The Alpha's Warrior Princess

Ch. 7: Making New Friends, and Enemies (Pt. 1)

(April’s POV)

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!

My alarm was blaring in my ear, telling me it was time to get up. I absently reached for my phone to shut it off as I lay in bed thinking another hour would be nice.

I didn’t even have that thought fully embedded in my brain when I felt a pain in my chest. I rolled to my side and coughed violently as my breath was forcefully expelled from my body due to the next pain that hit me. I wanted to cry out, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let my parents see me like this. Besides, I was used to it, sadly enough. When I was little and got these pains, Mom would hold me, give me some pain reliever, and let me lay down for a while. She would say “They're just growin' pains, sweetheart.”

But when I got to an age where I knew a growing pain from other types of pain, I realized the truth. That these weren’t ‘growing pains’. These were pains being inflicted on me somehow. I just couldn’t understand how. I mean, take now, for instance? I’m here all alone. I’m certainly not hitting myself. So where is this coming from? Maybe it’s just another form of psychosis. I don’t know. All I know is that I gotta keep it to myself. I can’t let people think I’m crazy. I just can’t. If I were to get locked away in some insane asylum, it would kill Mom. I just wish it would stop. Just another oddity that was me. One I wish would go away and never come back.

I laid there quietly writhing in pain for roughly thirty minutes before it finally subsided. Once it did, I could finally breathe again. So I just closed my eyes and took that rest I was thinking about taking a little while ago to let my body do its thing and heal. When I wake up, things will hopefully be better. Uncle Teddy will be here later, and I’m gonna get to meet his wife too. So I’m not letting anything hold me down. Especially not some phantom pains. I’m tougher than that!

(Alex’s POV)

I'm still p*ssed off from last night. I was running on no sleep and so was Dad. F**king rogues! I hated those parasites. Now the SUV is in the shop because they attacked us when we were leaving Uncle Ty’s last night. The car had some serious body damage but thankfully neither Dad nor I were hurt.

We easily tore them apart and our people responded quickly to come to our aid, then clean up the mess, dispose of the bodies, and get everything under wraps. Thankfully, it was late so there were no human witnesses to the fight. Dad had immediately called Uncle Ty afterwards to check on them and, thankfully, everyone there was fine. Aunt Crys and April had no idea what had happened.

I didn’t get the chance to ask April for her number, so I couldn’t get in contact with her directly and I had to play it cool with my Dad so he wouldn’t suspect I was interested in her. I’m pretty sure Dad would push for more than I wanted, where April was concerned. It was pretty clear Dad adored her, and who could blame him? He’d want to see us together at some point if my mate didn’t come along. F**k! I really need to blow off some steam.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and shot off a quick text, then went back to pacing around my room. Within seconds, a soft knock sounded on my door and I opened it to a beaming Allison. She was sorta my current girlfriend, though she was more like a long-term booty call. The only thing was, she seemed to think that she had the Luna position on lock down even though I'd told her a million times it wasn’t going to happen. I’ve been thinking about breaking up with her for weeks, but with my birthday right around the corner, I’ve been holding off.

Allison is our current Beta’s daughter, my best friend's sister, and a complete and utter sl*t. The fact that she is a sl*t is why Jake doesn’t give a single f**k that we’re together, and he’s the only reason why I’m bothering to actually date her instead of just hooking up when I want a quick lay.

She’s actually only good for one thing, but that "one thing" she actually is really good at. Otherwise, she is a complete and utter catastrophe. All she does is spend my money, bark orders at people she thinks are beneath her (which is pretty much everyone), and sleep around. She thinks I don’t know it, but I do. I just don’t care. I’ve actually told the guys she’s been with to “have fun” because the longer they kept her busy, the less in my hair she is.

I just pray to the Goddess she doesn’t turn out to be my fated mate because there is no-way in h*ll I’m putting up with her for the rest of my life. She's so bad, even Jake came to me begging me to never make her my Luna. I just chuckled and told him he had absolutely nothing to worry over. The only person who seemed to think Allison would make a perfect Luna was her Mom, Aunt Annabel.

According to Aunt Annabel, Allison would make a wonderful Luna someday. I disagree. Not that I would stop her from becoming a Luna. She just wasn’t going to be mine. Though I will admit I haven’t heard Aunt Annabel say anything like that in quite some time now.

Thirty minutes later, a very pissed off Allison was throwing things at me and screaming, like the banshee she is. “WHAT THE ABSOLUTE F**K, ALEX!! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT. TO ME, NO LESS!” she screamed as she threw a lamp at my head.

I guess I deserved that. I’d never had this happen to me before. So I was still kind of in shock, myself. What happened, you ask? Well, I kind of committed the absolute worst offense one could commit when banging your girlfriend. Guys? I highly recommend you don’t try this at home! “SERIOUSLY! ARE YOU EVEN F**KING LISTENING TO ME?!?” she continued to screech and honestly? The answer was a big fat NO. I knew what I did was wrong. But it’s not like I did it on purpose.

You see, we were just getting all hot and heavy when I moaned out “F**k April”. Next thing I knew, Allison was out from under me and throwing the first thing her hand connected with at my head. Like I said, I kinda deserved it. I won’t lie. But as I dodged flying objects, it was all I could do to keep from laughing.

It took me almost an hour to calm her down before I fed her this bulls**t story about how April was my Uncle’s daughter and the attack was so close to their home I was just worried about them all. Particularly April because of the fact that she was this tiny, frail human who wouldn’t stand a chance if those rogues attacked them and that would devastate my Uncle, whom I’m very close with.

She finally bought it and then stopped her wailing when I promised to spend the morning with her, shopping at the mall. On my dime, of course! I didn’t tell her I’d be spending the rest of my day with April trying to get her under me, moaning MY name the way I’d just moaned her’s.

The mall wouldn’t open for another two hours but I sent Allison off to go get ready hoping I could get an hour or so’s rest before hopping in the shower. About two and a half hours later, we were walking out the door and, as a treat, I even let Allison drive my baby. A cherry red Lamborghini Hurricane. She reminded me of my favorite MMA fighter in the world. The Herricain.

I handed the keys to Allison and off we went.

(April’s POV)

After my little nap, I got up, showered, did my normal morning routine, and bandaged my arm, then headed downstairs. I was really looking forward to this afternoon. Uncle Wyatt and Alex would be coming back. Only this time they're to bringing Wyatt’s wife with them. Her name, I learned yesterday, is Lilly. Lilly Mae Moon, to be precise. “Another calendar girl”, Mom had teased as she smiled at me.

I was so excited that I had all this energy to burn so I grabbed my keys, called Sparks out from under the bed, then let her get situated in my hoodie, before I skipped down the stairs. As I hit the landing, I called out toward the kitchen “Mom! I’m heading over to the mart. I needed to get gas and thought I'd grab some sodas for later. If you think of anything you need, just text me.” Mom just called back “Okay sweetheart! Be safe!” I smiled and called out “I will, Mom. Don’t worry.” Then I headed out the door. A few minutes later, Sparks and I were heading off to the local speedy mart.

As I was going down Main Street, I stopped for a red light. While I was sitting there, I was bobbing my head and tapping my fingers on the steering wheel along to the music playing softly on the car radio as I casually looked around me. I have a very eclectic sense in music, so I listen to a wide variety. Today’s choice? Oldies but goodies from the 70’s and 80’s. God I love me some Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. Just sayin.

There were some people out but it was still relatively early, so the streets and walks were pretty clear of foot traffic and there wasn’t much in the way of automotive traffic either. And thankfully so, because when the light changed and I started to go I wound up having to slam on my brakes.

Why did I have to slam on my brakes? Well, because I heard the sound of an engine running loudly. From the sounds of it, it was a sports car of some type and it was really moving fast. I honked my horn to try and bring the other traffic to a halt and, being that it was still so quiet and sleepy, the other drivers did at least slow down to see what I was honking so furiously about.

Within seconds, they heard it too and jerked their cars to a stop as well. Just then, the cherry red sports car went speeding through the intersection, running a red light. The driver was this blonde id**t with her hair flapping out behind her wildly in the wind. She had a passenger with her but I couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female. I only know the driver was female because she had this awful, high pitched, excited, squeal going on as she raced by uncaring of who she might collide with. “F**kin' id**t.” I mumbled as I shook my head. And I wasn’t the only one. I could see other drivers doing the same.

Still shaking my head, I started through the intersection with the other drivers nodding their thanks to me as we all went cautiously about our business. About halfway down the street I saw a police cruiser just sitting there, facing the way I had just come from. The officer had a cup of coffee in one hand and a donut in the other, looking completely serene. There was no way in h*ll that cop didn’t see that b*tch, but I guess country cops are just like their big city cousins that way. Donuts talk, everything else can take a walk. Not that I have anything against cops, mind you. They have a very stressful job so a few donuts are a small price to pay for their service.

But noticing the cop also made me notice what he was sitting in front of. A Dunkin Donuts! Or as I liked to call it, Sugar Heaven. So, of course, I had to go through the drive-thru and get something.

I ordered four dozen donuts, four boxes of munchkins (or donut holes, depending on where you live), a mocha swirl cappuccino, two pounds each of two different types of coffee grounds, and a slew of k-cups. I was stocking up on those badboys! Talk about coffee heaven! I’m kinda a coffee junkie. Get it from my Dad. He’s worse than I am though. You should see him before his first cup of the day. Just saying. Anyhow, after that, I went on to the mart where I pumped my gas and got ready to go inside.

As I was stepping up onto the walk, these three guys came out of the mart and one of them bumped into me. He nearly knocked me on my a** but before I toppled over, strong hands grabbed me around the waist, pulling me back into an upright position. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there.” a deep, masculine voice said.

I smiled and gave a slight nod as I quietly responded “no harm, no foul” and started to skirt around them. “Hey, you must be the new girl in town. I’m Conner. This is my brother, Austin. He’s the ugly one in the family.” That actually made me laugh a little because the dude he was motioning to looked exactly like him. Gotta love twin humor. “And this is our buddy, Brent, It’s nice to meet you.” As he spoke he motioned to each person he referenced with his hand, even himself, and I smiled at them all as I nodded as though I were actually interested. I wasn’t. But no sense in being rude on my second day in town, right? “I’m April. Nice to meet you all, too.” I responded as I tried again to get inside.

Just then I heard that same engine sound from a little bit ago and I turned my head to see the car roll onto the lot a minute later, that sweet scent of fresh baked chocolate chips cookies and hot chocolate with a touch of mint gently came to me and I groaned as I mumbled all disgruntled, “Really?” Okay, I’ll admit it. I was begrudgingly starting to like him by the end of the day yesterday. But he just had to go and ruin it.

Or maybe not. He was actually sitting in the passenger's seat and he looked absolutely livid. The minute his bimbo brought the car to a full stop and turned off the engine, he exploded. And the shouting began. I wasn’t sticking around for this drama, it was none of my business, so I just went ahead and walked inside. I grabbed a basket and walked straight to the refrigerator section and started to load up on sodas in all the flavors I knew we all drank.

(Alex’s POV)

I was freakin livid! What the absolute f**k was wrong with this b*tch?! Seriously!

The minute she turned off the ignition, I lost it. I exploded on her with a f**kin vengeance. “WHAT THE F**K ALLISON!?!” I shouted as I snatched my keys from her hand. “Are you really that f**kin self absorbed that you would put other peoples lives in danger just for a few sh*ts and giggles!?” I asked and paused for an answer. Allison was looking at me as though I were absolutely insane. She totally didn’t grasp why I was angry. I just prayed she didn’t say something stupid.

My prayers were in vain.