The Alpha and His General

o n e

“We’re arriving.”

My eyes open to the bright light of a new morning and the view of the castle on top of the mountain. It’s especially beautiful in this time of year when the land is blanketed by thick white snow.

The helicopter I’m on flies circles around the mountain as if letting me take in the sights of my home…

My home.

I never thought I’d ever have such a place but here I was calling the majestic beauty of our capital as my very own home. The grandeur castle is timeless in its beauty with its white turrets and towers shooting up the sky almost touching the clouds, the thick and sturdy battlements make for a impenetrable stronghold, the tall and black gates show both dominance and importance, and the high stone walls are intimidating for any that looked. My favorite would have to be the big arched windows. I’ve often stared out from it, gazing at the peaceful lands.

It’s been days since I was sent off to my assignment, living in Alaska and keeping a close eye on the werewolves there. The pack that lives in Alaska… they aren’t like us. The ones I met haven't been in their human form in twenty years or longer. They were more animal than human at that point and they certainly didn’t abide by the King’s rule which was the whole reason I was there.

There are many like them across the world and in the past, the retired Queen let them live their lives freely without forcing them to recognize her as the monarch but recently… there’s been mysterious deaths that have been linked to them and it’s becoming a concern to our King.

Just as I’m thinking of him, his voice enters my mind. Smooth, dark and deep even through the mind link that connected all the werewolves in his kingdom.

‘My office, General.’

It figures he would know the exact moment I arrived. ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

And like a gust of cold wind, he’s gone. The King is never one to linger or dawdle, always moving to the next task at hand without another word. He was slightly robotic like that. It’s one of the traits that has the Queen and the Princess on his ear constantly. They’d berate him and pinch his cheeks as if he was still their little sweet boy.

That little boy though is now King and he’s anything but sweet.

I often would find myself looking at the King, trying to find traces of what his mother and sister called ‘sweet’. There wasn’t any. Years of leadership and responsibility killed that part of him. He was stern, strict and unforgiving. The King had very little patience and tolerance for anything below the standard and would loudly show it.

As far as I was concerned though, Eros Volkov could do no wrong. His will and direction is something I will never question. He literally and figuratively is on a high pedestal for me. Above everyone. Above life.

The helicopter stops perfectly on the landing pad atop the castle and the pilot gives me the thumbs up to disembark. Just as I’m nodding my thanks to the pilot and grab for my bag, the doors open and the castle attendants bow low.

“General.” They greeted all together, eyes downcast. “Welcome back.”

I’m not given another word to speak as they carry my hefty bags into the castle. I blink after them. Ten years of this and I still wasn’t used to the way things worked in the castle. In my life before this, I was the one carrying those not the one being attended to but as the King’s General, I’m expected to live a life that is almost as luxurious as a noblewoman’s.

Remembering that the King was expecting me, I rushed out to the cold winter weather and hurried to the warmth of the castle. It’s beautiful inside as it is outside with the high ceilings of gold, delicate arched hallways, wide windows of the panoramic view of the mountains and a long line of sparkling golden chandeliers as far as they eyes can see. On every wall there seems to be every kind of vases, tapestries and paintings. The floors are carpeted and underneath that is polished marble.

Everything is perfect.

Everything worthy of being the castle of the capital, the home of the Royals.

Few years have passed since Eros Volkov’s reign and he does very little for the overall look of the place— it’s not his priority as he so kindly puts it to anyone that asks. Thankfully, his grandmother lives nearby in a cabin in the forest and she oversees all the upkeep that needs to be done… a woman’s or motherly touch in a way.

She has managed to make it look even more beautiful everyday.

As it was, there were new tapestries and paintings on the walls, mostly of her daughter—the newly retired Queen. The painting of the last Queen did her extraordinary beauty justice. The famous ethereal blue eyes, the soft black hair and the smile… the famous Basco smile that made the entire world bow.

When I go deeper into the castle and head towards the King’s special and restricted wing only reserved for his more important people, I see an additional painting that wasn’t there last week. It was of the Volkov siblings with the two of them standing side by side, power and strength radiating from them even in a painting.

The eldest Volkov is of outstanding beauty even by noblewomen standards, and her rough way of life has done little to change that, if not added more to her appeal. She has the delicate look of a princess and the overall appearance that told you this woman is always ready for a fight.

And right beside her in the portrait is our King; tall, brooding and incredibly intimidating. He was no Prince Charming, in fact he was the farthest from it. Handsome that he is, he is not charming or lovely but frightening and deadly even in his paintings.

If his sister made anyone that looked at her be put in a trance of awe, the King’s presence was the type that made your skin crawl from fear. Despite having similar features as their mother they both had very different ways of carrying it.

One of heaven and one of hell.

Day and night.

“It was put there just yesterday.”

I turned, facing a fellow General who was making his way towards me and staring right at the eldest Volkov. “General Caine.”

“General Astrea.” He gives a curt bow in greeting, never taking his eyes off the Goddess like beauty of the soon to be Alpha of Russia. “Really captures the King’s eyes, doesn’t it?”

I scoff, eyeing him knowingly. “And here I thought you only noticed one of the Volkovs.”

Caine is well known for being one of the many lovestruck men and women towards the Princess. He didn’t even bother to hide his blatant stare towards her painting. “Hard to stare at the sister when the brother is glaring down at me.”

The King is intensely protective of his family, and most especially with his sister. No one could get to Alexandra Volkov without him being in the way and everyone in the Kingdom knows that. “A shame she doesn’t live here anymore.”

“A shame? It’s a crime.” Caine dramatically says with a sigh. He finally tears his eyes away from the painting in front of him and focuses his eyes on me for the first time. “Just came back from your super secret assignment, huh?”

I shrug indifferently. “I doubt my assignment is secret if you know about it.”

“I only know you’re always given the best ones.” He smoothly comments.

I lifted an eyebrow. “Jealous?”

He nodded almost instantly, a grin playing at his lips. “Extremely.”

I give him a smile. Caine and I were one of the few Generals of the same age and of humble background... meaning we were not nobles which used to be a requirement if one wished to be a high ranking official. I was a slave and Caine was a skilled fighter that went up the ranks. “It was boring, don't worry.”

“I’m sure it was.” Caine says with a roll of his eyes. He knew no pestering would get me to fess up to what my assignment was. “So, I’m heading out to the Underbelly to unwind. The King has been having all his Generals around the clock constantly and I’ve been needing a really good drink. You want to join?”

“I actually have to go and report to him now.” I point to the direction of the office where I know the King is already waiting.

“After?” He pushed, leaning against the wall and checking the time. “I doubt you’ll be in there for long.”

I make a show of yawning and stretching my tired limbs. Staying in wolf form for most of the week was more tiring than I would like to admit. “I might just turn in for the night.”

“Are you sure?” Caine moved forward, lowering his voice until it was a mere whisper. “He’s positively livid today.”

My eyes widened. That wasn’t good. “Why?”

He continued to speak in a hushed tone, looking around in all directions to make sure no one would overhear us. “Noblewomen from all over the world are being sent to the castle… to find his mate you know. Continue the bloodline. We can’t all rely on the Princess. Not when she’s off killing the men that are supposed to give her children.”

“If there’s anything the King cares more than this Kingdom, it’s his sister. I’d speak less about the Princess within these walls.” I warned with a frown. Princess Alexandra and I were far from being close but I couldn’t help but feel protective of her too. She was off becoming the strongest woman in the werewolf world and no one should downplay that. If keeping the bloodline alive isn’t her priority, I’ll support her all the way.

He brought his hands up in surrender. “Duly noted.”

“When are the noblewomen coming?” I ask, backpedaling from my less than pleasant tone about the Princess.

Never one to dwell, Caine answered like nothing happened. “Soon. Too soon.”

“I take it his grandparents have vacated the castle?” I guessed, knowing the Bascos were no fans of the guests that were coming. Normally, they spent weekends with our King and slept in the castle to help in whatever they could.

Caine’s eyes lit up with mirth. “The Bascos were the first to run away at the mere mention of the nobles.”

I couldn’t help but agree with former King Luca and Queen Lacey on that matter. “Can you blame them?”

“I do not.” He answered frankly. “In fact I’m just as jealous with them as I am with you and your work.”

“And the Queen?” I prompted, hoping she could be here to help calm the storm of the nobles.

Caine gave another defeated sigh. “Still retired and trying to control the Princess.”

“She’s still out purging Russia of their enemies?” The last I heard of the Princess she was out helping her father get everything together. The retired Queen’s mate is Alek Volkov. The Alpha of the largest pack in the world and he has been a sort of an absentee Alpha over the years, spending a lot of his time in the capital and away from his people. Without his presence, it’s been messy and who better to fix it than the glorious Alexandra with her iron fist.

“Obviously. She’s leaving blood in her wake.” He looked a little too proud saying that. “She’s amazing.”

“The King must be envious.” In the King’s earlier days when his mother was still in the castle, he and the Princess would always be traveling. A pair unlike any other, they’d have criminals and slavers on the run as they hunted them down like prey one by one. Blood was everywhere then too. My job at the time was to clean it… it wasn’t easy. There was nearly not enough land to bury the dead.

Caine blanched in disgust. “Who wouldn’t be? We get the politics, stuck inside boardrooms and the snotty fat old men in silk robes while the Princess gets all the action.”

I share his sentiments with a shudder. Noblewomen coming to the capital meant they’ll bring their fathers along and that was never good. “I shouldn’t keep him waiting then.”

“You shouldn’t.” He says in a warning tone that only reminded me of the King’s foul mood. “If you change your mind, I’ll be drinking until I pass out. Hopefully I’ll miss the nobles altogether.”

“I think I just might.” I say as a farewell and hurry my way to the King’s office.

There were a lot less windows in his part of the castle but there were a lot more big and important doors. It’s dark, mysterious and cold thus it was normal for whoever was to meet the King to feel nervous.

Which is why even after years of serving him, reporting to him and being in this exact hallway for so many times to meet him, I was still a ball of nerves.

I was always nervous when I had to report to him. There was no reason for it: I’ve been doing it for years and was considered as his favored and most trusted General, and my missions and assignments hardly ever failed but I just couldn’t help it. Something about the King always gave me goosebumps, the same goosebumps I had when I first saw him in the field of my bloodied captors.

It wasn’t out of fear… which at least is understandable.

Not for the first time, I helplessly wondered where this morbid- doubtlessly fatal - fascination of my King came from.

Was it fascination? Maybe admiration is better to describe it.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t going away anytime soon.

Before I know it, I’m in front of the big double doors to his office. It’s more daunting than it should be but the carved wolves on the doors seemed to be more intimidating than it was the last time I was here. They stared at me as if taunting me to go forward, to meet the master of this castle. With the King notorious for his impatience and knowing full well that he knew I was already here, I blew out a final breath and hovered my knuckles against the door ready to knock.

Just as I’m about to rap my knuckles on the door to announce my arrival, I hear his deep voice come from the other side of the door.

“Come in, General.”

Both my heart and my skin jump out of my body as I’m startled from the sudden sound of him. “Right away, Your Majesty.”

My hands reach for the cold doorknob, nearly fumbling as I twist and push.

The King’s study is as dark and comfortable as ever with the shelves that are on every wall from floor to ceiling filled with old and thick books. The stuffed leather couches that I spend most of my time in would have to be my favorite and the lush carpet of fur— possibly of his enemies, a rumor at least— that were soft to touch. The windows are drawn all the way, hiding away the natural light and creating an eerie atmosphere. There were no portraits here or tapestries, just books and leather. The best smell in my opinion.

It takes my eyes a second to adjust from the bright sunlight to the complete darkness.

The King of the Werewolves, the Alpha of all Alphas, Eros Volkov, sat behind his large desk of paperwork with his expression the same as ever, somber and withdrawn. He has his brows furrowed against the ivory of his skin, his granite of a jaw clenched, his dark hair is neat and impeccably tidy, even though I know he’s spent the night here. He looked like a painting or a sculpture of something both beautiful and terrifying.

Much like it always has, the mere sight of him blew my breath away.

The King of the Werewolves is of tall height, towering over everyone and is sturdily built with large muscular arms, legs and a strong chest that always looked to be ripping out of his shirt. The blue of his eyes always seemed to glow and his stare was always as hard as steel. The stubble on his face was a new addition and most likely the only change on him and I liked it.

He… he’s hauntingly handsome— no!

I shouldn’t think that.

I should never think that.

He’s my King, my savior and that will always be what he is to me.

As always, the King of the Werewolves didn’t bother for greetings but merely waited for me to speak. If he was angry or pleased today, he did not let it show, his expression was unmoved and unreadable as ever.

“The wolves in Alaska won’t be bothering us anymore. I’ve dealt with it and left some of my men to oversee that it stays that way.” I reported with a straight face, hoping my nervousness for him didn’t show. “We’ll be given a report on that early tomorrow.”

“Well done.” His dark voice always had that particular- slightly sarcastic- undertone that seemed to reverse his every word.

It was hardly more than an empty phrase- he had said the exact same thing on other occasions before- but I still reveled in the rare praise like a plant in warm sunlight, hungrily reaching for it.

I was being foolish and I knew it. There were no indications that he cared for me as a person, I was merely a useful tool- one of many- and my successes were successes for the Kingdom, nothing more.

He rose from his seat, coming until all I could smell was him. For as long as I’ve known him, he always smelled the same. Blood and war. There was nothing romantic or alluring about his smell but it reminded me of his danger and his brilliance and everything good in this world— or at least my world. The life he had saved.

To my utter astonishment, I felt his rough and calloused hand on my skin as he gently lifted my chin up, cupping it. His touch was cool as any man who wasn’t my mate should feel, but the shiver it sent all the way through my body had nothing to do with cold and the touch… gentle, too gentle for a man considered by his enemies as the walking death. “I don’t mean to make an assassin out of you but you’re the only one I can trust and depend on with these types of assignments after Alexandra left for Russia.”

I couldn’t look away, his eyes... his hold on me was too hypnotizing. “I know that and I don’t mind the work.”

“I have another assignment for you.” He says regretfully and guiltily.

My body nearly shook from exhaustion at the mere mention of another assignment. Where was it this time? Somewhere in Africa? Possibly India? And how long would it take?

This would be the fourth time I’ve been sent away this month with very little breaks for rest but where my body shook, my heart fluttered eager for another chance to serve him. “Yes. Perfect. What would you have me do?”

He let go of my chin. I immediately and shamefully missed the contact. “Something worse than what you usually do.”

I thought hard of all the things I didn’t do. There weren’t many. “Torture?”

“Exactly torture.” He agrees, leaning back on his desk, his large arms crossed on his chest. I fought hard not to stare. “Tomorrow the nobles will be coming and I need you to be by my side to greet them. With all of my family members conveniently busy for their arrival and as you are Kaleb’s daughter—“

Unofficial adoptive daughter. I almost corrected out loud.

“You’re to be with me for this.” He explained, his bright eyes looking dimmer from the news of his least favorite people coming.

“And Kaleb?” I worriedly ask.

“Still sick.” He answers in a solemn voice.

Kaleb has been sick for years. It’s the natural way a wolf goes when at his age he still didn’t have a mate and was unmarked. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have any options, there were plenty of women hungry to be the Beta’s mate but there was no one else he wanted… apart from the retired Queen who he has loved his entire life. “I’ll visit him tonight.”

“You look tired. I want you to rest right away.” He says in a surprisingly soft voice that pulls at my heartstrings. The steel blue of his eyes softened slightly but it was gone quicker than a blink of an eye. “Do you understand? Tomorrow is a different kind of battle but it is by far the most demanding of them all.”