Dragon's Blood

Alpha (n) the leader of a pack

"Alpha Atlas," The bony man stared over the bridge of his glasses at the languid teenager in front of him. His beady eyes and hunched form did nothing to hide the way his lip turned upwards in a taunting smirk.

This child is the Alpha of Luna Alba? The greatest warrior pack in the continent? He seemed to be saying. Not that Atlas minded, he'd told me before he liked being underestimated it just means he can surprise them better.

"Welcome to Luna Alba chancellor." Atlas sat at the end of the massive mess hall on a giant chair that seemingly stretched upwards towards the ceiling. Draped in leathers and soft silks all which have been handcrafted by the pack, this all worked to hide the threat of his heavy muscles. The rest of the pack, or anyone who could fit, crammed in around the mess hall to catch a glimpse at the visitor. The room buzzed with various degrees in apprehension and excitement. Depending on this conversation Luna Alba just might be welcoming its first royal visitor in over twenty years.

"Actually, Sir Lorcan could sadly not be here today. So, I, Bolin come in his place." The man bowed almost comically.

Atlas' green eyes flickered to me in the corner of the room and I stifled a laugh. From the look of sheer annoyance on his handsome face, I could tell he was already getting fed up with the representative of Lucia.

Lucia, our neighbor to the north, a kingdom ruled by Lycans. What's the difference between a Lycan and a Werewolf? Well, when I meet one, I'll tell you. 

Luna Alba prides itself on being a hub of diversity. Beings ranging from werewolves to half-witch to fae all made up the members. But Lycan’s prefer kingdoms, not solitary packs.

The hunched over Bolin was quite evidently not either Lycan or werewolf, and even though I’m a human I could tell he wasn’t one either. I'd probably be able to tell right away what he was if I had the nose of a wolf or the magic of a fairy. Instead, I leaned over to Madeline who was sitting on my right to try and get some answers.

The dark-haired she-wolf was dangerously gorgeous and intimidatingly deadly. If she wasn’t a member of Luna Alba, I’d be too scared to even enter her line of sight. She turned to me raising one bushy brow her dark brown eyes looking dazed—it was clear as day that she wasn’t paying attention to anything at all.

“What is it?” She spoke with an accent; one she’d inherited from her hometown. A rural area located in the kingdom of Lucia. That’s where she was from, originally. Before she’d run away and become a rouge. Atlas’s father, Alpha Rafael had granted her asylum when she was twelve years old and she'd been a member of Luna Alba ever since.

Nodding towards Bolin, who had risen and was busy apologizing for Lorcan’s absence, I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Have you been paying attention?”

“Obviously not,” She scoffed loudly earning some scowls from those around us. “This is cutting into training.”

I almost rolled my eyes—almost. If there was one thing Madeline enjoyed it was definitely training. A dedicated time to throw hands with other members of the pack and not get cited for being a disturbance, it’s her favorite time of day. “I’m serious. Just look at that guy. He’s trying to get permission to come onto pack land.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to look at Bolin, her nose scrunched in disgust. “I see not much has changed in Lucia. That man is a blood slave.”

“Blood slave?”

“They’re treated like cattle bound to their masters by a blood pact. Vampires keep them as pets—and food.” She wiped her nose her face contorted in disgust. “They’re filthy beings without morals, they’ll do anything to please their masters. Including cutting out their own tongues.”

I paled at the sudden visual. Shaking my head, I listened back into their conversation. Something had shifted in the air.

“—on my land.” Atlas spoke with a thunderous growl, a guttural sound that came from the back of his throat. His green eyes had darkened considerably, and I looked around for some sort of clue as too what had set him off.

Bolin cowered in front of him. “I meant no disrespect! I was sure Lorcan sent word of this trip beforehand. Otherwise, we never would have come.”

“Aether you need to calm him down,” One of the women standing behind me whispered in my ear and (not-so-gently) shoved me to the front of the group. “Good luck!”

I froze for a second. Sweeping my gaze through the room all I met were eyes that were urging me forward. Gulping I stepped toward Atlas.

Now usually Atlas is a pretty chill guy. For example, whenever the kids of the pack are using him as a ladder, he just kind of sits there and takes it, but he is an alpha. Worse than that he’s the son of an alpha who was the son of an alpha. In other words, the blood flowing through his veins is like twenty times more powerful than any other basic werewolf. So, his anger is twenty times more powerful.

Stepping past Bolin I stood in front of my alpha, he raised his dark eyes to me and growled. He was trying to be scary. As a member of his pack I was meant to bare my neck at him as a sign of respect, but before he was an Alpha he was a brother. He did not fill me with fear.

“Alpha Atlas I suggest you refrain from growling at me, or our guests.” I smiled faintly motioning to Bolin who for his part was shaking where he stood. “Remember that these are our neighbors.”

He flinched and cleared his throat. Staring at me he addressed Bolin.

“Very well, your Prince has permission to enter Luna Alba.” He returned his glare to Bolin. “But if you utter another disrespectful word about my pack I will take great joy in ripping out both your arms and sending you back to Lucia in a package. Now, get out of my sight.”

The second Bolin is out of the mess hall all eyes are back Atlas relaxes into his chair and lets out a heavy sigh.

“Alpha?” One of the men in the pack breaks the silence with a clear of his throat. “You did very well.”

A chorus of agreements sounded around the room. I grinned and even Atlas smiled.

“Thank you very much,” Atlas turned his green eyes to me, they’d returned to their natural light color. “And thank you Aether for keeping me from killing that bastard.”

“Yeah sure, no problem.” I huffed still completely in dark about what even set off the mighty Alpha. Before I could as him about it a woman yelled out:

“When are you two finally going to get together! Luna Alba needs an heir!”

Color flooded my cheeks and I buried my face in my hands. Not this again! Ever since we were younger everyone in the pack had harbored this fantastical idea that me and Atlas would wind up being mates. Usually mates could only find themselves when both parties were of matured age for their species. Werewolf’s at thirteen, humans at eighteen…yada yada.

The idea that we might be mates was more revolting than it was heartwarming. When I was still a little baby Alpha Rafael and Luna Silva adopted me and raised me as their own child. Which meant I grew up with Atlas for a brother—trust me I so do not want to be his mate ever.

Atlas bellowed a laugh and so did the entire pack. I wished for the ground to swallow me up.

“Aether.” I slowly lifted my head to see Atlas still recovering from his laughing fit. He stood from his chair and stepped towards me offering one hand. Rolling my eyes I placed my palm face down in his. “Let’s go greet our guests shall we?”

“If you insist.” I smiled.

A chorus of ‘oohs and aws’ sounded throughout the mess hall and I almost rolled my eyes again. I didn’t know at the time that our happy family was about to be met with a large dangerous problem. A problem by the name of Orion.