Born to be Sacrificed to the Alpha

Chapter 5

Harlow’s fingers momentarily pause as she hits one final enter key. Her eyes flick to one screen that displays an email to her.

'To Harlow Bailey,

I hope this finds you well and you are ready to take on the task of mentoring my son, Austin, through his shift.

Just a reminder that Austin knows nothing about what will happen during his shift nor does he know about his brothers passing, so I hope you can keep it that way. He doesn't need that type of thing to bring him down at this late stage when he should be concentrating on getting through.

I know that you are not working in the best conditions or the most ideal circumstances, but I hope that you can try your best with what you have to work with.

Yours sincerely,

Alpha Preston Mitchell'

Harlow scoffs at the entire email. She has heard from her own father that the boys of the sapphire pack are kept in the dark about the whole thing, but the fact that they can lie and act like everything is okay about their own children dying is something that she cannot comprehend in the slightest, it makes her cringe.

Their brother dies but they are none the wiser, they don't get a chance to grieve. She feels sorry for the people alive and the people dead. There is no one to grieve for the dead. There is no one to remember them, because they have no idea. She wonders how they even get away with such a silly scenario. Her eldest brother has been gone for nearly four years. How do they explain away four years of absence?

Preston saying for her to try her best? It's just ridiculous. Of course she is going to try her best. There is no redo, if she goes in half assed, if she is lazy, if she does anything wrong, then they'll both die with no questions asked.

There is no second chance.

There is no meeting about what they will do better next time.

No plan B.

No brainstorming ideas on improvements.

There is no next time.

They will both be gone, her brothers will grieve, but Austin will just disappear, no one will even think twice.

Of course, she will try her best because it is her own life that is on the line as well. Their lives are tied together, so why wouldn't she try her best?

Harlow grabs her phone and sends her dad a message to let him know that the job is done. She doesn’t bother to reply to Preston at all. There are a variety of replies she would like to give Preston but she can’t think of any nice words to say to the man and, as her elder brother used to say, if you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all. That is why she rarely speaks.

Harlow shuts down her computer before walking back out to the kitchen to prepare a very late night dinner.

Harlow is a loner by nature, whether it is because of her appearance, her intelligence or her fighting strength. It is hard to relate to anyone and as soon as anyone hears that she is from the Bailey family, it is hard to know who is genuine and who is not, who is just seeking benefits and who is not, so Harlow just prefers to keep to herself.

That being said, it is a whole different experience out in this cabin. It is closed off. It is dark. It is silent. Her brothers aren’t around. It's a whole new level of being alone.

There is only one day left of her normal life before it is really on and it is the final two weeks.

Harlow stares at the white ceiling as it flickers with the shadows cast by the TV playing some boring series that, at her age, she should like, but all of it is all just so far-fetched and far from her own reality that she finds it hard to relate, all the emotions running high in the teenage life, the love, the drama.

Unrelatable.

Harlow's mind can't help but wander back to the look on Austin's face today. She drags her hand over her face, wishing she could take back the entirety of the encounter, while she doesn't regret it and wouldn't take back any of the things that she said. It is not really on Austin. He has no idea who she is or what she is tasked to do.

While it is not possible for them to be friends, she probably shouldn't have made him an enemy at the very start, they at least need to get along as colleagues. They're in it together for better or worse.

It would be nice if he was a bit more informed and then there might be someone that understands her in the world. Instead, he may be there, but she is still alone in their mission.

She just wanted to be left alone. She just wanted to go unnoticed. So why did he randomly come and defend her today of all days? How will they get along on Saturday? Will he be magnanimous and forget the whole thing or will he hold a grudge? Will he take to the training well or is she going to have to fight with him for authority? Will he respect her as a teacher and listen or will he defy her every step of the way?

She has a lot of experience with alpha males and they do not like authority, they have their own ways and ideas and don’t want to listen to a word anyone says. It is made worse when it is a female saying the words.

Men rule the werewolf world. It is the way it is and the way it has always been.

Harlow shrugs her shoulders.

He won’t listen?

She will beat his way too good looking face in until he does.

She falls asleep with a smile on her face at the thought.

In the morning, Austin jumps out of bed happily. He dreamed of Harlow’s lips the night before, he has never chased a girl before, nor does he have any intention of chasing a girl. He only has two weeks until his wolf awakens and he is able to find his mate.

It would be unfair to his mate if he was to do something at this late stage. But he wants to try and get closer to Harlow. There is something about her that draws him in. It may just be the unknown, but she is a mystery that he wants to unravel.

It may be a bit over ambitious to expect much out of her, but he at least wants to explain that he is not actually a bad guy and she doesn’t need to be against him. He is not like the others. He wants to know her because he is genuinely interested. He doesn’t know where this interest actually stems from, but it is there and he is going to work on it.

Harlow, on the other side, gets up in her solitude, with the opposite idea in mind. Avoid Austin at all costs. They will be stuck together for the next two weeks. She needs one day of freedom, an Austin free day.

She considers not going to school, but then Seth would know. Because a day off school before impending doom would be way too much to ask. Harlow looks up into the pouring water of the shower, letting the icy cold water wake her and keep her focused.

Harlow gets dressed in her standard attire before shoving her hooded jumper in her bag and taking off on the run to school. Even at her fast speed, it takes two whole hours to run, the cabin is as secluded as it gets because once the Mitchell family shift, there has to be a large buffer zone between potential causalities and the wild beast. The Bailey family have tried all sorts of things over the years. They tried locking the Mitchell family member up, but that was lots worse.

It is better in nature, but it was a lot more dangerous.

Harlow only arrives just before the first bell, the hood already in place, she slips into her first class unnoticed. She smiles to herself until she feels Austin’s eyes on her once again. It would be easier to avoid him if they didn’t have a majority of the same classes. When she transferred schools she just continued the courses she had been doing, not really thinking too much about it. She didn’t even think to check what classes Austin was in. It was an oversight in hindsight. But she did assume that she would go unnoticed. It didn’t work out the way that she wanted.

Austin can’t help but look at her throughout the whole class once again, straining his eyes, hoping that he can see something more. He himself doesn’t even know what is wrong with him, all ideas of not forcing his friendship on her fly out the window as soon as he sees her again.