my dad started putting pieces of the puzzle together. After about 2 hours or so, I stood up to stretch my legs.

“So basically, what we know is the originals are back and possibly looking to claim more power from somewhere and we’re due for another major war that if we don’t take care of before it starts it could possibly wipe out all of our kind.” Ben tried to sum up all the key points to make sure he was understanding everything.

“Yep pretty much in a nutshell.” The runt said.

“The only thing that doesn’t make sense though is why the hooded figured told Ben and I to stay away from you? I don’t think they’re after power, I think they’re after you.” I said looking directly at her.