The Lone Alpha

The Lone Alpha. Prologue. Ten Years ago. My heart pounds in my chest so hard I feel it might give up, as my feet hit the soft ground leaving paw prints where I run. Fear that I have never felt before as an Alpha wolf, has consumed me with vengeance. My mind is numb, whilst also running at a million miles per hour, in a whirlwind of shock, mixed with denial. This can not be happening. Surely, I will wake up from the nightmare I am living in, warm in my bed, as I complain about being woken by my loving family once more. I push on in desperation, needing to outrun those who seek to do me harm, the lactic acid making my limbs feel like lead. I jump over a fallen tree trunk that seeks to block my path and hand me over to those who would kill me. This is not how I imagined myself celebrating my 18th birthday. I presumed, like most of my kind, that I would party all night with my pack, and my friends, potentially find my mate, my luna. But life has a funny way of doing what you least expect, and so here I am running for my life. The day had started great, although if you had asked me just 17 hours ago, I would have disagreed. My parents had woken me up in their usual fashion on my birthday, with streamers and over-exuberant cheers, their eyes shining with joy, eager for me to get out of bed and start the celebrations. Being the eternal grumpy teenager I am, I huffed at them and snuggled myself further under the blankets, only for my kid sister to climb onto my bed and jump on top of me, excitement oozing from her. I had grumbled this morning, huffed at the attention, whilst, if I am honest, secretly loving it. “Come on Mars, open your presents,” Venus had shouted with glee, excitedly handing me her gift. I had relented and ripped oven the large box, which was filled with different seeds to plant in my garden at the rear of the pack house. Yeah, I am, happiest when pottering around in a garden, close to nature. Tears sting my eyes as I remember my sister’s face, almost identical to my own, only her dark brown hair with natural golden highlights, hanging down her back, whereas mine hangs to my shoulders when not in my trademark man bun. Her green eyes were a mirror image of my own, but with an added softness to them. She was so full of life, happiness and joy always accompanied Venus; she was loved by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her. Just like her name’s sake, she was love personified. It was a deep contrast to my stubborn moody teenage ass. Venus was so happy for me to have my birthday, the possibility of me finding my mate, falling in love, and not being such a grumpy teenager, had filled her heart with glee. I had muttered my complaints about having to take her to school, in my new electric Audi, my amazing present from my loving parents, the Alpha and Luna O’Leary of the Harvest Moon pack located in the heart of the Republic of Ireland. Oh, how I regret my grumbles now. I wish I could turn back time, and have a do-over for the day. But that is impossible, and so I just kept running. Tonight was supposed to be special, our small pack all gathering to celebrate with me, some of the girls from my school, all eagerly awaiting the full moon to peek from behind the clouds, praying that they would be my mate and the future Luna of our pack. There was excitement in the air, as my father stood on our small stage in the pack house, proudly telling the pack that I had reached maturity, and he and my mother looked forward to me meeting my mate, so that they could hand the reigns of the pack over to me, and whoever my mate turned out to be. But as the moon shone down on us, the only shouts that were heard were not of ‘Mate’ or of laughter and song, but of screams and crying, as the Blood Moon pack, penetrated our borders, the sheer weight of their numbers overpowering our small pack, killing everyone in their wake. The blood-curdling screams of Venus still echo in my ears, as the Luna of that pack, ripped her 15-year-old body limb from limb. I tried to fight, I really did, but with the birthday punch, which had been laced with wolfsbane pumped in my veins, by someone as yet unknown, I was unable to stop them. “Run Mars, Run,” my mother had pleaded with me, just before the Alpha of Blood Moon ripped her head from her body. I stood, frozen in a mixture of grief and fear, weakened by the poison in my system. I am still unable to process just what had and is happening. “Mars, you must run, you are the future of this pack now. GO, save yourself, so that we can rise again!” my father shouted across the field, as his knees buckled under him. “Mars, RUN!” He used the last of his strength to summon up his Alpha command, compelling me to do what he asked, and so with the final roar of my father as he was defeated, joining my mother and sister to the heavenly plane, ringing in my ears, I ran, and ran, and now I am not sure if I can run any further. My legs shake beneath me, as my Ares my wolf whimpers under the weight of utter distress, loss and grief. They are gone, everyone I have ever known, killed before my eyes. I feel my tears dripping from Ares's eyes, onto his soft russet brown fur, as still together, man and wolf I push on, not even sure if the Blood Moon pack are still following us. The open wound from a claw was embedded in my side. It pulses with pain, my wolf too weak to even begin healing me. I do not know if that is due to the wolfsbane poisoning, or the grief I am keeping locked up inside. I just want to stop, to give up, but my father’s Alpha command still compels me to push on, ten hours after the attack. Ares my wolf slows, his panting filling my ears, another sharp pain washes over me, as his legs buckle, and we fall to the floor, unable to move an inch further. Pain and exhaustion consumed my senses as I lay there motionless. My wolf retreats, too broken and exhausted to continue, as I shift back to my human form. My cold naked body languishes in the pools of mud on the forest floor, as darkness descends, which welcomes me like a warm blanket, as I curl up and prepare myself for death. To join with my family, and my pack, and enter my eternal rest.