The Mark of an Alpha

The Devil's Doorway

She collapsed with exhaustion as her mom came from their cave. Her white muzzle sniffed at the grey wolf's fur, and jumped back. She carried a ton of smells on her. The woods, her blood, a pack! A pack!! Where had she been all this time?! 

The white wolf gently nudged her. 

Alex's wolf eyes opened slowly. "I will never go hunting on my own again, Mama!" She wordlessly spoke. "I promise."

Her mom gave her a nod, and she weakly entered the cave.

Her mother shifted to her human form, white hair falling in pools around her shoulders. "Alex, what happened out there?"

Alex, now in human form, lay on a bed made from old blankets and animal furs. "I'm exhausted, Mama. Can we talk about it later?" She pulled the thick fir blanket over herself to shield her naked body from the cool air.

"No, my daughter. We will speak now! Where did you go?"

Alex sat up, showing the wound in her chest. "I was shot by a hunter."

Her mother gasped and ran to her daughter, pulling her in her arms. "Oh thank the Moon Goddess you survived!"

"Some betas from a pack... the Crescent Moon pack, I thought they said.. they found me."

"Oh good heavens, child! They could have killed you for being a Rogue on their lands!"

"Except they wanted to know my pack. They said an Alpha isn't a Rogue. But that can't be right? I'm not apart of any pack! Nor am I an Alpha. I mean, I would know that, right?"

Her mother's eyes showed an uncertainty in them.

"Oh.. and one of them touched me. A Beta. Rowan. And something happened when he did. It was like an electricity and fire... like i was burning from the inside. What does that mean?"

An awkward smile curled her mother's lips before she spoke. "He's your Fated Mate. The one that only the Moon Goddess chose for you."

All of the color drained from Alex's face. "My what?!"

**In the City**

Heavy, steel doors pushed wide open.

"I swear, Jonah, Caleb asked to see you!" A tall man, dressed in all black, with dark shades went to the black car out front of them, opening the door.

"I don't care, Dallas. I heard a hunter shot a wolf out close to our borders. I want to check that out first." Jonah, a tall, slender man tossed back his blond hair, before entering the car. "Take me to the borders first, then I will speak with our Alpha." 

The City crawled with humans, so the young Beta was careful how loud he spoke as they drove off. They stopped at a pub, around 25 minutes from their business complex.

"This is where the hunter supposedly frequents." Dallas spoke.

Jonah got out of the car. "The Devil's Doorway," he rolled his eyes and straightened his blazer before entering the bar. He carefully breathed the atmosphere of the bar in, until he picked up the scent of his hunter.

Jonah walked slowly up to a table, where 4 guys, all big men in camo, sat laughing and drinking. Jonah cleared his throat and the laughter between them slowly faded. The man on the end, wearing an orange vest, coughed a moment. "Yea? What do you want?" His voice was harsh, raspy. Like that of a heavy smoker.

"I am looking for the man that shot a young wolf, early this morning."

The man at the other end let out a kind of snicker.

Jonah turned his attention to him in an awe of excitement. "Was it you? Truly? I would love to see it! I have never hunted before and could just imagine of such a trophy!" He was an amazing actor.

"I'm sure you haven't. Well.. maybe I did, maybe I didn't. What's it to you?"

Jonah's sly smile widened as he took in all that was if this hunter that shot a wolf. He was a large man, even from sitting, Jonah could guess that he was about 6'4". Weighed close to 300 pounds, easily. Camo trucker hat could barely hide his thinning brown hair. Hunting rifle against his leg told him that he was a cautious fellow, didn't keep it in the truck, but kept it with him. For times like this, maybe? 

"Is that the gun? Do you have the body with you? I sure would love to see such a kill!"

He tightened in his seat, shifting the weight, hand grazing the gun. "As I said, maybe I did, maybe I didn't. So why do you just run along now little boy, this ain't the place for you."

All of the guys did a snicker, including Jonah. "You don't need to be so defensive, it's not like wolf hunting is illegal. But you're right, if I had killed a wolf as small as she was, I wouldn't brag about it either."

All of the men stood up, except for our hunter. He just smiled. "Oh boy you should have left when I told you. Now we're just gonna have to do something about that mouth you keep running."

The big guy in the orange vest struck him first, right to the face. And then another. All of the guys at that point jumped him. Hits and kicks and Jonah was brought to the floor.

A low, and deep growl rumbled from his chest. "You want something to be proud of, you want a trophy? Shoot me!" He spat out, along with some blood.

Our hunter grabbed a handful of his hair, and pulled his head up to meet him. "Please," he stated plainly. "Your're not even worth a bullet."

Jonah smiled, as the transformation took him, like a wave rippling through his body.

The sound of bones popping and breaking echoes through the bar. They all sat back in horror, the bartender fainted.

There, stood a massive golden wolf, with large amber eyes, a growl escaped his muzzle. 

Before the hunter had time to grab the gun, Jonah was on him, ripping his throat out. Then onto the next and next.

From outside, Dallas could hear all the screams. No gun shots though, as if someone had time to fire.

Moments later, a naked Jonah emerged from the bar, covered in blood. He smirked white teeth from a blood soaked face, tossing back his once blond hair. "You may have a bit of a mess to clean in there. I'm going to take a shower. I will meet you at the Alpha's."

Dallas nodded, waving to the other men to join him in the bar.

Jonah got in the car, along with a driver, and they were off.

Rumors have always circled from within the Frost Moon Clan, about the Luna and the Alpha. All from Caleb coming home that night, 18 years ago, covered in blood. He stated that his pregnant wife was killed by the Beta from the Hunter's moon pack, on their lands. Caleb had no choice but to kill him and try to save their Luna but he was too late.

This waged a war between the Hunter's Moon and the Frost moon.

But it always raised a question to Jonah, did the little baby wolf survive?

If she did, he would kill her himself. No one was taking Frost Moon from him. And once Caleb named him successor, he would make sure of it by killing Caleb as well.